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The Story of the ATM: From Obscurity to a Street Corner Near You

The History of ATM's
Photo caption: John Shepherd-Barron, World’s First ATM & The First Transaction, 1967

ATMs changed not only the face of banking but also the way we go about our daily lives. According to the ATM Industry Association, there are now more than 1.7 million installed worldwide with a new one being installed somewhere in the world every couple of minutes or so.

ATMs or Automated Teller Machines were invented by John Shepherd-Barron, a relatively little known Scotsman who sadly passed away in May this year. In 2005 He received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the New Year’s Honours list for services to banking as the “inventor of the automatic cash dispenser”.

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10 Best & Worst Countries In The World For Paid Maternity Leave

maternity leave

Paid maternity / parental leave is not a new hot topic here in Australia. What is quite shocking however is that this serious issue is still being debated today.

The Save the Children ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ Report compares the well-being of mothers and children in 158 countries and is published every year as a celebration of Mother’s Day. The 10th annual “Mothers’ Index”  has Sweden, Norway & Australia in top rankings for 2009. This is an achievement that Australia can certainly be very proud of. However, what this report has highlighted is one area which Australia seriously falls short on, paid leave.
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15 Ways to Say I’m Making Money

15 Ways to Say I’m Making Money

There’s the ‘haves’ and then there’s the ‘have nots’. Some of the ‘have nots’ imagine winning the lottery and a very small number of them actually have won big….the rest have won a meat tray in a raffle.

And, then there is the rest of us who have to roll up our sleeves, get an education, gain experience and make it through an apprenticeship so that we can be on our way to building wealth in a steady 9 to 5. No matter what way we are generating income we all have funny ways of telling other people that we’re making money. Here’s a few ways you may not of heard of yet.

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8 Tips for Choosing the Best Credit Card


Image by Andres Rueda

Why get a one-size fits all card when you can tailor your credit card to suit your needs?

Even a quick look will show there is a diverse array of credit cards available to you, the consumer. It can be hard to sort through them all and figure out which card is going to best serve your needs. Points, interest rates, rewards, air miles – it doesn’t take long before your head is swimming. Let’s dip a toe into the credit card waters and try to make sense of the various cards available to you.

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5 Awesome Free MS Office Alternatives

leader image

Unless you’re one of those people who insist on shunning all forms of technology, which in this day and age is pretty impressive, you would have heard of Microsoft Office. Microsoft is the Godfather of software applications, and for a long time, because there wasn’t anything similar available to end-users, they held a complete monopoly in the market. Now times have changed.

Developer boffins the world over have worked long and hard to come up with alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite, not just because they enjoy fiddling with code all day, but to provide a software package that offers just the same as Office at a much more affordable price. And while they may not have all the advanced features of MS Office, which most people rarely use, they do offer user-friendly interfaces and include compatibility and support for MS Office file formats – all that you need, really. Here are 5 of the most formidable challengers on the market, and they’re all free, free, FREE!

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20 Signs Your Personal Finances Are In Tatters

money machine
Image quinn.anya

It’s payday next week, and the time just isn’t going quick enough. You’ve already earmarked a dozen things you want to buy, and then there’s those nights out with your mates you planned – now you can finally afford a few drinks… or can you?

Taking inspiration from Free From Broke’s article 25 Traits of the Not So Well to Do, The Credit Letter looks into ways of recognising you may be in financial diffs, but haven’t quite realised it yet.

The ability to splurge can, for some people, be overwhelming. In fact scientists concluded this year that spending money can be like a drug. The act of willingly parting with your dosh stimulates the reward centres of the brain normally associated with addictive activities. So, when people say they feel better after a spot of retail therapy, it’s easy to see why. It’s also easier to understand why, when you actually have very little excess money each month – and you know you can ill-afford a spree – that you spend it like you’re loaded.

But how do you know when you’re verging on the brink of becoming a shopaholic? If a few of the points below make you shout out, “Hey, that’s me!” then you might need to rethink your lifestyle choices and spending habits.

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When The Economy Goes Down, What Goes Up?

escher-esque stairs
Image: Verago

Written by Joseph McCullough

Let’s face facts; things aren’t exactly hunky dory when it comes to the economy. But it can’t all be bad news, can it? A slump in the economy encourages other markets to rise. The only problem is, the markets that grow may not necessarily be of interest to you, or be something that you want to invest in, or need. Of course, if you look on the bright side, a savvy investor can make a killing in a dry market.

As the economy languishes in a constant flux of ‘will it, won’t it get better’, read on to learn about the areas that grow when the economy flounders. If you’re smart, you can make some cash by playing the odds and avoid the pitfalls along the way.

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11 Ways Airlines Could Save Money (Without Asking Staff to Work for Free)

BA leaving town
BA Leaving Town
Image via: Irargerich

Once upon a time, to fly was seen as a bit of a luxury. Not everyone could afford to jet from country to country on a whim. Economy offered more than the bare minimum of service during a flight, and it was more often than not an exciting experience for all. Now, unless you’re one of the lucky few who can afford the joy of business class, most people have very little time for airlines and their shenanigans. They are frequently viewed as nothing more than a basic service provider and are talked about with much eye-rolling. And, instead of working to regain the grace of the old days, airlines are cutting costs at every opportunity to survive in an incredibly competitive market.

Yet, there are workable ways and means of saving money instead of asking staff to work for free, or insisting fliers pay to use the loo. Those moves are only going to alienate staff and customers and drive them towards the less unscrupulous airlines.

Here, we offer a few simple money-saving strategies that we hope will save any failing airlines from a tragic end.

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10 Heart-Stopping Credit Card Statement Surprises

scary statement
Image: Jason Rogers

Uh-oh! Your credit card bill just arrived, and a familiar dread builds up as you open up the statement. Just before you look to judge the damage, a deep regret swells up as you recollect the purchases of the past month. On reflection, buying those ‘must have’ snakeskin leather shoes probably wasn’t completely justified, and somewhere, in the hazy depths of your mind, you remember stumbling home from the bar a few weeks previously, after leaving your credit card behind. Ouch!

It’s true, we all pay for things we later regret, but it seems that some people get more than they bargained for!

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5 Disasters That Make Staying In Bed Your Best Financial Bet

man in bed
Image: prettywar-stl

Have you ever had one of those days when you wished you’d stayed in bed? Maybe today is one of those dreaded days. Yep, it happens to us all. Then there are the days that go so badly wrong it would have made more financial sense to stay at home. The trouble is, due to most people’s lack of psychic abilities, we never know when the day’s going to be a shocker until it’s too late – though we’re not suggesting everyone just gives up and never goes to work in case something awful happens, no matter how tempting it sounds.

With the average person earning about AUS$190 per day, it doesn’t take much to drain the bank balance when things go wrong. Here are just a few examples of those times you would have actually saved money by snuggling under the covers.
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