r/AusFinance

Not just this sub, but there has been a massive influx of clearly politically motivated posts pretending to be Aussie battlers just like you and me that are "just asking questions" and copying clearly under baked narratives from mainstream media.

I refuse to believe everyone on this sub is this stupid when we are all earning an average of a $250,000 a year.

The Woolies checkout donation thread, about 30-40% of commenters here genuinely think it's a tax dodge.

...another 10% think Woolies full-throated claim the donations as their own with no customer acknowledgement.

...then again numerous comments that they should donate their own company money, but not taking the 60 seconds to search that and find they donate millions annually.

What are we even doing here, is this the level we're operating at?

Excerpts from article by investment adviser Mark Gardner:

[...] The people holding five investment properties at 2% yields in suburbs they've never visited, telling themselves they're sophisticated investors, they're not. They're policy dependents. The budget just sent them a bill that was always in the mail.

[...] Residential mortgages dominate [bank] loan books, comprising 54% to 70% of assets depending on the institution. Those mortgages are secured against a property market explicitly inflated by the policy settings the budget just started unwinding.

Australian household debt-to-income sits at 182%, among the highest in the developed world. Mortgage serviceability is at 45% of income, well above the 20-year average of 34%. Big four bad debt expenses: 0% to 0.2% for four consecutive years. That's not a destination. That's a temporary address.

Here's the specific new risk. Remove the buyer pool, no negative gearing incentive on established properties for new investors. Increase sell incentives, lock in old CGT rules before 1 July 2027 or absorb the hit.

You don't need a crash. You just need a few percent of price softness and rising arrears to push bad debts from 0.1% toward the historical average of 0.3%. On a multi-trillion dollar mortgage book.

The exquisite irony: CBA's own chief economist flagged these changes were "locked in" before budget night, and the CEO has publicly supported property tax reform. The bank most exposed to this was telling us it was coming.

I've read a few times "because older generations own most of the shares" but that's a useless argument because the very reason they own most of the shares is because they had such a long time under generous tax rules.

Seems very much to me like pulling up the ladder after you've climbed. "I benefited from low capital gains tax on shares for decades and made a lot of money. Now that I'm close to cashing out, it's time to increase the capital gains tax which will be paid by the younger generations for the next 40+ years (but my gains are all grandfathered in so that's nice). For equity, of course!"

For example, a 70 year old with $5mil in assets. "Oh well, I've already made my money. I'll be cashing out soon anyway, and the changes are all grandfathered in anyway. This new tax increase is no big deal for me"

Compared to e.g. a 25 year old with $5,000 in assets. "I put away a bit of my wages into ETFs. This tax increase significantly burdens me on my ability to build wealth and enjoy social mobility in the coming years".

See the difference?

I am not debating whether the changes are good or bad. I am just focussing on this obviously false claim that it helps with intergenerational equity.

(and for the record, I'm supportive of the changes to negative gearing and the CGT discount on housing)

This is really an uneducated assessment but how is everyone living so lavish and spending when they are out and about during the week?

I've had 2 weeks of forced leave for the first time since 2022 and I'm seeing mums in their 30s, 4 kids in a Kluger hybrid for 90k.

or young blokes (like just off green Ps and driving a 175k blacked out RAM)

just blows my mind that you'll see a young family, 2 busted up Camry's working full time and just getting by at Aldi.

is it the bank of mum and dad? inheritance?

or is it "but it's novated lease so it's salary packaged"

but it's still real money and not monopoly money???

Posting as right now I'm feeling very stupid for a decision I made in the past. I'll try to keep this quick but my partner and I signed up to a timeshare contract that promised cheap family holidays back in 2014. Now a little older, and $20,000 poorer, I realize that I signed up to a 72 year contract that will be passed onto my kids once I'm gone.

I've spoke to the company and there is no cancellation option, the only exit option offered to me so far is a 'resale of account' to another party in which you need to list on a website for $20.00 a month in the hope someone will buy it, which is seeming unlikely.

This is a PSA to anyone who is thinking about these services/products, PLEASE for the love of god consider that you will be paying fees for a very long time and getting very poor value for money.

Booking.com and other similar websites provide similar level of service and won't trap you and your kids.

The craziest thing about this video was at the end where the lady stated something along the lines of young people starting a business was the way of becoming a first home buyer.

Look at the country we have become, the only route to stable home ownership in this country is seen as starting a business of which most new businesses fail.

Starting a business should be seen as much more as just a way to purchase your first home. A nurse should be able to purchase their own first home in this country.

The greed of our landlord class has become astounding.

Hey everyone,
I’m 19M from Australia and trying to set myself up properly early.

Current situation:
• ~$20k savings
• Income around $2600/fortnight currently
• Bills roughly $1500/fortnight
• Joining the Army soon so income/stability should improve just less bills and more saving I can do (in a bout 6months)

Mainly wondering:
• What are the smartest habits I should keep building at this age?
• What would you do with the 20k right now?
• Emergency fund size recommendations?
• Is it worth investing yet or just stacking cash while young?
• Any advice specifically for people entering Defence?

Trying to stay anonymous because I don’t really like sharing finances with people IRL, but I’d appreciate any advice from people further ahead than me. Cheers.

A trick I do not see mentioned here often to potentially get a slight discount on your home loan rate is the following:

Check the upper end value of your home on sites like domain and property.

Call your bank and request an updated Automated Valuation Model (AVM) for your home. Try to hit the maximum number the bank will accept(usually top price on domain or property).

If you are successful you may have changed your LVR(loan to value) which may in turn allow you to negotiate better rates for that bracket.

This allowed the lender to bypass standard software locks and drop my variable rate instantly.

I was able to do this and take my LVR from 72% down to 61% and achieve a slight discount in rates and repayments.

Do not always assume paying the loan down is the only way to change LVR, house price increases and suburb growth also have a say here.

Good luck.

If the goal is to tax "real gains", why aren't losses indexed as well?

For example, if I make 2 investments:

Investment A is $100000 that breaks even nominally

Investment B $10000 that makes 10% over 2 years

Assuming 2.5% inflation / indexation rate, then:

Investment A has made a loss of $5062.50 in real terms

Investment B has made a gain of $493.75 in real terms

I've made a real loss of $4568.75, yet I pay 30% tax on the $493.75 as though I'm earning $205k per year?

If the budget gets passed in parliament, would this be a more tax effective strategy when selling your PPOR? Guaranteed capital growth when you come to sell and no CGT?