Money for Nothing E-Book

Justine Davies

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 247

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Do you want to manage your cashflow better and get rid of financial stress? Do you put finance products such as health insurance and mortgages in the too-hard basket? Money for Nothing is a call to action to wise up, get smart and get your finances in order. Complete this 12-week financial fitness program and discover how to make substantial savings running into the thousands! Learn how to: * get better deals, cut fees and other unwanted charges from your daily spend, and redirect your money where it' most important to you * understand your financial profile and how to get the best value for money when choosing your essential finance products * shop around using the latest research from CANSTAR and other comparison sites. By breaking down the jargon and busting the fine print on everything from mortgages, car loans, personal loans and health insurance to car insurance, credit cards, superannuation, tax and much more, Justine Davies helps you make good choices on the key financial products and services in your life.

Leseprobe

Money For Nothing: How To Land The Best Deals On Your Insurances, Cards, Super, Tax And More

Table of Contents

Week 1: Get your stuff together

Step 1: do a balance sheet

Step 2: read through a budget

Step 3: do your own budget

What you’ll need

Log on to an online budget

Go through your statements

Add any other costs

Double check everything

Week 2: Fine-tune your car insurance

Step 1: types of car insurance

Compulsory third party (CTP)

Third-party property

Third-party fire and theft

Comprehensive

In summary

Step 2: types of driver

Step 3: decide what you want

Agreed or market value?

What’s an excess?

Are there discounts?

Who can be insured?

What’s included?

What ‘extras’ are included?

Step 4: reduce the cost

House your car safely

Take a test!

Add safety features

Keep your driving record clean

Limit who can drive your car

Limit the plastic surgery!

Compare quotes

Step 5: shop around

Week 3: Health check your health insurance

Step 1: types of cover

Hospital cover

Ancillary cover

Packages

Step 2: study the market

Step 3: decide what’s important

How much hospital cover do you need?

What is your family history?

How much excess can you afford to pay?

Can you afford a co-payment?

Can you afford a gap fee?

Which hospitals are covered?

Do you need extras?

Step 4: read your policy document

Step 5: make a shortlist

Step 6: make some calls

Some more tips

Week 4: Supersize your super

Step 1: choose a fund

Competitive fees

Healthy long-term returns

Step 2: choose a suitable investment

Step 3: find your super

Consolidate your accounts

Find your lost superannuation

Step 4: tidy up loose ends

Nominate a beneficiary

Binding death benefit nomination

Insurance within superannuation

Step 5: decide how much to pay

Salary sacrificing

Government co-contribution

Week 5: Indulge in a savings frenzy!

Step 1: cut your power bills

Switch things off at the wall

Turn off your lights

Adjust your thermostat

Wash in cold water

Replace appliances wisely

Compare energy providers

Go green

Join the 10% Challenge

Step 2: reduce your water usage

Turn your thermostat down

Use efficient appliances

Other basics

Step 3: review your telecommunications

Sensible usage

For mobiles

For landlines

For the internet

Step 4: cut your grocery bill

Write a weekly menu

Write a shopping list

Shop at ALDI

Shop online

Take your own bags

Shop once per week

Step 5: choose some extras

Week 6: Attack your credit cards!

Step 1: pay off your debt

Incorporate your debts

Consolidate your debts

Transfer your balances

Step 2: change your spending habits

Look at your budget

Pay the essentials first

Leave your card at home

Use internet banking

Step 3: choose the right card

Free days

No free days

No frills

Standard features

Rewards/loyalty programs

Premium features

Week 7: Renovate your mortgage

Step 1: decide on a loan type

Variable-rate loan

Fixed-rate loan

Revolving line of credit

Step 2: negotiate

Check your credit rating

Get your paperwork together

Should you use a broker?

What deals are available?

Step 3: make your loan work for you ...

Increase your repayments

Make lump-sum payments

Change your payment frequency

Don’t change your repayment

Week 8: Personal insurance

Step 1: types of personal insurance

Life insurance

Total and permanent disability insurance (TPD)

Trauma insurance

Income protection

Step 2: getting personal insurance

Step 3: the right cover for you

Life insurance

Total and permanent disability insurance

Trauma insurance

Income protection

Step 4: beware of traps

Non-disclosure

Not reading the policy document

Not getting professional advice

Week 9: Where there’s a will…

Step 1: enduring power of attorney

Think about who to nominate

How to do it

Step 2: making a will

What is it?

Who will be executor?

Who should be guardian?

Solicitor or DIY?

Step 3: advance health directive

Step 4: what doesn’t go through your will

Some jointly held assets

Superannuation proceeds

Life insurance policy proceeds

Trust interest

Step 5: weighing up a pre-nup

Step 6: resources

Week 10: More insurance

Step 1: home and contents insurance

Types of home insurance

How much should you insure for?

