What is a comfortable retirement?

A comfortable retirement means you can have an annual holiday in Australia, eat out, buy good clothes and own a reasonable car.  If this sounds like what you'll want when you finish work then it's a good starting point for what you'll need saved in your super.  If you think you'll want to do more (such as travel overseas every year), you'll need to save more.

The annual budget from ASFA assumes:

• you own your own home
• both partners are relatively healthy.

If you're likely to still be paying rent or paying off your mortgage in retirement, or may need a higher budget for medical expenses, you’ll need to save more.

Are you on track?

ASFA says to fund a comfortable retirement a couple will need $640,000 saved in their super, assuming they receive a partial Age Pension. A single person will need $545,000. ^[1]

To fund a modest retirement lifestyle, the ASFA standards estimates a couple will need $34,560 to cover annual living costs, which is mostly met by the Age Pension. A single person will need $23,996. ^[1]

A great way to see how your savings are tracking is to try our retirement simulator. It'll give you an estimate of how much money you'll have saved when you retire.

Find out how much you may have when you retire

What to do if your balance is lagging

If you think you need to boost your super, here are some simple things to consider:  

• make extra contributions
• find any lost super you may have
• review your investment options.