There are several ways you can withdraw and use your super once you’ve reached the point when you can access it.

Withdrawing as a lump sum

In the past, accessing your super as a single, lump sum payment has been one of the more popular methods. You can still choose to do this – and if you’re aged over 60, the payment will be tax-free. It’s usually as simple as completing a form and the amount is paid into the bank account you nominate.

Withdrawing as an income stream

An increasingly popular way to access super is to use some or all of your account balance to start a pension account. With a pension account, you can access your super while it stays within the super system and continues to enjoy the tax breaks that the super system offers. Starting a pension account requires you go through another join process – usually with a paper-based form or online.

Vanguard Super offers two pension accounts: these are called TransitionSmart and SpendSmart.

Both can turn your super into regular income. But they work in slightly different ways, depending on whether you’ve got a few more years until retirement, or you are about to (or have already) retired.

Vanguard Super TransitionSmart

Our TransitionSmart account could work for you if you have reached your preservation age and are still working. You can use it to ease into retirement by reducing your working hours while topping-up your take-home pay with regular pension payments. Or you could use it with your SaveSmart account to tax-effectively boost your super in the time remaining before you retire.

Vanguard Super SpendSmart

Our SpendSmart account could work for you if you are about to retire or have already retired (in most cases you must also have reached your preservation age). You can use it to tax-effectively access your super as regular income payments, and can choose how often you get paid and the amount of each payment. You can also make additional lump sum withdrawals if you need the cash (these are sometimes called ‘commutations’).

Withdrawing and using your super