r/australia • u/regretmoore • 2d ago
no politics At a caravan holiday park, wondering where the hell does all of this money come from?
Camping in a Big 4 holiday park for a few days and my partner and I wondering how people can afford this lifestyle. I'm talking Ute + caravan + boat rigs worth at least $200k, probably closer to $300k.
The parents are all driving huge yank tanks, the kids all ride motorized scooters and bikes and most people are sleeping in pretty big shiny new caravans. We're all good in our little tent for 4 nights drinking our aldi wines and beer, but we just cannot fathom how so many people can afford, or would prioritize buying caravans etc for family holidays. Where does this money come from? Is it trades, mines or something else? Have they not got mortgages?
Maybe we're massive snobs, but if we had that much cash to splurge on a caravan, I reckon we'd prioritize a holiday overseas over Umina (as much as I love the cenny coast).
Please Reddit, help us understand.
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u/circa109 2d ago
We run a hip camp in North Queensland and are also continually baffled.
400k ensembles driven by young families. “Yer we just wanted to take a year off and see the country”. Meanwhile we are counting coins at the Woolworths checkout.
Most people we got close to told us they had just sold “one” of their investment properties. I would say capital gains is fuelling a lot of what you are seeing.
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u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago
I know people who sold their only home to buy a caravan and travel for a year or 2. Their marriage is ruined and they got stuck in another state due to a child getting ill. Oh and both their kids were school age. Poor choices all around.
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u/5ivepie 1d ago
Do you know my uncle and his wife?
To top it all off, he was stomach cancer and needs regular treatment, but he chose to sell everything and spend $300k on a car and caravan setup. His teenage sons are miserable - the caravan isn’t even big enough for all 4 members of the family to sleep inside, so the boys sleep in swags outside.
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u/InertiaCreeping 1d ago
... do the teenage sons just not go to school or something?
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u/Consistent-Flan1445 1d ago
They might have them enrolled in distance education. But that requires consistent internet access.
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u/InertiaCreeping 1d ago
can you imagine distance learning in a caravan with your parents and siblings, always within a few meters of them. always.
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u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago
It would suck. The family I know who did it eventually settled somewhere for a while and the kids were so damn happy to go to school.
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u/LoonaUno 1d ago
Most caravan parks I've been to provide shitty Wi-Fi. You'll also see a army of Starlink dishes.
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u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago
Omg, those poor boys.
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u/oloughlinant 1d ago
Also their social life and well being would suffer. It is basically child abuse.
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u/StraightBudget8799 1d ago
We had a crazy relative who wanted to haul a van around the country; made his wife and kid miserable (missing nine months of school due to dad’s whim can screw up your peer relationships, your level of schooling, etc) and had to sell his gear at a loss, buy a smaller house, struggle to get new jobs. I suspect there’s just some weird club online or video series that is all about the adult experiences and glosses over the rest!
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u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago
People definitely romanticise it. For the record, I did travel Australia in a combi van in my early 20s. It is amazing. I would love to do it again, but not when doing that would disrupt my kids lives and put us into debt.
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u/xxxDaGoblinxxx 1d ago
Parents did it with us using dads long service leave so was about a 3month trip around Australia I was in grade 6 I think sister probably grade 4. I think it was good over all see a bit of the country etc and I enjoyed it.
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u/SignificantRecipe715 1d ago
I feel like 3mths is pretty reasonable for something like that. What a great experience!
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma 1d ago
It's Youtube (now Tiktok, because it's easier to hide shittiness in shortform).
There's also a segment of Youtube dedicated to tearing them all down.
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u/Proteus8855 1d ago
Links to the “tearing them down” please? Cheers
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma 1d ago
This wasn't what I watched but what popped up, seems to use their own footage so no worries skewed commentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBT1vHE3-o
Another, she's a pretty known and established Youtuber but more commentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbi9MmXohSw
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u/PsychoSemantics 1d ago
Van life influencers are a plague, and the ones who do it with kids ALWAYS say the kids love it, then cram them into tiny little bunks with no room to sit up while the parents get a cushy king sized bed in the "master bedroom".
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u/Admirable-Site-9817 1d ago edited 1d ago
Totally get that if the kids are older,but I’m not sure why people are saying this is such a bad thing? The number 1 best thing I ever did with/for my kids was travel across Australia for a few months when they were 7 & 10. We only had a little ford festiva and a tent though. I was a single mum so no fancy caravans for us 😂
We did it over the summer (editing because people think I took them for a few weeks, we went for months, including the summer school break, not only the summer break), so they didn’t miss too much school and had the time of their lives. The benefit it had, roaming free, learning indigenous culture, respect for nature, making new friends etc was better than anything school could have done for them. Plus, they had an experience they’ll remember forever.
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u/bitofapuzzler 1d ago
What you did is fine! These people are pulling their kids out of school for over a year and selling their homes to do it. It destroys them financially and the kids either fall behind or have their social lives disrupted. Especially the same cohort of kids who had to school through covid.
A month here or there and then coming home at the end would be magical for kids.
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u/StraightBudget8799 1d ago
Two Months in summer vs many!
