What the projection assumes
Your employer contributes the 12% super guarantee (the permanent rate since 1 July 2025) on your salary, contributions are taxed at 15% on the way in, and the balance compounds monthly at your assumed return. Salary is held constant — a deliberately conservative choice, since pay rises would lift contributions further. Balanced super options have historically returned around 7% p.a. over long periods, but past returns guarantee nothing; run 5% and 8% to see your realistic range.
Reading the number — and moving it
Remember the projection is in future dollars: at 2.5% inflation, $1,000,000 in 25 years buys what about $540,000 does today. The levers, in rough order of power: time (nothing beats starting earlier), salary sacrifice (modest monthly amounts compound enormously — and are taxed at 15% instead of your marginal rate; see our salary sacrifice calculator for the tax side), fees (a 0.5% cheaper fund is equivalent to a 0.5% higher return, every single year), and consolidating stray accounts so you're not paying multiple sets of fees and insurance premiums.