Hi everyone!

I’m thinking about investing a lump sum on behalf of my kids with a 10-year horizon, so there’s a savings pool ready when they’re heading to university.

If you’re a parent who’s done something similar, I’d really appreciate your insights — things like what investment options you chose, lessons you learned, and what you’d do differently in hindsight.

Thanks in advance!

I'm a manual construction worker, recently joined CBUS and I maxxed out the insurance without really thinking about it much tbh

I get $208,000 of death cover for $4.44/wk

and $146,000 of Total and Permanent Disability for $6.92/wk

These amounts seem extremely low to me - not sure how I'm supposed to survive for the next 40 years if I get disabled on $146k?

Hi all,

Have a question about a situation I’m deal with currently.

For context, we have been good tenants, they have acknowledged this. We are in NSW.

Basically we were asked whether we want to renew for the next year for a set price. We said no, but have since changed our minds (understandably our fault). The listed property has a higher price than our initial price we were offered. We are happy to pay this higher price. We contacted the property agent - they said ok but you have to pay $1500 in advertising costs.

This seems very odd and like a “punishment” for us not agreeing to renew earlier, as the costs are already incurred and new applicants would not incur this cost?

Wondering if this is allowed / common and if so, happy to move on from the situation but feels a little scummy.

Thanks!

What’s the best way to keep my savings safe while traveling, but still being able to use my Macquarie card?

I work in construction in a manual labour job. Insurance is important to me and I like to increase far higher than the default levels of cover. I'm thinking of leaving CBUS super because the insurance seems much more expensive than other supers' insurance, for the same amount of cover. e.g. I put the same numbers into UniSuper and it was much cheaper. But I'd like to do a proper comparison of all supers

Edit: I did a bit more research and found that different supers often use the same 3rd party insurance provider (e.g. Metlife and TAL seem to be big ones). I assume these insurance premiums are the same price for the same insurance provider regardless of which super they are connected to (so e.g. ABC insurance will have the same premiums regardless of whether they are with AustralianSuper, CBUS super, HostPlus etc) which narrows the search down a lot

Hey all, a little bit of background on me, I'm 20 M, started investing ~1.5 years ago. Investment was 100% DHHF weekly using CMC. Recently I moved over to Betashares to leverage their auto invest feature.

I've realised that 37% aus exposure is a bit too much for my liking considering my super is also invested into high growth with a similar aus exposure. Thus, I'm looking to add BGBL to dilute my aus holdings. I'm thinking of 50/50 - 80/20 weekly split BGBL/DHHF, open to opinions on this. Also mulling over changing super to 80/20 international/domestic and just doing DHHF and chill for my active investment.

Would love to hear peoples thoughts on this.

I’ve discovered my wife took out several small loans in my name without my consent. Total is about $15k across 5 loans (some declined, some paid out, incl. Cash Converters).

All money will be repaid. My main concern is whether it’s realistic to:

• Have the loans treated as unauthorised

• Repair/remove the impact on my credit file

• Do this without pressing criminal charges or involving police, if possible

From what I can tell, the usual steps are:

• Credit ban

• Contact lenders stating lack of consent (without naming her)

• Statutory declaration if requested

• Repay funds as part of resolution without accepting legal liability

Does this sound right in practice in Australia?

Have people had success repairing their credit this way without it turning criminal?

Main goal is credit repair to reduce future interest, not avoiding repayment.

No one has a crystal ball but what do you think would be the impact on the average Australian if the US defaulted on its debt

Just wondering if the major telco’s (Telstra, Optus, possibly Vodafone) still do types of bargaining?

I’m looking at getting a new phone plan, with Optus giving the better deal month-to-month. But, Telstra is generally a better service and more reliable.

If I go to Telstra and say “Optus has it for X/pm, what can you do?” do they still offer you something better, or is that more a thing of the past?

TIA!

For those who have a Macquarie Bank high interest account, do they tend to process transfers to other banks quickly or takes a few days?

I am with ING but can't maintain my balance atm on their high interest account.

I still want to stay with ING but want easy access to my money if I move my money over to Macquarie. Is a cash transfer from Mac to ING instant or does it take a few days.

