Superannuation calculator

Superannuation calculator

• How to use the superannuation calculator

  1. About you: Set your current age, planned retirement age, annual income and any additional contributions you make.
  2. Your balance, fees and return: Check your annual super statement to see your annual fees and current balance. The rate of return is pre-set to the average long-term market return of 7% p.a., but you can change this if your fund has different long-term returns.
  3. Calculate: Hit 'Calculate' to see your projected retirement balance.
  4. Compare funds: Under the 'Comparison' tab, try adjusting your fees and return rate. Hit 'Enable comparison' then 'Recalculate' to see the difference in your projected balance.

What's the plan?

To get started, input your current age and target retirement age.

Current Age

Retirement Age

You've got 30 years to grow your super!

The finer details

Let's crunch some numbers - what are we working with?

This is your expected annual (before tax) salary based on your normal working hours, excluding employer super contributions

Expected income

Annually Monthly Fortnightly Weekly

Your employer contributions will default to the minimum legislated rates for current and future years.

Employer contribution

Any additional contributions made to your super other than employer contribution.

Additional contributions

Annually Monthly Fortnightly Weekly

If you have more than one super account, enter the total amount of all your super accounts combined.

Current super balance

Admin fees, contribution fees etc.

Fees

Annually Monthly Fortnightly Weekly

Investment return rate before tax & fees

Rate of return

Compare rates

Tweak fees and rate of return to compare your result with different estimations.

Admin fees, contribution fees etc.

Compare fees

Annually Monthly Fortnightly Weekly

Investment return rate before tax & fees

Compare rate of return

Enable comparison

You need to fill in all fields before calculating your result

Your results

And finally, the results you've been waiting for!

Calculate Recalculate

Balance at retirement

$0

Comparison balance

$0

The results of this calculator are best estimates based on assumptions that can vary. This calculator is not intended to make future financial decisions.

Before making any financial decisions consider your own financial circumstances, needs and objectives and consider getting professional financial advice.

Edit assumptions

Edit Assumptions

The cost of insurance fees per annum

Insurance

Annually Monthly Fortnightly Weekly

Rise in household inflation rate, according to Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Inflation

Cost of living standards according to Selected Living Cost Index (SLCI)

Additional rise in living standards

Set values

The information provided by this calculator is general in nature and does not constitute professional or personal advice.

• Calculator assumptions

  This superannuation calculator has several built-in assumptions that influence the estimated retirement balance provided.

  • Fund type: The calculator assumes you're in an accumulation fund, not a defined benefit fund or pension-phase fund.
  • Employer contributions. We assume that you receive the current legal super guarantee rate of contributions from your employer. This is set to increase gradually until it reaches 12% in 2025. If you receive a higher contribution rate from your employer, change this figure manually to see more accurate results.
  • Expected income: The calculator assumes you'll earn this same income throughout your life, and does not take into account any periods of no or reduced income.
  • Additional contributions: These are considered to be concessional contributions and the concessional tax rate of 15% is applied to these. If you've entered in an additional contribution, the calculator assumes your contributions will remain the same throughout your life, and does not take into account any periods of lower or no concessional contributions. The calculator assumes you've made no additional non-concessional contributions (these are after tax contributions). The calculator assumes you will not exceed your annual concessional contributions cap.
  • Self employed people. If you're self employed, you're not required legally to meet the super guarantee contribution rate which is set into the calculator. Instead, change this to 0% and add in your contributions via the 'additional contributions' field.
  • Return rate. We assume that your fund will achieve an average return rate of 7% p.a. before fees. This is is to be used as a guide only and does not provide a guarantee for future returns. You can change this figure manually to see how your projected balance is impacted.
  • Insurance premiums: We assume that insurance premiums are $214 per year and that the same amount will be deducted yearly until retirement. These are in addition to the annual fees you can enter into the calculator yourself, which covers admin and investment fees. You can change this insurance premium by clicking 'Edit assumptions' at the bottom of the calculator.
  • Inflation: We assume a CPI Inflation rate of 2.5% per year, and an additional 1.5% per year due to the rising cost of living standards according to the Selected Living Cost Index.

  This calculator is a guide only, and the estimates given are not guaranteed. The calculator assumes your circumstances will remain the same throughout your working life, and does not take into account any changes to your personal circumstances or external factors. For this reason, you should regularly check the calculator when your circumstances change as it will impact the estimates provided.

What the superannuation calculator can show you

The calculator will show you your estimated super balance at retirement based on your current situation and super fund. Let's look at the following example.

Let's say you're 25, earning $80,000 a year, making no additional contributions and have a current super balance of $30,000. Your annual fees are $300 and your rate of return is 7% p.a. Your projected super balance by age 65 is $514,260.

What happens when you reduce your super fees?

The calculator is also designed to show you how much your retirement balance can increase by switching to a super fund with lower fees or higher returns (or both!).

Using the exact same situation as above, and changing nothing but reducing the fees from $300 a year to $150 a year, your new projected balance at 65 would be $522,797. That's an extra $8,537 in your balance at retirement, just by switching to a fund with lower fees.

What happens when you increase your super returns?

You can also use the calculator to see how much your balance is impacted when you change your rate of return.

