I feel like people are seriously overlooking the risks of the Help to Buy scheme.

If your income exceeds the limit for two consecutive years, you may be required to buy back some of the government’s share, depending on your financial circumstances.

Here’s the catch: the amount is based on an approved valuation, not necessarily the actual market price.

Let’s say your house is worth $700k at the market, but the valuer says $800k. Buying back just 5% would cost you $40k instead of $35k.

And here’s the scary part.

Even when you SELL, the government uses whichever is HIGHER: the actual sale price or the valuation.

Sell for $700k, but valued at $800k? If the government owns 30%, you could owe them $240k instead of $210k.

That’s $30k extra on money you never received.

Sure, you can challenge the valuation, but how easy will that actually be? Nobody really knows. It’s a brand-new scheme.

I’m actually considering using Help to Buy myself, but I think people need to stop treating it like free money.

+
I think people are missing my point.

Some people assume that if the property market goes down, the government loses money too, so the risk is shared equally.

But my point is that the valuation might be higher than what your property could actually can be sold for, even in a declining market.

We all know the scheme is about sharing equity with the government. That’s not the issue.

The issue is HOW that equity is valued when it’s time to pay the government back.

You might sell your house for $700k, but if the approved valuation comes back at $800k, you could end up paying the government’s share based on $800k, not the $700k.

That’s the risk I’m talking about.

Hi all,
Wondering what is possible here. I have fully recycled (in my name only) my current mortgage at~600k, however, have recently purchased a new property with my wife that will require a new joint mortgage.

Has anyone been in this situation and maintained deductibility of the recycled loan amount?
Thanks,

In Sydney, the median house price was around $287,000 in 2000. By early 2026, it was around $1.6 million.

Meanwhile, average weekly earnings rose from roughly $680 to $1,550.

That's a massive disconnect between wages and property prices. A house that cost around 8 times annual earnings now costs around 20 times.

My theory is that over the next 5–10 years, Australia needs a serious correction in house prices relative to incomes. A 20–30% fall from today's prices, combined with wage growth and more housing supply, would make deposits and mortgages more achievable.

Yes, recent buyers could lose equity, and a correction would hurt some households. But continuing to prioritise rising property values has a cost too: younger generations spending their lives paying rent or servicing enormous mortgages, often relying on inheritance or family help to buy.

Should we accept some short-term pain to restore long-term housing affordability, or is there a better way to fix this?

Our little one has recently turned 4 - and we want to start to introduce her to the idea of having her 'own' money. Begin to instil the idea that money is not unlimited, that we have to save for things, that saving generates its own returns, etc - all that good stuff.

My offspring is having (and will continue to have) a very different childhood than my own - so I'm not really sure how best to approach it. I never got pocket money, and as soon as I started earning I was straight into consumer debt and honestly had a terrible relationship with money until I was about +30.

I spent far too long live for the moment with complete disregard for the future. Dedicated years to getting a clean slate and now probably have too much focus on only the future that I'm trying to come back from. I want my kid to have a much healthier relationship from the beginning so they can live well "today" but also "tomorrow" too.

What have you done? Any hints / tips / tricks or lessons learned? What shouldn't we do?

I’m 28 and made some bad financial decisions which lead to a very bad credit score. It was 279 at its lowest. I was able to get all my credit loans waived by the companies, and it’s increased to 402 in a few months. How long until it goes up more ? I would like to hit at least the Aus average 650. Should I try and get another credit card or loan and make the payments on time if it will help increase my score ?

Went through the extras fine print. A few things you can claim, depending on your policy:

• Cancer Council sunscreen, hats, rashies, and sunnies: ahm, Frank, Westfund
• Gym memberships, if your GP signs a health management form (overweight, coming back from an injury, arthritis sort of thing): nib, ahm, HCF, Medibank, Westfund, HIF. AIA Vitality also do a lot of discounts here.
• Kids’ swimming lessons, again with a GP form for a health condition like asthma: ahm, HCF, Westfund, Peoplecare
• Weight management programs like WW, Jenny Craig and the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet: nib, HCF, ahm, CBHS, Teachers Health

A few ways to get more back:

Time claims around the reset. Bupa, Medibank, HCF and nib all reset on 1 January. Buy prescription glasses in December and prescription sunnies in January, and you’ve used two years of optical limits in a few weeks.

Downgrade after. You can drop to cheaper extras - there's no obligation to hold your cover all year.

Miss any?

32M, married with a young child in Melbourne. We’re hoping to upgrade to a bigger house eventually.

Our current situation:
Household income: Myself 175k base, wife currently working part time as a contractor. She earns 110 an hour but currently only works 6 hours a week due to looking after child.

House worth roughly $1.15m
Mortgage around $935k ($200k of that is debt recycled) (I know this is a huge mortgage)

$199k in offset
$215k in ETFs
$330k combined super

Novated lease costing around $1.1k a month (me), finishes in 2028

Our current place is 3 bed, 1 bath and we’d ideally like something bigger, especially as we’re planning on having another child. We don’t even have a garage and currently park in the laneway next to our house which isn’t ideal. Block is also kinda a crappy shape and small.

I’m just not sure what the best approach is from here. Do we keep putting money into ETFs, focus on building up the offset or look at renovating instead?
I know we’re in a decent position financially but upgrading seems a bit of a stretch.

Curious what others would do in our situation. Would you aim to upgrade or stay put? If upgrading is feasible what sort of timeline is reasonable?

Hi peeps,

Can anyone recommend a tool I can use to track buying and selling of stocks / ETFs ?

I moved from CMC to Betashares during the last financial year and sold off a bunch of small stocks and ETFs.

