Invasion of the identity snatchers

Imagine somebody stealing your life – wearing your clothes, sleeping in your bed, doing your job. Your friends and family might not even notice you’re gone … not until it happens to them too. That’s the plot of the 1978 film 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers', where aliens plot to take over the world by growing copies of human beings and replacing them one by one. Creepy, right? While we’re pretty sure the world isn’t being taken over by pod people, something a lot like this happens regularly in the financial world – identity theft.

Being a victim of identity theft means that somebody has enough of your personal information to convince financial institutions that they are you – which means they can tally up enormous debts in your name. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself and ensure that your identity remains yours. 



Identity theft is when someone takes your personal details and uses that information to apply for loans and credit in your name, which you’ll be held accountable for unless you can prove that the debt isn’t yours – and that can be difficult, since the thieves had enough proof that they were you to get the credit in the first place. There are several different ways criminals can get hold of your personal information – Veda Advantage’s Identity Crimes Report from 2009 revealed that over 1.5 million Australians had credit cards illegally skimmed, and 1.2 million had bank accounts illegally accessed or personal mail stolen. What’s more, about 55 per cent of Australians had lost credit cards, keycards and drivers licences in the last three years, and 24 per cent of people had lost their personal information more than twice. The worrying part is that your stolen details won’t necessarily be used immediately, with the Australian Police believing that criminals are ‘harvesting’ information, slowly building up profiles of individuals based on stolen information for use later.

 This is definitely an instance where prevention is better than cure, and the good news is that it’s pretty simple to do.

Let’s take a look at some easy ways to protect your credit identity:
•   Report identity theft immediately – a lost or stolen wallet can contain more than enough information for thieves to start creating a fake ‘you’.
•   Change your PINs and passwords regularly to protect credit cards and online banking details.
•   Buy a shredder and destroy all documents that contain personal information when you no longer need them – even seemingly innocent mail that’s addressed to you (such as utilities bills) can be used to provide proof of ID.
•   Keep a record of when regular bills are due, and contact providers if your bills don’t arrive on time – stolen account details can provide thieves with a lot of personal information about you.
•   Never, ever provide your bank account or credit card details to callers or emailers who claim they are from your bank, credit or utilities providers. Take a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach and contact these organisations yourself to confirm the validity of these calls before handing information over.
•   Never store your PINs or passwords on your mobile phone, and don’t keep them in your wallet either.
•   When you’re shopping online, check the security of the website you’re accessing.

These are just a few of the things you can do to protect yourself, but unfortunately, there’s no ‘perfect’ defence against having your identity stolen – the best you can do is be alert, be careful and ensure that you protect credit and personal details as much as possible. Part of this process is ensuring that you keep a close eye on your personal credit reference, which is like your financial ‘report card’, kept by Australia’s credit report agency, Veda Advantage.

The thought of someone having enough information to pretend that they’re you is something we think everyone should be concerned about, but there are steps you can take to keep your personal information safe, and by keeping an eye on your credit reference as well, you’ll be able to limit the amount of damage identity thieves can do. And now that’s out of the way, the only thing left to worry about is whether the pod people really are coming to take over the world!

Where there's a Will

‘The Will of a rich man read: “To my loving wife, Rose, who stood by me in rough times as well as good, I leave the house and $2 million. To my daughter, Jessica, who looked after me in sickness and kept the business going, I leave the yacht, the business and $1 million. And to my cousin Dan, who hated me, argued with me, and thought that I would never mention him in my Will – you were wrong: Hi Dan!”’
– Anonymous

The above example may or may not be true, but it does illustrate the point that your Will is about more than just divvying up your cash assets! Of course, there is a serious side to all of this. According to Newspoll, around 45 per cent of adults don’t have legal Wills. Without a legal, up-to-date Will in place, your estate will be divided by a government formula, and the reality is that this is unlikely to reflect the way you would want things to be done, or sometimes, even what’s ‘fair’, as the formula tends to only include family members, not friends or organisations that you may have wanted as beneficiaries.

