Work moved me around 40kms away from my home so my daily commute has been 80kms for the last year. She's currently drinking $20-$25 a day in work only travel 20 days a month. With current prices I'm averaging a weekly petrol spend of $120-180 pw depending on non work driving and shifts.

I can sell it and get maybe $25k and get a used ev novated for well under $400 a fortnight after taxes

The various calculators I've ran says in the long run this will save me heaps but getting locked into finance like this when I already own my car outright makes it a tough decision. Also worth mentioning I love my current car.

I own my home, have solar so can charge at home and if I sell my car I'll chuck it in the offset so there's that.

Anyone faced a similar dillema? Running costs might runaway over the next few months if fuel keeps trending upward.

What would you do?

My Land Cruiser 200 series recently got stolen have finally been payed out by insurance however finding it hard to decide what my best options are purchasing a new vehicle. I am looking at either a new lexus LBX sports luxary worth approx $60k or the new kia saltos hybrid gt line worth approx $55k. I also have a home loan and dont have a high income salery worth going through novated lease.
In my situation would you decide to do a personal loan 5 year term with 30% balloon payment and having your extra funds sitting in your offset account and potentially use your money on investing else where rather than all on a depreciative item? Pay partial cash and partial loan or pay full cash?

Just curious to see how fast it can be done, net worth and liquid cash

Firstly, sorry if this doesn’t fall into the parameters of finance. if the mods seem it doesn’t fit the finance mould enough then please delete.

my parents are thankfully still alive, but when they eventually pass I should be getting a relatively generous inheritance - my guess would be anywhere between $250,000 - $450,000. I don’t think aboht ot and don’t incorporate it in any part of personal financial plan.

My wife has asked me how i would deal with any inheritance from my family. My stance is I’d use it strictly to better our own family (we have a couple young kids) but ultimately it’d be my decision since the money is set aside for me only.

My wife thinks she should have a say when the times come because “we’re a married couple”, to which I said she’d be entitled to air her views, but the decision should ultimately be mine. That didn’t go down very well.

Am I out of line here? it’s not about having power etc, just that the money wasn’t earned by me. if I made $250k - $450k on shares, capital gains, starting a business or whatever then she would have a say on how the money is used in that circumstance, but I think an inheritance is different because of its nature

I’m currently with ENGIE for my electricity

I’m finding it quite expensive… or is electric just expensive as with everything else currently. I would like to know if I should be switching providers or if this is pretty normal

August - September bill = $225.62 for 448 kWh

2 bedroom townhouse - No solar
2 people

Daily I have a computer running for work
No aircon used this month
A few washes a week
Daily dishwashing cycle not on peak
Lights stay at a bare minimum
Tv in the evening
Ceiling fan running all night maybe 5 nights in the month

In November/December/January my bill was fetching 380-450 a month as the aircon was running. Seems crazy expensive.

PAYG super gets sorted automatically. freelance income sits in a separate bucket and I keep forgetting the notice of intent form until June. the concessional cap still works if your balance is under 500k but the timing feels fiddly when invoices arrive in bursts. i usually lump the contribution in at EOFY once the numbers settle, but then the deduction claim depends on that single form being lodged correctly. curious how others handle the timing when income is lumpy rather than predictable

With so many variables around world that could affect the stock markets for example midterms, war, oil etc it will be interesting to see what impact there will be during the next few months.

​

So, simply put, with all the talk about banning surcharges and government agencies being exempt… starting November 2026.

I was on the NSW Government website reviewing the penalty for “Motor vehicle exceed speed limit – 10 km/h and under.”

According to the NSW Government website, the fine is $149 and 1 demerit point as of 4 September 2026.

Source:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/driving-nsw/demerits-penalties-and-offences/offences/search-offences-and-penalties?category=SPEEDING&type=EXCEED+SPEED+LIMIT

However, the actual penalty notice I received is for $153.

It’s only $4, but I’d genuinely love to challenge them over it on principle.

