Hi Everyone, sorry for the long post !

I was hoping to know your views/perspectives on a house purchase decision that we are unable to decide upon yet. My wife and I are expecting our first baby in early next year. We currently own a 2 bed apartment in Sydney inner west, purchased in 2020, 600k loan. We also have another IP , with 230k loan. We were now looking at trying to get a house with the thinking that more space being required going forward with the arrival of the baby and parents being around to help out with everything for the initial few months. Also, another reason is to try and get a house while it is still possible to get one around 900k-1mil around south west Sydney. We would ideally be wanting to keep both the apartment and the IP(+ve geared), and take the 3rd mortgage on the house.

Considering we would be going into single income for atleast 12months once the little one is here, we worked out the monthly expenses and outgoings for the properties, and can foresee to be digging into about 10-15k of our savings over the timeframe we would be on single income. This is after considering my wife’s maternity pay coverage from work, and the govt support(based on the eligibility), which will help with servicing all expenses(and have some savings) for about 7 months. We are okay with using 15k off savings to help cover for the remaining months on just my salary, if it allows us to hold all 3 properties. However, the houses that are available are the 300m2 block new dwellings that look quite basic, and not exactly what we would have liked as a longer term home. As mentioned before, we are looking at this option as we think we would need more space.

We are in this dilemma and not able to decide on whether we go with this option, or try and somehow make the space work in the apartment for a few more years, save up a higher deposit and look for a house later down the line, understanding the fact that the house prices could look totally different from what they are now. An additional and important consideration would also be the availability of a good school in the locality. Would be very keen to know what you guys would be doing in a similar situation. Would it be too risky to do this?

If me and my family are living at my elderly mothers to provide care and she decides to transfer the title of the home to me, her son, am I liable to pay transfer duty?

I’m a 24 year old male. I will earn more than $190,000 this financial year so I am currently paying a lot in tax.

I currently have a mortgage with 28 years left on the loan.

Part of me wants to start consistently putting money into low risk index funds and just let it sit there, and let the power of compounding do its thing.

But the other part of me wants to load up all of my cash into my offset as I am currently under a high tax bracket (45%), and using my offset I won’t have to pay any tax, versus paying 45% on any gains I make on the stock market

At what point do I start allocating funds to shares rather than just putting all of my money into my offset?

Thanks guys.

My partner and I are able to afford a 2 bedroom unit in an inner suburb of Brisbane, or a townhouse in an outer suburb. Partner has always wanted to try living in Melbourne which I am keen for. Job options in our industries are more plentiful and pay better down there, and we're early on in our careers and haven't met peak earning potential yet.

Our options are:

• Buy now, use as PPOR for 5-6 years then rent it out when we move, sell later

• Buy now, live in for 5-6 years then sell when we move

• Keep renting and move to Melbourne in next couple of years to see if we like it

Would appreciate any advice here as to what the smartest option might be. We don't want kids, but buying a bigger PPOR would be nice down the track (10 years or so).

Sat here trying to work out how much (if any) we can contribute towards the FY19 unused concessional contributions, and I can't help but think why do these even expire?

There's already a $500k limit in place for unused cap carry forward, so it's just the lower earners that are impacted by this.

Why do people have to choose between gambling by putting more money away in super and locking it away for many years, versus losing the investment tax benefit forever?

Hello! I will be bidding on a house at auction this week. I have been told I need a conveyancer to sort the contract when we buy our home. But if we are successful at auction, no changes are allowed to the contract, changes need to be made before.

We’re hesitant to pay a conveyancer to review the contract beforehand as it would be a fair bit of money to lose we’re not successful, which is likely in this market!

Do I still need a conveyancer if we are successful?

Hi!

I’m just curious to understand people’s thoughts on my current situation.

31F, currently contracting (pretty secure) in IT ($150k~/$8-9k per month) likely to increase upon career development with around $200k+ in savings. Recently single and not really keen to date again anytime soon, although would like to have a baby one day…

I’m looking at purchasing a 1 bedroom apartment in ACT. Just a place to call my own and have that as security, ideally this wouldn’t be my forever home. But even with a solid 20% deposit and a great wage, repayment on an apartment seems extremely expensive. Way beyond that ‘safe’ 30% income theshold.

