Why use this calculator?
Firstly, do you have a rough estimate in your head of how much your superannuation will be worth when you retire? How it is tracking?
Do you know what kind of income it will generate for you and how that will compare with say, your current income, the cost of living when you eventually retire?
Though this is only a simple tool and doesn't take in a lot of factors it should at least to motivate you that you should focus on saving more now!
Why don't you check out a few of our superannuation articles?
Assumptions and disclaimers about this calculator
It is important to understand that our financial calculators...any financial calculators are just broad estimates based around some simple mathematics and a LOT of assumptions, and realistically, long term projections are pretty rubbery considering what may or may not happen with your actual life.
But, this means that you should use them as part of your process for understanding where you are heading and NOT to make big financial decisions on the weight of their answers alone. The calculators make too many assumptions about the future to in anyway tell you what will happen downstream, however they are useful because they presume that if everything right now stayed constant, this is where your super balance will end up (of course nothing ever stays constant!).
This calculator takes your current gross salary and assumes that you will pretty much keep earning the same amount till you retire and your employer will continue to pay your super guarantee based on today's rules until then.
It also assumes some financial constants:
- That inflation will stay constant at 3%
- That your super investment balance will return a constant compounded 6% after all taxes and fees
- That your life expectancy after retirement will be around 20 years. (Actually we use a standard life expectancy table that varies based on your retirement age)
- Some other cost of living adjustments, but basically our calculators match the ASIC government calculators and assumptions. Learn more about them here
