Super Calculator

Growth Before Retirement

This super calculator projects a balance from your starting amount, contributions and return assumptions. The headline adjusts the retirement balance for inflation. The future-dollar figure shows the same balance before that adjustment.

Enter annual returns after earnings tax and investment fees. The calculator deducts the additional dollar and balance fees you enter separately. Include insurance or advice costs in dollar fees if those amounts also leave the account.

The calculation compounds monthly. Contributions arrive at each month’s end, after 15% contribution tax. Dollar fees also leave at month’s end and rise with inflation. Contributions stay at the same dollar amount throughout the projection.

The annual return and percentage fee combine as an investment growth factor multiplied by the proportion retained after fees. The calculator converts that annual factor to a monthly rate. A depleted account stays at zero until net contributions rebuild it.

The default return assumptions come from Moneysmart’s super calculator assumptions. Moneysmart uses different contribution timing and future contribution increases, so its results will differ. Neither calculation promises a return.

Salary Sacrifice and Contributions

The comparison adds extra salary sacrifice, or an eligible deductible personal contribution, to the existing before-tax contribution amount. Include employer contributions and any deductible personal contributions in that existing amount. The difference shows extra retirement savings after contribution tax, growth and fees.

The model applies the ordinary 15% tax on before-tax contributions. The combined annual contribution limit is $32,500, the ATO’s general concessional cap for 2026-27. The calculator holds that limit constant and rejects a higher entry.

Before tax compares the entered extra contribution after 15% contribution tax. After tax invests the same reduction in take-home pay without an ordinary entry tax. Both projections use the same starting earnings and existing contributions.

The contribution-cost assumption uses the 2026-27 resident income-tax brackets and low income tax offset. Enter the Medicare saving per dollar of extra contribution separately. The default is 2%. A low-income phase-in or an exemption changes that assumption.

This is an annual contribution-cost assumption feeding the future balance. It excludes payroll rounding, other income, study-loan changes, Medicare levy surcharge and other offsets. Use the salary sacrifice calculator for a stand-alone cash-pay comparison.

Carry-forward caps, Division 293 tax and government contribution payments need separate calculations. The after-tax scenario assumes contribution eligibility and no personal deduction. Its amount stays below the ordinary annual non-concessional cap within the supported comparison range.

The opening fictional example starts at age 42 with $185,000 and retirement at 67. Annual earnings are $105,000, existing contributions $12,600 and extra before-tax contributions $3,600. It uses 6.1% accumulation returns, 4.9% retirement returns and 2.5% inflation.

Additional fees are $59 yearly plus 0.11% of the balance. Annual withdrawals of $36,000 and the $750,000 retirement target use today’s dollars. The Medicare saving assumption is 2%.

The selected retirement balance is $841,867 in today’s dollars, or $1,560,775 in future dollars. The no-extra baseline is $749,073. Annual contribution cost is $2,448, and the same-cost after-tax scenario reaches $823,308 in today’s dollars.

The target needs about $3 extra before tax each month from the no-extra baseline. The selected balance funds 32 years 10 months of complete withdrawals under the entered retirement assumptions.

For a separate fictional one-year example, enter a $100,000 balance, age 60 and retirement age 61. Set existing contributions to $12,000, extra salary sacrifice to $6,000 and all returns, fees and inflation to zero.

The balance becomes $115,300 with extra salary sacrifice or $110,200 without it. The $5,100 difference is the extra $6,000 contribution after $900 contribution tax. These are the same amounts the calculator displays.

Enter the employer contribution expected from payroll records. This projection does not calculate an employer’s minimum obligation or determine whether a contribution can be accepted. Choosing a retirement age does not establish a right to access super.

How Long a Balance Could Last

The retirement illustration starts from the projected balance in today’s dollars. It deducts one-twelfth of the entered annual withdrawal each month. The return after retirement is adjusted for inflation and the additional balance fee.

Dollar fees continue at the same purchasing power. The duration counts complete monthly withdrawals the account can fund, up to age 120. A partial final withdrawal is excluded. A balance remaining at the limit produces an “At least” duration.

With the fictional $115,300 balance and a $12,000 annual withdrawal, zero returns, fees and inflation fund 115 complete months. The displayed duration is 9 years 7 months. A further $300 remains for a partial withdrawal.