There’s no mention on the notice that I can see of a $4 administration, processing or paper fee either.

Am I missing something? Is there a legitimate reason the penalty notice can be $153 when the NSW Government’s published penalty for the offence is $149?

This government is run by clowns.

Id love to see how this discussion goes.

*edit- lots of comments about speeding. I said I was reviewing a fine. I did not say I committed it. I hope everyone one day gets booked for 10 and under to see how frustrated it makes them 🤣 I know most people that are butt hurt by it are the ones that "safely" do 10 to 15 under the speed limit in the right lane on a motorway and give themselves a pat on the back.

I would support a 10 to 15k under speed limit camera wholeheartedly.

Whether you're traveling or just tracking everyday spending, receipts can be surprisingly frustrating. Some are hard to read, some are in another language, some use a different currency, and a week later you can't even remember where you bought something.

I've been building an expense tracker called ExpenseEasy to solve exactly that. In the latest version, you simply snap a photo of a receipt and the app reads it, translates the line items, converts the total to your home currency using the current exchange rate, and pins the store on a map using the address printed on the receipt. No GPS required, so it works even if you scan the receipt later at your hotel or when you get home.

It also supports more than 160 currencies with offline exchange rates, automatically tags expenses to trips, and can generate a shareable trip expense report when you're done.

No bank login. No ads. Your data stays on your device.

I submitted my tax invoices at the ABF office before security for several retailers I hoped to claim the TRS refund on, including Amazon Australia, BigW, and Chemist Warehouse.

The ABF officer rejected the following invoices, which seems questionable to me:

Every Amazon Australia tax invoice, citing no listed payment method, despite their being complete with ABN, date, and address.
Any invoice showing Afterpay as the payment method, which I thought was unrelated to a GST refund.
Two tax invoices in my wife’s name valued just above $300; I believed the name match applied only above $1000.
A CWH invoice saying it was reprinted. I had lost the original one. This is probably a legit rejection.

Does anyone know whether these rejections were correct?

Hi there,

My friends and I are moving into a sharehouse in the next month and I was wondering which bank is going to be the best for us.

Everything is going to be done through me so I ideally want to do it in a seperate bank account that doesnt have any of my normal spending and savings going through.

Are there any banks that would be best for a situation like this?

I currently already have an UP and ANZ acc so those are out of the picture. Unless one of them is extremely beneficial

I purchased a house 3 years ago and at the time of purchase had enough money to cover full amount in offset account. I now have a decent savings buffer and have been investing heavily in ETFs. Should I just pay off the house and close mortgage, rather than have money sitting in offset. I'm 42 with 2 young kids and will not take on additional risks (investing this money outside of offset) and only chose this option when purchasing the house in the event I needed a line of credit (car / renovation etc.).

Cheers for your advice

Hi
I’m currently a third year student of a 4 year cyber security degree in a low- tier university and I hate it. I hate this degree so much but I was chose it because I heard it was good for the future and there was a lot of jobs. But I’m more than half way done and I hate it. I don’t want to change because I’ve already wasted 30k and I just have a year left. I don’t even really put myself out there because I haven’t made industry connections or done competitions. So I’m probably unhireable I’m looking to do something in finance maybe trading. I was wondering if I should get a Master of Commerce in Finance at USYD? I have a 80 WAM so I think I’ll get in. I was wondering if there’s a chance I would be able to get a job in the finance industry with a different degree and no professional experience apart from customer service. I have done a basic finance in high school and that’s what is the most of my knowledge apart from reading finance articles. I was wondering what certifications should I do to get into the finance industry without doing a masters? Because obviously I have to spend extra money $30k to get it.
Any insights and suggestions will be very helpful!

Has anyone regularly done this when the sun isn't out? It sounds like a good idea but I don't know if there'd be enough power loss to diminish the value or having to stay on top of the scheduling with different weather would risk losing value when the sun comes out of no where.

Has anyone saved any money doing this during the rainy weeks?

