Everybody break out the piggy bank, it’s time to save, save, save! Remember that rainy day we all keep talking about? The one where you might need an umbrella made of money stashed away to avoid getting drenched in another global economic storm similar to that of 2008? Well chances are we will all be ducking for cover fairly soon if America’s mounting debt issues are anything to go by.

With the cost of living increasing significantly in recent times and interest rates hitting Aussie working families hard in the hip pocket, you’d think a nice little top up of the weekly wages would be welcome news.

But experts are warning that Fair Work Australia’s latest offering of a 3.4 per cent pay rise for the 1.4 million odd workers on award wages, along with an expected boost in mining sector wages off the back of the resources boom, could actually cost us all more in the long run.

With incessant talk of interest rates in the news on a daily basis and constant speculation as to will they or won’t they go up, if they do – when will it happen and why, what state is the economy in with regard to that all important inflation issue and blah, blah, blah, blah….

Sorry, did I lose you for a minute there? Not surprised really given the findings of a recent report that revealed almost one in three borrowers have no idea what interest rate they are being charged by their lender as they become rate fatigued. Understandably, many have switched off and put this little topic in the too hard basket, or perhaps more aptly, the “Do I really have to think about this?” basket.