This year, Good Will Week runs from 12-19 September – so if you don’t have a Will yet, now is the perfect time to tick this important money management item off your ‘to do’ list, and although the DIY kits are very convenient, they’re also very easy to get wrong, so if you want to make sure your Will will do what you want it to it’s probably best to have it drafted professionally. You can have this done by your solicitor or a Will Maker for a fee, or for free by the Public Trustee in your state (on the condition that you name the Trustee as the executor of your estate).

Who needs a Will?
We think that everyone over 18 needs a Will, but if you’re still not sure, see if you fall into one of these categories:

Over 18s (with no partner or kids) – although you may think that you have ‘nothing’ of value, this may not be the case. Along with your personal belongings, you may have ‘hidden’ assets that you haven’t considered such as superannuation, life insurance and shares, and without a Will they pass to your next of kin, whether they’ve been a part of your life or not.

Parents with children under 18 (or carers of a child with a disability) – your Will allows you to detail what you want to happen with your child/ren, including guardianship and how you want your child/ren to be raised.

People in a ‘domestic partnership’ – if you’re not legally married, your partner will need to prove that your relationship existed and that they are entitled to a share of your estate. Think about what it would be like to have to do this when you’ve just lost the person you love most in the world – do you want to put your partner through that?

Anyone who cares about their belongings – do you want to make sure that your precious possessions are taken care of by someone who will love them as much as you do, rather than risk them being sold off on eBay? A Will lets you decide who will take care of the things you love.

People who want to choose their beneficiaries – without a Will, your friends and relatives by marriage may not be entitled to a share of your estate, even if they are closer to you than some of your blood relations.

Already got a Will? You need to update your will if you get married, separated or divorced
Your Will may become invalid if you marry after you have had it drawn up (depending on the state you live in), with your spouse automatically becoming your beneficiary, and if you separate or divorce, you need to change your Will to reflect your new circumstances, otherwise your ex-spouse could still be a beneficiary of your estate. This has the potential to cause big problems, especially with new intestacy laws in NSW, which now allow for ‘multiple spouses’, meaning that the person you’re legally married to and the person you share a ‘domestic partnership’ with both have a claim over your estate … and it’s not hard to see how that could cause some serious arguments!

Losing someone you love is painful enough, but getting drawn into a lengthy and expensive court battle over their estate makes it that much harder. Make sure you protect your loved ones by having a legal Will in place and keeping it updated and remember, just because you won’t be there, doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to take care of your family and loved ones.

There's More To A Fantastic Retirement Than Just Income Planning

Even if you’ve got your financial retirement plans in order, you’re not finished with designing your retirement lifestyle yet. Think back to the last time you took the day off work because you were sick. You probably wandered around in your pyjamas until midday, tried to find something worth watching on television and went through two or three boxes of tissues. Not very exciting. Now take that image and subtract most of the tissues from it. Without the right retirement information, there’s a very real chance that this is how you could wind up spending your retirement. Chilling, isn’t it? Lying around the house is all right for a day – maybe even for a week – but how would you cope if you had to do it for 20 years? After all, there are only so many episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful that a person can watch before they completely lose their marbles. Many people spend decades responsibly saving up for a comfortable retirement lifestyle and then retire to find that being comfortable isn’t enough. They need to have something to do.

As much as we grumble about it, work forms a big part of our identity. When new acquaintances ask us to tell them about ourselves we usually start out by describing what we do for a living. Work gives our lives structure and meaning. We don’t like Mondays and we do thank God it’s Friday – and ordering our week that way, with five days on and two days off, gives us a comfortable, predictable routine. Much of our sense of accomplishment comes from the things we do at work – the satisfaction of a job well done, and the bonuses and promotions that sometimes go with it. As long as we’re getting our work done, we know we’re useful members of society. We usually make a lot of our friends at work, and having lunch or drinks after work with them can be one of the highlights of our day. You did all that income planning during your working life in order to have the freedom to do what you want during your retirement, but retiring also takes all those things you’ve been depending on away. If you’re not prepared for the change, that can make you miserable.

