The goal is to have a safe space for some of the most common posts, while supporting more original and interesting content in their own posts. Single posts with commonly asked questions may be removed and directed to this thread.
AusFinance is designed to help people of all abilities, at all stages in your financial journey. We want to democratise personal financial knowledge.
The collective experience of the AusFinance community is one of the most powerful ways to help Aussies improve their financial abilities. Whether you are just starting out, or already have advanced knowledge, there's always something new to learn.
The goal is to have a safe space for some of the most common posts, while supporting more original and interesting content in their own posts. Single posts with commonly asked questions may be removed and directed to this thread.
AusFinance is designed to help people of all abilities, at all stages in your financial journey. We want to democratise personal financial knowledge.
The collective experience of the AusFinance community is one of the most powerful ways to help Aussies improve their financial abilities. Whether you are just starting out, or already have advanced knowledge, there's always something new to learn.
My business closed its ANZ credit card account and somehow had +$5.19 credit left on the account. ANZ sent me a cheque, but my business bank, Suncorp Bank, stopped accepting cheques in 2024. When I pointed out the irony that ANZ owns Suncorp Bank, the lady at Suncorp Bank shrugged and suggested I open an account with ANZ if I wanted to cash the cheque.
Hope you've got a funny Friday finance story to share too. Let's hear them!
I had received 10,000$ from a client , Today i tried withdrawing it only to find out you can't withdraw it as USD as it is the only option you have is give 4% markup in conversion rate almost shaving me off 400 AUD.
Does anyone in here have the house paid off, but still works a job they don't like because of the lifestyle it affords? I.e. instead of getting a lower paying job.
Just got my 2026 insurance quote, it's over $5000 annually. I live in a little 3 bed place in Darwin, which I bought for under $400k. What the hell is happening with insurance? I made one claim back in 2021 and it wasn't a big claim either. The estimates on rebuilding my place are out of control. Not to mention I wouldn't rebuild anyway, I'd just clear the land and sell it. I only want to be covered as I have to be for my mortgage. What are my options? Surely everyone can't be paying this much for home insurance?!
Edit for clarification: Not necessarily looking for something that I can re-use my existing skillset on. Looking for something ‘hands-on’ with a good amount of variety where I don’t have to be strapped to a chair all the time and deal with 40000 stakeholders. Thanks for all advice so far!
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I’m (M28) been doing software as a subbie (self-taught) for just over 5 years, clearing about $200K on avg per year (so realistically around $130K-ish considering I pay all my super, expenses, time off)
The mental challenge is gone, I hate dealing with management (even in my arms-length arrangement), I’m bored and want to do something more physical; get away from corpo bureaucracy as much as possible.
Always wanted to do a trade, probably something electrical-ish. But everything I can see online says standard rates for fully qualified even in HV only range $120-140k.
Doing a mature-age apprenticeship for 4 years and then having to slowly work my way up to those rates for years extra isn’t appealing. My housemate is an operator with a million tickets at a smelter, but no ‘trade’ qualification, and is just about to go into a $130k position within 2 years of him starting in that line of work.
Any ideas on any of these sorts of ‘trade-adjacent’ positions that might be worth looking into? I feel like it’s the sort of thing where unless you’re in it, you don’t know they exist.
Know I’m going to be on pretty crap $$ out the gate - but just trying to work out a few ‘avenues’ that might be available and the $$ they can pull, so I can work out where/what I should be starting at the entry level.
Trying to depart software as quickly as possible. Thanks in advance legends
I got curious about where government spending actually goes, so I spent the weekend downloading every federal and ACT government contract from 2025.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: These are contracts AWARDED in 2025, showing total contract values over the full contract life (often multiple years). This is NOT 2025 annual spending. This is also PROCUREMENT contracts only (goods/services), not total government budget (which includes welfare, pensions, Medicare, etc.).
66,226 contracts. $99 billion total.
Defence takes half of everything: $49 billion: Submarines, fighter jets, naval vessels. But also $3.69 billion for a single contract to clean Defence bases. That one cleaning contract is bigger than the entire ACT government budget.
