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On the back of Christmas and school holidays, the back to school season can be tough on the household budget. Here are a few tips for the cost-conscious. 

After a long summer break, it’s time to send the kids back to school. For some parents, the thought may bring relief – until they consider the costs.

Depending on their age and stage, the kids’ new school year can bring a lengthy list of things that need to be bought in a relatively short time. From new shoes to books, it all adds up. Here are a few ways to make it less painful on the hip pocket. 

1. Look into state-based vouchers for activities 

Governments know paying for school activities can be costly and have a series of schemes to help parents pay for the costs associated with things like sport. Often, they’re state-based and vary depending on factors like where you live and how many school-aged kids you have. 

• In NSW, look at Creative Kids and Active Kids, which offer $100 vouchers for activities like music lessons and sport. 
• Victoria has a similar sports-based scheme called Get Active, which gives parents $200 towards registration and membership-type fees.  
• Queensland’s version is called Fair Play and offers vouchers of up to $150. 
• In Western Australia, there’s KidSport, which similarly gives out vouchers up to $150 to eligible families. 
• South Australia has Sports Vouchers of up to $100, which can be used for dance and swim lessons, too
• Tasmania’s Ticket to Play has two $100 vouchers on offer for kids’ membership fees. 
• The Northern Territory also offers two $100 Sport and Swim vouchers, which can be redeemed for sports and cultural activities. 

2. Consider second-hand gear or hand-me-downs

School uniforms and books are expensive, but the costs can be slashed if you’re willing to buy second hand. 

Often, deals can be found on social media community groups, school notice boards and at the school uniform shop. 

If you have friends with older children, asking for their hand-me-down uniforms and shoes could also result in a huge savings. 

3. Look online

While many of us are in the habit of heading to the stationery store at the end of the school holidays, buying supplies online could be cheaper if you shop around. Some online suppliers also offer discounts for buying in bulk, which may suit you if you have a co-op of fellow school parents who need a year’s worth of supplies. 

4. Sell or trade last year’s gear

If you have newish school shoes, but really need shorts and a sport shirt, you could try to swap by asking around or joining a community group. 

Online parents’ groups often also have people selling last year’s uniforms and books, so you could consider putting the stuff you don’t need up for sale. 

5. Set up a fund for future costs 

If finding the extra cash for school supplies is particularly challenging, you could consider setting up a fund and putting a small amount towards next year’s big spend each week, fortnight or month. 

If you can spare an extra $20 a week, that’s more than $1000 over the course of a year, which could help take the pressure off next February. Take a look at our savings accounts to make the most out of your money.

Building a healthy relationship with money from an early age is important for financial empowerment in the future. Parents, no matter their financial situation, have the power to influence how their kids interact with money.

You don’t have to be an expert, and you don’t even need to dole out pocket money. It can be as simple as introducing them to the concepts of earning, spending, saving, and donating. 

You can gently expose them to your financial habits and decisions and make a point of letting them handle some cash to watch it grow or diminish on a trip to the shops – something that is especially important in this age of digital payments like Tap & Go cards or through your phone.

Here are some other top tips to get kids started on their money journeys.

• Introduce them to the nature of your work, how you earn money, and why – to keep the household running, to pay for their school and sport, to save for holidays
• Get them involved in decisions – what do they think are the necessities, what are the needs of the family, and what are the wants
• Choose a charity cause that you donate to or fundraise for together to teach them about the concept of sharing and helping others
• Have a money date night at home where everyone picks something they want to save for
• If you can afford it, offer the chance to earn pocket money for chores, and make sure to withhold it if tasks are not complete – they can choose to spend, save, or donate
• Research an item they want together, and try to find the best price – have conversations with them about putting things off until sale times or a big milestone event like a birthday or Christmas.

Learning to save has never been so easy with Police Bank’s Dynamo children’s saving account, available up to 12 years of age. With no monthly account keeping fees, depositing just $5 a week will receive a bonus rate of interest to accelerate savings (T&Cs apply).

Sometimes checking in on the mortgage – and making adjustments – can be the key to home loan savings. Here are a few ideas.

With interest rates going up, many homeowners are looking for new ways to reduce mortgage stress. Here are some handy tips to tweak your mortgage and adjust to consecutive rate rises. 