But don’t despair: life after work doesn’t have to be boring. Nobody’s forcing you to wear pyjamas and watch daytime television. It’s just that nobody will force you to stop doing it, either. You’ve got to do that for yourself. Like most things in life, making your retirement a success requires a plan. To start with, the first thing you have to do when you’re getting ready to retire is sit yourself down and make a list of all the things that make you, you. Cross off anything that has to do with work, and what you’ve got left are the materials out of which you’re going to build your new life. Make a new routine out of all the things you love to do and note down all the hobbies and activities you’re going to be involved in; www.seniors.gov.au offers a range of retirement information that can help you find things that interest you. Try to get out of the house every day, and find time to spend with your family. And remember that your skills don’t disappear just because you’ve stopped working. George Bernard Shaw once said, ‘… he who can does, he who cannot teaches’, but that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes the best teachers are those who can and have done, so consider taking up tutoring or mentoring and contribute to somebody else’s success. If teaching isn’t quite up your alley then check out some volunteer organisations, because they’re always looking for help and you might be just what they need. Helping others can sometimes provide just as much satisfaction as earning a paycheck ever did.

Retirement shouldn’t be something that is done to you – you’re not being put out to pasture because you’ve outlived your usefulness. You’ve worked long and hard to create enough wealth to allow you to live the life of your dreams. The important thing now is to make sure those dreams don’t slip through your fingers by making the most of the retirement information that’s available to you and ensuring that you can expect a great retirement income. Planning now is going to make all the difference when it comes to making your retirement the best time of your life. And, every now and then, if you do want to lie around in your pyjamas and watch soap operas, you can do that too … you won’t even have to get a doctor’s certificate.

Back-to-School Ideas for Beating the Budget 'Gremlins'

Your kids might be too old to worry about monsters under the bed. You may no longer need to check inside their cupboards for bogeymen or leave a light on when they go to sleep. But no matter how old, how tough or how cool your children may be, there are still three little words that can chill them to the bone: back to school. 

Well, all right, maybe we’re exaggerating a bit. Going back to school isn’t all bad and some kids even look forward to it, but after a two-week break getting your family back into its usual routine can be difficult. While there might not be any monsters lurking under the kids’ beds, the disorganisation gremlins can seem pretty real – and they have a knack of sneaking into your wallet and eating up all your cash while you’re busy working on getting everybody back on track. Fortunately there are some simple money management tricks you can employ to help keep those gremlins at bay and your budget in good shape, and if you plan ahead you can be well prepared for both the rest of the school year and the rest of your child’s school career.

To get you started, here are some great back-to-school ideas that you can start using before school heads back:


    •    Get all your grocery shopping done. Canteen money can be a big expense, particularly when it isn’t something you’ve deliberately factored into your budget. By making sure you have everything you need ahead of time you’ll be able to save money and make sure your kids are getting food that’s good for them.

    •    Stock up on the school essentials. Your kids are likely to need a seemingly endless supply of pens, pencils, rubbers, rulers and glue over the rest of the school year – and most parents are unsurprised by now to see how often their equipment gets lost or broken. Save yourself time and money by buying the cheapest stuff that will work for school and buying it in bulk if you can.

    •    Plan your meals for the next week ahead of time. This is a good idea at any time, but particularly so when your kids have just gone back to school. They’ll probably come home tired and very hungry so being able to answer the question, ‘What are we having for dinner tonight?’ will save you from being tempted to get expensive (and unhealthy!) takeaway to tide them over.

These simple tips will help keep you covered in the first week back at school, but what about the future? We’re heading toward the business end of the school year now – your kids are beginning to work toward their yearly exams, there may be excursions and other unexpected expenses coming up, and soon it will be time to start preparing for next year.

Now is a great time to dust off your budget planner and make sure you’ve allocated enough money to pay for everything your kids are going to need to get through the rest of this year, and an even better time to prepare your budget for the future. You won't need sophisticated money management software to do it, just a rough idea of what the kids are gong to need in the coming years. 



