Better too little and too late than not at all

My parents (aged 78 and 81) finally got around to filling in a Centrelink application for a (partial) aged pension. I think they were pleasantly surprised to find that they are entitled to a combined Australia pension of about $10K a year, and therefore also some other pensioner benefits such as subsidised medications. Which just makes me wonder how many years ago their assets and income first got below the relevant thresholds to qualify for a part pension. I'm sure they have missed out on several thousand dollars worth of pension payments by simply assuming they were too 'wealthy' to get any pension payment, but at least they finally made the effort to apply! Although they may not have qualified for a part-pension five or ten years ago, by going through the application process they would have found out exactly how much above the threshold they were, and they would have obtained the pension as soon as they became eligible. Ah well, better late than never.

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