So the banks are the focus of a traditional post RBA rate movement ‘bashing’ which is understandable as Australian’s will generally be effected in some way or another because they either

1/ have a home loan

2/ have savings account or a term deposit

3/ are a shareholder

Now banks provide a service and Australian banks are as strong as any in the world which was demonstrated through the GFC as other banks around the world were defaulting. Now as per any other business, banks are out there to make money for their owners, ie their shareholders of which many Australians are either directly or through their superannuation funds and if you are not all in cash or self manage your fund the chances are you are invested in them as well.

But just as a business like your local supermarket, they have a product to sell. To enable them to have this product to sell they need to buy that product and the difference between how much they buy the product for and sell the product for is their margin which the use to generate a profit which they can then return to their owners/shareholders. The banks product is however lending money, so to lend money they have to buy money…… to buy money the banks can do several things, one of which is borrow it from depositors, ie savings accounts and term deposits for a certain interest rate and then lend that money out at a different  interest rate. The difference of which is the margin they keep for the service.

Competition among the banks for the consumers money ie term deposits and debt will push this margin down and ensure the consumers win but the banks will also always try to keep this margin at a suitable level to keep their owners/shareholders happy.

The trick is to remember that when all this noise is out there – the effect of how the bank reacts to reserve bank cash rate changes will differ for each person, depending on whether you are a borrower, depositor or shareholder.

How do interest rate changes affect you?

Alisdair Barr is the founder of Future Map, a dynamic financial literacy program focused on building life planning and financial literacy skills in the workplace. Having held senior leadership roles for the last 10 years at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, he is passionate about reducing complexity and helping to map out a better future for all Australians. More from Alisdair on www.futuremap.com.au

10thousandgirl, together with Beautiful Minds and Savvy Sassy She are offering together a full day break out workshop suitable for professional women, mothers and teen daughters.

Perfect for women of all ages and financial stages  looking to create or review your goals, build your confidence, improve your personal finances or discover fun tools and systems to help you implement your plans – a refreshingly inspiring day!

Topics include:

• First Impressions, Confidence & Public Speaking (Teens)
• Building Confidence & Resilience Personally and Professionally (Mothers & Professionals)
• Creating and Planning Inspiring Life Goals (All)
• Managing your Personal Finances (All)
• Mother & Daughter: Relationship Bonding Q&A & Conflict Resolution (Mothers & Teens)
• Making it Stick – Systems for Your Success (Professionals)

Share this event with your friends and give them the knowledge and tools to empower their own lives. They could help be part of your ongoing accountability system and imagine what a positive impact this could have on our friends lives, direction and success!

THE INVESTMENT?

All of this for less than the price of a pair of good shoes. What is confidence in yourself, clarity of your future, practical inspiration and the tools to succeed in your life vision worth to you?

Limited seats available so book now to secure yours or a friend’s! http://sydneylifeplanningworkshop200512-eorg.eventbrite.com/

WHERE & WHEN?

Sydney, Sunday 20th May 2012
9.00am-4.00pm
Paddington

I love photography. I love looking at a photos, playing with photos, creating cards and gifts with photos and of course, taking photos.

Last year I made my gorgeous mum a special birthday present. Working in secret with some of her sisters, I gathered photos, old and new, scanned them into the digital age and had a calendar printed. The result was a gorgeous momento that was functional for a year, but also had many many more years worth of memories included.

There was also an unintended benefit. Creating the calendar started me thinking. Having always been far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, would I have such a great photographic record of my life? If I, one day, have a daughter, will she be able to gather photos of my life, as I had done for Mum? I realised that while there are many great photos from my childhood, there are fewer of my adolescence, and in terms of photos of me, my twenties are pretty much non-existent.

I also realised that since returning from year living and working in Vietnam, my much loved digital SLR camera had become, well, neglected. Though I believe my beloved Melbourne to be just as photogenic as the sights of Saigon, I had morphed back into the busy-ness of ‘life’ and forgotten about my hobby.

