Australians treasure our superannuation retirement system, and rightly so. It's a system designed to efficiently harness the awesome power of compounding to deliver at least a financial foundation for a comfortable and secure retirement.
However, many Australians aren't aware of just how much they have in their super accounts at any given moment. It might not be the most exhilarating activity to check one's superannuation balance. Particularly if you are at an age where retirement seems like a distant pipedream.
However, I think it's important for everyone to have their head around their own super money. After all, it's your money that is being squirrelled away. And it may be the only thing there for you when you give up your day job in the years ahead.
So today, let's look at the average superannuation balances for those who are approaching or are at a traditional retirement age — 60, 65 and 70. We'll be looking at both the median and average balances here, so we can account for the numbers being skewed by outliers.
What's the average superannuation balance at 60, 65 and 70?
We'll be using the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)'s Taxation Statistics report covering the 2021 financial year here. The report found that the median superannuation balance in Australia for people aged between 60 and 64 is $183,524. That compares to an average balance of $361,539.
For someone aged between 65 and 69, the median figure rises to $207,540. The average figure was $428,738.
And for an Australian aged between 70 and 74, we have a median figure of $214,431. That's with the average being $481,483.
Those are some sobering numbers. The whole point of the superannuation system is to relieve pressure on the cost of the age pension to taxpayers.
However, a few months ago, we covered how analysts at AMP estimated that a single retiree would need $1.25 million in their super accounts to fund a comfortable lifestyle in retirement. For a modest lifestyle, it was a balance of approximately $795,000.
It seems that neither the average or median superannuation balance for those in the retirement age brackets gets even close to these figures. Something for all of us to keep in mind.
