here&now

Frauds and scams net $36 million a year

$36 million is a lot of money and according to an article on The Age website that’s how much Australians lose every year to “Nigerian scams”.

These sort of scams have been around for years and have moved with the times to follow people on to the Internet, which has given scammers a lot more opportunities to take victims’ money. While there are plenty of variations, the basic ideas are pretty simple – con artists trick people into sending them money, usually overseas, in return for the promise of receiving money or goods.

Some of the stories given are quite elaborate, including money trapped in bank vaults, inheritances from a deceased relative, ‘exclusive’ share offers, multi-billion dollar lotteries and the need to pay bribes to get money through Customs. At the end of the day, they’re all after the same thing: to take your money.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has a great site called SCAMwatch that has up-to-date information on scams and stories of people who have been trapped.

While it might seem daunting to know there are people out there looking to take your money, there are some relatively simple precautions you can take to help keep your money safe.

• Don’t reply to any emails or letters from people you don’t know.
• If someone asks for your credit card or bank account details to process a ‘prize’ or commission then it’s likely to be scam.
• Keep track of your accounts using internet banking and regularly checking your statements.

A growing trend is scamming people who are lonely or looking for companionship. Victims often receive an email from someone claiming to be from Eastern Europe who is looking to find love in Australia. After a few weeks email conversations, there’s often a request to either send money to help pay for an airfare or to help them transfer money out of the country.

Be very careful of sending money to anyone you meet on the internet.

Of course, scammers still use traditional ‘junk mail’ to fleece people of their money. Plenty of people - including my own mum! - get letters in the mail about lottery wins, money in foreign banks and dodgy pyramid schemes.

If you get receive something that seems a little suspect, follow the old adage: if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

Keep up pressure to remove pokies

It was exciting to see this story when I got to work this morning. We’ve all heard the horror stories of people who have become addicted to poker machines – people can lose their car, house and even their families.

While there’s always going to be gambling in our society, poker machines have become an easy cash cow for pubs, clubs and, sadly, many community groups. According to some figures in 2003, more than 10% of the world’s poker machines are in Australia. It’s not uncommon to see hotels open at 9am, and I don’t think people are going there solely for breakfast.

It’s not just the users of poker machines who are addicted – governments, hotels and local groups are addicted to the revenue they bring in. This is one of the biggest obstacles to be overcome if we want to remove poker machines, simply because the taxes and levies on poker machines go into government coffers to be used for healthcare, roads, police, etc.

On top of this, many local sports club use poker machines as an income stream and the removal of the machines would have a big impact on the services they provide- something of vital importance when more of us need to get on the playing field.

So what’s the solution? It would be nice to say that we could simply remove pokies and redirect the money spent on community and family support into healthcare, community groups, police, etc but that isn’t a guaranteed solution. There will always be something else to spend money on, or other forms of gambling to take the place of pokies.

The changes proposed today are a good start to easing the problem. Gradual tax increases won’t legislate against poker machines, but they’ll slowly make them less profitable while still giving hotels and clubs time to develop new business and revenue models.

Being a financial institution, we see a lot of people suffering the after-effects of pokie addiction and it can take years to get back on track after spiralling out of control. The sooner we can come up with a real solution, the better it will be for all concerned.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available in all states and territories.

Retirement – what are you planning?

There was an interesting article in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review (not online, unfortunately) about the lifestyles Australian retirees are adopting. According to the article, far from enjoying their twilight years “SKI-ing” (“spending the kids’ inheritance”) around 62 per cent plan to leave money to their children.

One of the biggest reasons for this is the continual tightening of the real estate market, which many parents fear will prevent their children from getting established. Of course, parents don’t necessarily have to give their children money to help them enter the property market, with products like our Family Guarantee. Nevertheless, a lot of us (parents, that is) feel like giving our kids the best of everything – including the best headstart in their adult lives – is something we want to do.

So what do you have planned for your retirement, if you’re getting close to that age? Are you going to buy a caravan and travel the country, or slow things down and become the unofficial babysitter for any future grandchildren?

It will be interesting to see what people think.

Cheers
Greg

Looking back on 2007

At the start of this year I posted some predictions for what would happen in 2007. With the end of the year approaching fast, it’s time to see how accurate my predictions were.

