Our annual Rich List is out this month in The AFR Magazine, so we spoke to five Rich Listers about what made them successful.
Works: Founder, Nutrimetics Australia (retired). Former chancellor Bond University.
Lives: Sydney.
Education: St Clare's College, Waverley. Left school aged 15 with an Intermediate Certificate.
Life philosophy: If you expect to contribute more to life than you'll receive, you'll never be disappointed. Self-reliance is key and I've lived by the adage "if it is meant to be, it is up to me". It's important to handle disappointment well.
Strength: Prioritising, because anything you make a priority will actually get done. I'm also a fast walker, even around the house. People who see me in the street always describe me as "head down, on a mission".
Weakness: Not drinking enough water. I drink up to six cups of tea with milk a day. I'm trying to drink more water. I'm also an insomniac. During the years I was travelling, I would take a prescription sleeping tablet on the third night following two consecutive sleepless nights. In retirement, I'm careful to only take one a week; I have no intention of becoming dependent.
One thing you attribute your success to: My husband Bill. We started a business together in 1957 and have been married since 1961. We're a great team. Another thing would be living with my grandmother and aunt from the age of two until I returned to my mother, father and siblings aged seven. My mother had six children and I was in the middle. I was sent to my grandmother because I was the most expendable, or maybe the most outspoken. I adored my grandmother and had all her focus.
When I was 12 I wanted to be: An opera singer or lawyer – or both. In my late teens, I developed as a coloratura soprano. But I was no Joan Sutherland, so feared I might spend the rest of my life in the chorus.
Biggest influence on your career: Deciding to establish Nutrimetics in Australia, to enable women to be financially self-reliant and independent, to combine work and family.
First great buy: Two dresses from David Jones for 17 shillings and six pence each, in a 1951 sale. I alternated wearing them each day for the next year; I was hellbent on saving.
What money means to you: Being able to give our four children a lovely home to grow up in and a great education. Bill and I both left school at 15, so it meant a lot to us to be able to give our kids and grandkids a university education. I also enjoy buying nice things now and then. I don't have 3000 pairs of shoes, like another Imelda but I might have had nearly 100 pairs at the height of my career.
Who do you most admire: I met the late Nelson Mandela in Sydney in 2000 before the Olympic Games. When he was finally released [in 1990] after 27 years as a political prisoner, he didn't allow his resentment and frustration to define him. He focused on the needs and wellbeing of his people and country. His humanity of spirit is incomparable.
Charity you most believe in: There are so many, especially our essential services – Rural Fire Service, Flying Doctors – and hospitals like St Vincent's Private.
Best place to unwind: Hunter Valley Gardens (pictured above), over 60 acres, which Bill built with landscape architects. It's the largest tourism garden in the southern hemisphere. Our children and 13 grandkids have a family house there to use. They think it's very amusing that Bill and I have a three-bedroom apartment over a shop at the entrance to the gardens.
The Financial Review Rich List is published on May 26, in The Australian Financial Review Magazine and online at afr.com. For more than three decades, the BRW Rich List has been the definitive ranking of Australia's top wealth creators. After moving to the AFR Magazine three years ago, it now will appear as the Financial Review Rich List.
