Cost of Living Comparison
In a world where everything seems to be getting more expensive, one of the easiest ways to save money is to make sure you have the best deals on all your everyday bills – from your home loan and insurance to energy and NBN. That’s why we developed our Cost of Living Comparison tool. It provides a snapshot showing the potential savings that can be made by switching – which adds up to a whopping $13,292 based on our hypothetical scenarios. You can use this as a basis to find your own savings as everyone’s circumstances are different.
Cost of Living Comparison March 2024
A message from Effie
Annual inflation appears to have peaked with the latest data showing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose just 4.1% over the twelve months to the December 2023 quarter. This is a drop from the 5.4 percent annual rise in the September 2023 quarter and the 6.0% annual increase we saw in the June 2023 quarter making it the third consecutive quarter of lower annual inflation.
This is great news but not all households will be feeling relief. That’s because the CPI does have some limitations. For one thing, it doesn’t factor in the 13 rate hikes we’ve had to help curb inflation. If you take a look at the ABS Living Cost Index, which does factor in housing costs, it rose by 6.9%/yr in Q4 2023, well above the CPI rate of 4.1%/yr. So if you’re a mortgage holder (or renter), you’ll still be looking for ways to bring in some relief.
A surefire way to find some extra savings is to take a good look at your household bills if you want to get some relief from cost-of-living pressures. The good news is there’s plenty of competition in the market so big savings can be made on just about any type of product by switching. This can make a huge difference to your overall personal inflation rate.
Effie Zahos
Canstar Ambassador & Money Expert InvestSMART
More information and resources
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What does cost of living mean?
Cost of living is the amount of money you need to cover living expenses in a certain place. It generally includes necessities such as housing, food, transport and healthcare – not luxuries. It can be used to compare how much it costs to live in different areas. The cost of living can vary depending on whether you live in a capital city or regional area and differ from state to state and country to country.