We’re 71 with no super. Should we sell our house and invest the proceeds? |
We’re 71 with no super. Should we sell our house and invest the proceeds?
May 14, 2026 — 5:01am
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We are a couple, both aged 71, currently receiving the full age pension of about $890 each per fortnight. We have no superannuation savings and only about $12,000 in the bank. We are considering selling our home for around $710,000 and are weighing up two options. The first is to downsize into an apartment worth about $550,000. The second is to sell the home and keep the proceeds in liquid investments, such as superannuation or an account-based pension, to avoid the stress of buying and maintaining another property.
Our children favour the second option, particularly because I have been a bladder cancer survivor for the past 12 months, and they are concerned about our future care needs. Our main concern is how these choices would affect our age pension, and whether it could be reduced or cancelled.
I think your main concern should be finding accommodation that suits your lifestyle and ensures you have enough capital to last for the rest of your lives. As a non-homeowner couple, you can have assessable assets of up to about $1.34 million and still qualify for a part age pension, together with all the valuable concessions that come with it.
If you move to an apartment or a retirement lifestyle community, upkeep and maintenance should be far less of an issue, while still giving you security and certainty of tenure. You would also avoid the stress of having all your assets invested in markets, where values and income can fluctuate.
Based on the figures you have provided, buying a $550,000 apartment would almost certainly allow you to retain the full age pension, or very close to it. Even if you sold the home and kept........