Can you retire at 65 with $300,000 in super?

Retiring at 65 means two years without Age Pension support. The pension doesn't start until 67, so your super has to cover everything in the interim.

With $300,000 in super and spending around $45,000 a year, you'd draw roughly $90,000 from your balance over those two years. After accounting for investment returns on the remaining balance (assuming 7% p.a. balanced returns), you'd arrive at 67 with approximately $240,000–$250,000 in super.

This is an important planning window. The balance you carry into age 67 is the number Centrelink uses to assess your pension entitlements — so what you spend in these two years directly affects your fortnightly payments for the rest of retirement.

One thing working in your favour: super withdrawals after age 60 are completely tax-free (ATO source). There's no tax drag eating into your balance during this bridge period, which means every dollar you draw from super is a dollar you can spend.

When you reach 67 with approximately $250,000 remaining in super, Centrelink assesses your total assets and deemed income to determine your pension rate. For a single homeowner, assessable assets include your super balance plus any cash, investments, and other countable assets — but not your family home.

Assuming $250,000 in super plus $50,000 in other savings, that's roughly $300,000 in total assessable assets. The full Age Pension asset threshold for a single homeowner is approximately $321,500 (2025–26, from Services Australia). Since $300,000 falls below this threshold, the assets test is satisfied for the full pension.

However, Centrelink also applies a separate income test. Your investments are "deemed" to earn a set return regardless of what they actually earn — currently 1.25% on the first $64,200 and 3.25% above that (as at March 2026). On $300,000 in total assets, this produces deemed income of approximately $325 per fortnight, which exceeds the $218/fn free area. The result is a small pension reduction of roughly $54 per fortnight.

Under these modelled conditions, you'd receive a near-full Age Pension of approximately $29,800 per year ($1,147 per fortnight) — slightly below the maximum rate of $31,223/yr. Combined with super drawdowns, total retirement income would be in the range of $45,000–$50,000 per year, depending on spending.

Without any pension support, $300,000 at a $45,000 annual spend runs out around age 72–73. That's only 7–8 years of retirement.

With a near-full Age Pension from 67, the picture changes significantly. The pension covers roughly $29,800 per year under these modelled conditions, meaning your super only needs to fund the gap — around $15,000 per year after 67. At that draw rate, with balanced investment returns, your super can stretch into your late 80s or beyond.

The calculator above shows this year by year. You can see the inflection point at age 67 where the drawdown rate drops sharply as pension income takes over most of the heavy lifting.

The ATO sets minimum drawdown rates that increase with age — from 5% at age 65 to 6% at 75 and 7% at 80 (ATO schedule). With a pension supplementing your spending, actual drawdowns can stay close to the minimum, preserving your balance longer.

These projections use a balanced return assumption of 7% per year. In practice, several factors could shift your outcome significantly.

Market returns matter most in the early years. A poor sequence of returns in the first 2–3 years of retirement — even if long-term averages hold — can cut your runway by 5 or more years. This is known as sequence-of-returns risk, and it's more dangerous with a smaller starting balance.

Spending shocks are the other major variable. Unexpected health costs, major home repairs, or helping adult children can accelerate drawdowns. Even a single $30,000 expense in the bridge years meaningfully reduces your balance at 67.

On the upside, part-time work changes the equation. Even two days a week at $200 per day for two years adds roughly $40,000 to your retirement savings — enough to push your runway several years further. You can model retiring at 62 with $300K to see how a few more years of work affects the outcome.

Downsizing your home is another lever. Selling and buying something smaller can free up $200,000 or more, though this also changes your homeowner status for pension purposes. See our downsizing guide for how this affects your Age Pension. The pension is indexed to wages and CPI, so its real purchasing power holds over time — unlike a fixed drawdown from super.

The projections above assume you own your home outright. If you're renting, the numbers shift in two ways.

First, the Age Pension assets test thresholds are higher for non-homeowners — approximately $579,500 for a single renter (vs $321,500 for homeowners). This means renters can hold more in assessable assets and still qualify for a full or near-full pension. Second, renters may receive Rent Assistance on top of the base pension — currently up to $188.20 per fortnight for a single person.

However, renters also have higher ongoing costs. Median rent in Australian capitals for a one-bedroom unit is roughly $400–$550 per week ($20,000–$28,000 per year), which significantly reduces the amount of pension and super income available for other living expenses.

The net effect: renters receive a more generous pension, but the extra payment rarely covers the full cost of rent. We have a separate scenario page for renting at 65 with $300K that models this in detail.

If you're retiring as a couple, Centrelink assesses your combined assets and income together. The couple homeowner assets test lower threshold is $481,500 (2025–26) and the full couple pension is approximately $47,070 per year combined — significantly more than double the single renter rate, though not quite double the single homeowner rate.

A couple both aged 65 with $300,000 combined in super would be in a strong position under the assets test. However, if each partner has $300,000 ($600,000 combined), the couple's total assessable assets push closer to — or above — the couple threshold, and pension eligibility changes.

The calculator lets you model couple scenarios by adding your partner's details. You can also explore couple scenarios at different balances to see how combined super affects pension eligibility and runway.

This page uses standard assumptions — $45,000 annual spend, $50,000 in other assets, balanced returns. Your situation is almost certainly different.

The most useful next step is to enter your real numbers. Your actual super balance, spending, other assets, and whether you own your home all affect the outcome. The full calculator takes about two minutes and gives you a personalised year-by-year projection.

If you're still working, the full calculator lets you model transition-to-retirement scenarios — where you draw a small pension from super while adjusting your contributions. Different combinations produce different tax and balance outcomes depending on your situation.

Super fund fees also affect long-term outcomes. At a $300,000 balance, the difference between a 0.7% and a 1.2% fee is approximately $1,500 per year — a gap that compounds over time. ASIC's MoneySmart website has tools to compare super fund fees. You can also explore other retirement scenarios to see how different ages and balances compare.