Time for the monumental stupidity of the RBA's dual mandate to be put to the test.

Hi,

I’m looking at buying an ICE car and keep hearing people say to “put it through the business” or buy it under the ABN for the tax benefits.

I’m a sole trader with an ABN, but I’m trying to understand what the actual benefit is compared with simply buying/financing the car personally.

Realistic usage:
- Majority personal use, including driving from home to one main workplace
- Maybe once a month genuine work travel between different workplace

For people who have done this, what can you actually claim by having the vehicle associated with the business?

Is the benefit mainly:
- depreciation
- interest on finance
- fuel, rego, insurance, servicing etc.

And presumably all of those deductions still need to be apportioned based on the actual business use percentage anyway?

If 95% of the vehicle is effectively private use, is there actually much point putting it under the ABN/business at all, or is buying it personally and claiming the legitimate business kilometres/percentage generally safer?

Lenders have been quick to respond to the RBA lifting the cash rate to 4.60%.

According to Canstar, 338 home loan products were repriced in just seven days.

Following four cash rate rises this year, Canstar estimates monthly mortgage repayments have increased by:

• $364 on a $600,000 loan.
• $454 on a $750,000 loan.
• $606 on a $1 million loan.

That's an extra $4,368 to $7,272 a year, depending on the loan size.

For mortgage holders feeling the squeeze, there are a few things worth considering:

• Negotiate with your lender. You might be able to get a lower interest rate just by asking.
• Review your loan structure. Changes to your loan features or repayment arrangements could make a difference.
• Compare other lenders. Refinancing could save money, although it's important to factor in any switching costs.
• Use an offset account. If your loan has one, keeping money in it can reduce the interest you're charged.
• Review your household spending. Cutting back on some expenses could free up money for higher repayments.

If you're struggling to keep up, it's worth speaking to your lender about financial hardship assistance before you start missing repayments.

Free financial counselling is also available through the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

For those with a mortgage, have you tried negotiating a lower rate with your bank recently? If so, did you have any success?

Hello. Im 52 F who loves her job so plans to work until 65. I have about 28K in various ETFs and want to buy a more Asia focused ETF. Which one(s) are good for a 10year plus investor. Ive looked at ASIA and AIA but I’m sure there are others.

Recently signed up with Powershop and thought the Switch Saver plan would suit us best based the fact we have solar+batteries.

Did research via Energy Made Easy and based my choice on the time of use table provided. Also switched providers using the method provided.

The Powershop app has been a pile of shit since signing up but they seemed to have ironed out the issues this week so I thought I'd double check what is what and I found the time of use charges did not match to what I signed up against.

I checked the Switch Saver plan directly via the Powershop website and the link it takes you to on the Energy Made Easy site has completely different information vs just going to Energy Made Easy and doing the comparison.

What I thought I signed up to - Plan ID: PSH1147906MRE3.

Note the 13.01c/kWh shoulder rate.

https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/plan?id=PSH1147906MRE3&postcode=2165&pricingPeriod=yearly&withDiscounts=true&benchmarkUsage=medium

What we're actually on - Plan ID: PSH1147913MRE3

Note the flat rate of 35.52c/kWh.

https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/plan?id=PSH1147913MRE&utm_source=Powershop&utm_campaign=bpi-retailer&utm_medium=retailer&postcode=2165

Same plan, different IDs.

I looked over everything and I cant work out what happened.

Hi all,

I wanted opinions on how to split my money currently have 60k saved and 20k invested outside of super. I would like to invest more but also scared of an impending market crash and I would like the cash for a deposit on a house in the near future. Tax wise definitely makes sense to invest in super or salary sacrifice into super and use fhss but again I'm worried about subpar returns or even negative returns over a short timeframe.

TLDR: better to keep more money in cash or invest if I want to buy a house in the near future given the current market?

Thank you for your time

I am young and work full time, earning solid money.

Up until a few months ago, I was dealing with a severe gambling addiction, which led me to applying for several loans at random places like cash converters, for sums of around $3000-$4000.
I have taken the necessary steps and put boundaries in place, and have been sober from gambling for 3 months.

