Everyone in Canberra suddenly has an opinion about your super — Noel Whittaker's September newsletter explains why the boring, automatic version is worth defending.
Superannuation is under attack from every direction at the moment. The Prime Minister has described the nation's $4.5 trillion super pool as a "national asset", others want people to be able to pull money out early, and there is constant pressure to open super up for house deposits. In the September issue of Noel News, Noel Whittaker steps back from the noise and makes the calm case for the system as it was designed: money put aside automatically from every pay, professionally managed, and protected until retirement so compound interest gets decades to do its work.
The numbers make the point better than any slogan. Noel's example is a 40-year-old earning $55,000 a year with $100,000 already in super. With nothing more than the compulsory 12% super guarantee going in, they could reach roughly $1.3 million by age 65 (assuming 3% wage growth and 8% average fund returns) — about $700,000 in today's dollars once inflation is allowed for. Very few people would save that sum by choice; it happens because the money is invested before it can be spent.
If you're between 40 and 60, that's the real takeaway. The quiet deduction on your payslip is probably building more wealth than anything else you own, and every scheme that cracks super open early is asking you to trade away the most powerful years of compounding. Noel also points to housing options, such as the First Home Super Saver Scheme, that help first home buyers without raiding retirement savings.
People adapt their spending to whatever lands in their bank account. They don't miss the 12% going into super any more than they miss the tax withheld from their wages.
Read the full article: Noel News, September 2026 — Superannuation under attack — Noel Whittaker, Noel News, September 2026.
Want to make the most of the super you're quietly building? Super Made Simple (7th Edition) by Noel Whittaker explains contributions, caps, investment options and the move to tax-free retirement income in plain English — updated for the current financial year. Buy direct from the author for $16.95, delivered instantly in PDF and EPUB.