Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)

This continues the series of judgement – on a few calls by Slack Investor in recent blogs. The good and the bad are presented – to illustrate that you don’t have to get everything right to be a successful investor.

15/01/2023 & 15/05/2023 –Nuns Know Best & Alignment

I tried to make the case that the ASX 200 was both undervalued and showing signs of momentum in the charts. At the the publishing dates, the ASX 200 was trading at 7328 and 7267. At 30/06/24, it is 7767, up 5.9 % and 6.8%. In the meantime, the US S&P 500, which Slack Investor thought was overvalued at the time, is up 32% for the same period. Could do better, Slack Investor – 5/10

01/07/2023 – Advice for a young man

I went through a whittling down process for a few stocks that might be suitable for my nephew who was just starting out on his investing journey. I wanted to gather a basket of well known, growing companies that were not outrageously over priced- I generally don’t like the predicted P/E Ratio to get above 40 when I’m buying, as this indicates the current price of the company is 40 times its predicted earnings (expensive) . The yield (dividend) is not that important to a young investor, it is the total growth that counts.

Looking at the figures, even Slack Investor is surprised with the success of his suggestions after only 12 months – an average 1-yr growth of +34.2%.

Again, Coles Group (COL) is the only dud. Despite COL having a high Return on Equity (ROE), I should have considered the competitive retail environment, its lack of history of growth and how it was spending most of its profits – returning to shareholders as dividends, rather than growing the business.

I hope that my nephew took this advice and is now a convert to stocks as a way to make your money grow. A top effort Slack Investor 9/10; Nephew ?/10

15/09/2023 – Buying Shares the Slack Way

I went through the Slack investor buying process and I had to narrow things down to the one new share that I would buy at the time with a limited amount of funds. I selected Computershare (CPU). In hindsight, I should have trusted my gut here – I have never liked their confusing website! At the the publishing date, CPU was trading at $25.85. At 30/06/24, it is $26.34, up 1.8%. I had sold out of this stock, at a loss, 5 months after I bought it as I didn’t like the way that the chart was heading. A dud trade Slack Investor – 1/10

15/10/2023 – Alphabet … Google It

Slack Investor went a bit in depth here as to why Alphabet (NASDAQ : GOOGL) was such a major portion of his portfolio. At the the publishing date, GOOGL was trading at $137.36 USD. At 30/06/24, it is $182.15 USD, up 35%, A good trade Slack Investor, is this all your own work? – 9/10.

15/05/2024 – Slack Investor vs Centrelink

I am delighted to report that Centrelink have sent me a Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card (CSHC). I have yet to make use of it … but I am excited that my perseverance with the forms (with the help of very generous new annual income limit rules) has paid off. You really tried hard here Slack Investor 8/10; Centrelink 3/10 – The application process is confusing and tedious. The turn around time for the application was about 2 months – but, I don’t blame the workers at Centrelink here – there has been chronic underfunding in staff and processes for years.

Financial Year 2024

A quick review of how the Slack followed markets fared in FY 2024 – pretty well I might say!

ASX 200

After a solid 2023, FY 2024 could be described as a slow start – but big finish. In raw figures the Australian Index rose 7.8 %. When accumulated dividends are re-invested, the ASX 200 Net Total Return, the yearly returns are more impressive, up 12.2%.

FTSE 100

This bad boy has shown great improvement. The UK Index rose 8.4 %. When accumulated dividends are re-invested, the FTSE 100 Total Return was up 11.4%.

S&P 500

That crazy country, the mighty US of A, has done it again. the US Index rose 22.7 %. When accumulated dividends are re-invested, the S&P 500 Total Return was up a mighty 24.2%.

Slack Investor likes the quiet life, and doesn’t usually go looking for trouble, but a recent birthday put me at 67 – this is the age threshold for the Australian Aged Pension. Other than feeling old, this is not too much of a concern as I am a happy self-funded retiree.

