Australian Catholic Superannuation and Retirement Fund (ACSRF) was once again proud to support the Australian Catholic Youth Festival as an exhibitor.
The festival provides the Fund with a unique opportunity to meet with young people that share our values and empower them with information and tips to manage their finances and at the same time having some fun.
One of the most important factors with superannuation is starting early, as this allows your account balance to grow over time due to the effect of compound interest. It is challenging to meet with members that are at, or close to retirement age, that haven’t actively taken steps to plan for their retirement. It is also critical to ensure that you are invested in the most appropriate investment option(s) and have appropriate insurance cover that meets your lifestyle and needs. As such, at Australian Catholic Superannuation, we do many targeted activities for our younger members to educate them about their superannuation and providing them with some simple steps that can have substantial impacts on their retirement outcomes. At this year’s festival, we decided to run two activities for delegates.
The first was a short online quiz whereby we asked some general superannuation questions targeted at a younger demographic. The types of questions asked included:
- What is the minimum employer superannuation contribution rate?
- Can you take your super with you when changing jobs?
- What ways can you add to your superannuation?
- Can I choose how my superannuation is invested?
- If I’m under 18 years old and earn $450 per month, how many hours per week do I need to work for my employer to pay me super?
To assist with the exercise, we provided delegates with an electronic flyer accessible via their smart phone that provided them with further information in relation to superannuation.
It is a misconception that younger people aren’t aware or engaged with their superannuation. The survey results were extremely positive with the average score being 91 per cent from more than 400 entries received and the majority of discussions held were informed, relevant and thought provoking.
For the second activity, we provided a balloon wall whereby delegates could take a photo in front of the wall and then share the photo online with the tag #TheACSspirit. We provided some prizes to those delegates whose photos best highlighted the conference theme of “Listen to what the Spirit is saying”.
The creativity of the entries and energy of the delegates was amazing as they enjoyed dressing up and taking some fun photos together.
Our theme for this year’s festival centred on sustainability and the environment. The quiz was all online and the booth was paper free. We provided coffee keep cups, metal straws and reusable lunch bags as prizes for our two activities, all of which resonated with the delegates as evidenced through their desire and passion to win these items.
Throughout the three days, we were lucky enough to meet and discuss all things superannuation and finance with hundreds of young people, many of whom wanted to understand how Australian Catholic Superannuation was different to other funds in the market.
Delegates were attending the conference to deepen their relationship with Jesus and to find out that there is an award-winning superannuation fund available to them that shares their values, focuses on members’ best interests and is not-for-profit, was really well received.
Post the event in December, the Fund has since sent two emails to more than 400 delegates who met with us and sought further information from the Fund.
Overwhelmingly, the open rates were 61 per cent and 40 per cent, which again proves the interest younger people have with superannuation and ensuring they optimise their retirement outcomes, albeit retirement is a long way off for the majority of those we met with.
The Australian Catholic Youth Festival has once again provided the Fund with an ideal opportunity to meet with young Catholic Australians to discuss their superannuation and finances more broadly.
It enables us the opportunity to have hundreds of discussions whereby we educate delegates, answer their many questions asked and importantly share their faith in a fun filled atmosphere.
We would like to congratulate the organisers, volunteers and everyone involved on such a well-run conference whereby it was apparent that everyone in attendance enjoyed and benefitted from the experience.
If you would like to take control of your finances and take steps to improve your retirement outcomes, please contact our Fund office on 1300 658 776. We’re here to help.
From pages 16 to 17 Issue 23: 2019 Australian Catholic Youth Festival: ‘Rebuild of Church’ of The Record Magazine