So the pension has gone up. What does it mean for me?

The pension rates are somewhat confusing because there are four changes a year: in July and January each year they adjust the thresholds, and in September and March they adjust the amount of pension paid.

Go to my website, www.noelwhittaker.com.au, to download the new pension charts and play with the age pension calculator and the deeming calculator, both of which have been updated with the new numbers.

When the rate of pension goes up, the upper limit threshold cut-off point automatically increases as well. So now retiree pensioner couples have cracked the million-dollar mark in assets: the cut-off point for a homeowner couple has risen to $1,012,500.

Most wealthier pensioners are asset tested, yet I keep receiving emails from them asking if it's OK to earn some more money.

Of course it is - the income test is not relevant if you are asset tested.

A couple with assets of $800,000, receiving a pension of $318.65 a fortnight each, could have assessable income of $62,400 a year including their deemed income without affecting their pension because they would still be asset tested.

Your own home is not assessable, but your furniture, fittings and vehicles are assets tested. Many pensioners fall into the trap of valuing them at replacement value.

This could cost them heavily because every $10,000 of excess assets reduces the pension by $780 a year. Make sure these assets are valued at garage sale value, not replacement value. This puts a value of $5000 on most people's furniture.

There is no penalty for spending money on holidays, living expenses and renovating the family home. But don't do this just to increase your pension. Think about it, if you spend $100,000 renovating your home your pension may increase by just $7800 a year - but it would take almost 13 years of the increased pension to get the $100,000 back.

Of course, the benefit of money spent should be taken into account too - money on improving your house, or travelling could have huge benefits for your wellbeing. The main thing is not to spend money with the sole purpose of getting a bigger age pension.

You can reduce your assets by giving money away but seek advice first. The Centrelink rules only allow gifts of $10,000 in a financial year with a maximum of $30,000 over five years. Using these rules you could gift away $10,000 before June 30 and $10,000 just after it, and so reduce assessable assets by $20,000.

Superannuation is an exempt asset for Centrelink purposes until the owner reaches pensionable age or until they start a pension from it.

If a member of a couple has not reached pensionable age it's prudent, if appropriate, to keep as much of the superannuation in the younger person's name because then it is exempt from assessment by Centrelink.

However, the moment that fund is moved to pension mode, it's assessable irrespective of the age of the member.

Bequests are another trap. There is a big difference between the asset cut-off point for a single person and that for a couple. As at March 20, 2024, the single homeowner cut-off point was $674,000, whereas for a couple it was $1,012,500.

Many pensioner couples make the mistake of leaving all their assets to each other, which can cause a lot of extra grief when the surviving partner finds they have lost their pension as well as their partner.

It's a complex area - advice is essential.