Laine Gordon

Cool cars that are frugal on fuel

Petrol prices may have stabilised for the time being, but the inevitable increase in the cost of oil will once again have people thinking about ways to save on their weekly fuel bill. While in the past, cars that were fuel misers were not necessarily flashiest cars to drive, there has recently been a move towards cool cars that are also frugal on fuel. Here are a few cars worth looking at.

Gen Y on credit spending frenzy

Mortgage owners are tightening their belts, choosing home cooked meals over nights out and shaking their heads at soaring home loan prices, wondering how they would have entered the property market in today's economy. However, for the Gen Y among us, small credit card debts are their biggest financial woes, as they feed on lavish spending and have little commitments.

Aussies win gold at Debt Olympics

Over the last 10 years households in Australia have borrowed an additional $770bn. Of this, 90% was used to buy assets. $420bn for houses to live in, $240bn for houses to rent and $40bn for shares. If borrowing was an Olympic sport, we would have to be a big chance for gold at the Debt Olympics.

Dude, where's my car?

Every 8 minutes, another car is stolen in Australia. That’s over 700,000 thefts a year. The good news is that the number of car thefts has been decreasing over the past few years. The bad news is that the recovery rate of stolen autos is also down.

Are banks keeping credit cardholders in debt?

As interest rates rise so does the minimum repayments on your credit card, right? Wrong! Only a handful of credit card providers have changed their minimum repayment requirements over the years despite the credit card interest rate rises.

Micro chipped credit cards boost security

All credit card issuers now provide "chip cards", ie. cards with microchip security built in. The idea behind chip cards is that the data previously held only on the magnetic strip is also held inside an embedded micro chip.

Are Australians wising up to bank fees?

It seems bank fees can be a licence to print money and no-one wants banks profiting at their expense. So how can you eliminate, or at least minimise, bank fees from your life?

A Kardashian credit card habit on a pauper's budget

The Kardashians are renown for their indulgent lifestyle, and while credit cards are an accessory rather than a monetary requirement for the reality stars, the rest of us run the risk of falling into miserable credit card debt if we even try to keep up with their extravagant spending.

Australia's worst drivers: males or females?

Are young women safer drivers than their male counterparts? It’s hardly an easy question to answer and the debate tends to get quite heated, with both sides of the argument keen to demonstrate who is the safest. Unfortunately for the guys however, many of the big name insurers offer discounts on their premiums for female drivers under 25

What is a protected loan?

There are many ways to invest your hard-earned money but sometimes it's finding the funds to invest, in the first place, that becomes the biggest investment hurdle and why many look to margin loans as an answer.