There are lots of theories for working out how much super you’ll need in retirement.
The ASFA Retirement Standard benchmarks the amount needed by Australians to fund either a comfortable or modest standard of living in the post-work years. It’s updated quarterly and provides detailed budgets of what singles and couples would need to spend to support their chosen lifestyle. According to the ASFA Retirement Standard (September quarter 2020, national), you’d need the following lump sums to have a comfortable retirement lifestyle:
Category | Savings required at retirement |
Comfortable lifestyle for a couple | $640,000 |
Comfortable lifestyle for a single person | $545,000 |
Modest lifestyle | Comfortable lifestyle | |||
Single | Couple | Single | Couple | |
Total each year | $27,987 | $40,440 | $43,901 | $61,083 |
Modest lifestyle | Comfortable lifestyle | |||
Single | Couple | Single | Couple | |
Total each year | $26,609 | $38,077 | $42,065 | $58,345 |
It’s important to remember that as you move through retirement, your needs will change. In the first few years of retirement, you might spend a lot on travel, still buy nice clothes, upgrade cars, go out for lunches, have hobbies etc, but as you get further into retirement, you might find you spend less on these types of things.
A modest retirement lifestyle is considered better than being on the Age Pension, but still only allows for fairly basic activities.
A comfortable retirement lifestyle enables an older, healthy retiree to be involved in a broad range of leisure and recreational activities and to have a good standard of living through the purchase of such things as; household goods, private health insurance, a reasonable car, good clothes, a range of electronic equipment, and domestic and occasionally international holiday travel.
The below table, developed by ASFA, shows you the lifestyle difference between a comfortable retirement, modest retirement and living on the Age Pension.
Both budgets assume that the retirees own their own home outright and are relatively healthy.
Comfortable retirement | Modest retirement | Age Pension |
Replace kitchen and bathroom over 20 years. | No budget for home improvements. Can do repairs, but can’t replace kitchen or bathroom. | No budget to fix home problems like a leaky roof. |
Better quality and larger number of household items and appliances and higher cost hairdressing. | Limited number of household items and appliances and budget haircuts. | Less frequent hair cuts or getting a friend to cut your hair. |
Can run air conditioning. | Need to watch utility costs. | Less heating in winter. |
Restaurant dining, good range and quality of food. | Take out and occasional cheap restaurants. | Only club special meals or inexpensive takeaway. |
Fast internet connection, big data allowance and large talk and text allowance. | Limited talk and text, modest internet data allowance. | Very basic phone and internet package. |
Good clothes. | Reasonable clothes. | Basic clothes. |
Domestic and occasional overseas holidays. | One holiday in Australia or a few short breaks. | Even shorter breaks or day trips in your own city. |
Top level private health insurance. | Basic private health insurance, limited gap payments. | No private health insurance. |
Owning a reasonable car. | Owning a cheaper more basic car. | No car or, if you have a car, it will be a struggle to afford repairs. |
Take part in a range of regular leisure activities. | One leisure activity infrequently, some trips to the cinema or the like. | Only taking part in no cost or very low cost leisure activities. Rare trips to the cinema. |
To find out, follow these 3 simple steps:
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