Solid gold investments

The fragile economy has had little impact on the highest level of coin collecting. Earlier this month, two 1852 Adelaide Assay Office Gold Ingots sold for $760,000 each at the Quartermaster Collection auction held by Monetarium in Sydney. The top hammer price was $800,000 for a 1920 King George V specimen/proof Gold Sovereign from the old Sydney Mint. All three rarities were bought by Australian dealers for anonymous investors.

Charity begins at work

The practice of workplace giving, in which money is deducted from pretax income and donated to charities, has doubled in popularity since the Australian Government's decision seven years ago to allow donations to be deducted from pretax income. Some companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Salmat, match employee contributions dollar for dollar. Still, Annie Lawson from Save The Children says only 0.6 per cent of Australians donate in this way, compared with 5.6 per cent of Canadians.

Another stupid spam scam

"You are invited to take part in the annual showdown between St George and Commonwealth Bank," begins a spam email that should be deleted without clicking on the links. The showdown is a fake online survey and the promise is that you will be credited "50$" (sic) for participating. Don't even think about it.

Stamps of approval

Maybe not as dramatic as Australian Idol but Australia Post has adopted a similar approach by allowing the public to determine the five best stamps issued over the past 200 years. Since voting began in March the response has been "astounding", according to AP. The winning stamps will be re-issued on Friday.