the love of nursing

It’s her passion for others’ wellbeing that keeps Anne at work. But she hasn’t lost sight of the need to look after her own future.

Anne has been nursing for 47 years. She loves what she does and has no immediate plans for retirement. “I, like many nurses, work because I love what I do. I’m in a field that absolutely captivates me,” says Anne.

Anne’s professional foundation is in acute medical nursing. She works at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she specialises in elective surgeries. “With elective patients, the process is that I speak to them on the phone the day before. Then I’ll meet them in the morning ahead of their surgery and start them through the surgical process. I get to use my communication skills to walk with them on their journey,” says Anne.

Making her own journey a success

“I’m a practical person in many ways, but less so with my finances,” says Anne. “I’ve had various jobs in nursing and a number of super funds. Then one day I got a wake-up call where I realised that I needed to sort out my super and get everything into one fund. HESTA was a fund that many of my hospital colleagues were happy with, so I consolidated my funds into HESTA.”

One of the main reasons Anne chose to make HESTA her sole fund was due to its focus on females in senior leadership positions: in fact, half of the HESTA executive management team are women. “Having females in leadership is important to me,” says Anne.

Anne has been putting away extra money every fortnight to boost her super. “To a degree, money doesn’t interest me that much. But as I get older I have to be more aware of my need to be responsible for my own finances, so I’ve also tried to put some extra away,” says Anne.

Retirement is a prospect for Anne, but she’s in no hurry, “At some point in time I will retire. I can’t see that happening in the next five years. As long as I’m mobile and I have my wits about me, I can still give professionally.”