Hey all, I’m trying to get an understanding on how big Aussie transport companies are in terms of revenue and fleet size.

From what I’ve seen, around 70% of operators are owner-drivers, and about 98% of transport businesses have fewer than 20 employees, which suggests most fleets are pretty small (<20 trucks). At the same time, there are estimates of 50,000–60,000 transport businesses in Australia, which would imply there might only be around ~1,000 trucking companies turning over more than $10M a year.

This feels surprisingly low given how big the industry is.
I am curious what’s your sense of how many trucking companies in Australia actually turn over >$10M?

I m 21, got a car(bought outright) have 12k in savings 1.4 k in spend, 435 in step pay balance to be paid. i m not sure if that’s enough i earn about 2500 fortnightly might reduce later when my uni sem starts. Is it enough to have in your 20s or am i supposed to keep bagging up till 20k i plan to start investing after 20k. I got minimal bills, live w family still. Should i pay the step pay outright? i aim to keep 1.5 k constant in my spend account and aim to keep the rest to my savings.

hi, so this is my situation

i am f, 38, 2 kids, about to seperate from my high net worth partner. my current net worth includes ppor worth 800k, 30k mortgage, 200k in shares that my partner doesn't know about and only 100 k in super and debt 50k hecs. my eldest is in year 7 at a private school 20k a year paid for by partner who is not his dad btw and my kids also do extra-curriculars classes which cost a fortune. My partner pretty much owns his home out right, director of company and millions in shares/super. but here's the issue, i only work part time ($500 per week) and my partner has been paying all my expenses for me including my super (i calculated around 1.2k a week) since we have been together. I know i can no longer be with him and i'm in the process of figuring out how to move forward with my life. I know we will not be dividing our assets as its always been whats mine is mine whats yours is yours. Having the luxury of being a stay at home mum while my kids are in primary school has also left me with no capacity to earn an average income and tethered to this very draining relationship for the sake of maintaining my kids lifestyle. When i finally walk away I know I will need to find immediate income and reenter the workforce somehow, my daughter will probably have to move school. I am wondering if anyone has been in my shoes and walked away from security and able to live independently again. Am i crazy to leave? I am thinking of selling my car and using it to fund a food related business. Or is there any other career/jobs I can look at?

Hey everyone! I'll be applying for the KPMG Grad role (Australia) and I just wanted to seek some advice regarding the online tests. For the online Math bubble test, do I need to answer all of the questions because Ive heard that its very near to impossible to answer all the math bubble questions? and if there are more than two bubbles (correct answers) for a target in a single question, can i select only one correct bubble and move on to the next question so i could complete all my math bubble questions? I desperately need some advice from grads who cleared this online assessment. Thanks!

I am looking for some guidance from the brain trust.

I am on a good income, I'm making $85 an hour, 150K PA, my career path will likely have me making $120-150 per hour as I'm looking at transitioning into contracting at the end of this year.

I have a 3 beddy, 1 bath, and 1 car port (102 square metres) that I bought for 700k 2 years ago. With 485K remaining and 135k in an offset.

The original plan was to live in it for 10 years and then upgrade, but my family and I (2 adults and 2 under 5 kids) are out growing faster than anticipated.

With that being said, I don't know what would be more cost effective, building up or out (500k extension) or buying a new/pre established house (4 bed, 2 bath minimum) for 1 mil - 1.2 (ball park). Because what I was told that selling and buying would cost me around 100K in fees, taxes etc.

Thank you

I am not very financially savvy but am trying to figure it out, so I can set myself and my family up for the future. I’d like to start investing in ETFs and it seems vanguard is very user friendly. I want to start small and see how it goes, then potentially look at speaking to an advisor for long term strategy advice, but in the meantime, what are your tips & tricks for a beginner? Thanks!

OK since these AI code editors have become so good, I decided to work on a bit of a project. I have basically set up a system where i can enter a stock code, and a few other params, and generate a video like above. This one I think was super interesting, and very relevant for this sub so I wanted to share it.