If your child is just starting kindergarten, high school or university, or is entering one of the ‘big’ school years the expenses can be even heavier. Year 10 and 12 students sometimes need extra equipment for their major projects, so you might want to adjust your budget to accommodate some extra supplies, just to be on the safe side.



If your child is heading to uni, you might be in for a bigger shock – some of those textbooks really do cost an arm and a leg! Start looking in second-hand or co-op bookshops as an alternative, and keep your eye on university newsletters or message boards – students often sell their textbooks cheaply once they’ve completed a course (just make sure that you’re getting the right edition of the textbook, otherwise it’ll be a waste of money, no matter how cheap it is). 

Going back to school when the holidays are over can be a bit rough – but with a bit of organisation you’ll be able to keep the gremlins out of your wallet and your budget intact while still making sure your kids have everything they need for school.

The Three Pillars of Personal Insurance

We believe that there are three covers that no family should be without and we call these the Three Pillars of Personal Insurance. Each Pillar plays a role in supporting your family, and while most people are familiar with the ‘big two’ - life insurance and trauma insurance - the role of income protection is often forgotten. If you’re wondering if income protection insurance is for you, read on!




• Income protection insurance replaces a proportion of your current income if you are unable to work – you can claim for everything from a broken leg that puts you out of action for a couple of months to a serious illness or accident that takes you out of the game for the long-term. 

• Unlike trauma insurance, income protection insurance doesn’t go into specifics about which illnesses and injuries are covered and which are not – you’re covered for everything, giving you extra flexibility and protection.


• You might think that your employee entitlements will be enough, but sick leave and paid annual leave run out eventually, and worker’s compensation won’t cover you for everything – in fact, 90 per cent of income protection insurance claims paid would be ineligible for worker’s compensation. 


• If you work more than 25 hours a week you should consider having income protection – in most cases a policy will replace up to 75 per cent of your gross income if you need to make a claim.


• Avoid ‘accident only’ covers at all costs – although they seem like a cheaper alternative, they are too restrictive and, in our opinion, almost totally useless. Your income protection insurance should replace your income if you’re unable to work, regardless of whether it’s due to accident or illness.


• Your policy needs to be ‘guaranteed renewable’ – which means that your insurer cannot refuse to renew your policy if you’ve made a claim.



Our final word of advice applies to all insurance policies – deal only with a reputable insurance broker. Naturally, there’s a lot more to know about income protection insurance and dealing with a reputable broker will ensure that your insurance does what you need it to, when you need it to.



Love Bites: Protecting Yourself From Sexually Transmitted Debt

There’s something about vampires. Just ask the eternally beautiful teenagers of the Twilight saga – nothing says ‘romance’ like a mysterious stranger who longs to nibble on your neck. The real world may not have an Edward Cullen, but it’s got another kind of vampire that can be just as seductive and dangerous – the financial vampire. These predators won’t be eyeing your jugular, but if you’re not careful they’ll infect you with a nasty case of Sexually Transmitted Debt.

You catch Sexually Transmitted Debt by taking responsibility for a loved one’s debts – and footing the bill when they default. It’s a serious condition that can damage your credit reference, bring debt collectors to your door and even bankrupt you. And it’s more common than you might think. A report by the Law Reform Commission NSW (Australia) revealed that 83 per cent of people who guarantee loans are in close personal relationships with the borrower, and 49 per cent don’t believe they could repay the loan if required, so it’s easy to see how helping out a loved one could have you haemorrhaging money.

There are three main ways you might contract Sexually Transmitted Debt:

• co-borrowing with your partner. You are both responsible for repaying the loan. If your partner doesn’t keep up the payments you could become liable for the entire amount;

• becoming a guarantor for a loan. This is guaranteeing your partner’s ability to repay it, and if they can’t or won’t, you’ll have to;

• taking responsibility for the utilities. When the bills arrive they’ll have your name on them – even though you’re both using the services.