My car was recently written off.
Needing a new one, I called my bank seeking a used car loan.
My application got declined, and I am confident that its from my credit check, stating that I have had several loan applications.

This is detrimental for me, and i am extremely desperate, needing a car for work, school, etc.
My parents do well for themselves, would it be worth seeing if I could potentially have a guarantor in this kind of situation?

Open to any and all advice, please!

I’m an Australian sole trader with an ABN running an online retail business in a restricted niche. It started about three months ago and has grown faster than I expected. I’m grossing $15k+ a month and on pace to pass the $75k GST threshold well inside my first year. I haven’t registered for GST yet, and I have no company, no trust and no real bookkeeping. I’d like to set it up properly now rather than find out at tax time that it’s a mess.

1. GST timing. My understanding is that the trigger is projected turnover, not what I’ve banked. If I’m on pace for roughly $180k, am I already required to register? What date does the ATO treat me as registered from: when the requirement arose, or when I apply?
2. Before registration. Do I owe GST on sales made before the registration date? Can I claim input tax credits on stock and costs I bought before registering?
3. Process. Does my accountant handle this with the ATO, or is there something I need to do first?
4. Structure. At this turnover, is there a real reason to move to a company or trust, or is that premature until I’m retaining profits?
5. Cash flow. If you went from unregistered to registered mid-growth, how did you handle GST on prices you’d already been charging? Did you raise prices or absorb it, and how much did it bite?

If you’ve built an online retail business from scratch, what do you wish you’d set up in the first three months?

Just some context, I'm 38 years of age now with 2 children and a partner. I'm the sole income earner and my partner home schools our children. I've always just worked jobs from my 18th, ranging from security> mining> logistics (distribution centers).

Growing up was really tough and stressful, my dad had lung issues from smoking his whole life, so mum was pretty much the sole income earner. They purchased the property they live in from 2001 worth about $250k at the time (approx value is now $1.6M). From being a kid to being at my age now, I noticed my parents both worked so much, I played footy for qld in my younger years, loved sports etc, but I was that kid that had to ask other parents for lifts everywhere etc. My parents were so focussed on "paying the house down at all cost necessary".

Now I have kids of my own, I'm glad I never went down this path. I loved school growing up, but due to those experiences I seen growing up, I looked at my life very early onto my adult years and weighed whether I'd want that for my future kids, is a house really worth the stress? at that time I was reading books about growing wealth while driving a forklift haha, and eventually a came to terms that no matter what, cash flow is what gives me freedom not a house.

Fast forward to today, my mum is turning 70, dad passed in 2022, so she now lives in a $1.6M house (if that markets are not that active), super of about $400k (her financial planned sold some super a few years back to pay the remainder of the house off). And now she gets to retire on minimum wage while still needing to put aside $350 a week for the house insurance/rates/elec/water (not incl food/fuel etc).

Now you can say, she could downgrade, but the differences is very minimal, the financial planner showed us if she sold the house, all that really happens is you can place upto $300k of that gain into her super, but the remainder cash would need to be used up. So she spent her life always being a top 1-10% earners in Australia, never needing to use much of it's services to then get minimum wage. ($1800 per fortnight). The time she committed in buying the box she could of instead put all that money into the stock market and the financial planner said (and she considered paying rent), she would have about $4.5M today, even on a 3% div yield she'd earn $130k-$140k a year, but her money will still grow too. I find that insane, the situation she's in now is she essentially has to draw down her super 5% per year regardless if the fund does well/bad.

So why is everyone so motivated on buying a house? I can't even tell my mum why I can afford what I can driving a forklift. I've built up a portfolio for my partner as I worked in warehousing, since she's a stay at home mum, we were advised to set it up so she gets majority, as she raises our kids. We rent, we can move anywhere we want and it won't even effect us, we love to travel with the kids, all my annuals are used up on travelling. We are only 38, we still invest about $1k per week because our Dividends already cover the rent/food (not elect/internet etc), but my financial planner said that's only like 1-2 years away. So my income is pretty much my income, I earn $1600 a week as a perm forky after tax, and I probably use $100 (if that) on expenses.

By the time I'm 50 I can even retire.

