Saving for a better retirement

Weekender

By STELLA BITAANASTASIA Kawi is originally from Boikin in East Sepik but is now based in Kokopo and employed by Naqia as the regional Plant protection officer. She is in charge of
the New Guinea Islands region and she claims sheer hard work and commitment as the reasons for her successful
career.
Anastasia was first employed with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in 1992. In 2002, she was employed by the National Agriculture Reserch Institute (Nari) and was instrumental
in many research projects the department undertook.
In 2014, she joined Naqia, the National Agriculture Qurantine and Inspection Authority, as the regional plant protection officer.
Her career has helped her in many ways, one of which is the monetary value which she earns every fortnight.
Although she enjoys her work, she always has at the back of her mind her life
in retirement.
Given the fact that she will retire one day, she has planned the remaining years of her career before exit and has maximized every opportunity to ensure that she has enough savings for her
retirement.
Anastasia has seen the benefit of saving within the superannuation industry and with her current job, she has literally seen her funds grow as compared to a couple of savings she has with other
financial institutions.
She had a desire to increase her super contributions but didn’t know how until she heard about voluntary contribution.
“Voluntary contributions is an excellent product and in such a short span of time my savings have tremendously escalated and it’s a very good feeling.”
“I was always wondering how I could maximise my super savings. It is so evident, the extra savings on top of the mandatory contributions has impacted my total balance and I am always
boasting of the fact that saving within the superannuation industry is safe and secure and the returns are awesome,”
said Anastasia.
Her decision to increase her savings with Nambawan Super was to simply boost her contributions. Not that she was getting paid a lot but because she
wanted to save.
With Nambawan Super, her contributions don’t attract any fees or charges. The contributions increase by the interest rate that Nambawan Super
declares from the earnings that they generate on her investment.
Anastasia has no regrets doing voluntary contributions with Nambawan Super Limited. She says she will further increase her savings after she completes
paying off outstanding loans.
“I started deducting via voluntary Contribution to increase my housing eligibility which I hope to use to complete my new home currently in its construction stages and more importantly
increase my retirement savings,”she says.
“I want to seize the opportunity on the returns paid back to the members given the fact that the interests paid to members of Nambawan Super are way better compared to any other financial
institution in PNG.”
Given the results she’s experiencing, Anastasia has been encouraging her staff, especially those who have recently joined the fund, to also use the
voluntary contribution facility.
Nambawan Super acting chief executive Vere Arava says: “Deductions made under the Nambawan Super voluntary
contribution product are worth the sacrifice.
“Anastasia is an example. Her decision to increase her savings with Nambawan Super was to simply boost her contributions for life in retirement”
“With Nambawan Super’s voluntary contribution product your savings are bound to grow as your super contributions grow in a tax free environment.”
Nambawan Super manages the superannuation funds of K6 billion for over 165,000 members from both the private and public sectors.

  • The writer is senior publication and
    media officer at Nambawan Super.