Disclaimer
This calculator and information has been prepared by Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Limited ABN 39 001 987 739, AFSL 24 0003 (Rest).
The Small Change, Big Savings calculator is an educational tool intended to demonstrate the impact of giving up everyday item(s) may have on your future.
This is not a recommendation and the results is not intended to be an exact figure or a guarantee. The results provided by the calculator are estimates only, actual outcomes depend on many uncertain factors such as investment returns and relevant legislation.
The costs of the everyday items are estimates and do not necessarily represent the exact cost to you if you were to give up the item(s), at the specified frequency, as represented by the calculator.
The calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. You should consider your own needs, financial situation and investment objectives. We recommend you seek advice from a licensed financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
The results are expressed in today's dollars by discounting with wage inflation in the accumulation phase. This is done to provide you with a more meaningful figure.
This calculator does not save any of the data you have entered. If you wish to keep a copy for your records you can take a print screen or print a copy of the page.
Limitations
The results from this calculator are based on the limited information that you have provided and the assumptions made. It does not take into consideration all of your objectives, financial situation, needs and other unpredictable events/factors, which may impact on your retirement outcomes. There are limitations to the calculator, which include:
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the calculator assumes that saved amounts are contributed to superannuation as non-concessional contributions. Instead of savings made by non-concessional contributions, an equivalent pre-tax amount could be saved by making concessional contributions. For some people, this would increase the benefit of savings due to the lower tax payable on concessional contributions compared to their salary.
Assumptions
There are some assumptions in the calculator that you can change such as the default retirement age, inflation rate and investment option in the ‘Edit Assumptions’ screen, found by selecting ‘Disclaimer and Assumptions’. Any changes you make to these assumptions will impact the results.
Rest believes the default assumptions made in this calculator are reasonable for the purpose of working out the estimate. A team of qualified financial services professionals have determined the assumptions used in this calculator by relying on the assumptions set out in the relevant legislation, regulatory guidance provided by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), industry standards and internal and external product/economic/market data.
Whilst Rest believes the assumptions are reasonable, you should consider your own needs, financial situation and investment objectives in light of these assumptions, as it might not necessarily be appropriate for you. We recommend you seek advice from a licensed financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
Legislative assumptions
A number of assumptions in this calculator are prescribed by legislation including superannuation and taxation legislation. Where there is relevant legislation, the assumptions made in this calculator reflect legislation as at 20 September 2024.
Future legislative changes can affect the result. Changes are made as soon as practicable after they are finalised, but there may be a lag. In this case, the results should not be relied upon.
Contributions
In giving up one or more items in the calculator, you are then assumed to save an amount equal to the cost of the item(s). Savings are assumed to be added as regular non-concessional contributions into superannuation. The contributions are annualised and then the contributions are assumed to be made continuously during the year.
The calculator assumes that these contributions are within your non-concessional contribution limits (being $120,000 per annum or $360,000 in one year by utilising the ‘bring forward’ rule) and no tax is payable on these contributions.
Government co-contributions are not included in the results. You may also be eligible for co-contributions (if your salary is less than $60,400 pa). If you are eligible, this could increase the benefit of saving amounts related to giving up an everyday item(s).
Investment period
It is assumed you will continue to give up the selected item(s) until your retirement (defaulted to age 67) and with the money saved you will contribute this into superannuation.
Inflation
By default, the calculator applies future wage inflation at 3.7% per annum (p.a.) and future price inflation at 2.5% p.a.
These assumed inflation rates are consistent with ASIC Corporations (Superannuation Calculators and Retirement Estimates) Instrument 2022/603.
Investment earnings and fees
The default investment return and fee assumptions are:
| | Pension phase return (before tax) | Accumulation phase return (after tax) | Investment fee (%pa) |
|---|
| Low risk | 2.94% | 2.5% | 0.05% |
| Moderate risk | 4.89% | 4.5% | 0.62% |
| High risk | 6.81% | 6.5% | 0.69% |
The above pension phase returns are used in this calculator for illustrative purposes and to show the impact of tax on investment earnings.
Investment returns are assumed to be constant every year, at the rates indicated above. In reality, your actual investment returns will vary from year to year, and this will affect your retirement outcome.
This calculator provides default investment options, which may not reflect the way you are currently invested in superannuation. We have provided three default investment options to cater for different types of investment risk and return and each will impact your estimated retirement outcome. The above returns are associated with medium to long term projections (net of the investment fees) of selected Rest investment options which have a low, moderate and high investment risk.
Performance is not guaranteed.
The investment fees (including performance-related fees) listed above shows estimates of these fees and costs based on information for the 12 months ending 30 June 2024 for the selected Rest investment options.
Administration fees and insurance premiums
It is assumed that any additional contributions is contributed to an existing superannuation account, which has a 0.10% pa asset-based administration fee.
No additional dollar based administration fees would therefore be incurred for making these additional contributions.
Any insurance premiums paid within your superannuation would not change as a result of these additional contributions and have not been accounted for in these calculators.
From September 2019, the Protecting Your Super legislation introduced a 3% fee cap for super balances of less than $6,000. This is ignored for the purposes of this calculator.
Getting help
If you would like to seek factual information or general advice about your Rest account, contact Rest Member Connections on 1300 235 049.
If you would like to receive financial advice that that been tailored to your circumstances, please book an appointment with a Rest Adviser*.
Other online calculators which you may find helpful can be found on Rest’s Tools and Resources page or the MoneySmart website.
* Rest Advice is provided by Link Advice Pty Ltd ABN 36 105 811 836, AFSL 258145 (Link). Rest Advisers are employees of Rest and authorised representatives of Link.
Last updated: 30 September 2024