The complete super picture
Start with where your balance ranks for your age and gender, then go as deep as you like — a full projection to retirement, the gap to a comfortable ASFA lifestyle, the balance-by-age curve with you on it, every state ranked, and exactly how much room is left in your pre-tax cap.
You have more super than an estimated
27%
of men aged 35-39 in Australia.
Your $50,000 is below the typical balance for your age & gender$50,000
$78,289
$101,642
On employer super alone, your $50,000 is on track to reach about $891,088 by age 67 — 32 years of the 12% Super Guarantee, in today's dollars. Open the deep dive to add extra, close the comfortable gap and more.
Median & average balances are exact figures from ATO Taxation Statistics 2023-24 (balances & income as at 30 June 2024). The percentile is modelled from those two values. Projections model in today's dollars at a 5% real return.
Super is easy to ignore because almost none of it is visible day to day. A slice of your pay vanishes into an account you might look at once a year, and the balance on the statement means little on its own. The questions worth asking are whether it's normal for someone your age, and where it ends up if nothing changes.
This page answers both from the same handful of inputs: a rank against ATO member-balance data for your age band and gender, then a projection to the retirement age you choose, measured against the ASFA Retirement Standard.
How this is calculated
- 1
Your age is mapped to an ATO age band
Your exact age is matched to the five-year band the ATO reports on, and the tool pulls the published median and average member balance for that band and your gender. Those balances are as at 30 June 2024.
- 2
Your percentile is modelled, not looked up
The ATO publishes only a median and an average per band. Because balances are heavily skewed, each band is modelled as a log-normal curve fitted to those two values, and your balance placed on it. The median and average shown are exact ATO figures; only the percentile is modelled.
- 3
The projection compounds in today's dollars
Each year up to your chosen retirement age, the balance grows at a 5% real return, then receives employer Super Guarantee at 12% of salary plus any extra pre-tax amount, less 15% contributions tax. Three paths run at once: employer only, plus your extra, and filling the concessional cap.
- 4
The gap is measured against the ASFA lump sum
The employer-only projection is compared with the ASFA comfortable lump sum for a single or a couple. If you're short, the tool solves backwards for the extra pre-tax contribution per year that closes the gap, grossed up for the 15% tax.
- 5
Headroom is the cap minus your employer's share
Your salary times the 12% Super Guarantee rate is subtracted from this year's concessional cap. What's left is your room for salary sacrifice or personal deductible contributions, taxed at 15% going in rather than at your marginal rate.
What it assumes
- Everything is modelled in today's dollars at a flat 5% real return, with your salary held flat in real terms. Real markets don't repeat the same number every year — there is no bad decade here, and no crash five years out.
- Fund fees and insurance premiums aren't deducted separately, so an expensive fund or costly default cover erodes the projection in ways this doesn't show.
- Concessional contributions are taxed at a flat 15%. Division 293, the extra tax on high earners, isn't modelled, and nothing stops you entering an extra amount that would breach the cap.
- The ASFA targets assume you own your home outright, draw down to zero by age 92 and receive a part Age Pension — the wrong benchmark if you expect to be renting.
- Only super counts. Shares, savings, property and a partner's balance sit outside both the projection and the gap.
Common questions
Is being above the median good enough?
Not necessarily — it's the most common misreading of a rank. Even the median balance in the 60-64 band, for people on the doorstep of retirement, sits well below the ASFA comfortable lump sum. A percentile says where you sit; the projection says whether that position leads anywhere you want to end up.
Why does it ask for my gender?
Because the ATO publishes balances separately for men and women, and the difference is large enough that a blended figure would flatter one group and penalise the other. The gap is small in the mid-twenties, widest through the forties and fifties, and closes again in the oldest bands.
Salary sacrifice or a personal deductible contribution?
Both are concessional, taxed at 15% going in and counted against the same cap, so the extra pre-tax input covers either. Salary sacrifice is arranged with your employer before you're paid; a personal deductible contribution you make yourself and claim at tax time, after lodging a notice of intent with your fund.
What happens to concessional cap I don't use?
Unused cap can generally be carried forward for up to five years, provided your total super balance is under $500,000. That matters most when income is uneven — a year on parental leave followed by a high-income year is a chance to make a much larger deductible contribution.
Sources: ATO Taxation Statistics 2023-24 · ASFA Retirement Standard · ATO tax rates & super rules · All data sources
See also: Am I on track? · Salary sacrifice · Boost my super · Compare super funds
General information only, not financial advice. Figures are estimates based on the inputs and assumptions above and don't account for your personal circumstances. Confirm anything important with the relevant authority or a licensed adviser.