RETIREMENT PLANNING GUIDE  |  EPG WEALTH

A practical guide for Australians aged 45–60 who want to make the most of the time they still have.

 

If retirement is somewhere between five and fifteen years away, you’re sitting in what financial planners often call the ‘golden window’ — a period where you still have time to make a meaningful difference to your retirement outcome, but the finish line is close enough to plan around.

The decisions you make in this window — how much you contribute to super, how it’s invested, how you structure your income — can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time you finish work. Yet many Australians in this age group are still running on autopilot, relying solely on their employer’s Super Guarantee (SG) contributions without reviewing whether that’s actually enough.

This guide walks you through the key strategies worth considering in the years before retirement, with practical numbers and examples based on current rules.

 

 

1. Are You Actually On Track?

The first question to ask is a blunt one: based on your current super balance and projected contributions, what income will you actually have in retirement?

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) publishes quarterly benchmarks for what a comfortable retirement costs. As at early 2026, those figures are approximately:

 

Household Type	Comfortable (annual)	Modest (annual)
Single person	~$52,000	~$32,500
Couple (combined)	~$73,000	~$46,600

Source: ASFA Retirement Standard. Figures approximate and updated quarterly. Assumes full or part Age Pension eligibility and homeownership.

 

These figures are useful as a starting point, but they’re averages. If you plan to travel extensively, help your children financially, or have significant health costs, your personal number could be considerably higher.

A widely used benchmark from the Actuaries Institute suggests that 65–75% of your pre-retirement income per year is adequate for most people to maintain a similar standard of living. That figure is lower than 100% because in retirement you’re no longer saving for retirement, your mortgage is typically paid off, children are grown, and super income is tax-free once you’re over 60.

 

How much super will you need?

The required balance depends heavily on when you retire, how long you live, how your super is invested, and what other income you have. The table below gives ballpark figures based on recent modelling:

 

Retirement Income Target	Approx. balance needed (retire at 67)	Notes
$50,000/yr (single)	$300,000–$450,000	Assumes part Age Pension
$73,000/yr (couple)	$500,000–$700,000 combined	Assumes part Age Pension
$80,000/yr (single)	$700,000–$1,000,000	Modest Age Pension or none
$100,000/yr (single)	$1,200,000+	Unlikely to receive Age Pension

Indicative only. Based on account-based pension modelling. Actual requirements depend on investment returns, inflation, other assets, and longevity. Seek personal financial advice.

 

If your balance is behind where it needs to be, the strategies below are designed to help close that gap.

 

2. Boosting Contributions: The Most Powerful Lever

Superannuation is the most tax-effective savings vehicle available to most Australians. Money contributed as concessional (before-tax) contributions is taxed at just 15% inside super, compared to marginal tax rates that can reach 47% for higher earners. In your pre-retirement years, maximising contributions is often the single highest-impact action you can take.

 

The contribution caps (2025–26)

There are two types of contributions, each with annual limits:

 

Contribution Type	2025–26 Annual Cap	What’s included
Concessional (before-tax)	$30,000	Employer SG, salary sacrifice, personal deductible contributions
Non-concessional (after-tax)	$120,000	Personal contributions from after-tax money (eligibility rules apply)

From 1 July 2026, caps will rise to $32,500 (concessional) and $130,000 (non-concessional) as a result of indexation.

 

Important: Your employer’s Super Guarantee contributions (now 12% of ordinary earnings as of July 2025) count toward your concessional cap. If your employer is contributing $15,000 per year in SG, you have $15,000 of remaining cap space for additional concessional contributions.

 

Salary sacrifice: the workhorse strategy: Salary sacrifice is one of the most widely used and effective ways to boost super. Rather than receiving part of your salary as take-home pay (where it’s taxed at your marginal rate), you direct it pre-tax into super, where it’s taxed at just 15%.

 

Example: The tax saving from salary sacrifice   Sarah earns $120,000 per year. Her employer contributes $14,400 in SG (12%), leaving her $15,600 in available concessional cap space. She salary sacrifices $15,000 per year into super.   Without salary sacrifice: $15,000 is taxed at 39% (37% + 2% Medicare Levy) = $5,850 in tax. With salary sacrifice: that $15,000 is taxed at 15% in super = $2,250. Annual tax saving: ~$3,600. Over 10 years, that’s over $36,000 in tax saved — before compounding returns.

