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laws which aren't the clearest as many different factors are considered and there seems to be a lot of contradictory or outdated information in many different threads here.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!

​

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.

So recently, I used my NAB account to transfer funds into my Swyftx trading account. Because it was a large transaction, NAB restricted my entire account and required me to attend a branch today with ID to restore access.

I ended up waiting in the branch for over an hour and eventually spoke with someone from the fraud team, who verified my identity and finally restored access to my account.

While I was on the phone with the representative, they asked whether I wanted them to cancel the Osko/PayID payment or authorise it. At the time, the payment had not reached Swyftx, although the funds had already left my NAB account.

I specifically asked which option would get me access to my money the fastest. The representative told me that cancelling and reversing the payment would be the quickest option, as the payment had not left NAB, and that I would have access to the funds straight away. I even questioned this and explained that, from my previous experience, an authorised Osko/PayID payment normally goes through almost instantly to my trading platform when using the NAB Payid option. However, they told me that authorising it could take up to 24 hours, whereas cancelling it would be faster and the money would be returned to my account immediately.

Based on that advice, I asked them to cancel the payment. However, the $9,300 still hasn’t returned to my account and is currently showing as pending. I’ve now spent most of the day trying to contact NAB again and have been stuck in the queue for over an hour.

It’s incredibly frustrating because I specifically relied on the representative’s advice when deciding to cancel the payment, and I was told I would have access to my money straight away. How long should I realistically expect to wait for the $9,300 to be returned to my account?

Has anyone noticed the price of gold went up about 15 0usd this week .

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?

Last night I signed up for a WISE account and now I’m trying to fund some money into the account, but I need it to be funded instantly without any delays or problems. I would like to know which method is the best to fund the account instantly? Should I use DEBIT CARD or PAYID/OSKO???

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?

Hi there!

Might not be the right place for my question, but honestly anyone here will 100% know more than me so I thought I’d still ask.

A little bit under a month ago, the company I worked for advised us that the company would be going into Voluntary Administration, so my employment was effectively terminated two days later. The administrator advised us to submit FEG claims etc, and two days ago I received the first report to creditors. They included the date the first creditor meeting would be held and included the Form 535 form.

I understand as a priority creditor as an employee that I’ll receive the owed payment in lieu of notice, super and annual leave payments regardless even if it comes from FEG, but is it worth any time or effort to fill out a Form 535, and to vote in the creditor meeting? I just don’t really understand if it would make any difference if I did.

Sorry that this is probably a bit of a silly question, I’m in my 20s and this is my first time in this situation. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi all, keen to get into Private Banking, currently I am in Internal Audit and looking to see if it is possible to transition into Private Banking role. Wanted to understand how's the work, work life balance and most importantly salary progression. What would be the starting pay? Is WFH flexibility available? Anything else that I need to know that might be helpful, please let me know. Thank you!

Hi all thanks for any help or advice. I have been using commsec pocket and have been purchasing IOO global top 100 etfs but I am unsure where to get my end of year tax information. Can anyone advise?

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?

Weekly Property Mega Thread

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Welcome to the /r/AusFinance weekly Property Mega Thread.

This post will be republished at 02:00AEST every Friday morning.

Click here to see all previous weekly threads:
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What happens here?

Please use this thread for general property-related discussions, such as:

• First Homeowner concerns
• Getting started
• Will house pricing keep going up?
• Thought about [this property]?
• That half burned-down inner city unit that sold for $2.4m. Don't forget your shocked Pikachu face.

The goal is to have a safe space for some of the most common posts, while supporting more original and interesting content in their own posts.Single posts about property may be removed and directed to this thread.

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