Looking at your spending in a new light could make a substantial difference to your financial future. The 50/20/30 budget rule works for one main reason – it’s easy. You’re new to budgeting. You know how much money you make and have a rough idea of how much you spend. But you’re not really sure about what, exactly, you’re spending it on, or if your spending patterns will benefit you in the long run. The …
Spending money in a cashless world How the move to electronic payments could be making it easier to spend…and what to do about it. It’s Thursday morning and almost the end of the working week. You’re walking to the train station and you realise you’ve forgotten to top up your public transport card. No matter…a few clicks later and you’ve transferred $50 over. At the station you grab a takeaway flat white before the train …
Our Top 10 lifestyle costs Six out of the top 10 categories relate to just two things. Can you guess what they are, and could you be cutting back? As a nation, Aussies aged 18 and over spent approximately $145 billion on lifestyle costs over a 12-month period, with the average spend per person around $7,800, according to research1. While clothing and footwear took out the number one spot by a country mile on the …
9 money mistakes to avoid in retirement How to keep your finances on track once you leave the workforce When you’ve worked hard all your life to build up your nest egg, the last thing you want to do is fritter it away too quickly. In this article, we look at the common money mistakes people in retirement make, and how you can do your best to avoid them. 1. Not taking control of your …
Finding your disappearing dollars Do you earn a decent salary but still find it hard to live within your means or save? If your strategy is to save what is left in your bank account at the end of the month, you probably won’t have any savings at all. Invariably there is nothing left at the end of the month, so this is not really a strategy. We talk to two CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals about …
Five ways money can wreck your relationship Although women are often portrayed in television and film as “shopaholics” – for example spending thousands of dollars on shoes – in reality it is more likely for women in relationships to be the conservatives and the men the risk takers, says Kane Jiang, managing director at AA Financial Planning in Perth. “From a financial planner’s perspective,” Jiang says that couples often argue due to their “different risk …
Could you go it alone? Making sure a man is not your financial plan Divorce is the leading cause of financial hardship for women1. So it’s important to take control of your money and plan for a time when you may become financially independent. Spending priorities According to a 2014 survey of over 2,000 women conducted by RMIT, 59% have experienced financial hardship as a result of divorce2 and 80% chose providing for their family as …
How are Australia’s states and territories tracking? An end to the fall in mining investment is helping to stabilise growth in Australia’s mining states and territories (WA, Qld and NT to a lesser extent) while a slowing housing sector is starting to act as a drag on NSW and Vic. Tas is benefitting from a lift in population growth and housing “refugee” demand from Sydney and Melbourne. Growth in SA and the ACT has been …
5 lessons from a cash-only week Will paying cash change my spending habits? What I learned when I could only pay with cash for a week. Firstly, an admission. I never – ever – have cash. I’m that annoying friend who doesn’t have cash to cover her share when spitting bills, that colleague who borrows money to chip into the birthday collection, the parent who gives her kids an IOU for their pocket money. It’s …
Australian men are spending more on looking good Research shows men aren’t far behind women when it comes to what they fork out on appearances. Once upon a time, male grooming was generally limited to a shave and few slaps of aftershave, whereas today, bathroom sinks around Australia are accumulating more tubes, tubs and pump packs, with a growing number of blokes keen to put their ‘best face’ forward. If it’s an all-too-familiar scenario at …