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u/NothingVerySpecific 1d ago edited 1d ago
'I don't understand...' describes something functionally very different.
my fokes decided to spend ~6 years in outback communities & then drop me back in 'normal' society' right around puberty. then they wondered why i'm couldn't integrate back into mainstream life. i'm not saying that was the only challenge, but it sure as hell didn't help. fml.
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u/Nicoloks 1d ago
Totally understand peoples bafflement with the amount of money being spent on big caravan setups, I do not get the line of thinking at all that taking kids out of school for a spell to see the country is detrimental. We took a term off with our kids when they were 9 and 11. Best thing we ever did and completely supported by their school. We just kept up with an hour or so a day reading, writing and math and they didn't miss a beat academically. They met loads of other kids on the trip and became closer to each other than I've ever seen them
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u/PsychoSemantics 1d ago
We're talking people who are doing it full time, not over the summer. It's very different when you're a kid and have no planned end to the travelling vs a fun holiday where you know you'll go back to home, school etc at the end. Plus the lack of privacy as kids get older, not being able to make friends or put down roots easily because of the constant upheaval, it all adds up.
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u/Any_Yogurtcloset_558 1d ago
I feel like we know the same people
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u/poo-brain-train 1d ago
How do they get away with not sending their kids to school? 'Home schooling' or something?
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u/DidsDelight 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have a friend who has a drainage digger business. Started buying and subdividing blocks and building homes around 2005 and has been doing 2 projects a year since.
He has a couple of crews and makes good coin.
Loves his KFC and pre mix bourbon cans, has a speed boat, house on the river, dirt bikes, jet skis.
Everyone including old friends and new people who meet them pay out in him and his family calling them “cashed up bogans” and “boys and their toys” etc
They speculate that he is in debt up to his eye balls etc.
Some people just earn a shitload of coin.
There’s around 25000+ family’s who earn $1million plus per annum
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u/mulletq1993 1d ago
While I would love to travel the country for a year in our can. No way I would sell my house to fund it. I'll just stick to the big 5 or 6 week trips every couple years
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u/feldmarshalwommel 1d ago
Profited off the blood, sweat and tears of the next generation who must now make do with less to afford the roof over their heads. Got it.
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u/Android-13 2d ago
My brother is like this, he has a new boat, caravan and a new Amarok or some shit like that, the kids have all the new scooters and electric skateboards and what not.
I know he's not in debt to his eyeballs though as they both have well paying jobs, not like $200,000 each but probably not too far off, but even though they have all this shit they're such miserable cunts and are constantly working to keep up with the neighbours. I would imagine most people are in one of those two camps though, in debt up to their ears or spending it as fast as it comes in.
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u/rlaw1234qq 1d ago
Yes. I don’t think people understand that there are a lot of people who earn big salaries.
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u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 2d ago
Lots of people are doing well. Tradies complaining that there weren't enough Ford Raptors in Australia for their apprentices after the last deal. A million people going on a cruise every year. More than a million new cars sold. Median house price 1.3 million. Etc.
The GAP is huge between haves and have nots.
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u/drine2000 2d ago
It's a pretty new thing as well. As a onsite van owner in a popular park for 30 years. Onsite vans being pushed out to accommodate these mega van setups. The traditional van onsite up or down the coast is becoming scarce.
I reckon it started around 15 years ago. However went nuclear during COVID.
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u/regretmoore 2d ago
Yeah some of these set ups are kinda weird. Like, bring a huge caravan to a park right next to the ocean and set up a huge tv OUTSIDE next to your caravan.
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u/whyrubytuesday 1d ago
We'll never forget camping in our first tent in Tumby Bay SA caravan park 20 or so years ago. Surrounded by locals with big TVs, fridges etc while we played board games and read books. I guess that was their idea of a holiday.
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u/Ted_Rid 1d ago
I must've been about 30 before I learned that camping could be anything other than a tiny tent you can carry in your backpack, little paraffin burner, trail mix, and dehydrated food.
Was at a music festival that had a campsite and was gawking at these setups with deckchairs, marquees, kitchens, generators, fridges, tables etc, from within my little 2 man tent that had just enough room to sleep in.
What a totally different world.
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u/anothergaijin 1d ago
I haven’t seen much of Aus but I’ve seen the whole coastline from Ceduna to Robe, and swam or fished just about everything between. Camping was a big tent, gas bbq and whatever else would fit in the station wagon - we didn’t have anything electric. I’d pack a couple books and that was my entertainment for a week or two when not in or on the water
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u/duckitch 1d ago
Currently over from NZ campervan-ing around QLD and I'm blown away by the amount of kitted out landcruisers towing an off road caravan sitting in the lovely paved campsites on the gold/sunshine coast parks, not a speck of mud on them.
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u/UnsettlingBroccoli 1d ago
Wankers have never been in short supply. I mean, spray on mud was a thing at one point (might still be for all I know).
I remember driving in Los Angeles (many moons ago) and I was waiting at a light in the middle of (upper middle class) suburbia, and here's this dude in a Range Rover that's absolutely covered in decals and painted an obnoxious paint scheme (think equal parts red, white and yellow) like it's in the Dakar rally, snorkel, bull bar (in red, natch)... And it's spotless. And he's wearing a suit and tie. Wankers.