1. Make home loan features work for you

If you have a home loan that includes a redraw account, offset account, or line of credit, now could be a good time to investigate how you could use these features more effectively. For example, some customers use several offset accounts to reduce the amount of interest they pay each month, while saving at the same time. Offset accounts – which can be transaction accounts – counterbalance or ‘offset’ the interest you pay. Importantly, it has to work for you and your budgeting.  

2. Look at your repayment frequency 

If you’re making your loan repayments every month, you could consider reducing the frequency to fortnightly. That way, you’re paying off a smaller amount, but chipping away at more of the principal.

3. Consider fixing your rate

If you think interest rates are likely to rise further in the new year, it could also be worth considering a fixed-rate loan. Fixed loans lock in an interest rate for a set period of time. Keep in mind, after the fixed term expires, the rate reverts to whatever the standard variable rate is at the time. 

Some borrowers like the certainty of having a fixed rate because they know what their repayments will be for the fixed term and can budget accordingly. Take a look at our Police Bank rates here.

4. Think about planning the year around windfalls

Another strategy for bringing down the repayments is trying to take a chunk out of the principal you owe. 

It’s not always easy if you’re using a fixed salary to pay off the loan, which is why some customers use windfalls like tax refunds, dividends, or inheritance to pay down the mortgage more quickly.

General advice only. 

Welcome to the January edition of Spotlight.

As we all return to normality after the holidays – and repair our budgets after an expensive time of year – we look at some smart ways getting the kids back to school can be managed financially. While we’re focused on kids, we also look at how parents can start having money conversations with their children, from pocket money through to earning it and saving for a special something.

We also know that interest rates continue to be a topic of conversation for our members both on the clock and around the barbeque. We have a piece this month on how you can housekeep your home loan to make it work for you as much as it can. And if you – like many Australians – locked their fixed rates a couple of years ago and have your fixed rate period maturing this year, please know we’re here to help you navigate through the new, higher, interest rates. To do that, we’ve set our three-year home loan rate as one of the lowest in the country. Just give us a call.And finally, we have recently been awarded Mozo’s 2023 Experts Choice Award for Best Unsecured Personal Loan. We’ve included a piece on just why a loan is considered market leading, so you can understand why we continue to receive national recognition for our competitive product suite.

All the best for 2023. We will continue to build the bank that services you best, starting with a new website that will be live in the coming weeks. Watch this space!

Greg McKenna

Surging house and rental prices have forced essential workers to move further away from the inner-city areas where their jobs are predominantly located, and even when they can buy many live in rental or mortgage stress.

It’s great to see this latest Australian Financial Review piece on how our Essential Workers Home Loan Scheme is tackling the issue of housing affordability for police, nurses, first responders, teachers and more.

In partnership with HOPE Housing Funds Management, our Essential Worker Home Loan Scheme gives essential workers the chance to own their own home closer to their place of work.

You can read the full interview with HOPE’s Tim Sims below, thanks to James Thomson for shining a light on this “combination of capital, skills and technology to bridge the gap between philanthropy and investment”.

Read the full article here.

If you are interested in learning more or even applying for our Essential Workers Home Loan, click here.

Police Bank has been on a necessary journey of renewal. While the first phase was to stabilise and then improve the culture, financial performance, and risk management practices of the bank, it also included planning for the transformation of the bank’s technology systems and offerings.
The technological transformation remains critical because even though banking is a human business, our members are increasingly choosing contactless or digital channels.

Indeed, of the almost three million transactions we do each month, between half and two-thirds are undertaken using the bank’s payments tools. Another chunk of the bank’s transactions are via the mobile app, which does around 15% of the bank’s total volume. Internet banking is responsible for around 3 to 5% of transactions, while around 0.07% of transactions are undertaken in branch.

Overall, we are becoming a modern digital bank – because that’s how our members want to manage their money.
Critically, the channel choice most of our members have used for years is our app. Members told us we needed to get better at our technology if we are going to remain competitive – if we are going to be sustainable in the years ahead and continue to contribute to our Police community, to help members and their families get into a home or save for the future – we had to rebuild all our technology.

While the primary focus has been on the core banking system and our loan and deposit systems, we also had to update our mobile banking app due to the provider withdrawing the platform from the market.
If we could have dictated the timeline, we would have changed over the mobile banking app in around 12 months when we changed our core banking system. But we had no choice other than to launch it in September.
As a purpose-driven organisation driving long-term communal goals for our members, we must work with partners who provide capability that Police Bank otherwise doesn’t have.

