2017 - A Time To Reflect
As 2017 comes to a close it’s time to reflect on the year that was - and what a year it was for the FiftyUp Club! 
There are now more than 300,000 of us in the Club and there were plenty of examples of people power in action in 2017. Here’ are some of the highlights:
January
Energy prices were to be the story of the year and we kicked off 2017 by coming up with these 5 ways to save money on your energy bill – also appropriate now that we’re back into the warmer months:
1. Rethink the beer fridge - Potential saving: up to $300
2. Adjust your thermostat - Potential saving: up to $400
3. Count Your Lucky Stars -Potential saving: up to $200
4. Go nocturnal - Potential saving: Up to $500
5. At least be prepared to move suppliers - Potential saving: Up to $800
February
We launched a Telco survey that produced the following results:
- 74% of FiftyUps still have a landline
- 72% of respondents have changed providers before
- 21% say the most annoying thing about telcos is "The difficulty in finding someone to talk to when I have a problem".
In our ‘Fair Go for FiftyUps’ campaign we were hoping to hit the grand total of 250,000 members and we smashed it thanks to you!
The campaign revealed that 1 in 3 over-50s are not receiving energy discounts despite more than half of them rating energy bills as their most stressful household bill. When asked what level of discount you were receiving, it was revealed:
- 36% receive no discount whatsoever,
- 25% enjoy just 1–10% discount
- and just 8% are receiving discounts of over 20%
March
By March we had Victoria and Queensland joining us on the Talking Lifestyle Network, meaning our daily radio show was being heard all up and down the east coast of Australia.
April
Like death and taxes, health cover premium increases are inevitable these days and they come every April 1 - this time by an average 4.8% or about $200 for a family or couple. Hundreds of our members used the Club's special offers to deal with the increase, shopping around to see if they could save on their health costs.
Research by Professor Allan Fels also found some households could be paying as much as $1700 more than an identical home next door for Home & Contents Insurance! So we shared our 8 tips for saving money on Home & Contents as well as Car insurance, including "Shop around, or you’re a sitting duck", and "Mystery-shop your own provider".
May
You told us in our Cost of living survey which bills were causing you the most stress and the results were: Private Health Insurance followed by Electricity. When asked 'How easy or difficult do you find the current cost of living?', 50.5% said quite difficult and 20.8% said very difficult.
To try and help with a couple of bills that are hard to avoid, we published two of our most popular money-saving articles of the year:
June
In response to ongoing stress about rising power prices, we came up with 50 great ideas to help keep your power usage — and electricity charges — down, as news broke that some people are skipping meals and medical appointments so they can pay their winter energy bill. We also launched the FiftyUp Club Power Price Wall of Truth where you dobbed in your energy retailer's price rises.
July
The second-biggest power price rises on record for millions of Australians arrived in July, especially in NSW and SA.
The beginning of the new financial year always brings price rises and here’s what we found out, state by state.
- South Australians forked out more for public transport as did NSW residents while in Queensland the cost of car registration went up.
- Victorians benefited from stamp duty cuts but the cost of a new car has jumped 1 per cent or $300 for a $30,000 vehicle.
- Western Australian members, water and sewerage prices have climbed 6% and driver’s licences increased also by 1.7%.
August
In response to the power price rises in July, we launched our new Power Up & Save Campaign with the Today Show, which saw over 8000 people and small businesses join in its first 24 hours!
Throughout August we travelled the country talking to housholds, small businesses and community organisations about how they were coping with the world's highest power prices.
September
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met with energy retailers, who have agreed to contact over 2 million customers currently getting no discount to inform them a better power deal is available.
We teamed with comparison websites mozo.com.au and Whistleout.com.au to bring you regular savings tips such as:
- How Mozo's Kirsty saved $4500 p.a. on her Mortgage+
- Whistleout’s Top NBN Plans for FiftyUps
- Mozo's Highest Term Deposit Rates+
- NBN: The #1 mistake to avoid
October
As members told us they wanted more grocery savings tips, one of our popular savers articles this year was about ALDI. We listed the top tricks to finding the best bargains in the German discount supermarket.
Then there was the price hack that could save you $600 on health insurance.
November
I received a massive energy bill in November but with one phone call I was able to reduce it by 44%, which just goes to show that it never hurts to ask for a better deal - one of the things I've learnt from working here at the FiftyUp Club.
Journalist Tim McIntryre learnt the same lesson when he saved $275 by making a single phone call questioning his insurance renewal in our article 'How to save $275 with one phone call'.
December
And that brings us to this month.
On behalf of all of us at the Club, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We're taking two weeks off and we'll be back in January.
When it comes to money saving highlights or lowlights for 2017, share your thoughts below:
