Barbara Drury - Sorting Out Your Finances For Dummies

Sorting Out Your Finances For Dummies

by Barbara Drury

Australian Edition

Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

Sorting Out Your Finances For Dummies

Australian edition published 2008 by Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd 42 McDougall Street Milton, Qld 4064 www.dummies.com

Copyright 2008 Wiley Publishing Australia Pty Ltd

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data

Author:Drury, Barbara.

Title:Sorting out your finances for dummies.

ISBN:978 0 731 40746 0 (pbk).

Series:For dummies

Notes:Includes index.

Subjects:Finance, personal.

Dewey number:333.024

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About the Author

Barbara Drury is a personal finance and business writer for publications in Australia and overseas. She is a regular contributor to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and writes for a number of financial newsletters and corporate publications. She is the author of Personal Finance For Dummies and co-wrote The Fairfax Experience: What the Management Texts Didnt Teach Me with Fred Hilmer, also published by Wiley.

Barbara began her career in journalism more than 20 years ago as a staff writer for publications including the Australian Financial Review , The Australian and The Sun newspaper in Sydney. For a time she crossed over to the dark side to produce business television programs in Australia and in London, before returning to Australia to produce two gorgeous sons.

These days Barbara freelances from her home office on the New South Wales north coast. When shes not writing, she can be spotted on the sidelines at junior soccer, serving chips and ice-cream at the school canteen, and being dragged along the beach by a hyperactive labrador.

Dedication

To Roman and Will, who would like me to spend more time fishing with them, but understand when I need to stay indoors and write.

Authors Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the team at John Wiley & Sons Australia, who had the faith in me to commission a second, revised edition of this book. Thanks especially to Acquisitions Editor Charlotte Duff, who convinced me to revisit Personal Finance For Dummies , to Project Editor Kerry Davies, whose attention to detail gave this big-picture person great comfort, and to all at Wiley who worked behind the scenes to make this book possible.

Publishers Acknowledgments

Were proud of this book; please register your comments through our Online Registration Form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial and Media Development

Project Editor: Kerry Davies

Acquisitions Editor: Charlotte Duff

Editorial Manager: Gabrielle Packman

Production

Layout and Graphics: Wiley Composition Services, Wiley Art Studio

Cartoons: Glenn Lumsden

Proofreader: Joy Montgomery

Indexer: Max McMaster, Master Indexing

Introduction

W elcome to Sorting Out Your Finances For Dummies, Australian Edition. Based on the title Personal Finance For Dummies, which I wrote in 2001, this is a book Ive needed at various stages of my life. And, from conversations Ive had with colleagues and friends, I know its a reference almost everyone needs at times. As I began to revise and update the original title six years later, I was struck by how quickly the financial landscape had altered. Not only have superannuation and taxation been comprehensively overhauled, but the Internet has morphed from a novelty into an everyday tool of financial management.

Part of my job as a freelance personal finance writer is to demystify a subject many people find not only mysterious, but intimidating. Part of the problem with money is that people dont talk about it openly. Moneys a private thing and, thanks to electronic banking, credit cards, home computers and the Internet, its almost invisible.

When money is virtual, and whizzes in and out of bank accounts at speed faster than light, few people know exactly how much money they have coming in each month, how much they spend and how much they have left to save, invest or play with. Its little wonder many people feel a twinge of anxiety every time a credit card statement arrives.

The aim of this book is to give you the information and the tools you need to manage your money and reach your financial goals. As the shampoo advertisement says, It wont happen overnight, but it will happen. Then, when your personal finances are on track, you can stop worrying about money and start living life to the full.

About This Book

I believe money should be approached on a need-to-know basis. Apart from those born with the accountancy gene, very few people want to know about money. But there are times in your life when you need answers to personal financial questions. When youre six, you need to know how many jelly snakes you can buy with $1. As you get older, the questions get more complex and the answers dont taste as good.

In a sense, this book answers the questions Ive been asking professionally and personally for more than 20 years.