Holiday scams you need to watch out for

 Holiday scams you need to watch out for

There’s nothing more exciting than escaping the monotony of your life to enjoy a holiday. There are certain scams that you need to ensure you are on the lookout for. It doesn’t matter where you go, there are always scammers out there who want to take advantage of you. So, be on your guard.

Hacks 

When you land, what is the first thing you do? You take your phone out and look for a Wi-Fi connection. It might be to post on social media, but it’s probably just to let your family know you arrived safely. This is one of the greatest risks. Scammers are setting up open and free networks to steal your information. Not only are they watching what you browse, but some travellers have also had their payment information taken. So, if you need to use Wi-Fi in the airport, make sure you’re using a legit connection.

Booking Scams 

Booking your holidays online is now the norm, which means there are more scammers out there trying to steal your cash. They post stunning photos of holiday rentals with prices too great to pass up. There’s just one small problem… they aren’t real! One of the most common signs of this is they ask you to deal with this via email instead of using the company’s booking site. It all appears legit, but it isn’t. Don’t pay by bank transfer. Get the address of the location so that you can check street view to see that it exists as advertised.

Document Fraud

To visit certain countries, you may require a visa. This is something else scammers are taking advantage of. They are selling fake visas or documents that you need to visit foreign countries. It all looks official, but it isn’t. For example, if you want to visit the US you need the ESTA. If you pop over to a search engine and type in ESTA visa, many of the top searches are unofficial. Make sure you’re on the official government sites.

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5 great foods to help your summer complexion

5 great foods to help your summer complexion

Summer means sporting a great tan, but it also means excess sweating and the products you use can lead to complexion problems. There’s a way you can help improve your complexion, though. Believe it or not, there are foods you can eat to improve your summer complexion – here are five of them.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are packed with water and contain a bunch of minerals and vitamins as well. Not only are they are a great way to keep your hydration levels up, which benefits your skin, but they also brighten up your complexion. Toss them in your salads, your water or enjoy them on the side of every meal.

Leafy Greens

Spinach, chard, and kale are all excellent examples of dark leafy greens. They boost your immune system, help regulate blood sugar, and support your overall health. Better yet, they promote a healthy pH balance which is great news for your complexion.

 Watermelon

It won’t just cool you down, the water content in watermelon also works to flush toxins from your body. Fewer toxins mean a better complexion.

 Avocados

Now you can join the millennials by indulging in a bit of avocado toast. Avocados are packed with healthy fats, vitamins C and E, and they have amazing health benefits. Thanks to those vitamins they keep your skin moist, and eating avocados also boosts collagen production which should keep wrinkles at bay. Your complexion thanks you.

 Carrots

Carrots aren’t just good for your eyes, vitamin C combined with beta-carotene are rock stars when it comes to improving your complexion.

Perhaps the greatest thing about these five foods is that they are affordable, and you can add every single one of them to a salad. If you don’t love the idea of watermelon in your salad, just use it as a side at every meal!

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Most Australian pensioners to retire financially happy: Study

Australian retirees could have more money in their pension fund than they expect, according to a new study. But if you’re a retired female who is renting, you won’t be able to live as comfortably.
The study by the Grattan Institute – called Money in retirement: more than enough – claims Australians are less likely to suffer financial stress in their retirement and more likely to be able to afford optional extras such as annual holidays.

According to a release by Grattan Institute, the modelling shows that, even after allowing for inflation, most workers today can expect a retirement income of at least 91 per cent of their pre-retirement income – well above the 70 per cent benchmark endorsed by the OECD, and more than enough to maintain pre-retirement living standards.

And many low-income Australians will get a pay rise when they retire, through a combination of the Age Pension and their compulsory superannuation savings.

Australians tend to spend less after they retire, and even less into old age. Their medical costs increase, but are largely covered by the taxpayer. Many retirees are net savers, and current retirees often leave a legacy almost as large as their nest egg on the day they retired.

“The financial services industry ‘fear factory’ encourages Australians to worry unnecessarily about whether they’ll have enough money in retirement,” Grattan Institute CEO John Daley said.
But the retirement incomes system is not working for some low-income Australians who rent, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. And this problem will get worse because on current trends home ownership for over-65s will decline from 76 per today to 57 per cent by 2056.
To boost retirement incomes for the poorest Australians, the report calls for a 40 per cent increase in the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance – worth more than $1,400 a year for a single retiree.

Loosening the Age Pension assets test could boost retirement incomes for around 20 per cent of retirees today, rising to more than 70 per cent of retirees in future. It would also deal with anomalies in the system: some people who save $100 while working increase their total retirement income by less than $100 in real terms.

But because most Australians will be comfortable in retirement, there is no need to boost retirement incomes across the board. The legislated plan to increase compulsory superannuation contributions from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent should be scrapped, saving the Budget about $2 billion a year.
And superannuation tax breaks and age-based tax breaks should be reduced, to ensure the retirement incomes system does not become an excessive burden on future budgets, and endanger funding for aged care and health.

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