FAQ
Common questions
The things people ask before they start — about what RetirePath does, what it isn't, and how your numbers are treated.
The things people ask before they start — about what RetirePath does, what it isn't, and how your numbers are treated.
It builds a year-by-year model of your retirement from your real numbers — super, savings, home, mortgage, spending — and splits it into understandable stages: still working, the early freedom years, super unlocking at 60, and the Age Pension joining at 67. For each stage you see what's coming in and going out, so "can I retire at 60?" becomes an actual answer instead of a guess.
No — and it's important to be clear about that. RetirePath is a planning and modelling tool: it shows you what your numbers imply and explains the rules in plain English. It doesn't recommend products or tell you what to do. For decisions about specific investments or tax positions, a licensed financial adviser is the right call — and a RetirePath report makes that conversation a lot more productive.
Most calculators answer one question — "how much super will I have at 65?" RetirePath models your whole situation over time: both partners, the Age Pension means tests (assets and income), the UK State Pension if you have one, three housing scenarios side by side, and what each choice does to your weekly money. And it saves your plan, so you come back and update it as life changes rather than starting from scratch every time.
It's designed for Australians in their 40s, 50s and 60s — the years when retirement stops being abstract and the decisions get real. Anyone can use it (there's no age limit and the maths works at any age), but it's at its most useful in the 10–15 years before you stop work: it models today's Age Pension and super rules, so the closer you are, the sharper the answer.
No — deliberately. You type in your balances once (from your latest super statement), and that's it. No account linking, no logins shared, no one holding your bank credentials. Updating the numbers when your annual statement arrives takes a few minutes.
Yes — it's built for households. Each partner's super, income, retirement age and pension start date is modelled separately and combined, because a 5-year age gap changes a lot: one of you can be drawing the Age Pension while the other is still under 67. One subscription covers the household.
Yes — this is where simple calculators usually fall down. RetirePath applies the same means tests Centrelink does: the assets test (with homeowner and non-homeowner limits) and the income test including deeming on your savings, then pays whichever is lower — tapering and all. It also handles each partner reaching pension age at different times.
The "take your super at 55" rule is gone — it phased out years ago. If you were born before 1 July 1964 your preservation age was somewhere between 55 and 59, but you've already passed it. For everyone still under 60 (born after 30 June 1964), the access age — your preservation age — is 60. Until then, super stays locked.
There are a few narrow early-release doors — you only need to qualify under one of them, and hardship is the main one:
• Severe financial hardship — if you've been on an eligible Centrelink payment for at least 26 continuous weeks and still can't cover reasonable and immediate living expenses, you can apply to your super fund to withdraw between $1,000 and $10,000 (gross) once per 12-month period. It's taxed, so you don't keep the whole amount.
• Compassionate grounds — approved by the ATO, not your fund: urgent medical or dental treatment you can't otherwise pay for, preventing a mortgage foreclosure or forced sale of your home, funeral costs for a dependant, palliative care, or home/vehicle modifications for a severe disability.
• Terminal illness or permanent incapacity — different rules again, and usually kinder — a terminal medical condition can release the whole balance tax-free.
It's deliberately hard to do — money pulled out early isn't compounding for the years you'll need it most. That's why RetirePath models super as locked until 60 in every scenario: hardship release is a safety valve run by Centrelink, the ATO and your fund — not something a plan should assume. If you're in that position now, contact your super fund or Centrelink first — they run the process. The official rules and how to apply: ATO — early access to super.
There's a whole page for it — enter your National Insurance years and it adds the pro-rata amount to your plan, correctly frozen at the starting rate (the UK doesn't uprate pensions paid in Australia) and correctly counted as income against your Age Pension. The page also explains the bits most people miss, like topping up NI years.
That's half the point of a subscription. Pension thresholds and rates update every March and September, tax rules move, super rules change — we update the engine and label it with the rules year it reflects, so your plan always answers on current law rather than the law at the time you first set it up.
Your figures live in an encrypted Australian-hosted database under your account — we don't sell data, we don't share it, and we can't see your bank or super accounts (we never ask for those logins). You can export your plan or delete your account entirely at any time. The detail is in the privacy policy.
$12 a month, or $120 a year (two months free), AUD and GST inclusive. Everything starts with a 7-day free trial — no card needed, full access. When it ends nothing is charged (we never had your card): your plan stays viewable, and subscribing keeps it live and editable. Cancel anytime from inside the app; monthly means monthly, no lock-in. Cancelling stops the next payment — the period you've already paid for isn't refunded, but you keep full access until it ends. Context: a one-off retirement report from an adviser runs $2,000–$3,000 and it's out of date the first time anything changes.
Yes — there's a PDF report covering your answer, the housing scenarios, every life stage and the year-by-year table. Handy for a partner who wants it on paper, or to bring to an adviser.
RetirePath was built in Australia by someone who needed the answer himself — the full story is on the Our Story page. Real people read every support message.
No matches — try fewer words, or ask us directly.
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