Half A Million Reasons to Look Forward to Retirement

Ultimate Life Changer lottery winner, Louise, missed the call that would change her life.

“I was just at home, sitting on the lounge. I had the volume turned down on the phone and I completely forgot about it. But then I noticed some missed calls, so I thought I better see who it is,” she said.

Intrigued about who it might be, Louise returned the call, only to find out that it was the Endeavour Foundation, ringing to deliver the incredible news that she had won $500,000 in gold bullion.

In between tears of joy, Louise checked online to make sure she really had won.

“I told my oldest son straight away, who was very excited, and then we decided to tell Dad after work.”

“We knew it would be a bit of a distraction at work so we thought we would surprise him when he came home.”

When Louise’s husband, Michael, walked through the door that afternoon, Louise decided to stretch the reveal out a little bit longer.

“I tried to trick him to draw it out as long as I could for my own enjoyment!” she said laughing.

When Michael was finally told that they were now half a million dollars richer, he was over the moon.

“He’s very happy because of me not working for such a long time,” Louise said.

“My youngest son has autism and an intellectual disability, so I’m not able to work.

“It’s almost like we’ve been recouped for everything I haven’t been able to earn.”

Given the choice of keeping the gold bullion or cashing it in, Louise and her husband decided to go for the cash – but they’re not going on a spending spree.

Far from it.

“My husband is the most sensible person you’ve ever met. I like to spend but I’m not silly,” Louise said.

“We want to put some into holidays but leave a lot of it to help us in our retirement – I think we’ll do better in retirement than we do now!” she laughed.

Louise and her husband have been long-time supporters of the Endeavour Foundation, having bought their first tickets over a decade ago.

“I love the Sunshine Coast hinterland and we were up there on a holiday and we knew that the prize home was up there, so we went to have a look.

“We’d never bought tickets before and it was so lovely, so we bought one or two tickets.

“We kept buying tickets and then at some point later, we changed to be a Star Supporter because it’s such a good cause.

“That sort of thing is so important to me because of my son. He’s not as severely disabled as some people are, but the same things still apply.

“You worry what’s going to happen with their living arrangements etcetera, so I think it’s a great charity,” Louise said.

While being Star Supporters has also ensured that they’re in the draw for every lottery without having to remember to buy tickets, there’s another reason why Louise has chosen this option.

“I like the idea of being a Star Supporter because the charity can rely on that money coming in,” she said.

Louise is now looking forward to a family holiday to the Sunshine Coast and is starting to dream about overseas trips once international travel is back on the cards.

“We were planning a trip to the UK, then the pandemic came up, so now we may go to New Zealand or something like that,” Louise said.

“And Uluru, that’s where I want to go.” she added.

And with half a million in the bank, she won’t have to save a penny to do it.

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.