News...
Don't get too comfortable with your debt
So you owe heaps of cash? Mortgage, credit cards, student loans, car loans... when you're making room for it in your life, it all gets a bit ho-hum. There's been lots written recently about Status Anxiety — how we're all spending more cash to keep up with Mr and Mrs McMansion next door, and sinking deeper and deeper into debt.
But what if it's not just about who has the nicer car or pool? Perhaps we are getting up-close-and-personal with ever-growing mountains of debt simply because we can't imagine living without it.
How many pay cheques from disaster are you?
Do you know how much you'd need to keep the wolves from the door if you lost your job?
Would you describe yourself as a person who lives week to week? Does your bank balance veer dangerously close to the big fat zero just before payday? Chances are that you're not too worried about it. After all, your friends are the same, right? You all just spot each other an extra drink — thanking your lucky stars that you get paid on different days. And there's always the credit card to take up the slack.
Wesley Mission says it is battling to cope with the growing casualties in Australia's worsening financial crisis, who are left homeless, bankrupt and vulnerable.
In the past year, 2,424 people have had to be turned away by the mission's financial counselling service Creditline, the organisation's 2007-08 annual review shows.
Spokesman Graeme Cole said within 30 minutes of opening its counselling hotline each Monday morning, appointments were booked for up to three weeks in advance.
Bankruptcy numbers hit high: figures
Removing tax burdens on small business will help protect more people from sliding into bankruptcy, the federal opposition says.
The number of Australians who are bankrupt or insolvent has hit an all-time high, according to the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (ITSA).
Figures released on Friday by the ITSA show in the three months to December 2008, 6,649 new bankruptcy claims were made.
Ten of the best ... money saving tips
Ten of the best ... money saving tips
Years publishing the Penny Pincher Paper gave John and Irma Mustoe hundreds of money-saving ideas - from the highly practical to the mildly eccentric. Here are 10 to help you have a prosperous new year
Look after the pennies ...
We have always said that "penny-pinching" (and there must be a better expression for it) is part of a way of life that includes concern for the world around us, pride in things that we make and mend and a desire to keep traditions that were handed down to us. What it is not, though, is being miserly, niggardly, mean and single-mindedly pinching every penny whether that penny needs pinching or not, just for the sake of penny-pinching. The term for that is downright stinginess.
Financial stress forces more to go hungry: survey
A survey run through the Waikerie Community Centre has found more people in the area are going without food because of increasing financial pressures.
The Community Centre is a shopfront for services including Centrelink, Relationships Australia and Anglicare.
The centre's acting coordinator, Rebecca Smith, says the survey of 52 people found that the financial stress has increased from when the survey was done last year.
Read more: Financial stress forces more to go hungry: survey