 

Catch-up contributions: a powerful tool for those who’ve fallen behind

One of the most useful — and underused — rules in Australian super is the ability to carry forward unused concessional contribution cap space from previous years and use it in a single year. This is sometimes called catch-up contributions or carry-forward contributions.

It’s especially relevant for people who:

• Took time off work to raise children or care for family members
• Were self-employed or had irregular income in earlier years
• Simply didn’t maximise their contributions in the past
• Recently received a bonus, inheritance, or proceeds from a property sale

 

If your total super balance was below $500,000 at 30 June of the prior financial year, you can carry forward unused concessional cap amounts from the previous five financial years and contribute them on top of the current year’s $30,000 cap.

 

Example: Making the most of unused cap space   James is 52 with a total super balance of $320,000. He had a career break and made only modest contributions for several years. His unused concessional cap space from the past five years totals $55,000.   In 2025–26, James can contribute: $30,000 (current year cap) + $55,000 (carried forward) = $85,000 in concessional contributions. At his marginal tax rate of 39%, this strategy could save him over $20,000 in tax in a single year — while significantly boosting his retirement balance.   Note: 2025–26 is the last year to use unused cap space from 2020–21. Those amounts expire on 30 June 2026.

 

You can check your available carry-forward amounts in your ATO online account via myGov. The ATO tracks these automatically based on your super fund reporting.

 

Non-concessional contributions and the bring-forward rule

If you have after-tax money you’d like to invest in super — from an inheritance, a property sale, or accumulated savings — non-concessional contributions allow you to do so. The annual cap is $120,000 in 2025–26.

The ‘bring-forward rule’ allows eligible people under 75 to contribute up to three years’ worth of the non-concessional cap in a single year — currently up to $360,000 (rising to $390,000 from 1 July 2026). Your total super balance must be below relevant thresholds to access this.

This can be a powerful one-off strategy for people who have recently come into a lump sum and want to shelter it inside super’s tax-advantaged environment ahead of retirement.

 

 

3. Reviewing Your Investment Strategy

Many Australians set their super investment option when they first joined a fund and have never reviewed it since. In the 5–15 years before retirement, your investment strategy deserves serious attention.

The core tension in pre-retirement investing is this: you need enough growth to keep building your balance, but you also need to manage the risk of a sharp market downturn significantly reducing your savings just before you finish work. This is known as sequence of returns risk.

What is sequence of returns risk?

A 30% market drop when you have 15 years to go is recoverable — markets have time to rebound and you continue making contributions. The same drop in the final two years before retirement is far more damaging, because there’s no time to recover and you’re drawing down your balance rather than adding to it.

This is why many advisers recommend gradually shifting toward a more diversified investment mix as retirement approaches — not abandoning growth assets entirely, but reducing the proportion of your balance that is exposed to sharp short-term volatility.

Practical considerations

• Lifecycle or target-date options: Some super funds offer these automatically, adjusting your asset allocation as you age
• Balanced to growth shift review: If you’re currently in a high-growth option (85%+ shares), it may be worth reviewing as you approach retirement
• Keep some growth exposure: Completely moving to cash or conservative bonds is often not appropriate — retirees today may live 25–30 years, and inflation will erode purchasing power over time
• Review with a professional: The right mix depends on your other assets, income, risk tolerance, and plans

 

According to SuperRatings, balanced pension funds returned an average of 7.5% per year over the 10 years to February 2025, net of fees. Past performance doesn’t predict the future, but it’s a useful context for understanding what growth assets have historically delivered.

 

 

4. Transition to Retirement (TTR)

Once you reach your preservation age (currently 60 for most Australians), you can access a Transition to Retirement (TTR) income stream while still working. TTR strategies were substantially changed in 2017 when the tax-free earnings environment for TTR accounts was removed.

TTR strategies can still make sense for some people — particularly those looking to reduce their working hours while maintaining income, or who want to salary sacrifice more aggressively while drawing a TTR pension to top up take-home pay. But the numbers need to be modelled carefully for each individual.

 

Is a TTR strategy right for you?   Whether a TTR income stream adds value depends on your income, super balance, tax position, and retirement timeline. It’s one area where a personalised modelling exercise is essential. Speak with a financial adviser before implementing a TTR strategy to ensure it genuinely benefits your position after fees and tax.

