TRANSCRIPT:
According to the data advocacy group Super Consumers Australia, pre-retirees that is those aged 55 to 59 who own their own home, will now have to save 10 thousand dollars more in super than they would have a year ago.
While couples are advised to put away 23 thousand more on average.
Of course, that number changes based on lifestyle - and is higher for renters and people with mortgages.
Knowing how much you'll need to fund your retirement isn’t always obvious according to some Australians.
"Ah, maybe at least $100k. VOX 2 Oh boy, to retire comfortably? I'd say, you know, it's cool 3 million. VOX 3 Oh, a lot more than I have."
According to Xavier O'Halloran, the Director of Super Consumers Australia, the rising cost of living is forcing targets higher.
"What this means for retirees is that they will need to be putting a little bit extra aside in their superannuation savings in order to meet those targets and continue to spend in line with their standard of living in retirement."
Super Consumers Australia places the inflationary impact at between three and eight per cent on estimates from just over a year ago.
That means the average Australian homeowner aged 55 to 59 will now need 317 thousand dollars to retire comfortably.
For a couple - that figures sits higher at 425 thousand dollars - and varies dependent on lifestyle.
But superannuation researcher Chant West says strong corporate results are helping to ease the impact.
Median growth funds were boosted by one-and-a-half per cent in July - after a strong performance on local and international markets to be up 7 point 5 per cent over the last year.
Mr O'Halloran explains.
"Yeah, so it's not all bad news. On the upside superannuation funds have delivered quite good returns over the last year. And that accounts for a large part, if not all of the inflation pressure that people would experience depending on what kind of investment option they're in. The other really helpful thing that a lot of people don't realise, is that age pension does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to inflation, it's actually pegged to take account for inflation. So each year it will cover a lot of those costs of living concerns that people will have, if they're in receipt of the full age pension."
The Government's latest Intergenerational Report shows the number of people at retirement age is expected to double by 20-62.
But the Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia has the right measures in place to confront it.
He says he and the Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones will work on super reform to ensure retirees don't have to live so frugally.
"People are more frugal than they need to be. They're more conservative than they probably want to be because there is what the experts call this longevity risk in the superannuation system. And so, Stephen and I are really before long, ideally before the end of the year, we will try and shape some policy development around retirement income products."
For now Mano Mohankumar from Chant West says it's important to remind people that super is a long-term investment.
"So over the last four years we've had median returns of negative 0.6, positive 18, negative 3.3 and positive 9.2 per cent, so very important to remember that. Over the long term, patience is rewarded."
