Boost your Age Pension by topping up a younger spouse’s super

Around two-thirds of Australians who have reached the qualification age for the Age Pension receive at least some pension. By maximising your entitlement, you can reduce the need to draw on your savings, making your money last longer to support your retirement.

Couples are means tested as a unit based on the assessable assets and income of both partners, but some items are not counted. The best known exemption from means testing is your home. Less well publicised is an exemption for money held in a super accumulation account by someone aged under 67 (the Age Pension qualification age).

If you and your spouse are not the same age, holding super in the younger person’s name can improve the Age Pension rate paid to the older partner once they turn 67. Importantly, when the younger partner turns 67 this advantage is removed because their super balance becomes assessable.

There are three ways to add money to a younger partner’s super account:

1. Either partner can make non-concessional (after-tax) contributions directly
2. The younger partner can make concessional contributions directly
3. Concessional contributions can be transferred in from the older partner’s super using spouse contribution splitting.

The case studies below use the current Age Pension rates as of February 2025.

Need to know: Accumulation phase vs Retirement phase