Hands on at work and with investments

Steve Blakie, a relief Crew Leader for Loading Metal Ships, has busy and varied days at NZAS while preparing for retirement. Steve’s day could be anything from operating a digger or a dozer in the Alumina store loading Petroleum Coke to assembling pipes for Liquid Pitch or Heavy Fuel discharge to site clean-up and operating all sorts of heavy equipment. When it comes to Steve’s retirement savings he has a finger on the pulse at all times.

Having joined the Fund over 30 years ago, I am a firm supporter of long-term savings. I believe we should all have a comfortable retirement and for me I am looking forward to spending time with family, especially grandkids, fishing, playing golf, darts and bowls. For me achieving the best lifestyle that we are comfortable with, means starting early and saving hard.

Starting my savings journey early on in my career was a big help in reaching my financial retirement goals. My approach is to just make the most of what I have and to invest wisely.

Putting a bit away each year, regularly, does add up and helps in the long term.

In addition to saving with the NZAS Retirement Fund, I believe in investing in property for a bit of a passive income.

Over the years, my retirement savings have gone up and down as I invested in riskier options. My savings plan was going along pretty good until the market crashed quite a few years ago and I lost a lot of what I saved, which took me about 8 years to claw back.

I’ve changed investment options a few times over the years and as I’ve been getting closer to retirement, I’ve been reducing the risk I take with my investment funds. Any short-term losses worry me, so I invest more conservatively now because of my circumstances and I am a bit apprehensive.

As I am so close to retirement, I worry about the market volatility and what impact COVID-19, cost of living, inflation and changes to the property market will have on my retirement.

I don’t like being stuck on a computer all day, but I find the information I can access about the Fund and my balance is easy to source and I often check updates on my phone, email newsletters, and the website. Talking to people has also helped me better understand financial markets and factors impacting my balance.

I hope I am on track to achieving my retirement savings goals, but I do believe you will never have enough money no matter how much you earn or save. Therefore, you just have to make the most of what you have and I look forward to having the freedom to travel around the world one day after my wife and I retire.