What are people Googling?

Any decent website or blogger would have installed some type of traffic analysis code on their site so that they know why people are visiting their site, how many pages people read, the links that people exit on, the length of visit etc

Every now and then, I check my statistics to see what the Google queries have been so I can see what readers are looking for or are interested in. The last time I wrote about Google queries was in a post, 'Why do people think they are anonymous on the internet?'

It's been a while since I've done a recap of the wacky query results so I thought I'd do another recap, particularly with the queries that would not have been answered in the post that they landed on:

Query> we've saved $50000 should we invest it, put it on our mortgage or splurge on a holiday? : $50,000 isn't that much at all so if you have a non-deductible home (PPOR)mortgage then you should stash that amount in the offset and as an incentive, save up some more and then you could use it for a holiday.

If your tax rate is 40% for example, then you can calculate similar scenarios such as:

a)If you leave it in a normal bank account earning 6% interest, after-tax the the yield will be 3.6%

b)If you bought $50k worth of stocks, fully franked at 5% dividend yield, due to the 30% franking credits, at a 40% tax rate, your after-tax return is 4.5%

c)If you deposit the funds in your PPOR/home mortgage then you save yourself the (after-tax) interest rate of 7.5% (current average rate)

d)If you use it for a holiday, there's no return and it's all gone and you lose the opportunity cost of that $50k working for you for the rest of your life

Comparing the after-tax returns of 3.6%, 4.5% and 7.5% is a no brainer. You can even compare them on a gross-up yield basis ie: 3.6/0.6 =6% before tax, 4.5/0.6=7.5% before tax, 7.5/0.6 grossed up is 12.5%.

The best option in that scenario would be dumping the $50k into the mortgage loan offset account and if you want to use it to invest, then you need investment returns of 12.5% and greater to make it worthwhile in taking risks. If you have the money and are unsure what to do with it, it generally helps to compare what the various results will be from your various decisions.

Query> australia agony aunts : For my post about relationship and money

Query> tweets, dora bondi vet : Dora, the dog that was bitten by a snake has survived and is back with her family

Query> food stockpile addiction : Can't help you there, I've got my own bad food stockpiling habits that I've been trying to resolve (and it's working because our larder is looking a lot emptier and so has the freezer and all the half opened jars)

Query> is eating out cheaper than cooking : Emphatically the answer is NO. Cooking will always be cheaper if you use fresh ingredients, less meat and ingredients that are in season. It's always cheaper to cook your own meals because you're saving on labour cost by using your own labour. Takeaway foods are priced to cater for raw material cost, labour cost, rental costs and overheads (such as business insurances, accounting fees, legal fees etc)

Query> ivan caple, indonesian abattoirs etc : After the Four Corners expose on the Indonesian slaughter industry, the Govt has temporarily banned all live export to Indonesia. The inhumane slaughtering in some of the Indonesian abattoirs were horrifying and a shameful display of cruelty

Query> valuation of hancock coal pty ltd : If any of the companies are listed, you can find out from their Annual Financial Reports. Valuation is achieved by multiplying the quantity of shares issued by the stock price. If it's a private company and unlisted, then there's no way that you can find out their valuation unless you've got some buddies on the inside working in the accounting and finance section

Query> $150000 income poor : $150,000 income isn't poor at all and if you can't survive on that then it's time you had a look at your spending. Things you can do: downsize your housing, don't use any air conditioning, turn those wide screen tvs, gaming consoles, multiple laptops and computers off and read a book in the family room together under one light, eat pasta and rice everyday, don't buy bottled water, get rid of those consumer debts...

Query> any luck with principal reduction for investment properties and rental properties : Ya dreamin' ....

Query> australians stock piling food 1011 : If you want to look at Aussies and their stock piling habit, read about the Queensland floods and how people went crazy in supermarkets and bakeries because food supply routes were destroyed and they were worried about starvation

Query> boq account scammed : You should call the Bank of Queensland and request them to reimburse you. Most of the time if it wasn't through your own ignorance(Nigerian schemes, lottery scams etc) then you'll be reimbursed

Query> can my 3G ip (sic) address be traced back to me : If you have a fixed(ie static) IP Address then yes. If you don't then they can only track it back to your ISP carrier

Query> debt in 20's bad : Depends what type of debt. If it's an investment debt to buy investment properties or a stock portfolio which is earning an income for you then it's generally considered good debt. If it's debt on your credit cards, your car or debt on that sofa that isn't earning any income for you then it's bad debt

Query> how to save an emergency fund when unemployed : It's a bit late to be saving for an EF when you're already unemployed. Best thing you can do is cut your expenses as much as possible and plan for the worst case scenarios such as being unable to pay your mortgage or rent and what if you were homeless, at what point do you think you will need to start liquidating assets to feed yourself? Don't wait for those last desperate days before trying to flog your assets off at huge discounts because you're so desperate...

Query> roger munro ponzi, roger munro australia, roger munro properties : Read my previous post about Roger Munro, 'How to lose your life savings'. It's with the list of 'popular posts' because there have been a lot of traffic to that post from a lot of people who have lost money

Query> Final HECS lump sum : If you can make your final lump sum of $500 or greater before you lodge your tax return for the year, then you will also get the discount. The amount that has been automatically withheld from your salary will probably be refunded depending on your tax return. If you can make a final lump sum payment, ensure you do it before 1st June (which has already passed but take note-for those doing it next year) and before lodging your tax return so that you can get your 10%, soon to be only 5% discount.

Query> my hecs-help debt keeps going up but I am paying the compulsory yearly payments why : Because if your compulsory yearly payment is less than the indexation to inflation then your debt balance will keep rising. Eg: If your debt was $25,000, inflation rate was 3% (indexation of 3%*$25k = $750) BUT your yearly compulsory repayment is $500, then this is what happens in chronological order >

A) $25,000 + yearly 3% indexation on 1st June of $750 =$25,750
B) Less $500 yearly compulsory repayment after lodging your tax return between 1st July and 31st October
C) Balance = $25,250

There are heaps of wacky Google queries but that's all I'm writing about for today. Peace x