When can I access my super?

Your super is intended to fund your retirement so the Australian Government limits when you are able to access your money.

You can access your super when you permanently retire after reaching your preservation age. Your preservation age is set by the Australian Government and depends on when you were born.

For the purposes of accessing your super you are also considered retired when you:

• reach age 60 and then change jobs, or are not working at all or
• reach age 65 (whether you are working or not)

How can I access my super?

Once you permanently retire and reach your preservation age you can choose to access your super as regular income, lump sums or a combination of both.

• If you leave your money in your Brighter Super Accumulation or Optimiser Accumulation account you can make lump sum withdrawals.
• If you open a Brighter Super Pension or Optimiser Pension account you can receive regular, automatic payments as well as make lump sum withdrawals.

Early access to super

There are some situations where you can access your preserved super as a lump sum before retirement. These are:

• temporary residents permanently leaving Australia
• death or terminal illness
• total and permanent disability
• severe financial hardship, as defined by the Australian Government
• compassionate grounds, approved by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)

Saving for a first home

The First Home Super Saver (FHSS) Scheme lets you use your Brighter Super account to help grow a house deposit. Under the scheme, you can contribute up to $50,000 to super and later withdraw the contributions to put towards the deposit on a home

Read more

Temporary residents permanently leaving Australia

Temporary residents who permanently leave Australia (excluding New Zealand residents) may be able to access their super. If you are eligible, you can claim money directly from Brighter Super within 6 months of leaving Australia. Once 6 months have passed, we will transfer your money to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) if they ask us to do so. Once transferred to the ATO, your money will not earn any interest and you will have to apply directly to the ATO to get it. Brighter Super relies on the ASIC class order relief (CO 09/437), which means we don’t have to let you know if your benefit has been transferred to the ATO. For more information, download our Temporary residents leaving Australia info sheet.

Download "Temporary residents leaving Australia info sheet"

What are non-preserved benefits?

Some super contributions and investment earnings made before 1 July 1999 may be accessible before you reach your preservation age. These amounts will be shown on your annual benefit statement as unrestricted non-preserved amounts that can be accessed at any time, or restricted non-preserved amounts that can be accessed when you leave your employer.