Women are more likely to suffer from this ‘STD’ than men – a study by Veda Advantage found that 58 per cent of utility bills were in women’s names so it seems that they’re more than paying their share. Men are also more likely to be the cause of debt: over a five year period they accounted for 55 per cent of defaults. A creditor can sue either co-borrower if they stop receiving payments on a loan, but they’ll probably go after the most reliable party and statistically, that’s often a woman. That said, there are female vampires out there, so it’s not safe to assume you’re immune because you’re a man.

So how do you ward off financial vampires? Well, like the bloodsucking kind that can’t come into your home uninvited, financial vampires can’t take your money unless you let them. The simplest way to protect yourself is to avoid giving your partner access to your funds. Don’t put their name on your credit card or help them borrow money. If you are considering co-borrowing or guaranteeing a loan, read the contracts carefully and make sure you get independent legal advice before you sign anything. A signature on a financial document is a legally binding agreement, so if you couldn’t repay the entire amount if you had to, don’t sign. But Sexually Transmitted Debt isn’t always passed on intentionally – sometimes your partner may need to stop their repayments because they lose their job but you’ll still be liable, so think twice about taking on financial responsibilities even if you trust your partner completely.

But what if you’ve already been bitten? Finding out that you have an unexpected debt can be a shock, but there are things you can do. Sometimes a court will overturn your liability if you can prove that you didn’t understand what you were signing, but the unfortunate truth is that in 90 per cent of cases you just have to pay up. In that case, contact your creditors and explain the situation – they might help you arrange a payment plan that won’t send your budget into the red. If you need more advice about how to do this, take a look at Your Family Your Money’s articles on debt management for more detailed strategies for eliminating debt and dealing with creditors.

Looking at your partner as a potential financial predator isn’t easy. And the good thing is they usually won’t be. But if your partner cares about you, they’ll understand it’s important to protect your finances – and they’ll want to protect theirs, too! Avoiding taking on unnecessary liabilities can save you a lot of heartache and keep a good relationship strong … and if you are seeing a financial vampire, you’ll be able to keep their fangs out of your bank account.

A quick guide to coping with redundancy

Going through a redundancy is one of the most stressful things a family can face together. It brings some enormous changes and requires a great deal of teamwork for a family to pull through it together, instead of being torn apart. But there is a bright side to redundancy, as it brings the perfect opportunity for a family to make drastic changes, reach powerful decisions and explore options that may never have been considered in less extreme circumstances.

Unemployment figures are predicted to rise throughout 2009 and possibly until the end of 2010; for many families the possibility of facing a redundancy is fast becoming a reality. Looking at such figures is enough to bring despair to many people, yet amid it all there are the success stories – people who deal with redundancy from a positive perspective and demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be a devastating blow to a family. With the proper guidance and a strong support network, a redundancy can be the opportunity of a lifetime, allowing you to shake off the shackles of a ‘career’ and take your life in a positive, new direction.

Take one step at a time
One of the first steps a family needs to take when dealing with a redundancy is rebuilding a positive attitude. New employers are never going to be attracted by a negative demeanor and surviving the sometimes grueling application and interview process as you hunt for a new job in a tough market is absolutely going to need energy and confidence. The flip side of the high unemployment coin is the fact that there are now more people competing for each position advertised, and to stay in the game you’re going to need to change the way you think and behave, becoming a proactive advocate for yourself and your skills, building a network of contacts and brushing up on the art of self-promotion.

A great place to start is with updating your CV. This simple step is a great morale booster – it’s a positive activity that allows you to feel as though you’re taking an active role in tackling the challenge you’ve been faced with and it gives you a chance to rebuild your confidence in your skills and experience. Everything you’ve done, everything you’re capable of achieving, and all of your skills are right there in front of you in black and white. Take a good look at everything you’ve done so far and take a moment to envision what you are able to do in the future. Enjoy this moment – it’s the culmination of years of hard work and experience and you deserve to dream a little as you decide which direction you’re going to take from here. This is one area where family members can offer support as they help you to decide what courses you may need to take to brush up on certain skills, help you to refine your interview technique, look at services that assist in the creation of effective CVs and cover letters, and even give their opinion about which jobs they think you’d be best suited for. The entire family needs to come together and work as a team – everyone will need to dig deep if the family is going to stay strong and united during this time.

