Education

The central reason youth matters in superannuation is compound growth. When your super fund earns investment returns, those returns are added to your balance and then themselves earn returns in subsequent years. Over long periods, this generates outsized results.

This passive approach has a cost. The ASFA Retirement Standard puts a comfortable retirement for a single homeowner at around $54,240 per year, backed by a lump sum of approximately $595,000. For a significant proportion of Australians, employer contributions alone will not reach that …

With the Superannuation Guarantee now at 12% of ordinary time earnings, the quality of what your fund does with that money matters enormously. For a person with a 30-year accumulation horizon, the difference between a high-performing and an underperforming fund can be the difference …

For the overwhelming majority of Australians, Division 296 tax will never apply. The $3 million threshold sits well above balances held by most retirement savers, and with CPI indexation now confirmed, that gap will not narrow in real terms over time. But for those …

From 1 July 2026, the concessional (before-tax) contributions cap rises from $30,000 to $32,500 per year. This cap covers all pre-tax contributions: Superannuation Guarantee amounts from your employer, salary sacrifice arrangements, and personal contributions claimed as a tax deduction.

The 2026 superannuation shake-up is significant not because any single change is catastrophic — for most people, the changes are either neutral or mildly positive — but because together they signal a clear direction of travel. Super is evolving toward a more tightly regulated …

ASFA defines a comfortable retirement as one that provides for a broad range of leisure activities, a reasonable standard of health care, private health insurance, occasional international travel, and the ability to run a car and maintain your home. Not luxurious — but genuinely …