u/thedesignninja

I’ll start by saying - we don’t need a new car

2 adults and 2 kids aged under 5

We have two petrol SUVs
My income is $240k plus $20k bonus - expecting early $300k in the next couple of years.

Partner is going back to work part time, full time salary is $100k.

PPOR loan is $980k, valued at 1.25m
IP loan 560k, valued at $660k
Offset account $20k

I’m thinking to sell one SUV worth $20k that’s about to be out of warranty, park the money in the offset and get the Zeekr 7x on novated lease

Lease total would be in the $500-550 range per fortnight

We have solar and battery so expecting most of the charging will be done at home, probably using an EV plan for 8-12c per kw

I’ve done the novated lease guide calculation and we are either 3k better or worse off over the 5 years

Does it make logical and financial sense to do this? What should stop me or make me reconsider?

Edit: thank you to everyone, I see both sides of the arguments and in some ways people are right, $20k in offset is nothing if the primary job is lost etc etc.

Yes the tax benefits are unreal, but I might focus on paying down PPOR and bumping up our savings, and check if we’re in a better position next year before the rules change around NL and EVs

Thanks for all your input and taking the time to give me a reality check

Having a dispute with our neighbour about whether to do colourbond or timber fence. We want timber given our other neighbour prefers timber, we want it to be consistent all around our property.

They have suggested that if we don’t choose colourbond, they’ll do colourbond on their side and keep the existing fence on the boundary

Would this affect the value of our property in the future? The second fence would be on their side not ours, but would probably be seen through the fence

What should we do?

I’m wondering what are the risks of having a retaining wall on the boundary between two houses

Is it possible to have a retaining wall with a timber fence on top that’s integrated into it without separate footing for the fence?

Are there any liabilities or risks we need to keep in mind?

A bit of a difficult conundrum - I know technically I don’t need to pay anything to replace the fence, but how nice should one be?

Our neighbour wants to rip down our wooden fence and install a retaining wall and a new fence as part of some upgrades to their yard

1. they are suggesting to build the retaining wall on our side so they can have more usable space (that side is our utilities side) - should we do that? Could it create issues down the track with who manages

drainage

1. issues etc?
2. They want us to stump up part of the cost of the new fence (about half). Technically I know we don’t need to, given they want to upgrade the fence as part of the retaining wall. The fence is in a fair condition and could do with a few repairs but definitely works.

What would you do? Any tips for how to manage it well and keep the peace while being a good neighbour and minimising costs?