It All Adds Up

As power bills soar, Aussie households are on the hunt for savings. In this week's episode of It All Adds Up - the final in this series - the team gather around the Sydney Morning Herald's 'kitchen table' to share some of their top home finance tips. Join hosts Jess Irvine and Matt Wade, along with special guests Economics Editor Ross Gittins, Workplace Editor Anna Patty, and Money Editor Caitlin Fitzsimmons as they sit down to give the good oil on ways to potentially save money. As always, you can let us know your thoughts at italladdsup@fairfaxmedia.com.au or tweet using the hashtag #italladdsup. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Few subjects stir consumer passions like rising electricity bills. With power prices more than doubling after inflation over the past 10 years, that’s hardly surprising. In this episode, the team dissects what has caused the surge in electricity costs. Hosts Jessica Irvine and Matt Wade are joined by two of Australia's leading commentators – economics editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gittins, and economics editor of The Age, Peter Martin – to investigate. They explain how each of the three main components your electricity bill have put upward pressure on prices: electricity generation, the cost of the poles and wires and the margins electricity retailers are able to charge.  Stay tuned for the regular bad economics segment when Ross Gittins puts the boot into politicians for getting their "economics around the wrong way" when they talk about the cost of living. Got a question of your own? Email us at italladdsup@fairfaxmedia.com.au, tweet using the hashtag #italladdsup or call the podcast hotline on 02 9282 1632 to leave a message. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The team relinquish the reins and let podcast listeners set the topics for discussion. Join Jess Irvine, Matt Wade and Ross Gittins as they respond to listener questions on housing bubbles, rent price spikes, happiness, private health insurance, payroll tax, ETFs and The Wiggles. Make sure to stay tuned for this week’s Bad Economics segment in which Ross Gittins learns of Tinderonomics:  “It’s got something to do with lighting fires?”. Got a question of your own? Email us at italladdsup@fairfaxmedia.com.au, tweet using the hashtag #italladdsup or call the podcast hotline on 02 9282 1632 to leave a message. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week the All Adds Up team peers inside the kitchen, and even the bedroom, to investigate the economics of households and families. Hosts Jessica Irvine and Matt Wade are joined by two of Australia’s leading commentators – economics editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gittins, and economics editor of The Age, Peter Martin – to unpack what economists have discovered about family behaviour and its impact on our society and economy. Find out where Australia’s laziest men can be found, what “time use surveys” have unearthed about what we do all day and why some economists question the massive sums governments spend on childcare. The team also looks at what domestic chores are being outsourced as couples manage the daily juggle and how that outsourcing trend has given rise to a mighty industry providing all manner of households services. Don’t miss our regular segment “Bad Economics” where Ross Gittins explains why using the word “bubble” to describe rising prices in property and share markets can be very misleading. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Is it time to ask for a payrise? Why have wages growth sunk to record lows? Should we worry about the rise of part-time work? And are robots stealing our jobs? This week we delve into the world of work. Economics Editor Ross Gittins dissect recent commentary from the Reserve Bank governor Phillip Lowe. And we hear from Workplace Editor, Anna Patty, with a special report on youth unemployment. Our regular Bad Economics segment takes a swipe at ‘economic modelling’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The “Happy Economist” aka Ross Gittins joins us to share the secrets of not just a happy life, but a satisfying one. We discuss why GDP is such a poor measure of social progress and attempts to replace it. Money editor Caitlin Fitzsimmons shares her three tips on how best to spend your money to maximise happiness. Matt and Jess let their statistical freak flags fly with a rousing discussion of the myriad indexes which attempt to measure happiness. We discover who the happiest people are, where they live and how old they are. Jess books Matt a holiday to Norway. And make sure you stay tuned for the Karate Kid metaphor in this week’s “Bad Economics” segment on sharemarket “​wipe outs”.​ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you give a Gonski? In this episode the team unpacks the debate raging about education to uncover what really needs to be done to improve our schools and universities. Hosts Jess Irvine and Matt Wade are joined by two of Australia’s leading economics commentators, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Ross Gittins and The Age’s Peter Martin to give their verdict on Malcolm Turnbull's Gonski 2.0 reforms, which have passed through parliament largely unscathed. Cabinet minister, Christopher Pyne, hailed the legislation as "the most significant reform to school education in Australia's history". But will the changes live up to the hype? We also unpick the government’s proposed reforms to the university sector. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We dive straight into the national controversy over skyrocketing property prices and declining housing affordability. Avocado jokes abound, as Economics Editor Ross Gittins defends home ownership as a "basic Australian right". Money editor Caitlin Fitzsimmons has a word of advice for millennials saving for a home deposit. And play along at home as we mark Treasurer Scott Morrison’s homework on housing affordability released in the recent federal budget. Stay tuned for the first of our “Bad Economics” segments on all those claims of “record spending” – do they really stack up? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our crack team of economics experts help you understand the things that affect your job, your mortgage and your family budget. Join Jess Irvine, Matt Wade, Ross Gittins and other Fairfax Media journalists for a dose of economic realism - and a dash of politics, too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.