MLC pension bonus tops $10m amid retirement boom

Binaya Dahal

Journalist

29 April 2026

MLC has announced its superannuation members received a record $10.3 million in pension bonuses in 2025, with payouts averaging $6,199 per person and some retirees collecting as much as $25,000, as a growing wave of Australians transition into retirement.

The fund attributed the milestone to its 1.25% tax-free pension bonus, which MLC says leads the industry and automatically applies when members move into the pension phase. On a super balance of $500,000, the bonus equates to a payment of about $6,250.

MLC Super chief executive Dave Woodall said the result reflected increasing demand for retirement products that deliver immediate value to members as they exit the workforce.

“Not all superannuation funds currently offer a Pension Bonus, but at MLC, we’re definitely seeing the demand for our Pension Bonus increase as a record number of Australians enter retirement age. After years of accumulation, the Pension Bonus is in effect, a tax saving we pass onto our MLC Super members when they retire,” he said.

“With more than three million Australians set to retire in the next decade, we expect more people will start to look at the MLC Super Pension Bonus as a great way to get their next phase of life off to a flying start.”

Woodall further said the fund deliberately chose to keep the bonus accessible to all members regardless of account size, arguing that retirement benefits should not be limited by balance thresholds.

“We know that retirement is a lifetime in the making. Our members have worked throughout their lives to build up their retirement nest egg, so it’s important for us to pass on these tax savings to them – it is their money after all,” he said.

“We also believe that all of our members, no matter their balance, should have access to this benefit, which is why we have no minimum account balance and no caps on our payouts.”