Retirement age in Australia: it's really three different ages
There's no law that sets when you retire. There's the age your super unlocks, the age the pension starts — and the age your own assets make work optional. Only one of them is up to you.
The age your superannuation can unlock — once you retire, start a transition-to-retirement pension, or (at 65) automatically. It's 60 for practically everyone still working.
The full preservation age guide →When the means-tested Age Pension can begin — 67 for everyone born on or after 1 January 1957. Whether you get it, and how much, depends on two tests.
How the pension tests work →The only retirement age you choose: when your invested assets could cover your life. For some it's 45; for others 65. It's a number you can calculate — and move.
Find your GLOW number →Australia has no compulsory retirement age. What it has is a sequence: your own savings can fund you at any age, your super joins in from 60, and the Age Pension can top things up from 67. Retirement planning is really just deciding which age you're aiming for, and making sure each stretch of the sequence is funded.
The gap most people miss is the one between stopping work and turning 60 — super can't help there, only investments outside it. And the second gap, 60 to 67, is yours and super's to carry before any pension support arrives. Fund those two gaps and "retirement age" becomes whatever age you want it to be. That's the whole GLOW method in one sentence.
The retirement age cluster, in plain English
Preservation age, the three doors in, and the bridge years before 60.
Read the guide →How Centrelink means-tests the pension — and which test will bind you.
Read the guide →How the two layers hand over through retirement, and the moves that help.
Read the guide →The complete guide to making work optional before either official age.
Read the guide →Would you get the Age Pension?
There is no compulsory retirement age — you can stop whenever you can afford to. The two ages that matter are 60 (preservation age, when your super can unlock) and 67 (Age Pension age, when government support can begin).
Yes. From 60, retiring lets you access super — typically as a tax-free income stream. The plan just needs to cover the seven years before the Age Pension becomes available at 67.
The Age Pension age rose in six-month steps from 65, reaching 67 on 1 July 2023. It applies to everyone born on or after 1 January 1957, and there is currently no legislated increase beyond 67.
The same ages as men. Women once had a lower pension age, but it was progressively equalised — today preservation age (60) and Age Pension age (67) apply to everyone regardless of gender.
Yes — twice. An assets test and an income test are both applied, and you receive the lower result. Your home is exempt from the assets test.
Your retirement age is a number you can move.
Build your own plan step by step — or talk it through with us. No pressure, no pitch.