Tag: unfair

Categories
News

Why Super is Not Super

Our new piggy bank
Think the coins will come in handy!

I for one would love to have heaps of money in my superannuation account, but alas due to the GFC and also looking after kids this is not be so. Hopefully it is just for now, and the bank account will rise in the future. I for one have been listening with interest about the call to tax higher income earners for their super, but it appears that the lower income earners are not having it easy either.

I do understand that taxing the rich more is sensible but I for one have never understood why our money that we are saving for our old age is taxed so heavily. Why can’t we just save this money with little tax threat, or maybe none at all? The more you can squirrel away the better, and the less you would rely on government pensions. I for one think that if you make saving for your retirement harder it ruins what you are trying to achieve. What about you?

My personal opinion is that you should not be taxed on any of it, and it should be able to provide for your old age. People are living longer and things in life are much more expensive. Grown up children are staying longer and longer with their parents, so adding to the costs of older parents who by this stage might not be working and only relying on their super for income.

I also found this line incredible in Peter Martin’s article today in the Sydney Morning Herald, see below:

“A middle earner on the average male wage gets $1293.”  

Why are we setting out differences between male and female earnings?  Why are we still making the distinction that men have a different wage compared to women? What would be the average middle earner wage for women? Where is this scale? I hope that I have not earned a female wage ever, just a wage. I don’t want to be treated differently due to gender. I would like to be just paid accordingly to my skills and ability. Maybe if I was paid a male wage my superannuation figures might look healthier? Who knows? People would never admit to giving you less money for being female. Interesting line in the article don’t you think? What are your thoughts?

If you are like me and your eyes glaze over when all intricate details of superannuation is discussed, this page from Wikipedia about Taxation on Superannuation might be of assistance.

I would make the rate that everyone pays the same for superannuation, as the more you put in only helps the individual and takes the stress away from the government to provide. So they are doing themselves an injustice to stop us saving more money.

Why not continue the discussion on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

Categories
3 years and beyond Katoomba Hospital Swimming lessons

The extreme cost of activities for kids

Why is it that extra activities for kids are so expensive, swimming, tumbling, gym, dancing and much more. I would like to have the girls continue with their swimming lessons and also to be able to do tumbling lessons. This is not going to happen due to the cost.  Just to give you an example of the cost:

  • Swimming lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) – $140
  • Tumbling lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) –  $125 plus $32.50 annual gymnastic NSW membership fee

The price above for each activity is for 1 child. So as I have 2 children, I would need to double it. So the costs would be:

  • Swimming lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) – $280.00
  • Tumbling lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) –  $315.00

My question is, how does the average family give their children exposure to these sort of activities? With the girls going to pre-school 3 days per week, there is no way we will be able to cough up extra money for anything else. Last year we were able to give the girls about 3 sets of swimming lessons, but I don’t think that will happen this year.

Lillian turns her left foot in a bit when she walks and trips over more, especially when she is tried. Nothing that strengthening the ankle or more sports would help. To do the sports and training you have to pay. I cannot just put one child into sport, I would like to put both in for the experience as well. The physiotherapist at Katoomba Hospital said tumbling classes would really help Lillian, but how do I do this when they are so expensive.

One of my other questions is why is the council pool charging so much to teach kids and babies to swim. This is a skill that can save your life, swimming is essential in Australia as we are surrounded by water and nearly everyone has a pool, goes to the pool or the beach. I believe that swimming allows you to have the ability to exercise, be safe and to participate in a great lifestyle.  Why does the council charge so much? Why cannot the fee be a token to the centre, say $20 or $50 for swimming for your children to learn. It should not be $280 to teach your kids to swim for only 10 weeks. Then after the first 10 weeks you have to pay it all again. How many school terms are there in Australia, well there is 4 terms per year. So that would mean that I would need to pay Katoomba Pool, $1120.00 for a year of tutuion for swimming lessons.

Learning to swim should be free or nearly free. From my conversations in the Blue Mountains, NSW, there are a lot of people and kids that don’t know how to swim. What happens when these kids go to their swimming carnival at school? Is it then the schools job to teach kids to swim? Do schools have a learn to swim programme? I am not sure and have not found out, so if someone knows please let me know.

I grew up in North Queensland, Hervey Bay to be precise and I swam at a young age. We were close to a beach at all times, always on a boat and had to swim.  I think everyone has a right to save their lives and others by knowing how to swim. I love swimming and really enjoy it, I cannot imagine not knowing how.

So this year, I think we will take the kids swimming ourselves and teach them swimming techniques. We also cannot take them to tumbling classes no matter how much I would hope to do it. Julia and Lillian’s balance and ability are so great, that I would like to build on it, and have them do something active that is also healthy. For a society that is worried about weight gain, overweight and obese kids they are definitely not doing anything to help families with easily accessible activities.

Why is it now a matter of how much money you have, if you can learn to swim or not. Money is not the issue, it is making sure that the government/council makes this available at all levels. Learning to swim is something everyone needs to know how to do, rich or poor.

Do you have the same concerns over costs for children’s activities? Do we need to get like minded people together to see if we can lower costs? Should we have an online petition for the council to do something about this? Let me know your thoughts.