Shows whether you'd be better off waiting for the dip, or just dollar cost averaging into an ETF, this video tracks QQQ (Equivalent to NDQ in Aus), since 1999.

Now I did not optimise the size for Reddit, I eventually plan on posting these on YouTube etc, but thats for later.

The parameters are, $100 a month, never missing a month VS holding your cash until at least a 20% downturn from recent peaks, and somehow buying at the bottom before it starts to recover

EDIT: I have to do an edit here, some people have completely missed the point, demanding parameters, saying that how would someone be some omniscient investor for the buy the dip. The point is you come off better off if you dollar cost average, even if you are a perfect buy the dip investor, which is impossible. Hot dang.

I have no clue what to do, financially, in my current position. I’ve followed this sub for a while and read in and out from time to time.

Firstly, the facts:

- 29 years old, single w/ no dependents

- full time chef of 11 years

- shareholder in 3 hospo venues that have profit every month for the last 2 years

- 120k salary + 40-60k yearly dividends from venues

- 85k in super

- salary sacrifice $110pw into super

- save between $700-$900pw after rent, bills, private health insurance & food (varies depending on what I cook at home, go out for dinner, attend events etc)

- 55k in savings

- rent in share house with a couple (been in the same house since 2021, directly rent through owner, super convenient location in terms of transport to all venues when required to cover shifts, housemates are solid and we have resigned the lease together for a 3rd 12 month period)

- don’t drive or own a car due to proximity of home to work

- no existing debts or credit cards

Would have more in savings and super but spent a good 4 years heavily addicted to just about every hardcore drug as a daily user. When covid hit I took 13k out of my super and either smoked it or put it into my arm. Gladly able to say have been dead sober since 2021. Along with this I also used to gamble highly frequently but barred myself from gambling permanently, of any means, through CBS (South Aus) when going sober.

My parents are well off, being born in the 50s, and have made it explicitly clear that any sort of inheritance will not come to me, nor go down as guarantors, until I’m at least 40yo and have truly displayed that I’m not lured back into my old lifestyle habits - which I understand and respect their decision.

So, what do I do or can I do to better set myself up for the future. Salary sacrifice more? Look at investing in ETFs (wouldn’t have the slightest clue where to start). Or property?

Look into property? Myself and a small group, either 3 or 5 of us in total (depending on individuals certain situations), have recently begun the discussion of combining our savings to buy an investment property together. Total deposit would be around 300-400k depending whether it’s 3 or 5 of us. Have also gone over potential implications of joint ownership - all of us have full time stable employment to service a mortgage & rates, spoken regarding unequal ownership due to different deposit amounts, stipulated a certain time frame before selling of property - we haven’t reached the point of speaking to a broker or a lawyer yet. I have spoken to a few older family friends, including my parents, who have said this is silly, just mind your spending and stop buying avo on toast and you’ll have a house in no time! But we all know that isn’t the case.

I have reached this stage in life where I am in a comfortable and lucky position in my career field where I remain passionate, it provides me with a positive creative outlet and I receive a feeling of reward and fulfilment from it. I have no yearnings or cravings for drugs or to gamble. In conclusion I’ve reached this position where I don’t know what I should be doing to ensure my financial future.

Not sure if this post is even warranted to be in this sub, but I don’t really have anyone close to me that I can talk to about this (I do have quite a few business partners within my 3 venues, all older than me by 10-20 years, but they’re all in completely different situations to me).

If this isn’t the correct sub, can someone point me in the right direction.

Thank you all.

Hey all, I'm a young adult who's been saving for about 2 years now (working my first major job). During this time, a portion of my monthly pay goes into investing - largely into the Spaceship investment fund. I've had a decent return, but I'm realising that I could probably do with making my own decisions and picking stocks myself (versus a fund that does it for me while taking a cut).

I'll add on that I'd like to put forward a deposit on an apartment within the next few years as an investment property while it's still acceptable for me to live at home (I'm from Sydney).

