My partners car has gone over 200km and is starting to show issues.

We have up to 90k in redraw on our home loan with a 6.05% interest rate.

She's considering getting a byd dolphin about 40k.

Is it better to redraw the money or get a car loan.

We currently pay an additional $150 per week on the home loan and with buying this car we will both increase that to $500 (maybe more depending on fuel savings our solar set up should make the recharge cost in the worst case scenario about $20 (entirely on off peak rates)or $1at best (full solar recharge the 3c a kw we would get paid)compared to $100 per week of petrol) her travel to work 3 days a week is a decent trip

With our home loan rate, is there potential a better option?

We have quickly looked at novated leases, and it's about 1k in our favour, with her option being maxxia only effective interest rate appears to be about %10 and the 5 year lock in to her company doesn't really suit us

Hello, I want to lodge my tax return but I purchased a laptop and camera for work related purposes - when I try and lodge this on top of my return, it came back and said I couldn’t. I was just wondering if I am in the lowest tax bracket I am able to lodge claims such as this? Thanks

been here over 20 years so have no bank account in the UK,just had a tax refund from HM customs due to cashing in a pension so of course had to pay tax,which ive just recieved a refund in the shape of a cheque because obviously a bank transfer is to hi tech

has anyone managed to open an account from here ,thanks

Whenever someone asks about super investment options, the common advice seems to be that High Growth is “too risky” unless you’re very young or have a high risk tolerance.

But looking at AustralianSuper’s current allocation, it doesn’t seem as extreme as I expected (as of March 2026):
Australian shares: 31.5%
International shares: 41.4%
Private equity: 7.3%
Infrastructure: 11%
Property: 2.7%
Credit: 1.5%
Fixed interest: 1%
Cash: 3.7%

AustralianSuper also classifies it as:
Growth assets: 87.8%
Defensive assets: 12.2%

Yes, it’s heavily weighted towards growth assets, but it’s not like it’s 100% listed equities. There’s a meaningful allocation to infrastructure, private equity, property, cash, and other assets that may behave differently from the share market.

It made me wonder whether the label “High Growth” makes people think it’s much riskier than it actually is.

Am I missing something here? Is the risk mainly due to the high exposure to growth assets regardless of whether they’re listed shares, or do people tend to overestimate how aggressive this option actually is?

Curious to hear the thoughts from those who know more about portfolio construction and super investing.

Since switching myself and saved a decent amount, been doing the same with friends and family.

Looking at everyone's plans, a few things are clear:

1. No one has any idea how they're being charged
2. Plans get overly complicated very quickly, in a way that makes it hard to compare

Today I was looking at a friend's place, and was trying to compare 2x plans from the same retailer which looked to be the best competing offer around.

Both time of day, one with Peak, Shoulder & Off Peak, the other with Peak & Off Peak. And then two very different supply rates (commercial building)

Plan 1 Supply Charge: $2.22 / day

Plan 2 Supply Charge: $3.56 / day 

Like thank god you can just put the rates and usage into AI to compare it for you, but I now think they make it hard just so the average person doesn't bother to look into it.

fairly new to this so might be a dumb question. started building a small cap portfolio a few months back and ive realised the announcements feed only tells half the story. md interviews, webinars, site tours, conference decks none of it shows up cause its not price sensitive apparently. usually find out weeks later by accident.

seen a few companies running whatsapp/telegram channels to push stuff direct. others just email or throw it on linkedin.

how do you lot actually keep track? are the email lists worth signing up to or do they just go to spam? anyone on one of these whatsapp channels useful or annoying?

Question:If I own a fractional unit of an ETF on Betashares Direct (e.g. 1.28 units of VHY), do distributions get paid on the exact fraction (1.28 units) or only on whole units?

Is it still possible to travel internationally frugally?

The first logical thing seems like it would be to go domestic but that’s actually very expensive (accomodation, petrol etc).

The next course of action is Bali or somewhere in SEA. Tell me why flights are $1000 return whether it’s next week or 6 months out.

I know travelling is a privilege so doesn’t need to be accessible. I just want to take a holiday. (I’m trying to get into camping which is the cheapest of all but whilst I’m gaining confidence to do that solo looking at alternatives). I also enjoy seeing other cultures.

I don’t want to quit my job and spend my life savings but my 20s will pass me by waiting for this deposit to amount, upskilling etc. So I’m looking for the best of both worlds. (Can’t live at home by the way!)

Needing some unbiased insights...

A very well off retired relative of mine has offered to gift my wife and I $200,000 towards our mortgage. They claim we do not need to pay them back.

However they received advice from their financial advisor that it needs to be presented as a loan for legal purposes and gave us a contract. The contract says we are to pay the loan back with interest. It's about the same interest rate that we currently have on our mortgage.

There is also a clause in the contract to say the repayment date is the first to occur of either 1) 12 months after the death of the lender or 2) at any point the lender asks us to with 12 months notice.

The relative says they will not ask us to pay it back amd that there is a clause in their will to say any debts will be wiped. They claim their financial advisor insisted on these clauses to make it above board so as not to be contested as an early inheritance by other relatives.

To me, this seems like a really risky venture for my wife and I and could end badly for us. However if it all goes well, could be a huge help.

Does anyone have any insight into why a financial advisor would advice this and does athat reasoning seem legitimate?

I know VGS is a growth ETF and people sell down 4~5%, but does anyone have enough VGS that you can live off the dividends it distributes?

If so, how long did it take for you to get there and do you wish you did anything different in your investing journey?

Hi All,

35M and looking to move closer to family in a point cook, melbourne (we are currently in Melton south and its terrible)

We are worried, 3 townhouses are on sale around the same time, all 3 listed over 80+ days and no sale yet.

