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My brother started his Tuesday with a chuckle. Walking into his house after a morning run, he saw his sister on the television talking about... barbeques?!

He got on the phone to our mum. “What does she know about barbeques? Is she now an expert on everything?” The chuckles continued.

My brother is right. While I do own a BBQ, and I know it doesn’t get cleaned enough, my expertise ends there. But I’m just a very small cog in a very big research house at Canstar.

You see, Canstar's star ratings and award winners aren't dreamed up by one person in a room. We have dedicated teams crafting practical methodologies to evaluate life’s major, and minor, financial and household decisions. We also use comprehensive survey research from hundreds of thousands of Australians, who tell us about which products they’re most satisfied with.

With Father’s Day this Sunday, our research covers everything, from the best-rated coffee machines and most satisfied deodorant customers (who doesn’t want to know that?) to savings accounts that help retirees stretch their nest egg further.

So happy Father's Day, dads!

Our dad’s not with us anymore, but I know he’d also be having the greatest of chuckles about the BBQs, and, as quite the practical man, chuffed at a stick of deodorant as a gift.

PS Wondering what to get Dad for Father’s Day? I’ve got some ideas here

Money in the bank hit a record high in July, but interest rates on those savings are sliding. 

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With ALDI and other telcos raising prices this month, is your budget phone bill about to go up?

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I try to make it a habit to check my recent transactions each time I go to pay off my credit card balance, and this month I feel lucky I did! I noticed three small charges, ranging from €4.60 to €8.26, from a French platform I’d never heard of. All up, I’d been charged more than $35 in what I suspect were fraudulent transactions my provider failed to catch!

I could have simply disputed the charges online, but I decided to call my bank’s 24-hour helpline instead. After waiting on hold, I was directed to their dedicated fraud team and the decision was made to cancel and replace my card, so no further charges could be made. Take that scammers!

While I wait for my new physical card, I can still use my old one, just not for online shopping (which is probably a good thing). And thanks to a suggestion from my colleague Karen, I’ve also set up alerts on my phone that tell me whenever a charge is made on my credit card, so I’m more aware and can act faster if there’s a next time.

Nick Whiting
Finance Writer

Sending a standard letter through Australia Post could soon reach $2 as plummeting mail volumes drive up operational costs. You can offset these potential price hikes by stocking up on stamps ahead of time. But with the cost of a standard stamp already sitting at $1.85 a pop, it could be time to be like Santa and start hand-delivering those cards to local family and friends, or make the switch to a digital option. With AI at your hand, your boring Christmas card could get a very fun makeover.

Does your favourite snack suddenly taste different, despite costing the exact same? You could well be spotting skimpflation in action. Unlike shrinkflation, where the quality stays the same but the packet shrinks, skimpflation keeps the package size the same, but the quality of ingredients gets a downgrade. Things like swapping olive oil for cheap blends or diluting real juice into fruit drink. To beat skimpflation, treat "new and improved" claims with suspicion, and switch to competitor brands whenever taste or service quality noticeably drops. 

Australians are holding onto private health insurance with a vice-like grip despite rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, with membership climbing to 12.8 million people at the end of June. But while costs are rising, most policyholders have never switched providers, despite Canstar research showing a 31% gap between the average and cheapest Gold hospital and extras policies. For an individual, that’s a potential saving of around $1,680 a year for the same level of cover. With premiums rising and some households downgrading their cover to save money, it could pay to shop around before your next health insurance bill lands.