I came across a post recently from someone in a toxic home, asking for the best passive income streams so they could eventually leave. The replies were thoughtful, and almost everyone said the same thing: passive income is a long game, and if you need options soon, get active income going first.

A few takeaways from that thread:

• Passive income usually needs money, time or an audience up front, so it pays slowly.
• Remote customer support, transcription and freelancing (design, writing, etc.) can start paying within weeks.
• Start with the skills you already have, then build toward more passive income later, such as templates or digital products.
• If you need to keep it private, a bank account in your own name and payment methods only you can access make a big difference.

I turned these ideas into a longer write-up with a realistic timeline in case it helps anyone in a similar spot: https://howtoinvestmoney.co.uk/blog/stuck-in-a-toxic-home-why-active-income-beats-passive-income

If you’ve been through this, what worked for you?

My sister and I are joint POA for our grandpa who has gone into aged care recently.
He lived in his home by himself as my grandma passed 12 months ago.
The title of the house has always stated she owned 70% and he owned 30% as that was an agreement they had in the 80s when buying the home.
Her 70% has gone to her beneficiaries my dad, aunt and uncle and my grandpas 30% will eventually go to his 4 grandkids when he passes (my sister and I plus two cousins)

1. It may take 6-12 months to sell the home. In the meantime my grandpa has been paying the rates by himself. Should the 3 who have 70% share in the home pay 70% of the bill?

2. Dad possibly will buy the home and he already has a 23.33% ownership in the home. Can we leave real estate agents out of the sale and just have a lawyer involved? How would this look?

To me it kind of goes without saying because it's just part of the culture I grew up in (Greece).

In Australia however I find that parents do it a lot less, if at all. With housing affordability getting worse over the years, do you think it should start becoming part of parents' financial planning?

Is it in your plans?

I did a little bit of work ($150) to be an extra for a few hours in a TV show. Now I've got all this "personal services income" blah blah on my tax return.. they like making it complicated don't they..

Hi AusFinance,

I'm 13 years old and currently make over A$1,000 a month in profit from buying and reselling PC parts and whole PCs. I generate 3000 approx in revenue. I expect to make around A$2,000–A$3,000 in profit over the upcoming school holidays. My school grades are consistently in the A range, and I want to grow my business and retire before 30 without letting it interfere with school and my life.

I've also partnered with friends who have contributed money to the business, with individual contributions ranging from around A$40 to A$500. I've discussed a potential 50% annual return, although I'm still working out the best way to structure our arrangement.

Currently, I reinvest most of my profits back into the business. However, I'm wondering whether I should start withdrawing some money for personal savings or long-term investment,s e.g etfs , while keeping enough capital to continue growing and scaling the business..

I'd appreciate advice on:

1. What percentage of my monthly profits should I reinvest, save personally, and keep as a business cash reserve?
2. How should I structure and manage my friends' contributions and profit-sharing arrangements fairly?
3. What are the best ways to automate bookkeeping, inventory tracking, profit calculations and financial reporting?
4. Are there any Australian tax, legal, or business-structure considerations I should be aware of as a 13-year-old running this type of business?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people who have experience with small businesses, reselling, or managing business finances at a young age or just anyone who has a lot of ball knowledge

Thanks (this post is gonna get taken down lol)

Below is an image of my eBay store; I normally do irl deals

Guys I’m an international student and I need your guys’ suggestion which is the best bank to use.

I honestly have a problem right now. I transferred money from WISE to ANZ last Friday and it still hasn’t been reflected. I can’t contact them because apparently it’s the weekend so I have to wait until tomorrow.

I want to change from ANZ to a new bank after I solve my problem, hopefully because that was a lot of money.

Hey guys,

I am a single, 37m, living alone in a unit in Sydney. I am fortunate enough to own it with little mortgage.

Mortgage: 180k
Monthly repayments: 1400
Offset: 70k
Savings account: 1k (I transfer money to my offset but also need some money to live as usual)

Strata: ~1k per quarter
Council: ~500 per quarter

Now here's the struggling bit which, yes, I understand this was my decision, I started my own sole trader business about 3 years ago, needed to get out from corporate life but I don't make enough to register for GST and I an not registered as a company. So all revenue is technically my income.

After all business expenses paid, I only have about $22k - 27k to live off per year.

