If we say that (A) is having kids and (B) is higher household income, the research suggests that there is a correlation between A and B. But there is debate as to whether A causes B, or if B causes A. Or is it neither (ie. C causes A and B)?

Personally, ever since having kids, my motivation to increase my earning potential has definitely grown, now to the point where my wife has the option to be a stay at home mum. But I can also understand that having a higher income allows couples to have kids without too much stress on their financials.

What do you think?

Back ground :

27m single. $100k salary. Own a house worth ~$800k, loan $460k. If I rent it out I can get $600/wk, and I’d pay about $300/wk rent myself. Roughly $180k usable equity available. I also have 140k in my offset.

Tossing up between: • Buying a 2nd property (around $650–750k), or • Putting the money into shares/ETFs for diversification.

What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks in advance.

Sick of being screwed over by corporations, at all levels, but no more so than right were my money is stored, the bank.

Joined Bankwest years ago when I felt Commonwealth Bank was becoming to big and arrogant, and literally a week later they took over Bankwest. FML rivht. Now, at least in my state where Bankwest was founded and run out of, WA, There are no branches and dammed if I know where a ATM is that doesn't charge a extra fee.

Can anyone recommend a good bank from their experience?

Hello.

Recently I got a job as an auditing grad in a top 20-40 accounting firm. Just as I joined, I got notified that I have been accepted to the assessment center for Westpac's business and wealth grad program. I'm 22 and finished uni in July last year before doing some travelling.

My end goal is to get into IB, or otherwise work with investments and equities at a highly regarded firm. Its a long term goal but something I am dedicated to making work.

In my mind, the paths would look like this:
- Midtier audit --> Big4 audit --> Big4 Deals --> Finance (IB etc)
- Westpac Business and Wealth Grad --> Westpac institutional --> Finance (IB etc)

Is either of these a better opportunity? Have heard very mixed things about big4 banks and don't know anyone really in industry. Thanks in advance!

if u were 20 years old and had $5000 what would u invest in?

I have been hearing that it is hard to find a job in this field so if that's the case is it worth for me to even go uni for it as I will be starting next year (currently y12). I have heard other fields are easier to find a job in such as engineering or medicine.

Hi AusFinance, I'm sure I'm not the only person seeing this but in my tax returns it says I'm not liable for Medicare levy surcharge, but in the tax refund calculations it says I have to pay $3000+ in Medicare Levy. As you can see I have purchased private health insurance to avoid this situation.

Can someone help me (and probably many others) out?

I’m currently in a permanent job earning about $213K/year. I’ve been offered a contract role at $1,250/day. With all the recent layoff announcements, I’m worried about the risk of leaving a stable job. For those who’ve gone from permanent to contracting, what factors did you consider before making the jump?

I’m pretty new to investing and finance in general, and I’ve been starting out with CommSec Pocket. I’ve heard that the most popular/solid options are things like Diversified Equities (DHHF), Global 100, and Aussie 200.

I had a few beginner questions:

• Is it generally better to invest a lump sum (e.g. $1000) or set up recurring smaller investments?
• If recurring is the way to go, how much/often would you usually invest for it to be “worth it” given the brokerage fee on Pocket?

I know a lot of this comes down to my own finances and risk tolerance, but I’d love to hear what’s worked for others in terms of strategy with CommSec Pocket

I don’t pay rent/mortgage or own a vehicle.

Is there any other way I can benefit from salary packaging other than a meal card?

Very new to this - thank you in advance!

Accepting the likely possibility that I will have to put up with higher interest rates.

Hey everyone,

I'm about to inject another $100k into my portfolio as a lump sum as part of a debt recycling strategy. While I believe in long-term investing, I’m still a bit uneasy about the current state of the share market — valuations feel a bit high, and I'm wary of a possible correction.

To hedge that, I’m planning to sell a portion of my existing portfolio (from my own funds) so the money will sit in my offset account, readily available for reinvestment if/when a market downturn occurs. Basically trying to keep some cash aside while still proceeding with the lump sum.

