u/Longjumping-Hall-17

I’ve been putting about $500 a month into an index ETF for the last year and normally just buy it on the same day each month without thinking too much about the price. The last couple of months I’ve started hesitating though. I’ll open the app, see that the price has jumped again, and end up thinking I should just hold the $500 in cash and wait for a decent pullback.

I know that’s basically trying to time the market, but it’s hard not to second-guess it when you’re buying at what feels like a high. For those who regularly invest into ETFs, do you just keep buying regardless, or do you change your approach when the market looks expensive?

Seen a few older houses where the plumbing looks like it’s been patched up five different ways over the years. Some of the fixes probably saved money at the time, but they make things a real pain when you need to work on them later.

Not asking about the launch offers or the initial cashback that generated excitement when it was announced. Asking about the steady state experience of a regular CommBank customer doing regular spending and whether the offers that appear are relevant enough and valuable enough to change anything about how they bank or spend. Would love to know from people here who've been using it for more than a year whether it's produced anything that feels like genuine value or whether it sits in the background as theoretically available without ever quite delivering something that changes the relationship with the bank.

Some jobs can look pretty straightforward to customers, but there’s often a lot more involved once you get into it. Would be good to hear what plumbers have experienced with this.

I’m looking to do 3–6 months of office temping (admin, EA, office coordinator) in the CBD to keep income flowing while I figure out my next career step. Which recruitment agencies in town are actually proactive at placing people quickly?

Most of my appointments have been pretty routine, so I’m curious about the ones that actually ended up being useful. Could be help with a resume, finding a decent job, training, or just getting some proper advice instead of the usual check-in.

Some stuff probably seems pretty obvious from the outside, but once you’re actually on the job it can be a different story. There are always those little things customers don’t realise can make a job harder or take longer.

For frequent travellers on here, do you actually use the CommBank Travel Card, or do you just rely on a card/account with no international transaction fees and keep your main CBA card as a backup?

Had a parent email me yesterday demanding a face-to-face meeting with the principal because I gave their Year 8 child a 15-minute lunchtime detention for refusing to put their phone away after four warnings. The parent claims I’m "targeting" their child and causing them undue stress. Admin is usually pretty supportive, but the sheer amount of entitlement from parents lately is exhausting. How do you all shut down this kind of high-conflict parent behaviour without losing your sanity?

Applied for Prolific about three months ago and still sitting on the waitlist. I’ve heard it’s arguably the best survey/academic research platform globally in terms of pay rate (since they enforce a strict hourly minimum rate, usually paying in GBP or USD).

​For those in Aus who are currently active on Prolific: how long were you on the waitlist before getting the invite email? And do you get decent study volume despite being in our timezone?

I’m in Brisbane and wondering what people here consider a comfortable weekly take-home these days. For a single person, what number would make you feel like you’re doing pretty well?

Seek seems to have everything, but some listings have hundreds of applicants almost immediately. Are people having better luck through LinkedIn, Indeed, Jora, recruiters or applying directly through company websites?

I used to think being a university professor was mostly about teaching, doing interesting research, and having those deep academic conversations you see in films.

Then I started getting a closer look at academia and realised it’s basically running a small business. You’re juggling research, admin, emails, funding, meetings, students, deadlines and a million other things - and somehow trying to find time to actually think.

The funny part is that the work you actually went into academia for often gets pushed into whatever 15-minute gap you can find.

Our subject handbook states 80% attendance is mandatory to pass, but every week I get flooded with emails from students asking for Zoom links or medical waivers because they had to take an extra work shift to afford rent. If I enforce the rule, half the class fails; if I ignore it, nobody shows up to face-to-face discussions. Are your faculties keeping mandatory attendance, or shifting entirely to hurdle assessments and participation marks instead?

With food prices still biting hard, running a layered cash-back setup on regular supermarket runs makes a genuine difference over a month. Pairing discounted e-gift cards bought through ShopBack or Cashrewards with Everyday Rewards or Everyday Extra points boosts the total return significantly. How many layers are you stacking on your weekly shop, and which combination gives you the best yield?

It feels like new compliance frameworks and operational procedures get handed down every second month with zero context on what problem they’re actually trying to solve. You follow the new process, deal with frustrated students or academics, and move on. Do you think it’s driven by TEQSA/regulators, or just middle managers trying to justify their positions?

If someone has moved into a completely different industry and has only been in their new permanent role for a few months, how much does being on probation actually affect their borrowing options? For example, if they had several years of stable employment in their previous career, no major gaps in employment and are now earning a similar or higher salary in a permanent position, would lenders still be hesitant purely because they haven't completed probation? How brokers usually approach this and whether there are situations where it makes more sense to apply straight away rather than waiting another few months.

A career change that involves moving into a completely different field creates a borrowing capacity assessment that doesn't fit neatly into the standard employment history framework. The income might be similar or higher but the continuity of industry experience that lenders typically look for as a proxy for employment stability isn't there in the same way. Would love to know how brokers navigate that situation - which lenders are most flexible about industry changes, whether the length of time in the new role matters more than anything else and what the application looks like when the borrower's track record in their previous career is strong but the new one is only a few months old.

With rising pub food prices and split bills at group dining events, social gatherings can quickly drain a monthly budget. When friends want to meet up at expensive venues or order shared plates and divide the bill evenly, how do you handle it gracefully?

Our two year fixed interest rate of 2.19 percent is ending next month and rolling onto a variable rate around 6.1 percent. Our broker suggested splitting the loan into 50 percent fixed and 50 percent variable with an offset account attached