How Much Super Do I Need to Retire? More Than ASFA Says

No one asks, but everyone is always thinking it during the intro calls I do.

“Are we saving enough for retirement?”

“Am I on track for retirement?”

You can Google the ASFA figures. 

If the high-income earners did in fact do that, they would absolutely feel unsettled.

Here’s the issue with ASFA’s retirement standard: it’s a baseline, not a target. It’s designed to show what the average Australian needs to retire modestly. For high-income families with kids, school fees, and a certain lifestyle, “modest” doesn’t cut it.

So let me be direct: if you’re earning $350k+, saving properly, and want to maintain your current living standard in retirement, ASFA figures are completely irrelevant.

If you’ve found yourself asking how much super do I need to retire, the answer depends on far more than a generic benchmark.

But working out your actual number isn’t mysterious. It just requires honesty about how you actually live.

The ASFA Baseline

Let’s start with ASFA’s 2026 figures (comfortable retirement, owning a home):

• Single: $630,000 in super
• Couple: $730,000 in super

These assume you’ll retire at 67, receive a partial age pension, and live a “comfortable” lifestyle that includes leisure, reasonable healthcare, and some travel—but nothing lavish.

For context, ASFA defines comfortable as:

• Private health insurance (top level)
• Annual domestic trip + one overseas trip every seven years
• Regular café coffee and meals out
• Air conditioning use without guilt
• Car ownership and maintenance

If that’s your lifestyle target, ASFA numbers are a decent compass.

But here’s what ASFA doesn’t account for: most of our high-income clients earn above $350k annually. They’re not thinking modest.

They’re thinking: “I want to retire without feeling like I’ve taken a pay cut.”

The High-Income Reality

Earnings don’t scale linearly with spending. Someone earning $250k often spends proportionally more than someone earning $150k. There’s usually a property in a better suburb, school fees, multiple cars, overseas travel, hobbies, and discretionary spending that compounds.

Here’s a rough picture of our high-income families:

• School fees: $15k–$35k per child annually (and kids are often still at home through the 40s and 50s)
• Mortgage: Often $400k–$800k (even after 20 years of payments)
• Discretionary: Dining, travel, hobbies—often $50k–$100k+ per year
• Household: Utilities, insurance, maintenance, help—$30k–$50k annually

Add it up, and many high-income families are spending $120k–$180k per year in today’s money.

ASFA’s comfortable figure sits around $79k for a couple. That’s a significant gap.

This doesn’t mean ASFA is wrong—it means ASFA wasn’t written for you.

How to Calculate Your Number

This is simpler than it sounds. Stop guessing. Actually look. If you’re asking, “How much super do I need to retire?”, start here.

Step 1: Audit your spending.

Pull your last two years of bank statements and credit card data. Put it through AI – direct it to break your spending down into a few categories.

• Housing (mortgage, rates, insurance, maintenance)
• Kids (school fees, activities, food, clothing)
• Transport (fuel, registration, maintenance, insurance)
• Household (utilities, groceries, help, contents insurance)
• Lifestyle (dining, entertainment, travel, hobbies)
• Healthcare (private insurance, dental, physio, private GP)
• Discretionary (gifts, upgrades, one-off purchases)

Most families are surprised by two things: how much they actually spend on food, and how much small discretionary purchases add up.

Step 2: Adjust for retirement.

Some expenses drop. Kids might be independent (or at least, school fees stop). The mortgage might be gone. You might drive less.

But some expenses rise. Travel tends to increase. Healthcare costs often go up. Home maintenance becomes more noticeable.

A rough rule: assume 70–85% of your current spending continues in retirement. Some families spend more. Some spend less. Your actual number depends on your actual life.

Step 3: Account for inflation (this is where it can get scary)

That spend number is in today’s dollars. Inflation will erode it. If you retire in 20 years at age 65 and live to 90, you need your money to last 25 years while inflation quietly compounds.

A 2.5% annual inflation assumption is reasonable for planning. It’s also one of the most overlooked factors when estimating how much super you’ll need in retirement.

