Can I retire at 60 with $500k?

What $500k is really buying you

$500k isn't a salary — it's a tank you draw down. How long it lasts depends entirely on what you spend:

• Spend ~$40k/yr — comfortable-modest lifestyle. The tank plus the pension can plausibly carry you into your 90s.
• Spend ~$50k/yr — the ASFA "comfortable" benchmark for a single is a touch over this. Doable, but the margin thins in your late 80s.
• Spend $60k+/yr — $500k alone won't get you there. You'd need the pension early (impossible before 67), other income, or a later retirement.

Those are today's-dollar figures. Your super keeps earning while you draw it — the balance doesn't sit still.

Spend each year	Roughly left at 67	Where the money runs out
$40k	~$250–300k	Pension + the leftovers plausibly reach the 90s.
$50k	~$150–250k	Workable, but the margin thins in the late 80s.
$60k+	~$80–150k	Runs dry mid-70s to early-80s without other income — the pension alone won't hold a $60k lifestyle.

Illustrative only — it ignores earnings, tax and inflation, which is exactly why the real answer needs modelling year by year rather than a napkin.

The part most people miss: the pension joins at 67

You only need your $500k to do the whole job for 7 years (60 → 67). After that, the Age Pension means test decides what Centrelink adds — and with $500k, a single homeowner would land on a part pension of roughly $19k/yr at current rates:

• Full single pension: ~$32k/yr — yours if assets stay under ~$333k (homeowner).
• Part pension cuts out at ~$745,750 for a single homeowner — $500k is well inside.
• And here's the kicker: as your super runs down, the pension grows to fill the gap. The less you have, the more it pays.

So the real question isn't "will $500k last 30 years?" — it's "will it last 7, and top up the pension nicely after that?" That's a much easier ask.

When $500k at 60 isn't enough

• You're renting. Renters get higher pension cut-offs plus Rent Assistance — but $500k still has to fight rent inflation your whole retirement. Owning your home outright is the single biggest lever here.
• You're a couple sharing $500k. The couple's pension (~$48.5k/yr combined) helps a lot, but two people spend more than one — it's workable on a modest budget, tight on a comfortable one.
• You want a genuinely big retirement. Regular overseas trips, new cars, helping the kids — $500k funds a good life, not a lavish one.
• You retire at 55 instead. Super stays locked until 60 — you'd need five years of money outside super first.

Your number probably isn't $500k anyway

$500k is a round number someone put in an article. Your real number depends on your spend, your home, your partner, and when you want to stop. The difference between "retire at 60" and "work two more years" is often bigger than the difference between $450k and $550k — because those extra years add contributions and shorten the drawdown at both ends.

Test YOUR $500k — free

Put your real figures in: your super, your spending, your home, your partner. RetirePath runs the pension means tests year by year and shows exactly when the money runs out — or doesn't. No sign-up to try.