Investment informant

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 549, 16 August 1994, Page 10

Investment informant

By

Warrick

Funnell,

independent investment broker If you want answers to your questions please write to "Investment informant" P.O.Box 122 Ohakune Disclaimer The advice given here is of a general and non-spe-cific nature. It is essential to seek full advice for each individual case before taking any action. My wife and I are due to retire in three years time and we have worked too hard to accumulate what assets we have. Can you shed some light on how we can organise our ajfairs so that we don 't lose our lifelong earnings to the government when 1 retire and apply for a pension. Dear T & C - to continue your answer from last week: Asset stripping A subject talked about a lot last year. The rules as I understand them are: if you have to go into care then as long as you have assets available you must use these up first before the state will pay for your care. If you are married and as long as your spouse is living in the family home you are entitled to keep the house, the furniture and the car etc, providing it is being used. In addition to this you are entitled to keep $40,000 between you in cash or assets. You are also entitled to have prepaid your funerals. If you are single or widowed you are entitled to keep $6500 in assets. In the last two years there has been a lot of talk about forming family trusts to have the assets out of your name so the government cannot get their hands on them. A note of caution - the government can look back five years and claw back any gifts. If they are convinced you deliberately arranged your affairs to obtain a benefit that you would not otherwise be entitled to then they may set aside that arrangement even if it was made more than five years ago. People who are entering into family trusts and other estate planning acti vities need specific advice.