Retiring

How much super will I need?

Most of us daydream about the day we finally finish work and retire. Whether you dream of cruising around the world, campervanning around Australia, or just pottering about in the garden and improving your golf skills, the magic question is: how much do you need to make your retirement dreams a reality?

According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia’s Retirement Standard, to have a ‘comfortable’ retirement, single people will need $545,000 in retirement savings, and couples will need $640,000. You can use this guide to estimate how much money you’ll need to have a ‘comfortable’ or ‘modest’ retirement. See the box below for more information. The Standard is updated four times a year to take into consideration the rising price of items like food and utility bills, as well as changing lifestyle expectations and spending habits. The Standard includes the cost of things such as health, communication, clothing, travel and household goods.

	Comfortable lifestyle	Modest lifestyle	Age Pension
Single	$43,317 a year	$27,648 a year	$21,222 a year *
Couple	$60,977 a year	$39,775 a year	$31,995 a year *
	Replace kitchen and bathroom over 20 years	No budget for home improvements. Can do repairs, but can’t replace kitchen or bathroom	No budget to fix home problems like a leaky roof
	Better quality and larger number of household items and appliances and higher cost hairdressing	Limited number of household items and appliances and budget haircuts	Less frequent hair cuts or getting a friend to cut your hair
	Can run air conditioning	Need to watch utility costs	Less heating in winter
	Restaurant dining, good range & quality of food	Take out and occasional cheap restaurants	Only club special meals or inexpensive takeaway
	Fast internet connection, big data allowance and large talk and text allowance	Limited talk and text, modest internet data allowance	Very basic phone and internet package
	Good clothes	Reasonable clothes	Basic clothes
	Domestic and occasional overseas holidays	One holiday in Australia or a few short breaks	Even shorter breaks or day trips in your own city
	Top level private health insurance	Basic private health insurance, limited gap payments	No private health insurance
	Owning a reasonable car	Owning a cheaper more basic car	No car or, if you have a car, it will be a struggle to afford repairs
	Take part in a range of regular leisure activities	One leisure activity infrequently, some trips to the cinema or the like	Only taking part in no cost or very low cost leisure activities. Rare trips to the cinema

Figures from December quarter 2018.

* Base rate before payment of supplements.

To find out how much money you’ll need to support the lifestyle you want in retirement, use the ASFA Retirement Tracker tool. For help saving more super, see the Grow your super section.