Good opportunity to withdraw cash from super, page-13

The super vs pension debate - no-one so far has talked about the difference in ages required to access each. For those born later than 1965 or thereabouts, at least you can start generating and getting your tax free self-funded pension income stream from your super fund from age 60.

You have to wait until 67 before you are eligible for the government pension, and they are talking about pushing that up to 70.

So it is absolutely worth focusing on building up a decent super fund - whether self-managed (which is great for some) or managed via a pooled fund, because it gives the option to retire at 60. And of course if you manage to get a decent amount put away by age 60, nothing stops you if you want from running you super balance down between the ages of 60 and 67 to the point where you will still get the full or partial state pension anyway?

I think the sweet spot is to have around $400k in super when you hit 67 - then you get full pension + you can top that up with say an extra $20k per year from the super fund, which you should be able to do for a decade or 2 beyond 67.

Of course if you can end up with $1M+ in super, and manage it well, you should be able to beat the state pension-only lifestyle for decades + maybe even have something left-over to pass on to the kids. And even though $40k-$50k/year is not a lavish amount, it is still double the single state pension amount.

PS - the numbers change a bit when you look at a couple, but the same principle applies.