What are unrestricted and restricted non-preserved super benefits?

Superannuation has many benefits, primarily its potential to provide you with a source of income in retirement. But like everything to do with super, the benefits are obscured by layers of jargon, beginning with the word ‘benefits’.  

In super parlance, benefits refer to the funds you accumulate in your super account. Broadly speaking, these benefits are designed to be preserved until you retire or start making withdrawals from your super.

Preserved benefits include all contributions made by you (or on your behalf, such as the Superannuation Guarantee payments made by your employer) since 30 June 1999, as well as all of the earnings on your super investments since that date.

These preserved benefits cannot be accessed until you have met a condition of release. In other words, they must be preserved, usually until you reach your preservation age. Your preservation age will be between the ages of 55 and 60, depending on your date of birth.

So far, so good, but it doesn’t end there. Some super benefits don’t need to be preserved. You guessed it – these benefits are classified as unpreserved or non-preserved.