Meet Nambawan Super’s Voluntary Contributions champion Delen Bagita.
Delen who is from Woodlark Island in the Milne Bay Province laughs in happy relief when recollecting her Voluntary Contributions journey with Nambawan Super.
“I was really fortunate that everyone I knew was into saving through Voluntary Contributions when I joined the Milne Bay Provincial Works Supervision Unit. That is what prompted me to sign up at the minimum amount of ‘K10 a week’.
As the Executive Officer to Milne Bay’s newly established National Procurement Commission for the Milne Bay Provincial Committee, Delen is no stranger to seeing how ‘a little effort now could mean a lot more later’.
On a daily basis, Delen assists the Milne Bay Provincial Committee with the small steps required to ultimately see large-scale projects of up to K5 million to fruition.
“I just started off with Voluntary Contributions like others, with little effort. When I received the form, I completed it and passed it on to our Payroll and Human Resource Section. Then, I just forgot about it.”
“I couldn’t believe it when I checked my balance three years later. I saw the difference my Voluntary Contributions had made to my retirement balance.”
“I never thought I could reach that amount through Voluntary Contributions with Nambawan Super.”
I felt relieved about my future, when I saw my super balance and it encouraged me to further increase my Voluntary Contributions further to K25 a week.”
“I now want to double my Voluntary Contributions amount to achieve a bigger savings balance faster.”
Apart from your employer’s contribution towards your retirement savings, every employee in Papua New Guinea has the benefit of 6% of their own salary being deducted each fortnight for retirement.
You can get much closer to achieving your retirement dreams by increasing your employee contributions of 6% by up to a maximum of 15% of your pay. This is known as Voluntary Contribution.
Delen, who now regularly checks her super balance and statements, says excitedly: “I want to challenge myself to see how far I can go. I have my personal targets to achieve, if God allows me to do so.”
Delen is thankful that her office environment nurtured positive savings behaviours amongst staff. “At the office, we are passionate about each other’s financial wellbeing.”
“My former Boss, Mr Hau’ofa Sailasa often encouraged us to save through trusted organisations like Nambawan Super. He told us not to entrap ourselves in fast money schemes or take short cuts to retirement.”
“I am thinking if I had been serious in the initial stages and just started off with K50 a week, I would have had more savings in my account by now. Imagine what my balance would be now. Some of my work mates are even saving up to K100 in Voluntary Contributions per week.”
“I want to leave my Nambawan Super savings for my retirement. My mother too is a Nambawan Super member and now rolling over her savings to a Retirement Savings Account, which will earn her more money.”
“A good friend once told me, don’t just work without a purpose or a plan – you need to have your own personal goals – if you have a set number of years that you want to work, set your target and work towards it.”
Delen smiles as she confidently describes her Voluntary Contributions as her permanent savings. “The temptation to spend unnecessarily will always come up. That is why Voluntary Contributions is there. It is not ad hoc saving – that would be distracting for me. Voluntary Contribution covers my savings for tomorrow, while we do our spending for our daily needs.”
Read more in our November edition of Nambawan SuperTok newsletter.
