I don't see any other option. I can't see myself being a corpo rent slave for the rest of my life (which has caused immense damage to my mental health already) and things just seem to be getting worse across the board in terms of public services.

I'm thinking of buying a cheap house in regional NSW like Orange and start growing my own stuff, collecting rainwater and installing solar.

How legit is this plan? It's the only thing i can think of to escape and atleast live a decent life.

Is this a good strategy for someone who has given up on owning a house here? I can speak the language of the country i want to move to and have connections there (40m)

Home loans where the only security is the home have a stupidly low interest rate compared to business loans where they want 200% security.

Given homes are not great wealth creators for the country, why does the government through regulation make business loans so much more expensive?

First of all, I haven't looked at any information regarding this matter, but posting here to get a quick explanation and information about this. (Hope this doesnt break rule 5 of this sub)

Also I have very little to zero knowledge about mortgages and stuff so please bear with me and the terms that i will be using.

So, my father in law who bought a brand new house wants us to take over once he retires. As little as i know about this, he got my wife to be the guarantor(or something not really sure) so they can be approved for their loan. The only reason he needed her is because he is old thus getting a loan is hard for him. But in terms of paying it off i dont think he will have any issues as he is earning enough.

He decided that at some point when he retires, we will take over how much left was remaining of the mortgage and paying them the total amount they paid when they originally bought the house in installment(we probably have to pay them pretty much rent + mortgage to bank if we do decide to take over).

But since he decided without really taking my wife's opinion, my wife did not really like this idea and no interest in being any part of this arrangement. She is okay with her name being used to get the loan tho.

Would really appreciate to hear your thoughts about this. Would we be better to save up on our own and buy our own house? Or are we actually being offered a good deal with this situation? (Spoiler: i already have a feeling we are not)

Hi, beginner investor and was just wondering if it is bad to start investing in the IVV when AUD is worth so little when converting to US dollar since it is tracking US companies?

Thank you in advance

They're kinda doing my head in and it's impeding my personal growth. Keep in mind I was gonna leave this money to buy a car and do 1 New Zealand trip, I just need a car for when I leave uni as it's a requirement 🙄 this is in east Melbourne. Also keep in mind the house is a health hazard

So like I said, I’m new. I like to think I’ve done some research and have come up with what I think is a sound strategy, but am a total n00b and looking for feedback or suggestions. Main goal is ‘savings’ - fortnightly deposits into each of the below for the long term (10+ years). Looking for low fees, minimal overlap between ETFs and a broad spectrum so I’m not overexposed to risk (particularly with the uncertainty of Trump about to take office in the US). So here goes:

1) IOZ 2) IVV 3) VEU

Idea would be to have 33% of my portfolio in each but any suggestions in that regard would be welcomed!

Currently I hold IOO also, thinking of keeping that but not investing any more and moving all future deposits (for that particular component) to IVV instead.

So have at it! Is this dumb?

I recently received an inheritance that's currently making 5% in savings (provided I don't withdraw in a month).

I've been doing some mental gymnastics and thought I'd seek some advice.

I'm in my 30s, super not yet at $100k. Super is in the most aggressive accumulation option.

I have been considering having work deduct an additional $1k per fortnight pre-tax this year to get my super to over $100k, whilst reducing my taxable income, and pulling out $30k from the savings for bills etc to make up for it.

Currently renting, hoping to buy a house within 2-3 years so currently unsure how to (reasonably safely) invest the balance until then.

Hi all, looking for some dentists to share their opinion on the industry. The pros and cons of being a dentist. Would you recommend your career to someone looking for a healthcare job? Why/why not?

I'm currently assisting my brother-in-law with sorting out their finances. He has a lot of debt whioch we have worked through over last 6 weeks.

I have paid off all his afterpay / zip accounts and have confirmed they are now closed (nearly 10k)

He has left as follows:

- 80k credit card (CC) debt across 5 different lenders.

- 2.5k through a lender called Humm.

He is employed as a business manager (marketing) in a large business and has been there nearly 20yrs, earning 200k per annum before tax. Rents, and has a wife and 2 children.

He came to me as he is embarrassed as how things have gotten out of control. I am not here looking for further judgment about him, I think he has been through enough of late and I care for them and only want to help them out.

