what is an income account
Getting ready to retire? You can turn your super into an income stream that can fund your lifestyle in retirement or supplement your income if you want to reduce your work hours before fully retiring.
Income accounts explained
You don’t have to withdraw your super as a lump sum when you reach retirement and can instead keep your savings invested in super, so your balance continues to grow.
When you’re ready to start withdrawing money, you can put all or some of your super into an Income account, and set it up to pay you a regular income.
An Income account lets you choose:
- How much to open the account with (you don’t have to use all your super savings)
- How often to get payments (fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, twice a year or once a year)
- How your money is invested
- What investments your payments are taken from.
Once your Income account is opened, your account balance will continue to move up and down with investment earnings.
Your account balance may begin to decrease once you start to receive regular payments, with any lump sum withdrawals you make and with any negative investment earnings.
Likewise, your Income account will grow with positive investment returns.
Income account payments and any lump sum withdrawals you make are deposited directly into your nominated bank account. Your regular payments will continue to be paid to you until the money in your account runs out.
If you die, payments can be paid to your nominated Reversionary Beneficiary or the balance of your account can be paid to your beneficiaries.
There are some important things you need to understand when setting up an Income account. Read our Income account PDS for more information.
We’re always here to help you on your retirement journey.
How to turn your super into a regular income
An Income account can be a great way to access your super before and in retirement.
Learn about the different income accounts.
When can you open an Income account?
Once you turn 60 and meet a ‘condition of release’, you can start accessing your super. These conditions are decided by the Australian Government.
To open a Transition to Retirement Income account:
- You need to be 60+, AND
- Still working (you haven’t left any job since turning 60).
To open a Retirement Income account (or start withdrawing from your super savings), you need to be either:
- Age 60+, AND
- Retired, OR
- Have left a job since turning 60 (even if you’re still working a job now).
- Age 65+.
There are also special circumstances that let you access your super early.
For more information on when you can access super:
Getting ready for retirement
Frequently asked questions
How do I open an Income account?
To open an Income account, you need to complete our Join BUSSQ Income account form which can be found at the back of our BUSSQ Income account PDS.
If you’d like some help understanding your options, call us on 1800 692 877.
What are the investment options in an Income account?
In a BUSSQ Income account or TTR account, you can choose how your money is invested.
You can choose from single sector investment options, like shares or cash, diversified investment options, and something called the BUSSQ Smart Income Strategy.
Check out our BUSSQ Investment page for more information.