Lotto winners slammed for trying to keep pension

A pair of elderly retirees who recently won $1 million in the lottery have been slammed for questioning how they can continue to receive the pension.

A pair of elderly retirees who recently won $1 million in the lottery have been slammed for questioning how they can continue to receive the pension.

The question posed to The Sydney Morning Herald’s money columnist Noel Whittaker on Wednesday quickly went viral after screenshots of the article headline, “We won the lottery, but lost our pension. Could we have prevented this?” were shared online.

Many internet users were left speechless at the tone-deaf whinge.

We literally won a million dollar lottery... but we want to keep our pension too

Unbeatable areas here. You couldn't make it up. https://t.co/IUFeVFQu7Hpic.twitter.com/XejYtKzH1i

— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) July 2, 2024

“You couldn’t make it up,” wrote The Guardian’s Josh Butler.

“My God,” wrote Justin Simon, chair of Sydney YIMBY.

Activist Drew Pavlou commented, “This is literally peak Australiana. Boomers complaining they no longer qualify for the pension after winning $1 million in the lottery.”

“Someone please take away their lottery winnings so they can still receive their pension,” added writer Rachel Withers.

In the column, the couple aged 73 and 67 said they were both retired and receiving the full age pension.

“We recently won $1,000,000 in the lottery and have placed that money in a basic interest-bearing savings account with our bank,” they said.

‘Could we have prevented the pension loss in any way?’ Picture: TheLott.com

“We intend to use that money to buy a new house and sell our existing one but may just renovate. The windfall has stopped our pension completely until we spend the money, which is all good and well. But could we have prevented the pension loss in any way?”

Whittaker, author of books including Retirement Made Simple and Golden Rules of Wealth, replied that they should “consider yourself extremely fortunate and enjoy the money”.

“The full age pension for a couple is $43,732 a year — you could have a far better lifestyle living off capital instead of relying on welfare,” he said.

“However, the asset cut-off point for a couple is $1,031,000 so when you start to use capital and the balance falls below that amount you may start to receive some pension.

Just don’t spend to get a pension. Every $100,000 spent increases the pension by just $7800 a year for an asset-tested pensioner. It would take 12 years to get your money back.”

Finance columnist Noel Whittaker. Picture: Supplied

The number of Australians receiving the age pension increased by 6 per cent over the eight years from 2014 to 2022 to 2.6 million, according to data last year from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The age pension is available to Australians aged 67 and older.

It was previously 65, but began increasing starting in 2017 before reaching 67 in July 2023.

“Consistent with income support receipt overall, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over receiving age pension has gradually declined — from 70 per cent in 2014 to 58 per cent by June 2022,” the AIHW said.

There were 4.2 million retirees during the 2022-23 financial year, according figures published in May by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which noted welfare payments — including the age pension and other payments such as the DSP — remained the main source of income for most.

“Retirees with no personal income dropped to around 18 per cent for women, but increased to 4 per cent for men,” the ABS said.