Financial concerns start early
Ashley Daykin, legal administration assistant, Daykin Family Law
Is this your first job?
I had casual hospitality jobs through high school but this is my first job since leaving school.
I am working while studying a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at QUT.
Did you learn much about finance while at school?
At school we didn’t really learn anything about superannuation or tax. I knew somewhat what super was because when I had casual jobs I had them open super accounts for me, but I never had a second thought about it because it wasn’t in my daily life.
Even now, I think so many people around the same age as myself (19) have no idea or have a vague idea but not to the point where they really care about it.
What made you decide to think about your finances?
My mum works in super so she has encouraged me to look into it. Young people need to be taught about super and keep on top of it.
Finding out what accounts you have is really easy or you can open a new account and give them authority to roll them all into one.
When I did that I got an email and was expecting to see maybe $10 in my super account but there was over $400 in there.
Do you think financial literacy is becoming more important for young people?
I think people now have more serious jobs when they are younger.
Because I am studying law, there are many people I know who are working in the legal industry already to get a competitive edge. They want professional jobs while at uni whereas when my parents were young they would be at uni and work casual jobs and that was fine.