Retirement planning in Australia.
Retirement planning in Australia, all in one place: your super, the Age Pension, aged care, what to do with the house, and where property fits. One adviser across the lot, instead of five separate conversations that never quite join up.
Retirement is never one decision.
It is a pile of decisions — super, tax, Centrelink, property, aged care — and they all pull on each other. Changing one without looking at the rest is how most people end up worse off.
A downsizer contribution interacts with the Centrelink assets test. A transition-to-retirement pension interacts with concessional contributions. An SMSF property purchase changes what you can do once you are drawing a pension. The plan has to see all of it at once.
The idea is simple. One adviser writes one document covering super, aged care and property. Reviewed every year, and changed when the rules do. That is the whole arrangement. The longer retirement planning guide covers each lever in turn.
How each discipline contributes.
Superannuation and pension phase
Building it up, easing out of work, and turning super into an income. Which fund, what to put in and when, and how to switch from saving to spending.
Centrelink and aged care
How the Age Pension is worked out, the rules on giving money away, putting house money into super, and how to pay for aged care when it comes.
SMSF and property
When running your own super fund helps and when it doesn't, and how property inside super fits into your retirement income.
From balance sheet to drawdown.
Three stages across the retirement runway and into pension phase.
Where you stand today
We lay out everything: every super account, what you have invested, property, debt, anything you expect to inherit, and what you actually spend. The plan gets written off that.
The transition
Easing out of work, switching super into pension mode, putting house money in if that suits, and running the Centrelink numbers on paper before anything is locked in.
Drawdown and review
Taking your income from the right pot in the right order, with a plan for aged care if it comes. Reviewed every year against rule changes and what you are really spending.
Common retirement planning questions.
It depends on what you spend, not on a number in a headline. The industry's “comfortable retirement” figure is a starting point, but the real answer comes out of your own bills. Plenty of people retire happily on well under it. Others need more. We work it out on paper instead of quoting an average at you.
Five to ten years before you want to stop is the sweet spot. Earlier than that is still useful for super. After 60 it stops being about building the balance and starts being about the order you spend it in, and the Age Pension.
From about 60 you can start drawing an income from your super while you are still working. It can help with tax and with getting more into super in the last few years. It is not automatic and it does not suit everyone, so we run the numbers before suggesting it.
If you are 55 or over, you can put up to $300,000 from selling your home into super without it counting against the usual limits. It is one of the most under-used rules going. It doesn't suit everyone though, and what it does to your Age Pension needs working out before the house is on the market — not after.
Sometimes. It suits people with a decent balance who want a say in what it is invested in, or who want to own property inside super. It costs more to run and the legal duties are real, so it is not for everyone. One thing to know: since 10 August 2026 a fund can no longer borrow to buy a residential property. It can still buy one outright with its own cash, and commercial borrowing is unaffected. We are licensed to advise either way. See the SMSF borrowing guide for the rules around property inside a fund.
Whether to pay for the room as a big refundable lump sum or a daily fee, what the care fees will be, what happens to the house, and the family conversation that has to happen before any of it is signed. Small decisions here cost or save tens of thousands.
It depends on what you own, what you earn, and whether you own the home you live in. Even a part pension comes with the Pensioner Concession Card, which is worth having on its own. We run your numbers against the current cut-offs rather than leaving you to guess.
Where to read next
- Retirement planningAccumulation, TTR and pension phase strategy.
- Superannuation adviceFund choice, consolidation, contribution strategy.
- Aged care planningRAD and DAP modelling, means testing.
- Centrelink optimisationAge Pension assets and income test work.
- SMSF advice and lendingRunning your own fund, and borrowing inside it.
- Tax-effective investingStructure, franking and gearing in retirement.
Ready to map the retirement?
The first conversation is free and you're not committing to anything. Bring the super statements and the household budget.