From the category archives:

Finance & Money

4 Money Boxes Pocket Money System For Kids

GUEST ARTICLE: “At a loss to begin showing your kids how to handle money? I was too which lead me to this easy system of four money boxes. By dividing their pocket money, my kids understand how to apply their income to multiple goals. Our four money boxes are: invest, save, crazy and give.” As [...]

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Goal Based Savings Account – Interview with SmartyPig Co-Founder Jon Gaskell

Anyone who knows me should be aware that I’m a fan of encouraging people to save money: both for keeping a good sized stash of money untouched for emergency expenses and for a specific goals like buying a car. This article is based on an interview with Smartypig co-founder Jon Gaskell. Originally launched in the [...]

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Australian Tax Tips: Are Gifts Taxable?

EDITOR: For some reason the most popular questions asked in the comments of my Australian Personal Tax FAQ are in relation to gifts and whether or not they are taxable. As I am not knowledgeable about this area I asked my accountant friend Andrew from Aussie Tax Time to provide some general guidance on the [...]

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Is Property Investment Really As Safe As Houses?

I just watched a fascinating series on ABC TV based on the book “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World” by Professor Niall Ferguson. Episode 5 of the “Ascent of Money” series focuses on the housing/property market and explains why the idea of your family home as a pension/insurance policy is really [...]

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Basic Tax Tips Anyone Can Follow: Save Money, Pay Less Tax

Tax Tips For Everyone Make sure you prepay membership fees for unions & professional associations and make any charitable donations just before the end of the financial year (June 30) so you can claim a tax deduction. Non-business taxpayers (such as employees or rental property owners) are entitled to an immediate deduction for depreciating assets [...]

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Donate to Charity = Lower Tax Bill and Help Your Favourite Cause

Looking for a quick and easy way to reduce your tax bill? Australian tax payers can reduce the amount of tax they owe by giving a gift of more than $2 to an approved charity (deductible gift recipient). There is no upper limit on the amount of donations you can claim a tax deduction for [...]

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Is First Home Buyers Grant Really A Sellers Grant?

I recently interviewed Financial Literacy advisor and News Ltd columnist Scott Pape about the Federal Government’s First Home Buyers Grant (FHBG) My discussion with Scott centred around this question: “is the FHBG really a Sellers Grant setting up buyers for a fall, for the temporary benefit of propping up house prices and providing work for [...]

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10 Tips to Avoid Credit Card Fraud

These are tough financial times we are living in. People are struggling and so are the banks. Regrettably, this has seen an increase in credit card fraud and these numbers are growing year on year with no sign of a slow down. It is time to take credit card fraud seriously, because criminal gangs certainly [...]

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Super Co Contributions Give Guaranteed 150% Return

If you earn less than $31,920 and pay $1000 cash to your Australian super fund before the last week of June 2010 than the federal government will deposit an extra $1500 in your super account For several years the government contributed up to $1.50 for every dollar of personal contributions, up to a maximum of [...]

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No Foreign Currency Bank Fees Travelling – 28 Degrees Mastercard (review)

This article explains why I chose the 28 Degrees Mastercard (previously known as Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard) for use as travel money while on holidays and to buy things from overseas websites eg: books, dvds etc. I was making a budget for traveling on holiday to New Zealand when I realised there was a big [...]

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Find Your Lost Super Fund $$ (Superannuation)

Unfortunately many Australians lose track of their superannuation accounts because they don’t treat them as seriously as bank savings. When they change their name, change their job and their address, they forget to tell the super fund that there has been a change of circumstances and unfortunately that means that there are a lot of [...]

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The Barefoot Investor: 5 Steps to Financial Freedom (Book Review)

Need to buy a present for a young person who owns every single consumer item known to mankind? Give them a hand to break the cycle of spending money like there’s no tomorrow and putting it all on their credit card by buying them “The Barefoot Investor: 5 Steps to Financial Freedom” by Scott Pape [...]

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Simple Savings.com.au Reviewed – Will it Help Australians Save Money?

I joined as a paid member of www.simplesavings.com.au a year ago to see if I could find any useful money savings tips on it. In this review I go through the pros and cons of paying to be a www.simplesavings.com.au member The premise of www.simplesavings.com.au is that most people pay too much money for things [...]

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Invest Your Money With Long Term Perspective

GUEST ARTICLE: Listen to the financial pundits or BBQ banter and you would be forgiven for thinking we were caught mid-chapter of Chicken Little. credit: sonofgroucho Doomsayers are publicising their scary visions for the global economic future and lay people are confused and made fearful by the Nostradamus-like vague prophecies of complete financial meltdown. What [...]

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View Your Credit File-Record for FREE

So, you can’t pay that $5,000 on your credit card. Or you’ve missed your mortgage payment for the third time in three months. How long will it haunt your credit record? The official answer is five years – seven if you’re a bankrupt. Most people worry about these black marks hanging around forever. The truth [...]

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