Tag Archives: Children

Digital payments and online banking explained

By Robert Wright /June 01,2020/

Face-to-face encounters have become less frequent in so many areas of our lives – and banking and shopping are no different. So, now’s an ideal time for older Australians to start integrating more digital transactions into their everyday banking. Using these methods for the first time can be intimidating, so we’ve answered some of the key questions you might have about digital transactions and online finance.

What are contactless payments?

In the wake of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) health crisis, many shops and businesses have moved away from cash and are accepting payment by credit or debit card only. If you go into a store to buy something, you’ll likely be asked to use the ‘contactless’ payment method. This is simply a payment that’s processed in real time by holding your debit or credit card near the card reader without the need to swipe or insert it.

Also known as Tap & Go, this method allows you to make a purchase of up to $200 (temporarily increased from the $100 pre-COVID-19 limit) by simply hovering your card above the machine – you won’t need to enter a PIN.

If your transaction is in excess of $200, you’ll need to enter a PIN. Use one hand as a barrier over the keypad to prevent anyone else seeing your pin entry.

It’s also worth mentioning that some merchants may pass on the costs they incur to use these processing systems. If you are charged, the surcharge varies between merchants. You may find you’ll have to pay a small percentage for credit and debit purchases; however, merchants will generally let you know before the transaction.

How do I pay bills online?

Generally, a bill that you’d normally pay in person or at the post office can be paid online through online banking, using the secure and safe electronic payment system of BPAY, a widely used bill payment service.

Each bill you receive has its own unique BPAY information, which is located at the bottom of the bill. To pay a bill using BPAY:

1. you’ll need to log in to your own online banking system
2. go to the section where you pay someone or transfer money
3. select BPAY as the payment method, and
4. enter the information you find on your bill.

What details do I need to give when I’m shopping online?

While older Australians are still the most likely age category to prefer paying with cash, habits are changing we’ve seen a steady and significant move to payment methods other than cash in the over-65 age group.

When you purchase something online, you’ll be asked to enter your details, including your name, address and contact details for the delivery. You’ll also be asked for the debit or credit card number that appears on the front, as well as the CVC or CVV number, which is the three-digit number printed on the back of your card or four-digit number on the front of the card above the main numbers. This is an important anti-fraud measure to ensure that only you, the card holder, can make purchases online.

As a convenient feature on your computer or mobile phone, you may be prompted with a pop-up message to save your debit and credit card details for quicker checkouts when online shopping in future. If you don’t feel comfortable storing them digitally on your computer or mobile phone, you can reject or opt out of the pop-up request.

I’ve heard that online banking and shopping can be unsafe. How can I reduce this risk?

It’s true that if you’re online, there can be a risk of online fraud and ‘phishing’. Phishing is the sending of fraudulent messages through channels such as email, social media and text messages that are designed to steal your confidential information. However, there are several steps you can take to increase the safety of your finances and details online.

• Never give out your personal information or details via email, text message or over the phone, unless you have called your financial institution directly.
• Never enter sensitive details into a website you’ve arrived at by clicking on a link, including any links you’ve received in an email or text message. In particular, you should always go directly to the website of a financial institution or online banking system, rather than via a link.
• Familiarise yourself with scams that are circulating so you can stay informed. A regular update of these appears on the Stay Smart Online website.

Looking out for fraud during COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak provides a further smokescreen for fraudsters. Pretending to be legitimate businesses, from charities to your local supermarket, they hope to exploit confusion and the absence of face-to-face contact to gain your money and information.

If you suspect suspicious activity online or have been contacted via email or phone by someone who you think could be running a scam, it’s important that you contact your financial institution immediately to discuss the details.

 

Source: AMP

Take stock of how much conveniences are costing you

By Robert Wright /June 01,2020/

With weeks, and perhaps months, of self-isolation ahead, many of life’s conveniences like streaming and delivery services will become our essentials. But if you’re used to spending unlimited amounts to make life that little bit easier, now is a good time to look at what you can live without to make your budget go further.

These days it’s easy to order just about anything on demand. With the tap of a button, you can stream the latest music, have food and drinks delivered to your door and choose a new outfit with next-day delivery. But convenience could be costing more than you realise, with serious consequences for your future financial security. And with the growing number of ‘set and forget’ payments for subscriptions and services consumers are often footing the bill for things even when they’re not really using them.

There are also costs to society and the environment that come with the convenience of online shopping. All that packaging and fuel consumption that comes with home deliveries can really add up to big problems for landfill and climate change.

If convenience is troubling your conscience, as well as your hip-pocket, take a closer look at these five areas where it’s easy to overdo it. Also, get these ideas on what you could do to put some sensible limits on your convenience spending.