So what am I missing? I've been using my stock portfolio to get any rental I want, I never struggle with this, why do people fascinate on spending there whole lives buying a box just to live on minimum wage in retirement? You know that box can't give you cashflow unless you rent it out/house share, but who the fk wants that in retirement?

I currently hold a low income healthcare card as I'm a full-time student and am unemployed. I recently got a job at my uni's student life office, which is casual (most likely would be 3-4 hours a week on a regular basis) but pays around $43/h. I am intellectually and physically disabled so I rely heavily on this card to buy several types of medication regularly, and I am worried that I will not be able to apply again when it expires in February. I know there is information available on the Services NSW website but I am struggling to understand and hoping someone could put it in simple terms for me.

Thank you in advance!

Hi guys, wondering if anyone could provide some advice for me as I do not have anyone in my life who is knowledgeable about any of this stuff and it is very overwhelming to learn. I currently have around $31,000 in savings from a part time job (working 35hrs a week) and an additional casual job and very aggressive saving while paying board and other expenses. I currently have all of my money in an interest account paying 5.35% per annum, but was wondering if I should take a percentage of my savings and move it into a term deposit or invest in ETFs to try and get as ahead as I can while I am able to live at home, or just keep everything in savings. Any advice would be appreciated, I know this gets asked a fair bit sorry thankyou

How much do you reckon Coles and Woolworths make from paper bags alone? They’re now 30 cents each, and if the average shopper buys 2–5 bags a week, that adds up pretty quickly across millions of transactions. Even after taking out the cost of making the bags, I wonder how much they’re actually pocketing from this. Has anyone got any figures or estimates?

I bring my own bags but the major supermarkets have released publicly available data that shows that the sales of these bags are equivalent to 2-5 sold per customer per week my guess would be this is something to do with home delivery that you cannot opt out

Hi folks,

In light of the recent immigration boom, i'd be curious to know what what people think or have experienced in Australia.

I'm a kiwi myself and travel often to australia for work + family. My interactions are low outside of a small bubble but in NZ everyone paints Australia as the go-to place for wealth, life and career.

Is it really the case? do all migrants that come to Australia ( from whatever country) have a good time/are more successful relative to being in there own home country.

Hi guys, unsure how to word this title properly. Hopefully you guys understand what I mean and don't flame me in the comments, my brain is all shot from everything going on this week as I'm sure a lot of y'all can relate.

---SKIP THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE CAR ISSUES---
I'm 19F, living with my mother, it's just us two girls on a property (farm) and we have/had this cute little Hyundai Accent (it lasted us about 4ish years? My stepdad loved it when he was alive).
Yesterday we wanted to dip into a local store (local for us is 20, 30, or 45 mins away depending on which town, we chose the 45min drive due to it having better shops!) and we were about 10ish minutes away from Northam before mum noticed the car was running hot, long story short, the radiator cap was missing (it wasn't when we left so maybe it flew off during road-works?) when we got out to check on it, some lovely dudes pulled over and tried to help us by pouring water into it when it was running and oil began to spit out of it and it looks all shit... when I'm on my phone I can attach a photo of the radiator if anyone wants to have a look for whatever reason...

---CAR ISSUE PART DONE---

So now we're worried because that was our only working car (we have a Black Holden Colarado ute which has something wrong with the battery terminals, I have no idea with cars so... oof) and now we're sort of stranded for now until we get a mechanic to have a look at it and that's not until Monday.

My mum wants to go big or go home with a car since we're thinking of selling a large New Holland tractor, she would like a GWM car, something about a "Jolion" is what she's really after, whereas I'm not sure if we can cover those expenses (she gets $669 from my allowance and she also is on disability pension) so I just wanted to ask some people about their opinions on this?

Is it best to get a loan for this (if so how do car loans work? I'm just worried about going into debt since I don't want to live with my mum forever) or is it best to dip into savings for this? (If so, I don't have nearly enough, I got like $5.3K and my mum has $0 in savings).

Thank you guys.

---UNRELATED RAMBLES, SKIP THIS IT'S UNIMPORTANT!---

Unrelated, but if I could drive (she won't let me drive because she doesn't want me to break the car but at the same time she also doesn't want me to not drive because she's had strokes in the past and wants me not to be stranded) I'd want a hearse. I freaking love hearse's so bad, I'd love to put a coffin in one and then have a skeleton propped up in it so anyone driving behind me just about shits their pants lmao.