The duration assumes a constant return. Market losses early in retirement can shorten it even when the eventual average return matches your entry. Age Pension, other assets and personal withdrawal tax are excluded.

This is withdrawal arithmetic across the modelled account. It does not apply account-based pension minimum drawdowns or transfer balance caps. Those rules can change the amount held in a pension and the withdrawals required.

Use the Projection Carefully

Use the projection to compare entered assumptions alongside the client’s records. It does not read a fund account, recommend an investment or decide how much super the client needs. Defined benefit accounts need a different method.

Lower the return assumption or increase withdrawals to examine how the outcome changes. A retirement plan also needs the client’s spending needs, access conditions and other income. A licensed financial adviser can assess investment choices and personal retirement decisions.

Entered amounts stay on this browser page. The calculator sends none to Tax Genie, the ATO or a super fund and saves none in browser storage.

Single and Couple Projection Modes

Choose Single for one account or Couple for two separate accounts. Each person has their own age, retirement date and contributions. Returns, fees, inflation and annual withdrawals can also differ.

The combined result uses one common future date, when both selected people have retired. An earlier retiree starts withdrawing while the other keeps accumulating. Each person’s separate result shows their balance at their own retirement age.

Growth shows the combined balance at that common date. The future-dollar result leaves inflation in the amount. Today’s dollars remove each person’s entered inflation from their own balance before adding them.

Target solves the extra monthly contribution needed for each entered retirement target in today’s dollars. It starts from the no-extra-contribution baseline. Existing contributions continue, and the displayed monthly amount is one-twelfth of the solved annual extra amount.

The target search stays within the ordinary concessional cap after existing contributions and within entered annual earnings. For After tax, it solves the corresponding same-cost voluntary amount. A target beyond those limits is reported without inventing an achievable contribution.

For a self-employed scenario, choose Self-employed and enter taxable earnings before the proposed personal deduction. Put existing deductible contributions in the existing amount. The Before tax projection assumes an eligible deduction and an acknowledged notice of intent.

Compare that scenario with the no-extra baseline. After tax assumes no deduction. Eligibility, contribution acceptance and the timing of a deduction remain separate decisions.

Drawdown counts complete monthly withdrawals after the common retirement date until either account cannot fund its own withdrawal. The model transfers no money between partners. Review each person’s earlier retirement period on the balance chart as well.

The withdrawal chart shows requested annual cash flow in today’s dollars at each year-end checkpoint. It is a spending assumption, not a promise that the account funds every requested amount. For a couple, the balance chart ends when the younger person reaches age 120. Both accounts continue to that common endpoint. An “At least” duration means withdrawals remain funded there.

Compare Public Projection Assumptions

Moneysmart is ASIC’s financial guidance website. Its public accumulation assumptions supply the editable return presets here. Choosing one changes the return before retirement for both people and leaves fees, contributions and retirement returns under your control.

The preset annual returns are 3.7% for Cash, 4.9% for Conservative and 5.7% for Moderate. Balanced uses 6.1%, Growth 6.4% and High Growth 6.8%. These returns are after earnings tax and investment fees. The default additional account fees are $59 yearly plus 0.11% of the balance.

The result lists the entered return, fees and inflation for each person. Match those values and the contribution timing before comparing any government-labelled super calculator. This tool uses month-end payments and fixed annual contributions, so it does not reproduce Moneysmart’s complete method.

A fund name does not determine an account’s return or costs. For AustralianSuper or Industry Super comparisons, enter the relevant accumulation assumptions and contribution amounts from the account’s records. A projection is separate from a live fund balance and from choosing a product.

Super SA’s Triple S is an untaxed accumulation scheme with different tax timing and a lifetime untaxed plan cap. Its public example uses a 5% investment return and 2.5% price inflation. Those values alone cannot reproduce a member’s net entitlement.

This calculator models ordinary taxed accumulation accounts, including the 15% contribution entry tax. It does not apply Triple S exit tax, its capped fee schedule or its lifetime cap. Use Super SA’s published scheme calculation for that comparison. A defined-benefit formula belongs in the defined benefit super calculator.

A public compound-growth comparison needs the same opening balance and payment timing on both sides. Match the net return and inflation as well. A simple compound-interest result cannot include an unseen member account or a private advice calculation.

The calculator works in a phone browser and needs no installed app or account. It excludes Age Pension income and assets tests. Use the pension and super calculator for that separate assessment.