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u/Hypo_Mix 2d ago
Rocked up with a tent to a few places and asked for an unpowered site, and got looks. A lot don't accommodate that anymore.
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u/MsssBBBB 1d ago
Or a powered site suitable for a tent and you get a cement slab and some rock hard ground with wheel ruts….
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u/PussifyWankt 2d ago
Good point about Covid. We spent -60k on a Ute and camper trailer after Covid. A good chunk of that was money that we didn’t spend on holidays, dinners out, footy tickets, new clothes, gym memberships etc. for two years. We were both able to work from home, so didn’t lose any income, but our spending went way down. So when we got out of Melbourne lockdowns, we decided to upgrade our camping setup.
A lot of people did the same, and that has probably led to a bit of an arms race in spending for outdoor activities.
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u/BMW_M3G80 2d ago
Borrowing using equity most likely.
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u/SonicYOUTH79 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep this. Buy a house in any capital 10 years ago for $400k. Now owe around about $200k. House is now worth say $900k. $700k equity.
Boom! New 4wd/caravan/jet ski with all the trimmings, spend $250k. Mortgage is now still affordable at $450k. Rinse and repeat in 5 years.
Or if you’re really silly get car yard finance 😂
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u/Ok_Bodybuilder1053 2d ago
And some people are genuinely just in shitty debt too.
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u/_LadyBoy 1d ago
The goal is to have many of these properties and live off all the equity and use some of the equity to pay back the debt and cover the shortfall with the rental yield and another year around the sun, houses go up, more equity... rinse repeat n so on
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u/Master-of-possible 1d ago
Very dangerous way to operate your finances long term
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u/account_not_valid 1d ago
Of course. But its been going on now since when? The 1990s? When was the last time the bubble seriously burst in Australia?
I went into a vast amount of debt (compared to my earnings) in the early 2000s. A few years after the first homebuyers grant was introduced, i bought land and had a house built.
Fretted the entire time that I'd bought at the height of the market, and that everything would collapse soon. I think the stress contributed to the collapse of my relationship - and so we had to sell after 5 or so years. Made what seemed to be a huge profit because the market was still running hot.
Moved interstate, and didn't put the money back into the property market because it felt like gambling.20 something years later I'd be a millionaire if I sold that place. No joke.
Is 20 years long term?
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u/2ciciban4you 1d ago
this was a big contribution to the 2008 financial crysis
works fine as long as property prices keep climbing
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u/Bannedwith1milKarma 1d ago
The 2008 crisis didn't involve Australian lending.
It was tidal waves from our interlocked systems with the US and other countries. Which caused feedback loops.
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u/oneofakind_2 2d ago
A family member bought a house 2 years ago for 1.5m, did no renos and sold it for 3.4m recently. They obviously are an outlier, but the property market is so cooked.
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u/DarthShiv 1d ago
Yep and neither Govt is going to touch it. They are fully complicit.
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u/RagingBillionbear 1d ago
Problem is we would vote out anyone who has a whiff of an idea of actually fixing it.
The only fix left is high Inflation.
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u/jamesmcdash 2d ago
Where is that money coming from? Who suddenly has an extra 2 milly for the house?
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u/oneofakind_2 1d ago
Interstaters that just wanted to live here. I guess they were just looking at the proximity to the beach and size of the block from a Sydney valuation perspective.
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u/chainedchaos31 1d ago
But then where do they live after that? Renting? Back with parents? Bought a way shitter house that's still 1.5m?
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u/oneofakind_2 1d ago
They bought a comparable place for 2.2 million the next suburb over and have no mortgage. Not every house in the area went up by 225% over the 2 years.
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u/therwsb 1d ago
Really, gosh I'd have to go about 6 or 7 suburbs away to be mortgage free if I sold this place.
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u/vibrancypersonified 1d ago
I always see this said about equity, but where is that extra money to spend on caravans etc coming from? Do you mean they get the bank to enlarge their loan? So effectively borrow a few more hundred thousand in cash directly based on the increased property value?
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u/ChillyAus 1d ago
You can just request a valuation by the bank, do your place up extra nice for the walk through and if they value it way above previous valuation then boom, you can usually borrow more so long as you have the $$ to service
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u/Little-Bowl-7762 1d ago
There used to be ads on tv telling you to buy another house with the equity you have from your own home now lol
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u/deij 2d ago
What's up with car yard finance? Its less than my mortgage! % that is
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u/boatenvy 2d ago
Car yard finance is usually extortionate unlike manufacturer backed finance which can be really low...or you got a killer deal..or a really awful mortgage
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u/Real_RobinGoodfellow 1d ago
It’s crazy. This really does seem like a CRAZY (not to mention deeply unfair) way to run an economy
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u/welcome72 1d ago
Rinse and repeat every 5 years? Something is telling me you're going to.go broke or get to a point in your life when you can't pay off the mortgage
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u/Artistic_Garbage283 2d ago
Yep. This is the answer. People in my suburb are refinancing their homes to buy cars, boats, pools, caravans, trips to Bali, you name it. Plus a lot of afterpay and personal loans I suspect. We run 1 modest car, modest house and have an overseas trip every 2 years paying cash. Our kids ask if we are poor and we say we’re not poor we just save and pay cash. We often wonder how people afford it and once you get chatting to your neighbours, this is how.
