How does Family Tax Benefit really work?
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
It has been a long time coming, but this week I finally made the time to reacquaint myself with how the Family Tax Benefit really works. Having spent a good couple of days looking at government and other websites, it is no surprise to me that many parents have found themselves in the unenviable position of having to pay back excess payments. In recent years there have been so many minor tweaks to the Family Tax Benefit payments and calculations that it is hard to know which numbers and formulae to use. To confuse matters further, there are even discrepancies between government sites on what th ..read more
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Is Pet Insurance worth the money?
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
If you have owned a pet for any length of time, you will know that getting treatment for a sick or injured animal can get very expensive very quickly. According to Animal Medicines Australia, Australians spend $12.2 Billion / year on their pets. When you take purchase costs, food, grooming, toys, vaccination and vet’s bills into account, your average dog would cost roughly $13,000 over the course of its lifetime. From a budget coach perspective, my average client and budget app user allocates approximately $78/ month to their pet jar. This typically covers the annual check-up, food, medication ..read more
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Is private health insurance worth it?
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
One of the most common questions I get as a budget coach is, “Is private health insurance really worth it?” Burdened with big mortgages, rising child care costs and low wage growth, it is only natural that young Australians question if the growing cost of health insurance is really worth it. The problem is there are so many variables, not to mention misinformation, to consider that it is almost impossible to make an objective decision. So in this article I will walk you through the key factors to consider when considering if private health insurance is worthwhile for you.   We have a good ..read more
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Changes to the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate– how will they affect you?
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
If ridiculous house prices and huge mortgages weren’t enough child care costs have also sky rocketed in recent years. With many day care centres now charging upwards of $100/day it is no surprise that young parents get particularly twitchy when the government starts tinkering with the Child Care Subsidies. Over the past couple of weeks, I have had no fewer than a dozen discussions with coaching clients regarding what impact (if any) the proposed new Child Care Subsidies will have on their cash flow. With close to a million families receiving Child Care subsidies this is a big topic, so in this ..read more
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Parents your kids need you to teach them about money
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
Mum and Dad, your kids need you to teach them about money Why does no one teach this stuff? This is the comment I hear from every second coaching client I have ever worked with. The principles of smart money management are so simple, yet here in Australia, 1 in 2 people aged 18- 35 experience financial stress of some kind on a weekly basis…. Yes, you heard it right – 1 in 2 people experience financial stress on a weekly basis. We live in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, yet our younger generations are failing to thrive, financially weighed down by unrealistic lifestyle expectations an ..read more
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Save hundreds of dollars every month with this 5-step meal plan
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
Is your grocery spending killing your household budget? Is food eating all your income!! In this blog, I want to share with you the simple 5 step strategy I give to all my clients to help them significantly reduce the monthly grocery spending. Groceries are typically the biggest are of over expenditure When it comes to the household budget, groceries are easily one of the biggest expenses. Typically, the only thing bigger than our grocery spending is our rent or mortgage repayments. But without a purposeful plan what we spend on groceries can easily get out of hand. As a Budget Coach, I am in ..read more
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How to meal plan to save time and money
Grandma's Jars Blog
by growthlabs
2y ago
If you are a little like me, then it is most likely that you find pleasure in enjoying a good meal. If I had to describe some of my favorite daily habits, it would be eating. I genuinely enjoy eating a well prepared delicious dish any given day. I don’t hold back when it comes to ordering food at a restaurant or getting my grocery shopping done. The setback however, is that I enjoy eating and preparing meals so much that most of the time I tend to overspend paying for expensive dinners at restaurants, or going out of my budget buying ingredients that end up rotting in the pantry. I got into a ..read more
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Buying a house – start by understanding your cash flow
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
Buying a house – working out what you can afford So, you want to buy a house but have no idea what you can afford? In this article I will take you step by step through the exact process I use with all my clients to help them work out work out what they can truly afford to spend when buying a house. The great thing about this process is that my goal is not to give advice, but rather to let the numbers speak for themselves.   Meet Colin and Kate: Colin and Kate are a young couple in their late 20’s; they have been renting for 5 years and over that time have managed to save $135,000. The own ..read more
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So you want to save money and get out of debt, have you considered a budget coach?
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
You want to save money, get rid of the credit card debt and hopefully one day buy a house but you have no idea how to make it happen. You have tried budgeting but weren’t sure you were doing it right and every time you felt like you were starting to save money some unexpected expense would blow your budget out of the water. Oh yeah and then there is the whole ‘will power’ and ‘discipline’ thing, you want to save money, you want to eliminate your debt but it is so hard to resist the temptation to spend. If this is you, then perhaps you should consider taking on a budget coach.   What ..read more
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Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Setting Up a Household Budget
Grandma's Jars Blog
by Phil McGilvray
2y ago
So your finances aren’t going quite as well as you had hoped, the bills are rolling in and despite earning an okay income you never seem to save us much as you would like. You have been thinking about it for a while, you have been putting it off but desperate times call for desperate measures (deep breath) – it is time to set up a household budget! Excellent decision, if you do it properly a household budget will rock your financial world, you will always have the money to pay your bills as they turn up, you will be able to pay off your debt, save consistently and achieve important financial g ..read more
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