Superannuation Projection Calculator: Your Super Balance at Retirement

How it works

each year: balance × (1 + return − fees) + (employer % × salary + salary sacrifice) × 0.85 (contributions tax), contributions within the concessional cap · salary grows with wage growth · today's dollars = future balance ÷ (1 + inflation)^years · income ≈ drawdown % × balance

Your employer pays 12% of your ordinary earnings into super (the super guarantee, 12% since 1 July 2025 and paid with each payday from 1 July 2026). Those contributions and any salary sacrifice are taxed at 15% as they go in, then the balance compounds at your fund's return after fees until you retire. The projection grows your salary each year, keeps before-tax contributions within the concessional cap ($32,500 in 2026–27, rising with wages in $2,500 steps) and caps employer contributions at the maximum contribution base. A future balance is hard to judge, so the result is also shown in today's dollars: the future figure divided by price inflation for each year. Fund and Moneysmart forecasts follow ASIC rules that deflate by wage growth (3.7%) before retirement instead, which gives a lower figure, so that version is shown as well. Fees matter almost as much as returns over 30 years, and small extra contributions early have a large effect, which is why the $100-a-fortnight line is shown. The income figure applies a drawdown rate (5% is the minimum for ages 65–74) to the balance in today's dollars; ASFA's comfortable standard needs about $630,000 for a single person or $730,000 for a couple at 67, alongside a part Age Pension. This is a deterministic projection. It ignores market ups and downs, career breaks, contributions tax on excess contributions and Division 293 tax for high earners, and it does not model the Age Pension.

Worked example

Age 32 with $60,000 of super on a $90,000 salary, 12% employer contributions, a 7% return less 0.8% fees (6.2% net), 3.7% wage growth and 2.5% inflation, retiring at 65. The first year adds $10,800 × 0.85 = $9,180 after tax. Contributions go in through the year, so each year's money earns about half a year of returns. After 33 years the balance is about $1.94 million in future dollars ($1,936,417), or $857,258 in today's dollars ($583,848 if deflated by 3.7% wage growth, as ASIC-style fund forecasts do), which at a 5% drawdown supports about $42,863 a year. Adding $100 a fortnight of salary sacrifice would lift the result to $959,377 in today's dollars, $102,120 more.

Sources: Moneysmart: Superannuation calculator (assumptions) · ATO: Super guarantee percentage and maximum contribution base · ATO: Contributions caps · ASFA Retirement Standard · Actuaries Institute: 'Today's dollars' and ASIC forecast deflators · Wage Calculator: Super projection calculator

Frequently asked questions