Retirement Savings Calculator

Are you actually on track for retirement?

Most Australians have no real idea whether their super balance is where it needs to be. That's not a character flaw, it's just a planning gap, and it's exactly what this calculator is for. Enter your current balance, your age, your planned retirement age, your regular contributions and a return rate, and you'll get a projected nest egg in seconds. The benchmarks below tell you what that number actually means.

What does a comfortable retirement actually cost?

The most widely used yardstick is the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia's (ASFA) Retirement Standard, updated every quarter. For the March 2026 quarter, ASFA puts the annual income needed for a comfortable retirement, for a homeowner aged 65 to 84, at $55,923 for a single person and $78,566 for a couple. A comfortable retirement covers a decent car, private health cover, regular meals out, and both domestic and the occasional overseas trip. A modest retirement covers the basics: essential health care, limited recreation, and infrequent dining out, and leans much more heavily on the Age Pension to fill the gap.

Source: ASFA Retirement Standard, March 2026 quarter. Figures assume you own your home outright.

$630,000 for a comfortable single retirement is the number most planners work towards, but it's a today's-dollars figure for a homeowner retiring at 67. If you're still renting, or you're planning to retire earlier, your real target is higher. For the full breakdown of how these numbers are built and what changes them, our guide on how much super you actually need to retire in Australia walks through it.

How the Age Pension changes your number

The Age Pension isn't just a safety net for people with no savings, it's a meaningful income source for a large share of Australian retirees, including plenty with a solid super balance. From 1 July 2026 the maximum Age Pension is around $31,223 a year for a single person and $47,070 a year combined for a couple. Whether you get the full pension, a part pension, or nothing comes down to an assets test and an income test, with Centrelink paying whichever result is lower.

Source: Services Australia.

This calculator projects your own super in isolation, on purpose, so you can see what your savings alone are doing. If you want the combined picture, your super plus an estimated Age Pension entitlement, run the numbers through our Retirement Income & Age Pension Calculator once you have a projected balance from this one. For the full rules on rates and eligibility, see our Age Pension guide.

How your balance compares to the average Australian

Knowing the benchmark is one thing, knowing where you sit against other Australians your age is another, and often more motivating. The averages below are from ATO 2023-24 taxation statistics. They're mean averages, not medians, so a small number of very large balances pull the numbers up. Medians typically sit 30 to 40% lower.

Source: ATO Taxation Statistics 2023-24.

Two things stand out. The gender gap is real and persists across every age group, women aged 60 to 64 average roughly $86,000 less than men in the same bracket. And even the average 60 to 64 year old male balance of $413,700 falls short of the $630,000 ASFA comfortable-single benchmark. That gap is exactly why running your own projection now, while there's still time to close it, beats hoping the average sorts itself out. See the full super balance benchmarks by age for more detail, including the youngest brackets.

What extra contributions actually do to your number

This is where the calculator earns its keep. Small changes to your contributions, made early, compound into very different outcomes. Take a 35-year-old with $91,000 in super (roughly the 2023-24 average for their age group), earning $90,000 a year, retiring at 67, a 32-year runway at a 7% nominal return.

A quick reality check on those numbers: they're nominal, meaning future dollars, not today's dollars. Thirty-two years of inflation at around 2.5 to 3% a year eats a big chunk of that headline figure, so the first scenario is closer to $900,000 to $1,000,000 in today's purchasing power, still well above the ASFA benchmark, just not quite as dramatic as it looks. Run the calculator again with a 4 to 5% return instead of 7% to get a rougher but more honest read on real purchasing power.

The extra contributions still matter, especially if you're starting later, earning less, or carrying a smaller balance than this example. Concessional contributions, including salary sacrifice, are taxed at 15% inside super rather than your marginal rate of 30% or higher, and that tax saving compounds right alongside your balance. Just keep an eye on the 2026-27 concessional contributions cap of $32,500, which covers your employer's super guarantee plus any salary sacrifice or personal deductible contributions combined.

Four mistakes that quietly wreck a projection

1. 1. Ignoring inflation. A 7% nominal return is closer to 4 to 5% in real terms right now, and the ASFA benchmarks are in today's dollars. Compare a nominal projection to them directly and you'll overestimate your future purchasing power.
2. 2. Getting too optimistic on returns. ASIC's MoneySmart guidance suggests 6 to 7% for a balanced super fund as a reasonable long-run assumption. Plugging in 9 or 10% because your fund had a great couple of years can overstate a 30-year projection by 20 to 30%.
3. 3. Forgetting fees compound too. A 1% annual fee gap on a $300,000 balance can cost more than $100,000 over 20 years, because fees shrink your compounding base every single year. Check your fund's total annual fee on your statement, and see our Net Fees Calculator to see the damage over your own timeline.
4. 4. Starting extra contributions too late. An extra $200 a month from age 35 beats $400 a month from age 50, because those earlier dollars get 15 more years to compound. If you've been meaning to top up your super, the maths rewards doing it now, not once you feel more comfortable.

Super numbers worth knowing for 2026-27

• Super guarantee rate: 12% of ordinary time earnings, with no further scheduled increases.
• Concessional contributions cap: $32,500 a year, covering employer super guarantee, salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions combined.
• Non-concessional contributions cap: $130,000 a year, with a bring-forward rule allowing up to $390,000 across three years.
• Transfer Balance Cap: $2.1 million, the most you can move into the tax-free retirement phase.
• Preservation age: 60, for anyone born after 30 June 1964.
• Age Pension qualifying age: 67, for anyone born on or after 1 January 1957.