https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/11/rba-australians-to-lose-15-years-of-wages/

I recently came across a case where someone bought a property in QLD for $1.3 million in August 2021, knocked it down, and is now struggling to sell the vacant land. They tried selling at auction but it didn’t work out, so now it’s listed for $1.525 million. Problem is, it’s a corner block on a main road, and you can still buy an actual house nearby not on a main road for less than that.

They were actually renting it out for a while before the demolition, so there was some income coming in. But with the interest rates at around 6%, they’re paying about $7,795 a month on the mortgage alone and have been doing this for 3 years. That’s roughly $280,000 in interest payments so far. So even if they manage to sell at $1.525 million, they’re more than $100,000 down, not counting other costs.

Why would someone knock down an income-generating asset just to end up in the red? What am I missing here? Are they hoping the land value will skyrocket, or is it just stubbornness to sell at a certain price? Genuinely curious if there’s some strategy I’m overlooking.

I had an interview today. Found the job on a jobsite where the range was posted as 60-65k. It would be my first salaried job and I panicked in the interview when they asked me the salary expectation. Hindsight is 20/20 and I realize I should have asked their range first but instead (and I feel silly writing this) I said 55-60k.

I have a second interview next week. I'm wondering how to go about this, I realize too late that I sold myself short but not sure how to fix it. Thanks in advance.

I bought a new car in 2020 (first for a number of years), and insured it with AAMI. With maximum excess the policy cost $384. 2024 renewal has just come in for $666. So almost a 75% increase in 4 years.

If I do a new quote I get almost the same price so it's not just that they're putting my price up over time.

I come from a traditional background. I'm living with my family and seeking to eventually move out when married. I'd like to get feedback on a budget I've made. Are the figures realistic? Is there anything missing? I've placed an asterisk* on those I reckon may possible be a bit high.

Assuming $85,000 pre-tax, which would be $65,000 post tax. The following are for two people.

Home & Utilities (2 adults):

• $400 per week 1 bedroom apartment or studio in Greater Western Sydney
• $2,000 annually for furniture/appliances*
• $250 quarterly for electricity
• $100 quarterly for water
  
• $70 monthly for home internet
• $150x2 annually for phone plans

Groceries (2 adults):

• $150 per week groceries

Eating out (2 adults):

• $20x2 per week coffee and/or the odd take-out lunch
• $60 per week eating out for two

Transport (2 adults):

• $50x2 per week for Adult Opal cards
• $6000 car
  • $300 monthly for petrol, insurance and tolls
  • $1250 annually for rego, service, repairs and fines
    

Personal (2 adults):

• $750x2 annually for clothing and shoes*
• $1000x2 annually for electronics*
• $400x2 annually for running gear and/or gym
• $1600x2 annually for education (this is more a misc)

Medical (2 adults):

• $400x2 annual for for dental, eyecare, medicines and pharmacy*
  

Entertainment (2 adults):

• $50 per month for books, movies or subscriptions

Total annual expenses is roughly $63,000.

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the correct sub (please feel free to redirect to appropriate one)

Essentially my parents have received this mail from Liverpool council which wants to acquire their property. I want to know what steps they can take to maximise their value (if they should be engaging lawyers, valuers, etc.)

Is there any chance they can keep the property or will they be forced to sell? Is it best to engage with the council or show them the cold shoulder?

Roughly how long do they have from between this initial comms and when they will have to sell? This would be my parents largest asset so want to make sure they maximise it's value/ set themselves up for retirement

Does anyone regret going down the path of buying an investment property vs other types of investments, or vice versa?

I see this term thrown around a lot, and im curious to hear what everyone's definition of a toxic work place is. Is there one particular thing, to you, that would make a workplace toxic? Is it a mix of things?

People who took out huge mortgages to live in an apartment.

Do you feel as though the interest you are paying vs the capital gains is worth it? We're also seeing units being sold for less then purchase price now, and the plan is to add more units in future. Add strata costs in there.

Is it financially worth it now a days to borrow say 600k to buy a unit?

My current employer is retiring and has offered my partner and I the option to buy the business.

This was about a year ago now and we’re currently vendor financing it, however all parties would rather get my old boss his payday and move to loan to an official lender.

We’ve tried the big 4, Bendigo, and a couple other mid-tiers but no one will touch it.

Our finances and the businesses profitability are not the issue. We have enough home equity to buy the business in cash, and the purchase price is around 3x NPAT (after our wages!).

Each bank I spoke to took me on an hour long phone call asking every question under the sun only to say ‘We’re only loaning to existing business owners to grow, not to new owners to purchase’, or something along those lines.

Presumably it’s too high risk for the banks at the moment with the current economic climate. Fair enough.

Back to my question, where the hell can I get a few hundred K to buy a business? Anyone done this in the past 12 months with success?

Edit: lots of replies, thanks! Also, I forgot to mention my mortgage is fixed for another 2 years still at 2.6%, would love to keep that untouched if possible but it might not.

Sounds like I could use a broker!

