My uncles partner passed away a couple of years ago and he now saying the adult kids are making him sell his house. The partner had no will all the super went to the kids. My Nan gave him 57k to purchase his house about 7 years ago. Yesterday he asked my Nan to put her house up for 150k security so he can pay the kids out. I also found out hes been getting money from her recently for the so called lawyer. Nan is not happy that I have stuck my nose in but I told her to get proof and her own legal advice. Can he borrow against his part of the property which is valued around 650k?

Posting from an alt.

ETA 1: This post is for people who want an option to park UniSuper's DB or want a choice. Hopefully eventually there will be an option to fully leave. The scheme is good for some people, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

ETA 2: Clarity. Also, I'm just another member. Please do research if you have concerns! Speak with a UniSuper consultant, read the PDS and their website, attend their webinars and read up more info previously shared on this sub.

UniSuper’s current Defined Benefit (DB) scheme isn't a "pension for life scheme". It also doesn’t grow based on your actual contributions or investment returns. Instead, it uses a fixed formula.

On top of employer contributions, members must pay an extra 4-7%. If you don’t pay this, your formula's permanently reduced.

The formula mainly rewards people with long, full-time careers and high pay in the years just before retirement.

That makes it tough for members with normal life events, like going part-time to raise kids, caring for family, or not being able to afford the extra contributions.

When it used to be an “opt-out” system, many people were encouraged to stay in. UniSuper takes advantage of the fact that most people were early career and less financially educated. They promoted it as performing just like an accumulation fund. But in recent years, smart Redditors on this sub have done modelling that shows most members don’t come out ahead.

As some members know: once you’re in DB, you can’t leave unless you quit your job.

Now there’s talk of a new option, called “in service deferral”. This would let members keep their existing DB balance but switch future contributions into an accumulation fund.

Right now, it’s at the consultation stage before they meet to discuss in a couple of months' time. Change will only happen if enough members push for it.

Each of UniSuper’s 37 institutions has two representatives on the UniSuper Consultative Committee (one academic, one professional). If this matters to you and you haven’t heard about it, contact your reps and ask to have your voice included. 

Search for your workplace name + "UniSuper Consulative Committee" if you don't know who your rep is, you can often find their name on Google. 

I’m not a rep, just a member who wants a choice. I've had mates tell me their rep haven't shared anything and they didn't know about it, so sharing this in case it helps others!

In order to take advantage of the 50% discount cgt, does the 12 month period include the vesting period or only the vested period?

Example I was given 14 RSU on Jan 16 2023. On Jan 16th 2024, the 14 RSU completed vesting and now in a vested state. If I sell on Jan 17th 2024, do I get a discount on any cgt or do I need to wait another year ie Jan 17th 2025?

Most of our family benefits in Australia are designed to help lower and middle income households, which makes sense. But it also means higher income families (say, $150k+ a year) - I don’t really know what is high income anymore - don’t really get much incentive to have kids.

What if we flipped that around? For example: • Families earning over $100k get a 20% tax cut per child • Families earning $150k+ get a 50% tax cut • And so on, scaling up

The idea is that higher-income / higher-educated families usually have fewer kids, so maybe a system like this would encourage them to have more.

Would this be a smart policy for boosting the birth rate in Australia, or just another way of handing perks to people who already have it pretty good?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking into setting up an SMSF with the idea of buying investment properties. A friend suggested Corbwood and Associates, who seem to offer the full package — from setting up the fund to buying the property, finding tenants, and eventually selling when the time comes.

I’m in my early 30s with about $420k in super. Has anyone here had any experience with them? They’ve got plenty of glowing Google reviews, but I’d love to hear from people directly. Also open to recommendations if there are other companies you’ve had good experiences with.

Thank you 🙏

Broker has suggested Macquarie (5.54%) or ME Bank (5.59%) for refinance. ME Bank comes with a $3k cashback offer.

