A new report by the Super Members Council has found wealth levels for middle Australia have tripled in 20 years for recent retirees, with superannuation the key driver of that strong growth in prosperity.
The report highlights the central role Australia’s super system now plays in strengthening household financial security, delivering higher retirement incomes for millions of Australians, and driving economic growth.
From 2002 to 2022, non-housing wealth grew by 196% for middle Australians, making them more than $256,000 better off in retirement.
As a result, more Australians are now entering retirement with increasingly significant levels of super, delivering them higher living standards and more income as retirees, and easing pressure on government budgets.
The amount of retiree income from super has more than doubled in two decades. It rose by 117% for recent middle wealth retirees, to $740 per week on average in 2022, compared to $340 in 2002, in wage adjusted terms.
Even with sluggish real wages growth in recent years, capital growth through super has helped working Australians build wealth. From 1996 to 2025, net returns on super in profit-to-member funds were two times higher than wage growth, helping to reduce cost-of-living pressures for retirees.
Super has broadened household assets beyond real estate and cash and allowed everyday Australians - not just the wealthy - to share in the income generated by companies and assets.
Super funds’ ability to invest for their members in unlisted assets — such as infrastructure like airports and toll roads, property and private markets — has acted as a stabilising force in the economy. This drives growth and stronger long-term returns and diversification for members, insulating portfolios from short-term market volatility.
The report is also an important reminder that super is built to ride out short-term market ups and downs—such as the Global Financial Crisis, the COVID downturn, and recent volatility linked to conflict in the Middle East—and deliver real returns over the long-term that build Australians' wealth for retirement.
Profit-to-member super funds have delivered strong long-term returns for Australians by investing at scale with a long-term horizon and keeping costs lower — ensuring more of members’ investment returns stay with them.
A 30-year-old earning the median wage today and paying super into a MySuper profit-to-member fund would retire with a super balance around $90,500 higher than if they had been in a managed fund under a typical advisor and platform arrangement – thanks to the difference in fees alone.
The report shows Australia’s profit-to-member super system has grown into one of the largest retirement savings pools in the world, with more than 12 million Australians holding over $1.9 trillion in super savings.
The transformative benefits of super for millions of everyday Australians are only possible because of a compulsory and universal system where savings are preserved until retirement. Any weakening of preservation rules would damage the ability to act as long-term investors, including in unlisted assets, leading to lower returns.
Analysis by Frontier Advisers for the Council found that in this scenario, net returns could be lower by 0.3 - 0.6% each year, leaving the average Australian with between $150,000 and $300,000 less in super at retirement.
“Thanks to the creation of super three decades ago, millions of everyday Australians now own a direct profit-share in the nation’s economic growth for the first time,” said Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert.
“Those super savings owned by millions of everyday Australians are now one of Australia’s most important economic institutions — lifting retirement incomes for retirees, reducing pressure on budgets, and supporting long-term growth and stability across the economy.”
“With more Australians relying on super than ever before, keeping the policy settings strong and secure is critical — because the future incomes of everyday Australians depend on it.”
About us:
The opinions above are those of the author in their capacity as spokesperson for Super Members Council of Australia (SMC). SMC, the authors and all other persons involved in the preparation of this information are thereby not giving legal, financial or professional advice for individual persons or organisations.