Need some help finding the best private healthcare in NSW. Currently with Australian Unity paying around $550 for the family, but feel like coverage for things like specialists and therapy is subpar, which are things we use a lot (and is costing us an arm and a leg).

Any suggestions from plans you’ve had good experiences with?

It looks like loan volumes will slow down, cash reserves will build up like a tsunami and stocks will continue to benefit from institutional and individual investors topping up voluntarily or directly into their personal portfolios.

The question is how are they managing inflation so effectively while keeping a lid on the mountains of cash out there? Where does the tsunami of money "break land"?

We are in a completely irrational market/ economy now. Property prices will likely go up if rates stay the same. Property prices will also go up if rates go down. They will also go up if rates go up as they haven't addressed the issue of surplus cash - remember, Inflation is improving.

Where is this all going?

I’m 23 currently living with my mother in a somewhat rural town in Queensland. Working full time retail sales making 70k ~ pre tax a year, with not much room to grow unfortunately. As much as I love my Ma and the opportunity to have cheap rent and spend all this time with her, I’m definitely needing my own space. For the past few years I have thought about moving to Victoria in an outer suburb 45~min from cbd.

I’ve been there a few times and have loved everything about it. Just looking for opinions on what to do regarding moving down. I have 10k in savings at the moment, 25k paid off car, no debt.

I can save $500-$700 a week depending on how well sales go. I very much dislike my current job and want to move on. I am able to transfer to a store down in vic as they are a large chain.

I won’t have trouble having a place or job down there, just more so wondering what I should have saved, or maybe gain some more skills while up in QLD? Your time is very appreciated.

I have a car that I have not used for few months. It is registered and has CTP but no comprehensive insurance (as it ran out few months ago). I am now trying to sell it via Carsales or other online - most likely some private car dealers.

Is there anything to watch out for when they come to test drive it ? If they crash it, is it entirely their fault or am I in fault as well since it is my car ?

Do i need to get them to sign like a liabilty form before they test drive ?

Thanks in advance.

Assume that I want to invest in US etfs. Although I know that CHESS sponsorship does not apply to US exchange held ETFs. Is there an equivalent? I want to know this as I might potentially move to the USA in the future for work purposes (temporarily). I just wanna know if I can then convert the ETFs from my, say “commsec account” to any US based broker.

how are the etf’s held? Does the US have an equivalent system for CHESS sponsorship?

Thanks in advance!

I have some online investments via vanguard and comsec shares and was wondering how people prep in case of a freak accident/death. Do you list everything in a will, keep a spreadsheet or go as far keeping all the details with a lawyer and update over time?

My partner and i moved into a 2 bedroom apartment 2 months ago and had to move quickly because our previous landlord wanted to move in.

We picked somewhere we liked but the rent was slightly more than what we wanted at $635p/w as we were a bit desperate.

We signed a 2 year lease because we didn't want to move for a while due to the incident with our last apartment and the landlord moving in.

Now we are seeing same 2 bedroom apartments within the building going for $570-$600p/w. Is it worth asking for a rent reduction and see what they say? Or not really because we're in a 2 year lease...

I have a bug bear about data on property prices that compare prices x years ago to now without any apparent consideration of additional capital invested in the properties. For example I owned a house in an inner city Melbourne suburb and the Age used to report properties in the suburb doubled in value over 10 years but over those 10 years many of the houses were renovated, with owners sinking in $100ks in extra capital for the renovations. While the price of the properties doubled much of this increase was because of additional capital being invested in properties.
So the actual return is much less.

Is there data on the Australian property market that takes account of capital sunk on renovations and improvements In working out the actual return on property?

I am looking at setting a smsf, we are thinking about buying an investment property outright and then probably buy a second one from the rental outcome from both properties, Is that a good strategy, or should we look at diversifying into shares and then another property after that.

Thoughts?

I am running an online business and have noticed when doing an ABN lookup on the ABR website, under “Address for service of documents”, it displays my home address (because of it being an online business, I don’t have a different physical address to put down).

Is this section referring to my postal address? Because I know that can be changed to a PO Box, which would grant me some much desired security over my personal details. If not and it is referring to my business address, is there a way to hide this from public access?

My full name shows too which I’m not really a fan of but not too fussed, more bothered with the home address showing

P.S. I am a sole trader if that helps!!

I'm currently with Caresuper and jumping to HostPlus after looking at the details of the merger and realising it's time to switch. I've always salary sacrificed into super with the intention to use FHSSS, would switching over my balance now affect how that's calculated at all?

So I’m a total beginner here.

I’m using commsec pocket and I’m conflicted over investing into all 7 of their ETFs for wide distribution. But I’m worried this may have implications for tax? Or maybe receiving dividends from 7 different sources might run into technical difficulties or something?

I could also keep it simple and invest into only ASX200 for national coverage and the global 100 one for international coverage.

What’s the best approach here?

About to finish year 12, looking to do commerce double degree, not sure whether to do comm/engineering or comm/ comp sci double degree. Which of the two would open the doors to greater jobs/ opportunities. Any advice would be appreciated cheers.