Category: Finance

Everything comes with a price tag, which can ultimately sway your decision on whether to purchase something or not. You may decide that a particular vehicle is too expensive, or you choose an inferior brand of something because it’s more affordable. But how much value do you place on your health or health services?

We are blessed here in Australia to have a reasonably decent healthcare system that allows most people to get the care they need. The public system includes community-based services that the Australian public can access for free or at a reduced cost due to taxpayer funding.

Knowing that if you’re sick, you can get help, you may be wondering why health insurance would be important and necessary at all. However, if you speak to an insurance advice consultant, you would be surprised at how much value it can add to your life.

Shorter Wait Times

When you access treatment through the public health system, you can wait a considerable amount of time for non-urgent treatment. During that time, you may experience increased discomfort or find yourself waiting and waiting until a medical professional can fit you onto their list.

If you have private health insurance, however, those wait times are far shorter for planned and elective surgeries. If you are in extreme pain and discomfort, it’s often not all that long until that pain is alleviated.

The cost of purchasing engagement rings in Australia, on average, is around $5,300. If you bought a car for $5,300, you would get insurance for it – wouldn’t you? Therefore, getting insurance for your engagement rings of similar value makes sense as well. If you lose your ring, it’s stolen, or it becomes damaged, having insurance offers peace of mind that you are going to be able to replace it with a ring during your wedding reception of similar value – even if the sentimental factor is not the same.

How do I Get Insurance for My Engagement Rings in Australia?

Diamonds and Pearls Perth tells us that there are two primary ways you can go about getting insurance for your engagement rings. You can cover it under your home and contents insurance – as long as you include portable contents cover, or you can opt for specialist jewellery insurance. Even though you may pay a little more for specialist insurance, it can, in many cases, offer a higher level of cover.

What Happens If I Insure My Rings with Contents Insurance?

If you decide to include your engagement rings under your home contents insurance, it’s imperative to upgrade your policy to include portable contents. If you don’t, you may find yourself not covered if you lose your ring outside your property. When you upgrade to portable insurance, you can generally cover up to $6,000 but may only receive $2,000 for an individual item.

Many people put off making a Will until it is too late, while others don’t think they need one. However, if you have property – and this includes superannuation – you need to refer to a lawyer’s list and go and organise a Will to ensure it is distributed properly after your death. Dying without a Will or consulting a Perth Wills Lawyer only makes thing more difficult for your family and it costs a lot to have the court decide who should benefit from your assets. This cost will be taken out of your assets, so your family will get much less than otherwise.

The trouble with an old Will

You may have made a Will years ago and think that is the end of the matter, but just like many things in this life, a Will may need to be upgraded or rewritten. If you divorce and/or remarry, your current Will is no longer of any use as it is not considered valid. At least, that’s how it is in Western Australia. So a new Will must be made to take into consideration your new circumstances. Then again, if your Will was made when you were younger and you now have more children or grandchildren that have not been mentioned, you may want to rewrite your will to include them.

Few people can purchase a home without getting a loan to do so. That means you have to pay back the loan plus interest – and lots more besides; stamp duty, insurance, solicitors fees and so on. Sometimes budgeting starts off well but you get off track, or extra bills come in unexpectedly and you find it more and more difficult to repay that loan. Here are some tips on how to stay on track with your budgeting.

• If you find it increasingly difficult to pay the mortgage off, it is time to stop and take a reality check. First thing to do is write down everything you spend money on for a whole week – yes, every single thing from that morning coffee to your snack bar or magazine. It may shock you to see just where the money is going.  It will also enable you to find ways to plug up the leak so you don’t have to default on your mortgage repayments. Know what’s coming in and how much is going out. The former should be more than the latter. If not, cut back ruthlessly. People once lived quite well without Foxtel, internet connections, mobile phones, coffee from a coffee shop, going out for meals and going out to concerts or footie games. They had no more than 3 outfits. You can do the same if it means keeping your house.

Buying your first house is an exciting time and you can hardly wait to sign on the dotted line and move in. In fact, even when buying for a second or third time you will feel excited and ready to make that fresh start in a new home that suits you even better than the one before.  However, don’t get carried away be the excitement or the emotional attachment you may feel to a home. Some homes are lemons, having things wrong with them that will have you calling a home maintenance company constantly and will be very costly to fix. How do you spot a lemon?

• Look for damp patches that can signal a problem with the plumbing, the guttering or the waterproofing. These can be in spots other than the basement, so look high and low. Check for fresh patches of paint and suspect that they are there to cover mould that won’t wash out. Mould is very unhealthy to live in so this is definitely a lemon.