When can I access my pension savings, and what if I want to stop working earlier?

In United States

Withdrawals from 401(k)s and IRAs before age 59½ generally carry an additional 10% tax on top of ordinary income tax, unless an exception applies.

• Leaving your job at 55 or later: if you separate from your employer during or after the year you turn 55, withdrawals from that employer’s plan escape the 10% tax (age 50 for some public-safety workers). This does not apply to IRAs.
• Substantially equal periodic payments: a series of payments worked out under IRS rules avoids the 10% tax from either kind of account.
• Roth IRAs: the IRS treats regular contributions as coming out first, so the 10% applies only to the taxable part of a non-qualified withdrawal; qualified withdrawals — usually once you are 59½ and five years have passed since your first contribution — are fully tax-free.

A bridge is usually built from ordinary brokerage accounts, cash and, where it fits, Roth contributions.

In Canada

Canada’s main accounts are unusually flexible. You can withdraw from an RRSP that is not locked in at any time, but the withdrawal is taxed as income and the issuer withholds tax up front: outside Quebec, 10% on amounts up to $5,000, 20% up to $15,000 and 30% above. By the end of the year you turn 71 an RRSP must be converted — to a RRIF, an annuity, or withdrawn.

TFSA withdrawals are tax-free and can generally be made at any time, and the amount is added back to your contribution room on 1 January of the next year — which makes a TFSA a natural bridge. Locked-in plans are different: withdrawals are generally not allowed, so check with the issuer.

In United Kingdom

Personal and workplace pensions can usually be reached from 55. The normal minimum pension age rises to 57 from 6 April 2028; people who already had a right to take benefits earlier, before 4 November 2021, may keep a protected pension age. You can usually take up to 25% tax-free, capped by the lump sum allowance of £268,275; the rest is taxed as income.

Money in an ISA can be taken out at any time without losing its tax benefits, which makes ISAs the usual bridge to pension age (the ISA allowance is £20,000 for 2026/27). There are ill-health exceptions to the pension age. The State Pension has its own, later age (state pensions).

In Europe

There is no single European pension access age: each country sets the age and conditions for its own workplace and personal pensions, and they differ widely. The EU’s Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP), applicable since 22 March 2022, is a voluntary personal pension you can keep paying into if you move within the EU — but EIOPA keeps a register of national laws because the conditions for saving into it and drawing from it are set by each country.

What to check in your country: the earliest age your workplace and personal pensions can be drawn, whether early access is allowed and at what tax cost, whether part must be taken as an income, and which ordinary savings or investment accounts you can use as a bridge. The Commission proposed a review of the PEPP rules on 20 November 2025, so details may change.

In Australia

Super is preserved until you meet a condition of release. Your preservation age is 60 if you were born on or after 1 July 1964 (it was lower for older people). The main conditions are: turning 65, even if you keep working; reaching preservation age and retiring; or reaching preservation age and starting a transition-to-retirement income stream while still working.

Early access is limited to specific grounds — financial hardship, compassionate and medical grounds, incapacity, the First Home Super Saver scheme, and temporary residents leaving Australia. Stopping work at 50 therefore means living for about a decade on money held outside super.

In New Zealand

KiwiSaver savings can be withdrawn in full at the age of eligibility for NZ Super, currently 65. You can keep contributing after 65, though the government contribution stops.

Before 65, withdrawals are limited to specific reasons: buying a first home (after three years in KiwiSaver), moving overseas (after a year away — a move to Australia means a transfer into Australian super instead), significant financial hardship, and serious illness or a life-shortening congenital condition. A bridge before 65 has to come from savings outside KiwiSaver.

In Singapore

From 55 you can withdraw some CPF savings: $5,000 or more, and once you have met the Full Retirement Sum, the excess savings in your Ordinary Account. The rest is set aside in your Retirement Account for CPF LIFE, which pays monthly from 65 and can be deferred to 70 for up to 7% more for each year deferred.

For members turning 55 in 2026 the retirement sums are $110,200 (Basic), $220,400 (Full) and $440,800 (Enhanced). The Special Account was closed for members aged 55 and above in January 2025, with savings moved to the Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum. A bridge before 55, and spending between 55 and 65, comes from money outside CPF or what you can withdraw.

In Hong Kong

MPF benefits from mandatory contributions and from tax-deductible voluntary contributions (TVC) can be withdrawn at 65, as a lump sum or in instalments. Early retirement lets you withdraw from 60 if you have permanently stopped all employment, with a statutory declaration.

Other early grounds are permanent departure from Hong Kong, total incapacity, terminal illness (life expectancy of 12 months or less), a small balance of no more than $5,000 with no contributions for 12 months, and death. Other voluntary contributions follow each scheme’s own rules. Stopping work before 60 means bridging entirely from savings outside the MPF.

In Japan

iDeCo savings cannot in principle be withdrawn before 60. You can generally start receiving them from 60 if you have been enrolled for at least 10 years by then; with fewer years the starting age moves later. You must claim before 75, as a lump sum or as an annuity over 5 to 20 years.

NISA works the other way: investments can be sold whenever you choose, and the book value of what you sell is restored as allowance from the following year. The annual limits are ¥1.2 million (tsumitate) and ¥2.4 million (growth), within a lifetime limit of ¥18 million. That makes NISA the natural bridge before iDeCo and public pension age.

In India

• NPS: normal exit is at 60 (for All Citizen Model subscribers, 60 or 15 years in the scheme, whichever comes first). Under amendments notified on 16 December 2025, non-government subscribers can then take up to 80% as a lump sum and must use at least 20% to buy an annuity; government-sector subscribers stay at 60% lump sum and 40% annuity. Smaller pots have more freedom in both sectors: ₹8 lakh or less can be taken whole, and between ₹8 lakh and ₹12 lakh up to ₹6 lakh can be taken as a lump sum with the rest paid out in instalments over at least six years or used for an annuity. Exiting early still requires at least 80% to buy an annuity unless the corpus is ₹5 lakh or less.
• EPF: in October 2025 EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees approved simpler partial withdrawals — up to 100% of the eligible balance, keeping 25% of contributions as a minimum balance — and a 12-month wait after leaving work before premature final settlement. Check EPFO for the rules in force when you withdraw.
• PPF: matures after 15 complete financial years; partial withdrawals are allowed each year from the seventh.

Because so much is locked or partly annuitised, a bridge usually comes from ordinary mutual funds, deposits and other savings outside these schemes.

In Malaysia

Since 11 May 2024, new EPF contributions are split 75% to Akaun Persaraan, 15% to Akaun Sejahtera and 10% to Akaun Fleksibel. Before 55, Akaun Fleksibel can be withdrawn at any time (minimum RM50); the other accounts are restricted to specific purposes.

At 55 the three accounts merge into Akaun 55, which you can withdraw in full, in part, or as monthly payments (minimum RM100 a month). Contributions after 55 go to Akaun Emas, which can be withdrawn at 60. Stopping work before 55 means bridging with Akaun Fleksibel and savings outside the EPF.