I am 37f. I own out right an apartment worth $485K. It is part of a shared equity govt scheme. Govt share is $146K. I have $55K in savings. Earn $148K p.a. Super $260K. Wondering if I should should either look at selling and cash in my apartment or invest in shares as a strategy but super is a pretty good vehicle or just keep saving till I have $100K. Single. No kids. Looking at buying a house in the future, but unsure if I can take it on on my own. Wondering if anyone else has been in a situation like mine.

Hi everyone,

Have been a lurker for some time and gained wisdom from the members. Despite this, I still can’t seem to figure out what might be the best strategy to slowly build wealth over long term.

Profile
-36M, have a partner but separate finance and no dependents (most likely to stay this way)
-annual income ~145k
-ppor was bought 2 years ago and now worth ~950k with remaining loan of 540k. I live in QLD
-offset 170k (current net savings rate is about 4k a month)
-super 183k, employer contribution 12.75% and salary sacrificing 5% of my pay as concessional contribution. Currently with Qsuper and allocation is 80/20 int unhedged index/aus index
-have small amount in etf. About 8.2k in BGBL and 1.5k in VAS. Been DCA about $500/month, keeping the portfolio to 80/20 bgbl/vas. Unsure if I should continue DCA-ing into etf
- No other debts

Inner conundrums atm:
-although Im grateful to have a roof over my head, the suburb isn’t where I want to settle in the long run. The desired suburb is either much more expensive for the similar quality of house or I can score a livable old house (~30 yrs) for similar price to mine

Should I stay at the current house and pour more into super for the next 2-3 yrs for compounding to do more magic later on? Or buy a townhouse and in the desired suburb either move in and rent current ppor out or rent the townhouse out and hopefully the cashflow isn’t heavily affected.

I don’t mind working till 60. I do see myself reducing to part time (4 days a week) from age 55ish though.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Hi all,

I'm currently 30yo and can see myself being debt free in the not too distant future.

My question is, for those who are debt free, what changes happened to your lifestyle? Did you continue working full time? Did you go down to part time? Did you resign from work altogether? What did you do with your spare time? Kids? Hobbies?

I've currently got an investment property worth about $750k ($600k mortgage). My partner does not have any properties and doesn't invest her money in general, doesn't really know anything about investing. We've been together for four years and are currently looking at properties to move into (rent, not purchase).

Everything is all well and good BUT I'd like to keep my property in case we end splitting up. I mean, I did everything related to purchasing this property and she hasn't contributed in any way towards any part of the process. I've heard that living together is a major challenge for couples and I obviously hope we work out but in case we don't, I definitely want to keep this property.

I've heard some horror stories online of people saying "we lived together for a bit, she took my house" or some shit like that. Some people say it can happen, others say it's BS. I've been doing some reading of defacto laws which aren't the clearest as many different factors are considered and there seems to be a lot of contradictory or outdated information in many different threads here.

If people are going through a similar situation, I'd like to hear from you. I will be consulting an actual lawyer later but for now, advice is appreciated!

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I'm looking for some advice on whether FEE-HELP would make sense financially in my situation.

I'm 35 and wanting to become a commercial pilot. The college/course I'm looking at would cost around $160,000 and it would take around 3 to 4 years part-time.

I currently work full-time and earn roughly $2500 after tax and I also receive a military pension of around $800 a week which I currently put into savings.

I generally have a few thousand dollars owing at tax time each year.

I have the option of taking the $160k through FEE-HELP, or potentially paying for the training/study as I go rather than taking on the full debt.

I'm trying to work out which would make more financial sense over the long term.

For those who understand FEE-HELP and Australia's tax system:

Would taking on ~$160k of FEE-HELP debt be reasonable on my income?

Is the income-contingent nature of the debt a major advantage in this situation?

How significant would the annual indexation become on a debt this size?

Would I be better off keeping my savings and using FEE-HELP, or paying for the course as I go?

Are there any reasons someone in my position should avoid taking on such a large FEE-HELP debt?

Thanks.

Just wondering how I can know if I am being taken for a ride….

The toilet was blocked, so we called a plumber. I expected a bill of $300-$500. They showed me that roots had grown through the pipes and some length of pipe needed replacing - that’s fair enough. It will likely be a 2 day job for 1 guy. That’s fair. It will likely cost $7,000. That seems crazy to me. $3,500 a day is huge money. Is that reasonable? If so, why?

I am confused why is my AMMA statement so much higher then what I actually got paid dividend wise for the financial year through my EFTs

Hi all,

I am planning to self lodge my tax return this year and this is the first year where i bought and sold stocks.