However, in a generous flourish, the previous government made it much easier for self-funded retirees to qualify for the Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card (CSHC). This card provides savings on some Pharmacy costs and gives easier access to higher rates of reimbursement for out of pocket expenses (Medicare Safety Net). Some GP’s will offer bulk-billing to CSHC holders as they can get a higher Medicare fee for these consultations. So, this card looks worth the effort if you qualify and, looking at the new numbers, most retirees not on the pension, would.

Health savings available to CSHC holders – From Laterlifeadvice.com.au

Do you qualify?

Age pension age and an Australian citizen? The critical test is your income … and not just any income … but your “Adjusted income”.

To meet the income test, your “Adjusted Income” must be less than the following:

$95,400 a year if you’re single

$152,640 a year for couples

$190,800 a year for couples separated by illness, respite care or prison.

These values are valid for 2024 and they get inflation adjusted each year

For Slack Investor, it was a matter of gathering scans of our most recent ATO Notice of Assessment for my partner and myself. Plus contacting my Super Provider to send me an income schedule for each of my Pension accounts – These are known as form SA 330 and are often requested for dealing with Centrelink, DVA, etc.

As we do not own an investment property, the only inputs to our Adjusted Income were our taxable incomes and deemed income from our account based pensions.

Any money in our accumulation accounts or bank accounts was not considered in our deemed “Adjustable Income” as a couple.

Noel Whittaker provides a handy calculator to work out your total deemed income from your pension assets (Currently about 2% of assets). I stress it is not the actual income from these pensions that is relevant – but the deemed income! The asset amounts of our pensions (Estimated for the application date – from your super fund or SMSF) were put into Noel’s Calculator. As the total of our deemed pension income plus our taxable incomes was under the $152,640 a year for couples, we proceeded with the application online through MyGov/Centrelink/Make a Claim or Review Claim Status. This is where the fun begins.

Handy Tips

Before applying, get some identification documents ready and your latest ATO Notice of Assessment (in pdf form). Make sure you have a MyGov account and have Centrelink linked to it. I used the online form to apply, and it was frustrating at times, but generally OK. Others have downloaded the form, filled it out and taken it to Centrelink for checking.

Contact your Super Funds for a SA 330 schedule that will give you relevant details of any Account-Based Pension that you own for the last tax year.
If you have a SMSF, contact your provider and they will furnish you with information on each of your pension funds. You will then have to download and fill out your own SA 330, as a trustee, for each of your income streams.
At one of the forms sticking points, I found the video on the application process by Brendan Ryan of Later Life Advice very useful – worth a watch for a 22 minute overview of this process (the video is found in the top left third of the page).

I must warn that this application is not for the feint-hearted – But do not give up! If you are having trouble, book an appointment with Centrelink – They will also check your documents if you are not sure.

The complexities of dealing with Centrelink and the CSHC have been entertainingly documented in the SMH and YourLifeChoices. There were several points where I was having what my mother would describe as “Sailor’s Talk” with my computer.

For all the frustration and “dead ends” encountered during the application process, I found a strategy of “Walk away – and try again another day” did the trick. Although, I will not find out about whether my application will be successful till July 2024, I did learn something useful along the way … How to Edit pdf forms – which came in handy as SMSF trustees have to populate several SA 330 forms with mostly the same data.

Using Google Chrome to fill out PDF forms

I don’t have any form-filling PDF software (e.g. Adobe Acrobat full version) and I am reluctant to install the “free” clients that usually come with some adware or a trial period. I was delighted to find out that this form-filling task can be done in my Chrome browser without installing anything extra. Locate the PDF you want to edit in File Browser.

Right-Click the file to open up the context menu – Scroll down to “Open with” a new dialogue box will open showing Google Chrome if you have it. Select “Google Chrome”.

The form will then open as a Chrome Tab and you can edit away then save or print your changes (Download and Print Symbol at top right of the Chrome tab).

Category: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)

Slack Investor Report Card Part 2 … and Financial Year 2024