You
Investment choice
Use your fund's long-term (10-year) average for your option, after investment fees and tax - this is how funds publish it. Volatility only affects the range of outcomes.
Salary and contributions
Super Guarantee is 12% (from 1 July 2025). Salary sacrifice is taken from pay before tax and taxed 15% in the fund.
One-off contributions by you
After-tax: from savings, no tax in the fund, may earn the government co-contribution. Tax-deductible: you claim it on your tax return, 15% tax in the fund, counts toward the concessional cap.
Fees and insurance
From your annual statement or the fund's fee page. Investment fees are already inside the return above.
Career break (optional)
Retirement
Today's dollars
3.7% is the ASIC standard used by fund calculators (it follows wage growth, so results compare with today's living standards). Use 2.5% to adjust for prices only.
Super at retirement
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Likely range
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Income that lasts
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Expected balance 8 in 10 outcomes All in today's dollars

Where your retirement balance comes from

What if...

Change in balance at retirement and in the income that lasts, today's dollars.

Contribution caps and tax this year

Year by year
How this is worked out
  • Monthly compounding. Contributions go in each month; returns, % fees, $ fees and insurance come out each month. One-off contributions go in at the start of the year you turn that age.
  • Contributions tax 15% on employer, salary-sacrifice and tax-deductible contributions. Division 293: an extra 15% on the part above $250,000 of salary plus concessional contributions. After-tax contributions are not taxed.
  • Super Guarantee 12%, paid on salary up to the maximum contribution base ($270,830 in 2026-27, indexed). Caps 2026-27: concessional $32,500, non-concessional $130,000 (indexed by wages in $2,500 steps). Going over a cap is flagged, not modelled as a penalty.
  • Government help: co-contribution (50c per $1 after-tax, up to $500; income $49,293 to $64,293 in 2026-27) and the Low Income Super Tax Offset (15% of concessional contributions up to $500 if income is $37,000 or less).
  • Earnings: the return you enter is after investment fees and earnings tax, as funds publish it. In retirement (account-based pension) earnings are tax-free, so a similar option often shows a slightly higher return. Balances above $3 million pay the extra Division 296 tax (15% on that share of earnings; 40% total above $10 million).
  • Range of outcomes: 1,000 simulations with random yearly returns around your average (lognormal, using the volatility shown). The band shows the middle 80%; "chance it lasts" counts simulations where money lasts to your plan-until age.
  • Retirement: you draw the income you want each year (in today's dollars); the Age Pension (from 67) tops it up when the assets or income test allows. Age Pension figures are September 2025 rates and thresholds held steady in today's dollars - approximate, check Services Australia. Couples: only this super balance plus "other assets" are counted; add your partner's super into other assets.
  • Today's dollars: every future amount is divided by (1 + discount rate) for each year ahead - the same method ASIC requires of fund calculators.
  • ASFA Retirement Standard (June 2025, homeowners aged 65-84): comfortable $53,289 single / $75,319 couple; modest $34,522 / $49,992.
  • This is a model, not advice. Past returns do not guarantee future returns. Your fund's own calculator and statements are the final word.