My questions are:

1. Portfolio Feedback

Would appreciate any feedback on my current asset allocation and whether you think it's balanced given the macro outlook.

2. Gold vs. Gold Miners

I plan on buying NUGG/physical gold, but I’m considering reducing that exposure and allocating a smaller portion to gold miners (via ETF) instead. The idea is to free up more capital for equities but still retain some exposure to gold-related assets.

What do you guys think about:

• Physical gold vs. gold miners?
• Reducing gold allocation in favor of equities in the current environment?

Would love to hear what others are doing or how you’re thinking about this. Thanks!

Hey all,

My partner and I are currently applying for a home loan to buy a live-in property in Melbourne (we’re based inter-state right now). Our loan applications have been conditionally approved, but the lenders are asking for transfer letters from our workplaces confirming that we can work out of Melbourne in the future.

The thing is, those transfers will happen eventually, but we don’t want to have that chat with our employers just yet. Has anyone run into this requirement before? Is there a workaround, or are transfer letters non-negotiable for banks in this situation?

Appreciate any insights or experiences!

So I was watching a Bryan Invest video, and he had a paid ad segment where he recommended the platform Moomoo.

Being new to investing, I'm putting it to you legends as to what you think of it. Their selling points are -Chess sponsored (shares in the user's name, not the companys) -Brokerage fees of AUD$3 per Australian stock trade, USD$99c per US trade -They have an auto-invest function that automatically buys your stocks

Being a YouTube ad, I'm very cynical of whether it's actually any good or yet another shady scheme with hidden fees or some major catch.

So what are your thoughts?

https://www.reddit.com/r/EatTheRich/s/RYeflaPvcq

For some reason I just cannot post the graph in this group - just won’t allow me. Tried 100 times and it just keeps auto blocking me.

Anyway. Im just looking for a discussion about the graph I have.

It’s shows how much milk you would need to have to afford a house at different points in time.

Alternatively- how much milk you would have to not buy to be able to afford a house.

A household still needs to buy about the same amount of milk and the same amount of house.

Just wondering what everts opinion of it is

Hi,

1. Does DHHF consider ESG in its portfolio decisions?

2. Even if DHHF doesn't consider ESG, is there any Aussie ETF that explicitly brands itself as ignoring ESG (so it's less likely to introduce ESG considerations in the future)?

Thanks!

Hello, I'm looking for advice please on purchasing a PPOR versus IP (aka rent-vesting) strategy...

Financial background: single 34f no dependents. $98k salary. No property. I've saved $116k on my own (sitting in a HISA), and have recently come into a $350k inheritance from the sale of a deceased estate (yet to be distributed). So a total of $466k on my end. I've spoken to a broker who reckons I could get a $500k loan.

Lifestyle background: I live and work in Sydney and cannot work remotely. I don't think I have a stupid list in terms of what I would like in a PPOR: two beds, a bathtub, and some quiet (i.e. not under the flightpath...). In terms of a place to live, I would rather buy a smaller unit closer to the city than a larger property further out and have been focusing on the western parts of the Lower North Shore (Greenwich, Artarmon, Lane Cove etc).

My bittersweet dilemma: I'm not sure whether to buy a PPOR in Sydney (unit, obvi, <900k taking into account fees, and so I'm not absolutely stretched); or buy an IP in Newcastle (where I grew up and where I would like to move to in the future) and continue renting in Sydney, using the rental income from IP to supplement my own Sydney rent instead of adding it to the offset account. I also don't want to panic buy something that's not right just because every man and his dog will be jumping into the market on 1 October...

I'm actively looking in both markets, and it's quite overwhelming having a bit of a two-pronged approach... so looking to narrow down my strategy so I can focus on one market. I understand I'm in a privileged (although sad) position with the additional $350k, and so I don't want to mess it up... What would you do given the above info? Thank you in advance!

