One of the best things about employment in Australia is superannuation. Under current laws, employers must pay 9.5% of your salary into an approved fund that is set aside for your retirement.

But with the age at which you can get the pension rising from 65 to 67 over the next few years, many people having larger mortgages than ever before, and life expectancy increasing, the amount of money needed to live comfortably after leaving the full-time workforce is a challenging question. So how much money do you actually need at retirement?

When you first start out in the workforce, superannuation doesn't seem particularly important. It's something that only affects you at retirement age - which isn't something the average twenty-something likes to think about. Fortunately, preparing for this far-off future doesn't take much time or wherewithal - and the benefits can be significant.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: The value of Ripple explodes by 3000 per cent, 2.3 million vehicles in Australia receive airbag recall warning, Australian government closes superannuation loophole.

I'm 21 and I want to open a superannuation fund that will give me the best benefits and security, rather than letting each of my employers start new super funds for me. What should I be looking for - no fees or more interest? Which company has the best superannuation scheme?

If it's relatively early in your career, planning for retirement may not seem important. You have bills to pay after all. If you're having trouble starting, work on contributing just 1% more each year.

Think that paying higher super fees means someone will be paying more attention to how your retirement money is invested? Think again.

Most of us think of saving for retirement as a chore. It's a goal that can seem incredibly stressful to reach. If you're saving for retirement, it might help to stop defining it as a deadline.

Hey Lifehacker, I've recently come into a decent amount of money but I'm not really sure what to do with it? Fortunately I'm debt-free and have no dependants. How should I go about investing it for the future?

The Abbott government's deal with the Palmer United Party to freeze the minimum superannuation contribution rate at 9.5% until 2021 will not only cost retirees, it will also see future governments forced to bear the brunt of an increased reliance on the Age Pension. There has been considerable discussion of the impacts of the deal on both the wages of workers and their retirement savings. However, asserted effects have been either speculative (in the case of wages) or limited to a few hypothetical examples (in the case of retirement savings).

The repeal of the mining tax has brought with it changes to how superannuation will be increased over the next seven years. How will that affect your super?

There's no shortage of advice for ways to retire comfortably, yet actually setting yourself up for it can be a different story. Believe it or not, building wealth to retire financially comfortable is actually simpler than we think. The challenge doesn't lie in the knowledge - but instead translating that knowledge into results that are meaningful.

Hey guys, I have a tricky ethical question for you. I'm going over my superannuation account, and looking into investment options. My fund offers a socially responsible investment (SRI) option, and a high-growth option. Looking at the trends over the last 10 years, the SRI has kept more or less on par with a balanced investment.

Australians are increasingly relying on superannuation for their retirement income, but despite more than 20 years of compulsory super, many people are not retiring with enough.

My superannuation plan is currently set to a high-growth plan, and it has performed quite well this year. What are the signs I should look out for to judge if it is a good time to switch to a safer investment plan and safeguard myself from loss?

"Why should a 20-something bother thinking about their retirement?" This was my mentality up to the age of 23. I wanted to live in the 'now' and being 60 was simply unfathomable. Anyway, what if I get hit by a bus next year? Then I would have been squirreling away extra money for nothing. My employer already makes contributions to my retirement, so that will be fine.

Hey Lifehacker, Is there any way to access your superannuation before retirement? Would I be able to do that if I had a family emergency or debts to pay off or got the sack and needed to support myself?

Some people have serious financial problems, but that's not you, right?. You've got a regular savings account, have cleaned up your high-interest debts, have all your super funds consolidated, and all-around are in pretty good financial shape. So where do you go from here? What's the next step for those of us who know the basics but want to make our money work harder?

Do you ever picture what you'll look like or what your life will be like in retirement? If not, you might want to start now. Visualising your future self, research suggests, is one way to prevent under-saving.

Making money through investment follows a simple rule: the bigger the potential risk, the greater the potential reward. How do you strike a balance between growing your long-term savings quickly and not losing everything?