Available money means cash on hand but does not include reasonable amounts of money held to cover day to day expenses.

Deposit money means the credit balance of accounts held with financial institutions, including:

• savings and cheque accounts,
• term deposits,
• cash management accounts,
• mortgage offset accounts,
• money in solicitor's trust accounts, and
• income equalisation deposits.

An investment is a managed investment if:

• the money or property invested is paid by the investor directly or indirectly to a body corporate or into a trust fund,
• the assets that represent the money or property invested (the invested assets) are not held in the names of investors,
• the investor does not have effective control over the management of the invested assets, and
• the investor has a legally enforceable right to share in any distribution of income or profits derived from the invested assets.

For a full definition see also:

Sections 5J(1A), 5J(1B) and 5J(1C) of the VEA.

A listed security is an investment in a public company listed on an Australian or a foreign stock exchange and includes:

• ordinary, preference, partly paid, contributing, and deferred dividend shares,
• convertible notes,
• options,
• rights,
• futures,
• warrants and endowment warrants, and
• share ratio contracts.

The following investments all meet the definition of a loan:

• debentures,
• government and semi-government bonds,
• bank bills
• commercial bills,
• non-convertible notes, and
• capital notes.

Note – a person is not treated as having made a loan merely because:

• the person has an account with a financial institution, or
• the person has paid an entry contribution.

An unlisted security includes:

• ordinary, preference, partly paid, contributing, and deferred dividend shares,
• convertible notes,
• options,
• rights,
• futures, and
• warrants and endowment warrants

in a:

• public company that is not listed on a stock exchange, or
• cooperative.

Bullion means:

• gold, silver and platinum bar, ingot and nugget holdings, or
• coins, medals and decorations held for investment purposes and containing those metals.

An income stream is an asset-tested short term income stream if the term of the income stream is five years or less and it is not any of the following:

• an asset-test exempt income stream;
• an asset-tested income stream (long term); or
• an asset-tested income stream (lifetime).

Legislation: subsection 5J(1) Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986

An income stream is an asset-tested long term income stream if it is:

• not an asset-test exempt income stream;

• and has:
  • a specified term greater than 5 years (i.e. not for the life of an individual or individuals);
  • a specified term of 5 years or less, that is equal to or greater than the purchaser's life expectancy; or
  • the income stream pays for the life of the individual or individuals and was purchased or acquired before 1 July 2019.

Note: income streams that pay for the life of an individual or individuals, purchased or acquired on or after 1 July 2019, are assessed as asset-tested lifetime income streams.

Legislative reference: subsection 5J(1) Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986