Adding more to your retirement savings: is it worth it?

Why super offers much promise for retirement saving

Making additional contributions to your super can help grow your balance through tax concessions and compounding interest. It’s important to remember, inside the accumulation phase, income is taxed at 15 percent. Depending on your marginal rate of tax, this may be advantageous. Add to this the benefit of compounding interest and, adding more into your super may be a decision that could benefit you in retirement.

Why? It boils down to two key things.

Magic of compound interest

The first, is the magic of compounding interest – the process of earning interest on your interest and so on.

For example, if you invested $10,000 at 5 per cent per year, each year you would earn $500 in simple interest. However, when you add in the magic of compounding and allow the $500 interest earned in the first year to be added to your account balance, then repeated each year during the 5-year period, after 5 years you would have earned a total of approximately $2,762 in interest (compared to $2,500 in interest after 5 years using simple interest). This would give you a total of $12,762 after 5 years.

But that’s not all.

One of the best tax structures available

From a tax point of view, super can be incredibly powerful.

By making extra contributions to your super fund using your pre-tax income, up to the current annual contribution cap of $30,000¹ (2024/25), you could benefit from those contributions being taxed at just 15 per cent.² Depending on your marginal rate of tax, this may be this may be lower than the personal tax you would pay on your income.

If your spouse is a low-income earner, there are tax benefits you could gain too for making a contribution to their super.

But like most good things, super is not without its drawbacks.

Limitations of super for retirement saving

Super does have some limitations as an investment vehicle. For instance, you can only make up to $30,000¹ in super contributions before-tax in the 2024/25 financial year (this amount includes your employer’s contribution of 11.5 per cent of your salary) or up to $120,000 in after-tax contributions³ in a financial year. You may be liable for more tax if you exceed these limits.

There are also limitations on when you can access your super.

Get support

Planning for your retirement can be a complex and challenging area to get your head around.

So, if you’re keen to supercharge your retirement savings, but aren’t sure how to go about it, then speaking to a financial adviser can be a good way to go.

Bottom line: Being proactive with your super may make a significant difference to the size of your final nest egg. 
 

Next: Making the most of your retirement finances

References

1 You may have a higher concessional contributions cap if you have previous unused concessional cap amounts – for more information: Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/super/self-managed-super-funds/contributions-and-rollovers/contribution-caps/
2 An additional 15% tax may apply to higher income earners - ASIC Money Smart: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/superannuation-and-retirement/how-super-works/tax-and-super
3 ASIC Money Smart: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/superannuation-and-retirement/how-super-works/super-contributions