The best age to retire in Australia depends on your super balance, your health, and what you actually want retirement to look like. There is no single right answer, but there are a few ages that carry real financial weight: 60 (when most Australians can access super tax-free), 67 (when the Age Pension kicks in), and everything in between.
According to the ABS, the average retirement age right now is 63.8, with men retiring at 64.9 and women at 62.7. Most Australians land somewhere in the 60 to 67 window, and for good reason. That window sits between the point where your super becomes accessible and the point where government support begins.
This guide breaks down the real financial trade-offs at each retirement age, what the key milestones mean for your income, and the framework many Australians use to work out their own timing, rather than chasing an arbitrary number.
Please note: All figures and scenarios in this article are approximate and for illustrative purposes only. Individual outcomes will vary based on personal circumstances, investment returns, fees and current government policy. This is general information, not personal advice.
The four ages that matter for retirement in Australia
Understanding these four ages gives you the framework for every retirement timing decision.
Age 55: The minimum age for the downsizer contribution if you sell a home you have owned for 10 or more years. (It was also the old preservation age for Australians born before 1 July 1960, which is why outdated “access super at 55” advice still floats around online. Everyone reaching 55 today waits until 60.)
Age 60: The preservation age for anyone born after 30 June 1964. From 60, you can access your super tax-free once you have met a condition of release (typically retiring from employment). This is the earliest realistic retirement age for most Australians today.
Age 67: When the Age Pension becomes available, subject to income and assets tests. From 20 September 2026, the full Age Pension pays $1,237.70 per fortnight (about $32,180 a year) for singles and $1,866.00 per fortnight (about $48,516 a year) for couples combined. Even a part pension can take real pressure off your super drawdown rate.
Source: Services Australia. These figures are set by the Australian Government and are typically updated each March and September.
Age 75: The last age at which you can make voluntary non-concessional contributions into super. After 75, that door closes.
The gap between 60 and 67 is where most of the planning happens. Those seven years are funded entirely from super and personal savings, with no government support. How well you can bridge that gap is often what determines the best age to retire.
Scott and Phil talked about this tension in Episode 18 of the podcast: “Is 61 the New Retirement Age in Australia?”. They walked through how preservation age actually works and why rushing to access super at 60 is not always the best move.
What the average retirement age tells us
The latest ABS Retirement and Retirement Intentions data shows that 156,000 Australians aged 45 and over retired in the past year. The average actual retirement age was 63.8, with men at 64.9 and women at 62.7.
That puts the typical Australian right in the middle of the super-access-to-pension window. Most people are not waiting until 67. They are retiring when their super balance and circumstances feel right, usually somewhere in their early to mid-60s.
What the average does not tell you is that about 25 per cent of retirees leave work before 60, often because of health problems or redundancy. And a growing number are working past 70. KPMG analysis found that one in four men aged 70 are still in the workforce, up from one in ten just 20 years ago.
The average is useful as a reference point. It is not a target. Your super balance is the biggest factor in choosing the best age to retire.
How your super balance shapes the best age to retire
The ASFA Retirement Standard puts the comfortable retirement lump sum at $630,000 for singles and $730,000 for couples at age 67. That funds annual spending of about $56,166 for singles or $78,998 for couples (June quarter 2026 budgets), assuming you own your home and receive a part Age Pension.
For comparison, the latest ATO Taxation Statistics (2023-24, released June 2026) put the average super balance at 60 to 64 at around $413,700 for men and $327,440 for women, with medians much lower at roughly $236,000 and $175,000. Most Australians approaching retirement are below the comfortable benchmark.
Here is how different balances affect retirement timing:
Under $300,000: Retirement at 60 is possible but tight. You will need the full Age Pension from 67 and a modest lifestyle. Working to 63 to 65 substantially improves the position. See our guides on retiring with $300K or $350K.
$400,000 to $500,000: Retirement at 60 to 62 is workable for homeowners with disciplined spending. The gap years require careful management, but the Age Pension from 67 provides a meaningful income floor. See our guides on retiring with $400K or $500K.
$600,000 to $700,000: At or near the ASFA comfortable standard. Retirement at 60 is genuinely comfortable for homeowners. The gap years are manageable, and the Age Pension supplements a strong position from 67. See our guide on retiring with $700K.
$800,000 and above: Strong position for early retirement. The Age Pension may provide a smaller supplement (higher balances reduce entitlement), but the balance itself sustains a comfortable lifestyle for decades.
Scott and Phil covered the real impact of retiring one year earlier in Episode 19 of the podcast, showing how one year can shift funding from lasting to age 105 to running out at 79 on a modest balance:
Retiring at 60 vs 67: the financial trade-off
Both ages have compelling financial arguments.
