Katherine, age 51
Full-time: Laboratory Technician
All-the-time: Horticulturalist

Last year Katherine bought her dream home – a quaint country cottage with an untamed garden. Now she enjoys exploring her magnificent garden and day-dreaming about the day when she begins her life after work.  

At 51 years old, Katherine is looking forward to finishing up work in a few years. But, after buying her dream home last year she does have a small mortgage to pay off before she retires.

Until now she really hasn’t given her super much attention. After having a good look at how the CSS works, Katherine is now set to increase her contribution to 10% so she can use her lump-sum benefit to pay off her mortgage when she retires.

The information in this case study is based on the assumptions we have stated below. Remember actual rates of return, inflation and wage growth may differ materially from the assumptions provided. Assumptions: Any change to the contribution rate was made on 1 July 2008. Average rate of return 7%, inflation rate 2.5%, real rate of return (adjusted for inflation) 4.5%, wage growth 4.5%. All figures are shown in today’s dollars. All contributions are made after-tax, and all benefits and pensions shown are before-tax. For more information about tax see the ‘Tax and your CSS benefit’ fact sheet at www.css.gov.au