What is a transition to retirement income stream?
A transition to retirement income stream lets a person who has reached preservation age, which is 60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964, draw on super while still working. Payments must be between 4% and 10% of the account balance each year until a full condition of release is met. Advice is provided by MGB Financial Services.
Transition to retirement and retirement income planning are part of the wider subject of retirement planning in Sydney. This page is general information, with figures from the Australian Taxation Office. Personal advice is provided by MGB Financial Services.
General information. Reviewed 16 October 2026. Rules, caps and benefit tests change. Current figures are published by the Australian Taxation Office, Moneysmart and Services Australia.
Who is transition to retirement for?
People in their late fifties and sixties who are still working and thinking about reducing hours. Professionals who want to keep working but change the shape of the week. Couples where one person has stopped work and the other has not.
It is also relevant to people who have already retired and are working out how their super might be turned into a regular income. Those questions sit closely with superannuation advice in Sydney and, for self-managed funds, SMSF advice in Sydney.
What does the advice cover?
How transition to retirement works
The Australian Taxation Office describes a transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) as an account-based pension that can start once a person reaches preservation age and continues working. For anyone born after 30 June 1964, preservation age is 60. Until the person meets a condition of release with no cashing restrictions, such as retiring after preservation age or turning 65, the total paid each year must be between 4% and 10% of the account balance, and the stream generally cannot be converted to a lump sum.
The ATO notes two common reasons people consider a TRIS: to reduce working hours without reducing income, or to keep working and make extra contributions to super. Whether either makes sense depends on tax, contribution caps, insurance held inside super and the fund's own rules. Investment earnings on a TRIS are not treated as tax-exempt until it moves into the retirement phase.
Retirement income planning looks further ahead. Account-based pensions must pay at least a minimum amount each year, set by age. Annuities and lifetime income products work differently. Services Australia applies income and assets tests to the Age Pension, with thresholds that are indexed. A plan that looks sound in one year can change when any of these settings change.
- Preservation age and the conditions of release that apply, checked against current ATO guidance.
- The 4% to 10% payment range for a TRIS before a full condition of release is met.
- Concessional contributions while drawing a TRIS, and the 2026–27 cap of $32,500.
- Minimum drawdown rates for account-based pensions in retirement.
- How super income, other savings and the Age Pension tests may interact.
How Vermilion can assist
A free initial 15-minute chat
The first conversation is about the question: a change in hours, a retirement date, or how super might become income. No recommendation is made in that conversation.
An introduction to MGB Financial Services
If personal advice is wanted, the enquiry goes to MGB Financial Services, which explains the scope and the fees before advice is prepared.
Advice in writing, with assumptions shown
Where personal advice is given, it is documented. Any projection is labelled as an illustration and shows the assumptions behind it.
Limits
- A TRIS reduces the super balance available later in retirement.
- Tax, contribution and drawdown rules change, and fund rules differ.
- Insurance held inside super can be affected when balances or contributions change.
- Projections of retirement income rest on assumptions about returns, fees, spending and life expectancy. None is a forecast.
Questions
FAQs
Who can start a transition to retirement income stream?
According to the ATO, a person who has reached preservation age can start a TRIS while still working, subject to the fund's rules. For anyone born after 30 June 1964, preservation age is 60. This is general information, not a statement about any person's eligibility.
How much can be drawn from a TRIS each year?
Until a condition of release with no cashing restrictions is met, payments must be between 4% and 10% of the account balance at the start of each financial year (or at the start date in the first year). Source: Australian Taxation Office.
What happens to a TRIS at age 65?
The ATO explains that a TRIS automatically moves into the retirement phase at 65. The 10% maximum and the lump-sum restrictions fall away, and earnings on the balance can then be treated as exempt current pension income.
What is retirement income planning?
Retirement income planning considers how super, other savings and any Age Pension entitlement might combine to fund spending after work stops. It covers drawdown rates, income stream products and how long money may need to last. Personal advice is provided by MGB Financial Services.
How much super is needed to retire?
There is no single figure. It depends on spending, home ownership, other assets, health and how long retirement lasts. ASIC's Moneysmart retirement planner illustrates how different assumptions change the result. Vermilion's Insights section covers this question in more detail.
The advice provider
Credentials of the practice
Financial advice is provided by MGB Financial Services Pty Ltd, Authorised Representative No. 428617 of Charter Financial Planning Limited. The practice gives personal advice only through people who are registered to do so. This website does not name an individual adviser.
You can search the ASIC Financial Advisers Register for the practice and for the people authorised to give personal advice. The Financial Services Guide sets out the services, how the practice is paid, and how to complain.
Complaints can be raised with MGB Financial Services, then with Charter Financial Planning using the details in the Financial Services Guide, and then with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority ( afca.org.au, 1800 931 678).
General advice warning
This website contains information that is general in nature. It does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. You need to consider your financial situation and needs before making any decisions based on this information.
