The Great Grocery Heist
From July 1, new laws aimed at curbing excessive pricing by large businesses, including supermarkets, come into effect. Better late than never. Australians have watched grocery prices climb without mercy over the years while being repeatedly assured everything is perfectly normal.
Whether the changes tame prices remain to be seen. Coles and Woolworths say they operate in a competitive market. Australian shoppers have their own theory: When a basket of veggies requires a payday loan, something has gone seriously wrong.
Tonight On Fake ABC News
The ABC has warned Australians about scammers creating fake ABC-branded websites and advertisements designed to lure people into bogus investment schemes. The sophistication of the scam, which employs AI images to impersonate ABC personalities, is extraordinary.
The crooks understand something many of us don’t. Trust takes years to build and about five minutes to exploit. If an advertisement promises extraordinary returns, features a familiar media logo and appears on social media, assume somebody is trying to separate you from your hard earned. The scammers are smart. The investment opportunities are not.
Love In The Time Of Bank Transfers
Meanwhile, an investigation by The Guardian has questioned the inconsistent way banks handle reimbursement claims from victims of romance fraud. This follows the truly sad story of an autistic Melbourne woman who lost over $600,000 to a heartless rogue.
The question is what responsibility the banks have when a victim’s funds have disappeared into the digital abyss. Secondly, will the government’s new anti-scam laws, which the Prime Minister has described as “the world’s toughest”, make any difference. The scammers themselves are straightforward villains and building a business model around stealing from lonely people probably should involve being catapulted into the sun.
The Tooth Fairy’s New Business Model
There has been a significant increase in Australians accessing their superannuation early to pay for dental treatment. More than $817.6 million was withdrawn for this purpose in the last financial year with suspicion that some dentists and medical practitioners are using social media to encourage people to raid their super to pay for dental and surgical procedures. This will ultimately have a long-term impact on their retirement savings.
Think about it. Australia has somehow created a system where your teeth and your retirement are now competing for the same dollars. The Tooth Fairy has apparently been seconded to your super fund.
Super Changes. Again.
Just when you thought you’d finally worked out Australia’s superannuation system, along comes another round of changes. From July 1, five significant super reforms kick in. The biggest is “Payday Super”, requiring employers to pay super at the same time as wages rather than every three months. There are also higher contribution caps, super payments attached to parental leave and a new tax applying to balances above $3 million. Here’s a quick explainer.
For most retirees and future retirees, Payday Super is the good news. It should make unpaid super harder to hide and ensure that workers’ money reaches their funds sooner. However, it’s worth considering that our superannuation system resembles an old Holden. Every year somebody tinkers with it, adds another part, removes a different one and assures us it runs better than ever. Does it? Really?
Retirement Living’s Waiting Room
By all accounts, Australia’s retirement living sector is booming as competition surges amongst retirees for a final place to call home. The problem is that retirement village developers can’t keep pace with the demand.
Australia has spent decades watching and talking about our ageing population and, now that it has come to pass, is reacting with surprise. It’s rather like being shocked every December when Christmas rolls around. There are various reasons for this can-of-worms, and they are expertly explained in this article I found at www.hellocare.com.au.
Salty Summary
This week we learned that supermarkets may finally have to explain why a trolley full of groceries costs about the same as a small mining lease, scammers are now impersonating trusted media organisations with alarming skill, and lonely Australians remain prime targets for some of the most despicable crooks on the planet.
Don’t panic. Just remember never trust a supermarket special, an online soulmate or a politician promising to simplify something. Experience suggests all three are likely to cost more than expected.
Someone had to say it!
P.S. In case you missed them:
SMSF Property Dream Meets Bureaucracy
New lending rules have effectively shut the gate on some SMSF property borrowing strategies,
Australia Keeps Producing Australians
The ABS reports Australia’s population continues to grow.
Not Just A Young Person’s Problem
UNSW researchers say Australians over 50 are the group most likely to experience drug overdoses, a reminder that ageing is many things, but apparently not always sensible.
Australia’s Aching Generation
It will be no surprise to anybody who has ever tried standing after gardening for three hours, but new research suggests seniors carry the nation’s heaviest burden of chronic back pain.
Scientists Fight The Next Winter Misery
Researchers at the University of Newcastle are giving Australians hope that future winters might involve fewer tissues and less complaining as they create better defences against respiratory viruses.