1. Entertainment

The convenience of online streaming services has made them essential for many people looking to enjoy entertainment at home and on the go. Unfortunately, free trial periods and automated payment schedules make it easy to forget exactly what you’ve signed up for.

To get a handle on your spending, do an audit of your subscriptions. Check your bank account and credit card statements for the last three-months at least to find any automatic payments. Then select the services you want to be using in line with your entertainment budget. If you don’t have a fixed amount in your budget for entertainment, try limiting it to one service per category.

2. Food and beverages

Consumers splurge a whopping $238 a month (or nearly $60 a week) on food delivery services, research shows, with a further $140 a month on takeaway and coffees.

If you find yourself regularly turning to apps to satisfy your hunger pangs, here are some strategies you can try to limit the splurge.

• Keep healthy snacks with you to curb those cravings when they hit. Things like fresh fruit, nuts and muesli bars can help take the edge off your appetite, so you’re not tempted to hit order when you get too hungry.
• Plan your meals a couple of days in advance, so you know what you’re going to make and can have the ingredients on hand.
• Take an online cooking class. Learning a bunch of fun new recipes can make it easier to enjoy some excitement with your home cooking instead of turning to take-away to add variety to your mealtimes.

Swapping even one home-delivered meal for a home-cooked meal each week really adds up. A saving of just $40 a week would put over $2000 back in your pocket over the course of a year.

3. Transport

On demand transport apps have changed the way we travel. If you live in a big city, chances are you use apps like Uber fairly often. But since the fees come directly out of your account, you may not even realise just how much you’re spending on travel.

There’s also the environmental impact to consider. Each private trip produces much more carbon pollution than public transport. When you weigh up the true cost, is it really worth it?

The answer is simple: when social distancing rules are relaxed you can swap private rides for public transport, walking or cycling wherever you can. There are some great public transport apps around that make it quick and easy to catch a bus or train, so you can still rely on technology to make travel simple.

4. Technology

Apps, games, smartphones, tablets, eReaders… how much do you spend on technology that you don’t even use?

With many devices costing upwards of $1000, delaying that upgrade until you really need it could be a win for your pocket – and for the environment.

App subscriptions are another sneaky expense that really adds up. They may seem inexpensive and often have free trial periods, so it’s really easy to forget what you actually end up paying for. Check your subscription list at least once a month and delete anything you don’t need. Your bank balance will thank you.

5. Easy payment services

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements have exploded onto the scene in recent years as a popular way to finance a variety of purchases. Figures show that 30% of Aussies have at least one BNPL account, spending around $7 billion a year. Most of that is going on fashion, followed by appliances, entertainment, food and drinks.

But there’s evidence that BNPL services lead to overspending. A full 60% of BNPL users surveyed by Mozo reported purchasing things they normally wouldn’t, thanks to the easy payment instalments.

If this sounds like you, it might be time to step away from Afterpay, Zip and other BNPL services and get back to good old-fashioned saving in order to get what you need.

 

Source: Money and Life

7 budgeting apps to help you save in 2018

By Robert Wright /June 01,2018/

Where does all that money go? A host of apps are available to help you easily answer that question and even budget better, so you don’t get caught short in the event of a ‘rainy day’ and can feel more comfortable and in control of your finances every day.

The best place to start is with your bank. Most major Australian banks offer their customers great tools to help improve how they manage their finances.

In addition, we’ve found these seven apps to help you get off to a great financial start in 2018:

TrackMySPEND

This free app allows you to track your personal expenses on the go and is very simple to use. Made available by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s MoneySmart website (www.moneysmart.gov.au), it will give you a better picture of what you are spending your money on.

You can use it to record expenses such as your weekly household budget, work or travel expenses, particularly those cash expenses that are difficult to record or the costs of a special event, such as a wedding.

You can also separate your spending into categories like “needs” and “wants” to identify areas where you can rein in your spending and start saving.

TrackMyGOALS

Also available from the MoneySmart website (www.moneysmart.gov.au), this free and easy-to-use app will help you set realistic savings goals and help you to prioritise them, making it easier to achieve them and providing you with positive encouragement by tracking your progress.

You can also use this app to track how well you are saving for a holiday, wedding, car, house, renovation, school fees or anything else you are dreaming of.

Pocketbook

Also free, this popular budgeting app integrates with many of the major Australian banks. This means you don’t have to manually enter all your expenses onto the app. Instead, you sync the app with your bank accounts and credit cards to track where your money is going.

You can use mobile photos and geo-location to input cash transactions like coffee or a beer, or add additional details like photo receipts, bills and invoices to help you track your transactions.

