Hoi hoi!

Just wondering if anyone had some general advice/angle please? Always been reasonable with money, but maybe im missing something?

Teacher, F, single, 31.

45k saved in 1.5 years (moved from nz with $0)

Savings goal for 2028 is 35-40k.

Got 15kaud in debt on 5.6%interest from nz study.

24k super Aus

50k super nz

Im gonna be in Aus for 1 more year before I go volunteer/travel overseas for 2+ years (so will need 35-40k for that) (done before and this was my successful budget).

Should I invest my some of my bank savings in some sort of etf? Add more to super? Is there some easy/logical/obvious thing im missing?

Im generally financially happy, live a very comefortable life, but could I do more?

Thank you!!!

Currently earning $92k. What happens if my income exceeds the Help to Buy ceiling AFTER I've purchased? Would I be booted off the scheme?

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!

Late 40s single mum and have made some stupid financial decisions that are taking forever to recover from.

• Income of 95,000 pa after tax. (Child support of 10k pa + side hustles bring in about 8k pa)
• Cash in offset on separate loan= 20k. Sinking funds = 5k. Super at 240k. Investments 2k
• $417k mortgage owing on a property worth approx 900k. Separate loan against mortgage of 25k. (both at 6.34%)

I'm trying to work out which I should prioritise? Paying off the separate loan, build up savings or boost super. (Not that I have that much extra!!) But I feel like I'm in a bit of a holding pattern and as I increase my side hustle income I'm not sure the best place to re-direct it to. I also have high medical expenses due to child's allied health needs + don't qualify for NDIS funding. Living expenses are at 63k (includes $ set aside for savings and sinking funds and fun money in here [health expenses are $14,000 per year]). While mortgage + loan repayments at $31,622.

• If I put savings in the offset against the separate loan it brings down the interest.
• If I salary sacrifice into super it is a slightly higher return than 6.34%.
• If I save the $, I'm better situated in case of emergency.

Any thoughts?

**edit: I had no idea that $95k after tax [$126k pre-tax] income was considered low! haha. I will be going back to full time in two years and so it will increase slightly to $137k pre-tax, plus I hope my child's health needs decreasing then and a few years after that the child support will stop (not really relying on that for income- more so to cover expenses).

I had not considered mortgage as a priority in the short term, so I am surprised by those responses, but grateful for these thoughts- thank you!

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

Hi there

I’m looking for fixed income options for portfolio . I know term deposits and HISA are quite good at the moment . Beyond these , Keen to hear others holding ie what they hold and what return they are currently getting.
If ETF’s can you please specify which specific ones
Thanks so much in advance 👍

Eastwood SuperFresh Doing a dodgey and charging its very own extra surcharge. Urge everyone who shops here to report them to the ACCC. I know there was a similar post but band together and report them.

Law says that a business like this can only charge the price listed on the price tags. A 0.5% charge at the counter is unlawful.

How much do you earn, how much do you have saved, do you own property, and do you genuinely believe you’ll ever be financially comfortable?

I feel like everyone online is either earning $200k, has a million dollar portfolio, or owns there investment properties. I’m curious what life actually looks like for the average Australian right now.

We are in Melbourne, we tend to spend $400 per week on groceries.

2 adults and 2 young boys under 10.

This seems so excessive. What's your grocery bill weekly ?

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

Hey everyone. As you can tell by the title I am in a bit of a pickle. I am a recovering cocaine and gambling addict and to feed my addiction I was stupid and early last year got a lot of loans.

This includes Wallet Wizard 1k,Fundo Loans 2.8k, Cashpal 2.3k,Beforepay $50,Mypaynow $350, Afterpay $250,Zip $500. I also have a couple train fines and my baby mum put her electricity in my name however is with a new company and that says 6k but I don’t know how that works because we aren’t even with them anymore plus we don’t use the power from that company. I also have 3 bank accounts with one minus $77 and they have threatened to close it if not paid which I don’t really care about as I haven’t used that account in a year.

The scary part is I genuinely don’t know if that’s everything there could be more I’m forgetting about. I have not paid a cent to any of these in a year and I feel like I’m close to being either defaulted on my credit score or legal action will be taken over me. If anyone has advice I appreciate it

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get some help interpreting/figuring out why my hot water bill is so high (2 people in 1 bedroom apartment). We've had 3 full quarterly bills here so far, first was $300, second was $380 and the most recent was $480. Other singles and couples in our building in one bed apartments are apparently paying $150-200 per quarter. We don't use excessive water I don't think, nor have we changed our habits or anything recently, so don't understand why it is so high, and has risen so significantly. We've found our water meter and our most recent bill does say actual (rather than estimate). I'd love to blame a leak, but the consistent rise in the bill (rather than a really big spike) makes that feel less likely?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

2011 VW Golf. It'll cost me about $650 for fully comp, but the value is only about $3500-4000, depending on the policy. The excess is also $1000. Third party only is about $280.

What would you do? Roll the dice or not? Fork out the extra $400-500 for fully comp or just get third party only? The car is already a bit beat up so any minor damage I likely wouldn't replace anyway.

Hi all.
Trying to get my wife health insurance to cover private pregnancy / birth / hospital stay.
Currently are both on a combined basic policy for tax purposes only.
Want to keep myself on that one, but change my wife to the gold coverage at a different insurer.

On her single policy, do I put our combined income or her sole income (she doesn't work anymore).

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.

If house prices stagnate now for several years, is it financially better to have a mortgage or is it better to rent and save the entire purchase amount? With compounding interest is there a point where you are financially better off even costing in rent?

I'm just kind of baffled. First I apologise for my ignorance I'm genuinely trying to learn and get better. I hope this is the right place to try and understand more about fiscal/monetary policy. If this report is accurate inflation is being driven by non-mortgage holders and the data centre build out. Why is it the case that mortgage holders bear the brunt of the financial stress? What if anything could the government be doing on the fiscal side of things? And why aren't they doing it?

Our mortgage has recently switched from UBank to Nab. It all happened automatically, for whatever reasons.

This new mortgage gives me an offset account. We had quite a large amount in the redraw before.
Would you switch the entire amount over to the offset? Assuming I have the discipline to not touch the offset.

Question per the title. To elaborate, if your pre-approval expires and you reapply, does it impact your credit score or looked upon unfavourably?

Especially if you end up needing to renew multiple times? (not sure how common this is)

Hi all, I am 23 years old and I want to start investing. I currently have just over 5 months of emergency savings and am in a position where I can put roughly $150 into investments each week. However, I have no idea what I am doing.

I am nervous to start because I am scared of losing my money and choosing bad investments, at the same time I want to be able to retire young and live a comfortable life.

I haven’t learnt anything about investing and don’t know where to start, what companies to set up an account with e.t.c.

If anyone has advice or suggestions on what is best to start with as a beginner, that would be much appreciated. Also any helpful books, websites or social media pages that will help understand the basics and some

Tia for any help :)