I’m successful and well-off. Can I access my super early?

Is there any way I can start drawing down on my super before age 60? I’m 54, single, no kids, own my home, don’t live an expensive life, and have been fairly successful in my career. I’m sure I have enough money to see me out. I get that the government doesn’t want me to burn through my money and then go on the pension, but is there anything I can do to agree to exclude myself from the pension and access my super early?

For those born after July 1, 1964 there is no way to access super earlier than age 60 other than in circumstances of disability. However, there are certainly financial planning strategies that can be utilised to achieve your goal.

From your comments I’ll make the assumption that we have a high level of confidence with regards your long-term financial security and income needs from age 60 onwards, ie. you have a substantial superannuation balance, and perhaps an inheritance to come. We therefore need to develop a solution that will get you through the next six years.

The first step is to gain clarity on how much income you need. For our purposes, let’s assume that is $60,000 of disposable income.

Next we determine your savings capacity. You mentioned that you’ve been successful in your career and own a home which likely implies that you’ve paid off a mortgage. Both of these would lead me to conclude that you probably have a strong ability to save each month.

We know that your superannuation savings are adequate, so you’d contribute nothing beyond the standard compulsory employer contributions here. Instead, we’d create an investment portfolio outside of superannuation and direct your savings into this account on a monthly basis. Perhaps you have other non-super investments that we can also use as part of this investment pool.

Given you can’t access your superannuation savings for another six years, ensure it is not invested too conservatively.

Now it is number-crunching time. How long will it take for that investment pool to be enough, that when drawn down on a monthly basis, it would cover your $60,000 per year need through until age 60?

For instance, if you were able to save $6,000 per month, in three years’ time you would have around $220,000. You could draw this down at $5,000 per month until age 60, at which point your superannuation savings unlock.