Here’s the calcs:

$500k apartment 10% deposit - $100k Loan amount - $400k @ 6.19%

Mortgage repayments per month - $2488 Strata levys ($1000 pq) per month - $350 Rates per month - $166

Total - $3000~ it just seems quite high and that doesn’t factor in other costs such as electricity, water, gas etc.

Am I just out of touch and have been share housing for too long to recognise this is what it is? Should I just bite the bullet as things aren’t getting any cheaper. Thanks in advance :)

Shift Work State Govt

Hey guys!

I have a redraw facility with one of the big bank that rhymes with bumcourpe… is all the money I put into that account go toward the principle? Or does it simply sit in the account lowering interest on future payments?

Many thanks.

I’m starting to think seriously about commercial property as an investment option but I’m not really sure where to start or even whether it’s still a good option. I don’t have any family that has ever owned commercial property before so looking for some guidance on where to start. I’m in my early 40s and looking at this is part of a broader strategy. Thanks in advance.

I filled out my expenses based on our budget, there is about a 3k buffer per month between our expenses including the mortgage and our income. The broker seemed concerned our projected expenses were too low and this could affect the application, but honestly we are pretty frugal, only have one car, and I have cancelled most of our subscription services. I am worried that they will look at our current expenses though, we have had a huge gap in income vs expenses so we never really tightened our belts, had a fair bit of take out etc. Will they look at our projected expenses or our current ones?

Recently separated with ex and selling our property (joint tenant) no mortgage attached. Property just gone to market with auction in 3 weeks. I am looking to buy my next place soon, but have limited cash for deposit and moving cost.

Is it possible for me to get a bridging loan based on 60% LVR (my share of the proceeds; the distribution of sale will be supplied to conveyancer but currently no written agreement) without involving my ex?

Or am I better off getting a personal loan to cover relocation cost and deposit in case buyer doesn’t agree to section 27 (early release of deposit)?

Ideally I would wait till the house is sold so I know exactly how much I can work with but still need to figure out how to cover relocation and potentially renting somewhere else for a few months if I don’t have the funds until settlement.

My partner owns an investment property, with an interest only loan and an offset account. I have savings that could be a very sizable addition to the offset that would make a big difference to the monthly interest and repayment, and allow us to have a bit more money and be less frugal. I don't want to deposit the money straight into the offset, as I am not on the loan. What is my best course of action? Should we both be on the title, both be in the loan, or something else? Neither of us have a lot of experience on this topic, and we want to ensure it's fair for both of us.

Just doing some financial things for my parents and know they might be selling their property in the coming years. Is it possible to put the money from the sale into their super fund?

If it was me I'd just

• Put away an emergency fund that will work for 5 years
• Invest the rest in medium growth ETFs

While ETFs are essentially the same thing as super (ie basket of investments) ETFs will be a bit "alien" to my Dad from a trust perspective. He knows super and he knows how it works so while it might not be financially efficient putting into super would be a no brainer for him.

Can you do it or once you hit retirement age you can't put money back in?

Hi all,

I am currently a student with a full time job, I’m looking for some advice to get myself financially set up as I can. Due to….bad family relations, I had to move out of home which obviously makes things a bit difficult.

I want to get ahead, I don’t want to be scraping by every week like I have been. I want to invest, I want to live a good, decent life, not lavish but decent.

Some guidance would be great

Just looking at some vague ideas on how it’d work when buying a house and hopefully within 6-12 months, buy a business.

I will probably only have a small or no mortgage at all for the house. Generally how to they structure a loan for a business? What collateral needs to be put up?

36 with $96k in super, should jump over $100k in the next few months (employer has been made to make up missed super payments and they're coming in thick and fast).

I'm with Australian Super and it's just been investing at their default mode. What's the better options for me and what are the tax implications? Is it just handled automatically or I do declare gains at EOFY?

Super is definitely something I've turned a blind eye to since I started working.

Curious to know as looking for goals and motivations to work towards. I have a few hobbies, travel/volunteer interests but not enough to keep myself occupied.

Anyone got any good recommendations for financial advisors for the younger generation based in Melbourne? Been doing some research and most FAs seem to cater more for older people nearing retirement with complex finances. I finally have a decent salary for the first time in my life but I'm not great with money and want some simple no frills advice on how best to budget/invest for the future. I know a lot on here aren't fans of FAs and there are plenty of books out there to help me like barefoot etc but I feel like I'll be more likely to actually do something about it if someone tells me in person and tailors it specifically for my circumstances.