Retiring at 60 maximises your active retirement years while giving full access to tax-free super income. But it means seven years of fully self-funded living before the Age Pension starts. On a $500,000 balance, that’s roughly $250,000 to $350,000 drawn down before any government support arrives.
Retiring at 67 means the Age Pension is available immediately, which dramatically reduces how much super needs to do. The same $500,000 balance at 67 with immediate pension support lasts far longer than $500,000 at 60 without it. You also gain seven more years of employer contributions and investment growth.
We generally find the financial sweet spot for many clients lands somewhere in between, around 62 to 65. Close enough to 60 to enjoy active retirement years, close enough to 67 to limit the gap years to three to five rather than seven.
Every extra year you work adds contributions, investment growth and one fewer year of drawdown. The combined impact at this stage is significant.
What is the best age to retire for a woman in Australia?
The retirement picture for women in Australia is different, and the data makes this clear.
Women retire earlier on average (62.7 vs 64.9 for men), live longer (average life expectancy at 65 is approximately 88 for women vs 85 for men), and retire with significantly less super (an average of roughly $327,000 vs $414,000 at age 60 to 64 on the latest ATO data). That means women need their super to stretch roughly three years longer on a smaller starting balance.
For single women in particular, the maths are challenging. A single woman at 62 with $350,000 in super faces a genuinely different equation to a man at 65 with $450,000. She needs her money to last longer, her per-person costs are higher (being single in retirement costs roughly 40 per cent more per person than being half of a couple), and the super gap means she has less to work with.
The practical implications: for many women, the best age to retire is not the same as for their partner. Working one or two extra years, maximising catch-up contributions (the concessional cap is $32,500 for 2026-27, with up to $175,000 available in a single year using carry-forward if your total super balance is under $500,000), and ensuring the investment mix has enough growth to support a longer retirement can all make a significant difference.
Scott and Phil covered the specific challenges women face with super and retirement timing in Episode 17 of the podcast: “Retirement Age Revealed: The Truth for Women”.
When is the best time to retire for tax purposes in Australia?
From a pure tax perspective, the best time to retire is at the end of a financial year, ideally late June. This captures the full year’s employer super contributions and salary sacrifice, allows you to claim deductions for personal super contributions in your final working year, and positions you to sell any investment assets (like an investment property) in the following financial year when your taxable income drops to near zero.
The tax-free threshold for super withdrawals is age 60. Once you have retired and met a condition of release after 60, all super withdrawals are completely tax-free. This is one of the most powerful tax advantages in the Australian system and means that, from a pure tax perspective, retiring at or after 60 is significantly better than retiring before it.
Phil and Dan showed in Episode 10 of the podcast how timing an investment property sale from the last working year to the first retirement year saved one couple $25,000 in CGT. Combined with catch-up contributions, the CGT dropped to $11,000. That’s the kind of difference that financial year timing can make. Specific tax questions belong with your accountant.
For more on how to structure the financial side of retirement timing, see our companion guide on when is the best time to retire in Australia.
Best age to retire for health and longevity
Research on retirement and health shows a mixed picture. Some studies suggest that early retirement is associated with better health outcomes, particularly for people in physically demanding or high-stress jobs. Others find that continued engagement through work, volunteering or structured activities is associated with better cognitive health and longevity.
The practical takeaway for Australians: the best age to retire for health is when your job is no longer supporting your wellbeing, whether that’s because of physical demands, stress or simply a loss of purpose. Staying in a job that damages your health to build a slightly larger super balance is a poor trade if it costs you the active years you were saving for.
At the same time, retiring without a plan for how you’ll spend your time can be harmful. The first two years of retirement are often the hardest, not the easiest, and people who retire with clear structure, social connections and purpose tend to report better health outcomes than those who retire into a vacuum.
A useful framework: plan your most active, travel-heavy, physically demanding retirement activities for the first decade (the “go-go” years). Don’t defer them to “when we have more time.” You’ll have more time but potentially less energy.
The Age Pension changes everything at 67
The Age Pension is the second engine of most Australian retirements. From 20 September 2026, a single homeowner can hold up to $333,000 in assessable assets before the pension starts reducing under the assets test, and a homeowner couple up to $499,000. The part pension cuts out at $745,750 for single homeowners and $1,121,000 for couples (source: Services Australia assets test).
One nuance worth knowing: sitting under those asset thresholds does not automatically mean a full pension, because the income test runs in parallel and deeming applies assumed earnings to financial assets. In practice, the income test often starts trimming the pension for homeowner couples with more than roughly $335,000 in financial assets (around $192,000 for singles), even though the assets test alone would allow more. Whichever test produces the lower pension is the one that applies.
Even a part pension of $10,000 to $15,000 a year extends the life of your super by years. And the Pensioner Concession Card that comes with even a small pension entitlement provides pharmaceutical concessions, utility rebates and transport discounts worth an additional $2,000 to $5,000 per year.
