By Paul Feeney, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Otivo
For the first time in three years, the headline cost of a comfortable retirement has jumped. As at the December 2025 quarter, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) puts the savings needed at age 67 at $630,000 for a single and $730,000 for a couple who own their home outright — up from $595,000 and $690,000. Those figures make a useful starting point. The number that actually matters, though, is the one built around your own lifestyle, housing and household. Here's what the benchmarks cover, what moves them, and how to land on a figure that's yours.
How much you need to retire in Australia depends on your lifestyle and housing. As a benchmark, ASFA estimates that as at the December 2025 quarter a single needs about $630,000 in super at age 67 and a couple about $730,000, assuming they own their home and draw a part Age Pension.
What does a comfortable retirement cost in Australia in 2026?
The ASFA Retirement Standard is the most widely cited benchmark for retirement costs in Australia. As at the December 2025 quarter, a comfortable lifestyle for home-owning retirees costs about $77,375 a year for a couple and $54,840 for a single. A comfortable standard assumes private health insurance, a reasonable car, regular leisure, and the occasional domestic or overseas trip.
A modest lifestyle costs less — around $51,299 a year for a couple and $35,503 for a single. It sits well above the Age Pension but covers fewer extras. Both budgets share one big assumption: that you own your home outright. That single assumption shapes almost everything else in the numbers.
How much do singles and couples each need?
The gap between single and couple budgets is smaller than most people expect. A couple needs roughly $77,375 a year and a single $54,840 — so a single doesn't get by on half a couple's budget. Rent or a mortgage, utilities, insurance and a car don't halve when you live alone.
On the lump-sum side, ASFA puts a comfortable couple at $730,000 and a single at $630,000 at age 67. Couples share fixed costs across two people; singles carry them alone. That's why a single's per-person target sits proportionally higher than half the couple's figure.
Does where you live change how much you need?
Yes — location shifts the maths, mostly through housing. ASFA's figures assume outright home ownership, so the headline numbers leave out rent and mortgage repayments entirely. Someone still paying off a Sydney mortgage, or renting privately, faces costs the standard doesn't capture, and ASFA estimates renters need noticeably more income than homeowners.
Regional and outer-suburban areas can lower housing costs, council rates and some day-to-day running costs, though longer distances can push up transport and travel spending. The lifestyle benchmark is national. Your postcode and your housing situation are not, which is why two people with identical super balances can need very different incomes.
How does inflation affect your retirement target?
Inflation is why the retirement target is a moving figure rather than a fixed one. ASFA updates its weekly and annual budgets every quarter to track the real cost of living for retirees, and in early 2026 it lifted the lump sums for the first time in three years — pointing to higher living costs and changes to Age Pension deeming rates.
The effect compounds over a long retirement. A budget that feels comfortable at 67 has to stretch across 20 years or more while prices keep climbing. That's one reason the Age Pension carries weight in the calculation: it's indexed, so it rises with the cost of living and provides a floor under retirement income.
How much super do you need to retire?
"Enough" comes down to the income you want and how long it has to last. The ASFA lump sums — $630,000 for a single, $730,000 for a couple — are a reasonable yardstick for a comfortable, home-owning retirement topped up by a part Age Pension. Your balance builds in the background through the superannuation guarantee, which reached 12% of wages on 1 July 2025.
Many Australians also use voluntary contributions to close a gap. Concessional (before-tax) contributions are capped at $30,000 for 2025–26 — and that's a single combined cap covering employer SG, salary sacrifice and any personal deductible contributions, not three separate limits. It's also the general cap. Some people can contribute more in a given year by carrying forward unused cap from earlier years, subject to eligibility rules.
Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% inside super rather than at your marginal rate, which is what makes salary sacrifice tax-effective for many people. For higher earners there's a wrinkle. If your combined income and concessional contributions top $250,000 in a financial year, an extra 15% applies to the contributions above that threshold under Division 293, lifting the rate to 30% — still concessional for anyone on the top marginal rate. And where someone plans to claim a deduction for a personal contribution, a valid notice of intent must be lodged with the fund before they lodge their tax return for that year or by the end of the following financial year, whichever comes first, with the fund acknowledging it before the deduction can be claimed.
The retirement planning mistakes that quietly cost the most
A handful of patterns show up again and again. The most common is treating a national benchmark as a personal target, when it assumes home ownership and a part Age Pension that may not match your situation. The others tend to compound over time.
- Overlooking the Age Pension, which most retirees draw at some stage and which changes how much super is actually required.
- Forgetting housing, since the comfortable benchmark assumes no rent or mortgage repayments.
- Leaving super spread across lost or duplicate accounts, where extra fees can quietly erode a balance.
- Setting a target once and never revisiting it as income, expenses and the rules shift.
How do you work out your own retirement target?
One approach is to start with the income you want, then work backwards. The benchmarks answer a general question — what does the average person need — while your own number turns on four levers: your lifestyle (what you'll actually spend), your housing (own, mortgage or rent), your super and other savings, and the Age Pension you may be eligible for. Change any one of them and the target moves.
A 55-year-old renter planning to travel lands in a very different place from a 60-year-old who owns their home and lives modestly. This is the point where national averages stop being useful and personal modelling takes over — running your real age, balance, savings and goals through the numbers, rather than borrowing someone else's.
Otivo is a licensed digital financial advice platform (AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 485665). Its retirement planning tools model your own target by factoring in your age, super balance, other investments, lifestyle goals and potential Age Pension eligibility, and you can explore the figures with Otivo's free retirement calculator before going deeper. Seeing your own projection is usually more useful than any national average.
Frequently asked questions
Is $1 million enough to retire in Australia?
A $1 million balance sits well above the ASFA comfortable benchmarks for a home-owning retiree — $630,000 for a single and $730,000 for a couple as at the December 2025 quarter — so for many it would fund a comfortable lifestyle with room to spare. Whether it's enough in any specific case still depends on spending, housing, health and how long the money has to last.
How much super do you need to retire at 60?
ASFA's benchmarks are calculated for retirement at 67, the Age Pension eligibility age. Retiring at 60 means funding more years before any Age Pension starts, so the same lifestyle generally calls for a larger starting balance. Access to super also depends on reaching preservation age and meeting a condition of release.
Does the Age Pension count towards a comfortable retirement?
Yes. ASFA's lump sums assume retirees draw a part Age Pension that grows as their super is drawn down over time. The pension provides an indexed floor under retirement income, which is why the super target is lower than the full annual cost of a comfortable lifestyle.
How often do the ASFA retirement figures change?
ASFA updates its weekly and annual retirement budgets each quarter to reflect current living costs. The lump sums change far less often — the increase in early 2026 was the first in three years.
Disclaimer
The information in this communication is current as at June 2026 and has been prepared by Otivo Pty Ltd ABN 47 602 457 732, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 485665. This content is general information only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not personal financial or taxation advice and should not be relied on as such. Before acting on any information, you should consider its appropriateness having regard to your personal circumstances. This material must not be reproduced in whole or in part, or posted on any social media platform, without the prior written consent of Otivo Pty Ltd.