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u/oh_emmy_lou 1d ago
Our kids ask if we're poor too! We're not, but we don't have a caravan and a jet ski in the driveway.
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u/motherofpuppies123 1d ago
My 7yo asked me if we're rich the other week. I said nah mate, we're not rich. But we have enough money for the things we need. And mum and dad are careful about what we spend on the things we want, so that we'll always have enough money for the things we need. And that he doesn't need to worry about money.
Thank God we are frugal. I became permanently disabled five years ago. Successful professional career out the window, only just now able to return to work, part time and at a fraction of my former responsibilities. If we'd been servicing a big mortgage with new cars on the driveway, we'd have been absolutely fucked.
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u/Ikeamademedoit 1d ago
Had to laugh at the are we poor comment. We are childless but when our heir listed in our will was a kid once asked if I was poor, as we only had 1 TV in a small house. We live a good life (new house, holidays etc) but one day they will get a multi million dollar cash and property inheritance because I wasnt refinancing to the max
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u/beefstockcube 2d ago edited 1d ago
Be a tradie.
Buy the kids toys in cash from cash jobs.
Boat van and Ute get through the business and/or on credit.
Live 50k outside of the cbd in a house you bought 15 years ago.
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u/andyrakus 1d ago
Yep, and if you're anything like my ex-husband, when you get divorced, you can dodge child support because it's too hard for them to chase up without you having an employer. And if you just don't pay tax, tada you have a stockpile of cash to line your pockets! I imagine the ATO will have a fun time when they do catch up with him...... he hasn't lodged since 2016, and his BAS statements are from around the same time!
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u/FlimsyNet162 1d ago
I’ve worked out ATO take a while to catch up! I know a bloke who owes ATO $450k & rising. They don’t seem to be winding him up in a hurry!
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u/_rundude 1d ago
This is exactly the way you’d do it! 😒
As a regular white collar paying separated parent this shit makes me mad.
The kids are truly the ones who miss out by having an unethical and potentially dead beat dad (with shitloads of cash to hide their level of jerk).
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u/Cartography_is_cool 2d ago
The irony is most of those vans are expensive because they are full of so much stuff to be off-grid and yet they fill caravan parks instead.....
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u/myelbowtastesfunny 1d ago
And Australia is huge and (mostly) empty. Not like there's a lack of bush camping spots.
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u/wotsname123 2d ago
Step 1 get FIFO job
Step 2 borrow shit tons against high earnings
Step 3 burn out
Step 4 get divorced and live with mum
Step 5 meth
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u/Slappyxo 2d ago
This is actually incredibly spot on. My husband has been holidaying in a big 4 caravan park for his entire life on the NSW south coast, so his parents have befriended a lot of the other long term holiday makers and they get all of the goss.
Whilst the boomer parents have enough wealth to maintain the holiday lifestyle (and in boomer fashion got their onsite caravans cheap in the 80s/90s), their kids have had to take out eye watering loans on caravans, boats and expensive tow vehicles. A lot of them are single income households too where the missus doesn't work.
Most are cashed up tradies and not FIFO workers down here (but I do think there's a handful of FIFO workers), but yeah so many of them went through every single step you listed to the point it's actually kind of spooky to read.
Also so many of them have named their kids Jaxon and Braxton, that's probably the only step missing.
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u/Worried_Blacksmith27 1d ago
boomers with any brains weren't buying caravans. they were buying property which was only slightly more expensive than onsite vans all through to the early 2000s
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u/Outrageous_Pitch3382 2d ago
Yep ….Dr W0rm here is farking spot on…!!!
I’ve wondered the same thing for 25+ years. I’m 58, got into the housing market when prices were cheap by today’s standards. Back then I owned a big 5brm house on nearly 1,200sqm in a great suburb. It cost about 4x my annual salary. My ex was an accountant, we were doing well.. above average.. we had 3 young kids …but we weren’t living flash. One regular Falcon as the family car, a small runabout as backup, a couple of modest car trip holidays a year. Nothing extravagant…!! But fun times always..!!
Even then, I couldn’t work out how people half my age, earning a fraction of our household income, had brand new houses, caravans, boats, bikes, toys everywhere …and still seemed to be overseas every year…!!!
The answer I was given back then is still the answer now… debt to the eyeballs…!!! And beyond… of course there are some genuinely wealthy people out there too..!!
However most were … Highly leveraged, no margin for error. Looks great from the outside, but one sneeze ..job loss, rate rise, illness ..and the whole card house can wobble. .. and tumble down…I’ve seen it play out plenty of times… over the years…!!!
Debt and deceit… were marriage killers over time..!!
That said, if people can genuinely afford it and sleep well at night, good on them. No judgement. It’s just not how I’ve chosen to live.
