Once upon a time the great Australian dream was owning your own home, now it seems owning your own home and winning the lottery just doesn’t cut it writes Samantha Maiden

As first world problems go, writes Samantha Maiden, is winning the lotto and complaining about losing your pension the ultimate whinge?

As first world problems go, is there anything more astounding than having a whinge that winning $1 million in the lottery is going to stop you getting the aged pension?

There it was, however, in money expert Noel Whittaker’s advice column the other day, another sign that Australians have completely lost the plot when it comes to this issue.

“We are a couple aged 73 and 67, both retired and receiving the full aged 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,’’ the lucky couple explained.

“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. But could we have prevented the pension loss in any way?”

Is winning the lotto and whinging you’ve lost your pension the ultimate whinge? Picture: Supplied.

Whittaker wrote back with the sage advice that the couple could have a far better lifestyle living off the capital than relying on welfare.

With the asset cut-off point at $1,031,000 – not including the family home – he noted that once the balance falls below that level they would again be eligible for a part pension.

“Just don’t spend to get a pension,’’ he replied. “Every $100,000 spent increases the pension by just $7800. It would take you 12 years to get your money back.”

But if you think that’s nuts, try this conundrum. Another worried couple wrote to The Australian Financial Review this week with a complaint that offered a powerful case of “hold my beer”.

You see ‘Anja’ was in an absolute froth because she had just worked out that being gifted an $800,000 holiday home by her parents might impact her God-given right to the pension.

The horror, the horror.

“I’m trying to calculate how much of the government aged pension my retired husband is missing out on by me having a holiday home valued at roughly $800,000,’’ she wrote.

“The house, put in my name by my parents when I was in my 20s, will eventually be mine. I never questioned this and they probably did it to be eligible for the age pension – which they are not because they are self-funded. They were under the impression it wouldn’t affect my husband’s future pension eligibility,” she explained.

“I’m 59 and earn $56,000 a year, have 1500 Telstra shares and $126,000 in an online account.

“My super is worth $370,000. My husband, 70, retired last year. We are living off my income and his redundancy and haven’t started using his $430,000 of super. He also has $80,000 in a term deposit. We have no children and our house is owned outright.

Have older Australians completely lost their minds? Samantha Maiden discusses an elderly couple upset with losing their pension after winning the lotto.

“My theory is we could have put at least half of his super into mine (I plan to work for many years, but reducing days). We could have spent most of the $126,000 cash and $80,000 on a new car each which we need and several house repairs, leaving maybe $30,000 in each of our names for emergencies.”

In other words her big strategy is to spend $160,000 on new cars to qualify for the aged pension.

“Online calculators vary but am I correct in assuming he is missing out on around $14,000 of age pension plus $3000 in pensioner discounts if I reduced my hours to three days a week plus take all the actions I mentioned? I feel we are missing out on being in the sweet spot,’’ she said.

In other words, the couple own their own home, have $800,000 in super, $200,000 in savings, the wife continues to work, and they are absolutely fuming that the $800,000 holiday home on top of their family home plus over $1 million in super and savings might stop the aged pension landing in their bank account.

Have older Australians completely lost their minds? Putting to one side the fact that the property is in her name now, she doesn’t need to “inherit it”, what fresh hell have we arrived at?

This couple arguably have around $3 million in combined property, super and savings.

While it’s all well and good to hope for a comfortable retirement, the idea that a couple with $1 million in super and savings and two homes owned outright is on struggle street if they can’t get the aged pension is bonkers.

Something has gone very wrong that Australians want to spend their lottery winnings to qualify or buy two overpriced cars for $160,000 to get it.

Once upon a time the great Australian dream was owning your own home. But now it seems owning your own home and literally winning the lottery just doesn’t cut it.

Originally published as Once upon a time the great Australian dream was owning your own home, now it seems owning your own home and winning the lottery just doesn’t cut it writes Samantha Maiden