So..I was being stupid and got scammed by an online store which was not legit.

I contacted the bank straight away and was told that they would raise this scam case with the team and get back to me.

How likely do you think im going to get money back from this online scam?

Signed up to Income Protection and Death cover via my super fund and did the right thing by saying I got minor back surgery for a bulged disk a year ago with no symptoms since. Insurer came back saying my spine and pelvis will be permanently excluded from cover.

Anyone experienced this and successfully complained ? I find it unreasonable that the whole spine is permanently excluded because of a small injury that has since recovered. It’s like excluding both legs because of a previous broken bone.

Hi all, I have 2 kids, a 13yo and 9yo and was wondering what’s best investment for them to help set them up later in life say around the time they are in their late 20’s/early 30’s. The easy one is high interest savings accounts but if rates go down like government is predicting then their accounts will take a hit. Seen a few videos albeit USA to invest in the Indexes. I was also looking at a managed fund like Vanguard through Colonial First State. I can start out with $10k each and contribute small amounts each week to compound. Thoughts??

So contemplating what to do with this money. I have 150k in an offset account now, would like to keep about 50k as emergency. No dependents. Only mortgage as debt. The offset is for an investment property - 6.05% interest. I’m in a rental that I’m fairly certain won’t kick me out over the next minimum 3 years, had a verbal agreement with the owner. Expenses - all current expenses have been covered for by income. I’m not entirely sure what my savings rate is yet but at a minimum I’ll have 1-2k a fortnight extra unless I stupid spend it. My income will likely go up marginally over next 3 years, currently at 180-200k a year. After 3 years, I would like to go overseas for professional development where my earnings would range between 0-70k (would be working a full time job for free or significantly less earnings so can’t pick up extra job). If I don’t go overseas, after this time period my income would probably double, but I really hope I can go overseas.

Question: Assuming 2 “wants” -

1. to have about 150k in bank account to burn through whilst overseas
2. to buy a PPOR in 5-6 years after coming back from overseas, knowing by then my income might be anywhere north of 300k

What would you do with this 100k now?

• invest into ETF with aim of selling in 3-5 years
• keep in offset 6%
• move it out of offset into HISA considering the interest on mortgage is deductible

I'm looking for a reasonably priced accountant for our tax return. This is for me, my missus and a trust that holds shares. An annual statement is issued by the platform for the shares which can then be used for the tax return. I do not need a BAS. I'm in Melbourne and am looking to get recommendations on accountants as some are quoting over a grand for this which seems high. Thank you.

So my previous question was asking about putting savings into a HISA over an ETF, and thank you for all the clear and informative responses it is much appreciated.

To slightly shift the question, what about saving to buy a house outright?

A $700,000 loan pays about $500,000 just in interest over 30 years, at $3500 a month (rough estimates)

So what if I kept renting, avoiding house maintenance and other costs, and put all that money into an ETF? In 30 years I would likely be looking at a lot more than the $1.2m that the house would have cost

What is everyones thoughts about this?

Hi all,

Essentially I will be moving abroad for around 2 years, and need a way to keep my phone number active, whilst still being able to receive text messages for things such as 2FA. I will not need to be able to send text messages and calls, only to receive incoming text messages.

Looking for the cheapest way of doing so if possible, would also like to know if there are any options where I could use an E-Sim?

Cheers.

Just the title. I see lots of recommendations advising to put savings into HISA over an ETF when saving for a house and wondering why this is

After reworking the budget and making plans to increase my salary and savings I am looking to buy my first property in the next 2 years. My cousin is in a similar situation to me (single, late 20’s, renting) and we both agreed it would be a good idea to go in on our first property together.

When we told our family of our plans to get a house with first home buyers scheme around 750k they told us that was ridiculous - instead we should buy a unit then sell it to buy a house down the track. Our concerns are;

1. We don’t want to be boxed up in a unit and have no space

2. Units don’t accrue as much value as houses

3. By the time we sell the unit we may be priced out of buying houses anyway - with the olympics coming to Brisbane I am worried that prices will increase dramatically more than they already are

So are we planning a bad decision or are these above points valid?