I'm guessing his credit rating is crap as although not in arrears seems to manually pay his monthly credit card accounts (minimum payment) but always late (almost randomly looking at his statements).

I cannot personally afford to bail him out any further.

What upsets me is he seems to paying circa $1500 month in interest on the CC's - however I'm guessing no one would touch him from a debt consolidation perspective?

So - does he have any options? One payment, one loan I thinnk would be ideal however I cannot see a way to make this happen. I am also unable to provide him with gaurantor support as am reserving this for my older children.

We have property but we don’t currently live in it. We have rented it out and living in rental ourselves. We may go back in couple of years, or decide to sell it and buy an another.

The property is 100% offset so all rental income is getting taxed. My partner is risk averse so most they will agree is invest in Balance portfolio. What are my other options to reduce tax while not risking my money?

What would be some subtle hints or clues that someone is lying or faking about how much they’re actually making when they really aren’t?

Apart from sacrificing super and claiming WfH expenses.

Good day fellow Aussies,

Not sure if it's the right place to ask this question. Apologies in advance if it's not.

Background: I am an Australian citizen but I am not 100% clear as how the following things work. This is the first time I am facing such situation. None of my internet searches as well as discussions with friends and family have returned any clear answers therefore hoping to find other Australians who have experienced similar situation.

I have a bare bones hospitalization cover through a private health fund. Recently I discovered I needed a day surgery procedure. Because my bare bones health cover didn't cover my specific condition, the specialist placed me up on a public hospital waiting list with a 90 to 180 day waiting period.

I have managed to wait out the period and last week I got a text message followed by a call from the public hospital that my day surgery was scheduled. As far as I know, it's going to be a day procedure.

Situation: As part of my details, the hospital asked whether I had a private health cover and whether the hospital could use it. I shared my health cover details (Provider + Membership number) but told them I am not sure if I wanted to use private cover or claim against it because I don't have the money to pay the excess and my specific condition is not covered either. That is why I had waited on the public waiting list. They verbally said (nothing in writing though that) if I allowed the hospital to use the private cover, they will "waive" my excess and they can still claim some of the items on the cover. I told them I am unsure and will confirm on the day of admission to which they agreed.

Question: Now I am confused whether to let the public hospital use my private cover. I want to help the public system with extra funding. If they can get money from the Private health fund, all the power to them, but I have the following concerns:

• I literally don't have money to pay excess (and unsure if my insurance will turn around and try to chase or bill me directly for excess)

• I don't want to pay for any out of pocket costs, gap fee or surprise invoices/bills in the mail just because I got admitted me as a private patient when those expenses would have been fully covered if admitted as a public patient. My private cover is literally the most basic first tier hospitalization cover.

• I don't want the stress of dealing with hospital bills and coordinating hospital or specialist gap payments with the private health fund. Recovering from the surgery will probably be stressful on its own. I preferably don't want added stress around money or bills during my recovery.

• I don't know if there are any other downsides of using Private cover in a public hospital. Given an already stressful situation, my friends and family are advising to just get admitted as public patient and avoid this extra stress of the unknown.

Hoping to get some wisdom from the wider Australian community who have first-hand experience in similar situations.

Thanks 🙏🏻

Hey AusFinance.

My parents are both reaching retirement age. Any sort of major healthcare expense would likely fall on me.

Is it worth getting them hospital insurance or does the Australian healthcare system take care of its citizens enough such that it is not really necessary?

From what I've read so far, private hospital cover would be redundant for emergency surgeries as the public system would take care of it, however I am worried about any non-life threatening conditions that significantly reduce quality of life and would be considered an elective procedure under the Australian healthcare system.

Is there anything else I am missing?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Before anyone says anything, yes, I know I should be speaking to an accountant/solicitor etc.

But I figured, I'd get a headstart and start researching.

I've got a considerable amount of money I've been holding onto for my young child. It's just tied up in HISAs at the moment. But I'd like to start investing it, and also putting more of my money with it.

We're just about to finish paying off our PPOR so will have about $100K+/year to start investing.

