If retirement is somewhere in the next ten years, this is the checklist to work through now. It covers your super, the Age Pension, insurance, debt, and estate decisions in the order that usually matters most, so the major decisions are less likely to be left to the final year. First meeting is on us. No obligation.

Retirement is one of the biggest financial transitions of your life. Yet for many Australians, it arrives without a clear plan. You have spent decades building your career and accumulating super, but the shift from saving to spending requires a fundamentally different strategy.

If you are in your 50s or 60s, the decisions you make in the next few years will shape the quality of your retirement for the next 25 to 30 years. This checklist covers the essential areas to review, from superannuation and the age pension through to insurance, estate planning, and the lifestyle questions that numbers alone cannot answer.

How to use this checklist: Work through each section at your own pace. Some items you can action yourself. Others, particularly around super structuring, pension eligibility, and tax, benefit from professional advice. Use this as a starting point for the conversation, not a replacement for personalised guidance.

The age pension is not an all-or-nothing proposition. How much you receive depends on both the income test and the assets test, and the interaction between your super, investments, and homeownership.

Confirm your age pension eligibility age
For anyone born on or after 1 January 1957, the eligibility age is 67. You can access your super from age 60 if you have retired, but the age pension does not start until 67.

Understand the income and assets tests
As at 2026, a single homeowner can have assessable assets of up to approximately $733,500 and still receive a part pension. For homeowning couples, the upper threshold is approximately $1,102,500. Even a small part pension can open up additional benefits including the Pensioner Concession Card.

Model different scenarios
The timing of when you retire, how you structure your super drawdown, and whether your home is included or excluded from the assets test all affect your entitlements. Small structural changes can mean thousands of dollars per year.

Factor in deeming rates
Financial assets in super and outside super are assessed under deeming rates (currently 1.25% on the first $66,800 for singles, then 3.25% above that). Your actual returns may differ, but Centrelink uses these rates regardless.

Where advice earns its keep

The timing of when you retire, how you structure your super drawdown, and whether your home is included or excluded from the assets test all affect your entitlements. Small structural changes can mean thousands of dollars per year.

The insurance you needed during your working years may be quite different from what you need as you approach retirement. This is an area where many Australians are either over-insured (paying premiums for cover they no longer need) or under-insured (lacking adequate health or trauma cover).

Review life insurance
If your mortgage is paid off and your children are financially self-sufficient, your need for life insurance may have reduced significantly. Cover held inside super is deducted from your balance, so unnecessary policies directly erode your retirement savings.

Assess income protection and TPD
Income protection and total and permanent disability cover become less relevant as you approach retirement and your super balance replaces your need for income protection. However, if you plan to work part-time into your 60s, some cover may still be appropriate.

Prioritise health insurance
Private health insurance becomes increasingly valuable as you age. If you have held continuous cover, you avoid Lifetime Health Cover loading. Review your policy to ensure it covers the procedures and treatments most relevant to your age group, including joint replacements, cardiac care, and rehabilitation.

Consider trauma or critical illness cover
A serious health event in your 50s or 60s can derail retirement plans. Trauma cover provides a lump sum on diagnosis of specified conditions, which can bridge the gap between your current income and the point where you access super or the pension.

Where advice earns its keep

If your mortgage is paid off and your children are financially self-sufficient, your need for life insurance may have reduced significantly. Cover held inside super is deducted from your balance, so unnecessary policies directly erode your retirement savings.

Estate planning is not just about wills. It encompasses powers of attorney, superannuation death benefit nominations, and ensuring that your wishes are clearly documented and legally enforceable.

Where advice earns its keep

Superannuation death benefits paid to non-tax dependants (adult children in most cases) can attract tax of up to 17% on the taxable component. Structuring withdrawals and nominations can minimise the tax burden on your beneficiaries.

Plan to be mortgage-free by retirement
Carrying a mortgage into retirement dramatically increases the super balance you need. If paying off the mortgage before retirement is not realistic, factor the ongoing repayments into your retirement budget.

Assess whether downsizing makes sense
Downsizing can free up capital, reduce ongoing costs, and allow a downsizer contribution of up to $300,000 per person into super. It also removes the property maintenance burden. However, downsizing also means stamp duty, moving costs, and potentially leaving a community you are connected to.

Clear high-interest debt
Credit cards, personal loans, and car finance should be eliminated before retirement. Carrying consumer debt while drawing down super is one of the fastest ways to erode your retirement savings.

Bridging the years between when you can reach your super and when the Age Pension starts is one of the most practical planning jobs of this decade. The aim is to fund your living costs from your own super without running it down so fast that you are short later, or worse off under the Age Pension assets test at 67. The right mix depends on your balance and what you spend, so treat this as general guidance rather than a plan for your own situation.

Start an account-based pension from your super
Once you have met a condition of release, usually retiring after age 60, you can move your super into an account-based pension and draw a regular income from it. The earnings inside that pension are tax free, and from age 60 the payments to you are tax free as well. For most people this is the main engine that funds the gap years.

Use a transition to retirement pension if you are still working
If you are between 60 and 67 and still working, even part time, a transition to retirement pension lets you draw between 4 and 10 per cent of your balance each year while you keep contributing. It can replace the income you give up by cutting back your hours, or free up cash flow so you can salary sacrifice more before you finish.

Set your drawdown rate on purpose
These years usually need a higher drawdown than the rest of retirement, because your super is carrying all of your income before any Age Pension begins. Work out what you need each year through to 67, then check the balance still lasts and still leaves you sensibly placed for a part pension. Drawing too hard too early is the common mistake we see.

Hold a cash buffer for the gap years
Keeping one to two years of living costs in cash or a conservative option means a market fall in early retirement does not force you to sell growth assets at the wrong time. The damage from a poor sequence of returns is greatest in the first few years of drawing down, which is exactly this stretch.

Plan the gap with the Age Pension test at 67 in mind
How you draw down and structure your assets between 60 and 67 changes what Centrelink assesses when you reach Age Pension age. The choices you make in these years can lift or lower your part pension at 67, so the order you do things now can be worth real money later.

Where advice earns its keep

The order you draw on super and start a pension, and how you handle the years before 67, decides how long your money lasts and where you stand for the Age Pension afterwards. That sequencing is worth far more than chasing the cheapest fund.