Survey Says: Aussies Clueless on Where $59 of Their Budget Go Every Week
Posted May 24th, 2010
Are you aware of where your spending goes? Apparently most Australians are not. A new survey reveals that Australians overspend by about 30%, without understanding where that money goes.
Do you know where your monthly expenditure goes? A new survey has revealed that on average, Australians are unaware as to where $59 go per week. This new survey has revealed that although most people are trying to stay on a strict budget, Australians lose up to one third of their allocated weekly expenses, and they have no idea where that money goes!
Survey findings
Visa has recently surveyed over 1,000 Aussies as part of a wider survey where they spoke to 12,000 adults about their personal finance, personal spending and savings habits. The Australians have one of the highest national rates for “unaccountable cash spending”.
Australians spend $176 per person per week, of which $59 is unaccounted for. This means that every year Australians spend $3068 per year which is unaccounted for.
In a statement, Visa said, “The figure is more than double the international average in the survey which shows a cash spend of $120 per week with $24 not accounted for”.
Other nations
The survey found that other nations performed better at tracking their personal finance and personal spending. The Japanese and the Americans were the best at recording their personal spending. The Japanese recorded a mere 7 per cent lost cash while the Americans only lost 9%.
The survey also found that a person’s gender tends to impact where the overspending will occur – women tend to overspend when shopping for groceries, while men tend to overspend when socialising or drinking.
How to track your expenditure
If you would like to keep tighter control over personal finance, you can do so in a number of ways. One of the easiest ways to keep tighter control on the reins of spending is to simply use a debit or credit card for each transaction.
If you use a debit or credit card to pay for each transaction – no matter how small, then you will be able to monitor your monthly statement to scrutinize where you spent your money. By reconciling your statements each month, you will be able to understand where you are over-spending and where you could possibly think of cutting back a bit.
Using a credit card for most of your transactions also means that you will be able to earn greater rewards points, which you can then redeem for goods and services of your choice, whether it is merchandise, shopping vouchers, cash back or any of the other rewards on offer.
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Credit Card Offer Comparison
| Interest Rate (p.a.) | Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.) | Annual Fee | Cash Advance Rate (p.a.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bankwest Breeze MasterCard | A low interest rate on everyday purchases with a low balance transfer offer | 0% for 4 months (reverts to 11.99% ) | 0% for 6 months | $59 | 21.99% |   |
Citibank Clear Platinum Card | A low interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases | 0% for 6 months (reverts to 11.99% ) | 0% for 6 months | $49 annual fee for the first year ($99 thereafter) | 21.74% | |
St.George Vertigo | An introductory offer on balance transfer and a low annual fee | 13.24% | 2.99% for 6 months | $0 annual fee for the first year ($55 thereafter) | 21.49% | |
Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card | Earn 1 velocity point per $1 spent, plus an introductory offer on balance transfers | 20.99% | 2.9% for 6 months | $129 | 20.99% | |
Westpac 55 Day Credit Card | No annul fee for the first year with a low rate on balance transfers and purchases | 0% for 5 months (reverts to 19.59% ) | 0.99% for 9 months with 1% handling fee | $0 annual fee for the first year ($30 thereafter) | 21.49% | |
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