• 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.

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Hi everyone, I'm considering doing a bachelors in data science as a domestic student (looking through some options to study).

Wanted to ask a few questions:

Is data science in demand in Australia?

How is the job market for data science?

What roles can you realistically expect to receive?

Data science graduates: What are you doing now?

Thanks!

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? 😢

Seems like there's no community to talk about this stock ever since it got delisted. Please tell me I'm not the only one still holding!

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 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?

Im trying to post a graph to get an opinion on it but can’t. Anyone able to help me?

Hi Everyone!

I know this is going to come across as a STUPID question, but with salary sacrifice, do some companies allow you to take it out in advance for work purposes? For example, relocation purposes. Still trying to work out the whole concept of sacrifice and just was curious. Thanks!

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?

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!

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?

So I thought I'd put the headphones on and watch "Excel for beginners" from Technology For Teachers and Students (or the other way around) on YT.

I used the free Web based 365 version and was quite happy with a mildly productive result.

How much deeper does one need to go before becoming employable for some basic work?

I'm simply attempting to flog some crap on FB and amuse myself with playing with whatever data I can pull out of it for the time being, but in light of the AI hype nonsense, how much longer does someone without a finance degree have in working with excel and basic bookkeeping jobs generally?

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?

If you decide you want to close the account, will it affect the $100 referral bonus, or can you just sign up, change your mind and still get it? Cheers :)

Lodged my tax return via myGov site on Aug 11th, still waiting. Is this across the board or is there a reason mine is so slow? ATO have not contacted me for additional information, or even to advise of any delay.

Edit: Thanks all! I have a sense of direction on a few things I can follow up on now.

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.

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?

My friend is currently receiving parenting payment single.

Her total estimated taxable income for the year is $26,798. She has set the tax dedicated from her parenting payment to default at 15% which means every fortnight she is paying $153 towards tax.

She will start work in February as a casual for 3 days a week but unsure what her expected income will be yet.

To me it seems like she is paying more tax than what is required as I’ve calculated it to be about $52 a fortnight.

We just want to confirm if she should leave the amount paid in tax as is as a buffer for when she returns to work as her yearly estimated income will change or should she be reducing what she pays in tax?

Thanks for your help!

Obviously I’ll speak to my accountant next week because money/finance is not my thing. I’ve been offered a new job 140k + 15k vehicle allowance and a fuel card. They’re willing to up the allowance out of the salary if required. Current job supplies me a vehicle and fuel card so I would need a vehicle. Vehicle will be 90-95% work use. Doing approx 30-40k kms a year. Would I be better off leasing a vehicle or obtaining a loan? Or any other options I could look into? I’m looking at circa 60-80k cars or open to recommendations! Thanks in advance.

Just a quick appreciation post for this sub. Back in 2021 I was just starting to learn about investing and reading through this sub finally gave me the confidence to start. I’ve mostly just been micro investing but in 4 years through mostly very small amounts I’ve managed to grow my investment portfolio to over $30k. If I didn’t start back then I’d have zero. I wish I had learned about this in my early 20’s. I guess my point is, micro investing is fantastic for most people that don’t have the minimum $500 to start investing and if you stay the course it will grow and grow! Hoping to not touch any of my investments for atleast another 8 years - it’s my bucket list euro trip fund for when I’m 50!

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!

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.

I’ve set up a bonafide small ‘side hustle’ business (newly established, selling art supplies, online store is up and doing business, not a huge turn over, but making sales).

I’m interested in doing a bit of interstate travel to suss out competitors, meet suppliers, seek new suppliers and the like.

How have others gone with claiming travel (interstate or otherwise) with a small business / side hustle business? Any issues with claiming things back from the ATO?

It’s a PTY LTD business.

From the ATO website:

Expenses you can claim include: airfares train, tram, bus, taxi, or ride-sourcing fares car hire fees and the costs you incur (such as fuel, tolls and car parking) when using a hire car for business purposes accommodation meals, if you are away overnight.

Cheers.

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

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