How much should I have in my superannuation by age 52?

How much money you should have in your superannuation depends on your age, income, and the type of retirement you’re planning to have.

At age 52, you’re roughly 10-15 years away from stopping work. At this point you should know exactly what your superannuation balance is, how much you need to retire comfortably, and exactly how to get there.

Let’s break it down.

How much is retirement going to cost me?

According to data from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), there are two main retirement lifestyle brackets: modest and comfortable.

A modest retirement is one that allows you to meet essential living costs slightly above the Age Pension payment. 

This includes housing-related expenses, groceries, utilities, transport, and basic health insurance. There is some room for infrequent and low cost leisure activities and perhaps the occasional meal out. Travel will be limited, as will your discretionary budget. It assumes you own your home outright.

ASFA estimates that a modest retirement will cost around $36,434 per year for singles and around $52,473 for couples. These figures assume you’ll also receive a part Age Pension. In order to fund this amount, singles will need around $110,000 in their superannuation when they retire, and couples around $120,000.

For many Australians, a modest retirement is achievable, but it’ll require a tight budget and careful planning. 

The other option is to aim for a comfortable retirement lifestyle.

ASFA defines a comfortable retirement as one which allows Australians to maintain a good standard of living above and beyond the Age Pension. 

It assumes you’ll keep top-level private health insurance, will own a reasonable car brand, undertake regular leisure activities, have funds for home repairs and renovations, go for an occasional meal out, and maybe even an annual domestic trip (or even the occasional overseas one).

The data shows that a comfortable retirement is estimated to cost around $55,923 per year for singles and $78,566 for couples. Again it assumes you’ll receive a part Age Pension and that you own your home in full. In order to fund this, single Australians will need around $630,000 in their superannuation at retirement, and couples will need around $730,000.

Ok, so what do I need in my superannuation at age 52 to live a comfortable lifestyle when I retire?

I’ve crunched the numbers using ASFA’s online super detective tool and, at age 52, Australians need a superannuation balance of $347,500 to be on track to reach the balance they need to have a comfortable retirement lifestyle.

Falling behind? Here’s some tips to catch up

The quickest way to increase your superannuation balance is to add extra money yourself. Don’t just rely on the compulsory minimum employer superannuation contribution to do the heavy lifting for you.

Make sure that you’re taking advantage of the concessional contributions cap, which is currently $30,000 per financial year. If you contribute less than the before-tax cap in one financial year, you can catch up when the leftover amount is carried into the next year. In fact, you can carry over your leftover pre-tax cap amounts from the past five years, which means you can make larger contributions above the $30,000 limit without the extra tax. 

You might also be eligible for the bring-forward rule. This is similar to the catch-up concessional contribution, but the bring-forward rule applies to after-tax (i.e non-concessional) contributions. Under this rule, eligible Australians can contribute three years’ worth of non-concessional contributions (up to $120,000 per year) at once.

Low and middle-income Australians might be eligible for a government co-contribution if they make after-tax contributions to super. This means you’d be, effectively, boosting your balance with extra government funds.

If you don’t have enough surplus cash to add to your superannuation yourself, can your partner do it for you? Couples can boost their combined super savings by the higher-income earner contributing after-tax funds to the lower-income earner’s account. 

Also make sure you’ve checked for lost super, consolidated your super funds and that your fund is performing well. Every cent counts.

The post How much should I have in my superannuation by age 52? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Samantha Menzies has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.