Help to access super, the Age Pension, and other supports to live a secure and comfortable retirement.
Managing your income can be a daunting task at any time, let alone when stepping back from work and looking to retire. Withdrawing money from superannuation, understanding the age pension, and navigating health costs are just a few of the financial challenges that retirees may face.
In this article, we explore some options for managing income as a retiree, including community transport and concessions, aged care, and state and territory-specific resources.
Income in retirement
In Australia, superannuation and the Age Pension are the two main ways people are supported in retirement.
Superannuation
As superannuation is a contributory system, any inequalities in the wages earned through people’s working lives are continued into retirement. This is particularly true for women who tend to be paid less than men and who are more likely to have taken time out of paid work, often due to having children and unpaid work.
Age Pension
The Age Pension is a government payment intended to support people in their later years. Some issues with the Age Pension are that it’s often set too low for people to keep up with the cost of living and that payments may be reduced due to the value of a person’s assets.
Withdrawing money from super
Superannuation is a complicated system, and depending on your situation, how you can withdraw your super may vary. The Age Pension provides a modest income. Homeowners can make ends meet, but pensioners in private rentals find it hard to make ends meet.
Eligibility requirements
First, you need to meet certain eligibility requirements before you can withdraw super. These include:
- reaching what is called the ‘preservation age’ – between 55-60 years of age, depending on your date of birth
- retiring or transitioning to retirement – you retire from the workforce or choose to begin a transition-to-retirement income stream while still working
- turning 65 years old – you can access your super even if you haven’t retired
What are the withdrawal options?
Once you meet the eligibility requirements, there are several options for withdrawing super. You may choose to do this in a:
- lump sum – receive your super as a lump sum payment
- regular income stream – set up a regular income stream to receive your super payments on a periodic basis
- combination of both – choose a combination of a lump sum and regular income stream
Are superannuation withdrawals taxed?
The tax implications of withdrawing super depend on your age, employment status and your withdrawal method.
Where to find more information
Withdrawing and using your super on the Australian Taxation Office’s website
Moneysmart.gov.au’s guide on getting your super
📌 To learn how super works to support your financial goals, see our understanding superannuation page
Understanding the Age Pension
If you’re over 67 as of 1 July 2023, and you pass the income and asset tests, you might be eligible for the Age Pension.
Do you qualify?
- find more about Age Pension eligibility
- read about the Age Pension and other financial supports at Moneysmart
- search Centrelink’s Payment and Service Finder tool to see if you qualify for any other support payments
Dealing with Centrelink
Like all income support in Australia, the Age Pension is managed by Centrelink. Many people find dealing with Centrelink difficult. Applying for payments can be confusing. Most payments are set too low and have overly strict requirements.
📌 See our dealing with Centrelink page.
Transport and concessions
Transport is an essential part of life; this is just as true in retirement as in our working life. Wherever we need to go we need some way to get there. Aside from walking, most ways of getting around cost money. Being retired shouldn’t prevent us from being able to get around and do the things we’d like to.
Public transport ticket concessions
All States and Territories have concession transport fares on their public transport networks. Concession schemes are designed to make travelling cheaper for younger people, students, seniors, carers, people with a Low-Income Health Care Card, people with disability, and refugees.
Learn more about saving on transport in your state:
| Australian Capital Territory | Transport Canberra |
| New South Wales | Ticket eligibility and concessions |
| Northern Territory | Bus tickets and fares |
| Queensland | Concessions – Translink |
| South Australia | Adelaide Metro fares |
| Tasmania | Concessions – Transport Services |
| Victoria | Concessions – Public Transport Victoria |
| Western Australia | Concessions WA – Travel and Transport Transperth Concessions guide (Perth) Transwa Concession (Regional) |
Community transport
Local councils and other community organisations often run affordable transport services for eligible people, especially seniors and people living with disability.
Where to find information
Search ‘community transport’ on your local government website.
Search ‘transport’ at the Ask Izzy website.
📌 See our transport page.