Once again using the same example, except this time changing only the return rate from 7% p.a. to 9% p.a., your new projected balance at 65 would be $633,821. That's an extra $119,561 in your balance when you retire!

What happens when you make extra super contributions?

The calculator can also show you the power of making small, additional contributions into your super over your working life.

Using the same example, let's say your fund details stay exactly the same but you make additional annual contributions of $1,000 per year into your super. You'll instead retire with a projected balance of $574,557 - an extra $60,297.

Ready for a new super fund? Compare your options now.

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Last 1 year performance (p.a.) (low-high)Last 1 year performance (p.a.) (high-low)Last 3 year performance (p.a.) (low-high)Last 3 year performance (p.a.) (high-low)Last 5 year performance (p.a.) (low-high)Last 5 year performance (p.a.) (high-low)Last 10 year performance (p.a.) (low-high)Last 10 year performance (p.a.) (high-low)Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) (low-high)Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) (high-low)

Product	Last 1 year performance (p.a.)	Last 3 year performance (p.a.)	Last 5 year performance (p.a.)	Last 10 year performance (p.a.)	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.)
UniSuper - High Growth Industry fundHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +16.34%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +6.2%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +9.09%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +10.04%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $451	This fund targets high growth over a long term horizon by investing in higher growth, higher risk assets such as Australian and international shares.	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Australian Ethical Super - High Growth Green CompanyEthicalHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +15.37%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +4.84%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.44%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +8.52%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $728	This is a high-risk, high-growth option that invests in Australian and international shares, property and alternatives to provide long term growth.	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Vanguard Super SaveSmart - High Growth Higher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +16.32%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $270	This is a high-risk, high-growth option that invests in a range of different asset classes, with a strong focus on Australian and international shares.	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Aware Super Future Saver - MySuper Lifecycle High Growth Industry fundLifestageHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +14.16%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.84%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.4%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +8.98%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $457	A lifecycle super fund weighted heavily towards high growth assets, targeted to people 55 and under.	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Virgin Money Super - LifeStage Tracker Lifestage	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +15.61%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +6.76%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.11%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $363	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Australian Retirement Trust - High Growth Industry fundHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +13.73%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +7.51%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +9.19%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +9.58%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $507	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Spaceship - GrowthX Higher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +25.13%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +8.87%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +11.83%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $572	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Superhero Super - High Growth Higher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +15.31%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +7.22%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +8.69%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) N/A	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $397	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Australian Ethical Super Australian Shares Green CompanyEthicalHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +15.13%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +2.44%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +7.98%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +10.1%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $778	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...
UniSuper - Sustainable High Growth Finder AwardIndustry fundEthicalHigher risk	Last 1 year performance (p.a.) +19.04%	Last 3 year performance (p.a.) +5.14%	Last 5 year performance (p.a.) +9.23%	Last 10 year performance (p.a.) +9.81%	Fees on $50k balance (p.a.) $326	Go to siteMore info Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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How we picked these

The information in this table is based on data provided by SuperRatings Pty Limited ABN 95 100 192 283, a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR No.1309956) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561, Australian Financial Services Licence No. 421445. In limited instances, where data is not available from SuperRatings for a product, the data is provided directly by the superannuation fund.

*Past performance data and fee data is for the period ending December 2024

Frequently asked questions

• How do I know if my super is on track?

  You can look at the average super balance for your age group in the table in our How much super should I have? guide, to get an idea of how you compare to your peers. Keep in mind that these are just average balances, so your balance doesn't need to match this exactly.

• How do I calculate my super guarantee?

  Calculating your super guarantee is simple. Take your gross salary (before tax) and multiply it by the super guarantee rate (currently 11%). For example, if you earn $80,000 per year, your super guarantee for the year works out to $8,800.

• What fees are charged on superannuation?

  These are a dozen or so potential fees that can be charged by your super fund, however, many of them have fallen by the wayside over the years. The most common include administration fees, investment fees and brokerage fees.

  There may also be additional costs including insurance premiums and transaction costs when you buy, sell or switch investments.

• How much money do most people retire with in Australia?

  According to the latest retirement standard by ASFA you need a balance of $545,000 (or $640,000 for couples) to have a comfortable retirement. However, this is just one estimate and there are other estimates that suggest you don't need quite so much.

Ryan is the founder and CEO at Tribeca Financial, a financial advice firm that listens, learns and then gets you on track. He's an accomplished financial advisor and financial wellbeing coach with over 15 years of experience.

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Richard Whitten and reviewed by Ryan Watson, a member of Finder's Editorial Review Board.

Written by

Alison Banney

Editorial Manager, Money

Alison is an editor at Finder and a personal finance journalist with over 10 years of experience, having contributed to major financial institutions and publications such as Westpac, Money Magazine, and Yahoo Finance. She is frequently quoted in media outlets like SmartCompany and SBS, offering expert insights on superannuation and money management. Alison holds a Bachelor of Communications in Public Relations and Journalism from the University of Newcastle, and has earned three ASIC RG146 certifications in superannuation, securities and managed investments and general financial advice, ensuring her expertise is fully aligned with ASIC standards. See full bio

Alison's expertise

Alison has written 639 Finder guides across topics including:

• Superannuation
• Savings accounts, bank accounts and term deposits
• Budgeting and money-saving hacks
• Managing the cost of living