The retirement rule book just changed. Here’s what you need to know

February 28, 2026 — 2:01am

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If you’re over 50 and paying even passing attention to your financial future, the last couple of weeks have been unusually busy. Within just a fortnight, almost every key number in Australia’s retirement system has either changed or is about to.

The benchmarks for how much you need to retire. The rules around how much you can contribute to superannuation. The rates used to calculate your age pension. The caps on how much super can sit in the tax-free retirement phase.

That’s not normal. Usually, these things shuffle along quietly, one at a time. Currently, they’re moving all at once, and if you don’t know what’s changing, you could easily be missing some opportunities.

So today I’m going to walk you through it all and explain what each change means.

Retirement now costs more

Let’s start with the number people ask me about most: how much do you actually need to retire?

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, known as ASFA, has just updated its retirement benchmarks for the first time in three years. And the shift is significant.

The good news is that most of these changes work in your favour, or at least don’t harm you.

For a comfortable retirement, one that covers a decent lifestyle, a reasonable car, private health insurance, and yes, a modest amount of travel, couples now need $730,000 in super at retirement, up from $690,000. For singles, that figure has risen to $630,000, up from $595,000.

If you’re planning on a more modest retirement, relying largely on the full age pension with very little discretionary spending, the benchmarks are lower but have also jumped. Couples need $120,000 in super (up from $100,000), and singles need $110,000 (also up from $100,000).

There’s also a fairly new benchmark that’s been growing in importance: the renter’s retirement. For couples who rent in retirement and want a modest standard of living, factoring in rent assistance and the full age pension, the retirement savings target is $385,000.

For single renters, it’s $340,000. These numbers reflect one of the harder realities of retirement planning........

© WA Today