Being a Friday morning, looking forward to the weekend and listening to some funky Friday music, the very useful light that tells you to fill your car with fuel came on. How on earth would we manage without being so “nannied”, I often wonder?
$175 later, my Friday morning continued on. But hang on, lets have a think about that for a moment – $175 for fuel. One thing I noticed a while back, as a dollar climbed from the 70s, to parity against the US dollar, and oil prices fell from $140/barrel to $80, the price at the bowser remained stubbornly high. In fact it never seems to ratchet down – unless you have a nice little shopper docket from Coles!
With prices of oil back over the $100, and the Aussie dollar slipping against the US, we have seen bowser prices nudge higher. Now $175 to fill her up – for the average family is a cause of massive pain. Average full time wages, based on the latest figures I could find, is $57,400 – which after tax is $891.72 per week. By the way, how many average families have one car per household?
According to the ABS, in Queensland the average loan size rose from $152,700 to $289,900 and the average repayments climbed by 90 per cent to $1946. That is $449 per week.
Lets do some sums:
| Average weekly after tax income | $891.7 |
| Less Average Mortgage repayment | $449 |
| Less Fuel for car (assuming 1 car) | $160 |
| Balance for Living | $282 |
So with just $282 left from the sums above, before groceries, phone, electricity, Foxtel and all the rest of it, how do you make ends meet?
Well you could try and save on fuel costs by having an electric car but before going down that path, refer to our recent article on electricity prices.
The reality is that most people are struggling to make ends meet and with a less secure job market and a mining boom, we are told is over (I note Iron ore prices are back over $132 a tonne) so really??
Having another source of cashflow is key.
The stock market is not a place that is exclusive to the wealthy, it is a place where anybody – the average family and the not so average family can and should be looking to generate additional income.
As for my $175 fuel bill – don’t worry, I’ve got it covered, as I sold call options over my Apple position last night, for $4.53 per share. That should keep the wolf away from the door this month!
How do you do this, though?
Very simple – why not have a quick look at one of our free training sessions – it is available for anyone, so take some time out to see how you can be tapping into more cashflow.
