http://www.news.com.au/money/money-...ial-stress-bites/story-e6frfmd9-1226083845024 Cost of sinking deeper in debt as financial stress bites Australians Research suggests the financial situation of families may be worse than thought. Picture: Thinkstock More in debt as tough times bite One-in-four dipping into savings June 30: Dash to beat tax deadline AUSTRALIANS are facing unprecedented levels of financial stress from cost of living rises, with one-in-four dipping into savings or going into debt to maintain their lifestyles. An extensive study this month by business research leader CoreData shows almost 15 per cent of those surveyed are drawing on savings, while a further 10 per cent are running into debt, to make ends meet. It found almost half of people think the situation will get worse and 46 per cent believe they are worse off than a year ago, compared with just 37 per cent in March. The research suggests the financial situation of families may be worse than thought, just two days ahead of fresh July 1 price rises. These will drive the cost of living up by thousands of dollars over the next financial year, with a combination of huge rises in utility prices, a new flood levy, plus annual rises in council rates, health insurance premiums, childcare, car rego, and other charges confronting families. There are particularly worrying signs for home owners. Separate CoreData research on nearly 800 mortgage holders across the country last month found more than 25 per cent now admit to struggling to meet their loan repayments. When those who struggle to meet their repayments "from time to time" are taken into account, that figure rises to more than 30 per cent.CoreData boss Andrew Inwood said yesterday much of the uncertainty related to the hung federal parliament was leaving consumers pessimistic about the future. "Consumer sentiment is back to where we were immediately after the GFC of 2007," he said. "The lack of clarity and direction in the economy means that those who are able to save - including high net worth individuals - are putting their money into cash, rather than shares and property. "But more and more of those who can't save are running into debt simply to maintain their lifestyles." The CoreData research shows the negative sentiment is seeing consumer attitudes towards the future rapidly deteriorate. CoreData has also found that one in five people believe they may lose their jobs in the coming 12 months. Mr Inwood said this pointed to the disparity between rich and poor getting wider. Pessimism was strong among women, with 56 per cent saying they felt financially "insecure", compared with 44 per cent who felt secure Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/money-...es/story-e6frfmd9-1226083845024#ixzz1QcgRabmk
obviously a fake story as the government just told us that there are billions in the investment pipeline and we are in the midst of an economic boom mark 2
I had a read of that article just before, but the above line just made me cringe. I've never understood spending more than you can afford on just keeping your 'lifestyle' going.
+1. Not to mention the people who think that annual fee free high interest rate credit cards are bad whereas paying annual fees for another crap card is perfectly all right. Boggles the mind. PAY OFF THE CLOSING BALANCE EVERY MONTH.
Juliar Sachs will bail out any fat lazy bastard who overextends their personal finances no problemo! Where will this money come from? Why of course from the hard working frugal tax payers! It's only fair.
In related news, a new tax is coming near you! It's the Betterment of Underrepresented Lying Lardasses Specializing in Handholding Idiots Tax.
There was a radio story on the ABC today about the rise and rise of pay-day-loan institutions. A recent "finacial literacy" study reported that just a little over 1% of Australians use such insitutions...but the stream of painful case studies and callers made me cringe. 1 guy on the dole for instance took out a loan for $300 to be paid back within 2 weeks with an additional $140 interest. Needless to say...it went downhill from there. It wasn't all 'poor people' that are getting shafted though. The term they were using was 'vulnerable'. Middleclass people wishing to maintainthe staus quo are being caught up in the grinder. Like the guy in the newish Mercedes 4WD at Hungry Jacks last weekedn whom held up the whole drive-through while he paid for his breakfast with the last of his small change..all 10-20c peices!...obviously he just couldn't give up the car! :/ P.S. As Steve Keen recently pointed out on the last Keiser report, the only way out of this is for the Govt to allow massive price/wage inflation to inflate the debt away...once again penalising the 'savers' !
Used to work for one of these places doing I.T. Scary stuff to say the least. I think the interest rate was 11% per week? Mostly used by the middle class, and mostly by people who were just useless with their money.
Yep, they pointed out that if someone borrows $100 for 1 day and has to repay $1 interest.... thats 365% interest on a yearly basis...and for some people this is how long as it ends up costing and taking them to repay such a small loan!
Well, they can't see beyond their point of view of what is "need" and which one is "want". But this is very normal, even in developing countries people still live beyond their means, however low their means were. I guess the real problem is in the psychological side, as we are bad at accepting new point of views (our own point of views are tied to sense of self, hence self preservation).
Perhaps. However, with Howard he actually made the GST an election issue, for the constituents to vote on. Not so with the carbon tax.
