About you: Set your current age, planned retirement age, annual income and any additional contributions you make.
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.
Calculate: Hit 'Calculate' to see your projected retirement balance.
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
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
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
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
Investment return rate before tax & fees
Compare rate of return
You need to fill in all fields before calculating your result
Your results
And finally, the results you've been waiting for!
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.
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
The information provided by this calculator is general in nature and does not constitute professional or personal advice.
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.
Starting balance
Annual fees
Return rate
Additional contributions
Projected balance at 65
Additional balance at 65
$30,000
$300
7% p.a.
$0 / year
$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.
Starting balance
Annual fees
Return rate
Additional contributions
Projected balance at 65
Additional balance at 65
$30,000
$150
7% p.a.
$0 / year
$522,787
$8,537
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!
Starting balance
Annual fees
Return rate
Additional contributions
Projected balance at 65
Additional balance at 65
$30,000
$300
9% p.a.
$0 / year
$633,821
$119,561
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.
Starting balance
Annual fees
Return rate
Additional contributions
Projected balance at 65
Additional balance at 65
$30,000
$300
7% p.a.
$1,000 / year
$574,557
$60,297
Ready for a new super fund? Compare your options now.
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Unless indicated otherwise, the information in the table is based on data provided by SuperRatings Pty Limited ABN 95 100 192 283, Australian Financial Services Licence 311880.
*Past performance data and fee data is for the period ending Feb 2024
Frequently asked questions
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why you can trust Finder's super fund experts
We're free
Our comparison tables are completely free to use. We link you directly to the super fund's secure application page. Plus, you can access all of our research in our media room.
We're experts
We've researched and rated hundreds of super funds as part of our Finder Awards. We've published 50+ guides and our in-house experts regularly appear on Sunrise, 7News and SBS News.
We're independent
Unlike other comparison sites, we're not owned by a super fund company. That means our opinions are our own and you can compare nearly every super fund in Australia on Finder.
We're here to help
Since 2017, we've helped over 200,000 people find a super fund by comprehensively comparing funds. We'll never ask for your personal information. We're here to help you make a decision.
Alison Banney is the money editorial manager at Finder. She covers all areas of personal finance, and her areas of expertise are superannuation, banking and saving. She has written about finance for 10 years, having previously worked at Westpac and written for several other major banks and super funds.
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