Australian Superannuation Free Calculator – Compare Super Funds
I have created a free tool through Google Sheets that lets you change and compare superannuation funds in Australia.
I found the online tools to be quite clunky and was hard to compare a lot of superfunds at the same time. I made my own and it is still in early phases but it seems to work pretty well for me at least. Always open to changing/adjusting it so others can use it too.
If you need to enter a value with a percent sign, be sure to type % on the end otherwise it may come up with an error.
How To Use The Free Tool
Section 1
Firstly, check the date last updated and the version. This may change over time, I have included a log sheet to keep track of changes.
Figure 1 – General Information for the Calculator
Section 2
Enter in your information in the section shown as below, Figure 2. This will include your wage, your current super value and percentage (automatically set at 9.5%), contribution and how many years left until you expect to retire. All these figures are just generic and you can change to what your current status is.
On the right hand side of Figure 2 you can see the Custom Super Comparison section. Change this section to what your current Super is sitting at or at the one you wish to compare with. For example, I have entered in the Admin Fees and Investment Fees for an ING Living Super. All this information can be found on your companies site or you can get it from websites like Rate City.
Figure 2 – Your Current Information and Super Comparison Input
Section 3
In this section I have included some examples of Super Funds and what their current fees are. These are just examples taken from Rate City. I have no affiliation with any super fund and I currently have my super in ANZ Smart Choice but looking to change if I find a better option due to their performance not being fantastic.
In section 3 you can change the performance, the other sections are locked as this information comes from Rate City. If you want to play with their performance then feel free to change the last section on the right. The Custom Super takes information from the section 2, so these cells should be locked too.
Figure 3 – Superannuation Information
Section 4
Section 4 has the end result. What your super balance will look like at the end of how many years you entered in Section 2. Please note this will only go up to 50 years. If you see any errors in this then please let me know. As you can see as the Admin Fees and Investment Fees are quite similar the end result does not have a huge difference but the ultimate factor is the Super’s performance over how many years you entered in.
Figure 4 – Your Results
Section 5
Section 5 shows the end result as a graph. This graph is dynamic and will change depending on what you enter in the Section 2.
Figure 5 – Graphical Representation of Performance over years entered in Section 2.
Future Improvements
- Currently there is no allowance for wage inflation.
- Comparison to stock market.
- More examples of other Super funds.
- Simplicity improvements.
If you get a chance to use the tool then please feel free to give me some constructive criticism on how to improve the tool in the future.
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USE THE TOOL HERE
Although it’s not something I will be using in the near future I would like to commend you for sharing your time, knowledge and tools to the community. Great stuff!
Thanks Mr Robot
Looks good BHL! Thanks very much for sharing it. Having made a spreadsheet for tracking my share portfolio I know there’s a fair bit of time and effort that goes into these things! Props.
No problem WF30. I use excel almost every day at work so I’m pretty comfortable with making these. Hopefully people can get some use out of it. Cheers.
Great work, thanks for all the time you put into it.
Would it be easy to add in a feature where you can put in your retirement year (or years until retirement) and then still have the balance grow through until preservation age? I.e. if I was looking to retire in 10 years time I would have employer and individual contributions to super for the next 10 years, after this contributions would stop, however the balance would (hopefully) continue to grow. Cheers
Hi Elliot. I haven’t thought of that one before. I will see what I can do and see if I can add that to the sheet. Cheers
Sounds like a very useful tool BHL and kudos for improving on it for the benefit of your readers. I don’t do anything with superannuation but I can see the benefit of this calculator tool if I did.
No problem Div-Port, it is more aimed at Australian readers as I have some knowledge of how it works here. Hope it helps those who are interested. Cheers
I think your calculation is missing out the “Your Contribution” section. I don’t think its adding properly in your calculations when i look at the formulae you are using, its only using it for the performance calc section, not the absolute value as well.
Hi Nick, I have taken a look at that and changed the formula to suit. Thanks for picking that up!