It’s my birthday in the coming months and want to invite a few good friends out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. I’ve always grown up with the idea of everyone paying for themselves. The wife says we should pay for everyone since I’m inviting people out. Is there a right answer?

I am in data and it feels like salaries have gone backwards lately, while jobs are also harder to land.

Is this mainly a data or tech thing, or are people seeing it across the board?

Also curious if people’s mindset around job hopping has changed. A few years ago, moving every 1–2 years felt like the easiest way to get a decent salary bump. Now I am considering staying in a role I really don’t like just because the market feels rough.

Author and former banker Satyajit Das describes the US economy as the critical "stress point" for the global bond market.

Major financial players are already stepping back from their once considerable exposure to the US.

It was recently revealed that the Reserve Bank (RBA) reduced its holdings of US dollars (in its foreign reserves portfolio) by 10 per cent in 2025, taking it back to 2012 levels.

the manager of Norway's $US2.3 trillion ($3.2 trillion) sovereign wealth fund has proposed reducing its exposure to US Treasuries.

The manager of the fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, is now looking at reducing its investment in government debt from 70 per cent to 50 per cent of its total bond holdings, with US Treasuries getting the biggest cut.

I'm 42 and I have almost no super at all. Like I think it's 1200 dollars or something exciting like that. Is there any point to putting 20 bucks a month in at this point? What about 50...?

Is there something putting 50 bucks a month in is more worthwhile?

I'm not in paid work so it's not 20 bucks on top of what's going in automatically, it's 20 bucks or nothing going in. I could do other investments or weird purchases instead though.

I was thinking of at least trying to get the 500 matching dollars thing, but my spouse is like uh if you want but why.

I suppose if it's never going to do much in the remaining time arguably anything more flexible and accessible is better.

I'm not worried about living off aged pension, but you can't leave anyone your aged pension so if I die at 70 or similar/earlier, wife gets nothing in her old age to make up for my pension contribution to household budget cutting out.

Wife helpfully said "you could stay alive then, you know."

She has super. We have a house with a small and manageable mortgage. I have no debts of my own.

If we're going to put extra money into super, should we be putting it into hers instead of trying to get mine up? I was thinking mine is so low that it's worth trying to get the super matching thing. But maybe it will just be eaten down again by fees?

I was set to receive an inheritance of about 125k but over the 10 years it’s been compounding the balance is now at 235k. I will receive this money in the next year. I’m 23, currently doing my Masters abroad so will use some of it to cover some related costs (but I don’t pay tuition as I have a scholarship). When I get the money what’s the best course of action? Chucking it all into a HYSA? Spreading it out across a few accounts? Buying a property? I’m very lost with finance and the market right now. A few years ago everyone was telling me to get on the property market ASAP but it seems that sentiment has changed and the market is fluctuating right now. I also wouldn’t mind buying a house overseas somewhere to live in for a few months of the year and rent it out for the rest of the year. But would like to have the money for a few years to see if it can gain any more interest. Any advice is appreciated! I currently bank with Commbank who has a 4.5% interest rate but up to balances of 100k.

If housing prices are falling due to tax changes surely that means that the prices were not driven by supply as much as we were led to believe.

Perhaps I am a novice but why is the falling house price touted as a negative impact from the tax changes. Surely this is a positive thing, as it provides a pathway to home ownership for more. I understand the negative equity part but realistically if you bought a place recently chances are you want to live in it for a while and price fluctuations in the short or medium term should not matter as much. And for those whose wealth dropped, in Australia since wealth is tied to housing it probably dropped in line with everyone else and such your purchasing ability hasn’t changed?

Hi all, I’m curious to do a sense check to see what you think a household income needs to be in order to send your kid/s to private school.

Obviously a lot of factors go into this decision, such as number of kids, existing debt, school choices, family upbringing etc., but have you seen any obvious “tipping point” in households where the thinking is “we earn x and we choose to send our kid/s to private school”?

Hoping to hear any thoughts out there on what’s common in your circles (and also what’s you think would be a reasonable HHI), thank you!

I’ve been rejected and called a ‘red flag’ by one guy I was seeing for having a significant HECs debt doing an essential degree which has been reduced by the recent policies luckily. He asked and I answered honestly as it was 8 months in and things were going well.

Another guy (tradie) found it a negative because he was looking for someone to build a future with and by a property it affects borrowing capacity significantly. He owned a unit and didn’t want any hurdles to get a PPOR.

Is this the new normal?

Everyday, I get bombarded by articles on how the bond market is fecked.

So, if the bond market really starts a crisis, what would be a way to protect your assets (shares, super, cash)?

I'm a 29M living in Adelaide. I have $200k saved. Some family members have been encouraging me for a couple years to buy a home (PPOR) but I've been hesitant because I may need to move interstate for work and I think this would hamper my ability to do that. Ideally I'd like to stay in Adelaide but training opportunities arise interstate (in other capital cities) and you take what you can get (I work in healthcare). When I raised this, they said if you have to move just rent it out and rent a place where you move. If I moved, after I finished training I may or may not move back to Adelaide, depending on other circumstances at the time such as work opportunities, but I wouldn't want the existence of a mortgage to factor into that decision.

I didn't think about it because I was worried about being tied down, but now with the property downturn I'm thinking it's best to get in while I can. There are plenty of reasonable options at the moment that I can afford. My only concern is flexibility, is it realistic to think I can move interstate and rentvest?

I guess nothing is really certain. Rent costs or value of the home I buy could crash whether I buy or not. They could skyrocket whether I buy or not. Who's to say.

You save about $50K of expenses per year on rent, food, utilities and internet.