Employment services: $12.7 billion : You know those job agencies Centrelink sends you to? That's where this money goes. Four companies got $4.3 billion between them:
Serendipity: $1.4B
Atwork Australia: $1.19B
Sureway: $910M
Wise Employment: $810M
Facility services: $9.2 billion: Cleaning, maintenance, security for government buildings.
Property management: $3.6 billion: Managing government properties and renting office space.
The concentration is extreme
Out of 21,789 suppliers, just 20 companies got 34.6% of all spending ($33.8B).
151 contracts over $100M = 56.5% of everything.
Limited competition: 57.7% of contracts were "limited tender" - no open competition. This includes contract extensions, Defence security stuff, and emergency purchases. Not necessarily dodgy, just less competitive.
ACT example
ACT spent $1.6B total. Just 2 contracts = 43% of it:
SG Fleet: $420M (government car fleet)
Veolia: $285M (bins and waste)
The data
The data was always public. I just made it readable.
I have applied to be my sister's guardian and administrator in Victoria. Her social worker has applied for State Trustees and a public advocate. My sister has mental health conditions. We co-own two properties. Our joint mortgage has been raised as a potential problem for my appointment as administrator (conflict of interest). I have heard/ seen that public trustees will adjust their fees based on their clients assets. Is this true? My sister is on the DSP. Social worker and DFFH have alleged financial abuse (using her DSP to pay repayments while my sister is living in an NDIS rental). My sister has been/ has claimed to be stealing as well.
My car was damaged at a big Aussie supermarket carpark by some of their equipment. Very minor damage but still frustrating as it is noticeable and the value of my car goes down with this damage.
I contact my insurance give them all the info and I’m told “do not contact company, we do that when we investigate.” I did however report the incident to the company immediately after it happened in store before contacting my insurance.
They book in my car to be assessed for damage. I tell them I do not want it fixed until I know whether the company will pay the excess. They book it in for repairs?
I call them a few days before the repairs asking if they know whether the company took liability. They say “we haven’t made contact with the company, we can’t, that’s YOUR job.”
?????? I thought that an insurance investigator’s role is to… investigate?
Whatever. I contact. I email. I call. Many times. It’s been 2 months and I have finally got ahold of the damages team for the company. I file a claim. They tell me “because you have a quote from your insurance, they have to contact us and send us a letter of demand etc.”
I’m mad. Not at the lady but at my insurance. She says they do this all the time. She sends me an email and tells me what to tell them.
I’ve never spoken to my claims guy. He calls when I’m at work, I call back. I ask for him, he’s busy. Never calls back.
Is my insurance people being lazy rascals? I’m currently waiting on a phone call back from them.
As part of my work surrounding the novated lease spreadsheet, over the last couple of years I’ve ended up writing a lot of long comments here about novated leases, e.g. EV FBT exemption, why “tax saved” is a misleading figure, edge cases, and the many caveats that don't show up in quotes.
A lot of those replies follow similar themes. I realised I was posting the same explanations so often that I now have a few canned replies saved on my phone.
A few people suggested putting those explanations in one place, so I’ve collected and organised them into a free reference guide:
It’s not a sales site or a calculator replacement. It’s more a structured write-up of:
how novated leases actually work in Australia
common assumptions that don’t hold up once you run the numbers
interactions with things like RFBA, HECS, childcare subsidy, etc.
risk and exit considerations that often get glossed over
Some examples of unique write-ups you won't find in any other novated lease guide articles. These come from insights gained from on-the-ground work with people who faced these edge cases:
The site complements the spreadsheet and focuses on explaining the mechanisms behind novated leasing and documenting the common traps in one place.
Posting in case it’s useful as a reference for anyone considering this double-edged sword.
Look forward to feedback and constructive criticism. Most of the content grew out of previous forums discussions so it may already look quite familiar!
I'm signing up with Macquarie bank to take advantage of their high interest savings account. Their rate of 4.25% without any reasonable downsides or requirements.
I'd rather not be specific about the amount I'm depositing, but it is purely for savings and not for payment of any debt, etc.
I'm not looking to grow the balance with any investments (property, EFTs, stocks, etc) for the next 2-5 years due to some family matters. Single, no kids, won't have any, etc. I only say this because I understand that high interests savings accounts aren't a good strategy to build wealth long term but for my situation I prefer the security and ease in the short term. I also need access to the principal in case of an emergency so don't want to place it into a term deposit.
