Super Projection Calculator
Project your super balance at 60, 65 and beyond.
At 35, earning $80,000 with $80,000 in super, you could have about $820,427 at 60, assuming a 7% return and 0.8% fees. At a 4% drawdown that's about $32,817 a year.
Each year: balance x (1 + return - fees) + (salary x SG% + extra) x 85%. At retirement, apply 4% SWR.
Rates checked September 2026 against the ATO.
How the super projection calculator works
The calculator starts with your current balance and runs forward one year at a time until your retirement age. Each year it adds your net return (expected return minus fees), then adds the year's contributions.
Contributions are your employer's 12% super guarantee plus any extra you enter, less the 15% contributions tax your fund pays. The super guarantee is capped at the maximum contribution base, which is $270,830 of earnings in 2026-27. Your salary is held flat for the whole projection.
At the end it shows your estimated balance, the total you put in (your starting balance plus contributions after tax), the growth from returns, and a rough yearly income using the 4% rule.
How much super will I have? Worked examples
These examples use the calculator's default 7% return and 0.8% fees, with 2026-27 rates. Try your own numbers above.
- Age 30, $50,000 balance, $75,000 salary, retire at 60: about $930,399. Of that, $279,500 is your starting balance and contributions; $650,899 is investment growth.
- Age 35, $80,000 balance, $80,000 salary, retire at 60: about $820,427, or $32,817 a year using the 4% rule.
- Same person, plus $200 a fortnight salary sacrifice ($5,200 a year): about $1,069,869. That's around $249,000 more at 60 for a take-home pay cost of about $136 a fortnight.
- Age 45, $150,000 balance, $100,000 salary: about $610,857 at 60, or $1,016,844 if they keep working to 67.
Future dollars vs today's dollars
The results are in future dollars. They are not adjusted for inflation, so $930,399 in 30 years will buy much less than $930,399 today.
To see a result in today's dollars, subtract expected inflation of about 2.5% from the return. For the 30-year-old above, setting the return to 4.5% gives about $556,876, which is a fairer picture of what that balance would feel like now.
Because salary is held flat, the calculator doesn't include pay rises. In practice wages tend to rise faster than prices, so a today's-dollars result with a flat salary is on the cautious side.
What changes your super balance the most
Small changes compound over decades. These are the levers worth checking:
- Time. Working a few extra years adds both contributions and growth, and delays when you start drawing down.
- Fees. A 0.5% difference in fees over 30 years can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Compare your fund with the YourSuper comparison tool.
- Investment option. Growth options have higher long-run returns but bigger swings. Conservative options are steadier but grow more slowly.
- Extra contributions. Salary sacrifice is taxed at 15% going in, so it usually beats saving the same pre-tax dollars outside super. The 2026-27 concessional cap is $32,500, including your employer's contributions.
- Time out of work. Career breaks and part-time years mean lower or no super guarantee payments.
When can I access my super?
Your preservation age is 60 for anyone born on or after 1 July 1964, which now covers everyone who hasn't reached it yet. You can generally access your super once you reach 60 and retire, or at 65 whether or not you're still working. That's why the calculator defaults to retiring at 60.
Since 1 July 2026, payday super means your super guarantee must reach your fund within 7 business days of each payday, instead of quarterly. That means contributions start earning returns sooner and missed payments are easier to spot.
Limits of any super projection
A projection is an estimate, not a promise. The calculator assumes the same return every year, but real returns go up and down, and a bad year just before retirement matters more than one at 30. It also doesn't include insurance premiums, account-keeping dollar fees, Division 293 tax for high earners, or the Age Pension.
Extra contributions are treated as before-tax (concessional), so the calculator takes 15% off them. After-tax contributions aren't taxed going in, so if yours are after-tax the projection will be slightly low.
The 4% rule is a rough guide to a sustainable income, not a rule for Australian account-based pensions, which have minimum drawdown rates by age. For a fuller retirement plan including the Age Pension, try Moneysmart's retirement planner, or see how far your savings could go with the FIRE number calculator.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on your balance, salary, years to retirement and returns. As a guide, a 30-year-old on $75,000 with $50,000 in super could reach about $930,399 at 60 at a 7% return and 0.8% fees, or about $556,876 in today's dollars.
No. Results are in future dollars. Subtract about 2.5% from the expected return to see the balance in today's dollars.
Many balanced and growth options have targeted around 6-8% a year before fees over the long term, but past returns don't guarantee future ones. Check your fund's investment option and its stated return objective.
The super guarantee is 12% of your qualifying earnings (mostly your ordinary pay). It applies to earnings up to the maximum contribution base of $270,830 for 2026-27.
Your preservation age is 60. You can usually access super once you've reached 60 and retired, or at 65 even if you're still working.
It depends on the lifestyle you want and whether you own your home. The industry ASFA Retirement Standard publishes 'modest' and 'comfortable' benchmarks for homeowners, and Moneysmart's retirement planner can factor in the Age Pension.