Dollhairs & Sense #5

📊what happened with interest rates? and is getting paid cash good 🤔

Salut! 🕖 7:00am ers (or whenever you’re reading this!)

It’s always a big week, so let’s get right into it. Dollhairs & Sense (dollars & cents!) is going to look like this:

• 📍Brief summary of what’s happened this week

• 📚Point of interest for the week (if applicable)

• 🙋Student questions for the week (probably a question you’ve wanted to ask yourself)

• 1️⃣One money thing you/we/me/I can do this week

Are you ready? 👇🏻

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📍Since last time, in summary

• Travelled to Armidale 🛬 to work with Year 12 students 🧑‍🎓

• 🐰Easter break and Term 1 ✅ for QLD & VIC students!

📚POI (Point of Interest)

• The RBA met and interest rates remained unchanged at 4.35% 📊 (note: this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check your interest rate and message the bank!)

• Yesterday, Australia’s inflation rate remained at 3.40% which probably means it’s less likely that interest rates will need to be increased again 📉- click here for more information about inflation.

🙋Questions Unlocked

🔐Q:

“Is getting paid cash illegal. My boss pays me out of the register at the end of the shift?”

Year 9 Student (In person)

🔓A: Short answer….yes. When you get paid ‘cash’ - it can mean either:

• Your boss is physically paying you cash (notes and coins 💵) or;

• Your boss is transferring the money to your bank account 💳 and not telling the ATO

When income isn’t reported to the ATO, it means your employer is illegally paying you ❌. It is illegal because employers may be using cash to avoid their tax and employee responsibilities. If this is you - you can read a little bit more about being paid cash and what it means here.

1️⃣One money thing we can all do

If you haven’t already ➡️ check out our previous money tasks:

• Money Task #1 (Pay slips)

• Money Task #2 (Checking your bank account)

• Money Task #3 (Free $50 - see how?!)

• Money Task #4 (Applying for your TFN)

• For this week, Money Task #5 💰:

  Open a MyGov account

  • MyGov is a free government account 📱that allows you to link and access the Australian governments different services (ATO, Medicare, Centrelink etc)

  • You will need your MyGov account to lodge tax returns🧾, review any study loans (HECS/HELP)📚, check your employer is paying you correctly (super important!) and engage with other government services in the next few years.

  • Note: if you had the COVID-19 vaccine, you may have a MyGov account which your parents may have setup to access the vaccine certificate. If this is the case, ask your parents for your login

  • To open a MyGov account:

    • Step 1: Go to the MyGov website (click here!) to create your free MyGov account

    • Step 2: Follow the steps

    • Step 3: Keep your login and password safe 🔑