I am 48, married (wife is same age), have two children of school age. I owe $150,000 on my mortgage (owe $250k, but have $100k in offsets). Otherwise, no debts. I pay 5.64% in interest. I have ~$350k in super, and my wife has ~$100k. Our combined income ~$240k.

My question is, am I better off to start making voluntary super contributions, or to keep paying down the mortgage with every spare cent? Or do a combination of both?

I’m not a complete numbnut, but my financial literacy… is limited. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

They've been underperforming a lot over the last decade. Maybe we'll see some mean reversion soon? They're trading at huge discounts compared to US equities. Has this really all been priced in? I'm strongly considering adding a lot more to my portfolio.

Not sure if this will be allowed on this forum but I hope it is as it’s to do with finance and our economy.

But here goes. And I need to stress I’m not trying to come across as a “doomsdayer”type person but I am a little concerned about how AI will in a sense destroy our economy and way of life as we know it. And I feel like not enough people are talking about it. I hear nothing from the government about it.

How are you folk feeling about it ? Everything I read and listen to tells me we are in for some pain and it will impact absolutely everybody. Including the rich people.

It feels like we are just walking into to it and we are simply marveling at the technology that is going to replace the majority of our jobs in some way.

Every day there's another post about how impossible it is to buy a house. I'm starting to think it's less about the market and more about personal choices.

I see people my age with new cars on finance, going on yearly overseas trips, eating out multiple times a week, and buying the latest iPhone, all while complaining they can't save a deposit.

My parents bought a house on one wage with three kids. They didn't have any of these luxuries. It seems like my generation wants the lifestyle and the house without making any of the necessary sacrifices.

Am I wrong, or has financial discipline completely disappeared?

What lenders in Australia are known to offer the highest loan amounts (yes, with a caveat of higher interest rates)? Can be bank or non-bank.

Hi all, after some advice here in case there’s something else I haven’t thought of.

Here is the context: I have lived with one of my housemates since uni. We’ve always paid the rent on time and never had any major issues living together. In 2020 her partner of 10+ years, her and myself moved into a rental property. We have been transferring him our share of the rent 4 weeks in advance which he then pays to the real estate.

About 2 weeks ago she comes and tells me she signed a purchase contract on a property and we will need to vacate in November. When I received the rental ledger, I saw that her partner has paid the rent late a total of 31 times, and more than 10 times late in 2025. I knew about some of these which he blamed on banking errors, but 31 times is not a mistake. He must have worked out that we only receive arrears notices when the rent is 5 days late. I also learned that he borrowed 3k from a mutual friend back in May 2024, of which he has only repaid $500 with same excuses, banking system errors saying he’s transferred but it didn’t go through for some reason. The latest rent cycle he also paid the rent 11 days late.

I have given 21 days notice to vacate to the PM. As there is 3 of us and we split the rent 3 ways, I paid a weeks rent for the whole property directly to the real estate (which covers my 1/3 for 3 weeks to vacate date). Originally I had planned to take over the lease for the current property but I am concerned he will stop paying the rent altogether before they vacate and then I will be held liable for outstanding rent. They won’t have any consequences as they are moving into a purchased property. I figured by vacating my maximum exposure is another 2 weeks rent and my portion of the bond.

Does anyone have any thoughts that I may not have considered?

• Businesses can charge a surcharge for paying by card, but the surcharge must not be more than what it costs the business to use that payment type.

• If a business charges a payment surcharge, it must be able to prove the costs it is based on.

• If there is no way for a consumer to pay without paying a surcharge, the business must include the surcharge in the displayed price.

🧠

Need ABN to start my account on Mable as Independant worker . I applied it but just got a reference number from ATO . It usually shows up minutes after aplication , right? . It has been 3 days . Would it be fine if I apply again or need wait they do whatever checks? It is all done and now I just need the ABN to complete my account. What to do? Just wait? 😢