 

 

5. Spouse Contributions and Equalising Balances

If your partner has a significantly lower super balance — which is common where one partner has taken time out of the workforce — there are strategies specifically designed to address this.

Spouse contribution tax offset: If your spouse earns less than $40,000 per year, you may be eligible for a tax offset of up to $540 per year by making after-tax contributions to their super. The offset is 18% of contributions up to $3,000. While modest, it rewards couples who proactively build the lower-balance partner’s retirement savings.

Contribution splitting: You can split up to 85% of your annual concessional contributions to your spouse’s super account. This can help equalise balances over time, which matters for several reasons:

• Two smaller balances can often access more Age Pension than one large balance under means testing
• Each partner may be able to fully use the transfer balance cap in retirement ($2 million in 2025–26, rising to $2.1 million from July 2026)
• The lower-balance partner may also be able to make full non-concessional contributions

 

6. Understanding the Age Pension

Many Australians assume they won’t receive the Age Pension because they have super. In reality, most retirees receive at least a part Age Pension, because the means test allows for substantial assets before the pension phases out.

The maximum Age Pension as at March 2025 is $29,874 per year for singles and $45,037 per year for couples combined. Even a partial entitlement of $10,000–$15,000 per year significantly reduces the drawdown pressure on your super balance and can extend your savings by years.

Understanding the Age Pension means test is a key part of pre-retirement planning because it affects:

• How you should structure assets inside and outside super
• Whether drawing down super in early retirement (before Age Pension eligibility) makes sense for your position
• How investment properties, shares, and other assets interact with the means test
• The optimal timing for accessing super and applying for the pension

 

7. Downsizer Contributions

If you own your home and are considering downsizing in or around retirement, there’s a specific super contribution strategy worth knowing.

From age 55, if you’ve owned your home for at least 10 years, you can contribute up to $300,000 per person ($600,000 per couple) from the sale proceeds into super as a ‘downsizer contribution’. These contributions sit entirely outside the normal concessional and non-concessional caps.

For couples in particular, this can be a meaningful way to significantly boost combined super balances in the final years before retirement — particularly if both partners are eligible.

 

Important: The family home is not counted in the Age Pension assets test   Moving assets from your home into super via a downsizer contribution does bring those funds within the super system — and eventually the assets test. It’s worth modelling the interaction carefully, particularly if you’re close to Age Pension eligibility thresholds.

 

 

Your Pre-Retirement Planning Checklist

Here’s a practical summary of actions worth reviewing in the 5–15 years before retirement:

• Check your current super balance and project what it will be at your target retirement age
• Review your concessional contribution cap usage — are you salary sacrificing enough?
• Log into myGov to check your carry-forward concessional cap amounts (especially if your balance is under $500,000)
• Review your super investment option — is it appropriate for your age and timeline?
• Consider whether you and your partner’s super balances should be equalised
• Understand the Age Pension assets and income test thresholds and how your assets interact with them
• If over 55 and considering downsizing, explore whether a downsizer contribution strategy applies
• Get a personalised financial plan that models your specific retirement projection

 

 

Ready to See Exactly Where You Stand?

The strategies in this guide are well-established, but applying them correctly to your own situation requires a personalised approach. The right contribution level, investment mix, and timing all depend on your income, assets, family situation, and the retirement you’re planning for.

 

Talk to EPG Wealth   EPG Wealth is a boutique, self-licensed financial planning firm based in Sydney. We provide flat-fee, commission-free advice — which means our recommendations are always in your interest, not influenced by product incentives.   If you’re within 5–15 years of retirement, now is the time to get a clear, personalised picture of where you’re headed — and what you can do to improve your outcome.   Book a consultation at epgwealth.com.au or call us today to discuss your situation.

 

Click here to organise a complimentary 20-minute phone call with an EPG Wealth adviser.

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General Advice Warning

Any advice in this article is general in nature only and has not been tailored to your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. Before acting on any information in this article, you should consider its appropriateness to your own circumstances and seek personal financial advice. Figures in this article are current as at March 2026 and are subject to change. This article is intended for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personal financial advice. EPG Wealth Pty Ltd is a self-licensed financial advice firm — AFSL details available at epgwealth.com.au.