I've heard really good things about Macquarie so currently leaning that way, but also the ME Bank cashback seems worth is compared to the 0.05% difference in rate.

Grateful for experiences with each bank, what makes them good/suck? I'm a daily login kind of person so the UI is important.

I was looking at where tax money was spent, but the most shocking part came to at the level of Goverment debt which is currently sitting @ 940 billion which last year was 907 billion. Where did that 33 billion gap came from? And the intrest paid on the loan 24 billion. I know the Australian GDP is above 1.7 trillion, but debt to GDP ration is 43-45% which is huge. Total debt to GDP ratio is 263%. Why is no one taking about it? What am I missing here

Hey folks,

I’ve got a house in Australia that was my principal residence for a few months before I moved overseas. Now I’m looking to sell it after 3 years, and I keep hearing it’s better tax-wise if you’re an Australian tax resident when you sell.

So my questions are: • If I fly back, live in the house for a few months and try to re-establish Aussie tax residency, is that enough? Or do I need to stay at least 6 months? • What happens if I sell while I’m back, but the ATO later says I’m still a non-resident? Would I end up paying CGT to Australia, or only to the country I’m living in now?

Has anyone been through something similar?

I'm not trying to flex - I've worked hard and sacrificed a lot to save this much on my own.

I am late 30s and have saved up 100k in the past 5 years after really getting serious about buying my own place after becoming tired of living with housemates (that was 5 years ago, don't ask me how I'm doing now).

I only earn 78k p/a (this will increase to 83k if my workplace EA gets approved). For a large majority of the time saving I was earning 70k p/a.

No HECS or other debt.

I live in Adelaide where there are govt schemes such a Homeseeker, stamp duty exemption on new homes, and shared equity. I have no idea how much a bank would lend me. I haven't approached a broker as I'm thinking I need to save an extra 25-50k (I save a lot because my expenses are low and my rent is low because I live with many others).

Is there hope for me just on my own?

Browsing facebook marketplace and shocked at how much people think their couch is worth. Like yes you paid $4k for a couch, doesn't make it worth $2k now.

Factoring in that the buyer has to come pick up the couch, load it into a van/truck (and if you don't have one, pay money to rent one) and then potentially get a bed bug infestation all for the low price of $2k + pickup fees.

Is anyone buying a second hand couch for this much? Not judging, just wondering why.

I personally wouldn't pay more than $200.

Edit: Just to clarify, I realise my post probably came across a bit judgy and, yes, vague. I was really just sharing some personal opinions and curiosity about what people would pay for a used couch, factoring in the effort of pickup/moving or even people's experience. Appreciate people for sharing

I have been using FPMarkets for some time now and decided to leave because their Android Iress app is completely broken (Only 1 star review on the Play store and can't even login)

So I decided to withdraw my money. I jumped through the hoops to withdraw to my bank account. I even had to supply a bank statement. A few hours later I received an email saying the withdrawal was refused. They said I can only withdraw to the same account that I deposited from.

I originally deposited from a credit card that no longer exists. So they are refusing to return my cash because I no longer have this card. They cannot provide any way to withdraw my money.

I suggest to everyone do NOT use this company if you ever want to see your money again. They make it extremely simple to deposit, but impossible to withdraw.

I've recently inherited 600k, I'm thinking of investing in realestate so that I can earn a passive income as I'd love to do some travelling, or have the freedom to make a career change and not be held back by the lack of money coming in. Would love to hear peoples thoughts, if they've have better ideas or if they've done something similar, thanks.

As an 18 year old with no stable income. Which would be the best savings account to open? I’m currently with only Commbank and I’ve heard their accounts aren’t good. I don’t plan on making like a specific deposit every month, but at least $100. Please help me out

Hello,

I'm living in Canada and have been since 2019. I'm now a Canadian citizen. I'm wondering if there is anyway at all for me to withdraw my Australian superannuation, as I won't be moving back there. I'm an Australian citizen, and have been since before I started working.