Pocketbook automatically organises your spending into categories like clothes, groceries and fuel, showing you where money is being spent.

You can also set up budgets for each category, see your balances and view your transactions. The app ensures all your bills are automatically detected and in the one place. Plus, you get notified when bill payments are coming up and if you have enough money to cover them.

Mint

Another free app, Mint brings your bank accounts, credit cards, bills and investments together so you instantly know where you stand. You can see what you’re spending, where you can save money and can even keep track of your credit score. Plus, it allows you to easily create budgets you can stick to.

You get bill reminders so that you pay bills on time. And, you can schedule payments on the spot or for later, ensuring you never miss a payment again.

Acorns

This app helps you to save and invest proactively, by using your digital loose change.

You simply connect it to your credit card, debit card or another funding source and allow it to round up each of your transactions to the nearest dollar. It will then invest the change into a pre-decided diversified portfolio of investments that takes into account your investment goals and your risk tolerance. The transactions are small so hopefully you won’t even notice them.

This app is free to download. Once an account is opened, there are no fees on $0 balances. After that Acorns charges $1.25 per month for accounts with a balance under $5,000 and 0.275% a year (charged monthly, computed daily) for accounts with a balance of $5,000 and over.

Expensify

This app is great for people with work expenses. Not only does it help you track and log all your work expenses, it also liaises with your office while you are away.

Expensify automates every step of the expense management process. Its technology will read and scan your receipts and then add these to an expense claim that can be automatically submitted to your employer and approved. You could very well get your expenses reimbursed in just a few minutes.

A very basic service is offered to individuals for free. All the bells and whistles are available for US$9 a month on a corporate plan.

Goodbudget

This app is a modern take on the time-tested envelope budgeting method, where the cash for each month’s expenses is taken out and divided into envelopes for each budget category – for example, groceries, transport, eating out or rent.

The idea is to stop spending on that category once you’ve emptied the envelope or before, if you’re really disciplined.

Goodbudget helps you to stick to your budget limits. Rather than discovering that you overspent when it’s too late, you can plan your spending beforehand and only spend what you have.

Because you can share a budget across multiple devices, the app can also help couples manage the combined household budget and check know how each partner is tracking.

There’s a free version that allows you to create 20 envelopes and share across two devices. However, for US$6/month or US$50/year you get unlimited envelopes and accounts, the ability to share these across five devices and to keep five years of history.

 

Source: Money and Life.

Who’ll inherit your family heirlooms, if not your kids?

By Robert Wright /November 23,2017/

If you’re a baby boomer, you may be considering passing down some of your treasured possessions to your children or grandchildren—especially if downsizing your home is on the horizon.  If you’ve already made the assumption that they’ll be willing recipients, you could be in for a surprise.

Increasingly, younger generations aren’t interested in inheriting such items. In fact, possessing lots of ‘stuff’ is out of fashion, leaving many parents to think about where their heirlooms might end up.

 People, priorities and tastes are changing

Just a generation or two ago, younger family members were grateful to receive the solid oak dining table and silver gravy boat—seeing such possessions as an extension of themselves and their family’s past.  However, with the rise of the internet, younger people today more often identify with their social profile than they do family objects from a bygone era.

The Australian dream of owning a house is also less achievable, as prices rise, leading an increasing number of people toward apartment living and leaving less room for family collectibles.  Being tied down by boxes filled with historical items is also not practical for people who are opting to work and travel abroad, but it isn’t all just about the inconvenience.  Over time, tastes and fashions change. Minimalism is in and clutter is out—and shelves that were once filled with ornaments and trinkets have been replaced by clean white walls.

 How to part with your prized possessions

It can be a struggle to accept that your children don’t want to hold on to items that have sentimental value to you. It’s not that they don’t love you—they just may not love your stuff.  So, how can you do a clean out without your past being lost?

• Ask your children to pick one or two items—no matter how small—that they want to keep.
• Consider donating big items, like furniture, to local shelters, hospitals or charities. There’s always someone in need who can benefit.
• Scan photo albums onto the computer to create a digital photo book which can be stored online. This way it can be shared with all your family without taking up physical space.
• Consider selling those items that you no longer want, need or have room for. Popular selling sites such as eBay or Gumtree can make it very easy.
• Finally, if you are going to sell any items, make sure you research their value first as you may be selling something of great value.

Looking beyond just your heirlooms

Finding a good home for your prized possessions is important and something you want to think about. What you do with your wealth and other assets down the track will also require thought. Addressing such things early on can give you peace of mind and discussing things with your family could avoid any possible controversy down the track should people not agree on things.

 

Source: AMP