Comfort with Money

In my past life I was the secretary of a charity (which is still going) where no one was on the payroll, including me, so I have an impression (i.e. no research done!) that Australia and Australians are remarkably generous. Our government commits significant sums to international foreign aid, and as individuals we contribute generously to domestic charities. We have a lot of charities in our country and the fact that they seem to continue to grow in number supports my impress

How you spend your money is highly personal as long as we are discussing “discretionary spending”, which is that amount left after the so-called necessities of life – food, shelter, safety – are paid for. Early this year I wrote about opportunity cost but there is also a non- financial opportunity cost associated with holiday house ownership. If you feel obliged to holiday on the Gold Coast because you own a unit there you give up the opportunity of going to Honolulu, South A

I have several friends who own timeshare entitlements and at the time of purchase, probably in the 1980’s, the significant marketing push relied on reciprocity. You could transfer your entitlement in Noosa, Surfers Paradise or Moreton Bay to the same time spent in Hawaii, Whistler or Chamonix at no extra cost. I’m sure that some of them are very pleased to still own their share but those who have long since given up on the idea of time share in favour of expanding their horiz

As a whole, Australians have a reputation for being generous, especially in the area of foreign aid. Where they have a reputation for being misery bags, even at home, is in the area of tipping. Sixty years ago I traveled through Italy on my way home from a working spell in the UK and I can still remember how disturbed I was at the aggression towards me when I either failed to leave any tip or failed to leave enough of one to satisfy the blokes who had given me service. When I