She had $900,000 in the bank and a comfortable retirement beckoning, yet 65-year-old Auckland secondary school history teacher Wendy Mason was worried sick.
"I have heard all those horror stories where people win big in Lotto and blow it all and I didn't want to end up like that," she says.
"My husband and I know nothing about the share market; we are not very adventurous when it comes to things like that, but I knew we had to do something with the money, it would be so easy to fritter it all away."
Mason and her husband Dennis (not their real names) have worked hard all their lives and when they inherited a large six-figure sum of money following the death of her 90-year-old mother in May, the couple began thinking about what to do with it.
"We had between $800,000 and $900,000 to deal with," she says. "We wanted all the usual things; we want to travel and need a new roof for our house but I could see it easily disappearing if we weren't careful - I was quite worried."
So they turned to ASB for help with investment advice: "We were already ASB customers and had always been happy with their service, so it seemed like the obvious choice.
"We had three interviews with them and decided to place two-thirds of the money in a long-term managed portfolio aimed at growing the investment," she says. "The rest we have left in term deposits, the idea being we can access the cash when we want it."
Neither Mason nor her husband (he works as a production manager and has just turned 65) are planning to retire immediately.
"I'm healthy and I enjoy my job and the students I teach," she says. "I intend to keep working for at least another couple of years and will probably do relief teaching for a while after that."
One of the highlights of her job is taking students on history trips overseas - recent visits have been to Europe, China and Vietnam - and her school is planning another in 2019, a trip Mason thinks will signal her swansong as a fulltime teacher.
Mason says most of the money she inherited came from the sale of her mother's house.
"We also had a smallish inheritance from my husband's mother which we put in the bank, but this one was much larger," she says. "We had a rental property we sold in 2011 which cleared our own mortgage and I kind of always knew the money from my mother was coming as I have no brothers or sisters.
"Every time mum tried to talk to me about it I changed the subject because to me that meant she wouldn't be around anymore."
The Masons have two sons and are grandparents to two boys and a girl: "Our sons have a much better mindset for retirement planning than our generation," she says. "They expect they will need to look after themselves because when they reach our age there may be no government superannuation or it may not be available until a much later age."
ASB's general manager for wealth, Jonathan Beale, says many people are facing a situation like the Masons - and he believes the number will increase as the population ages.
(SuperSeniors, an organisation run through the Ministry of Social Development, says over 1.2 million Kiwis will be aged 65 and over by 2036, a 77 per cent increase on the 711,200 at that age in 2016. It says the over 65s are expected to grow at a rate 10.5 times faster than the under 14s).
"The amount of money in KiwiSaver alone for those 65 and over is in the billions, so what is going to be done with that money," says Beale.
"Our job is not to start off talking to customers about investment concepts and profiles," he says. "It's to get to know them and their plans first; then, if we can help, we explain and educate so they know what growth and income assets are - and understand the risks and benefits.
"We have then earned the right to provide our advice.
"Our job is to make their life better and to give them peace of mind. But if frittering the money away is what they want to do that's okay, it's their money as long as they are aware of the consequences."
Beale says people seeking help fall into three main categories: "Some have received a 'surprise' windfall like an inheritance, others are retiring, selling their homes and moving out of Auckland while there are those with money in term deposits who are looking to do something different given the low interest rates," he says.
"Traditionally we have worked with people aged 55 and over, but in the last couple of years we have seen an increase in successful younger people too."
Beale says ASB has a team of 40 wealth managers operating through their branches and directly with customers and businesses.
To see how ASB can help you visit asb.co.nz/wealth
ASB Wealth Managers' disclosure statements are available on request and free of charge.
