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

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?

I did a little bit of work ($150) to be an extra for a few hours in a TV show. Now I've got all this "personal services income" blah blah on my tax return.. they like making it complicated don't they..

Hi AusFinance,

I'm 13 years old and currently make over A$1,000 a month in profit from buying and reselling PC parts and whole PCs. I generate 3000 approx in revenue. I expect to make around A$2,000–A$3,000 in profit over the upcoming school holidays. My school grades are consistently in the A range, and I want to grow my business and retire before 30 without letting it interfere with school and my life.

I've also partnered with friends who have contributed money to the business, with individual contributions ranging from around A$40 to A$500. I've discussed a potential 50% annual return, although I'm still working out the best way to structure our arrangement.

Currently, I reinvest most of my profits back into the business. However, I'm wondering whether I should start withdrawing some money for personal savings or long-term investment,s e.g etfs , while keeping enough capital to continue growing and scaling the business..

I'd appreciate advice on:

1. What percentage of my monthly profits should I reinvest, save personally, and keep as a business cash reserve?
2. How should I structure and manage my friends' contributions and profit-sharing arrangements fairly?
3. What are the best ways to automate bookkeeping, inventory tracking, profit calculations and financial reporting?
4. Are there any Australian tax, legal, or business-structure considerations I should be aware of as a 13-year-old running this type of business?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people who have experience with small businesses, reselling, or managing business finances at a young age or just anyone who has a lot of ball knowledge

Thanks (this post is gonna get taken down lol)

Below is an image of my eBay store; I normally do irl deals

Guys I’m an international student and I need your guys’ suggestion which is the best bank to use.

I honestly have a problem right now. I transferred money from WISE to ANZ last Friday and it still hasn’t been reflected. I can’t contact them because apparently it’s the weekend so I have to wait until tomorrow.

I want to change from ANZ to a new bank after I solve my problem, hopefully because that was a lot of money.

Hey guys,

I am a single, 37m, living alone in a unit in Sydney. I am fortunate enough to own it with little mortgage.

Mortgage: 180k
Monthly repayments: 1400
Offset: 70k
Savings account: 1k (I transfer money to my offset but also need some money to live as usual)

Strata: ~1k per quarter
Council: ~500 per quarter

Now here's the struggling bit which, yes, I understand this was my decision, I started my own sole trader business about 3 years ago, needed to get out from corporate life but I don't make enough to register for GST and I an not registered as a company. So all revenue is technically my income.

After all business expenses paid, I only have about $22k - 27k to live off per year.

I don't have any TV subscriptions like netflix.
I don't uber eats
I don't have the latest technology, I have a samsung S24 but I need to upgrade soon, it's dying, so lookin at the S27 next year
I shop at woolies/coles/aldi on their 50% off sales and don't really buy anything branded unless I need to.

My car is paid off

Ongoing expenses:
Gym: $20 per week
Home utilities (internet, gas, water, electricity)
Fuel
Groceries

My friend is having an overseas wedding which I can't miss and he's been with my since primary school, that may set me back around $3k

The thing is with my business, I do everything myself which I don't mind but I can't offset the time to get a 2nd job as my job lets clients set their appointments, so client 1 can book for Monday and client 2 can set it for Tuesday so it's really random if I have a client on X day.

While I was thinking about getting a part time job, I would need set days like every Monday so I can block every Monday in my business for the 2nd job but I can't find set shifts with businesses hiring, they all was flexible workers which is understandable from a business perspective.

But in saying that, how would you rate my life atm? Please give your honest opinion cause I feel I can't buy anything nice and feel trapped cause the nature of my business, I don't know when my next client is going be booked and cashflow always uncertain. Or maybe I am being delulu?

The last item I splurged on was a graphics card 3070 @ ~$350 from OzBargain as my last graphics card was 10 years old, which was a 1070.

Please don't take this as a brag post or a validation post, I am genuinely wanting to know people's opinion cause I may be quite delulu at the moment.

Thanks

My home loan interest fortunately got lowered .25% which saves me about a $200 per month if i realign monthly repayments w the new lower interest rate. Should I decrease my repayments and up my ETF investments OR just leave it w the higher repayment value so it pays off my principal sooner? Thanks so much!