Your drawdown decisions between 60 and 67 directly affect your pension entitlement at 67. Structuring assets well by 67 can mean the difference between a part pension and a full pension, worth thousands of dollars per year. Phil and Dan covered commonly missed Age Pension opportunities in Episode 20 of the podcast. For more on how the system works, see our pension and Centrelink page.
What you can do in the final years to improve your position
If you’re three to seven years from retirement, the window to improve your position is still open.
Maximise contributions. The concessional cap is $32,500 for 2026-27 (source: ATO, current as at October 2026). If your total super balance is under $500,000, catch-up contributions using unused caps from the previous five years can allow up to $175,000 in a single year.
Review your investment mix. At 55 to 62, you still have 5 to 12 years before you’ll need all of your super. A balanced option with growth exposure typically outperforms a conservative option over that timeframe. Phil pointed out in Episode 22 of the podcast that what most funds call “balanced” is really a growth portfolio with 70% or more in growth assets, so check what you’re actually invested in.
Consider working one or two extra years. The financial impact of even one extra year is significant. More contributions, more growth, one fewer year of drawdown. Scott and Phil showed in Episode 19 how one year can change when your money runs out by five or more years.
Build a cash buffer. Before you retire, setting aside one to two years of living expenses in accessible cash protects against sequencing risk in the early drawdown years. Scott and Phil showed in Episode 1 of the podcast how two retirements with the same 6% average return can end 10 years apart purely because of the order the bad years arrive in.
For more on structuring your superannuation and retirement planning, see our service pages. Want to see how your numbers stack up? Try the free Wealthlab super calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best age to retire in Australia? There’s no single best age, but most Australians retire between 60 and 67. Age 60 is when super becomes accessible tax-free. Age 67 is when the Age Pension starts. The average retirement age is 63.8 (men 64.9, women 62.7), and the financially practical window for many people is 62 to 65, balancing active retirement years with a manageable gap before pension support.
What is the best age to retire for a woman? Women retire earlier on average (62.7), live longer (roughly 88 at age 65), and hold lower average super (around $327,000 at 60 to 64 vs $414,000 for men on the latest ATO data). For many women, working one or two extra years and maximising catch-up contributions can significantly improve the outcome. The best age is where balance, life expectancy and personal readiness align, which is often different from a partner’s ideal age.
What is the best age to retire for a man? The average retirement age for Australian men is 64.9. With average super of roughly $414,000 at 60 to 64, many men land between 62 and 65 as their practical retirement point. The same framework applies: super position, Age Pension eligibility at 67, health and what you want retirement to look like.
When is the best time to retire for tax purposes in Australia? Retiring late in the financial year (around June) captures the full year’s employer contributions and salary sacrifice. Selling investment assets in your first retirement year, when taxable income drops to near zero, can save thousands in CGT. Super withdrawals after age 60 are completely tax-free regardless of timing.
What is the ideal retirement age? The ideal retirement age is personal. Financially, many Australians land between 62 and 67, after super is accessible tax-free but before or around when the Age Pension becomes available. Personally, the ideal age is when you’re retiring toward something specific, not just away from work.
Best age to retire for longevity? Research is mixed. Early retirement benefits people leaving physically demanding or high-stress work, while continued engagement through work, volunteering or structured activities supports better cognitive health. The best age for longevity is when you can transition to an active, purposeful retirement, not when you stop doing everything.
Best time of year to retire in Australia? Late June (end of financial year) is generally considered the most tax-effective. You capture the full year’s employer super contributions, can claim deductions for personal contributions, and position yourself to sell investment assets in the following, lower-income financial year. If an investment property sale is part of the plan, that timing can save tens of thousands.
How much super do I need to retire at 60? ASFA puts the comfortable lump sum at $630,000 for singles and $730,000 for couples at age 67, and retiring at 60 means funding seven extra years yourself. On a $500,000 balance at 60, careful drawdown plus Age Pension support from 67 may fund a modest to comfortable retirement for decades, while less than $300,000 at 60 usually calls for tighter planning and possibly part-time work. Individual circumstances vary.
The best age to retire is personal
The financially practical retirement age for most Australians falls somewhere between 60 and 67, early enough to enjoy an active retirement, late enough to grow super and shorten the income gap before the Age Pension. The average sits at 63.8, suggesting most Australians are already threading the needle between super access and pension eligibility.
But the best age isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about whether your health allows you to enjoy the retirement you’ve planned, whether your identity and relationships are ready for the transition, and whether you’re retiring toward something rather than simply away from work..
If any of this has raised questions about your own situation, book a free chat with the Wealthlab team. No pressure, no jargon.or take a retirement quiz
