How much super should you have at your age, honestly

There is a published benchmark for how much super you would have at each age to be "on track", and it is worth knowing. It is also worth holding loosely: most Australians sit below it, and women lower again. A benchmark is a compass, not a report card. It points a direction. It does not grade you.

"How much super should I have for my age" is one of the most-searched money questions in Australia, and the reason people search it late at night is rarely curiosity. It is the quiet fear that everyone else got a memo you missed. So let us answer it plainly, with the actual figures, and then do the more useful thing: explain what the numbers do and do not mean.

The benchmark: what you would "need"

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) publishes a widely-used Retirement Standard. It estimates that to fund a comfortable retirement from age 67, a single person needs a lump sum of around $630,000, and a couple around $730,000 (assuming they own their home and draw a part Age Pension).

Working back from that, the Super Guru "Super Balance Detective" gives a rough figure for what you would have at each age to stay on track for a comfortable retirement at 67:

• Age 25: around $27,500
• Age 30: around $70,500
• Age 35: around $118,000
• Age 40: around $178,000
• Age 45: around $239,000
• Age 50: around $313,500
• Age 55: around $399,000
• Age 60: around $496,500
• Age 65: around $604,500

Write down the figure for your age. Now hold it loosely, because the next number matters just as much.

The reality: what people have

Here is what Australians have, on average, by age (ASFA):

• 25 to 29: around $27,000
• 30 to 34: around $52,700
• 35 to 39: around $85,100
• 40 to 44: around $118,700
• 45 to 49: around $151,900
• 50 to 54: around $190,500
• 55 to 59: around $234,700
• 60 to 64: around $263,400

Put the two lists side by side and something jumps out. For most age groups, the average balance sits below the "on track" benchmark. Being behind the benchmark is not the exception. It is the norm. So if you are behind, you are standing with the large majority of the country, not failing a test everyone else passed.

And then there is the gender gap

The averages above blend men and women together. Split them apart and it gets sharper. Women retire with a median super balance around $61,000 lower than men (Super Members Council), and the gap widens across a working life, peaking in your 50s.

So a woman comparing herself to the benchmark is often measuring herself against a figure built on an unbroken, full-time, well-paid career, the exact working life the system assumed and most women do not get to have. Career breaks for caregiving, part-time years, and lower average pay all pull women's actual balances below the tidy benchmark. That is not a personal shortfall. It is a structural one, and we wrote about why in our piece on the gender super gap.

What the number is for

A benchmark is a compass, not a report card. Used well, it tells you roughly which direction you are facing. Used badly, it becomes one more stick to hit yourself with, and shame has never once improved anyone's super balance.

Three honest things about these figures:

1. They rest on assumptions that may not be yours. Retiring at 67, owning your home, a "comfortable" (not lavish, not bare) lifestyle, and a set investment return. Change any of those and your number changes.
2. "Behind" is normal and not fixed. Because of compounding, balances can move more than you would expect in the years before retirement, and small changes made earlier have outsized effects. Behind today is not a life sentence.
3. Knowing your number beats guessing. Most people have no idea what their current balance is. Finding out is free, takes minutes, and turns a vague dread into a fact you can work with.

The short version

• For a comfortable retirement at 67, ASFA estimates a lump sum of around $630,000 (single) or $730,000 (couple), assuming you own your home.
• The Super Guru benchmarks: roughly $70,500 by 30, $118,000 by 35, $178,000 by 40, $313,500 by 50.
• Most Australians sit below the benchmark for their age. Being "behind" is the norm, not a personal failure.
• Women's actual balances run lower again: a median gap of around $61,000 by retirement (Super Members Council).
• A benchmark is a compass, not a verdict. The most useful first step is simply finding out your current balance.

The benchmark was drawn for a career that never stopped, never went part-time, and never got paid less for being done by a woman. If yours did any of those, the gap between you and the number is not a measure of your discipline. It is a measure of the system you earned inside. Whether you then do anything more depends on your circumstances, and that is a conversation for a licensed adviser who knows your full picture. Understand the system. Then decide.