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Financial Balance Group

What is the retirement age in Australia?

When will you be ready to retire? 

There are two important ages you need to consider when thinking about retirement – preservation age when you are eligible to start drawing on your super and Age Pension age when you are eligible to receive the Age Pension. 

Age Pension age

This is the age you qualify to receive Government Age Pension benefits. The current Age Pension age is 66.5 but this could be higher based on your date of birth as shown in the table below.

If you were born between

You can receive the Aged Pension when you are:

1 January 1954 to 30 June 1955

66 years

1 July 1955 to 31 December 1956

66 years and 6 months

On or after 1 January 1957

67 years


To be eligible to receive the Age Pension you must also meet the income and assets tests.

Preservation age

You can access your super when you reach age 65. If you are under age 65, you can also access your super if you reach preservation age and have retired from the workforce.

Your preservation age depends on the year you were born, see the table below.

If you were born between

Your preservation age is

Before 1 July 1960

55

1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961

56

1 July 1961 to 30 June 1962

57

1 July 1962 to 30 June 1963

58

1 July 1963 to 30 June 1964

59

After 30 June 1964

60

 

With statistics showing us that Australians are living longer than ever, chances are you could spend a very long time in retirement.

Ensuring that your savings last as long as you do is a key question when considering retirement.

 

Source: Challenger