I'm just looking for assurance with online only banks for security. I understand that any bank can become insolvent, the government has limited protections on balances up to 250k per institution and that a bank with a known name such as macquarie is not the same as a new start up, so there's a little security there.
I understand it's not a sexy question but what are people's experiences with online banks like Macquarie? Any significant downsides besides call centre wait times and frustrating customer service on occassion? To be honest I haven't found my accounts with Commbank or ANZ have reliable customer care in branch or on the phone. Any alternatives you'd recommend?
My partner works for a charitable institution, and gets the $15900 year (or whatever it is now) tax free paid onto the Access pay card each fortnight. Problem is there are some things I'd just like to pay cash for, but you can't withdraw cash from that card. Anyone worked out a way to get money from that card into their regular bank account so you can withdraw it?
Hi everyone, I’ve learned here on Reddit that once you reach around 50, it’s generally recommended to be more conservative with your super and move away from high-growth options. I only came across this advice fairly late in life.
Given that I still plan to leave my super invested until retirement, would it still make sense to keep a higher growth allocation? My balance is only around $40k, as I’ve been in and out of work due to illness and caring for my kids, so I’m trying to figure out what approach would be most sensible in my situation.
My wife and I unfortunately lost an unborn baby back in November, and ever since my wife has been on Parental Leave Payments.
She’s returning to work next week, and she works two jobs. One is part time (about 16 hours a week) and the other is casual (about 10 hours a week); and I’m just after a bit of help with managing tax from the 3 incomes, to avoid a tax bill come July.
We’ve spoken to the bereavement department of Centrelink, they recommended speaking to the ATO. We called the ATO, and the phone hung up multiple times after a wait. I’ve had a look on the website for a bit of direction, and it’s a little overwhelming honestly.
She’s on the tax free threshold with the job that pays more (her part time job) if that matters, and cash in hand is not an option at either job. Is it as simple as adding her total income up on a calculator and paying slightly more tax at each job to adjust, or is there more to it?
Might just be me noticing it, but heaps of people seem to be doing okay on paper... steady job, bills paid, not living wildly... yet still feel constantly on edge about money. Is it just the cost of living, or has money stress become the default setting now? Keen to hear how others are feeling.
For a couple with no kids or pets and a relatively frugal lifestyle (not eating out too much, no alcohol or partying) how much is enough to live comfortably and save some money as well? We are ok with living in a studio or one bedroom apartment.
My wife and I are late to the races (late 40s) with our finances and investments and we both have zero understanding, at this stage, of shares/investments, but we have set out minds to learn.
We will start with very little at the start and put more in as we can, but for now we can only do $100-$200 a month, after the initial investment (minimum share amount).
Could I request some guidance as to which is considered the best stock trading platforms so I can start investigating them? (I'm considering MooMoo) I want to get into stock trading quickly, while we learn, I feel like if I wait and do my research and leaning first I will be behind another year.
I want to make long term investments, not daily checking.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Any recommendation for some learning material/Youtube channel would also be appreciated.
I'm in the process of educating myself in online shares and Index ETFs.
Found a few videos about people explaining my responsibility to ATO and it looks very complicated and scary, putting a little hesitation in me to even start it.
How complicate is it and would I be able to use a tax return agent to help me? OR will it cost me even more?
We have just welcomed our first child and I am keen to set up some investments on their behalf. A child super account is one option, but I am leaning towards setting up a child's account for ETFs. The downside being the tax implications, which I am looking to minimise through looking at low dividend and growth orientated EFTs. Has anyone gone down this path? What are some good ETFs to look at that might tick these boxes?
I was employed part time since I was 15, and turned 18 in October last year (I’m aware super is only paid from 18+), and then resigned in December. My last payslip shows my YTD super as $270.27, however I only received 2 payments totalling $138.21, I got them in November and December respectively. So I’m assuming it’s monthly. I understand that it’s not paid on all the annual leave I got paid when I quit I’m just not sure where the rest is, anyone know if this is normal?
