While the amount of superannuation you need for retirement depends on a number of factors, it’s safe to assume most of us are aiming for a comfortable retirement.

How much is needed?

That might mean different things to each of us, but a good starting point is the Retirement Standard published by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

The Standard, which is updated each year, currently pegs the amount retirees need for a comfortable retirement at $56,166 for a single person and $78,998 for a couple.

Their definition of a comfortable retirement includes being able to afford top-level health cover, own and maintain a reasonable car, afford regular leisure activities and occasional travel, and maintain their home.

The Standard also assumes a retiree owns their own home and will draw a part pension from the age of 67.

Those figures are useful for people on the cusp of retirement, but what about earlier? How can you tell whether your superannuation savings are on the right track?

Well, ASFA also has a tool called the Super Detective, where you can input your age, and it will tell you what you should have in your super to be heading in the right direction.

For someone earning $75,000 per year, their superannuation balance should be close to $146,000, ASFA says.

For someone earning $100,000, it should be $103,000.

How much do people actually have in their superannuation?

Other figures published by ASFA show that men aged 40-44 had on average $140,680 in their superannuation, while women had $109,209.

If you’re looking to top up your superannuation, a potentially tax effective way to do so is via salary sacrifice, or concessional contributions.

Salary sacrifice contributions come out of your pre-tax earnings and are paid into your superannuation by your employer, where they are taxed at 15%.

A concessional contribution is essentially the same, but paid as a lump sum.

If a concessional contribution is made, a notice of intent to claim must be lodged with your superannuation fund, which will then take the 15% tax out.

Contributions including employer contributions, salary sacrifice and concessional contributions up to a maximum of $32,500 can be made in each year.

Added to this, and unused concessional contribution cap amounts for the past five years can also be used.

Non-concessional contributions up to a cap of $130,000 per year can also be made, and under the “bring-forward” rule, this can be extended out to $390,000.

The impact of extra contributions can be large. If a person contributes an extra $10,000 per year from the age of 40 to 60, the extra amount in superannuation at that time would be $230,089.

The post How to top up your superannuation if you’re 40 and falling behind appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Cameron England 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.

Shares in Tuas Ltd (ASX: TUA) have taken a beating over the past year, sliding more than 75% in value.

But the analysts at Morgan Stanley see a buying opportunity at these levels, and have an overweight recommendation on the Singapore-based telco’s shares with a bullish share price target, which I’ll get to shortly.

Tuas just this week announced its full-year results. Let’s see how they fared.

Solid rise in revenue and profit

Tuas reported revenue of S$187.6 million for the year, up 24%, with underlying EBITDA coming in at S$83.8 million, up 22%.

Executive Chair David Teoh said in the report that the company’s Simba division “achieved strong subscriber growth and solid financial performance”.

He went on to say:

Despite intensifying competition in Singapore’s telecommunications sector, the company successfully expanded both mobile and fixed broadband services. Active mobile services increased from 1,254,000 at the end of FY2025 to 1,458,000 as at 31 July 2026. Our fibre broadband business closed the year with 62,000 subscribers. Revenue grew by 24% year-on-year, while EBITDA on an underlying basis rose by 22% to S$83.8 million. Cashflow generation remained strong.

Mr Teoh said the company was developing new products for the Singapore market, which it intended to launch this financial year.

ASX telco shares looking cheap

Morgan Stanley said Tuas had been a game-changer for the Singaporean telco market.

They said:

TUA has significantly altered the Singapore mobile market via industry wide ARPU (average revenue per user) reductions and differentiated deals for consumers. It sees telcos’ SMB and Enterprise customers as offering a similar opportunity. Simba is offering 10GBps packages at S$139/mth, a discount to existing 1GBps packages.

Morgan Stanley said Tuas’ renewal rates remain very strong.

They said the company also faced increasing competition.

They added:

The other major change is increased competition at the budget end from other telcos. We see this strategy as painful in terms of cannibalising its own back books at much lower ARPUs. As the low-cost operator, we see TUA as well positioned to profitably sustain low ARPUs with increasing inclusions.

Tuas said regarding the outlook, it would “continue to grow EBITDA by the introduction of additional innovative products that will benefit consumers and businesses”.

The company added:

The Company expects that Simba will incur incremental capital and operating expenditure during FY27 in the range of S$15-S$30m to meet cyber security requirements imposed by Singapore regulators on all critical infrastructure owners.

Morgan Stanley has a price target of $4.35 for Tuas shares, compared with $1.79 at the time of writing.

The company is valued at $978.9 million.

The post Which ASX telco could jump 140% according to Morgan Stanley? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Tuas FY26 results: revenue climbs, subscriber base expands
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Cameron England 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.

