How much super do you need to retire in Australia? ASFA budgets and the Age Pension

There is no single number that works for everyone, because the answer depends on how much you spend, how long you live, what your super earns and whether you get any Age Pension. What helps is a benchmark for spending and some arithmetic that turns it into a balance. This guide uses the ASFA Retirement Standard for spending, then shows what balance each budget needs and what a working life of super guarantee contributions can build.

What retirees spend

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) publishes budgets for two lifestyles, for homeowners aged 65 to 84 who own their home outright. The June quarter 2026 figures are:

A modest lifestyle covers the basics and is better than living on the Age Pension alone. A comfortable lifestyle allows more spending on things like leisure, a higher level of private health cover and the occasional overseas trip. ASFA updates the budgets every quarter.

What balance each budget needs

Turning a yearly budget into a lump sum means choosing how long it has to last. The table shows the balance at 67 needed to pay each budget at the start of every year for 25 years (to age 92) and for 30 years (to age 97), with the balance earning 3% a year above inflation. It assumes no Age Pension at all, so a retiree who receives part of one may need less over the same period.

All amounts are in today's dollars. Because the balance keeps earning while it is drawn down, the balance needed is far less than the budget multiplied by the number of years.

What a working life of super can build

In 2026–27 the super guarantee is 12% of ordinary time earnings, and the fund pays 15% tax on it. The table shows the balance at 67, in today's dollars, for someone whose pay keeps pace with inflation and who receives only the guarantee, with no other contributions and no starting balance.

The starting age matters as much as the salary. The same contributions that reach $816,000 over 37 years reach $329,000 over 22 years, because the early years have the longest to compound.

How the Age Pension fits in

The Age Pension is paid at a full rate to people with modest assets and income, and it reduces as they rise. Two tests apply, and the one that pays less is used. In 2026–27 the assets test takes $3 a fortnight off for every $1,000 of assets above a threshold. That is $78 a year per $1,000, or 7.8%. An extra $100,000 of assets above the threshold cuts the pension by $7,800 a year.

The thresholds depend on whether you own your home and whether you are single or a couple, and they are indexed during the year. The current limits are published by Services Australia, so this guide does not repeat them. Your home is not counted in the assets test, but your super generally is.

This is why the balances above may overstate what some retirees need. A retiree with less than the table shows may receive a part pension that fills part of the gap. It also means that in the range where the pension is tapering, each extra dollar saved earns a lower return once the lost pension is counted.

The catches

• The ASFA budgets assume you own your home. Renters pay rent on top, and ASFA publishes separate figures for them.
• Spending changes. Spending can change through retirement, and health and aged care costs can rise later. A single flat budget is a simplification.
• Returns are not steady. A 3% real return is an average. A fall in markets early in retirement does more damage than the same fall later.
• Living longer. Thirty years of drawing costs about $82,000 to $178,000 more than twenty-five, depending on the budget.
• Rules move. Contribution caps, the Age Pension thresholds and tax on super change over time. The carry-forward contributions guide and the salary sacrifice guide explain how those two rules work.

Assumptions behind the numbers

• Spending budgets are the ASFA Retirement Standard for the June quarter 2026, homeowners aged 65 to 84, as published in ASFA's media release of 15 September 2026.
• Balances needed are the present value of the budget paid at the start of each year, at a real return of 3% a year after fees and tax, from age 67, rounded to the nearest $1,000. The Age Pension is ignored. They are not ASFA's own lump sum figures.
• Balances built use the 12% super guarantee, 15% contributions tax, a fund return of 7% a year after fees and tax, and inflation of 2.5% a year, which is a real return of about 4.4%. Salary rises with inflation only, contributions are added at the end of each year, and all salaries are below the maximum contribution base. Amounts are in today's dollars, rounded to the nearest $1,000.
• The Age Pension taper is $3 a fortnight per $1,000 of assets over the threshold, with 26 fortnights in a year. MyFinancialFuture's planner does not model the Age Pension, so its retirement results leave it out.