Fletcher from the farm wins ASFA Youth Super Competition

A hard-working, 15 year old from a farming family in Grenfell, NSW has won the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) 2017 Youth Week Competition with a fun and fetching video entry, espousing the rewards of hard work and opting for $1,000 for his super fund, rather than $300 cash.

ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said more than 60 entries had been received in the inaugural competition, which was designed to get young Australians aged 15–25 thinking about the benefits of superannuation and the magic of compound interest.

“We were delighted at the response and it was hard to choose from the range of entries, many of which provided quite detailed analysis, however Fletcher Taylor’s video entry was irresistible,” he said.

“Fletcher was enthusiastic and engaging and there was immediate agreement from the judges that he deserved the prize. He is clearly quite a character and it’s great to see such a young advocate of saving into super.”

Fletcher is a boarder in Year 10 at Kinross Wolaroi School in Orange, NSW and has been working since an early age in various jobs including at the local butcher shop in Grenfell, as well as on the family farm, Glenalla. His family farms wheat, canola, hay, barley and sheep.

He opened his super account as early as possible in his working life and has been watching his balance grow with great interest.

His mum Mandy said he loves saving and when alerted to the ASFA competition, jumped straight into preparing his entry.

“He is a hard worker and loves to help out, driving the tractor or in the shearing shed,” she said. “He loves all sorts of farm work.”

In his entry, Fletcher says:

“I am born and bred on a farm and I know hard work can be very rewarding….to give my super savings a kick along, I prefer a $1,000 deposit to invest for my retirement years. I’m already working on it.”

Dr Fahy said superannuation was still the best bet in town for saving for retirement.

“Young people inherently know super is a good thing,” he said. “The challenge is to get every Australian engaged with their super and realising they can have a hands on approach to their long term retirement savings.”

ASFA has created a video reflecting youth views on super and encouraging young people to embrace the benefits of super.

For further information, please contact:

Teresa Mullan, Media Manager, 0451 949 300.

About ASFA

ASFA is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral and non-party political, national organisation. ASFA’s mission is to continuously improve the superannuation system so people can live in retirement with increasing prosperity. We focus on the issues that affect the entire superannuation system and represent more than 90 per cent of the 14.8 million Australians with superannuation.