Look at new options
It’s tempting to stick with what you know, the same industry, similar roles, similar organisations. It’s comforting because it’s what you’ve been working on for years, you feel it’s what you do ‘best’, but unless you are passionate about it, why waste this opportunity to take a fresh look at the options available to you? The government runs and funds many training programs specially designed to help people transition through redundancy and re-skilling them for new careers in industries where jobs are available. Have a think about whether you want to spend the rest of your life doing what you’ve always done, or whether it’s time to embrace the chance to try your hand at something new. In a very short time you could be heading to your first day in a great new job doing something you love, instead of slogging your way through the nine-to-five grind of doing what you thought you ‘had’ to. Take the plunge, start a new life and embrace everything that the silver lining of the redundancy cloud has to offer!

Women and Money: Do it together for a better relationship

Pssst! Are you interested in spicing up your relationship? Studies have shown that whether you’re newly in love or long-time lovebirds, doing things together can strengthen your relationship, be enjoyable, fulfilling and even good for you! Joint research done by the University of Technology, Sydney, and the University of Bristol revealed that a strong relationship does wonders for your quality of life – even more than being filthy rich will! But if you’re thinking that throwing all your savings away will be the key to happiness, think again, because working together on your financial goals is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a strong relationship. In fact, a recent national survey showed that 47 per cent of people thought that having enough money was more important to the success of their relationship than having enough sex – so while financial intimacy isn’t foremost in the minds of most Australian couples, it’s sure running a hot second!

Many couples have a dedicated ‘date’ night to help keep the romance alive, spending a lot of time and money ensuring that they have a ‘perfect’ night. But what about making a regular date with your partner to start improving your mutual money management so you’re able to enjoy a perfect life? Scheduling a regular time and place to discuss your finances and learn more together is an ideal way to start improving your financial relationship. As in all areas of your love life, communication is the key to success when managing money, because when it comes to financial personalities it seems that opposites really do attract – a recent American study uncovered the fact that ‘savers’ are more likely to be attracted to ‘spenders’ and vice versa and if your soul mate is your polar opposite from a financial perspective you’re going to need to be able to talk to each other to make the relationship work! The same research showed that while these relationships are likely to be more tumultuous they can also be more financially beneficial – two heads are better than one and financially opposite partners can cancel out each other’s weaknesses and create more savings and less debt, if they can work together.

But where do you start? If you’re a beginner the best place to start is by learning the language and The Financial Planning Association of Australia’s website (www.fpa.asn.au) has a great glossary to get you started. Once you’ve mastered some of the basic terms it’s time to stay on top of current affairs by reading financial publications like The Australian Financial Review, Smart Investor and Money and checking out articles and information from reputable financial websites such as Canstar Cannex (www.canstar.com.au) and the Australian Securities Exchange (www.asx.com.au). Oh, and you’ll also find some great articles by heading to the homepage of www.yourfamilyyourmoney.com or www.women-and-money.net!

Finally, regardless of whether you want to improve your financial relationship or your romantic one you have to make a commitment to making it work. Make time every month to discuss your financial progress – and don’t make it a chore. Talking about money can be stressful, especially if you and your partner both have strong opinions about what you should do with it. Most people still think of money as a taboo topic, so if you feel a bit awkward about discussing it, that’s okay. Work out the best way to make working on your finances an enjoyable experience for you and your partner and make a date of it. Try going for a walk or having a nice dinner together to help make the occasion special and if you have kids, include them in the conversation as well because your kids are going to learn most of their money habits from you and we’re confident that you want them to have the best possible financial start in life.

There’s no denying it: building a satisfying relationship takes work. If your love life is getting a little stale, think about working together to improve your financial position – with a bit of effort and commitment you’ll be able to give your relationship the financial security it needs, and develop the teamwork and communication it deserves. And when you’ve got that in order, you’ll be more inclined to devote time to the thing the other half of the population thinks is most important in a relationship!