Can you explain how the pension is calculated for a couple separated due to ill health? My husband is in a nursing home and I can’t understand how the amount that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has paid us is worked out. Our assets are $580,000 excluding the house and refundable accommodation deposit (RAD).

Regan Welburn, of My Pension Manager, says for couples separated by illness, the starting rate of pension is based on the maximum single pension rate. This is currently $1144.40 per fortnight compared with the couples rate of $862.60 each.

Couples are in the same boat when it comes to the pension, even if they live apart.Credit: Simon Letch

The test for couples separated by illness is still based on the couple’s means test (not the single pensioner means test). For an illness-separated couple that is classed as a homeowner with $580,000 of assets, the calculation would be as follows: $110,000 over the $470,000 asset-free area means pension entitlement reduces by $165 per fortnight, per person ($1.50 reduction for every $1000 of excess assets), so their pension payment becomes $979.40 per fortnight, per person.

You say the problem with the super re-contribution strategy is that you cannot nominate which tax components you withdraw from, and once the re-contribution is made, the earnings form part of the taxable component. Please........

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