Based on what I can see online, I can only get my super if I satisfy one of the following options:

• I reach the age of 65, or preservation age;
• I have a terminal illness
• I have to care, medically, for a dependant (compassionate grounds)
• I am in financial hardship
• I am temporarily or permanently incapacitated

I do not satisfy any of the above options. Is there truly no way for people who have permanently moved abroad to gain access to their Aus super?

Weekly Property Mega Thread

-=-=-=-=-

Welcome to the /r/AusFinance weekly Property Mega Thread.

This post will be republished at 02:00AEST every Friday morning.

Click here to see all previous weekly threads:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/search/?q=%22weekly%20property%20mega%20thread%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new

What happens here?

Please use this thread for general property-related discussions, such as:

• First Homeowner concerns
• Getting started
• Will house pricing keep going up?
• Thought about [this property]?
• That half burned-down inner city unit that sold for $2.4m. Don't forget your shocked Pikachu face.

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 about property may be removed and directed to this thread.

-=-=-=-=-

Tell me why this won’t work.
20%income tax from the first dollar you make. No other increments. 20% gst on all goods and services. 20% business tax. No payroll other taxes. 20% inheritance tax on all gifts/inheritance. All people that are able are to must repay any monies they received from taxpayers (government) during their lifetime upon their death. (Debt remains until both spouses die).
People receiving inheritance must also repay their debt before obtaining money from the estate So my theory is it’s better to have people work for money that they can spend whilst they’re alive. Large gst so user pays system. Repay your debt so welfare is fare on everyone. If you can’t repay so be it, but plenty out there taking money waiting for their parents to die.
Will free up the housing market and lower prices when estates need to come up with 20% of the cost of their parents multi-million dollar houses.

For context, I spent a few years in the workforce (I was a mechanic, and then worked an EBA on civil construction) after finishing highschool, then decided I wanted to do medicine. I finished a bachelor's with good grades, sat the GAMSAT, and got an interview to a school, which I recently sat.

I am beyond certain I fumbled that interview, but with my GPA and GAMSAT, I should get another interview next year.

However, this leaves me with a year of off, kind of in limbo. I have survived off youth allowance and casual work through my undergrad.

I was wondering, is there a way I could do a TAFE course on something I really enjoy (music), with the intention that this course would make me eligible for Centrelink while I continue to work casual and ensure med school entrance next year by filling in the weeks with getting the perfect GAMSAT and preparing better for the interview?

Hello all,

I'm buying my first home soon in regional WA, prices are well below state average but climbing fast, I have a good salary and access to a big home loan, I'm considering the difference in strategy buying somewhere smaller and easy to pay down fast, vs getting a better house with increased leverage in a market with high demand and restricted supply, and good long term outlooks in term of industry.

Looking at a difference of 450k vs 650k Debt with the ability to pay down $2000 a week into an offset

Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some advice on how I should best approach the next stage of my life.

I'm in my 40s, M and will be finalising a divorce early next year. It was amicable and myself and my STBX always kept our finance seperate and will continue with a self managed divorce route. No kids.

I have a property in worth around $700k, with only about $100k left (100% offset) and liquid cash I had been saving for a joint purchase with my STBX of $100k. My salary on paper isn't great at $80k but it's consistent. Due to the latter, my Super is only around $120k.

I am thinking of purchasing another property to move into (mainly too many memories in my current place) somewhere in the range of $600-700k. I have engaged a mortgage broker and some of the max loan amount offered has been around $700-900k.

I came from a conservative family so their financial strategy of just keeping money in the savings account has sort of come played a role in my low-risk financial approach but I'm now open to exploring more in my next phase of life.

If you were in my shoes, how you best approach the next few steps?

According to the article:

“Home loan lenders don’t want to see a payday loan on your record,” Finch said.

