There’s something both heartwarming and frustrating about watching someone discover the power of compound interest at 31. I’ve been following a discussion thread where a nurse shared her excitement about hitting $100,000 in superannuation - and honestly, her enthusiasm is infectious. She’s clearly proud of herself, and she should be. But it also highlights a massive gap in our education system that frankly pisses me off.

The fact that this woman had to educate herself about super through Reddit discussions and stumbled upon the magic of switching to high-growth options “after educating myself” speaks volumes about how we’re failing young Australians. She mentioned wishing she’d known about high-growth super options when she was 20 - and that hit me right in the gut. How many people are sitting there with their super in conservative options, slowly watching inflation eat away at their retirement dreams, simply because nobody ever explained the basics?

Reading through an online discussion about reaching the $100k milestone in superannuation brought back vivid memories of hitting that target myself a few years back. The excitement and sense of achievement expressed by the original poster - a 32-year-old celebrating this financial milestone - resonated deeply with many others, myself included.

The psychological impact of reaching six figures in your retirement savings is fascinating. Sure, mathematically speaking, there’s no real difference between $99,800 and $100,000, but our brains are wired to appreciate these round-number milestones. It’s like watching your car’s odometer tick over to 100,000 kilometers - somehow more satisfying than 99,999.