Your Preservation Age – What is it?

“Preservation Age” or “Superannuation Preservation age” is just a fancy term from the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (Cth) that sets the age when you might be able to dip into your “preserved” superannuation savings.

Of course, it’s not as simple as just hitting that age. You’ll also need to meet another condition, like retiring, leaving a job after turning 60, starting a transition-to-retirement income stream, or reaching the ripe old age of 65.

Now, about that preservation age. It all depends on when you were born. For anyone born on or after 1 July 1964, it’s 60. If you were born earlier, it’s a bit lower, ranging from 55 to 59, as shown below.

Date of Birth	Preservation Age
Before 1 July 1960	55
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961	56
1 July 1961 to 30 June 1962	57
1 July 1962 to 30 June 1963	58
1 July 1963 to 30 June 1964	59
From 1 July 1964	60

When you don’t need to reach preservation age

The preservation age may not be relevant to you. This could be the case, for example,  if you have stopped working because of injury or illness. In those circumstances, you can apply for your superannuation early under what is called a Condition of Release. If you think you need to access your superannuation early, check out our blog on Conditions of Release.

Help

There is, of course, more to this than can be covered here. As the usual legal disclaimer goes, the information here is of a general nature because legal advice always depends on your circumstances.

Contact

You can call us at (03) 9969 7077 or via email at info@leonardwelch.au.

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