We do that across so many parts of the bank, and it usually works, but when it came to the mobile banking app we could not seamlessly deliver with our partner – what was released didn’t match either the promise of what we had planned, or the performance in user-acceptance testing.
That has been frustrating and disappointing. At the heart of our transformation are our members and our team, and as a bank we let both you and our team down.

We have worked hard to fix the bugs over the past eight weeks and while there is a little more work to do, the vast majority of issues are now resolved.
Over the next 12 months, the bank’s modernisation will continue.
That will provide us the opportunity to offer better lending and higher deposit rates and will help Police Bank continue to serve our members the way they deserve, and in keeping with the way you, our members, serve our community.

As banking moves increasingly online, it’s important to stay vigilant in protecting your digital accounts and personal information. Here are some scams to watch out for:

Hi Mum scams

Scamwatch is urging the public to be wary of phone messages from a family member or friend claiming they need help, following a significant rise in “Hi Mum” scams in recent months. Victims are contacted – most often through WhatsApp – by a scammer posing as a family member or friend.

More than 1000 Australians fell victim to the so-called “Hi Mum” scam in the first seven months of this year, with total reported losses of $2.6 million. The vast majority of these scams were reported in June and July 2022.

Investment scams

In the past year, scammers have become far more sophisticated in the tactics they use, with more than $700m lost to investment scams in 2021, data from the ACCC shows.

Scamwatch statistics showing more than $35 million lost to phony cryptocurrency schemes last year, demonstrating the need to double check unregulated investments like crypto are genuine.

Ways to avoid being scammed

• Build a network of reputable sources – including your bank, the ACCC’s Scamwatch, ASIC, your super fund, and your financial adviser, if you have one. Use these sources to check whether opportunities are legitimate.
• Watch for imposters – scammers sometimes try to impersonate reputable sources so look closely at the URL of messages, don’t click links on emails or messages unless you’re certain who it is from, and don’t be afraid to make a phone call to confirm a message is from an authentic source.
• Beware of social media – if you’re using it for financial advice or investment tips, get a second opinion from a trusted source like your bank, ASIC or the ACCC.
• Use extra caution with unregulated investments – when a market isn’t regulated (like cryptocurrency), it can be easier for fraudsters to imitate real investment opportunities.
• Use the “is it too good to be true?” test – is someone is promising a huge return for little risk? It can pay to use extra caution in these instances. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Identity theft

This year we’ve seen multiple major Australian companies taken down by cyber-attacks, and one way or another you’ve probably been caught up in the fall out. Some steps you can take to protect your personal information include:

• Secure your devices and monitor for unusual activity
• Change your online account passwords and enable multi factor authentication for banking
• Check your accounts for unusual activity such as items you haven’t purchased
• Place limits on your accounts or ask you bank how you can secure your money
• If you suspect fraud, you can request a ban on your credit report.

More information about how to protect yourself is available on the OAIC website.

If you are concerned that your identity has been compromised or you have been a victim of a scam, contact us immediately along with IDCARE on 1800 595 160. IDCARE is Australia’s national identity and cyber support service, to get expert advice from a specialist identity and cyber security service.

You can also report scams to Scamwatch www.scamwatch.gov.au and check cyber.gov.au for more information about cyber security.

So, it is important to identify the vulnerabilities that might mean the holiday period may not be a countdown to a celebration, but could be 25 days of awareness, reflection, preparation and selfcare.

DAY 1 – Family dynamics. The holiday period is often considered a time when families unite for barbeques and games of backyard cricket. Families are complex and complicated. Uniting of the family can mean competing personalities and opinions and can highlight absences or remind us of divide. Be aware of these complexities and manage your expectations going into family events.

DAY 2 – Holiday celebrations can often remind us of the loss of loved ones. It can be hard to find joy and celebration when you are grieving the loss of a loved one, or the memories of holidays past might bring sadness. Don’t push these feelings away, be with them, and be kind to yourself. Honour memories, reflect on joyful memories past.

DAY 3 – Mental health conditions don’t take holidays. In fact, mental health can be challenged by the holiday period. Increase in noisy environments, large group gatherings, less down time or alone time. Be aware of your mental health vulnerabilities and prioritise your mental health.

DAY 4 For those who live away, or find themselves away from family and friends or do not have family, friends to connect with during the holiday period. This can heighten feelings of isolation and loneliness. Try and engage in community-based celebrations.