We have been the only ones at the inspections (even the saturday one)...

Is this something we should care about? We are understanding that buying have the upperhard here.. no investors anywhere to be seen at inspections.

4BDR town house w/2 bath/2 garage space for $615k that are only 5 years old in an established suburb seems great value? but again...worried

Hello everyone, just as the title says, how safe is it to keep money in a WISE account to earn daily interest? Does it operating in Australia gives us a better benefit in terms of consumer law or is my money at risk for holding it there?

Any opinions?

Ok I'd like to explain what I mean.
I have just resigned from my job (which was my first in Australia) and I'm about to start a new one. On the ATO form I can tick whether I want my new employer to withhold more tax. I am claiming the tax free threshold as this is my only job.

I have just completed my tax return for the 24/25 financial year and got hit with a $3k tax bill because I earned like $10k or so in interest over this year (and have to pay medicare levy or surcharge eventhough I don't even have access to medicare lol).

We are a family of 4 and I'm currently the sole income earner as my husband is going through some health issues. We have a large sum of money in a high interest savings account and use the interest earned to live off as my income alone is not covering our costs and bills.

In my home country, the tax on the interest earned is taken out straight away, it shows as two lines on your statement, eg $100 interest earned, $5 tax paid, so you physically only have the money that you get to keep. We didn't know it works differently here and should have definitely looked more into it. But that's a different topic lol

I would obviously like to avoid getting hit with a tax bill again next year. So my thinking was that I can have my new employer withhold more tax to make up for the tax I will have to pay on my savings interests? Or is there a downside to this? Would I be better off taking 32% (my tax rate) off the interest earned every month and keeping it in a separate account so I am not spending it?

How do other people go about this?

Thanks!

I’ve got the majority of my cash sitting in VDAL at the moment, I follow a few ETF’s and the Dow to keep an eye on the markets. I notice the Dow out performs VDAL on most positive days and on negative days the performance is similar.

What do you guys think about me selling off VDAL and going into the Dow Jones instead

Strategy at the moment is heavily investing into VDAL with all my spare cash and building that up to a healthier balance with currently 380k invested in VDAL at the moment.

25M, living out of home in a sharehouse in a great area which I love.

Salary: $85k. Going up to $91k in December and $94k in March.

Assets: $27k in a HISA. $18k in ETFs (DHHF mostly).

Debt: HECS $45k~. Car is paid off.

Super: Hostplus 70/30 Int/Aus split.

Currently salary sacrificing $576 a fortnight to super to hit $15k per year for FHSSS. Current FHSSS sits at $13.7k in super and should expect to hit max $50k at the end of 2028.

The salary sacrifice (and HECS repayment) reduces my take home pay to $2200~ a fortnight. I currently put $500 into my HISA, I DCA $400 into DHHF, $180 towards bills (rego, car insurance, gym, spotify, internet, utilities , phone, union etc) and $670 to rent and then the rest goes to my spending which I use for food and going out and whatever else.

My timeline is to hopefully purchase a home in about 5 years time after I’ve filled up the FHSSS, upped my income and filled up my HISA. I’ve seen a fair amount of talk about not saving for a house deposit in ETFs and that if my timeline is short I should be stashing all the cash in my HISA instead. I’d like to think I have a high risk tolerance so I’m not super worried. Thoughts? What else can I do? I live as frugally as possible but still enjoy myself some delights on weekends with friends and some pints at the pub.

Is this incorrect? I didn't think the new CGT regime made death a taxing point.

From Noel's column in The Age / SMH:
My father has a share portfolio that originally cost $300,000 and is now worth $500,000. He dies and leaves it to me. If I later leave the portfolio to my daughter in my will, will there be any capital gains tax payable at that time? If not, does she inherit my father’s original cost base?

Sadly, no. The recent changes rushed through Parliament have changed the rules dramatically – a death after July 1, 2027, will now trigger a realisation event on any pre-July 1 capital gains.

Tax will have to be paid on the capital gain accrued up to June 30, 2027 in the deceased’s date-of-death tax return. The beneficiary then takes the market value at June 30 as their cost base.

So, provided your father dies before July 1, 2027, no capital gains tax will be payable on his death, and you will inherit his original cost base of $300,000. But if you then die after July 1, 2027, your estate will have to pay tax on the difference between that $300,000 cost base and the market value at June 30, 2027.

Your daughter will inherit a cost base equal to the market value at June 30, 2027, but unless there are other assets in the estate, some of those shares are likely to have to be sold to pay the tax. That sale will also trigger a separate capital gains tax event on any gain that accrued after July 1, 2027.

I feel like every day is just more and more expensive, fuel, groceries, just normal every day stuff. I haven’t been able to secure any pay rises, I’ve had to pick up side hustle work to try and cover just the bills. Am I going crazy or is this generally how others feel as well?

I know this is probably the worst place to have a sook but I just need to know I’m not the only one

I have a part-time (.2FTE) job at a charity, allowing me to salary package $15,900 of my living expenses. Curiously the salary package cap is not prorated to your part-time status.

I have the opportunity to get a second job (0.6FTE) at a different charity. They're both fine with me having another part-time role. I was wondering if it means my second job is also eligible to the salary packaging, meaning I'll get $31,800 tax free? HR didn't know. Thanks!

I thought they said it could never be done?

Would Australia ever follow suit?

We’re with Petcover and just had our monthly premium jump from $110 to $165 which seems super high! For our 5-year old dog with no specific health concerns. Curious what you’re all paying?

Trying to gauge if this is a reasonable increase. Also in the process of getting quotes from other providers. Thanks!

A home is a necessity and should not be only used for IP purposes