Pension and Super Calculator

Set the Household and Assets

This pension and super calculator combines an estimated Age Pension with super withdrawals and other cash income. Enter each person’s age, super balance and drawdown age separately. Household means tests use both partners’ assessable amounts, even when only one partner qualifies.

The model supports a single person or a couple living together in Australia under ordinary resident pension rules. It assumes residence requirements are met. The residence rules generally require ten years of Australian residence, including five continuous years, with exceptions.

Age Pension eligibility starts at age 67. The selected drawdown age is separate. Each projection period starts at the entered age plus elapsed whole years. The assessment table identifies the first age-eligible period, including when it falls after the projection.

Before drawdown starts, the model holds super in accumulation. A person under 67 has that accumulation balance excluded from both tests. At 67, the balance becomes assessable even if withdrawals have not started.

At the selected drawdown age, the model treats the balance as a contemporary account-based pension assessed under deeming. A drawdown age at or below the entered age means it has already started. Services Australia’s super rules explain why an older client and a younger partner can have different treatment.

Keep other financial assets separate from other assessable assets. Exclude the principal home and avoid entering the same amount twice. The calculator assumes all withdrawn cash is spent. Money retained in a bank account remains assessable in an actual assessment.

Compare the Income and Assets Tests

The lower means-test result limits the estimated pension. The ordinary maximum pension includes the maximum Pension Supplement and Energy Supplement. The annual equivalents are $32,180 for a single person and $48,516 for two eligible partners, before tax.

The income test has a $226 fortnightly free area for singles and $396 combined for couples. Excess income reduces the single rate by 50 cents per dollar or each eligible partner’s rate by 25 cents.

Deeming assesses financial assets at 1.75% up to $66,800 for a single person or $110,600 combined for a pensioner couple. The remaining balance uses 3.75%. The tool adds that deemed income to other entered assessable income.

Actual investment cash appears in household cash flow. It is excluded from the entered other-income amount because deeming already assesses those investments. Super withdrawals are also kept separate from assessed income. Enter only non-employment income assessed at its full cash amount in Other annual income.

The assets free areas are $333,000 for a single homeowner and $499,000 combined for a homeowner couple. Non-homeowners use $600,000 and $766,000 respectively. Excess assets reduce the fortnightly pension by $3 per $1,000 for singles or $1.50 for each eligible partner.

If only one partner is 67 or older, the tool uses one partnered maximum and one partner’s taper. It still uses the combined couple free areas and assessable household amounts.

Combine Pension and Super Drawdown

Annual cash flow adds the estimated pension, funded super withdrawals and entered other cash income. The alternative changes each person’s withdrawal request while retaining identical returns, fees and inflation. The table shows both scenarios’ cash flow and remaining super.

Each annual period applies its opening-balance means tests for the whole period. Super then earns the entered annual net return, loses the additional balance fee and dollar fee, and funds withdrawals at period end. This annual illustration does not recalculate a Centrelink payment within a period.

Use a return after fund earnings tax and investment fees. Additional dollar fees apply to each non-empty account. Dollar fees, requested withdrawals and entered cash income rise with inflation. Financial investments and other assessable assets remain fixed in nominal dollars.

Results are adjusted to today’s dollars. Remaining super is valued at each period’s end. Pension rates, means-test thresholds and deeming rates stay fixed in nominal dollars throughout. That deliberately excludes future government indexation.

Minimum account-based pension withdrawals can increase a selected withdrawal. The full-year rates are 4% below 65, 5% at 65-74, 6% at 75-79, 7% at 80-84, 9% at 85-89, 11% at 90-94 and 14% from 95.

The model rounds the opening balance’s minimum to the nearest ten dollars, with five rounded upwards. It pays the higher of that minimum and the request, capped at available funds. Every commencement is a full-year illustration. Mid-year commencement adjustments need a separate calculation.

The Moneysmart projection assumptions explain inflation and drawdown modelling. This tool uses annual end-period withdrawals and your own net return, so its results differ from Moneysmart’s calculator.

Read the Estimate Before Acting

For a fictional single homeowner aged 68, enter $450,000 super, $50,000 financial investments and $50,000 other assessable assets. Set drawdown age to 68, annual withdrawal to $24,000 and investment cash to $1,500. Leave other annual income at zero.

The assets test gives an annual pension of $15,254. The income test gives $26,411, including $17,414 deemed income. The assets test limits the estimate. Combined annual cash flow is $40,754, including the super withdrawal and actual investment cash.

To isolate the withdrawal comparison, set the projection to one year and return, fees and inflation to zero. Super ends at $426,000 with a $24,000 withdrawal or $420,000 with the $30,000 alternative. Both requests exceed the opening balance’s $22,500 minimum.

This model estimates public rules from your entries. It cannot retrieve a Centrelink determination or a fund balance, assess residence evidence or recommend a personal fund strategy. It excludes employment and Work Bonus, Rent Assistance, transitional rates, blindness exemptions and couples separated by illness.

Grandfathered income streams, defined benefits, gifting, deprivation and special asset exemptions need their own assessment. Personal tax, contributions and transfer balance cap history are outside this projection. A balance limit of $2.1 million per person does not establish that person’s available transfer cap.

Use statement balances and the client’s account commencement details before acting on the comparison. Confirm super access and the applicable personal transfer cap before modelling a new pension. For accumulation contributions before retirement, use the super growth calculator.