• The global public will become more aware of the damage we’re doing to our environment and will make even more positive changes to protect it. Pressure will be put on businesses to act, but the changes will take time to filter through.

I think the importance of taking care of our environment is really starting to sink in with people. Big businesses are starting to take note, and governments are beginning to enforce and encourage people to be more sustainable. While it’s true that every little bit helps, we won’t start seeing big improvements to our environmental impact until we significantly shift our main industries – something that will take decades to do an economically-viable way. The recent change of government may also help speed up the rate of change.

• Carbon trading will begin on a small scale, with national and international plans to be considered. Governments won’t be involved in the initial carbon trading schemes, but consumers will recognise green businesses.

The Australian Climate Exchange launched in July and Australia is moving closer to setting firm targets for reducing our carbon emissions.
It’s promising to see more businesses and consumers taking up ‘green’ products. We’ll be launching some new green products early in the new year, so stay tuned.

• Sea levels will continue to rise and more of the Artic and Antarctic regions will disappear, possibly forever.

The risk of rising sea levels leaving millions of people homeless is greater than ever. The repercussions of this would obviously be severe, both for the people directly involved and the countries that would need to care for these ‘environmental refugees’.

• Technology will push change in the finance industry and consumers will have more control over how they interact with their financial institution.

We’re already starting to see technology move quickly, with trials underway around the world into the possibility of using mobile phones instead of credit or debit cards. More people are using SMS technology and Internet Banking to stay in touch with their credit union or bank, and I can only see this increasing as technology develops.

• Big banks will realise what credit unions have known for years: the way to make people happy and loyal is to offer them high levels of customer service and give them the attention they need.

I think this change is being made very quietly as banks start to realise just how important being friendly and open is to people. They finally seem to see the value in opening new branches – something we’ve been doing consistently for years!
Credit unions will always have an advantage over banks when it comes to great service – we don’t exist to make profits for shareholders, just provide excellent products and services to our members.

• Business leaders will open lines of dialogue with their staff to improve morale, customer satisfaction, efficiency and, ultimately, profit. Businesses will change to suit their staff, rather making everyone follow one model.

Employers are almost being forced to do this by the market. With unemployment at the low rate it is at the moment, employees are in a fantastic position to create working environments that suit them. Businesses also need to understand what’s important to people – I mean, what will a prospective employer say when an potential employee asks about their carbon footprint!

• Both Adelaide-based AFL teams will do better than last season!

One out of two isn’t bad! The mighty Power moved from twelfth at the end of the 2006 minor rounds to second in 2007, while the Crows fell from second to eighth. I think it’s best to forget about the finals…

Look out for my predictions for next year early in 2008.

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends.

Greg

Businesses supporting women in the workplace

You may remember some time ago I posted about the reasons women are finding it hard to get ahead in the workforce and the barriers that need to be overcome to create an even playing feed.

I talked about some of the policies our organisation has put in place to make sure work doesn’t overtake family life. Things like job-sharing, working from home and carer’s leave are important to our staff and the initiatives are proving incredibly popular. Men and women have the same opportunities to change their working conditions, with the only difference being maternity leave, which obviously doesn’t apply to men. In its place we have three weeks’ bonding leave for all new dads.

Businesses are noticing the difference too, with many jobseekers now looking for an employer that offers choice for working people with families. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has published its 2007 list of Employers of Choice for Women, and Savings & Loans has been made an appearance for the fifth consecutive year. To see some of the things we’ve been doing to improve the status of women at Savings & Loans, have a look at the article on our website.

There are 131 organisations on this year’s list, ranging from non-profit organisations to international financial and legal companies, an improvement on the list of 116 last year. As well as having policies to support women in their organisation, businesses on the list need to demonstrate the way these policies are put into practice.

It’s great not only to be recognised as an Employer of Choice, but to see that plenty of other businesses are thinking the same way. With unemployment at the low levels we’re seeing, it’s important to offer the best conditions for potential employees. So more than being good for employees, providing opportunities for women to either stay in or re-enter the workforce has some great benefits for employers.

What are things you’d like to see employers offer to make it easier for you to balance your work and other commitments?