Late last year, I found a solution to both of these scenarios. In a great email newsletter that I subscribe to, I read about a photography challenge that suited me perfectly. The newsletter advised that you set yourself a project- choose a topic and take a photo of that topic every day or week. For a year. The important part I realised, was the commitment.

Amongst a list of ideas, the newsletter suggested self portraits. They were, it said, a great way to practice your photography, without driving friends and family made trying to get it right.

I’m glad to say that I did commit to this project and have (so far) honoured my commitment to myself. At the beginning, I set myself some expectations, some ground rules and also some flexibility for both of these. I decided that it would be a 52 week project, taking a self portrait every week. The majority of photos were to be taken manually on my digital SLR, but my smaller point and shoot camera, my iPhone and my computer were also acceptable.

It has not been without it’s stressful moments. Not only the ‘I really couldn’t be bothered’ moments, but also the early ‘I really have no idea how to use this camera properly’ moments. However, in building in some flexibility to the project early on and giving myself plenty of time, I have so far avoided throwing in the towel all together.

I have many weeks to go on this project, yet I have already learned some great lessons. As well as rediscovering how to properly use my camera, I have also learned that even the things that we enjoy need to be factored in and concentrated on – otherwise, they can all too easily get lost. Rediscovering them, is a way that you can rediscover a bit of yourself.

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If you would like to check out the above mentioned photography newsletter, go to http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/
If you would like to see how my project is progressing, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/24224660@N00/

Rowena Southgate (aka ‘Ms Alchemy’) is based in Melbourne. While she would love to write as an occupation, she still needs to earn a living. This living so far has seen her work in research related to employment, in policy related to disability services, in HIV prevention in Vietnam, and also in the sexy world of communicable diseases. An acute observer and amateur photographer, Rowena likes to think twice about she sees in the world around her, and what it would take to make it a little bit different – for the better.

By Mel Rodgers

My house has running water; cold, undrinkable, straight from the Mekong River. I have been wearing the same weeks’ worth of clothes for 9 months now, which I hand-wash in a bucket. Electricity is intermittent. The toilet must be flushed manually. The average temperature most days is 40°C, and my house has a single fan. Bats, geckos, and spiders call my kitchen home. There are no shopping malls, no cinemas, no gyms, and no swimming pools (unless you count the Mekong, with the parasites and sewage that call it home). There isn’t even a supermarket.

Believe it or not though, my house in town is luxury compared to our digs in the field. I sleep in a hammock under the stars. There is no running water. No toilet. No plumbing. No sanitation. No electricity. Chickens, buffalo, and children meander around these rubbish-strewn villages. Breakfast is fish and rice. Lunch is rice and fish. Dinner is, surprise surprise, fish and rice.

I live in a province in Cambodia that practically no one has heard of, which is about 4 hours from the capital. That is, if the mini-bus (which is supposed to seat 14 people but generally has at least 20 squeezed in) doesn’t break down. I’m a relatively easy-going girl; I rarely wear makeup, my dress sense could only ever be described as practical, I like camping, and the best compliment I ever received was from a colleague who once described me as ‘a good sport’. I never thought that I’d struggle to ‘go without’ over here, but then I never knew what it was that I would be missing out on.

Given cultural barriers (and my poor language skills) I have not been lucky enough to form close friendship with any locals. Sure, we chat, but it isn’t the same as having a real, meaningful conversation. There have been evenings when I’ve found myself starting at the ceiling, wishing I had someone to talk to. Loneliness is tough. I have gone days without having anyone to talk to, days in which I have driven myself crazy by being stuck inside my own head.

I miss home; but I don’t want to go home because life will be easier there. It isn’t the soy lattes, hot showers, or supermarkets that have me fantasizing about living back in Australia. It isn’t the visits to my hairdresser, or the option of buying a new dress. It isn’t the latest film or concert.

It is my friends. I can’t live without human contact. I can’t live without the sister who believes in me, even when I’ve given up on myself. Or the girlfriend who candidly tells me I’m insane for caring, but still listens when I talk about him. Or the mate I can always rely on to read my stories and talk about books. These are the people who keep my world spinning; give me friends over luxury any day.

Photo credit