Having a clear plan can help you feel confident and in control about retiring.

Almost 1 in 5 working Australians plan to retire in the next 10 years¹.

But everyone has a different idea of what they want to do in retirement – from action and adventure to spending time with grandchildren. So, it’s important to think about the kind of lifestyle you’d like in retirement.

These 5 steps, that you can take now, can help your retirement plans.

1. When can you access your super?

Know the rules about when you can access the money you’ve saved to spend in retirement. Your super generally isn’t available until you are either:

age 60 and permanently retired or leave your employer

over 65 years old.

2. How much super do you need?

How much super you might need depends on your personal circumstances and the lifestyle you want in retirement.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australian (ASFA) puts together a Retirement Standard that can help. It shows how much money you’ll need to fund either a comfortable or modest standard of living in retirement. It also details the breakdown on what you might spend money on.

These are the September 2024 quarter Retirement Standard figures for couples and singles aged 65-84 who own their own home.

ASFA Retirement Standard	Comfortable lifestyle annual living costs	Modest lifestyle annual living costs
Couple	$73,031	$47,475
Single	$51,814	$32,930

Source: ASFA Retirement Standard, September 2024 quarter.

3. Will you be eligible for government benefits?

As well as your super, you might qualify for the Age Pension or other government benefits. To be eligible for the Age Pension you must meet the age and residency requirements and pass the income and asset test. Check here.

4. Might you continue to work in retirement?

It’s up to you to decide when you retire. There’s an option to start using your super without stopping work entirely, as a rising number of Australians aged more than 65 years are doing².

Check with your super fund to learn more.

5. Get help to retire well, with confidence

If you want advice tailored specifically to you, consider seeking help from a financial adviser on how you can maximise your retirement funds to retire well. You could also seek out more general support, like ART’s Retirement Essentials seminars.

Ready to get started making retirement plans?

You can use ART’s retirement calculator to model how much super you’re on track to end up with, what sort of income you can expect in retirement, and how long your super might last.

Retirement calculator

Important information

This is general information. It’s not based on the specific objectives, financial situation or needs of your business. So think about those things and read the Product Disclosure Statement before you make any decision about our products. Contact us or your payroll provider for a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

Beam is issued by Precision Administration Services Pty Ltd (Precision) (ABN 47 098 977 667, AFSL 246 604). Precision is wholly owned by Australian Retirement Trust Pty Ltd (ABN 88 010 720 840, AFSL 228 975), trustee of Australian Retirement Trust (ABN 60 905 115 063).

Before making a decision on a superannuation fund make sure you read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination.

1. Survey of 1000 Australians carried out by IPSOS on behalf of Australian Retirement Trust, September to November 2023. ↩︎
2. ASFA, February 2021, Rethinking retirement: The impact of demographic change and the pandemic on retirement planning in the 2020s, at superannuation.asn.au ↩︎

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