The cost of living in retirement
If you plan to keep enjoying your current lifestyle when you retire, our experience tells us that you’ll need to save enough to provide you with at least 70% of your current annual income.
We’re here to help you understand your super and learn how to grow your retirement savings to help you afford the kind of retirement you’d like to have. Whether you’re single or part of a couple, you might be interested in some of the research around the amount of retirement savings you might need to enjoy different standards of living.
The cost of a moderate or comfortable retirement
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) reports regularly on the annual cost for singles and couples to achieve either:
- A ‘modest’ retirement - which is better than relying on the Commonwealth government’s Age Pension alone, but only allows for fairly basic activities
- A ‘comfortable’ retirement - which represents a good standard of living with enough to spend on a range of leisure activities and household goods, private health insurance, a reasonable car, good clothes, a range of electronic equipment and some travel
Based on ASFA research1, here are the estimated budgets for various households and living standards for people aged around 65.
Living standard | Single annual cost | Couple annual cost |
|---|---|---|
Modest | $27,368 | $43,695 |
Comfortable | $42,764 | $60,264 |
On a weekly basis, a single person needs around $819.20 while a couple needs around $1,154.50 for a comfortable retirement.
As you get older, the budgets change.
Here are the estimated budgets for various households and living standards for people aged around 852.
Living standard | Single annual cost | Couple annual cost |
|---|---|---|
Modest | $24,097 | $35,622 |
Comfortable | $39,702 | $55,696 |
On a weekly basis, a single person needs around $761 while a couple needs around $1,068 for a comfortable retirement.
Check how your retirement savings are tracking
By using the information above as a guide, you can find out whether your current savings will be enough, or whether you need to take action to grow your retirement savings.
Try our how much will I have/need calculator for an estimate of how much you'll have when you retire, and how long it will last. You can adjust a range of variables, such as extra contributions, to see what the difference will be by the time you retire.
1 The Association of Super Funds of Australia (ASFA), Retirement Standard, aged around 65, March quarter 2018.
2 The Association of Super Funds of Australia (ASFA), Retirement Standard, aged over 85, September quarter 2017.
More information
Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 27 May 2018.