Important announcement regarding minimum pension payment levels for the 2010-11 Financial Year

July 11, 2010 - PRLog -- Today the Federal Government announced their decision to extend the minimum pension payment relief into the 2010-11 Financial Year. This means that for 2010-11, as per the last two years, account based pension customers are only required to receive 50% of their prescribed minimum pension payments.

The Federal Government has stated that “Extending the drawdown relief for a further year will help retirees to recoup capital losses on their pension portfolios as equity markets recover over time”, and that “This extra help for self-funded retirees builds on the measures the Government has put in place to help older Australians, including an historic boost to the aged pension as well as stimulus payments to pensioners and many self-funded retirees”.

BT supports this decision by the Federal Government and will be making the required changes to give pension customers access to this reduction of their minimum pension payments.

BT and Westpac account based pension customers who have already requested to receive the minimum pension for the 2010-11 Financial Year will receive the new, reduced minimum from their first scheduled pension payment.

As always, pension customers who require more than the minimum amount still have the option to specify a higher pension payment amount for the 2010-11 FY and can do so by visiting http://www.bt.com.au/pensions.

BT and Westpac account based pension customers with any additional enquiries should call the BT Contact Centre on 132 135, or visit http://www.bt.com.au/pensions.

BT Super for Life customers who wish to update their pension payment amount can do so by logging into their BT Super for Life account via Internet Banking, or by calling the BT Super for Life Contact Centre on 1300 653 553.

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BT has been helping Australians create, manage and protect their wealth since 1969 and today, is one of Australia’s leading providers of superannuation, investment and insurance products. We are owned by the BT Financial Group (BTFG), the wealth management arm of The Westpac Group. Visit http://www.bt.com.au.