Guides / Retirement Basics
How much super do you need? When can you access it? How do you turn a lump sum into income that lasts 30 years? This hub covers the fundamentals, with links to calculators and articles for each topic.
Australian retirement planning has more moving parts than most people expect:
The ASFA figure is a starting point, not an answer. How much you need depends on your target income, Age Pension entitlement, health, and how long you plan to live.
Read the article →Retiring at 60 means 7 years before the Age Pension and up to 35 years of drawdown. The required balance is significantly higher than most calculators suggest.
Read the article →The decade before retirement is when contributions and compound growth do the most work. The strategies that matter most in your 50s.
Read the article →Account-based pensions, annuities, and a hybrid approach. How to structure income from super, Age Pension, and other assets.
Read the article →Fixed vs dynamic withdrawal. Guardrails, Floor-and-Ceiling, 4% rule. Which approach survives the most historical scenarios?
Read the article →Defaulting to the set-and-forget approach costs most retirees more than they realise. Why active management of drawdown strategy matters.
Read the article →A market crash in year one of retirement permanently impairs your portfolio. The same average return, in a different order, produces completely different outcomes.
Read the article →How did portfolios with different allocations survive the Great Depression, stagflation, the GFC, and Covid? Real historical data from 1928 to 2025.
Read the article →How to use historical scenarios (GFC, stagflation, dotcom) to test whether your retirement plan survives the worst cases, not just the average.
Read the article →Most couples retire years apart. That gap changes Age Pension eligibility, income planning, and the optimal drawdown sequence entirely.
Read the article →Working part-time while drawing a TTR pension. When it works, when it doesn't, and what the numbers actually say.
Read the guide →The assumptions built into most phased retirement plans that quietly erode outcomes. What to watch for.
Read the article →Monte Carlo and historical backtesting across 98 years of data. Enter your balance, target income, and asset allocation. See your survival odds.
Run the Advanced Calculator (2 free runs) →See what happens to your portfolio if you retired in 1929, 1973, 2000, or 2007. Real historical market sequences.
Try the simulator →Compare drawdown strategies and see which produces the best outcome for your balance, income target, and time horizon.
Try the optimizer →Work out your target income in retirement before you start planning. Often the most underestimated number.
Try the calculator →The Advanced Calculator uses 98 years of real Australian and global market data, Monte Carlo simulation, and Age Pension modelling. See your retirement survival odds now, no signup required.
Run My 60-Second Stress-Test See Pro pricing2 free Advanced runs, no signup. Pro from $14.99/month for unlimited scenarios. General information only, not financial advice.
General information only. Not financial, tax or legal advice. SuperCalc Pro Pty Ltd does not hold an AFSL. Consult a licensed financial adviser before making retirement planning decisions.