ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission) & SCAMWATCH

Scams reported to the ACCC involving identity theft or the loss of personal/banking information have cost Australians at least $16 million this year, and this figure is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Four in 10 Scamwatch reports in 2019 involve attempts to gain information or the actual loss of victims' information.

"If you think scammers might have gained access to your personal information, even in a scam completely unrelated to your finances, immediately contact your bank," ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

"Timeliness in alerting your financial institution is absolutely crucial, and will give you the best possible chance at recovering your funds."

Some of the ways scammers obtain personal or banking information are:

• phishing emails and text messages which impersonate banks or utility providers seeking your login details
• fake online quizzes and surveys
• fake job advertisements
• remote access scams in which the scammer has direct access to everything on your computer
• sourcing information about you from social media platforms
• direct requests for scans of your driver's license or passport, often in the course of a dating and romance scam.

"No one is really selling an iPhone for $1, or rewarding the completion of a survey with expensive electronic goods or large gift vouchers. They're scams to get your valuable personal information," Ms Rickard said.

"The identity thieves can make victims' lives a nightmare. They'll change the victims' phone carrier so they lose service and set up mail redirections so they're in the dark about what's going on."

Scammers can empty victims' bank accounts, take out tens of thousands of dollars in bank loans under victims' names, and purchase expensive furniture or electronics under 'no-repayments for 12 months' schemes.

Lost personal information also leaves victims more susceptible to future scams. Scammers will use the victim's personal information to seem more convincing in cold calls.

"The trick is to be alert to the signs. If your mobile phone suddenly loses coverage, you haven't received expected electronic or physical mail, or you receive unexpected notifications from a financial institution, call your bank."

If you have been the victim of identity theft, contact IDCARE on 1300 432 273. IDCARE can guide you through the steps to reclaim your identity.

Money and Life
(Financial Planning Association of Australia)

How much do you need to save to make sure you have enough to last throughout retirement? It very much depends on what your living costs will be after leaving work.  Find out more about how to budget for the retirement income you'll need for the lifestyle you're planning for.

When you plan to retire will often be determined by whether you can afford to stop working and still have enough income to maintain your lifestyle. Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the majority of men (36%) and women (22%) chose to retire at the time when they became eligible to draw on their superannuation and/or the age pension. And their average age at retirement was 63.5 years.

If you're planning to delay retirement until your super balance reaches an amount you can comfortably live on, just how do you determine what that target should be? There are a number of factors that will affect how far your money will go, including your life expectancy, how your money is invested and other choices you make for managing your income. But one of the most important steps to planning for a secure financial future in retirement is to be realistic about your living costs.

How your living costs might change

As you stop working and have more time to yourself, your routine will change and you might save on some costs as a result. Spending on transport could fall as you no longer have to commute. If buying lunch and takeaway coffees has been a daily habit while working, you could also make significant savings by leaving these out of your retirement routine. Other living expenses, such as buying groceries and clothes and paying household bills are likely to be much the same before and after retirement.

Thinking about how you'll spend time in retirement and where you're planning to live will also give you clues about how your spending might go up or down. If a few trips overseas are on the cards, you'll need to allow for these occasional costs in your overall budget. But if you're planning to limit travel to domestic holidays only, then you won't need to allow for these expenses in your financial plan.

Start with a ballpark estimate

How much travel you plan to be doing is just one of the many daily and one-off costs taken into account in the Retirement Standard estimates for annual expenses. Updated every quarter by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), these figures can give you a rough idea of what you can expect to be spending day-to-day in retirement.

There are two estimates available, a higher one for a comfortable lifestyle and a lower amount for a modest lifestyle. As at December 2018, the amount you'd spend as a single person aged around 65 years enjoying a comfortable lifestyle is $43,317 and for a modest lifestyle the annual budget is $27,648. The estimate for couples is $60,977 and $39,775 for comfortable and modest lifestyles respectively.

To give you an idea of how differences between a modest and comfortable budget might impact on your retirement plans, the annual travel budget is a good place to start. A couple living modestly can expect to spend approximately $2,500, with no allowance for overseas trips. On a comfortable budget, a couple can splash out more than $5,000 each year on travel, with roughly a third going towards international travel.

The cost of lifestyle changes

Although it's wise to build a budget based on what you expect to be doing in early retirement, your overall plan should also take into account potential for lifestyle changes as you age. Travelling for longer periods, dining out and entertainment and taking part in sports and hobbies could taper off as you grow older. Health and aged care costs, on the other hand, could make up a larger share of your budget in the later years of retirement.

A plan to see you through retirement

Your expenses are just one side of the whole budget planning process. Taking a good look at all your retirement income options is just as important to figuring out how much you'll need and when you'll be ready to take that step. From the age pension to the equity in your home to retirement income products such as annuities and account based pensions, there are all sorts of ways to support yourself financially towards having the lifestyle you want.

