STEP 1 Start by creating a budget (or fixing your broken budget). A budget  helps you figure out how to make the most of your income. Since you make a budget before you actually spend your money, you’ll know ahead of time whether you make enough money to make ends meet. If all your expenses fit within...

More Australians prefer to use their own money, such as a debit scheme card or Eftpos, rather than borrowing on credit / File AUSTRALIANS’ love affair with credit cards is waning as people switch to using cash and debit cards. Reserve Bank of Australia statistics show credit card use has dropped...

Payday loans are popular for a number of reasons. To those who are in the position of needing one, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. And there are disadvantages, but we’ll look at those later. First, put yourself in the shoes of the person who needs some quick cash. Perhaps you’ve just been...

The share of new loans to owner-occupiers and with a loan to valuation ratio of more than 90 per cent fell by more than a third over the last year, the Reserve Bank of Australia reported in its half-yearly Financial Stability Review. Housing loans with an LVR above 90 per cent fell from a peak of...