Superannuation Calculator
Project your Australian super balance to retirement with the 12% guarantee, contributions tax, fees and any salary sacrifice, in today's dollars.
How to use this calculator
- 1Enter your salary excluding super, since the guarantee is paid on top of it.
- 2Enter your current balance and the ages you are working between.
- 3Set a return you can defend and, separately, your fund's fees — the two are often confused and fees compound against you.
- 4Read the today's-money figure rather than the headline: it is what the balance will actually buy.
How the calculation works
Net contribution = (salary × 12% + sacrifice) × (1 − 15%). Balance = FV(current balance, return − fees, years, net contribution)- 12%
- The super guarantee rate, at its legislated ceiling since 1 July 2025
- 15%
- Contributions tax, deducted as concessional contributions enter the fund
- return − fees
- Fees are charged on the balance, so they come straight off the return
Concessional contributions — the guarantee and salary sacrifice alike — are taxed at 15% going in. That is the whole basis of the sacrifice strategy: 15% is lower than every marginal rate above the tax-free threshold except the very lowest.
The guarantee is capped by the maximum contribution base, so employers need not pay super on very high earnings. The cap is set quarterly and stated here as an annual equivalent.
The real figure matters more than the nominal one over a 30-year horizon. A million dollars in thirty years buys roughly what half that does today at 2.5% inflation, which is why both are shown.
Worked example
$95,000 salary from 35 to 67
- 1.The employer contributes 12% of $95,000 = $11,400 a year.
- 2.Contributions tax of 15% takes $1,710, so $9,690 actually enters the fund.
- 3.That compounds for 32 years at 7% less 0.7% of fees — an effective 6.3%.
- 4.The nominal balance is large, but at 2.5% inflation its purchasing power is roughly half the headline figure.
Result: A substantial balance, worth about half as much in today's money
How super actually accumulates
Superannuation is compulsory retirement saving. Your employer must pay 12% of your ordinary earnings into a fund, on top of your salary — a rate that reached its legislated ceiling on 1 July 2025 after a decade of gradual increases.
Money entering the fund as a concessional contribution is taxed at 15% on the way in. Earnings inside the fund are taxed at up to 15% as well, considerably below most people's marginal rate, and withdrawals after age 60 from a taxed fund are generally tax free. That three-stage treatment is what makes super efficient, and it is why the balance grows faster than the same money invested outside.
The trade is access. Super is preserved until you reach preservation age and meet a condition of release — for anyone born after June 1964 that is 60. Money in super is genuinely locked away, which is the honest cost of the tax treatment.
Salary sacrifice, and where it stops working
Salary sacrifice redirects part of your pre-tax salary into super. Instead of being taxed at your marginal rate plus the Medicare levy, it is taxed at 15% entering the fund.
For someone in the 30% bracket that is a 17 percentage point saving including the levy, on every dollar sacrificed. In the 37% bracket it is 24 points. The higher your marginal rate, the more the strategy is worth — with one exception at the top, where Division 293 tax adds a further 15% on concessional contributions for very high earners, halving the benefit.
Two limits matter. The concessional contributions cap covers the guarantee and any sacrifice together, and exceeding it attracts extra tax. And the money is preserved, so sacrificing more than you can afford to lock away is a real risk rather than a theoretical one.
Why fees deserve more attention than returns
Fund fees look small and compound relentlessly. The difference between a fund charging 0.6% and one charging 1.5% is under a percentage point a year, which sounds negligible against a 7% return.
Over a working life it is not. That 0.9% gap, compounded across thirty years on a growing balance, commonly costs six figures by retirement. Unlike investment returns, fees are knowable in advance and entirely within your control — which makes comparing them one of the few decisions in super with a reliably positive expected value.
It is worth checking two things: the total fee including administration and investment components, and whether you are paying for insurance inside super that you do not need. Multiple accounts from previous jobs, each charging fees and premiums, are a common and quietly expensive problem.
What this assumes, and where it stops
Assumptions
- The super guarantee is 12% of salary, capped at the maximum contribution base.
- Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% entering the fund.
- A constant return and fee rate apply for the whole projection.
- Contributions are made at the end of each year, which is the conservative reading.
Limitations
- The concessional contributions cap is not enforced — exceeding it attracts additional tax not modelled here.
- Division 293 tax, an extra 15% on concessional contributions for very high earners, is excluded.
- Insurance premiums deducted inside the fund are not modelled and reduce the balance in practice.
- A single average return cannot express sequence risk, and the order of good and bad years changes the outcome.
Common questions
What is the super guarantee rate?
12% of your ordinary time earnings, paid by your employer on top of your salary. It reached that level on 1 July 2025 and is legislated to stay there — the long run of annual half-point increases is finished. Employers are not required to pay it on earnings above the maximum contribution base, which caps the compulsory amount for very high salaries.
Is salary sacrificing into super worth it?
Usually, if you can afford to lock the money away. Sacrificed amounts are taxed at 15% entering the fund instead of your marginal rate plus the Medicare levy — a 17 point saving in the 30% bracket and 24 points in the 37% bracket. The catches are the concessional contributions cap, Division 293 tax for very high earners, and preservation: you cannot access it until you reach preservation age.
How much do super fees really cost me?
Far more than the percentage suggests. A 0.9 percentage point difference in annual fees — say 0.6% against 1.5% — compounds over a thirty-year working life into a six-figure difference in final balance for a typical earner. Fees are knowable in advance and controllable, unlike returns, which makes comparing them one of the highest-value decisions available in super.
When can I access my super?
Generally at preservation age once you meet a condition of release. For anyone born after 30 June 1964 preservation age is 60. You can access it on retiring after that age, or from 65 regardless of whether you have retired. Limited early release is possible on compassionate or severe financial hardship grounds, but the money is genuinely locked away — which is the real cost of the tax concessions.
Sources
- Super guarantee percentage — Australian Taxation Office
- Salary sacrificing super — Australian Taxation Office
- Super and retirement — Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Moneysmart)
Formula and content last reviewed on .
Results are estimates for information only, not professional advice.
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