Superannuation Calculator
Enter your age, salary and current balance to see where your super is actually headed, after contributions tax, fund fees and insurance premiums.
Your details
Your super at 67
$729,190
Contributions
$388,945
Investment earnings
$739,546
Tax paid inside super
$171,014
Fees and insurance will cost you $48,682
That is $31,153 in fees and premiums actually deducted, plus the growth that money never got to earn. Same fund, same returns, no fees, and you would retire with $777,873.
Against a comfortable retirement
You land at 116% of the ASFA comfortable target of $630,000 in today's dollars. Anything above the line is buffer for a longer life, higher costs or an earlier finish.
Contributions are taxed at 15% going in, fund earnings are taxed at 15% along the way, and fees come out of the balance rather than the return. Today's dollars strip out 2.5% inflation a year so the number means something to you now.
How to use this calculator
- 1. Add up every super account you have, including the ones you've forgotten about. Your salary should be the figure before super, the way most contracts quote it.
- 2. Match it to what your fund actually has you in. Most people default to balanced, which is fine, but a 30-year-old sitting in cash is quietly costing themselves a lot.
- 3. Your annual statement lists the admin fee and any insurance premium. Entering the real figures is the difference between a rough guess and a projection you can act on.
- 4. A million dollars in 2056 is not a million dollars now. The toggle strips inflation out so the number can be compared to the ASFA targets, which are also quoted in today's money.
How much super you should have by age
Averages are not targets, but they are a useful reality check. Using ASFA figures built on ATO data, the average Australian has roughly $24,300 in super at 25, $81,000 at 35, $159,000 at 45, $265,000 at 55 and about $421,000 at 65. Line that last number up against the $630,000 ASFA says a single person needs for a comfortable retirement and you can see the problem: the average Australian retires a long way short of comfortable, and leans on the Age Pension to close the gap.
A rougher rule of thumb, if you want one you can hold in your head: aim for about one times your salary by 35, two times by 45, four times by 55 and six times by 65. It breaks down at the extremes and it ignores your partner entirely, so treat it as a sanity check rather than a plan. Our guide to how much super you should have breaks the numbers down properly by age bracket.
How the 12% super guarantee works
Your employer has to pay 12% of your ordinary time earnings into your super fund for 2026-27. On a $90,000 salary that's $10,800 a year landing in your account without you doing anything. On $120,000 it's $14,400. The word "ordinary" matters: overtime generally doesn't count, so a big overtime year won't lift your super the way you might expect.
There is a ceiling. The maximum super contribution base is $270,830 for 2026-27, and your employer isn't required to pay the guarantee on earnings above it. If you're in that bracket, the guarantee stops being the main game and your own contributions start doing the work.
What the 15% contributions tax does to your balance
Every dollar your employer contributes, and every dollar you salary sacrifice, is taxed at 15% on the way in. Your employer puts in $10,000, the ATO takes $1,500, and $8,500 hits your account. This calculator shows that tax as its own line rather than quietly netting it off the return, because over 30 years it adds up to a number worth seeing.
It still works heavily in your favour. The 2026-27 marginal rates are 15%, 30%, 37% and 45%, so unless you're earning under $45,000 the 15% contributions tax beats taking the money as salary. That gap is the entire reason salary sacrifice works. The exception is Division 293: once your income plus concessional contributions passes $250,000, the rate on those contributions doubles to 30%. Still a discount at the top marginal rate, just a smaller one, and the calculator flags it when it applies to you.
How fees quietly eat your super
Fees are a slow leak. No single year hurts, which is exactly why they work. Take a $200,000 balance earning 6.5% a year for 20 years: at 6.5% it grows to about $704,000, and half a percent of fees drops that to roughly $641,000. That's $63,000 gone from one decimal place, on a balance you never topped up.
Insurance premiums inside super deserve their own look. Default cover is often genuinely worth having, but plenty of Australians hold several accounts and pay premiums on each one, for cover they'd never claim twice. The fee panel in the results shows the lifetime cost including the growth those dollars never earned, which is usually the number that gets people to finally consolidate their lost super.
Salary sacrifice and the $32,500 concessional cap
Salary sacrifice swaps your marginal rate for 15%. On a 37% marginal rate, every dollar you redirect saves you 22c in tax immediately. The catch is the concessional contributions cap: $32,500 for 2026-27, and it counts your employer's contributions too. On a $90,000 salary your employer is already using $10,800 of it, leaving about $21,700 of room.
Go over and the excess gets added back to your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, which undoes the point of the exercise. The calculator warns you when your first-year contributions cross the line. If you've had lower income years or a career break, check carry-forward contributions first: with a total super balance under $500,000 you can use up to five years of unused cap in one hit, which is the single most powerful catch-up move in the system. Our salary sacrifice calculator shows what it does to your take-home pay at the same time.
How much super you actually need to retire
ASFA publishes the benchmark most of the industry uses. As at the March quarter 2026, a comfortable retirement costs $55,923 a year for a single and $78,566 for a couple. A modest one costs $36,434 and $52,473. Both assume you own your home outright, which is doing an enormous amount of work in those numbers.
| Standard | Income a year | Super needed at 67 |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortable, single | $55,923 | $630,000 |
| Comfortable, couple | $78,566 | $730,000 |
| Modest, single | $36,434 | $110,000 |
| Modest, couple | $52,473 | $120,000 |
The lump sums look strange next to the incomes, and there's a good reason: they assume a part Age Pension kicks in as your balance draws down. That's why modest only needs $110,000. The pension is doing almost all of the work at that level. Our retirement income calculator models that combination directly, and how much super you need to retire walks through the assumptions behind the benchmarks. Retiring before 67 changes everything, since you fund more years without a pension to fall back on.
