When Can I Afford to Retire in Australia? How to Work Out Your Date

By Mitchell Shad  ·  15 October 2026  ·  7 min read

"When can I afford to retire?" sounds like it needs a financial planner. The core of it needs four numbers and some arithmetic, and Australia adds a few quirks that change the answer. This guide walks through it step by step, so you can get a date you trust rather than a vague feeling.

One declaration first: we make Compound, a net worth and retirement tracker, so we have an interest in the last step. The first four steps work with a spreadsheet and a calculator.

Step 1: Work out what you actually spend

Everything else depends on this. Retirement is funded from spending, not from salary, so use what you really spend each year, not what you earn. Add up a full year from your bank and card statements, then adjust: take out things that will end (a mortgage you will have paid off, school fees, the cost of commuting), and add things that will start (more travel, private health cover, a bigger hobby budget).

If you want an outside benchmark, the ASFA Retirement Standard publishes annual budgets for homeowners aged 65 to 84. For the March quarter 2026 it put a modest lifestyle at about $36,400 a year for a single and $52,500 for a couple, and a comfortable one at about $55,900 and $78,600. Our guide to how much you need to retire in Australia covers what sits behind those figures.

Step 2: Turn spending into a number

The common rule of thumb is to multiply your annual spending by 25. That is the inverse of a 4% withdrawal rate: if you can live on about 4% of your invested wealth a year, 25 times your spending is the pile that could cover it. Spend $60,000 a year and the rule points at $1.5 million.

It is an estimate, not a guarantee. Lower spending, flexibility in bad years and a part Age Pension later all pull the number down; a very long retirement pulls it up. The full method, with an Australian worked example, is in how to calculate your FIRE number.

Step 3: Split your wealth into "reachable" and "locked"

This is the step most generic calculators skip, and it is the one that matters most in Australia. Superannuation generally cannot be accessed until your preservation age, which is 60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964. If you want to stop work before then, your total wealth hitting the number is not enough. You need enough outside super to carry you from the day you stop until super opens up.

Split what you own into two piles:

• Reachable now: shares and ETFs, cash and offset balances, investment property equity you could draw on, a business, crypto.
• Locked until 60: super.

Your home matters too, but only if you plan to sell or downsize. Equity you live in does not pay the grocery bill, a point we unpack in net worth vs usable equity.

Step 4: Find the date the numbers cross

Now put it together. You have a target, your reachable wealth, your locked wealth, and a rate at which each grows. The date you can afford to retire is the first year in which both of these are true:

1. Total wealth (reachable plus locked, grown to that date) is at or above your number.
2. Reachable wealth is enough to fund your spending from that date until you reach 60, with super then taking over.

Whichever condition arrives later sets your date. People are often surprised that condition 2 is the one holding them back: they look rich on paper, but too much of it is locked in super or tied up in the family home.

Two things to build in. First, returns are not smooth, so test a weaker run of years rather than only the average. Second, the Age Pension may top up your income from 67 if your assets are below the thresholds, which can lower the number you need. The rules and thresholds change, so check Services Australia for the current figures.

A quick worked example (illustrative only)

Take someone aged 45 who spends $70,000 a year and wants to stop work at 55.

• Their number at 25 times spending is $1.75 million.
• Retiring at 55 leaves five years before super opens at 60, so they need roughly $350,000 outside super just for the bridge, before growth and before any buffer.
• If their super is already large, their total may reach $1.75 million well before their reachable wealth covers the bridge, so the bridge sets their date.

The fix is rarely to save more everywhere. It is often to shift new savings toward the reachable pile, which is exactly what a split view makes visible.

Why a single calculator answer is not enough

A one-off calculator gives you one date from one set of assumptions, and it goes stale the day your balances move. The more useful approach is a number you re-check as things change: a pay rise, a market fall, a new property, another year of spending data. That turns "when can I retire?" from a question you ask once into a date you watch.

Step 5: Track it in one place

If you would rather not rebuild the spreadsheet every quarter, Compound does the arithmetic above from your real balances. It tracks property with loans and usable equity, super, shares and ETFs at live prices, crypto, cash and a business in one net worth, across your own name, trusts, companies and SMSFs, then projects the year your investments could fund your life with Australian tax and super preservation modelled. New accounts get 7 free days, no card needed.

Not sure where you stand today? Start with how to track your net worth in Australia, or compare the best net worth tracker apps in Australia. If full retirement is not the goal, Coast FIRE and Barista FIRE may suit you better. And see what typical balances look like in how much super you should have by age.

This is general information, not financial advice. Rules, thresholds and ASFA figures change, so check the source before relying on them, and consider talking to a licensed adviser about your situation.