Women generally live longer and retire with less super than their male counterparts. As we join the International Women’s Day #pushforprogress we turn the spotlight on women and super, looking at how much women will need for a comfortable retirement.
| Couple | Single | |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $121.61 | $116.33 |
| Energy | $59.39 | $47.89 |
| Food | $202.07 | $116.26 |
| Communications | $30.87 | $23.72 |
| Household goods and services | $90.51 | $73.56 |
| Clothing and footwear | $50.65 | $27.20 |
| Transport | $156.87 | $144.60 |
| Health services | $184.97 | $98.81 |
| Leisure | $271.20 | $181.46 |
| Total weekly expenditure | $1,168.13 | $829.82 |
| Total annual expenditure | $60,977 | $43,317 |
| Super savings required (with part age pension) | $640,000 | $545,000 |
Understanding how much you’ll need to cover living expenses is the first step in retirement planning, but there are some other factors to consider.
Even with the best planning in place, there is still the chance you may outlive your savings. The timing around when you take retirement, can make a significant difference to the amount of savings you retire with — especially true if you’re looking to fund your retirement with a lump sum payment from your super.
Retirement planning can be complicated, but getting the right advice can help you create a plan to minimise your exposure to these risks and give you the confidence that you’re on the right track to reach your financial goals
1Australian Bureau of Statistics: Life Tables, States, Territories and Australia, 2014-2016
2The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Limited (ASFA): Superannuation account balances by age and gender
3Australian Bureau of Statistics: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, January 2018, cat. no. 6291.0
4The Workplace Gender Equality Agency WGEA Data Explorer, 2017
5Australian Bureau of Statistics: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, January 2018, cat.no. 6291.0
6Australian Bureau of Statistics: Average Weekly Earnings, Nov 2017, cat. no. 6302.0
7Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia: Retirement Standard benchmark
While some prefer to wait until January 1 to set new resolutions and do a bit of life admin, here at Qantas Super we believe the new financial year is another great occasion to get your super sorted.
Australians were reunited with $7 billion in lost and unclaimed super over the 2019/20 financial year, but a further $13.8 billion still remains to be claimed.
Some of the things people say and hear about super aren’t always correct. To help you separate fact from fiction, we’ve busted a couple of common super myths.