So here's my question:

I set up a family trust in 2017, but I never got around to opening a bank account for it. It has the whole folder, with paperwork, and I can see an ABN and TFN in there for it. And there's $10 paperclipped to one of the pages. It all looks legit, was set up through my accountant at the time and should have been done correctly.

I am wanting to set up a bank account for it this week, as I'm expecting some more money for my daughter from overseas and just want it to go straight into the trust.

If I haven't done anything with it or lodged any tax returns etc. would it still be active?

Hey All,

I'm looking at a new car and grabbing some quotes for insurance. I want to add a vehicle to my current insurance.

So, I originally was with an insurer, then when my policy expired, it wasn't renewed. Then when I tried setting it up with them it was declined. When that happened, I called up my new insurer, and explained the situation, and the operator said that it was fine, and put down that I hadn't had any insurance cancelled/declined. My policy is contingent on that, as per the paperwork provided, as this insurer does not offer any insurance if you have had a previous policy cancelled/not renewed etc.

For those wondering, I didn't get renewed after just having 1 claim for a fender bender, was very surprised that wasn't renewed.

Knowing that an agent from my insurance company has previously stated that this is okay and offered me coverage, if asked the same question when adding a new car to my policy, am I safe to say that I haven't had a previous policy non-renewed/cancelled?

From recollection the convo when setting up my current policy went something like:
Agent: Why are you switching over to our insurance co.?

Me: My previous policy expired and my insurer didn't want to reinsure me because I had 1 claim a year ago

Agent: Seems like a good way to lose customers... bla bla bla, few moments later:

Agent: have you had a policy cancelled/non-renewed?

Me: Only the thing I mentioned before but not cancelled mid-policy

Agent: That's all good then

Then I was able to set up insurance, and he had marked down a no as an answer to the question.

Thank you for your time!

I’m very confused between these 3 ETFs. I want coverage of the US market, and the global market. VGS and IVV appear to have a lot of overlap, while I don’t see overlap between those two and IVE (at least in the top 10). However, when looking at regions covered trying to compare them, it’s telling me IVE gives me greater exposure to the US market than VGS, which is the opposite of why I’m considering something like VGS and IVE or IVV and IVE. I’m trying to get:

1 focused on US market 1 focused on global market (not ex US but with a focus on international)

SO

Is it better to hold:

VGS & IVE Or IVV $ IVE Or VGS & IVV Or Just VGS or IVE (just 1 total)

This is in addition to holding an aus 200 ETF.

Hi people! I am about to purchase my first. I have around 15% of deposit saved and was wondering the next. We all know about FHSS, and how we are able to contribute extra to our super and then pull out those contributions for deposit. Additionally, we can put extra contributions for previous years too (I think it goes 5y back right?). I know max contribution for FHSS per year to pull out is 15k. Now my question is, can I contribute all 15k for past 5 years (for each year) so something like 75k this week, and then reduce my Tax (get some money back as refund at EOFY) and then "walk"into bank second week and say that I will be using that 75k of extra contributions for deposit?

Does this make sense? and is it doable?

I’m likely going to accept a severance payment next month. I’m wondering if this will be taxed according to my marginal bracket? I understand genuine redundancy is taxed differently, but as my case is performance related I’m less hopeful. I suppose just have to cop it?

I released my super twice in a 4 month period under financial hardship with 2 different super funds, will they not check till end of financial year?

My car was recently written off and I’m financing approx. $25k for a replacement, second hand car. My mortgage is currently with P&N and their rate for an unsecured car loan is 9.99%. Is it worth speaking to my broker to see if we can get a reduced rate, or should I just shop around and see who can offer the lowest rate? Or am I better off going with the finance that a dealership recommends? Apologies if these seem like stupid questions, I’ve never financed a car before so not sure the best way to go about it. Thanks in advance!

Hi guys. I’m just getting into all of the finance and stock stuff. Is there any particular etfs or anything people recommend? Cheers

Hello, I downloaded a spreadsheet to help me monitor my portfolio’s dividend performance. And one of the columns I need to fill is dividend growth rate (5 year CAGR). It’s not hard to find if it’s a US stock but couldn’t find for Aussie stocks, especially ETFs. For example VAS. Where do I find it? Thanks.