Australian fashion people tell us exactly how much money is in their superannuation

“Being in my thirties, I definitely feel worried that my super isn’t where it should be.”

Not too long ago, Fashion Journal published an article sharing exactly how much is in the superannuation accounts of FJ readers. The results were varied, interesting and published anonymously. It made us think harder about the fashion industry and those within it, many of whom are freelancers.

Interested to hear how others navigate the world? Head to our Life section.

For some, the importance of a sturdy super fund was hammered in by the older generation from teenagehood. For others, it’s too far in the financial future to really be front of mind. Maybe you self-manage your retirement fund or have withdrawn money in a time of need. To find out more about how finances work for freelancers and fashion people, we asked our creative friends to share how much money is in their superannuation accounts.

37, he/him, stylist

I have $37,000 in my super account. I’m self-employed.

29, she/her, tailor

$18,200. I live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to contribute more than absolutely necessary to the ATO. Once I started my own company six years ago, I started to pay off my HECS each week as we implemented payroll four years ago. To date, I have paid off $32,o00, however, due to the indexation my debt is now higher than it was before I started to pay it off.

I have $129,000 to go. I went to the Whitehouse Institute of Design on a partial scholarship after completing my VET subjects there and because it is a private university, I had FEE-HELP instead of HECS (FEE-HELP is essentially the equivalent of HECS-HELP for students studying in a full-fee paying place). When signing FEE-HELP you have to pay 25 per cent interest on the total amount in order to loan and study.

As an 18-year-old, signing away my future obviously, I did not understand the repercussions of the future debt nor did I read the fine print to understand that it would increase on top of the 25 per cent interest I already signed to pay up for. If you had told me at 18, I still would have signed because it was/is my dream, but it makes running a small, independently owned, debt-free business hard.

I started the business with $8,000 and due to my FEE-HELP debt, I am not able to take a business or personal loan. Luckily we don’t need to but with the trying times… and the cost of living [crisis], it is a scary thought for the future. Thank fuck I have ended up in the industry after I spent years studying.

Fucking hats off and a kiss on the mouth to Dr Monique Ryan (teal independent, Member for Kooyong) for her work on alleviating the financial pressures with HECS/FEE-HELP debts.

31, she/her, designer

I have $40,000 in my super account.

27, she/her, fashion writer and editor

My super balance is currently sitting at $30,539. I’m with Telstra Super and transparently, I understand very little about how super works. My financial literacy isn’t great and I know I’m in a position to change that, but it just feels so overwhelming. I don’t know where to start.

I think my super balance is reflective of where I’m at – I’ve only been in a steady full-time role for a few years, and prior to that it was a lot of odd jobs/freelance bits. Oh and when I first started doing freelance work, I didn’t realise I had to pay myself super. That didn’t help!

30, she/her, freelance writer and editor

$26,136. I moved to Australia from New Zealand seven years ago, so the money I accrued in superannuation in my early twenties is in New Zealand, not Australia. It would be around $36,000 to $40,000 when all pooled together I think. I’m also now part-time at my salaried job and do freelance, so I’ve started to put super aside from each invoice I’m paid at a rate of 7 per cent.

Being in my thirties, I definitely feel worried that my super isn’t where it should be. I think I’d feel less fear about getting older etc if it was a healthier number, but I’m also aware in the broader scheme of things it’s not as bad as it could be. I’m just glad I have something somewhat substantial in there.

23, she/her, partnerships in fashion media

I have $14,000 in there. I only started working in Australia when I was 20 but have been pretty much full-time ever since, so I know this figure is significantly higher than some of my peers my age. Although we’re constantly told how important super is, as a young person in a cost-of-living crisis, the thought of locking money away for a retirement that may never happen terrifies me. Rather than salary-sacrificing, most of my money is invested into other streams so I’m able to actually access it before I’m 65.

25, she/her, writer and content creator

I have $44,900. I have the same super account I started with when I was a casual retail worker. I’ve been working for a decade now, and this number reflects a mixture of full-time work, casual work and personal contributions. I try to inject as much superannuation as I can each year before tax time.

31, she/her hairdressing apprentice

There’s $9,000 in my super account. Too much studying and too little working, combined with apprentice wages and ADHD career changes.