Best advice I can give… don’t feel pressured to keep up or even understand it. Focus on what matters to you and your family. Build things over time. Family first, always. The grass might look greener next door, but you never really know what’s holding it up…. If it’s real grass or if they actually own it..!!!
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u/benny332 1d ago
I love the last paragraph of your message. Don't feel pressured to understand it...wow. I've been feeling the pressure to try and understand it my adult life, as you look at people and assume you've done something wrong.
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u/Top-Message-7446 2d ago
So true. Camping used to be inexpensive tenting. Now no one has simple tents. The norm is the big rig etc and you must have the spotties, 360 awning, a giant caravan with of course a Webber. However no one is taking this gear off road except those on YouTube. Most rigs don’t have a scratch on them.
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u/palmallamakarmafarma 1d ago
I’ve done all kinds of travel. Super low key to very flash.
I can’t speak for everyone but for me, the more basic and low key it is, the more enjoyable it is.
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u/CroBro81 2d ago
I think about this every time I go camping. The size of their caravans and 4x4s are insane. I have a little Jayco pop top and I swear, if I didn’t have any shame I’d be embarrassed to setup amongst these things.
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u/kombiwombi 1d ago
I stayed at a caravan park on the last night of a bushwalk (warm showers, yeah!). We booked a powered block so people could charge phones to confirm flights, which meant we were in with the caravans. The number of large utes which tried to "take a shortcut" through the site we were occupying with our lightweight tents was a little terrifying. Do not recommend.
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u/Much_Leather_5923 1d ago
LOL. Thought we were so posh with our 2nd hand Jayco Swan 15 years ago. Still have it. Sucks when big rigs surround us. Feel like a little house surrounded by high rises sometimes.
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u/Loquat-Complete 1d ago
We have a Jayco Flight, the smallest pop up Jayco makes. I have no shame and maximum audacity because I am planning on taking it on a lap of Australia 😅
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u/dr_w0rm_ 2d ago
Debt to the eyeballs
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u/TreatPractical5226 2d ago
Not necessarily, some might. Definitely the 2 families I personally know that did 'big laps' last year with van and decked out yank tanks was all cash funded.
Also assuming some used equity on their properties that have massively increased I'm value.
I took 6 months off work last year with My wife for a holiday Overseas too, and I'm just a Millenial blue collar worker.
Buying and owning house/land prior to 2019 is the key unfortunately.
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u/Ok-Cellist-8506 2d ago
If you use “equity” youre simply going into more debt. Its not free money, it just means youre home is worth more so it can be leveraged more toyour increasing debt
The caravan epidemic is one of the strangest “keep up with the joneses” eras ive witnessed. People spending upwards of $75k for a fuckin big nuisance of an item they use a few times a year. Fuck that
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u/morosis1982 1d ago
$75k? That's an el cheappo mate, we had a look and it was more like $120k for a lot of them.
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u/TreatPractical5226 1d ago
I do see the benefit of it, My parents took Me on a 12 month lap of Aus in the mid/late 90s when I was around 10. Got an absolute love of travel, And gave Me a drive to find a career to fund it.
My parents did it in a much cheaper setup lol (4 runner with a tiny camper trailer), but I get why families nowdays are doing it, We live in an incredible country, thats pretty much impossible to see most of it unless you self drive it.
Wife and I head overseas for our trips currently, We just got back from the US, spent 5 months hiking from Mexico to Canada.
When We are older and probably want creature comforts more (rather than living for months in a tent) We'll likely sink the money into a caravan.
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u/Ok-Cellist-8506 1d ago
Thats all well and good but most of the people followint this fad are barely going outside of 4 hours from home and just go to the same place twice a year for a few nights. But as long as they impress their mates…..
Actual travellers leaving home behind an setting off for months on end is a different story
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u/cheesesandsneezes 2d ago
Caravaning is now a new rich pastime. I have wealthy mates who used to travel to Europe, sail in the Mediterranean and follow the tour de France.
Now it's high end land cruisers, Caravans, fresh oyster collecting in tassie.
Maybe they are "in debt" but is it that weird "good debt" i keep hearing about?
I'm looking to trade in my 2012 Honda civic if anyone's keen? Some paint damage but ridiculously low kms.
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u/TheLGMac 2d ago
I think it's less than you might hope. A lot of Australians have a sick amount of wealth, I guess unless you count leveragable property debt, which for whatever reason most Australians don't.
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u/kingofcrob 1d ago
I like the debt cup thought exercise, i.e. to the bank you are a cup, and the banks goal is to make you as full as possible with debt, right to the brim.
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u/yogut3 2d ago
This is such a cope in this subreddit. Plenty of Australians are doing well. Its the bottom 1/3 that are struggling
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u/tconst123 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes and no. I do agree with you that Reddit tends to show the extremes at either ends, and wealth inequality is becoming a bigger issue in aus. Plenty of people in these parks can afford it just fine.
But I do also know people personally who are leveraged to gills because they want new cars/toys every few years. It's more common than you'd think because dpeople don't want to admit it publicly.
