Jennifer lives her dream retirement

Jennifer Brew has spent the past 20 years travelling Australia and enjoying her retirement.

Since the moment she emigrated to Australia as an intrepid 19-year-old, Jennifer Brew has lived a life of adventure.

Together with her husband Peter, she has travelled the globe, and all corners of Australia, and today, over 60 years later, has lost none of her fearless curiosity.

“I’ve always loved exploring, and my husband and I have had a caravan for 50 odd years, it was a wonderful way for us to travel Australia with our two daughters as they were growing up.”

Beyond the beaten track, the family also took to the water, and for a number of years enjoyed six week voyages through the Whitsundays in their 25-foot sailing boat.

Retired now for 20 years, Jennifer and Peter planned for an early retirement with travel a priority, and they’ve been living that dream for the past two decades.

“We have friends who didn’t make it to retirement, and so we were very conscious of the fact that we wanted to enjoy this stage of our life,” Jennifer reflects.

Supporting savings, and supporting farmers

Having deposited their savings with Rabobank for the past eight years, Jennifers says she was initially attracted to the bank’s interest rates, and soon discovered a greater purpose behind saving with Rabobank.

“Since my husband and I have been retired, we look for better returns on our investments so that we can keep up the lifestyle we enjoy, and when it came time for us to reinvest, Rabobank was offering good rates, so we took advantage of the offer and joined.”

“It proved a great choice as we feel we are now helping the people out west who at times do it tough, so for us, it is win/win situation – we get a good deal while helping our outback friends!”

“We travel a lot through rural and regional areas in our caravan, we love being in the country, supporting rural towns and meeting the locals, so the fact that Rabobank deposits support Australian farmers was very appealing.”

“We always feel good when we visit a rural community, knowing that we’re doing a little bit to help our farmers, and we enjoy keeping our eye out for a Rabobank branch – we’ve spotted them in Longreach , Townsville, and Roma, which was fun!”

Jennifer feels fortunate to be able to continue her life of adventure thanks to a considered retirement plan.

Jennifer, 80, and Peter, 82, hold a Rabobank 31-day saver account, and regularly use a Rabobank term deposit.

“The term deposit is great as we know how much we have coming in each month, which helps us power up our pension.”

“We find saving with Rabobank so easy, we’ve never had an issue, and I also love jumping on the website and reading about what Rabo’s farming clients are doing, and what the RaboTruck is up to, I love feeling like I’m a part of it.”

“Saving with Rabobank makes me feel closer to our Aussie farmers, and to know that we’re supporting them is a great feeling, because at the end of the day they feed and clothe us so they’re very important contributors to society.”

In 2019 the couple had the opportunity to meet Rabo farmers first-hand and learn more about the Australian agri industry at the Rabobank Farm2Fork Summit held on Cockatoo Island in Sydney.

The event brought together leading producers and industry trailblazers from around the globe, exploring thought-provoking ideas and innovative solutions essential for the vitality and sustainability of the food and agri sector.

“I actually entered and won a RaboSaver competition to attend the event, which was very exciting, and we heard farmers speak on all sorts of things – from how too much rain impacts Aussie bananas, to coffee bean production in South America,” she smiles. “Rabobank’s global network was so eye-opening.”

Indulging a passion for travel

Saving with Rabobank, Jennifer is grateful to have the financial means to have continued her adventurous ways throughout retirement, and reflecting on the past 20 years of travel this English native has a firm  favourite.

 “When we retired Peter and I travelled to England where our daughter was living, we bought a motorhome and travelled across the UK and Europe for 12 months, it was a wonderful time.”

Jennifer taking in some of Australia's stunning scenery.

Their first stint across Australia consisted of 10 months towing their trusty caravan, with a 15 month journey following.

“We’ve been everywhere from the Cape York to the Kimberley, down to Tasmania and throughout western Queensland, but there’s still a few places I’d like to get back to,” she smiles, citing Pyramid Rock near Townsville as one.  

With fuel prices challenging the Brisbane couple’s travel plans, their next trip will be closer to home, and she suggests a three or four week trip through the Scenic Rim may be on the cards.

Jennifer relives her travel, and connects with other like-minded travellers, through volunteer organisation U3A Brisbane, who meet monthly for an ‘Armchair Travel’ catch up.

“We enjoy seeing each other’s travel slideshows and hearing travel stories, and I love presenting to the group, choosing music to accompany the slideshow, and preparing the commentary – and afterwards I have a USB documenting our trip that I can look back at any time, which I often do.”

“Peter and I are enjoying a wonderful retirement, which is the result of long-term planning and saving, and it makes us very happy knowing we’re supporting farmers in the meantime.”

Jennifer enjoys visiting outback Australia, and is proud to save with a bank that supports Aussie farmers. 

Rabobank Australia Limited ABN 50 001 621 129 AFSL 234 700 is the issuer of Rabobank Online Savings and related deposit products. Any advice provided is of a general nature only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the relevant disclosure documents and terms and conditions for these financial products, including the PDS for the Notice Saver Account (all available at www.rabobank.com.au) along with your personal objectives, financial situation and needs before making any financial decisions. Note: Target Market Determinations for products issued by Rabobank Australia Limited are available at www.rabobank.com.au/tmds