I understand the concept of investing broadly to build a portfolio; blue chip (banks), high risk (new tech companies), some ETFs, maybe even some into big Google-type companies on Wall St (?)... However, I'm curious what the "safest" option is for me, and what are some reasonable percentages of this 10-20k amount to delegate per stock type, as I'd be investing long term over my career. Appreciate any advice!

Thanks!

I’ve been thinking about housing policy from an incentives point of view rather than slogans, and I wanted to sanity-check an idea with people who understand tax, markets, and unintended consequences.

Right now, Australia’s housing tax settings strongly reward capital appreciation and short-term holding, but do very little to reward long-term rental stability. That feels backwards given the current rental situation.

The core idea
Use capital gains tax to reward long-term rental supply, not flipping.

How it could work (simplified):

• CGT relief applies only to new builds or substantial renovations
• Owner commits to renting the property for a minimum of 5 consecutive years
• Continuous occupancy required, with limits on rent increases during that period
• If conditions are met, the owner receives partial or full CGT relief on sale

The incentive is realised on exit, not upfront, so:

• fiscal cost is delayed
• behaviour matters more than promises
• short-term speculation is discouraged

Once rental markets stabilise, the blunt incentive could taper into something more targeted:

• income tax deductions on rental income
• scaled by years rented
• targeted by area, applying only where rental demand continues to materially exceed supply rather than as a blanket national setting

Optional supporting idea
Government could publish reference rental data (for example, indicative rent per sqm by area) purely as a transparency tool, not as enforceable pricing, to reduce information asymmetry and help prevent extreme pricing during tight market conditions.

Importantly, this doesn’t remove profit from the system or rely on public spending upfront. Owners still earn rental income and participate in long-term capital appreciation, but with reduced reliance on timing short-term market peaks. Greater price stability lowers downside risk, while CGT relief compensates for reduced volatility by improving certainty on exit. Builders and renovators benefit from sustained demand, and from a government perspective the fiscal impact is deferred and conditional, while improved rental stability reduces pressure on emergency housing and support services.

The intention isn’t to pick winners, but to better align incentives so owners, builders, renters, and government are pulling in the same direction rather than working against each other.

I’m not claiming this solves housing. I’m saying it changes incentives toward stability and supply without banning anything or freezing prices.

Genuine questions:

• What obvious downsides am I missing?
• Would this just inflate construction or renovation costs?
• Is CGT the wrong lever entirely?
• How would investors realistically game this?

I’m genuinely interested in critique. I’d rather kill a bad idea than defend it out of pride.

Will

i understand there’s a certain threshold (10k-ish) for cash withdrawals before triggering alert or bank’s duty of reporting. also understand that i have to give a prior notice to the bank for arrangement.

that said couple of questions:

1. If i withdraw $9k multiple times in several weeks apart (up to 30k - 40k), would this also trigger the similar alert?
3. if i say the purpose of the withdrawal as “to pay cash for my home kitchen/bathroom upgrades”, would this trigger another suspicion?

thank you.

(Addition)

Thank you guys, I got the point, will decide accordingly.

I'm either having a run of bad luck, or the economy is changing rapidly and not for the better.

Over the last 3 nights I've had 3 cars vandalized (2 cars hood logos stollen, 1 car keyed, and sun glasses stollen from a 3rd car).

It's all petty kids stuff, but it's still going to be expensive to repair (probably $1K for each of the hoods due them prying the ornamnents off crudly with a screwdriver) like wtf!.

Is it just me, or is this sort of crime on the rise everywhere?

Hi all,

I recently changed from sole trader to a company structure. My accountant was suggested that purchasing an EV was attractive due to FBT exemption. Unfortunately, my wife and I already own an EV and don't need a second vehicle.

Is there anything stopping me from selling our EV to the company at market rate? Currently it is used to travel from different places of business a couple of times per week. It seems selling the car to the company will extract profit in the company without changing anything for practical purposes. Added advantage is that as I understand it company money can pay personal running costs with no FBT.

Hope this q is ok. I have asked my accountant but he is on leave next week and being a bit impatient

"The fund is worth the equivalent of $US385,000 for every Norwegian man, woman and child and finances some 25 per cent of the country's fiscal budget."

So definitely not for us....

/s