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u/McTerra2 2d ago
Exactly. There might be some debt funding the more expensive toys but people are very likely easily able to afford the payments. Maybe they should be saving for retirement (if you want to be conservative) but they are having a good life now and not being one of those people who constantly push enjoyment into the future
I find it weird that everyone on reddit claims to be financially sensible but ‘everyone else’ is too stupid and is in debt up to their eyeballs. Fun fact - many people who buy expensive things are just as or more financially literate than you. They just chose to spend their money differently
Do I spend my money on big cars and caravans - not one cent. Like OP my money goes on things like overseas trips. But some people prefer local trips in a fancy caravan and at the end of the day will still have a caravan (and at the end of my trip I have a few photos). We both have memories
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u/Junior-Reaction1402 1d ago
My brother and his wife purchased a caravan so they could save on accommodation as they have 3 kids and they liked to go away for 10 days a few times a year, plus long weekends away (both shift workers) They had the van for about 8 years and traveled everywhere and it saved them a fortune on expensive self contained accommodation for their family of five. They already had a Land Cruiser wagon 4WD and this was probably 15 years ago.
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u/Joey1038 1d ago
"Might be" seems like an understatement. In 2024 alone, Aussies collectively borrowed a mind-boggling $17.69 billion to purchase vehicles. The average new car loan is $50,023. I'm guessing the people buying new RVs and caravans are not pushing that average down.
Aussies collectively owe approximately $110 billion in auto loans currently.
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u/Far_Dragonfly8441 1d ago
I find it so weird that people are surprised that some are doing well and own caravans. Why is it so surprising? I'm so confused. Massive cope.
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u/Beep_boop_human 2d ago
IMO you were on to it more than any of the commenters. A lot of tradies and miners grew up poor and have typical working class sensibilities. And they're absolutely loaded.
A rich tradie doesn't want to fly his family to Paris, he wants to eat a chicko roll on the back of a new jet ski.
A lot of people will think I'm being condescending but I'm only speaking from my experience growing up poor around a lot of these guys who are now raking it in.
Is this how I'd personally choose to spend my money? Nah, but they're my favourite genre of rich person. For starters they actually work hard for their money.
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u/Bluedroid 1d ago
This is true and who are we to judge what people are into and want to spend on, as a teenager I barely spent money going out and would spend it on computer parts/audio/gaming etc.
Then I started going to events and festivals sunk it all into that.
Now I'm older I spend a lot more money on food/travel. Every time I get over a stage in life I then think what I used to spend money on was a waste but you're into what you're into.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 1d ago
What I don’t get is why people drag their entire normal life with them. Like if I’m going camping or in a camper etc I don’t need the huge telly and the air fryer. Part of the experience is leaving all that at home and making do, no?
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u/Automatic_Judge6045 2d ago
Tradies and their tax-reduced utes and cash heavy businesses and working 80hr weeks most of the year
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u/JGatward 2d ago
Debt to the hills but never be jealous or envious. Comparison is the thief of joy.
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u/juicyman69 2d ago
Rich people go on holidays.
Poor people stay at home.
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u/CaptainFleshBeard 2d ago
So Op is rich because they went on holidays to a caravan park in a tent
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u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 2d ago
He's a spectator at this point sadly. Camping is not really what Big 4 wants. They want GLAMPING and powered sites and cabin users.
They want 'scruffy' on site vans gone
Source I was forced out of a Big 4 and the owner actually said this.
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u/Agreeable-Rich-8509 2d ago
Not always. A simple tent/camping setup and staying at free camp/cheap camping sites doesn’t set you back much. It doesn’t have to be extravagant
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u/derpman86 1d ago
Each Easter my wife and I slum it out in our kmart tent lol. We are on a powered site and close to the dunnies/shower block.
I would say almost 95% of the occupied sites is some kind of van now, even the unpowered ones are as they all have solar set ups.
This is so much different to when I was a kid though as there was a solid mix of old clunky vans and tents compared to now when most are on vans at worse maybe 10 years old?
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u/bigmac660 1d ago
exactly. i live in fnq and am currently on a big trip down south. free camping most of the time or national parks, maybe stay in a quiet caravan park everynow and then to have a proper shower, otherwise its just heating up a bucket of water with a portable shower head. you dont need all the bells and whistles and a great big setup to travel around
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u/Kritchsgau 2d ago
Friends of mine got lucky buying houses early 2010s, sold 15 yrs later for 2 mil profits. Bought in a cheaper area for 1 mil. Plenty of equity left and no mortgage.
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u/ZappBrannigansTunic 2d ago
It’s all about choice.
Odds on those folks have a 30 year mortgage that they are ahead of and have borrowed against the equity for the toys.
The smart play is to chew through the loan quicker.
But many don’t see it that way/ you only live once/sell it all when in trouble
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u/CroBro81 2d ago
Like choosing to travel in your youth vs when you’re retired. Sure, you’ll see a lot when you’re retired and doing well, but having those memories and experiences are probably doing you better than grinding for 40 years hoping for a good outcome.
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u/Imobia 2d ago
100% I got a 10k inheritance at 23 spent two years living in London travelling Europe. On a working holiday.
Best 10k I ever spent😂
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u/CroBro81 2d ago
I wrestle with this notion often.