FAQ
What does this superannuation calculator assume?
The 12% super guarantee for 2026-27, a 15% tax on concessional contributions going in, a 15% tax on fund earnings each year, and admin fees plus insurance premiums deducted from your balance rather than netted off the return. Investment returns are the published long-run figures for each option, already net of investment fees. Salary growth defaults to 3% a year and inflation to 2.5%, and you can change both.
How do I get an accurate projection?
Two things matter more than everything else: your real fees and your real balance. Grab your latest annual statement, open the 'Fees and assumptions' panel, and enter the actual admin fee, percentage fee and insurance premium. Then add up every super account you hold, not just the main one. Default assumptions are fine for a rough look, but your own numbers are what make it useful.
Why is the 15% contributions tax shown separately?
Because it's real money and most calculators hide it. Your employer contributes $10,000, the fund passes $1,500 to the ATO, and $8,500 gets invested. Over a 30-year career that difference compounds into a figure worth seeing rather than assuming. It's still a good deal for anyone whose marginal rate is above 15%, which is almost everyone working full time.
What is Division 293 tax and does it apply to me?
It's an extra 15% on concessional contributions for high earners. If your income plus your concessional contributions comes to more than $250,000 in a year, the amount above that threshold is taxed at 30% instead of 15%. The calculator flags it automatically when your inputs trigger it. It's still cheaper than your 45% marginal rate, just not the bargain the headline 15% suggests.
What happens if I go over the $32,500 concessional cap?
The excess gets added back to your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, plus an excess concessional contributions charge. In practice you lose the tax advantage that made the contribution worth making. The cap covers your employer's super guarantee and your salary sacrifice combined, so it's easier to hit than people expect once you're earning over $200,000.
Can I contribute after-tax money as well?
Yes, and it doesn't attract the 15% contributions tax because you've already paid income tax on it. The non-concessional cap is $130,000 for 2026-27, and if you're under 75 the bring-forward rule lets you use up to three years of cap at once, so $390,000 in one go, subject to your total super balance. Enter your yearly after-tax amount in the calculator to see the effect.
What does the today's dollars toggle actually do?
It strips inflation out so the projection means something to you now. At 2.5% inflation, $1,000,000 in 30 years buys roughly what $477,000 buys today. Leave the toggle on today's dollars if you want to compare your result against the ASFA targets, since those are quoted in current money too. Switch to future dollars if you want to see the raw balance your statement will eventually show.
How much difference do fees really make?
More than almost any other lever you control. On a $200,000 balance earning 6.5% for 20 years, half a percentage point of fees costs about $63,000, and that's without adding a cent in contributions. The results panel shows your lifetime fee total plus the growth those dollars never earned, which is the honest way to measure it.
Should I keep insurance inside my super?
Often yes, since premiums come out of your balance rather than your take-home pay and the cover is usually cheaper than buying it retail. The problem is duplication. If you hold three super accounts you may be paying three sets of premiums for cover you can only claim once. Check what you're actually insured for before cancelling anything, because default cover can be hard to replace if your health has changed.
When can I actually access my super?
Preservation age is 60 for everyone born after 30 June 1964, and you can access your super then if you've retired. At 65 you can access it whether you've stopped working or not. Between those points a transition to retirement income stream lets you draw some of it while still working. Early access outside those rules is limited to specific hardship and medical grounds.
Does this calculator work if I'm self-employed?
Yes, with one adjustment. Set the employer contribution rate to 0% in the assumptions panel and put whatever you contribute yourself into the salary sacrifice field, since personal deductible contributions are treated as concessional and taxed the same 15% way. The concessional cap and Division 293 rules apply to you identically.
My projection falls short of the ASFA comfortable target. What now?
First, remember the Age Pension fills part of the gap for most people, which is why the ASFA modest lump sum is only $110,000. Then work the levers in order of impact: consolidate duplicate accounts to stop paying multiple fees and premiums, check your investment option actually matches your timeframe, and start salary sacrifice if you have cap room. Carry-forward contributions can move the needle fast if you have unused cap and a balance under $500,000.
Related reading
How Much Super Should You Have? Average Balances by Age in Australia
Real average super balances by age from ASFA and the ATO, the Retirement Standard targets, the gender super gap, and what actually helps.
Salary Sacrifice Super: How It Works (And Is It Worth It?)
How salary sacrificing into super actually reduces your tax bill, the concessional cap limit to watch, and whether it's worth it for your situation.
Concessional Contributions Cap 2026-27: How Much You Can Actually Put Into Super
The concessional contributions cap 2026-27 is $32,500. Learn what counts, how SG affects your room, carry-forward rules, and what happens if you go over.
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Disclaimer
This calculator uses 2026-27 Australian figures: the 12% super guarantee, a $270,830 maximum contribution base, the $32,500 concessional and $130,000 non-concessional contribution caps, a 15% tax on concessional contributions and fund earnings, and the $250,000 Division 293 threshold. Retirement targets use the ASFA Retirement Standard as at the March quarter 2026, which assumes home ownership, retirement at 67 and a part Age Pension. Investment returns are assumptions, not predictions, and real returns vary year to year. The projection ignores the transfer balance cap, Division 296, the low income super tax offset, the government co-contribution, spouse contributions and defined benefit funds. Rates and thresholds are set by the government and change each financial year. This tool provides estimates only and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Confirm current figures at ato.gov.au or speak with a licensed financial adviser.