How much super do I need to retire in Australia?

Start with the benchmarks — then ignore them

The industry benchmark (ASFA's Retirement Standard) puts a "comfortable" retirement at roughly $50–52k a year for singles and $72–74k for couples — people who own their home, holiday regularly and keep the car insured. "Modest" sits closer to the Age Pension.

Useful as a yardstick. But your number comes from three questions the benchmarks can't answer:

1. What will you actually spend? Weekly money in hand — not the average person's.
2. When do you stop? Retiring at 60 vs 67 can mean needing hundreds of thousands more — or far less.
3. What else pays? The Age Pension, a partner's income, rent, savings — super rarely carries the whole load.

The part most calculators skip: the Age Pension

Australians with modest super often get further than they fear, because the Age Pension tops you up. A homeowner couple can hold roughly $499,000 in assets (outside the home) and still get the full pension — about $48,500 a year combined at current rates. Even well past that, a part pension keeps paying until assets reach around $1.12 million for couples.

So "how much super" isn't really the question. The question is: what weekly income will super + pension + everything else give me, and how long does it last?

→ The Age Pension limits, in plain numbers

The levers that move your number most

• Retiring later — every extra year of work is one more year of contributions and one less year drawing down.
• Spending slightly less — a plan that runs dry at 82 can easily reach 95 with a small trim.
• The house — downsizing can free six figures of home equity. Read the pension rules first.
• Timing super access — super unlocks at 60 if you've retired; the pension starts at 67. That gap matters. More on retiring before 60.

Worked example: three households, three very different answers

Same question — "how much super do I need?" — completely different answers once the pension, the house and timing come into it. These are illustrative figures in today's dollars, not advice:

Household	Wants to spend	Rough super needed	Why
Single homeowner, retires 65	$45k/yr	~$250–350k	From 67 the full pension (~$32k/yr) covers most of it — super only bridges two years and tops up the rest.
Couple homeowners, both retire 65	$70k/yr	~$500–650k	Combined pension (~$48.5k/yr if under ~$499k assets) leaves a ~$20k/yr gap super must fill — plus two full years before it starts.
Same couple, one retires at 60	$70k/yr	~$700k+ — or trim the spend	Seven years fully self-funded before the pension joins is the expensive part — early retirement costs far more super than late retirement.

Notice the pattern: the pension does most of the heavy lifting for modest spenders. That's why "how much super" is really a question about spending and timing, not a number anyone can quote you without asking.

Find your number — free

Put in your real figures — super, age, home, spending — and RetirePath shows the weekly income your plan supports and the age your money lasts to. No sign-up needed to try it.