Editorial Policy

Our purpose

Our tools help Australians project super balances and retirement income, understand contribution rules and taxes, and explore how fees, drawdowns, and extra contributions change long-term outcomes. Content is selected for reader usefulness, not simply because a search term exists.

• Answer a specific reader question or support a real financial decision.
• Separate official rules and rates from estimates, assumptions, and general examples.
• Explain important limitations and exceptions near the relevant claim.
• Use worked examples to make calculation steps and trade-offs inspectable.
• Link to primary sources so readers can verify material claims.
• Avoid presenting general information as personal superannuation, investment, tax, financial, or legal advice.

Source hierarchy

We prioritise ATO and Services Australia guidance, Commonwealth legislation, Treasury and ASIC Moneysmart material, official rates and caps, and clearly identified retirement research.

1. Legislation, official government agencies, regulators, and published rate or threshold tables.
2. Official explanatory material, rulings, determinations, and government data.
3. Reputable research or industry material where no primary benchmark exists.
4. Secondary commentary only where it adds useful context and does not replace a more authoritative source.

Calculator development and testing

The models apply contributions, taxes, fees, investment-return and inflation assumptions, preservation or pension rules, and scenario-specific caps in a documented sequence.

Calculator logic is kept separate from page presentation where practical. We check representative scenarios, threshold boundaries, rounding behaviour, and relationships between related outputs. The methodology page documents the main calculation flow and its limitations.

Review and updates

We prioritise review when super rates, caps, tax or pension rules, official guidance, economic assumptions, or calculator logic changes.

Material is reviewed before publication for internal consistency, readable explanation, functioning citations, and alignment between claims and calculator behaviour. Minor copy edits do not necessarily change a displayed review date.

Independence and commercial influence

Advertising may fund the site, but advertisers do not approve articles, choose calculator assumptions, or receive favourable treatment in editorial content. An advertisement is not a recommendation. Sponsored or affiliate material will be clearly labelled if it is introduced.

Corrections and feedback

We welcome specific, evidence-based corrections. See our corrections policy or contact MoneyToolkit.