Will you have enough super when you retire?

How much super will you have?

You probably know how much super you have now, but do you know how much you'll have for your retirement?

Members with a defined benefit account can run a personal future benefit estimate whenever they want in the Account menu of Members Online. Otherwise, you can take some of the guesswork out of how much your super you might have when you retire using the Retirement Supermodeller on our Calculators webpage.

If you've already retired, you can check your balance in Members Online.

How much super will you need?

To give you an idea, The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has created a Retirement Standard which is updated four times a year and includes the cost of things such as health, communication, clothing, travel, and household goods.

You can download documents and read about the ASFA Retirement Standard on their website. They provide information for two "lifestyles" assuming that retirees own their own home outright and are relatively healthy:

• ASFA's comfortable retirement lifestyle (Comfortable Lifestyle) enables a 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.
• ASFA's modest retirement lifestyle (Modest Lifestyle) is considered better than the Age Pension, but still only allows for the basics.

ASFA Retirement Standard, December quarter 2022:*

Notes: The figures in each case assume that the retiree(s) own their own home and relate to expenditure by the household. This can be greater than household income after income tax where there is a drawdown on capital over the period of retirement. All figures shown are in today's dollars using 2.75% AWE as a deflator and an assumed investment earning rate of 6%. The lump sum estimates prepared by ASFA take into account the receipt of the Age Pension both immediately and into the future. The Age Pension is adjusted regularly by either the increase in the CPI or by a measure of wages growth, whichever is higher. As such, the ASFA lump sum figures are not updated quarterly.

You can also learn more at the Super Guru website.

Set your retirement objectives

Working out how much money you'll need in retirement can be challenging. It's important that you understand your retirement objectives. Using a target lifestyle, such as ASFA's Comfortable Lifestyle shown above, will give you an idea of how much you may need each year.

A Senior Financial Adviser with ESSSuper says it is very difficult to generalise about the amount of money people need at any age.^**

"Budgeting is such an individual process. We see members who can live very comfortably on the age pension while others feel they need much more than this for a comfortable life. How much you may need is one of the first questions we ask any member who comes to see us and it is something everyone needs to work out as an individual or couple."

"We recommend you complete a budget before you retire to determine your needs. A good place to start is the Budget Planner on the MoneySmart^† website. It may also be beneficial to seek professional advice from a licensed financial planner or adviser."

Emergency Services Superannuation Board ABN 28 161 296 741 (ESSB), the Trustee of the Emergency Services Superannuation Scheme ABN 85 894 637 037 (ESSSuper). The information contained on this web page is of a general nature only. It should not be considered as a substitute for reading the relevant ESSSuper Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) that contains detailed information about ESSSuper products, services and features. Before making a decision about an ESSSuper product, you should consider the appropriateness of the product to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. It may also be beneficial to seek professional advice from a licensed financial planner or adviser. An ESSSuper PDS is available on our PDS and handbooks page or by contacting us.

* The ASFA Retirement Standard is produced and updated each quarter by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA). The figures in each case assume that the retiree(s) own their own home and relate to expenditure by the household. This can be greater than household income after income tax where there is a drawdown on capital over the period of retirement. Single calculations are based on female figures.

** ESSSuper Financial Advisers are authorised representatives of Link Advice Pty Ltd (Link Advice). Link Advice holds a current Australian Financial Services Licence No. 258145 and is responsible for the financial services provided to you. ESSSuper has an arrangement with Link Advice Pty Ltd to provide financial advice to ESSSuper members. ESSSuper pays Link Advice a fee for this service. Neither the Board, nor the Victorian Government, guarantee or endorse any recommendations made by Link Advice, or are responsible for the advice and actions of Link Advice.

^† MoneySmart is the consumer finance website of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).