Customer story: how the power of choice helped Deborah grow her super

When beauty salon proprietor, Deborah, was looking to grow her super, she wanted to be proactive about how her money should be invested.  

Deborah had worked in the beauty industry for about 10 years, formerly owning a lash studio prior to her current skin rejuvenation salon, which offers fusion plasma technology aimed at regenerating collagen growth within the skin. 

She had previously worked in the finance industry in a range of businesses in retail banking, mortgage broking and online stockbroking, and had knowledge of investment markets and different investment types.   

Deborah looked at the performance of the default competitor fund in which her super was invested and wasn’t happy. 

She looked for a fund that offered a wider range of high-growth options.  

“I think working in different industries and being with different funds, I was finding my super wasn’t really growing well enough for me,” she told CFS. “I really wanted to find a fund that had various options with higher growth. 

“What really drew me to CFS was the choices and the amount of fund options that you had with the company.”

Deborah had also previously invested some of her super in a self-managed super fund (SMSF). 

She found while it gave her the ability to invest in property, winding up the SMSF was difficult.

“The SMSF was both good and bad,” Deborah says. “The good thing is you can make your own decisions. You can choose what you want to be invested in – in my case it was predominantly property.  

“I ended up closing that off. It was difficult to get out of,” she says. 

Deborah’s goal in joining CFS was to grow and build her super balance. “I really wanted to accelerate my fund,” she says.   

She opted to do this by investing her money in a range of investment options, including some high-growth options, while also spreading her risk.  

After 20 years in the finance industry, she understood the importance of diversifying by investing in a range of investment types.   

“I did choose some options which were more stable, and I chose some higher risk options,” she says. “There was an index fund. There was an Asia-Pacific fund and, you know, physical gold. And then maybe an Australian fund.” 

“Sometimes high growth comes with high risk. And I was very aware of that. So I tried to spread the risk a little bit within the fund.”  

After switching her super to CFS, Deborah says she was happy with the overall performance.

“It’s improved,” she says. “I was very happy.”   

“Of course, you can’t guarantee that that’s going to continue to happen. Funds will go up and down.”  

She has also been making additional voluntary contributions to her super.   

She likes having the flexibility of being able to change options within her super if she wants to.  

“I really like the flexibility that CFS offers.”  

"I use the app to check the balances," she says, understanding that while balances may change due to short-term market movements, over time markets tend to grow. "Balances sometimes change frequently." 

After joining CFS, Deborah persuaded her two sons to invest their super with CFS.  

“I really realise the importance of teaching the younger generation about money and super and saving,” she says.   

“I’ve still got 15-20 years to build my fund but I don’t have as long as my sons. Good habits need to start young.”  

She has actively taught her family about how additional voluntary contributions can compound in super to grow your money over time.   

Aged 17 and 25, both Deborah’s sons are already making additional contributions to their super, and seeing their money grow.  

With Australian property prices so high, Deborah’s family is also making use of the First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme to save for a house deposit in super as opposed to putting it in a high-interest savings account where capital gains are likely to be taxed at a higher rate.

“My oldest son is 25,” she says. “He’s saving for a house deposit in super.  

“He changed over from his industry fund to CFS. He’s really happy.  

“I think they both realise from an early age, how important super is. So I think they're going to be very good in their retirement.”