Superannuation Calculator Australia

Assumptions

Inflation used to show today's dollars3.7% a year

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The rate ASIC requires a superannuation forecast to use when converting future dollars to today's dollars during working life. It is wage inflation rather than CPI, because what matters over a career is how the balance measures up against rising living standards, not just prices. Source

Investment return before fund tax and fees7.18% a year

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Set so that after the 15% tax a fund pays on its earnings, the return matches the 6.1% a year ASIC's Moneysmart calculator assumes for a Balanced option. Returns vary enormously year to year and can be negative; a single average rate cannot show that. Source

Tax on before-tax contributions15%

Set by law

Employer super guarantee, salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions are taxed in the fund as they arrive. After-tax personal contributions are not — they have already been taxed in your hands. Source

Tax on the fund's investment earnings15%

Set by law

The statutory maximum a complying fund pays on its earnings while you are still working (Income Tax Rates Act 1986 s 26(1)). Real funds pay less, because franking credits, the capital gains discount and untaxed unrealised gains all reduce it, so this projection is deliberately on the cautious side. Source

Percentage fee on your balance0.11% a year

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ASIC's default indirect cost assumption, derived from an actuarial review of APRA's quarterly superannuation product statistics. Check your own fund's product disclosure statement and replace it. Source

Dollar administration fee$59 a year in today's dollars

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ASIC's default administration fee assumption, from the same APRA-derived review, increased each year with inflation so it does not quietly shrink to nothing over a long projection. Source

Insurance premiums deducted from your accountNone included

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A calculator cannot know what cover you hold, and ASIC's guidance is not to assume a premium where that is unknown. Most MySuper accounts do deduct one — ASIC assumes $599 a year when it has to guess. Leaving this at zero makes the projection higher than your real position. Source

Employer contribution rate12% of ordinary time earnings

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The super guarantee charge percentage for 2026–27, applied to earnings up to the maximum contribution base of $270,830. Earnings above that attract no super guarantee. Source

Salary growth3.7% a year

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Set to the same wage inflation rate as the today's-dollars conversion, which is ASIC's default. That holds your salary — and so your contributions — steady in today's dollars. Change it if you expect real pay rises or a plateau. Source

Contributions and dollar fees keep pace with inflationYes

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ASIC's default is that contributions rise with wage inflation, so a salary sacrifice stays the same in today's dollars rather than shrinking every year. The dollar administration fee and any insurance premium are indexed the same way. Source

Retirement age67

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ASIC's default for a superannuation calculator is age 67, which is also Age Pension age. Change it to your own plan. Source

Contribution caps$32,500 before-tax, $130,000 after-tax (2026–27)

Set by law

Both caps are indexed to average wages, and this projection assumes they keep rising at the same wage inflation rate as your salary — so a contribution that fits under the cap today keeps fitting. Contributions above the cap are trimmed rather than projected, because the law would not allow them. Source

When money movesContributions and fees mid-year

Set by law

Contributions earn a return for half the year they are paid in, and the dollar fees come out mid-year. This matches the convention ASIC's own calculator uses, so the two can be compared. Source

What it does not do

• •This is a model, not a prediction. It assumes one steady return every year. Real returns swing about and can be negative, and a bad run early — while the balance is large — does more damage than the same run later.
• •It covers accumulation accounts only. It will not describe a defined benefit fund.
• •It stops at retirement. It does not model drawdown, the tax-free earnings that apply to a retirement-phase income stream, or the transfer balance cap.
• •It does not include the government co-contribution or the low income super tax offset, both of which would increase a lower-income projection.
• •It does not model Division 293 tax, which is charged to you personally rather than deducted from the fund, or the tax on contributions above the caps.
• •Any tax on withdrawing your super before age 60 is not modelled.
• •Because it applies the full statutory rate to every dollar of fund earnings, and real funds pay less than that, the projection is more likely to sit below your eventual balance than above it.
• •Do not use this to decide about a particular super fund or product. If you want advice on your own circumstances, speak to someone licensed to give it.
• •No insurance premium is deducted. If your fund charges one — ASIC assumes $599 a year where it has to guess — your real balance will be lower than shown.