Retirement Savings Calculator

Model your retirement drawdown with indexed base costs and planned discretionary spending windows, then see your balance at the end of each retirement year.

Start with Base Costs (Non-Discretionary)

Your base costs are the expenses you need regardless of lifestyle choices: housing, groceries, utilities, healthcare, insurance and essential transport. This is the core number that retirement planning should protect first.

Then layer discretionary spending (travel, gifts, upgrades, hobbies) on top. This helps you see how optional spending affects long-term sustainability.

Mint Tip: Build your model in this order: base costs first, then discretionary phases. It gives you a clear fallback plan if markets underperform.

Retirement Drawdown Calculator

Projection Inputs

Planning for Choose couple if you want to model combined super and combined annual spending for a household.

Projection end age Pick an age that gives you a conservative longevity buffer, such as 90, 95 or 100.

Expected annual return on super (%) Use a realistic long-run average. The industry median balanced super option returned approximately 7–8% p.a. over the five years to 2025 (source: SuperRatings SR50 Balanced Index). A practical starting point is the average of the last 5 years shown in your own fund's app, portal, annual statement or performance tab. This model assumes no additional super contributions before retirement.

Base annual costs at retirement start ($) Include essentials like housing, groceries, utilities, healthcare, insurance, council/body corporate if relevant, phone/internet, car costs, fuel, registration, and other must-pay bills. For couples, enter the combined annual household total.

Inflation (on expenses) (% p.a.) 2.5% is a reasonable default for long-run planning. Increase it if you want a more conservative inflation assumption.

Person 1

Current age Use the current age for this person in the plan.

Current super balance ($) Use the latest balance from the fund portal or annual statement.

Planned retirement age Age at which this person plans to stop working and start drawing from super.

Person 2

Current age Use the current age for this person in the plan.

Current super balance ($) Use the latest balance from the fund portal or annual statement.

Planned retirement age Age at which this person plans to stop working and start drawing from super.

Extra Discretionary Spending Phases

Use this section for amounts you want to spend on top of base costs during specific retirement-year ranges — for example, active travel years, helping adult children, or a hobby transition. Each row represents one retirement-year band and one additional annual spend amount for the whole household (not per person).

Retirement year from

Retirement year to

Extra spend p.a. ($)

Action

Enter values and run projection.

Mint Takeaway

Model essential spending first, then discretionary spending.
Early discretionary drawdowns can materially reduce later-life balances.
Year-by-year projections are useful for testing trade-offs before retirement decisions are locked in.