Yahoo Finance 2023's best money-saving hacks you should use in 2024
Money expert Joel Gibson shares some of the best ways you can save.
While the past 12 months may well be remembered for the cost-of-living pain dished out to Aussie households, it also spawned a raft of money-saving incentives offered up by companies in their desperate fight for your dwindling dollars.
And it seems these incentives are here to stay for 2024. Money expert Joel Gibson breaks down some of the best, as well as some other simple ways you can save.
‘Better offer’ on energy
As of 2023, your power company now has to tell you if they have a cheaper deal if you live in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria or South-East Queensland.
On the front page of your electricity bill, there should now be a box saying how much you could save by switching to your provider’s cheapest plan.
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For decades, power companies made money out of giving ‘honeymoon deals’ to new customers and then increasing the rates each year and making their profit out of you in years two, three and four.
But now, you can see if they’re having a lend of you, and you can immediately switch to their cheapest plan or simply ditch them.
‘Bribes’ for energy switchers
Speaking of honeymoon deals and energy companies, 2023 was also the ‘year of the cash bribe’ in the energy industry, when most of the big electricity providers started offering $100-$300 upfront credits for switching.
AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia and Simply Energy were a few examples.
The thing with these offers is that savvy money-savers can cash in on them by switching, collecting the credit, and then switching again when they see another credit or when they get a price hike.
I call this the “Liz Taylor” strategy in my books because Elizabeth Taylor had eight honeymoons!
AI shopping tools & browser plug-ins
These are not new in 2023 but they’ve taken off and become more sophisticated.
Sites such as Little Birdie and Google Shopping track prices online and they can help you do everything from:
Finding the biggest sales and discounts on a given day
Finding the cheapest price for an item you’re shopping for
Saving on your groceries by using online alternatives such as Amazon and Catch
You can either visit their sites or apps and search for a particular product or (in the case of Little Birdie) download their browser plug-ins, which will scan while you shop online and warn you if there’s a cheaper price out there.
Cashback sites such as Cashrewards also have browser plug-ins that tell you whenever a website you visit is offering cashback.
The health fund of Mum and Dad
A strange thing happened in 2023: despite a cost-of-living crisis, a record number of under-30s took out private health insurance.
The reason is a little-known loophole that allows students to stay or move back onto their family health insurance policy for no cost, up until the age of 32.
So, if you were kicked off the family policy at age 24 but you’re still a full-time student, you can go back on for no extra cost to the family if they’re still paying for a family or couples policy.
If you’re not a full-time student, you can go back on if they pay a bit extra, up to around 30 per cent.
Different funds have different age limits, for example:
Up to age 32 at Bupa
Up to age 31 (students) or 32 (non-students) at NIB
Up to age 31 at HCF, Medibank & AHM
Extra fuel discounts
Another trend in 2023 was energy and insurance companies offering extra fuel discounts to their customers.
For example, Origin customers now get an extra 4c/L off at EG petrol stations, Sumo Energy customers get 4c/L off at United Petroleum, and Budget Direct Car Insurance customers get an extra 4c/L at Shell Coles Express.
These sorts of deals already existed for customers of Linkt, carsales.com.au and the AFL app, but there are more of them now so cash in if you’re eligible.
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