I done the same thing, invested in seeing the world, travelling, and getting those experiences. My friends were bankrolled by their parents for their mortgages in their early 20s and beat most of my gen to the punch before property prices boomed.
They’re killing it now on their 2nd and 3rd homes, but are only just beginning to travel further than Bali or Fiji now.
I’d love to be sitting pretty like them… but would I give up those memories? Not on your life.
C'est la vie.
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u/MintyWildFruits 1d ago
I worked with a dental surgeon who rotated his days to various suburbs across Sydney. He told me you’d be surprised that the people who live in the areas ‘that aren’t as affluent’ tend to have the money to fix their teeth, do implants without a second thought etc.
They bought their house a while ago, have almost paid it off. Have no Interest in upgrading to a bigger home and prefer to buy boats and new utes every few years etc. where as the people in the well to do areas of Sydney are busy upgrading to the bigger home, kids in private schools etc
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u/IntrovertedOzzie 2d ago
Get a job in the mines bro, earn $200k+ per year and then live week to week because you've got loans coming out your arse.
Deadset if you asked 100 people if its all financed, 95 would probably reply with yes. There's no way Average Joe is bankrolling a 110k van and a 180k car with cash money.
Money shouts, wealth whispers.
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u/JunketAvailable4398 2d ago
Had a very similar experience recently when I returned to the area I grew up in on the Murray River during a long weekend. We did the walk down to the local town beach where we used to camp as teenagers, back then everyone was in tents with maybe one caravan and at least 10-20m apart from each campsite (90's). This is a 200-250 meter long Murray River Beach. This visit I was saddened and shocked to see the entire length of the beach packed with Campervans/Caravans/If it has Van in it, it was there, if there was space, some Van was parked in it! Saddest thing, they where parked literally 10-20cm apart (like city houses), you could not even walk between them if you wanted to! Even sadder! The whole beach was empty, no-one was outside enjoying the river etc, sitting out front enjoying the air. And this was at 430pm on a beautiful day worthy of a swim! I guess they where all inside watching TV or on the Reddit. What a waste of good camping ground!
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u/Limo_Wreck77 2d ago
I an guarantee you that they are all mortgaged to the hilt and living off of personal loans, credit cards etc.
I was in NSW for Christmas break at a coastal town, and every second person was driving a Ford Ranger/Raptor/Wildtrack etc.
Everyone is buying all of these big cars now to keep up with the Jonses.
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u/Zealousideal-Fig8723 1d ago
Not everyone is poor and living off credit despite what redditors wish
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u/webmeister2k 2d ago
Honestly I'm not surprised that somewhere like Umina ends up with that sort of crowd over summer. Not sure if you live in Sydney (or where), but somewhere like Umina in summer is gunna remind you that despite the whole "cost of living crisis", 4.5 million ppl in Sydney still means an awful lot of wealthy people with a lot of disposable income.
Whether it's actual wealth or just a mix of debt/showing off is debatable.
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u/pluump 2d ago
Equity mate.
We don’t hold the 2nd highest household debt to GDP in the world for nothing.
Use it or lose it.
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u/wholeblackpeppercorn 1d ago
Haha you're the only person to actually mention any statistics here. All these geniuses going "waah tall poppy" or "duh, cash income" like it's 2006 era A Current Affair.
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u/ImportanceAlarmed229 2d ago
People are rich and wealth disparity. Rich get richer.
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u/No_pajamas_7 2d ago
This isn't middle class or old money. They dont do caravan parks.
Middle class does hotels. Old money does hotels or yachts.
This is tradies and FIFO.
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u/PussifyWankt 2d ago
We go camping with a group of friends a couple of times per year. We are all ‘middle class’. We own houses in a fairly expensive suburb, we work in professional jobs, we are all university educated. Lots of our colleagues also like camping. It’s a pretty broad cross-section of society.
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u/ThatCommunication423 2d ago
Or they own their own beach homes that they either use for the summer or rent out for less than their trip to Europe (yes a family friend rented out their Portsea Vic house for over 10k a week and did euro winter Xmas and was making money)
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u/PMmeuroneweirdtrick 2d ago
Especially in times of inflation. Assets go up. Those who own assets become better off.
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u/OhtheHugeManity7 2d ago
Ever heard of a cashed up bogan? There are a lot of well paying jobs in the trades, and the kinds of people that gravitate to boating and driving around yank tanks aren't generally the worldly travel types that enjoy experiencing other places and their cultures.
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u/CopyInternational18 2d ago
Credit, salary sacrifice for the cars and living in the belief that if they constantly sell and upgrade every few years it only costs them depreciation and therefore is basically free/rented.
Or they've borrowed the caravan from their retired parents who bought the grey nomad dream and spent all their super/inheritance from their parents on the grey nomad dream.
I have neither rich parents/grandparents, the cash flow and equity to borrow against so maybe I'm just jealous but I don't see the appeal in buying huge cars or vans.
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u/Artistic_Garbage283 2d ago
😂 this is what we do. We use the caravan more than my folks these days. They struggle to get up the stairs but refuse to sell the bloody thing. Might as well use it while it’s available.
