Nicole Haddow

A quiet, reflective moment in May 2022 would be the beginning of the end of my life as I’d known it. It had been exactly a year since I’d packed up my stuff and moved into a historic, dilapidated home. The long-held dream of owning a freestanding cottage had been my motivation.

Making it a reality on a single income meant moving 90 minutes from Melbourne to the regional town of Ballarat, where I knew no one. The weatherboard, built circa 1910, was in desperate need of love. Sure, I’d never renovated before, but how hard could it be?

This extract was published in The Age & SMH’s Sunday Life magazine. Read it here.

Buy Couple Goals here

Companies are facing increasing consumer and shareholder pressure to ensure the investments they make are ethical. But how do they define what’s ethical?

Broadly, ethical investment is on the rise. That’s not just because Australians are becoming more aware of the impact their investments can have, but also because responsible or ethical investment is really starting to pay. Sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially conscious businesses are often making essential contributions to our future. Through superannuation, banking and shares, people are actively putting their funds into such ventures.

This Ethical Investor extract was published in the Guardian on February 21, 2022. Read it here.

It was a perfect summer day and I was thrilled to be surrounded by my closest friends. The Instagram pictures revealed happy, tanned girls living the dream. I was wearing Gucci sunglasses and a designer bikini. I hadn’t dared to get my high-maintenance haircut wet.

It was all a carefully constructed lie. Behind my wide, champagne-induced grin there was a mind utterly consumed with the previous decade’s indulgent lifestyle, which had rendered me completely broke. I’d racked up a stupid amount of debt attempting to pose as an adult.

This extract from Smashed Avocado appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 25, 2019. Read it here.

Legislation allowing for super splitting between couples was introduced by the Howard government in January 2006. Division of employer super payments is an option to all spouses, regardless of gender or whether they have children.

One spouse can split super with the other when one is working full-time and the other part-time, or one person is self-employed, completing further study or caring for an ill family member. It can also be done in hindsight, after periods of parental leave have occurred. But it remains underutilised.

This article was published in the Australian Financial Review. Read the full piece here.

It started as a niggle over the way our living room was styled. I’d placed my preferred blanket on the couch, in favour of the one my husband loves. We’d just had our floorboards polished and I’d put the room back together as I wanted, without stopping to consider the fact that this was our shared space, not just mine.

The argument that followed became the catalyst for us to address the bigger financial issues buried under the blanket

This article was published in the Australian Financial Review. Read the full piece here.
 

I had long believed the story passed down from the baby boomers to my millennial generation: that if I worked hard, one day I would be able to purchase a home.

Perhaps, if I was lucky, that dwelling would be accompanied by a backyard, with dense turf and a clothesline that caught the afternoon sun for long enough to gently air dry my garments.

But as I aged, and worked, aged a little more and then worked even harder, it became clear that home ownership was a privilege increasingly reserved only for a fortunate few.

On a single income, it was unlikely I'd ever secure a freestanding home if I remained in Melbourne, where I'd lived most of my life.

This article was published by SBS Australia. Read it here.

“My friend's children run barefoot on the clover-green lawn at a festival in a riverside town. People are sprawled on picnic rugs, listening to a traditional Irish band. Soon we'll head home, have some wine, think about cooking dinner. It's Sunday afternoon and for the first time in a long time, I'm present, not distracted by the terror of facing another Monday.

On the horizon of my conscience, thick black plumes of smoke hang in the calm. A few weeks into my indefinite career break, I'm still having flashbacks to the burning bridges I'd crossed and left behind when I resigned from my job and booked a one-way ticket to Ireland….”

This feature first appeared in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life on June 23, 2019. Read the full article here.

“By the time Gen Z is reporting to millennial management in large numbers, flexible work is likely to be far more acceptable. Participating in the gig economy – taking on temporary roles and contracting for shorter periods – is the new normal for teenage and 20-something Gen Z Australians, which has contributed to a move away from the full-time work week…”

This content was first published on The Iconic’s Edition on June 4, 2019.

“Collingwood is always an in-demand suburb but when four properties in one street are on the market at the same time, prospective buyers will inevitably ask why.