Will be transferring money from a Turkish bank account to possibly purchase our first home, all our savings for a deposit and to keep for emergencies so around $100K AUD. Is Wise good for this? We are a bit scared because do not want to risk anything, any other safer way recommended?

Has anyone done this with Wise before?

Thank you

it's made very clear by the vanguards, ishares, betashares, vanecks, etc that there are management fees for their ETFs.

it is an expense for income generation...so it's tax deductible...right?

Has anybody submitted this management fee in their tax return?

Where do i find it, I've never seen this on any statement.

A newbie to investing here. Just wondering which platform is the best for investing. I'm considering between CMC Invest and Betashares.

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone had some advice as I don’t have anyone knowledgeable in my life to ask about this, I currently have around $31,000 in my savings account making 5.35% interest per annum (I live at home and pay board and other expenses but have a part time job (33hrs/week) and a casual job (around 10hrs/week)). I was wondering if anyone has any advice if I should move any of this into a term deposit or invest in stocks or ETFs? I have been trying to learn myself about how to manage money but it is a bit overwhelming. Any advice would be helpful, thankyou

Does anyone know a website where you can calculate savings from an offset account but can update it as you put more money in? Found a couple of banks that have them on their websites but they aren’t exactly what I’m looking for. I’m sure there’s a way to do it in excel and I’ll resort to watching YouTube to figure it out but I’m not an excel kinda person. Just looking for a way to see week by week how much I’ll be shrinking my loan by buffing the offset account.

Ok Tightwads I need some strategies, with the rise in costs of everything (I don't need to break it down because we are all feeling it). I need help.

What is everyone cutting and more importantly what are some hacks for saving ? The tighter the better.

About to open some ETFs for the kids and interested to know what most people do - use their own TFN and take the CGT implications down the road, or get a TFN for the child and open it as an informal trust structure.

I see the pros and cons in both approaches. The kids are 7 and 9 and it’s not a huge amount of money we are starting with (a few thousand each).

hey guys,

im 21 F, and i’ve consistently had about 1.5k in zip debt since the age of 18.

i got basically kicked out of home at 17, and have barely made ends meet since then so have just constantly been in the cycle of paying some off, then being short on money because of payments, so then having to use it again.

does any one have similar experiences? do you have advice? i feel like such a failure because im so young and already have debt.

thank you

I'm a first year Bachelor of Commerce student right now, and I'm running into issues where I'm learning financial theory, but I'm missing a lot of real-world context when it comes to discussions. Part of this is that, because of the Adelaide Uni merger and some poor scheduling, I've been forced to take program electives for second-year students. I feel like I'm lacking baseline understanding of finance and investing, and am sort of playing catch-up. Especially when there are discussions about real-world companies and situations, and I feel I should know more than I do.

Was wondering how people here keep up-to-date with financial news, and how they keep it entertaining? If there are shows, podcasts, or books you'd recommend, or enjoy?

Resources for independently learning financial theory would be even moreso appreciated, but I don't think those are quite as popular, lol.

I have a family member under my account name for Vodafone and they have accrued an excess of $1300 worth of unpaid bills and roaming charges. They have neglected to pay it for an extended period of time despite my efforts to inform them to pay the bill, and I refused to pay it myself to demonstrate that it's their responsibility to solve the problem (even though ultimately, legally it's my responsibility).

Vodafone hasn't contacted me for the better part of nearly a year so I forgot about it and assumed my family member has taken care of it. Then Debt Managers informed me about the outstanding bill one day to either pay the bill in full or go on a payment plan.

Due to repeated attempts from Vodafone to clear the debt, they have since made multiple credit inquiries which caused my credit score to dip significantly from over 730 to now 300.

I was frustrated my family member would not take responsibility, plus I thought they've taken care of it at some point finally.

As it stands I've succumbed to my obligations and I am now on a payment plan.

All I want to know is can I dispute my credit score plunge at all and make a case that I personally never defaulted on a payment?