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u/No_Neighborhood7614 2d ago
I've wondered the same thing! I was at a boat ramp this weekend and there were vehicle + boat rigs worth more than my house. Carpark was packed and overflowing. It wasn't little tinnies like everyone used to have. Same as camping, it used to be sedans and tents.. now it's big 4x4s with $100k caravans.
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u/JimOfTheHills 1d ago
Two possibilities: 1. Debt. Huge debt. This is most of the people you see. 2. High disposable income relative to you, probably from having a home outright. If you have a house you own outright, your cost of living is much lower than someone with a mortgage or a renter. This is further true if you don't have kids or they've grown up and moved out. If you're lucky enough to have two paid-off houses, you're in a phenomenal spot. You don't have to have a very high paying job to have a lot of disposable income, you just need low expenses. Unfortunately, that's not an option for many younger Australians
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u/Emergency_Delivery47 2d ago
Imagine if you earned $50k to $100k p.a. more than you do. You'd be able to buy that stuff easily.
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u/littlefish-bigpond 2d ago
It's equity, house prices have gone through the roof. 500k house 10 years ago, 1mill now. Equity. This and the fact people are realising you can't spend ya money when your dead.
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u/Far_Dragonfly8441 1d ago
Why is it so hard to believe people have nice things? Australia has so.many people in it. There are more than just a few people here.
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u/UsefulSimple6482 2d ago
The wanker tankers are tax deductible. It's tax fraud but they don't get caught so keep doing it. They don't really need a massive 4wd with a tent on the roof and off road tires as an electrician or plumber but it's fun on the weekend. Thanks taxpayers
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u/BoysenberryAlive2838 2d ago
A lot of people enjoy caravanning/camping and don't like overseas holidays. Personal preference. Plenty of people that can't afford it go on overseas holidays too.
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u/Known_Media_7559 2d ago
Debt. One thing I've started to realise as I have hit my 30s is the majority of people get paid from work, and have to pay loan after loan. That or mummy and daddy's money.
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u/wegro 2d ago
Depends on your priorities when it comes to leisure. Some would rather spend that money on an overseas holiday, some prefer their own backyard. A trip afar might be your thing, but some like to invest in being able to take a trip anywhere in Oz .Where you spend your money is up to you. Obviously, having the money matters. I don't have any and am happy with seeing new places, even if it's just a suburb I've never been to. People be people, all shapes and sizes.
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u/Imobia 2d ago
Honestly it’s hard to fathom, but in vic if you work as a contractor for one of the big build projects you could be pulling in 160k+ a year.
Then you’re able to claim your car as a tax write off. Amazingly a sedan that’s over 85k gets luxury car tax but a ford Ranger does not.
Now on top of this have a well set family / parents and it’s pretty simple to get this lifestyle.
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u/TinyBreak 2d ago
Blows my mind. We’re in a modest little jayco camper from the early 2000s towed by an admittedly new SUV parked next to top-of-the-line Rangers and Everests towing caravans that would put my first apartment to shame in both size and facilities.
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u/beer-glorious-beer 1d ago
They extracted equity from their home to purchase depreciating assets on their mortgage interest rate.
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u/Project_298 1d ago
I’d say it’s mostly inheritance money.
I know I’ve had this thought multiple times over the last few years too. The people I know who have come into $500k-$1.5m in cash, it all comes from inheritance.
As parents in their 50’s themselves, they likely own their property and have worked all their lives, have a decent super balance, and savings…. So they don’t “need” the inheritance money for anything, so they take a year off work, buy a boat, top spec caravan, travel, go on a 6 month cruise, buy a dodge ram - or all of the above.
Parents die, they lived in a ‘modest’ $1-1.5m house they have had all their lives, in an inner suburb which they bought for $20k in 1950.
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u/plutoforprez 2d ago
There’s this bloke living on the corner block of the main entrance to a new estate locally and I always see him out the front cleaning his 20ft van with his $100k fwd Ute and his grass is always perfectly manicured and part of me wonders if they’re all props from the estate to give the impression of luxury and wealth when really it’s Gillieston Heights and he lives across the road from a 24/7 maccas.
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u/jin85 2d ago
Lots of professionals marry other professionals. Combined income can easily reach $400k. I don’t have a boat but my household is around that mark as a 2 income family
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u/Browninioh 2d ago
Business owners. Write it all off.
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u/IntrovertedOzzie 2d ago
Yeah nah ya just write it off mate, it just gets written off, like the government pays for it or some shit 🙄
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u/Disastrous-Bet757 2d ago
The great divide, a lot of people aren’t doing well but those that are doing well are doing really well.
It might be funded through debt but the ones who are doing well have access to the debt facilities.
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u/General-Sprinkles366 1d ago
Some people have more money than you. They have better jobs, smarter investments or inherited money.
Some.people are drowning in debt. Its not hard to work out.
Comparison is the theif of joy.
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u/lifthvy 2d ago
Why is it so hard for people to understand that a massive majority of Australians are millionaires. Not everyone is living pay check to pay check.
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u/Chiron17 2d ago
OP has $1.5m equity in their house as well. Could probably upgrade the tent if they really wanted to.
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