It is the question I am asked more than any other by people in their fifties and sixties. The honest answer is that there is no single number. There is your number, and it comes from how you want to live, where, and for how long.
A benchmark is still a useful place to begin, as long as it is treated as a starting point and not a target.
A benchmark, with its date
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia publishes the ASFA Retirement Standard, an estimate of what retirees spend each year. For the March quarter of 2026, for people aged 65 to 84 who own their home, it put a comfortable lifestyle at $78,566 a year for a couple and $55,923 for a single person. A modest lifestyle was $52,473 for a couple and $36,434 for a single person.
These figures assume the home is owned outright. People who rent, or who still carry a loan on their home, need more. They are averages, and they move with the cost of living from quarter to quarter.
Working out your own number
I find it helps to start with spending, not savings. What does a year of your life cost now, and what will change when work stops? Some costs fall away, such as travel to work. Others rise, such as holidays, health and help around the home. Then split the year into what you must spend and what you would like to spend.
Where the income comes from
Once the spending is clear, the next question is what pays for it: rent from property, a pension from super, part of the Age Pension for those who qualify, and any other income. Each source behaves differently. Some keep arriving in a bad year; some do not. That split is what I call the income floor, and I have written about it in What an income floor is.
How long it has to last
Retirement can run for thirty years or more. The money has to last for the life you actually live, not the average one. That is why the same figure can be ample for one person and short for another.
The questions I would ask
- What does a year of your life cost today?
- Which of those costs will fall, and which will rise, when work stops?
- How much of that spending is essential, and how much is choice?
- Which of your income sources will keep arriving in a bad year?
- Do you own your home outright, or will a loan or rent still need paying?
A benchmark tells you what others spend. Your own number tells you what your life costs, and that is the one worth knowing before you decide anything.
Nicholas Lockhart
General information only. No advice is given. Figures are the ASFA Retirement Standard for the March quarter 2026, shown as history; they change each quarter. Pension rules depend on your own circumstances; Services Australia can confirm what applies to you.