Soldier’s ‘sell-by date’ is a new beginning
After 35 years working internationally in the finance industry Sarah-Jane Wagg certainly knows what she is talking about. Still, she prefers to leave her retirement savings with 10X because, she says, when you are too close to something you tend to move with the noise, “and the one thing that is really important with long-term investing is not to move with the noise”.
When it comes to retirement saving, Sarah-Jane adds: “You must make a plan and stick to it!”
Sarah-Jane, who describes herself as 54 years young, took early retirement last year and is settled in the Eastern Cape after a career that saw her working in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and the UK.
Some will say that this lady who has just become a grandmother for the first time is “so lucky” but, as it often does, her ‘luck’ involved lots of hard work and sticking to her plan.
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Sarah-Jane, who spent the last 15 years of her career in c-suite positions, says she is thoroughly enjoying the lifestyle change “after retirement”. Though the mother-of-three who is clearly not afraid of hard graft adds: “Early retirement has been an amazing opportunity where I have been able to go off and start two new businesses.”
She has retrained as a yogi and opened a yoga studio, Kenton Yoga, and a wellness retreat Kuda Lari. She was inspired, she says to encourage people like herself – both men and women, in the high-stress industries, particularly finance – “about the importance of looking after yourself, your body, your health and general wellness”.
Sarah-Jane adds that her definition of wellness encompasses financial health, including saving and preparing for retirement.
Saving for retirement is very important, according to Sarah-Jane, “because you want to be able to look forward to retirement, and hopefully have at least a similar lifestyle to what you had prior to retirement”.
Other key aspects of retirement saving success for Sarah-Jane are the long-term performance of the fund you choose, as well as keeping costs down. These two factors – good long-term performance and low fees – are what she likes most about 10X Investments.
“To me, it is a game of fees and performance,” she says. “When you are paying lower fees you have more of your money going back into your pension fund and growing for your retirement.”
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She first became a client at 10X when she joined Macquarie, the financial services group, and joined the corporate retirement savings fund, which 10X manages. “Being in the financial industry,” she says, “we advised pension funds so I was aware of 10X.” Also, “I really liked the people I dealt with at 10X”.
On taking early retirement, Sarah-Jane consolidated the savings she had with two other funds, which “had multiple years of poor performance”, into her 10X portfolio.
The decision to move her money was not taken lightly because, she says, “I do believe you should never just jump around from one fund to another because markets – as we are seeing now with the coronavirus – are incredibly cyclical so you have got to choose what you are comfortable with and look at the long-term performance”.
The views expressed in this interview are Sarah-Jane’s opinion, based on her personal experience, and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. Sarah-Jane Wagg was not paid for this interview although 10X compensated her for time spent and expenses incurred on the day. 10X Investments is an authorised FSP.