DAY 5 – In the aftermath of covid, and in the face of growing interest rates many people find themselves facing this holiday season with substantial financial stress and hardship. This can add extra pressure leading up to what is already a very expensive time. Set yourself a budget to manage the expenses associated with the holiday period.

DAY 6 – In a world that is surrounded by so many forms of social media, it is inevitable that people will draw comparisons between their real and messy everyday lives and the constant stream of glamourous Christmas parties, extravagant presents, perfectly dressed children, perfectly wrapped presents and luxury holidays that bombard their feeds. Remind yourself that these images represent a second in time, they cannot and do not show the reality, complexity, unpredictability, emotion or struggle of the other 23 hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds of that person’s day.

DAY 7 – The holiday period can signal a time of excess for many people, and provide the perfect excuse to justify their indulgences. Excessive food, alcohol and gifts become the focus of the holiday period. The holiday period is no different from any other time and moderation is always key.

DAY 8 – The gift of giving seems to have been lost in recent years. The fear of buying an inadequate or unwanted gift is rectified by grabbing a hand full of gift vouchers from Westfield and allowing the recipient to shop for their perfect gift themselves. The power of giving, and the perfect gift can be found in the thought, the reflection of a conversation and the relationship with the recipient and the joy of knowing your words are heard.

DAY 9 – There are many ways to give. One way is to use this holiday to give your time making the holiday period one of joy for others. Volunteering your time to give to Communities or people less fortunate. Spend time at Wesley Mission, preparing lunch for the homeless, or if it isn’t time you can give, organise some donated gifts and take them to your local Children’s Hospital for those spending the holiday period in hospital.

DAY 10 – We can get so caught up in the things at Christmas, we forget about the people. Use the opportunity to reach out to others who are find themselves alone and offer them a seat at your holiday table.

DAY 11 – If you don’t have the time or money to support others, there is still a great way to give to those less fortunate. Ask for a charity donation instead of a gift this year. The gift that keeps on giving

DAY 12 – Contemplate the difference between loneliness and being alone. During this holiday period we may be surrounded by people but still feel incredible loneliness.

DAY 13 – In thinking about what gift to give others, think about what you could gift yourself during the holiday season. Consider your personal needs and ensure they are balanced with those of others.

DAY 14 – Holidays do not equal automatic happiness, nor should they. Allow whatever emotions that come up for you to be present.

DAY 15 – Time out, down time, you time, alone time. Take it when you need it.

DAY 16 – When you are sweating the small stuff. Comparisons might help. When you are focused on insisting the prawns are served on ice, or that all the glassware matches, use the opportunity to compare your holiday worries to those who are homeless, or those who are fighting a war.

DAY 17 – Quality not quantity. It has almost become a sport, the night before Christmas semi-final of whose kid’s present pile is bigger and the grand final, who got the most expensive present battle between teenage friends. Try this as an alternative, buy your child 4 small things   – something to read, something they need, something they want and something to wear.

DAY 18 – There is no time like the present (the pun is intentional). Use this time to mend or heal broken or strained relationships.

DAY 19 – Find the silver lining, every cloud has one and with all this rain, there are plenty to be found.

DAY 20 – Gratitude. We can get caught up on the holiday stress. In the lead up to the holidays use each day to practice gratitude. Use these prompts to get you started.

My favourite song

Something I find comfort in

My favourite thing in nature

DAY 21 – Create traditions. This is a great time of year to create traditions, A night before Christmas movie. Carols in the Domain and a walk around the harbour, Christmas morning with the neighbours. Find a new tradition this year.

DAY 22 – Get involved in the community holiday spirit. Visit local streets that have Christmas lights displayed, go the local Christmas carols, see Santa at your local shops.

DAY 23 – Make gifts that also second as a great family activity. Craft a gift, bake cookies, or craft a cookie box for the baked cookies and gift both.

DAY 24 – Set realistic expectations for the holiday period. Ever expected to wake up on Christmas morning in a perfectly matching pyjamas and have children wake you up after a fully rested 10-hour sleep, have a freshly brewed coffee waiting downstairs and the perfect present you always wanted and didn’t even have to hint for? Be realistic that Christmas Day is like any other day, only more pressure.

DAY 25 – What is the real meaning of the holiday period? This answer will be different depending on who is reading this. Make sure at its core, that the holidays encompass the true value to you.