Written For The Australian - How the ‘grey nomad’ dream can unwittingly jeopardise your Centrelink pension
by James GerrardThu Dec 4 2025
Ever wondered why some grey nomads seem to be living the dream on premium unleaded and a shiny new caravan, while others quietly worry about their next Centrelink statement? The difference often comes down to a few small decisions made before the wheels started turning.
With more than 900,000 caravans on Aussie roads, the nomadic retirement lifestyle is booming. But Centrelink's rules around it are far from intuitive, and getting it wrong can strip thousands from your age pension.
Here's the trap most retirees don't see coming. If you sell the family home, buy a motorhome and lock in a lease at a caravan park, Centrelink may still classify you as a homeowner — which means a much lower assets test threshold of $321,500 for a single before your pension is affected. Keep moving from site to site instead, and that threshold jumps to $579,500 (though the RV itself now counts as an asset).
Even homeowners aren't off the hook. Travel continuously in your RV for more than 12 months and Centrelink flips the script — your house suddenly becomes an assessable asset. For a single with a home worth over $714,500, or a couple over $1,074,000, that means your pension gets switched off entirely.
But here's where it gets interesting. Get the structure right and the numbers can be beautiful. Take a single retiree who sells an $800,000 home, spends $200,000 on a motorhome, and keeps $700,000 in super and cash. Stay mobile, and they sneak under the non-homeowner full pension threshold — pocketing $30,646 in pension plus around $28,000 in interest at 4 per cent. That's nearly $59,000 a year. For couples, it's over $74,000.
My take? The nomadic dream can absolutely work financially, but it demands genuine planning. Home or no home, one site or many, how much you sink into the RV, your relationship status — every lever matters. Pull them in the right order and you've cracked the code.