{"id":624303,"date":"2026-04-22T21:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624303\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:03:51","slug":"get-clued-up-about-your-super-before-retiring-industry-super-australia-retirement-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624303\/","title":{"rendered":"Get clued up about your super before retiring | Industry Super Australia: Retirement ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2024-25, 156,000 new retirees<\/a> joined the Australians already enjoying their post-work years, bringing the total number of retirees up to 4.5 million.<\/p>\n

For those still looking forward to retirement, there\u2019s plenty to think about, such as what hobbies to take up, where to travel, and which bucket list items to tick off first. Before the retirement party, though, it\u2019s also important to do some planning around superannuation. There\u2019s a lot more to super than just turning 65 and cashing out.<\/p>\n

So what should future retirees learn about their super before finishing work? The first point to know is that there\u2019s plenty of advice available. We turned to the super fund expert Andrew Jewell, the executive manager of financial advice and education with First Super<\/a>. With his expertise, here are five more things you should know about your super before retiring.<\/p>\n

An illustrated graphic indication the following stat: In 2024-25, 156,000 people aged 45 years and over retired, with an average age of 63.8 years.<\/a>Estimate how much super you\u2019ll need to retire<\/p>\n

Retirement, like working life, looks different for all of us. With everyone having such varying lifestyles, plans and expenses, it\u2019s hard to generalise about how much super people will need when they retire.<\/p>\n

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) offers a guide<\/a>, suggesting how much retirees would need for \u201cmodest\u201d and \u201ccomfortable\u201d retirements. This can be helpful, but you can get more accurate figures, Jewell says, by using retirement calculators<\/a> or super health checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey take the person\u2019s superannuation situation now, with their partner, where applicable, and they project that out and say: if you\u2019re this age and you want this level of income, this is how long your super is going to last,\u201d Jewell says. Many calculators and health checks also factor in the age pension.<\/p>\n

An illustrated graphic prompting: Use a retirement calculator to help you arrive at an estimate.<\/a>Understand how a transition to retirement strategy works<\/p>\n

Transition to retirement (TTR) is a way to access your super before retirement. It becomes an option after you\u2019ve hit the preservation age<\/a> of 60 (for people born on or after 1 July 1964). Pre-retirees can use a TTR pension as a tax-free income stream \u2013 either to work less and earn the same, or to boost their regular earnings, or as a way to supplement their wages while they also salary sacrifice to increase their super balance. Jewell says many people are also using TTR pensions to pay off debt before they retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost members want to retire debt free, and people are retiring with debt more and more nowadays,\u201d Jewell says. \u201cIf people are considering using the TTR strategy for that particular approach, it\u2019s best to get some financial advice around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whichever TTR strategy you like the look of, Jewell says it\u2019s best to run your idea by a professional, or use a free online tool, such as the ISA TTR calculator<\/a>. \u201cA lot of people like the idea [of TTR], but it comes down to a basic question: how much do I open the account with, and if appropriate, how much do I contribute back into my super account?\u201d Jewell says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s where advice comes into play.\u201d<\/p>\n

An illustrated graph animates behind the heads of a cartoon couple looking at a computer together.<\/a>Get into the numbers: taxes and pay<\/p>\n

Tax isn\u2019t just something to think about during our working lives; it can affect us in retirement, too. Depending on where you are in your retirement journey and how you intend to retire and draw down your super, there are plenty of potential tax scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members are quite surprised to learn that once they\u2019ve moved into the [superannuation] pension account, the earnings are tax free,\u201d Jewell says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other one they really don\u2019t necessarily give consideration to is that the age pension is taxable income.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewell also points out that super taken as a lump sum and put into a bank savings account can trigger income tax even in retirement due to interest earnings, and that people may be eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset<\/a>, which can reduce their income tax. As always, the key to navigating the complexity is to speak with a professional.<\/p>\n

Research your options for combining super and the age pension<\/p>\n

Super and the age pension aren\u2019t mutually exclusive; they\u2019re designed to work together. But working out how to combine them to get the best result can be complicated. Centrelink uses assets and income tests to calculate how much age pension you are entitled to, and your super (as an asset, or as income) is factored in to those tests. To get the most out of the age pension while still drawing super, take a look at tools such as the ISA age pension calculator<\/a>, and tap into the experience of industry experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about getting your head around the income test and the asset test,\u201d Jewell says of combining super and the age pension. \u201cIf people want advice on their age pension only, we refer a lot of our members to Centrelink and get them to talk to a financial information services officer. It\u2019s a free service.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to figure it out alone \u2013 seek super financial advice<\/p>\n

From online super calculators to Centrelink and super fund experts, there\u2019s a huge range of resources out there to help you understand your super. If you have questions or concerns about super and retirement, Jewell says those resources are worth leaning on, even if you don\u2019t think you have a high enough balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think they\u2019ve got to have a large amount of money, like a million dollars, before they get financial advice,\u201d Jewell says. \u201cThey don\u2019t realise $100,000 is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get your head around retirement at retiringbasics.com<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

The information provided in this article is of a general nature only and does not constitute financial or other advice. It is important to consider personal objectives, financial situations or particular needs when making financial decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2024-25, 156,000 new retirees joined the Australians already enjoying their post-work years, bringing the total number of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-624303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}