How to include or exclude the Government Age Pension

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How to include or exclude the Government Age Pension

By default, Pathfinder includes an estimate for the government Age Pension, however, you may find it useful to exclude the Age Pension estimate if you are certain that the individuals will not be eligible to receive it (e.g. they are too young or their income or assets are too high) or you would like to see the outcome without including the Age pension.

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To include or exclude an estimate for the Age Pension for the scenario:

  1. Go to the Cash flows & Goals step (top menu), then the Retirement Planning sub-step.
  2. In the Age Pension section, for the Include Age Pension estimate field, choose 'Include' or 'Exclude'

Note that if an individual is receiving an Age Pension, you should not enter it as income as this will double up with Pathfinder's estimate.

If you choose to include an age pension estimate:

  • An estimate for the government Age Pension will be included in the results, this estimate may be zero.
  • The age pension estimate is based on the data entered in Pathfinder:


Results for the Government Age Pension

  • If an Age Pension is paid, on the Cash flows report there will be a line called 'Government Pension Payment'
  • If you Included an Age Pension, for more details about how the Age Pension payment is estimated (the income and asset test), go to the Detailed reports step and then go to: (Individual name) > Government pension:
    • There are sub-reports for the Income test and Assets Test.
    • This report will be created if you chose to include an Age Pension estimate.  It will be present even if the estimated payment is zero.
    • If you chose to exclude the Age Pension, then this report is not created.
  • For more about income in retirement, see Retirement Planning and Build Super results

Video - Government Age Pension in the results

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Notes on the analysis of the Government Age Pension

  • The age pension is indexed twice yearly in September and March. However, Pathfinder uses annual accounting so the pension amount is based on the September value.

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