Other conditions to be aware of

How to avoid underinsurance

Step 2: travel insurance

Types of travel insurance

Possible traps

Make it cheaper

Step 3: pet insurance

Types of cover

Questions to ask

How to shop around

Week 11: Tax stuff

Step 1: a quick overview

What isn’t taxed?

Step 2: common deductions

Work-related deductions

Investment-related deductions

Other deductions

Some tax offsets

Step 3: practise good tax habits

Keep your receipts

Always ask for a receipt

Pay your bills

Understand your marginal tax rate

Seek advice

Step 4: other tips and traps

Keep the Family Assistance Office updated

Keep your records for five years

A quick tax deduction

Don’t fall for ‘tax-effective’ scams!

Week 12: Spending smart

Step 1: be fee free

Abolish regular fees

Abolish ad hoc fees

Step 2: rewards points — yes or no?

Is it really a bargain?

Is it really worthwhile?

Is there a surcharge?

Would you buy it there regardless?

Step 3: payment frequency

Discount for annual payments

Increase in payment frequency

Step 4: shopping online

Step 5: extra study

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Cash

Bonds

Property

Shares

Appendix E

Justine Davies

First published in 2012 by Wrightbooks

an imprint of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in Palatino 11/13

© Justine Davies 2012

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: Davies, Justine.

Title: Money for nothing: how to land the best deals on your insurances, loans, cards, super, tax and more /Justine Davies.

ISBN: 9780730377627 (pbk.)

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: Finance, Personal.

Financial literacy.

Dewey Number: 332.024

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by saso content & design pty ltd

Cover image: © istockphoto.com/imgendesign

Pages 100, 109: Charts from the Reserve Bank of Australia, Chart Pack, Household Sector, released 3 August 2011, from www.rba.gov.au

Pages 211–219: Reproduced by permission of The Treasury www.treasury.gov.au

Australian Taxation Office material © Australian Taxation Office. The ATO material included in this publication was current at the time of publishing. Readers should refer to the ATO website www.ato.gov.au for up-to-date ATO information

The CANSTAR material included in this publication was current at the time of publishing. Readers should refer to CANSTAR’s website www.canstar.com.au for up-to-date information.

Printed in China by Printplus Limited

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Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Foreword

No-one is born a financial guru. We all come into the world minus the money gene and struggle to learn financial skills as we grow up. I can recall in the not-too-distant past the odd relative or two dismissing acquaintances as either ‘good with money’ or not. To them it was that simple. Or was it? It seemed to me that those deemed not good with money were condemned to a life of reckless spending, completely oblivious to such sensibilities as providing for family and — heaven forbid — saving for a rainy day. However, knowledge is indeed power and no-one is above learning sound financial skills.

This is brought home to me every day in my work at CANSTAR. It constantly surprises me how much people genuinely do not know about the financial products they use. That’s because financial products have morphed into highly complex creatures that demand attention or else seek revenge. This usually comes in the form of unnecessary fees, inflated interest rates or any other legal financial torture that can do serious damage to your hip pocket. Everyday financial products have now splintered to appeal to specialist groups in much the same way that milk is available in supermarkets as original full cream or numerous other versions with added or subtracted ingredients for this reason or that.

Too much choice can be mind-boggling. The flipside, however, is that financial products used correctly can give a much better result for a lot less when tailored to your individual circumstances. The key is clarity. Thinking clearly about your own situation, taking responsibility for the money in your life and following a plan to make that money work for your ultimate benefit is not pie-in-the-sky stuff. It’s well within reach, as you will discover in the following pages.

Justine Davies will walk you through the tricks and traps of controlling your finances by demystifying financial products — for example, what are the differences between the 273 personal credit cards on the market — and de-cluttering your finances. Clearing out what’s not useful or just taking up space in your money junkyard will get you on track in no time. It doesn’t matter how little or how much money you earn either — the basic principles apply to all. What appeals to me more than anything is that getting on top of your money, rather than being bamboozled by it, can mean tens of thousands of dollars to you without an extra hour’s work in your life.

At CANSTAR we applaud any effort to increase financial knowledge and skills, from budgeting and saving to investing and protecting money with the aim of attaining long-term financial security. We certainly understand how overwhelmed people must feel when dealing with their finances because we research and compare the gamut of banking and insurance products. The massive amount of data we collect on any given product sector is way more than most people could or would compare even if they had the time. This makes our research truly valuable, and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with Justine to help you transfer money stresses from the ‘Too Hard’ basket to the ‘Why Didn’t I Do This Before?’ basket.

This book is bound to become a classic so treat it with the reverence it deserves, as I guarantee you will be consulting it for many years to come.

Andrew Spicer

CEO

CANSTAR

P.S. I have a confession to make about my opening sentence: I secretly do think Justine Davies was born a financial guru!