If you are an Australian and a senior person, you would definitely want to know the facts about your working status after retirement and after getting an access to your Super. Well, you are not alone. This is a million dollar question and we have brought to you everything you need to know about your retirement, super and your work status:

Your age 60 assures you that you have come to your Preservation Age and it also means that you can commence a TTR (Transition to Retirement) Pension income stream. Through this you can either use up all or some of the balance accumulated in your super and still work.

If you commence the TTR Pension income stream, you can draw between 4 and 10% of the TTR Balance for each financial year. This is fully depending on the pension value on the 1^st of July every year.

The 4% and 10% are the pro-rate that is if you commence the TTR Income Pension in the middle of a financial year.

Below is the formula to calculate the pro-rata:

                Days is Financial Year or the Payment Period X Minimum Annual Amount

Thus, you can make use of the TTR Pension Income Stream in addition to your income from work to cover all your living expenses during your transition to retirement. Otherwise, you can contribute one part of your income from work to your super funds under the Concessional Contribution; this will help reduce the income tax. You must also note that TTR Pension Income does not count to the Transfer Balance Cap.

Option 2:

Your next option to access your super at the age of 60 and still work is by meeting one of the retirement definitions to meet the condition of release purpose of your super. One relevant definition is as follows:

“In the case of a person who has attained the age of 60 – an arrangement under which the member was employed gainfully has to cease and the person attained age 60 on or before the ending of the employment.”

  Meaning: if you terminate any employment arrangement at the age of 60 or after, you will get full access to your superannuation funds that had been accumulated till the point of employment termination. These super savings can be enjoyed as an income and/or lump sum super withdrawal.

Your employment termination does not mean that your eligibility to commence a new work or return to work the next day would be invalid.

You must bear in mind that any further contributions made to your super after you meet the condition of release by terminating an employment arrangement will not be accessible. You would have to meet other conditions to make subsequent contributions to super.

If you still have questions about accessing super, please do contact our Superannuation Experts team. Contact:+61 3 9034 9709