meet Nicole

Saving money at every opportunity has paved the way for Nicole to retire on her terms at age 60.

As well as being a HESTA member, Nicole has worked at HESTA for the past 23 years, making her the super fund’s longest-serving employee.

She has just wrapped up her career as CEO Debby Blakey’s executive assistant, after beginning her time at HESTA as personal assistant to the marketing manager in 2001.

It’s fair to say super has changed a lot since Nicole started at HESTA.  

Employees weren’t able to select their own super funds until 2005, and the superannuation guarantee was just 8%, rather than the 12% it is now.

For Nicole’s first job, she didn’t have super at all. For her second, she was given a cheque when she resigned which she could do whatever she wanted with. 

A young Nicole put that money towards a house, which made the best financial sense for her at the time, but it meant that she missed out on 10 years of super contributions and compounding interest.

As soon as she started her third job, Nicole made up for lost time by contributing 5% of her salary to her super, which she has continued to this day. She also maximised her super contributions once her two daughters finished school. 

“My husband and I have both been maximising our contributions for probably the last 10 years or so,” Nicole says.

“As your kids get older, your expenses start going down so you can point that money in other directions. 

“That has really, really helped us.”

Thanks to these smart super decisions, Nicole is feeling confident about her finances as she heads into retirement.

Together with her husband David, she received comprehensive financial advice from one of HESTA’s partners, AIA Australia. 

“Going to the financial planner, David and I learnt a lot,” Nicole says. 

“It was good that we could confirm we were on the right track, but he also explained more things to us and gave us more ideas about what was possible.”

As a result of this advice, Nicole is setting up an income stream so she can access a regular income from her super, while her money stays invested.
 

Nicole with her family

In retirement, Nicole is planning to make good use of the swimming pool at her new gym, as well as improving her golf game. She’s also got a couple of trips on the horizon, including Hamilton Island and Europe later this year.

But most of all, she’s looking forward to being around for her young grandsons, Tyson and Cody. 

“I’ve been working four days a week for the past year or so to look after Tyson on a Friday and I thought it would be nice to be around a bit more while my daughter is on maternity leave with her second,” Nicole says.

“I don’t want to make too many other commitments. When you’ve worked for a long time, you’re always on a schedule. 

“Retirement to me, it’s just not having too much of a schedule and doing things that you want to do that you’ve never had a lot of time to do in the past.” 

This information is of a general nature. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or specific needs so you should look at your own financial position and requirements before making a decision. You may wish to consult an adviser when doing this.