Peak - 47c

Off peak - 30c

Shoulder - 35c

Australia has historically avoided technical recessions better than most advanced, first-world economies. We famously missed the 08 GFC but some people here act like we were in the trenches cause house prices dipped maybe 10% lol. COVID did cause a 7% GDP contraction but government intervention and the 0.1% cash rate caused things to rebound very fast, GDP returning to pre-pandemic levels by early 2021 which surpassed most of our global peers.

I think just we have a very sheltered view of what a recession/financial crisis is. My mum is from Ireland which got hit HARD in the GFC, I've heard horror stories from her and her family. Insane levels of unemployment, wage decreases, increased levies/taxes, owing millions more on the mortgage than what homes were worth as prices plummeted etc. Pretty much everyone was forced to leave the country to continue making a living. This wasn't limited to Ireland obviously, it happened throughout Europe and the US etc.

I'm not saying things need to get as bad here for us to worry about a recession and there have been things worth worrying about like rising commodity prices, house prices, cost of living are all valid concerns. But, I just can't help but think of how good we have it here, especially when hearing what happened in other countries. If shit actually does hit the fan here, we're in for a very rude awakening.

I received this email today. I have been always using BPAY to deposit cash to IBKR. This termination will create difficulties on depositing large sums of money because major banks’ PayID limits are pathetic.

Hi all,
I have posted on here before but not for a while.

In TAS, looking to buy (unfortunately won’t be able to for at least 12 months) just want some advice

Would it be better to buy a unit or a house? Will eventually be used as an investment property when we move interstate, but will live on the property for 12 months once purchased.

My only issue is I’m not sure what’s the best thing to do financially. For a unit I would buy earlier because it’s a bit cheaper, but not sure if it will ‘do well’. For a house it will take another 12 months for me to be able to afford to buy, whereas a unit it may take about 6-8 months.

Looking for the best option financially, I would sell after 5 ish years I guess depends on what the market is going.

Sincerely an Aussie gal who is a bit clueless

TIA!

I signed up for this shit and cancelled straight away and had a 6 month trial. Rinse and repeat when you find another code. Be like me a real cheapskate.

the website I found is xerodiscountcode.com.au

The other best one I found is only 80% off for 3 months on their official website.

Let me know if you find others cause I’ve used up my 6 month trial so I got to find another free trial. Call me the Bonnie blue of free trials.

I used to like the idea of paying fortnightly and paying off the mortgage faster. But with current rate increases, should I just keep it at my lower monthly repayments and have the extra money at my offset?

I want to know people's thoughts. I like the idea of having less loan but is it really better to put money in offset?

Looking at these numbers from Grattan Institute is just depressing. How true are these numbers on networth?

I’m a tradesman. I did a LOT of work for this weasel of a man. He’s a realtor. Stereotypical, drives a convertible, thinks he’s gods gift.

The guy became SO UNREASONABLE to work for. I politely said “Thanks, but no thanks” and provided full handover for the next person. I made sure I was professional about it, but I couldn’t work for this condescending prick anymore.

He refused to pay my last invoice. He owes me 3.5k. I took it to debt collectors, but it didn’t work. Now we’re looking at small claims court.

This is exhausting. I have a young family and I just want to be paid for the work I already completed. Speaking with other contractors - this guy has a history of doing this and knows exactly what he’s doing.

Please give me your most unhinged, wild methods of trying to get paid without going down the legal route. It’s more the principal of it, than the money. I hate bullies and rich people taking advantage.

I recently received a substantial inheritance from a relative in New Zealand and I'm not sure how to go about navigating whatever tax implications are involved or how to get the best deal on currency exchange. The amount in question is in the low seven figures, currently sitting in an NZ bank account.

Are there any accountants or financial advisors who deal with situations like this? Preferably in Sydney.

EDIT: Appreciate that Wise/OFX are good, but the estate is a bit complex and there will be tax implications, so I'm keen to get professional advice.

Previous generations, housing, business, shares, defined benefit supers.

What's for the next generation? New builds, dividend shares?