Posts Tagged :

saving

What credit score do I need to buy a house?

Are you thinking about taking the next big step in your life and applying for a home loan? Buying your own property is a major part of becoming financially stable in the future, because you have a huge investment as a part of your portfolio. However, if you don’t have a clean credit report, you could find it difficult to get favourable terms on your mortgage. When a lender looks at your application for a home loan, they’ll consider more…

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5 easy ways to be smart about your credit card usage

Are you finding your credit card debt racks up quickly every month, no matter how much you try to pay off? If you don’t have the right sort of account, or a limit set too high, it can be easy to blow your budget on a purchase you really don’t need. Adding debt to the point where you’re unable to repay lenders can affect your credit report. When you can’t pay what you owe, a default will be marked against…

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Are your finances suffering from ‘excusitis’? Beat it, now

Liar, liar, pants on fire. We Aussies are masters at coming up with excuses for our spending and debt. I’ve heard it called “excusitis”. We convince ourselves that “we’re different” or that “we need it”, or “everyone else does it”. It’s that six inches of grey stuff between your ears that’s at fault. And it’s getting worse. A staggering 70.19% of Australians have a credit card  and our balances have grown from $5.9bn in 1995 to $51.8bn in 2016. Ouch.…

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Wanting to get a foot on the property ladder? Here are five strategies to help you get there

As a young would-be home buyer, it can be tough getting a foot (or even just a big toe) on the property ladder. To help set Aussies up for success, CreditSimple.com.au spokesperson Emily Price provides her top tips for first time buyers to get started. 1. Use your score to leverage a better deal “The first step is to check your score via CreditSimple.com.au. If it’s above 700, you’re an attractive customer and you should pick up the phone to see…

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Man with 'lightbulb' moment
Tap into the sharing economy and rent your way to success

Are you a part of the sharing economy yet? If you’ve used Uber or Airbnb, then you’re part of it. But there’s plenty of other sharing businesses springing up, and one that we think looks especially interesting is the renting business. The internet has made it ridiculously easy to rent your stuff and get paid for it*. Take Rentoid, as an example. It’s kind of like eBay, with one crucial difference: the stuff in the listing isn’t for sale, its…

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Are you a victim of lifestyle inflation? Our 10 (very honest) principles will help you beat the disease

Once upon a time I used to head to the nearest bakery or fruit shop for cheap lunch. A 50c bread roll or banana was sustenance enough to keep me going until I got home to have a decent balanced meal. Bit by bit over the years my bun and fruit habit evolved into buying $10 packs of sushi when I’m caught short without a packed lunch. Why? Because like virtually every person alive I can fall into ‘lifestyle inflation’.…

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Young, single, and on a budget? Skip the mistakes that others make

You’re young, single and on a budget. It’s hard being a ‘yadult’ sometimes. But life’s a lot more fun if you’re not stressing about the power being cut off. Take some tips from others’ mistakes and skip the ‘shoulda known better’ stage of your financial future. Here’s how: Have a spending plan. That’s a budget, but if you think of it as spending plan it doesn’t feel like a torture device. The idea is that you get a pen and…

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Never drink your rent (and other sensible life advice)

It can be a dry old topic, personal finance, and it can sometimes inspire feelings of sadness due to one’s lack of savings, which is why I used to imagine it might be more fun to work in in banking pocketing ludicrous bonuses for throwing around other people’s money while sustaining a truly ludicrous social life possibly due to illicit substances. Unfortunately, I have since worked for a bank and I didn’t once get to roll around in piles of dosh…

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Parents behaving badly: How parents’ money habits can rub off on the next generation

The concept of ‘monkey see, monkey do’ is alive and well in Aussie families, and that includes when it comes to our parents’ habits with money. When parents behave badly with money, guess what their children do? As a parent, your role modelling is one of the most powerful indicators of how well your children will survive financially. Whether your children are two or 20 you can set them a better example. Don’t see money and spend it Do you see money…

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Suburban street in Melbourne
Eight ways for young Aussies to get their foot onto the property ladder

It was something people used to take for granted: you save for deposit, you get yourself a mortgage, you find a modest little house and off you go: a property owner in Sydney, or Melbourne, or Launceston, or Townsville. But how much does that picture line up with the reality these days? We’ve been looking at some recent media stories, and when you line them up you see many trends that suggest the dream could be slipping out of reach…

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