Australia has long been known as the ‘Lucky Country’ well now its official! According to Mortgage Choice inspite of the economic downturn Australia seems to be surviving ahead of many other countries.

China came in as the second best nation in terms of surviving the downturn, followed by India and Singapore who drew for third position, Hong Kong at number five and Canada at six.

Despite being at the core of the global financial crisis, the United States made it to number 13.

May 28th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

A new Rural Workforce Strategy will provide $134M over 4 years to attract doctors and other medical practitioners to areas of need. I hope this benefits some of our local areas such as Muswellbrook, Cessnock and other areas of the Hunter Valley that have a Doctors shortage.

Just recently I sat for 5 hours in a hospital waiting room with my wife who had broken her leg, I hope the increase of practitioners helps decrease the waiting times in emergency departments for those in need of help. Do you know of any local areas that could benefit from an increase in doctors?

For anyone with private health insurance this info is for you. The Private Health Insurance initiative, previously in place to encourage participation has been cut back;
- Singles earning up to $75,000 (couples up to $150,000) remains unchanged with a rebate of 20% and a surcharge of 1%
- Singles earning between $75,000 and $90,000 (couples $150,000-$180,000) will receive a reduced rebate of 10%, and the surcharge will be increased to 1.25%
- Singles earning more than $120,000 (couples more than $240,000) will receive no rebate and the surcharge increases to 1.5%

In times of need such as this global recession, private health care should still be encouraged by the federal government. As people look to cut back costs in their home, insurance is something that people may consider suspending until the economy and job market is back on track. My advice is think long and hard before you go down this track.

When it comes to your health it is extremely important you have access to medical procedures as and when you need them, and insurance will help make this possible and more affordable to you if you ever need it. Don’t let the changes to private health insurance discourage you, make

May 27th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

The Federal Budget has allowed for a Pension increase of $32.49 per week for singles and $10.14 per week combined for couples on the full rate, this is good news to many locals. But the big question is will $10 a week make a big difference to you?

Other big news for older Australians is future retirees will have to work longer before they can receive the pension. There will be an increase in the aged pension from starting from 2017, to 67 in 2023.

Changes to the Age Pension age

So for those of you that were counting down the years to when you hitch that caravan to the back of the 4wd and travel around Australia, you may have to hold off for a little while yet, as mentioned previously this gives you more time to save for retirement but do you really want to be working until you are 67 years of age? Again, it’s a good time to be seeking some assistance in reviewing your retirement plans, and we’d be more than happy to help where we can.

May 26th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Some good news! The First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) has been extended for an additional 6 months. From the 1st of October the Boost will halve to $10,500 for established homes and $14,000 for new homes, including the $7,000 First Home Owners Grant.

The FHOG seems to be working as planned by the government in boosting the economy.

Just the other day I saw a 79 year old grandmother was a recipient of the FHOG so lets not forget its open to anyone that has not owned a home before. Over the last 3 months over 44,000 properties have been purchased by first home owners nationally, which is the best result in Australia in over 17 years. So in this respect the grant seems to be working and fuelling the economy.

At Companion we have seen a surge in local first home owners and are happy to say we have helped them into their first home. If you want to know more about the FHOG send me a comment here or call us for a more private chat.

May 25th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Some bad news here with regard to the matching of super contributions for workers earning less than $60,342. The governments matching will be reduced from $1.50 for every dollar invested in super to $1 for the next 3 years. It’s been promised this is a temporary measure until 2014 but will still impact on low income earners that are putting away savings for their retirement.

The super contribution cap by salary sacrifice will be reduced from $100,000 to $50,000 for the next 3 years, and further reduced to $25,000 in 2013. For those that had planned on retiring in the next few years and were eagerly putting away your pay, this could impact you and you should investigate other options available.

I suppose one of the small ‘benefits’ of the super changes is that the retirement age to be eligible for the pension is also increasing to 67 years of age, which will mean we have more time to save for our retirement.

With these changes to Super it’s definitely worth while talking to a financial planner, or seeking some specialist advice. If you wanted to do either contact us for a chat and we can help.

Ray

May 22nd, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Good news for new parents with an income less than $150,000. Parents will eligible to receive taxable payments from their employer at the weekly rate of the Federal Minimum Wage- currently $543.78 for a continuous period of up to 18 weeks. The 18 weeks may be shared between a mother and a father and will provide gives parents with time, flexibility and financial support to focus on their babies and family life.

But don’t start planning your family just yet, paid parental leave won’t be available until after January 2011.

This sounds great for new families doesn’t it? But compare with some 150+ countries worldwide who already offer paid maternity leave which includes Mongolia, Botswana and Myanmar. Working parents in Britain are entitled to 39 weeks’ paid leave, 50 weeks in Canada and 16 months in Sweden.

Personally I am satisfied to know that my own children will have paid parental leave available to them in the future, but I would be ecstatic if Australia were to catch up to the global level of parental leave.

What do you think about this? Will it stop you from planning your family until 2011? Or will the minimum wage be enough for your household to survive on?

Ray

May 21st, 2009 | 3 Comments »

I am sure you were all gripping the edge of your seats last week with the Governments announcement of the Federal Budget 2009/2010.

Now that we have all had time to digest some of the changes I thought a summary of the budget would a helpful tool to you all. Over the next week I will provide an overview of some of the budget items that I thought would be of interest to you, and hopefully cut out all the mumbo jumbo. I would like to thank Abacus for providing me with some of the data you will see, and also if you are keen to read more you can visit http://www.budget.gov.au/

I would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to post any comments or queries,

Ray

May 21st, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

A big THANKYOU to all of our members that have nominated a local organisation for the Companion Community Grant. We have had over 50 nominations, and the level of community spirit is astounding.

For those of you wondering what happens next, here it is;

The judges meet this Friday the 22nd of May to determine the successful applicants. The judges are Companion Credit Union members that have volunteered their time to represent you all, and I thank them for giving us their time.

Successful recipients should expect a phone call early in the week of the 25th May, to notify you and also to invite you to the cheque presentation.

Unsuccessful recipients will be notified in writing to the supplied mailing or email address on the application form.

Presentation dates will be confirmed on our website shortly.

Talk soon,
Cas

May 18th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

We have mentioned in the past ways to keep your personal financial details safe and secure. With the ever increasing incidents of card skimming occurring (and recently to a friend of mine after a trip to Melbourne) I thought it was important to run this story again.

Precautions to take when using an ATM;
• Choose ATMs that are in well-lit, public or highly populated areas.
• Remove the cash quickly and secure it out of public view as soon as practicable
• Be sure to remove your card
• Be attentive to your physical surrounds during and after an ATM transaction; and
here are some tips for both ATM and EFTPOS terminal use:
• Make sure that there are no people standing close to you, while you are conducting a transaction.
• Be aware of attempts to distract you
• Cover your PIN number with your hand or purse/wallet when entering it on the keypad

Covering your PIN number with your hand is one of the most important things you can do at an ATM. Without your PIN number skimmers shouldn’t be able to access your funds.

If you want to know more about what a skimmer looks like or how to avoid it atm-skimmers.

Cas Scott
Companion Credit Union

May 4th, 2009 | Leave a Comment »