Real stories
Antonio’s story
Last year was a pretty big year for me - I turned thirty-five and I married Elise. It feels different having some one to care for aside from myself and we were thinking about having a family so I wanted to get the finances sorted.
Karen's story
I suppose you could say we inherited our adviser. Her name's Adrienne. Dad had been close with her and she had been helping dad since he retired 20 years ago. So when Dad died last year we had quite a lot to do with her.
Paul's story
I'm pretty young and have a long way to go until I have to worry about retirement or estate planning or any of that sort of thing so I'd never really thought about seeing a financial adviser until a few years ago when I turned 32. That was when super fund choice came in and I figured since I'm going to be investing at least 9% of my salary into it for the next thirty odd years, I'd better choose the right fund.
Michael's story
On my 30th birthday my Dad and I went on a fishing trip. I got the surprise of my life when he pulled out a cheque for $10,000 cash and gave it to me. I was stoked - until he told me there were two conditions. He said I had to invest it, and I had to get professional advice on how to do it.
Rachel’s story
I was really glad we had a financial adviser last year when Jonathon got laid off at work. He'd been working for an airline for ten years but they just couldn't keep their heads above water with no one travelling.
John's story
We first went to see an adviser ten years ago. I was 45 then and I guess it had started to dawn on me that we really needed to start thinking about getting our act together financially. My parents were still alive then and, although they were getting by, they really didn't have enough to live comfortably or do the things they wanted to. We were able to help them out a bit, but Sharon and I made a pact that we would never be a burden on our own kids.
Joseph's story
My parents have been seeing their adviser Peter for over twenty years now and they've always tried to encourage me to go see him to try and sort out my debt levels. But I've never been bothered by it as I'm only 47 and I own a very successful architectural firm and figure it's only natural to have high levels of debt - after all you need to spend money to make money.
Susie’s story
I set-up my own boutique twenty years ago and have been contributing to superannuation since it came in 1992. Anyway I'm a bit of a control freak so needless to say I want to make the decisions on how I invest my superannuation. After all it's my third biggest asset after my business and my apartment and worth a pretty penny by now.
Joe and Marie's story
Joe was really looking forward to retiring when he turned 65 and so was I. With three kids to raise and all his long hours at work, we've spent precious little time together these past twenty years. At last we'd be able to spend some quality time together. Things don't always turn out the way you plan of course. At 60, Joe had a nasty stroke. Thank God we had disability insurance because he was off work for about 4 months.
Rebecca’s story
Ian and I have both been married before so we started off our life together a little behind the eight ball. So now even though we're both over 60, we've still got about $100,000 to pay off on our mortgage.
Joel’s story
Christine and I have worked hard all our lives saving for retirement - Christine as a part-time receptionist and me as an IT manager. Anyway last year during a company restructure, I took the opportunity to ask for a redundancy and succeeded in getting myself a healthy package.
Louise’s story
I've never been the type to worry about the future too much but when I turned 55 last year, it dawned on me that that this is the age people start retiring. Well I love my job and I'm certainly not ready to stop working yet but it'd be great to be in a position to retire in the next ten years. So I figured it was time to get my act together.
Joan and Frank’s story
Long gone are the days when leaving a Will was a straight forward business. Michelle and I both have children from previous marriages, so according to our financial adviser Adam, if we didn't build a proper family succession plan, it could spell trouble. On top of everything else Michelle's son Jim has a bit of a gambling problem and my daughter is going through a nasty divorce.
Barbara's story
I'm 76 now, but we began seeing our financial adviser David about 20 years ago when Jack and I started thinking about retirement. I am embarrassed to say it never really crossed our minds before that stage but as retirement loomed closer and closer, we realised we needed professional help to get ourselves on track. David was great on that front, saving us in taxes and helping take advantage of the changes to pensions and social security. He also helped us organise our estate so we can continue to help our children out after we've both gone.
Gordan’s story
I'm 68 years old and retired from the bank about three years ago after 40 years of service. I originally had $320,000 in my allocated pension account but the global financial crises wiped more than 20% from my balance, leaving me with about $250,000.
Ted's story
Pam and I are in our 70s now and both in pretty good health - a bit of luck and a bit of good management. I wish I could say the same about our two kids. One's going through a nasty divorce and the other is battling heart disease. We've had the grandchildren here off and on this past year and we've also had to dip into our retirement savings to help them both out. We don't mind of course, but it's just as well we had a little bit extra put aside for this sort of thing.