Step 4: Calculate the lump sum needed.

This is where it gets interesting.

Take your adjusted retirement spending number. Divide it by 4%.

Needed portfolio = Annual spending ÷ 4%

So if you’re spending $180k a year now, and you assume 80% of that continues in retirement, your number is $145k a year.

$145k ÷ 4% = roughly $3.6 million.

That is the 4% rule. Withdraw 4% of your portfolio in year one, adjust for inflation each year after, and it should last 30+ years on a 5.5% to 6% return assumption.

Two things to be clear about.

First, that $3.6 million is your total invested assets, not your super balance alone. Super does part of the job. Investments outside super, and your home if you plan to downsize, do the rest.

Second, the 4% rule is a planning shortcut, not a guarantee. It was built on US market data over long periods. It gets you a number to work with. It does not replace modelling your actual situation.

That figure feels big. But here’s what changes the picture dramatically.

The Tax-Free Income Angle

Currently from age 60, super withdrawals are tax-free. This is a gift.

If you have $1 million in super at 60, you can withdraw $40k per year (4% rule) entirely tax-free. In the accumulation phase, that same $40k would have cost a 45% marginal earner about $73k in gross salary.

From age 60 onwards, the tax efficiency of retirement income is extraordinary.

This is why super matters so much in your 40s and 50s.

If you build $1 million in super by 60, and another $1 million in other assets (home equity, shares, property, cash), you can:

• Draw $40k tax-free from super
• Draw $40k from taxable assets (with capital gains tax considerations)
• Potentially qualify for some age pension top-up
• Get close to $80k–$100k+ in total pre-tax equivalent spending power

The super half is doing a lot of heavy lifting precisely because it’s tax-free.

The Real Number

So, back to the question: how much super do I need to retire?

It depends. But here’s a more useful framework for high-income families.

One thing to be clear on first. The bands below are super only. Step 4 gave you a total assets number. Super does part of that job, not all of it. The rest comes from investments outside super, shares, investment property, and your home if you plan to downsize.

For most of the families we work with, super carries roughly half. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how much you’ve been able to contribute and how much you’ve built outside.

Modest retirement (scale your lifestyle back, close to ASFA): $600k to $800k in super

Comfortable retirement (maintain your current lifestyle): $1.5m to $2.5m in super, with a similar amount outside it

Generous retirement (lifestyle upgrades, leaving something behind): $3m+ in super, plus other assets

So if Step 4 gave you $3.6 million total, you’re looking at roughly $1.8m in super and $1.8m elsewhere. That’s the comfortable band.

These are rough. Your actual number depends on:

• What you actually spend, not what you think you spend
• When you want to retire
• Whether you own your home outright
• Your tax situation and income in retirement
• How much of your wealth sits inside super versus outside it

That last one matters more than most people realise. Two families with the same $3.6 million can end up with very different after-tax incomes depending on where the money sits.

Why This Matters Now

Most high-income families don’t run the numbers. They assume they’re “probably okay” and keep moving.

Then, somewhere between 45 and 55, they realise they’re not okay—or worse, they’re forced to keep working longer than they wanted.

The reason is simple: if you need $1.5–$2 million in super and you’re currently at $600k at age 45, you need to save aggressively for the next 15–20 years. That changes decisions about mortgages, discretionary spending, tax strategy and retirement planning.

But if you know that number now—not a vague ASFA baseline, but your number—you can actually plan.

You can:

• Maximise concessional contributions (the tax arbitrage is real)
• Sequence your debt paydown (mortgage vs super matters)
• Structure your income strategically
• Build other wealth streams if super alone won’t cut it

The Bottom Line

ASFA gave us a favour by publishing those figures. They set a benchmark. But they’re not your benchmark.

Take an afternoon. Pull your statements. Do the math. Figure out what you actually need.

Then build backwards. How much super do I need by age 60 to retire? How much should I have now? How much do I need to save per month?

It might feel big. But once you know the number, you can stop guessing and start planning.

And for most high-income families, that shift—from anxiety to clarity—is worth the effort.