u/InternetUpbeat9596

I used to think staying with one company for 4-5 years looked much better on a CV.

But looking at people around me, some of the biggest salary jumps seem to happen when they move rather than wait for an internal promotion. At the same time, I don't want my CV to look like I’m constantly jumping ship.

For people who have changed jobs a few times in Australia, where do you personally draw the line between career progression and looking like a job hopper?

I’m terrible at remembering to check these. I’ll make a purchase and then notice an offer afterwards that would’ve actually been useful. I’ve started checking the app when I know I’m going to spend a decent amount, but I still forget half the time.

The more I compare Amex cards, the more I think the annual fee needs to be looked at properly rather than just focusing on the welcome bonus. Some of the benefits sound good, but their value really depends on how you actually spend and whether you use them throughout the year. There’s also the points side of things. Transfer partners, redemption rates, and changing offers can make it difficult to work out what you’re genuinely getting back. A card that works well for one person might not make much sense for someone else.

There are a few little things I still have to do myself in Up every payday. They’re not a big deal, but after doing them over and over, it feels like they could probably be automated. I really like how much Up already handles in the background, so it’s mostly the small repetitive stuff that stands out now.

I didn’t really pay much attention to some of the smaller Amex features when I first got the card. A few of them seemed like nice extras but not something I’d actually use. After having it for a while, there are a couple I’ve ended up using more than expected, especially when they save a bit of money or make things easier.

I've always been curious how many people actually have their salary, bills and savings all running through Up versus just using it for day to day spending.

At some point you have to ask whether you're genuinely getting more value than you'd get from a simpler card. How do you personally work out whether a card is worth keeping?

Completed a cert four in a trade adjacent field and the practical skills are genuinely solid. But getting past the initial resume filter at certain employers feels like the qualification itself is the problem rather than anything about the capability behind it. Would love to know from people here who've come through TAFE whether they found employers who genuinely valued the qualification or whether it's always been a conversation you have to force rather than one that happens naturally.

When you're comparing courses, most of the information you see is about subjects, fees and how long the qualification takes. But I feel like there are probably other things that matter much more once you actually start, like placement arrangements, how much is online, teacher availability, equipment or whether employers actually value that particular qualification.

Looking back, I spent a ridiculous amount of money on car loans for vehicles I absolutely did not need, purely to look good to people I don't even talk to anymore. Wish I had just copped the boring hatchback and put the rest into ETFs

Thinking about joining a casual run club or a social sport league just to expand the circle a bit, but I am slightly worried everyone already has their established cliques and it will just be awkward. How did you break the ice?

I'm starting to look at moving up and the gap between junior positions and mid-level stuff seems huge. Is that jump actually realistic or are people just exaggerating? What skills actually get you there faster or am I just going to need to grind it out for another couple of years?

I see a lot of people on here discovering debt recycling for the first time through finance podcasts and trying to implement it immediately by redrawing equity out of their PPOR to dump into the ASX. The math looks gorgeous. Just convert non-deductible home loan debt into deductible investment loan debt. But please remember that when those classic spreadsheets were made, home loan rates were 2-3%. With the cash rate sitting stubbornly at 4.35%, your actual retail mortgage rate is likely north of 6.3%. For debt recycling to actually break even right now, your ETF portfolio has to consistently return a gross yield higher than your mortgage interest rate just to justify the risk and the tax drag. If you don't have a massive marginal tax bracket (37% or 45%) to make the deduction worth it, you are better off just making extra principal repayments into your offset account for a guaranteed, risk free, tax free 6%+ return.

A lot of cards have dining, travel or lifestyle credits built in, but I’m curious how many people actually use them fully instead of letting them expire. Do you plan around them or just use them when it happens?

Thinking about leaving the stable corporate lifestyle to do some independent contracting for small to medium local businesses. Wondering if it is better to specialize in a fast-deployment ecosystem like React and Node, or if the real money sits in legacy enterprise systems like Java or .NET maintenance contracts

For me, it was solar panels. I remember looking at the upfront cost and thinking I was about to spend way more than I was comfortable with, and for a while, I kept putting it off because it felt expensive. Now looking back, it’s one of the few bigger purchases where I actually feel like it paid for itself over time and I’m glad I went through with it. It saved me a lot.