posted in: Superannuation

How Can I Boost My Super in the Last 10 Years Before Retirement?

If retirement is around a decade away, this is the question I hear most: how do I get as much into super as possible while I still can? The honest answer is that there are more levers than most people realise, and pulling them in the wrong order can cost you. Once you understand how each one works, though, it becomes much easier to decide which are right for you.

In this article, I’ll walk through the main ways to boost your super in the lead-up to retirement, salary sacrifice, carry-forward contributions, non-concessional contributions and downsizing, and, just as importantly, how to think about the order and timing of each.

Start With Salary Sacrifice, But Know It’s Only the Beginning

Almost everyone has heard of salary sacrificing, and for good reason. It’s simple to set up and it’s tax effective. But it’s really just the entry point.

There are lots of different ways you can boost your superannuation, particularly in that 10 years in the lead-up to retirement. Everyone’s probably heard about salary sacrificing. That’s an easy way, really tax effective, but there’s other ways.

The mistake is stopping there. The contributions that can make the biggest difference in your final working years are often the ones people have never heard of, and the real skill is knowing how they fit together.

What’s important is understanding the order in which to make these contributions.

Carry-Forward Contributions: Using Up Years You Didn’t Realise You’d Missed

This is one of the most underused strategies I see. Carry-forward (or catch-up) concessional contributions let you use the concessional cap you didn’t fully use in previous years.

They’re a tax-deductible contribution that you can make if your balance is below half a million dollars, and you can look back over the last five financial years and look at what you haven’t contributed.

Here’s how that plays out in practice.

So let’s say the cap of concessional contributions, which is a tax-deductible contribution, was 30,000 and your employer made $15,000 as part of your salary package. There’s a $15,000 catch-up contribution you could take advantage of.

Stack that up across five years and, if you’ve had unused cap sitting there, you can be looking at a substantial tax-deductible top-up right when you want to be building your balance the most.

Timing Is Everything: Why the Order Matters More Than the Amount

This is where good planning earns its keep, because more into super is not automatically better. It depends on your income in the year you contribute.

When we’re boosting our balance up to retirement and getting close to retirement, you might have a substantial amount of these carry-forward contributions left. But if your income is quite low, it may actually be disadvantageous to lump so much into superannuation.

The logic is simple: a tax deduction is only worth as much as the tax you’d otherwise pay. Contribute heavily in a low-income year and you may be giving up the deduction’s real value. But the opposite situation calls for the opposite move.

If you’re about to lose eligibility to this program, you might want to try to maximise it and potentially sell some shares outside super to increase your taxable income, get access to the capital, and put it inside super.

That’s a deliberate, counterintuitive play: realise an asset, accept the higher taxable income, and use it to soak up a benefit that’s about to disappear. It only makes sense with the numbers in front of you, which is exactly why order and timing matter.

Non-Concessional Contributions: Getting a Lump Sum Into the Tax-Effective Environment

Sometimes the opportunity isn’t a steady top-up, it’s a one-off windfall you want to shelter.

There’s things like non-concessional contributions where you can lump a bulk amount into super in one go. That often might come as a result of an inheritance potentially, or sale of a large asset personally, to try to get money into that tax-effective environment of super.

The appeal is straightforward. Rather than leaving a large sum in your personal name being taxed at your marginal rate, you move it into super, where the earnings are taxed far more gently. For an inheritance or the proceeds of a big sale, that shift alone can meaningfully change your retirement position.

Downsizing: Turning an Expensive Home Into Retirement Income

For a lot of people approaching retirement, the single biggest lever isn’t a contribution at all. It’s the family home.

What we’re seeing a lot of people in the lead-up to retirement consider is they’ve got a large maybe four-bedroom home in Sydney, kids have flown the nest, it’s just them, and the maintenance is getting a bit much, and it’s an expensive asset that they can realise.

If the house no longer fits the life you’re living, downsizing can free up capital, cut your maintenance and running costs, and channel money into super to support your retirement income. When it’s the right fit, it’s one of the most powerful moves available in the final stretch.

So, What’s the Right Way to Boost Your Super?

There’s no single answer, and anyone who gives you one without knowing your situation is guessing. The right combination depends on your super balance, your income in each year you contribute, whether you’re gaining or losing eligibility for a strategy, and what you actually want your retirement to look like.

That last point matters more than people expect, because the best financial move on paper isn’t always the right one for your life.

A big thing we always ask our clients is what do you see your life being in 5, 10, 15, 20 years?

Downsizing is the clearest example. On a spreadsheet, selling the big home and boosting super might win every time. But money isn’t the only thing being weighed.

Some grandparents are opting to retain the home so that as their children have children, that home can be a base, a real centre point for the family to come together, enjoy the backyard and spend time together.

That’s not a bad financial decision. It’s a considered one, made with the full picture in view. My job isn’t to push you toward the biggest number. It’s to help you use these strategies, in the right order and at the right time, to build the retirement you actually want.

Book a quick Wealth Planning Consultation and we’ll help you see where you stand, what’s possible, and how to make it happen.

• Stop feeling uncertain about your financial future
• You won’t need to make big sacrifices
• You won’t drown in paperwork or endless meetings

Get started here.

About the Author: Ethan Stein is a financial planner with expertise in investment structuring, superannuation strategy, shares, property investment and other planning strategies. This article reflects general financial commentary only and does not constitute personal financial advice.

Financial Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general knowledge and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Individual circumstances vary significantly. It is essential to consult with a qualified and licensed financial planner before making investment decisions. Past performance of any asset class is not indicative of future results.