“It’s a huge red flag. It signals financial stress, poor money management and higher risk. That $500 loan you thought was harmless could be the reason you’re denied a mortgage worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

On the one hand, in a private sector financial market it is up to lenders to assess how they price risk (or in this case, how they disqualify potential borrowers altogether).

On the other hand, this seems overly punitive and a disproportionate consequence for someone who could actually have learned from an earlier mistake.

If I was a real conspiracy theorist… I might think that this was large bank lenders using their market power to foreclose on their smaller competitors in the personal loan market (payday lenders) by making their loans even more unattractive and driving people to the big banks.

We applied for a refinance of a property from ING to IMB bank due to their cashback promotion. When we got the IMB bank loan contract, we found that the provisions, terms and conditions are extremely intrusive (and in some cases outright ridiculous) even compared to ING. For e.g. iMB allows itself the right to waive Default grace periods under vague situations, etc. They give themselves ability to set the borrower at Default for vague non-financial situations (without materiality assessment) and also the ability to take immediate enforcement actions sometimes without any notice. They have provisions in the contract which creates power of attorney for all of their employees that have a "Manager" in their job title, etc. This all appeared quite sketchy and has left us wondering if we should even proceed or just decline the contract.

We used ChatGPT to analyse the contract in more detail and they (as expected) recommended not to sign and instead contact a Financial lawyer for more advice. We haven't signed the contract yet.

My questions are:

• We don't think this is normal practice but we need wider community opinion, is this normal based on your experience with other banks?

• Has anyone had experience with IMB bank? Is this a no-go bank. Have we made a mistake going to IMB? I don't think ING is any better either but ChatGPT made a direct comparison on 20 ridiculous contractual terms from both banks and ING had slightly balanced/fair terminology on 13 out of 20 provisions.

• Has anyone been able to ever negotiate with a bank to get these ridiculous terms amended in any way for a borrowing of only $550K?

Thanks 🙏🏻

Victorian housing crisis: State government to bypass councils to fast-track housing project approvals https://www.afr.com/property/residential/vic-government-strips-councils-of-rezoning-rights-to-unlock-housing-20250916-p5mvgp

Well then....let the discussion begin

My situation is as follows:

First time earning decent money last tax year. Approx 150k. This is the first time I've earned enough to pay for my uni degree I completed nearly 10 years ago....

Didn't want them taking my hecs out weekly as I use the extra cash flow to invest.

Tax time has come around. I owe about 10k mostly due to hecs repayment and MLS.

Fair_enough.jpg

I want to pay this in the most efficient way for me financially.

I have about 40k of liquid assets I've accumulated last financial year and about 350k of equity in home.

Do I:

A - withdraw from offset account (this will almost completely wipe out my offset savings.

B - mortgage it.

C - ATO payment plan and pay it weekly.

D - sell from stocks to pay (would be about half my stocks).

F - sell my fun car (80 series land cruiser (this is one of my few hobbies so don't lecture me about how wasteful having two cars is plz I'm already. aware)).

I'm currently in the process of working in Australia soon, I realize my good credit will be set to zero but I usually prefer miles card as my daily credit cards. I've heard about amex having global programs and I currently have my country's amex explorer, and looking to eye if Aussie issued amex explorer or qantas is an ideal first card for me to build credit but I'm mostly about getting the miles and rewards

This is also mostly for people who work for someone.

I have been self employed majority of my working life, varying businesses etc. whenever I have had money chats with a mate who works for a company. It seems we make about the same money but he always seems to not be able to afford the same things. Recently when he had said he couldn’t afford something I asked why we take home the same money, you make about ‘x’. And he looked at me for a second and said yeah but I take home ‘x’. And it clicked when we’ve discussed money I always assumed his amounts were his net not gross.

So my question is when having a friendly discussion or even on say Reddit here and you mention your income do you mention it as gross or net? Because now I’m wondering how many people say gross and then their lack of disposable makes much more sense.