Supposing you finish university at 21, and you stay at home until 35, that is 14 x $50K of after tax dollars not even accounting for inflation = $700K saved.

Enough for a house deposit and a bit left over for your offset.

I cannot think of a greater guaranteed ROI.

Web Developer, late 20s (no kids or mortgage). 4.5 yrs experience earning 90k pa. Company is being folded, so I have the opportunity to take a generous redundancy (~23k) or transfer to another with all my same benefits (employment duration, leave, etc).

I live in a fortunate situation where my monthly expenses are probably about ~2500 (inc. rent). Part of me wants to take the redundancy and look for a new job/travel, but the job market for developers right now is incredibly poor unless you are a senior. With the market also heading for a recession, it doesn’t fill me with a lot of hope.

On the other side, the rest of my team is transferring over. My head of department has told me I am earmarked to be the first person to be awarded a pay rise (110k), but that will take some time. The company I would transfer to is a well known one, with a much better system and culture than the one I am at now. It’s also a better prospect for career development than freelancing.

Our department that is transferring is quite profitable, so I don’t believe there would be another round of redundancies then.

Really looking for some advice here as I feel I am stuck in the middle.

Edit: Also to note I have (~10k) in freelancing money coming in in the next month or two and this might be a viable side income but not consistent or secure

Anybody have experience in the long term debt recycling ETFs against your home ?

I've been doing rough calculations purely on the numbers side. I understand it eventually because of a matter of risk tolerance and I'm hoping to get other opinions or real world examples.

There were a few assumptions/averages I used.

100k salary

100k borrowed

6% interest against home

Invest in Asx200, 3-3.5% dividend yield with franking credits. About a 4-5% average growth rate.

* This is with no money owing on your home. So it's not investing Vs keeping money in offset.

After the maths, dividends + franking against the interest on the loan with tax deductions against your income it's roughly net 1-1.3% PA to hold the 100k whilst it benefits from the 4-5% compounding growth.

So yeah. Does anyone have any experience doing these methods with larger capitals? How has it worked out for you? And when is it simple when it comes to tax time?

Is this normal? I sent 130 invoices all clearly labelled and in folders according to if it’s a deduction or income. I have only 1 PAYG job and a short term rental.

The accountant came back and asked me to total everything up and summarise it all and work out the square metres of the rental and how many days I rented it.

Basically, I thought that’s what they actually helped with? I don’t understand how they might add value at this point?

Maybe I’m just grumpy. Why bother getting that all together and uploaded when I could just do one spreadsheet for them to copy into the form… what am I missing?

My current accountant (and also my previous accountant) do not separate capital gains and losses from shares on asx and other shares and CGT discount. Instead they total everything together, apply the discount and then just place all under one item. The final number is the same regardless, it’s just not broken down and placed in their individual items. Is this standard practice for most accountants? Is this acceptable?

Saw a post here from a 26yo in Sydney on $90k with ~$150k saved/invested, and a lot of the comments were basically:

“26 and still at home? Your parents probably just want you out.”

Which got me thinking — in the current housing market, is 26 actually that old to still be living at home?

If you work full-time, contribute to the household and can save an extra $20k–30k+ a year, is moving out just for “independence” really worth it?

Or do you think there’s an age where you should move out regardless?

25? 30? 35?

Curious where AusFinance draws the line.

Hey all,

It’s not something that I have seen discussed here very often but I wanted to know if anyone has some cleaver strategies for helping keeping medical expenses down.

I don’t have any diagnosed condition, but you go to the GP then they send you off to a blood test, then you have to go back to the GP, then wait six months and go back to the go, back to the blood test, back to the GP. In my situation they sent me to a specialist because my LDLs are persistently high, the specialist sends you off to a scan of the heart, then you go back to the specialist. So far all the tests except LDLs have come back healthy, which I am happy about but it’s been a long expensive journey to find out nothing is wrong.

It just adds up, especially the repeat visits. The costs are kind of hidden. $100 for a GP visit is actually $200 because you need two appointments. The specialist is a romping $500. And that’s all after rebates.

For private health insurance I have hospital cover and accident with small extras.

I wouldn’t mind so much if I knew what I was about to walk into but it’s so unclear, inefficient because you need to keep coming back, and transparency… forget about it. You really have to ask about costs and get an explanation then it somehow costs more than what they expected.

Am I doing this like an absolute battler or is this just the way.

Hello, I am an incoming student to University of Sydney and double majoring in Finance and Data Science within their Bachelor of Science degree. I am interested in how the fintech industry is in Australia.

- Is it a well developed/mature market?

- How is the job market within the fintech industry?

- Is it rapidly growing?

...etc

Please, leave your experiences and opinions on Australia's Fintech scene.

Thank you!!

Have people had HACK & NDQ tax statements uploaded onto their investor centre? My Asia (also betashares) is uploaded but my other two are not however betashares says they have been released? I sold them both in March so not sure whether I need to contact MUFG about the statements.

Thanks!

Hi Brain Trusts, in the process of moving out of my ppor apartment into another property. I have lived in current place for over three years and would lease it out. Do I need to engage an accountant for any advice, calculations or schedules prior to leasing it out? Bought it as an existing build (built 2018) and have owned it for just under 4 years now.

Have spoken to a few accountants and they have pushed me to sign up for their ITR service which I don’t find applicable to me right now.

Im being merged from Suncorp to ANZ in December so I’m bailing. I currently have almost 9 bucket/sub accounts to manage my finances with zero account keeping fees. Besides NAB have struggled to find a bank that will allow multiple spent accounts along with saving accounts and joint accounts. I believe Revolut would do what I want but I’m not certain I want to use them. Any good alternatives?