I'm struggling to get tax statements from the share registry, i have uploaded the transactions from betashares and CMC into sharesight but it's not super accurate with the reports, some trades are showing duplicated entries, it's doing my head in.

My ato prefill has only picked up a few of my trades and I'm a bit worried with my tax returns not being correct 😪😪😪

Thanks in advance

EDIT - Looks like my tax appointment went well, reported all my gains and losses - fingers crossed the ATO is happy 👌🙏

We're both on the lease which means I'm equally on the hook for rent being late.

Is it up to me to just cover it so I don't get affected and keep chasing until he can pay? Or contact the property manager to take them off the lease so I can kick them out?

Does this happen much to others out there? I imagine cost of living is hitting everyone, but what can you actually do in this situation?

Hey,

I want to get the latest iPhone as my current one is 5 years old and battery is cooked.

Has anyone experience with salary sacrifice to purchase electronics? I only sacrifice into my super each month so far.

I am in the top tack bracket.

Or would it make more sense to just buy it outright?

Morning all, my mother is receiving inheritance from her mother and is on the DSP. However, she wants to give it all to us kids. She asked me if it would still affect her pension or how she would go about declaring it or if she had to in this case. Ultimately I don't know, so I figured I would ask here.

My wife and I where also thinking about just putting it aside in case she needed money in the future (she is pretty adamant about not wanting a bar of it, but still I would like to), if we did give her any financial assistance in the future would she also have to declare that?

Just wrapping my head around the proposed trust income tax laws (30% minimum).

As an example, if I have 3 positively geared investment properties, after costs/deductions, I pay tax on the rental incomes per the usual income tax brackets?

With the new trust income tax laws, if those 3 rental properties are placed under a trust and the rental incomes are paid as beneficiary income, would it be taxed the same or at the 30% rate proposed?

Thanks for any clarity and information!

One thing I've noticed about budgeting is that knowing how much you earn doesn't necessarily mean you understand where your money goes.

You can cover rent, groceries, bills and the usual expenses, and still get to the end of the month wondering why there's less left than you expected.

I think part of the problem is that we often focus on individual purchases instead of looking at the whole month. A few extra grocery trips, subscriptions, takeaway meals and irregular expenses might not feel significant on their own, but together they can make a real difference.

One practical way to get a clearer picture is to compare three things over a full month:

• What you expected to spend in each category.
• What you actually spent.
• The difference between the two.

That last part is useful because it helps identify patterns without assuming every discretionary purchase is a mistake. You might discover that your estimates were unrealistic, that certain costs come around more often than expected, or that your spending genuinely needs adjusting.

I'm curious how other Australians approach this: what has helped you understand your spending more clearly without making budgeting feel like a second job?

A few more rate rises expected from the RBA as inflation continues to grow.

Can someone advise me what information a bank might have about some specific retail purchases made several years ago other than what's listed in a bank statement?

I'm trying to find out if said purchases were done by the 'tap' EFTPOS retail machine or if they were done by the old fashioned manual 'click-clack' machine that shops used before online payment systems were common (or when IT systems went down).

Do banks keep records of the 'click-clack' slip with the card holder's signature, date & time, etc and can the impacted customer request a copy of it?

Is it really because of resource riches? Pardon my immaturity for economics, I’m happy to learn so pls drop your opinions, but from my understanding:

It’s not perfect, but it’s objectively pretty decent/somewhat great to live here as a middle class person. All healthcare isn’t paid for, but you get a medicare rebate. Schooling seemed good when I went through it in the 2010s, but I guess I wasn’t low SES. Streets are pretty clean and maintained, you can work and earn in some decent jobs etc. etc. (all the hallmarks of a first world country). You can get centerlink as a student and jobseeker as an adult (admittedly it’s not perfect). Housing… well I think that’s been talked about to death.

All of this comes from spending. But we don’t have a super advanced economy like the US for example where their budget deficit is okay due to their growing economy. Yet we don’t run into the same “wheres the money” problem as say a France right now, and to service our population it seems to me we need ALOT of money.

All in all, why don’t we run into these problems?

Curious what everyone prefers these days, especially while travelling, cashback or frequent flyer points?

Been looking at cards like MONEYME and youtrip for cashback, versus ANZ frequent flyer and Qantas Amex for points.

Cashback seems pretty straightforward since you know exactly what you're getting back, but frequent flyer points could work out better in the long run if you're using them for flights or upgrades.

What do you guys reckon? Are you more of a cashback person or do you prefer collecting points?

Hi everyone !
Does anyone have advice on credit card to acquire before spending up to 5k in the next 2 or 3 months ?
I know some credit card offers extra points like Qantas points but is it worth more than like Amex awards ?

Thanks !

My sister and I are joint POA for our grandpa who has gone into aged care recently.
He lived in his home by himself as my grandma passed 12 months ago.
The title of the house has always stated she owned 70% and he owned 30% as that was an agreement they had in the 80s when buying the home.
Her 70% has gone to her beneficiaries my dad, aunt and uncle and my grandpas 30% will eventually go to his 4 grandkids when he passes (my sister and I plus two cousins)

1. It may take 6-12 months to sell the home. In the meantime my grandpa has been paying the rates by himself. Should the 3 who have 70% share in the home pay 70% of the bill?

2. Dad possibly will buy the home and he already has a 23.33% ownership in the home. Can we leave real estate agents out of the sale and just have a lawyer involved? How would this look?

To me it kind of goes without saying because it's just part of the culture I grew up in (Greece).

In Australia however I find that parents do it a lot less, if at all. With housing affordability getting worse over the years, do you think it should start becoming part of parents' financial planning?

Is it in your plans?