Retirement Affordability Index
How does your spending compare?
For years retirees have been led to believe they needed the magic million dollars in super in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement.This is a total myth – most Australians with median amounts in their super (couples $417,000,males $218,000, females $199,000) enjoy very fulfilling retirements. Some have much higher savings and spend accordingly. Others, particularly renters, find it difficult to make ends meet.
To accurately represent the actual spending of different retirement ‘tribes’, Matt Grudnoff (The Australia Institute) and I partnered to create six different retirement ‘tribes’ and to measure their relative financial freedom.
Below the calculator you will see the full description of these different tribes.
The calculator below allows you to choose your own tribe by selecting relationship status and housing situation. You can then see how much other retirees in your tribe are spending. And input your expenditure in the right hand column to calculate how you compare financially with those in a similar situation.
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 159.36 15.70 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 36.55 3.60 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 152.68 15.04 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 37.83 3.73 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 21.84 2.15 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 45.79 4.51 % | |
| Household services & operation | 45.45 4.48 % | |
| Medical & health care | 105.92 10.43 % | |
| Transport | 124.93 12.31 % | |
| Recreation | 160.69 15.83 % | |
| Personal care | 22 2.17 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 68.04 6.70 % | |
| Communication | 34.01 3.35 % | |
| Education | 0.16 0.02 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 1015.25 | 1015.25 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 4399.42 | 4399.42 |
| Total annual expenditure | 52793.00 | 52793.00 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 117.62 20.61 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 32.71 5.73 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 107.32 18.81 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 23.04 4.04 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 9.47 1.66 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 21.26 3.73 % | |
| Household services & operation | 25.69 4.50 % | |
| Medical & health care | 46.91 8.22 % | |
| Transport | 63.71 11.17 % | |
| Recreation | 60.45 10.59 % | |
| Personal care | 11.60 2.03 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 33.12 5.80 % | |
| Communication | 17.56 3.08 % | |
| Education | 0.15 0.03 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 570.61 | 570.61 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 2472.64 | 2472.64 |
| Total annual expenditure | 29671.72 | 29671.72 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 209.15 37.60 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 27.77 4.99 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 96.17 17.29 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 32.86 5.91 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 7.81 1.40 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 16.96 3.05 % | |
| Household services & operation | 13.65 2.45 % | |
| Medical & health care | 27.76 4.99 % | |
| Transport | 42.97 7.73 % | |
| Recreation | 36.48 6.56 % | |
| Personal care | 10.29 1.85 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 20.63 3.71 % | |
| Communication | 13.70 2.46 % | |
| Education | 0.01 0.00 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 556.21 | 556.21 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 2410.24 | 2410.24 |
| Total annual expenditure | 28922.92 | 28922.92 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 237.18 13.37 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 50.53 2.85 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 303.90 17.13 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 66.66 3.76 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 32.83 1.85 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 83.67 4.72 % | |
| Household services & operation | 50.38 2.84 % | |
| Medical & health care | 184.48 10.40 % | |
| Transport | 235.83 13.30 % | |
| Recreation | 345.01 19.45 % | |
| Personal care | 35.32 1.99 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 112.10 6.32 % | |
| Communication | 35.14 1.98 % | |
| Education | 0.76 0.04 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 1773.79 | 1773.79 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 7686.42 | 7686.42 |
| Total annual expenditure | 92237.08 | 92237.08 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 140.18 13.61 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 37.95 3.69 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 214.05 20.78 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 38.30 3.72 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 18.63 1.81 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 36.30 3.52 % | |
| Household services & operation | 35.64 3.46 % | |
| Medical & health care | 131.49 12.77 % | |
| Transport | 153.09 14.87 % | |
| Recreation | 117.16 11.38 % | |
| Personal care | 21.43 2.08 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 60.45 5.87 % | |
| Communication | 24.90 2.42 % | |
| Education | 0.27 0.03 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 1029.84 | 1029.84 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 4462.64 | 4462.64 |
| Total annual expenditure | 53551.68 | 53551.68 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |
| Expenditure items | Weekly expenditure | |
|---|---|---|
| Spendings | My spending | |
| Housing | 265.49 30.19 % | |
| Domestic fuel & power | 40.06 4.56 % | |
| Food & non-alcoholic beverages | 193.55 22.01 % | |
| Alcoholic beverages & tobacco products | 62.39 7.10 % | |
| Clothing and footwear | 9.85 1.12 % | |
| Household furnishings & equipment | 22.09 2.51 % | |
| Household services & operation | 19.25 2.19 % | |
| Medical & health care | 45.53 5.18 % | |
| Transport | 72.79 8.28 % | |
| Recreation | 76.18 8.66 % | |
| Personal care | 14.90 1.69 % | |
| Miscellaneous goods & services | 30.23 3.44 % | |
| Communication | 26.95 3.07 % | |
| Education | 0.00 0.00 % | |
| Total weekly expenditure | 879.26 | 879.26 |
| Total monthly expenditure | 3810.13 | 3810.13 |
| Total annual expenditure | 45721.52 | 45721.52 |
| Difference (weekly) | 0 | |
| Difference (monthly) | 0 | |
| Difference (annual) | 0 | |