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When my son Brad was born,
my husband and I decided that I would stop work and stay at home
to look after him because it made financial sense.
And when he started at primary school I decided to get back into the workforce,
but unfortunately at this time, my husband and I went through a separation,
and we ended up getting divorced. This time was pretty tough,
but I managed to get a part-time job at a bank,
which provided enough money to get by.
Then when Brad got to high school, I switched to full-time employment,
still with the bank, and I got promoted through the system
and I worked there until I reached the age of 55,
where it was, well it was kind of expected of me to leave.
At this point in my life I started to feel quite anxious about how I was going to manage
because I had a morgage to pay, Brad had started at university,
and I needed assistance too.
Well, I had entered the workforce later in life
and my superannuation savings combined with a pension
was just not enough to meet my financial commitments.
So I met with a financial advisor
and it was clear that I needed to keep working
and build up my retirement savings for later on.
So I ended up renting out my house
because the rent was covering the morgage payments,
and I bought a caravan, and started traveling around Australia
picking fruit and vegetables at various orchards where I could get work
to meet my living expenses.
I don't know how long I'm going to keep doing this.
And I still feel anxious about my future.
But it was really important to me to see Brad through university
so he would have greater opportunities.
And I hope one day to be able to live in my house again.