The balance you need to retire, if you own your home and want the standard of living ASFA calls comfortable.
Lower than most people guess, because a part Age Pension does much of the work. If you rent, the answer changes sharply - see the table below.
What each standard costs, and what it takes
ASFA is the super industry's peak body. Its Retirement Standard prices a real shopping basket for two ways of living, and works out the balance behind each.
Two different numbers, so read each row left to right. The first is what that lifestyle costs to live on every year of retirement. The second is the one-off super balance you need at 67 to pay that cost year after year, with the Age Pension covering the rest. A comfortable couple, for example, spends $78,566 every year, and needs $730,000 in super on the day they retire to fund it.
| Standard of living | Couple cost each year | Couple super at 67 | Single cost each year | Single super at 67 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comfortable | $78,566 | $730,000 | $55,923 | $630,000 |
| Modest, if you own your home | $52,473 | $120,000 | $36,434 | $110,000 |
| Modest, if you rent | $69,002 | $385,000 | $51,164 | $340,000 |
| Age Pension only (what the pension pays each year) | $48,516 | nil | $32,180 | nil |
Two surprises. Modest barely needs any super if you own your home: it costs a couple $52,473 a year, and the Age Pension already pays $48,516 of that. And a single needs nearly as much as a couple, because they spend 71 per cent of a couple's budget on 66 per cent of the pension.
What comfortable actually buys
Costed line by line. This is the part most people have never seen.
| Each week | Comfortable | Modest | What the extra buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing: rates, water, insurance, repairs | $163 | $150 | Kitchen and bathroom updates over 20 years |
| Energy | $75 | $64 | The air conditioning on without watching the meter |
| Groceries and fresh food | $266 | $220 | A fuller trolley, and better cuts |
| Phone and internet | $59 | $46 | Fast broadband and a decent handset |
| Household goods and services | $101 | $48 | Appliances, a better phone, professional haircuts |
| Clothing and footwear | $55 | $42 | Replacing worn items, not making do |
| Transport | $210 | $126 | A reasonable car, properly insured and maintained |
| Health | $230 | $117 | Top-level private health cover instead of basic |
| Leisure, dining and holidays | $345 | $192 | Dinners out, a club, one overseas trip every seven years |
| Total each week | $1,505 | $1,005 | About $500 a week |
| Total each year | $78,566 | $52,473 | A gap of $26,093 a year |
About $500 a week separates the two: private health cover, a car you can rely on, meals out and a holiday.
Want more than comfortable?
ASFA stops there. To spend $100,000 every year from 67 through to age 92, our modelling puts it at about $1,350,000 for a couple, or $1,720,000 on your own. A single needs more, because a couple's part pension starts much earlier as their balance falls.
What should I have by now?
ASFA publishes the mark for every age, aimed at the same comfortable retirement at 67.
| Your age | If you earn $75,000 | If you earn $100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | $44,500 | $28,000 |
| 35 | $91,500 | $42,500 |
| 40 | $146,000 | $103,000 |
| 45 | $209,500 | $173,000 |
| 50 | $282,500 | $254,500 |
| 55 | $367,500 | $348,500 |
| 60 | $466,000 | $457,500 |
| 65 | $579,500 | $578,000 |
The lower earner needs more behind them early, because less goes in each year from here. For context, the median Australian aged 60 to 64 has $203,326 - about a third of a comfortable single retirement - with women on $174,655 to men's $236,126.
That is a benchmark, not your number. The calculator takes your own age, balance, salary and the income you want, and works backwards to what you actually need.
Open the calculator →Three ways to close a gap
Use the whole concessional cap. It is $32,500 this year and your employer's 12 per cent rarely fills it. On $110,000 that leaves about $19,300 of room, taxed at 15 per cent rather than your marginal rate.
Catch up on unused cap. Under $500,000 in super, five years of unused cap can go in at once. Useful in a bonus or inheritance year.
Even up a couple's balances. Spouse contributions, splitting and the co-contribution move money to the lower balance, which is usually taxed better in retirement.
And time. Super has returned 7.1 per cent a year over the past decade, 4.2 per cent after inflation. A dollar in your thirties does far more work than the same dollar in your fifties.
The bottom line. Comfortable is more reachable than most people fear. Above it is a different exercise, and it rewards starting early. The first step is deciding what you want retirement to cost.
Sources: ASFA Retirement Standard, March quarter 2026 budgets and the February 2026 lump sum explainer (ASFA figures for retirees aged 65 to 84; home owners except where the row says renting); ASFA Superannuation Statistics July 2026, for both the ATO balances at June 2024 and the long-run fund returns to June 2025; the ASFA Super Balance Detective for the age-by-age benchmark; Services Australia Age Pension rates and thresholds from 20 September 2026. The $100,000 tier and the on-track table are Navarino Wealth modelling, in today's dollars, assuming a net return of 6.5 per cent while working and 5.5 per cent in retirement, inflation of 2.5 per cent and both partners at Age Pension age; they are illustrative, depend heavily on those assumptions, and are not a forecast. Navarino Wealth Pty Ltd (ABN 91 691 312 937) is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 1318210), and Luke Smith is an Authorised Representative (No. 377 450), of PFP Financial Services Pty Ltd, AFSL 535484. This article contains general information only and does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether it is appropriate for you and seek personal advice before acting.