When my home insurance policy recently came up for renewal I thought it a good time to check that I was adequately covered. It turns out I wasn't because I live in a high risk bush fire zone and changes in building standards and regulations mean that replacement homes must be built to better withstand natural disasters – which add to the rebuild cost.  The average cost of rebuilding homes ha... read more>

Just when you thought you had a handle on the whole Gen Y, Gen X and Millenial speak, along comes Failure-To-Launch kids. It’s a very disparaging term I feel to describe young people who don’t move out of home at a time when house and rent prices in Australia are so high. I have 3 teenagers, boys 19 and 17 and a daughter 15. I felt acutely aware that my small brick veneer home wasn’t big ... read more>

ELECTRICITY Talking Point: Wild weather stirs up serious energy debate Publication: The Mercury One-sentence summary: THE fact extreme weather can kill us and destroy homes, crops and infrastructure is reason enough to be anxious when it descends.   HEALTH HIF offers third gender category on forms Publication: Insurance Business Online One-sentence summary: A Perth-based... read more>

  The Federal Government should force the big banks to introduce tracker loans as part of a package of measures to curtail their massive profits according to Kevin Young, President of Property Club, Australia’s largest independent property group. Tracker loans are popular in the UK and Ireland where banks have to guarantee they will follow interest rate movements by the Central  Bank. ... read more>

THE CLOWN PURGE Just when you were starting to get your head around Pokemon Go and the iPhone 7 comes the creepy clown craze that has America and now Australia on high alert. A series of creepy clown sightings across the US in recent months has caused a wave of hysteria in several states, forcing police and schools to scramble to contain spreading jitters, and even the White House to wei... read more>