Tyro Payments Ltd vs Zip shares

If you’re eyeing the payments sector, Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) are two major players you might have on your radar. Both are Aussie fintech companies making waves in digital transactions, but they take distinctly different approaches and have some big differences in their fundamentals. So, which payments stock is the better buy right now?

The case for Tyro Payments

Tyro Payments is a homegrown fintech that specialises in providing EFTPOS, business lending, and banking solutions, focusing largely on small to medium-sized businesses. According to its company profile, Tyro supports more than 76,000 Australian businesses, mainly serving the hospitality, retail, and healthcare sectors, and is gradually expanding into trades, accommodation, and services.

Looking at Tyro’s latest figures, a few things jump out:

• It has a market cap of $364.73 million, making it much smaller than some sector peers.
• Its P/E ratio sits at 17.39, which is lower than Zip’s.
• Tyro’s earnings per share are $0.039.
• There’s no dividend on offer at the moment, and franking data isn’t available for this article.
• Its Year To Date (YTD) return is -31.8%, signalling it’s had a rough year so far on the market.

While Tyro doesn’t pay a dividend and isn’t enjoying much momentum at the moment, its core business of merchant payment processing is critical to many Aussie SMEs and arguably less volatile than consumer-focused lending.

The case for Zip

Zip is best known for its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, like Zip Pay and Zip Money. As of its latest public description, Zip is active across 12 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The company aims to disrupt traditional credit card models by offering flexible, interest-free payment solutions to consumers and merchants.

Key points from Zip’s fundamentals:

• Market cap stands at a robust $2.79 billion.
• Its P/E ratio is 24.50, higher than Tyro’s.
• Earnings per share are $0.091, noticeably higher than Tyro’s.
• Zip doesn’t pay a dividend either, so income investors will need to look elsewhere.
• The YTD return is -32.5%, so it has seen similar market pain as Tyro this year.

Zip’s BNPL model has found global traction but also faces macro headwinds and regulatory scrutiny. Its focus is on consumers and merchants who want alternatives to credit cards, making it a different beast to Tyro’s merchant-centric, bank-like model.

Valuation comparison

Tyro and Zip both trade on fundamentals that suggest they’re growth-oriented fintechs, but there are meaningful differences in valuation and scale.

Metric	Tyro Payments	Zip
Market Cap	$364.73 million	$2.79 billion
P/E Ratio	17.39	24.50
Earnings per Share	$0.039	$0.091
Dividend Yield	0.00%	0.00%
Year To Date Return	-31.8%	-32.5%

Note: Both companies list positive EPS figures, but their respective P/E ratios may be calculated using different measures of earnings (such as underlying or adjusted profit), which can explain why their P/E ratios and EPS numbers might not perfectly align on pure maths.

Neither company pays a dividend, so this is a straight-up growth story—no franking credits or yield to sway the decision. Zip’s higher P/E ratio and much larger market cap point to higher market expectations, but also, perhaps, higher perceived risk or growth.

Recent share price performance

Share price performance has been on the struggling side for both companies this year, so it’s not a story of momentum.

Comparing 25 August – 22 September 2026:

• Tyro’s share price fell from $0.83 on 25 August 2026 to $0.69 on 22 September 2026, representing a drop of 16.9% over this period.
• Zip’s share price fell from $2.66 on 25 August 2026 to $2.24 on 22 September 2026, a decrease of 15.8% across the same dates.
• Both have had a negative YTD return for 2026: Tyro at -31.8% and Zip at -32.5%.

Which is the better buy?

With both Tyro Payments Ltd and Zip languishing with negative returns in 2026 and neither paying a dividend, the decision comes down to business quality, growth potential, and valuation.

Personally, I’d lean toward Tyro Payments. Here’s why: Tyro’s lower P/E ratio suggests less frothy expectations from the market compared to Zip, so there may be less downside if sentiment stays cautious. Its business is deeply embedded with Australian merchants—a sticky and recurring revenue model. While Zip’s international scope and higher EPS are attractive, the Buy Now, Pay Later sector faces increased competition and regulatory clouds, and Zip’s higher valuation multiples reflect this more speculative trajectory.

Tyro is much smaller and arguably at an inflection point. If it can regain momentum, I think there’s more recovery potential for share price upside. That said, both companies are high-risk, high-reward options in a sector subject to shifts in sentiment and disruptive innovation. Ultimately, my pick would be Tyro Payments for investors who prefer a merchant-driven, lower-expectation play in payments.

The post Tyro Payments vs Zip: Which ASX Payments Stock Wins? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 6 ASX 200 shares scoring renewed buy calls this week
• Is the Zip share price a bargain at $2.09?
• Down over 50%: 2 ASX shares to buy for global growth
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• 7 ASX 200 shares with reaffirmed buy ratings this week

Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Tyro Payments. 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. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial draft. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.