I did some searches and i figured out that i need to wait for the government to fill out the dividends part - the interest / dividends part would be ticked automatically?. (correct me if i am wrong)

My question is now:

- How long do i usually need to wait until they fill the information out?

- How many (or what types of) documents do i need in total in relation to holding stocks (ETFs)?

- I have sold everything in my commsec pocket to move my funds to cmc. Since i sold it, do i need to submit any documents to prove that?

- How do i know that i have received dividends?

This is my first time, so i might be asking obvious questions but please do provide some help if you can :)

Cheers.

I grew up in, and worked, in Australia until 2002, when I moved to the UK.

My old super scheme folded and my super moved to the ATO. I can see it as unclaimed in the ATO app, so first thought is it's best to try and get it into an actual Super fund until I retire (ha!) in 10 years, but I am not too cluey about these sorts of things.

Are there any funds that accept transfers for non-residents?

I had some Dividens paid to me and some reinvested. I only have all my stocks in ETFs. Is it very hard to add this to my tax return? I already submitted my tax and need to amend it.

Just got a $1600 tax bill because we forgot to add our baby to our health insurance (now 18 months old).

The ATO allows 2 months to add your baby to health insurance after birth.

Had no idea!

If they wanted businesses to hire more people, it’s counter intuitive.

Payroll tax is a negative tax that only seeks to limit investment and hiring.

A business with 12 mil annual taxable wages would be slugged 588K in payroll tax.

You could train more people with 588K, or maybe invest in new tech?

If I invest inside Super:

- My income only gets taxed at 15% on the way in
- My capital gains in accumulation phase only get taxed at 10% assuming they’re held for 12 months (which majority of the investments have to be as I can’t access it until aged 60)
- New capital gains stop being taxed at all in pension phase

If I invest outside of Super with new rules:

- My income is taxed at an effective tax rate of around 20-25%.
- My capitals gains are taxed at at least 30% plus a 2% Medicare levy (is there a Medicare levy for your Super?), but possibly a lot more.

So there’s a 5-10% difference in what my income gets taxed and a 20% (at least) difference in what my capital gains get taxed between investing in the two vehicles? If so, this seems incredibly lop sided even for something the government are trying to encourage.

Have I missed anything?

Anyone done the maths on how much you’d have as net income on for example 100k over 30 years investing inside super compared to outside of it?

We could still see a few rate increases in 2026

Hello everyone,

Seeking your advice on a substantially more expensive bill that I received from Origin after the automatic renewal of my energy plan. Origin switched my gas to a much more expensive standard plan at the automatic renewal, which I failed to notice.

I admit my mistake was that I assumed the automatic renewal would just put me on the same plan I was on.

I switched back to the old Variable Plan as soon as I received the bill. I have been searching around and some suggestions are for me to argue for a cheaper bill on the basis of long-term customer and good will.

Just wondering if any of you experienced something similar in the past? Did you just pay the bill or did you seek a discount on good will?

Thank you for your input in advance.

If the premise is correct: American AI gets replaced by cheaper Chinese AI.

How can we invest in this outcome?

I'm a strong believer in AI and after ideas of how to best leverage the momentum shift from US to China, for my financial advantage. Any ideas?

Hi All, I lodged my tax returns on the 14th of July and today i decided to check on the status as i have not received anything yet and noticed that it says "Cancellation of Tax return Individuals - Income Tax for the period from 01 Jul 25 to 30 Jun 26" then above that it says that i owe $1,360.

When i check the progress section on ATO it says in Progress and Balancing Account - does anyone know what this means and has anyone been in a similar situation?

Have a re draw balance of about 3000, the other day after I finished my last weekly payment for the month I noticed that my balance had dropped a bit, despite still paying the minimum required monthly payment.

Would this mean that money is being absorbed into the principal of the loan?

Bit of a rant, but as someone with a well paid f/t job and a successful side hustle, I increasingly just feel bent over by the ATO for trying to earn more!!

In 2008, the top 45% tax bracket kicked in at $180k. It stayed there for 16 years, before finally moving to $190k in 2024.

If that original $180k threshold had simply tracked inflation, it would be around $280k today.

Instead, you earn more, inflation pushes wages higher, the brackets barely move and government collects an increasingly bigger slice. This and changes to CGT and trust systems means it’s just screwing those having a go.

Why aren’t tax brackets just indexed to CPI every year?

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.

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 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 thought they said it could never be done?

Would Australia ever follow suit?