Australian age pension eligibility for single retirees with $500,000 in assets, Digi Mart USA News (Australia): A worked example from The Motley Fool Australia examines how much age pension a single retiree with $500,000 in assets could receive. The scenario assumes a retiree who has finished working and holds $200,000 in ASX shares, $50,000 in cash savings and $250,000 in superannuation.
Using an average FY26 dividend yield of 4.23%, the shares would deliver about $8,460 in annual passive income. Cash savings earning around 5.5% would add roughly $2,750 per year.
The article assumes the superannuation sits in a typical balanced strategy, which returned an average of 7.6% in FY26 according to Chant West, equal to about $19,000 in income and capital growth that can be withdrawn if desired.
Altogether, the example puts passive income at about $30,210 per year. According to Australia’s Retirement Standard, a ‘comfortable’ retirement currently costs $56,166 per year for single homeowners, while a ‘modest’ retirement costs $36,548 per year for single homeowners and $51,418 per year for non-homeowners.
On this basis, the retiree’s passive income falls short of a comfortable lifestyle and would need supplementing.
The age pension is available to Australians born on or after 1 January 1957 at age 67. The full age pension for single retirees is $1,237.70 per fortnight.
Under the assets test, the family home is excluded, so the example uses the full $500,000 as the asset base. A homeowner would qualify for a part-pension, while a non-homeowner would be entitled to the full pension.
The income test works differently from the assets test. Centrelink applies deeming rates to most assets, except rental properties, rather than using actual investment income.
The lower deeming rate of 1.75% applies to the first $66,800 of assets for singles, and income above that amount is deemed to earn 3.75%. On $500,000 of assets, deemed income is $670 per fortnight, or $17,414 per year, which the article notes is well below the actual returns in the example.
Under the assets test, the retiree’s pension entitlement is $736.70 per fortnight. Under the income test, the entitlement is $1,015.70 per fortnight.
Centrelink pays the lower of the two amounts, which in this example is $736.70 per fortnight, or $19,154.20 per year. The article concludes that this pension, added to $30,210 in passive income, would be enough to cover a modest retirement lifestyle, though not a comfortable one.
The article is general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. Readers should check current Centrelink rates and thresholds before making decisions.
