Not owning a house means all your cash can be tucked away in investments which should provide higher returns over time. This may or may not be important to you in retirement. Sure, owning saves you rent, but comes with tons of other costs.
So, can you retire at 60 with $1 million, and what would that look like? It's certainly possible to retire comfortably in this scenario. But it's wise to review your spending needs, taxes, health care, and other factors as you prepare for your retirement years.
This obviously depends on what annual income you want to fund but if you want to be able to afford a comfortable retirement—which is an income of just over $48,000 a year for a single according to the ASFA Retirement Standard—then you need a balance of at least $500,000.
In 2020/21, account-based income streams were by far the most popular option, and delivered an average annual payment of $19,490[5]. Annuities were only used by about 100,000 retirees, and paid average income of $45,943 annually.
With some planning, you can retire at 60 with $500k. Remember, however, that your lifestyle will significantly affect how long your savings will last. If you're content to live modestly and don't plan on significant life changes (like travel or starting a business), you can make your $500k last much longer.
Can I retire at 60 with $800k? Yes, you can retire at 60 with eight hundred thousand dollars. At age 60, an annuity will provide a guaranteed level income of $42,000 annually, starting immediately, for the rest of the insured's lifetime. The income will stay the same and never decrease.
So looking at the table, you can see that a 60-year old male will need a lump sum of almost $500,000 to provide an annual income in retirement of $42,000 for 20 years. These calculations are based on a 20-year time frame because the approximate life expectancy for Australian males is 84 years and 88 for females.
Can I Get the Pension if I Have Super? Having superannuation savings does not deny you from receiving Age Pension payments. Eligibility for the Age Pension is based on an Assets Test and an Income Test.
If you want to retire at 60, a common approximation used to calculate the amount you will need to retire is to multiply your after-tax retirement expenses by 15. So, if you estimate you will need $50,000 annually in retirement income, you will need income-generating assets of $750,000 to create this income stream.
You can access your super when you: reach your preservation age and retire. reach your preservation age and choose to begin a transition to retirement income stream while you are still working.
The lifestyle you want
If you're close to retiring use the budget planner to estimate how much money you expect to spend when you stop working. If you own your own home, a rule of thumb is that you'll need two-thirds (67%) of your pre-retirement income to maintain the same standard of living in retirement.
The 4% rule assumes a rigid withdrawal rate throughout retirement. Retirees take out 4% in the first year of retirement. After that, they adjust their annual withdrawals by the rate of inflation (or deflation). As Bengen noted in his paper, however, dynamic withdrawals give retirees significant flexibility.
A retirement account with $2 million should be enough to make most people comfortable. With an average income, you can expect it to last 35 years or more.
One frequently used rule of thumb for retirement spending is known as the 4% rule. It's relatively simple: You add up all of your investments, and withdraw 4% of that total during your first year of retirement.
The average retirement age in Australia is 55
So depending on what age you retire, this means you could need your retirement savings to last up to 30 years.
In doing so, we believe that with $2 million dollars you could roughly draw about $115,000 per annum increasing with inflation throughout 30 years retirement. This amount should create a fairly comfortable retirement for most people.
If you're aged 60 or over and withdraw a lump sum: You don't pay any tax when you withdraw from a taxed super fund. You may pay tax if you withdraw from an untaxed super fund, such as a public sector fund.
Once you reach age 60 you can normally access your super tax free.
Can I access super at 65 and keep working? Yes. You can access your super when you turn 65 regardless of whether you're still working. You can also make certain types of super contributions up until you turn 75, even if you're retired and drawing a super pension.
Achieving retirement before 50 may seem unreachable, but it's entirely doable if you can save $1 million over your career. The keys to making this happen within a little more than two decades are a rigorous budget and a comprehensive retirement plan.
The reality is most Australians retire with far less in super. Indeed, the average super balance for Australians aged 60-64 is just over $300,000. That may be enough.