Kippers

Realise your Dream

The Realise Your Dream blogs are written by Peter Kelly and Mark Teale. More information about the authors can be found here 

I was fortunate enough to attend a recent presentation from well-known demographer Bernard Salt. He mentioned a number of new acronyms which he believed were applicable to our changing lifestyle and demographic makeup of the Australian population.

We are all certainly familiar with the term “Baby Boomer” which refers to that huge bubble of people born between 1946 and 1965 which will place enormous pressure on the government’s budget as they all begin to apply for age pension.

However one which I was not familiar with was “Kippers” – Kids in Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings.

What does this mean? The children of the Baby Boomers are marrying later, finding the cost of housing prohibitive and (with the tendency of most Baby Boomers to indulge their children), they are living at home for a longer period of time still living to some extent off mum and dad’s generosity.

For the “Baby Boomers” who have retired and are in receipt of an age pension either in part or full, there is an upside. Board and lodgings paid by a child, which within the meaning of the Social Security legislation includes step-child, foster child or adoptive child, is not assessable when it comes to calculating your age pension entitlement.

So Kippers need not necessarily be seen as a drain on your budget, as a pensioner they instead can be viewed as someone who can supplement your pension income.

Of course once you do decide to start to charge your children a couple of hundred dollars a week in board and lodgings, they may decide it is time to look for alternative accommodation. For a pensioner, this is a win / win solution!