More concessions and rebates in your state or territory
You’ll find that a broader range of concessions, rebates, and subsidies are also provided by the states and territories.
| Australian Capital Territory | Cost of living assistance |
| New South Wales | Concessions, rebates and assistance |
| Northern Territory | Concessions and payments |
| Queensland | Concessions |
| South Australia | Concessions |
| Tasmania | Discounts and Concessions |
| Victoria | Concessions and benefits |
| Western Australia | Concessions |
Financial support for when you’re unwell
Keeping healthy can be costly, especially in our later years. In fact, a person in poor health is more likely to experience financial hardship and someone experiencing financial hardship is more likely to be in poor health.
In addition, you may find yourself on the end of some very long waiting lists. If you don’t have private health insurance, you could be waiting for years for ‘elective’ surgeries. In addition, finding clinics that will ‘bulk bill’ is difficult now.
We’ve compiled the following resources to help you manage the cost of healthcare and navigate long-term illness.
📌 See our healthcare costs page.
State and federal assistance
Australia’s state and federal governments run healthcare assistance schemes which include dental health, eye care, ambulance travel, chronic disease management, sexual health, and aged care. You might find there are long waiting lists and other issues with some of these schemes. If you are eligible, you can contact Medicare or ask your doctor for more information on financial assistance.
Renegotiating terms of payment
When you’re trying to focus on rest and recovery while having trouble paying your medical bills, it isn’t easy to negotiate payments. That said, you have several options to explore that could reduce, postpone, or spread out payments.
Speak to your doctor about the following:
- payment extension
- payment plan
- payment matching
- concession information
- financial counselling service referral
Where to find information
National Debt Helpline – How to negotiate bills
📌 See our paying bills and negotiating page.
Support for long-term illnesses
Some government departments and community organisations run support services for people living with chronic illnesses. You might find the following helpful, although this list is not exhaustive.
| Condition or issue | Resource |
| Cancer | Cancer Council |
| Diabetes | National Diabetes Services Scheme Services, NDSS |
| Back pain, arthritis, and osteoporosis | Musculoskeletal Australia support Musculoskeletal Australia financial support |
| Asthma | National Asthma Council Australia links 10 ways to cut your asthma costs |
| Mental health | Beyond Blue Financial wellbeing |
| Cardiovascular disease | Heart Foundation Sorting out finances after a heart attack |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | Lung Foundation Australia |
Managing related expenses
Australian governments run support services if you need to travel for medical treatment. To learn about other support services around managing costs, take a look at financial hardship assistance in aged care.
📌 See our healthcare costs page.
More resources
Aged care services
My Aged Care is run by the Australian Government and provides access to a host of aged care services which have eligibility requirements. You can learn about the types of aged care services, where to get help, and how to make a plan at their website.
Specifically, you can:
- check your eligibility for aged care
- apply for an assessment
- estimate the fees you might have to pay for a Home Care package or an aged care home
- find a provider
- find support for financial hardship
- create a four-step personalised guide
Aged care services often come with long waiting lists, and unfortunately, it isn’t always as simple as calling up to get help.
Visit My Aged Care to find out more or call them on 1800 200 422.
Emergency relief through the ‘Ask Izzy’ resource
Ask Izzy is a website that connects people in need with everyday necessities, housing, a meal, money help, family violence support, counselling, and more, all around Australia. It’s free and anonymous. If you’re on the Telstra or Vodafone mobile networks, you can access Ask Izzy on your phone even if you don’t have credit or access to wifi.
Managing on a low income
If you are having trouble paying for everyday expenses, you may be in ‘financial hardship’. Today, many Australians are living in financial hardship. For many people, incomes have not increased while the cost of living has increased a great deal. Here is some information on managing your expenses on our other pages:
Visit Moneysmart to learn more about managing on a low income/
📌 See our everyday expenses, paying bills , and loans and debt pages.
📌For steps you can take if you feel overwhelmed by money problems, see our financial crisis page.
This information was last updated on 5 June 2023.
The links and resources in this article have been compiled and reviewed by the Brotherhood of St. Laurence. We aren’t responsible for what you’ll find at the links, though we do hope you find the information useful. See our disclaimer if you’d like to know more.
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