Katina Curtis and Rebecca Gredley
(Australian Associated Press)

Australians earning up to $90,000 look set to get an extra $1000 back in tax within weeks, with the federal government on the verge of winning the Senate support it needs for stage one of its tax package.

The $158 billion package passed the lower house on Tuesday night after about three hours of debate, with Labor failing to secure an amendment to bring forward the second stage of the package.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said it was a sensible proposition given the central bank's second interest rate cut in as many months.

The opposition also failed to remove the third stage of the tax plan from the bill, which flattens the tax bracket in 2024/25.

"That's all about politics, not about good sound economic policy," Mr Albanese told the lower house.

But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it would give Australians confidence their future pay rises were protected from bracket creep.

"This bill lowers taxes for hard working Australians, it puts more money in their pockets."

Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie supported the bill on her understanding the minor party would reach an outcome with the government on ways to bring down gas prices.

But Ms Sharkie noted her two Senate colleagues were still continuing negotiations with the government.

Labor will now try to convince Senate crossbenchers to support the amendment on Thursday, but the government appears to be moving closer to a deal to get the whole package passed before parliament rises.

The coalition needs the support of four out of six crossbenchers to succeed.

The two Centre Alliance senators are likely to back it, with leader Rex Patrick saying they were working through the final details of a deal to make sure the extra money in taxpayers' pockets doesn't get gobbled up by higher power bills.

Former Liberal Cory Bernardi also backs the tax relief package, leaving the government just one vote short.

This means returning Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie is likely to be the deal maker or breaker, but she's yet to declare her hand.

She is working with Centre Alliance in a very loose alignment, with the three senators meeting several times over the last 24 hours since arriving in Canberra.

Senator Patrick said part of the deal was that he and colleague Stirling Griff don't talk about Senator Lambie's position.

Senator Lambie told reporters she hadn't come to a position yet, saying her staff only started work on Monday and she hadn't had enough information from the government.

Senator Griff argues there's no use entertaining Labor's position, given the government has refused to budge on its three-stage plan, describing it as an all-or-nothing proposition.

Some opposition MPs have urged the party to back the full tax relief package.

The Greens implored Labor and the crossbench to stand firm if the Senate was forced to vote on the entire package.

"We don't need to be giving tax cuts to millionaires, to CEOs, to politicians; we need to be funding essential services," leader Richard Di Natale told reporters.

The first stage of the plan will deliver up to $1080 to low and middle-income earners when they lodge their tax returns in coming months.

The second stage will top up a low-income tax offset, which means more people earning up to $45,000 instead of $41,000 will get a 19 per cent tax rate.

The final stage flattens the tax rate from 32.5 per cent to 30 per cent for people earning between $45,000 and $200,000 from mid-2024.

Katina Curtis and Marnie Banger
(Australian Associated Press)

Hundreds of thousands of pensioners will soon discover how much extra money they will receive each fortnight, with the Morrison government weighing imminent changes to the income test.

But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has nixed suggestions the system could soon be kept at arm's length of politicians.

Cabinet's expenditure review committee is now weighing up whether to lower deeming rates, which are used to estimate how much some pensioners are earning on their financial investments.

But Mr Frydenberg rejected calls from peak seniors bodies and MPs to take that process out of the hands of ministers.

"We believe we've got a proper process in place and the minister continues to review it as appropriate," the treasurer told Sky News on Tuesday.

Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates argues the rates should be reviewed every six months against a pre-determined set of benchmarks, similar to how the pension is indexed.

"Why is it that this one component of the pension system, which is deeming rates, is not related to an objective basket of measures that gives us a benchmark to adjust it on?" Mr Yates told AAP.

"It would take the uncertainty for a part-pensioner out of what they're going to earn."

Labor says it's long past time the government acted.

"Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg don't deserve a pat on the back for looking into deeming rates, they deserve a kick in the backside," shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters in Brisbane.

He said the too-high rate had "smashed the household budgets of thousands of Australian pensioners".

The deeming rates were last dropped in 2015 and are as high as 3.25 per cent, depending on individual circumstances.

For those with smaller financial holdings, the rate is 1.75 per cent.

Those changes were worth about $83 a year to more than 770,000 part-pensioners.

Since then, the Reserve Bank of Australia has cut the official cash rate five times to a new record low of one per cent, meaning savings stashed in bank accounts are earning less interest.

But Mr Frydenberg said it didn't necessarily follow that the deeming rate should also drop by 1.25 points since it applies to a whole range of financial assets.

"It's not a straight-line equation, it's not about looking what has the interest rate done and then reducing the deeming rate the same amount," he told reporters.

"For example if you've got shareholdings I mean, the ASX 200 shares have gone up around 12 per cent over the last 12 months."

Deeming rates affect about one-in-four pensioners.