Many years ago there was a wise old financial adviser who worked in country South Australia. Each year in May and June, he would make the rounds of his clients collecting their super contribution cheques.
His clients were mainly farmers or small business operators, dependent on the seasons and commodity prices. Many were asset rich but income poor, so the cheques were generally made out for $3,000, the maximum that could be claimed as a tax deduction at the time.
Times were tough on the land and many clients tried to talk down the the level of contribution. Often the adviser was greeted with “Sorry but I haven’t got the cash but I suppose I could run to $1,000”.
These were different times. Super was largely discretionary and many people considered it a low priority. Advisers had to work hard to get the contributions through the door.
Undeterred, our wise old adviser had the perfect rejoiner. His simple but effective reply was; “Well, if that is all you are going to contribute to super then you won’t be retired for very long!”.
A cheeky reply, but entirely correct. The art of saving money relies on two factors, mazimizing the amount contributed and maximizing the investment time frame. As for the question, “how much is enough?”, as one client recently put to me “in relation to money, you can never have too much”.