That’s the situation in Bendigo Street. The state government has listed four homes purchased by the previous government for the proposed East West Link, which has now been cancelled…”

This article was first published on Domain on April 30, 2019.

The celebrity-obsessed show for ‘smart women who like dumb stuff’ created by former Mamamia writers Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald is spinning a new chapter in pop culture

This feature was first published on the Guardian Australia on March 20, 2019. Read the story here.

“A job in the sex industry may not be what your career counsellor suggested at school. But with changes in technology and a shift in societal attitudes, this is a huge growth area with many opportunities. Countless paths not only provide fulfilling work, but also offer an innovative way to advocate for women, inclusion and innovation…”

This article was published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine on November 17, 2018. Read the full article.

“It’s tough for my generation to get into the market, but it’s not impossible if you’re prepared to make a few sacrifices. Here’s how I did it…”

This article was published on Domain on June 11, 2015. Read the full story here.

Tearing my possessions out of boxes and placing them in a home I could call my own was among the most exciting and personally rewarding days of my life.

It wasn't until I'd closed the door behind the removalists and family members who'd been recruited to help that the reality of sole habitation descended…

This article was first published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine on July 14, 2015. Read the full story here.

What do you look for in a workplace? We used to be happy with friendly colleagues and a light-filled office, but today’s top organisations are offering employees so much more. From meditation pods and inspirational speakers to virtual desks and flexible hours, employers are doing a lot to attract the right people.

The best companies are vying to secure the best and brightest, and once they’ve got them, they work to hold on to them. Having happy staff who stay long-term bolsters a company’s competitive advantage because it costs time and money to replace people, turnover is disruptive to workplace culture, and it’s fantastic for business when workers are committed, happy and hungry to succeed…

This article was published on Deakin University’s this. on April 6, 2016. Read the full story here.

The Australian dream was simple when our parents were young. They’d get jobs in a handful of sectors, buy a humble brick home in the suburbs for less than $100,000 and have a couple of kids. Four television channels and board games provided entertainment. On weekends friends were invited around for barbeques. To communicate with people outside the home people used telephones that were connected to the wall.

Our parents certainly couldn’t have predicted that their millennial children – born between the early 1980s and mid 1990s – would grow up to be digital natives whose own aspirations would be entirely different. After spending super chilled summers running around under the sprinkler in the backyard, we must come to terms with the fact that a bit of lawn and enough room for a Hills Hoist may no longer be a given when we have families of our own...

This article was published on Deakin University’s this. on August 3, 2015, read the full piece here.

The best house party of my 20s featured a guest list of 300 people, broken windows and gatecrashers. It culminated in lonely hearts wrapping arms around each other as blankets at the end of a booze-fuelled marathon of debauchery.

Ah, young love.

But it was only love in the dark hours. Lovers who'd been swept up in the heat of a drunken, passionate moment would untangle themselves and go in search of a Bloody Mary. The light of a new day brought killer hangovers. Love, lust and true feelings were dusted away with breakfast crumbs…

This article was first published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine. on November 3, 2013. Read the full article here.

Few family rituals are as vivid in my memory as story time. Gathered in one parent's clutches – me on one side, my brother on the other, and the smallest wriggling in Mum or Dad's lap – it was a fleeting moment of calm in the witching-hour madness.

Like most kids, fairy tales featured heavily on my childhood reading list. Cinderella, Snow White and all the other princesses were also chick-lit leading ladies. These days, though, they have quite a bit to answer for…

This article was first published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine. Read the full story here.

We technically get half an hour for lunch, but there's never really time,'' said the woman I was replacing in a new job. I didn't think much of her statement then, but it was the first crack in what had always been a fairly healthy relationship with food...

This article was published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine on March 24, 2013. Read the full story here.

My mum was a superwoman. She had three kids, Rosie, Craig and Ralph, from her first marriage. I was the first she had with my dad, Pat. Then she had my sister Renee, now 46, and brother Daniel, now 45. Mum cooked, made clothes and cut our hair, which has created some embarrassing childhood photos. She didn't pay me too much attention because there were other kids in the family - all of us were seeking acknowledgement...

This interview first appeared in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Sunday Life magazine on September 15, 2013. Read the full article here.