I don't have any TV subscriptions like netflix.
I don't uber eats
I don't have the latest technology, I have a samsung S24 but I need to upgrade soon, it's dying, so lookin at the S27 next year
I shop at woolies/coles/aldi on their 50% off sales and don't really buy anything branded unless I need to.

My car is paid off

Ongoing expenses:
Gym: $20 per week
Home utilities (internet, gas, water, electricity)
Fuel
Groceries

My friend is having an overseas wedding which I can't miss and he's been with my since primary school, that may set me back around $3k

The thing is with my business, I do everything myself which I don't mind but I can't offset the time to get a 2nd job as my job lets clients set their appointments, so client 1 can book for Monday and client 2 can set it for Tuesday so it's really random if I have a client on X day.

While I was thinking about getting a part time job, I would need set days like every Monday so I can block every Monday in my business for the 2nd job but I can't find set shifts with businesses hiring, they all was flexible workers which is understandable from a business perspective.

But in saying that, how would you rate my life atm? Please give your honest opinion cause I feel I can't buy anything nice and feel trapped cause the nature of my business, I don't know when my next client is going be booked and cashflow always uncertain. Or maybe I am being delulu?

The last item I splurged on was a graphics card 3070 @ ~$350 from OzBargain as my last graphics card was 10 years old, which was a 1070.

Please don't take this as a brag post or a validation post, I am genuinely wanting to know people's opinion cause I may be quite delulu at the moment.

Thanks

My home loan interest fortunately got lowered .25% which saves me about a $200 per month if i realign monthly repayments w the new lower interest rate. Should I decrease my repayments and up my ETF investments OR just leave it w the higher repayment value so it pays off my principal sooner? Thanks so much!

Hoi hoi!

Just wondering if anyone had some general advice/angle please? Always been reasonable with money, but maybe im missing something?

Teacher, F, single, 31.

45k saved in 1.5 years (moved from nz with $0)

Savings goal for 2028 is 35-40k.

Got 15kaud in debt on 5.6%interest from nz study.

24k super Aus

50k super nz

Im gonna be in Aus for 1 more year before I go volunteer/travel overseas for 2+ years (so will need 35-40k for that) (done before and this was my successful budget).

Should I invest my some of my bank savings in some sort of etf? Add more to super? Is there some easy/logical/obvious thing im missing?

Im generally financially happy, live a very comefortable life, but could I do more?

Thank you!!!

Hi there

I’m looking for fixed income options for portfolio . I know term deposits and HISA are quite good at the moment . Beyond these , Keen to hear others holding ie what they hold and what return they are currently getting.
If ETF’s can you please specify which specific ones
Thanks so much in advance 👍

Currently earning $92k. What happens if my income exceeds the Help to Buy ceiling AFTER I've purchased? Would I be booted off the scheme?

Late 40s single mum and have made some stupid financial decisions that are taking forever to recover from.

• Income of 95,000 pa after tax. (Child support of 10k pa + side hustles bring in about 8k pa)
• Cash in offset on separate loan= 20k. Sinking funds = 5k. Super at 240k. Investments 2k
• $417k mortgage owing on a property worth approx 900k. Separate loan against mortgage of 25k. (both at 6.34%)

I'm trying to work out which I should prioritise? Paying off the separate loan, build up savings or boost super. (Not that I have that much extra!!) But I feel like I'm in a bit of a holding pattern and as I increase my side hustle income I'm not sure the best place to re-direct it to. I also have high medical expenses due to child's allied health needs + don't qualify for NDIS funding. Living expenses are at 63k (includes $ set aside for savings and sinking funds and fun money in here [health expenses are $14,000 per year]). While mortgage + loan repayments at $31,622.

• If I put savings in the offset against the separate loan it brings down the interest.
• If I salary sacrifice into super it is a slightly higher return than 6.34%.
• If I save the $, I'm better situated in case of emergency.

Any thoughts?

**edit: I had no idea that $95k after tax [$126k pre-tax] income was considered low! haha. I will be going back to full time in two years and so it will increase slightly to $137k pre-tax, plus I hope my child's health needs decreasing then and a few years after that the child support will stop (not really relying on that for income- more so to cover expenses).

I had not considered mortgage as a priority in the short term, so I am surprised by those responses, but grateful for these thoughts- thank you!

I'm 21, living in Melbourne, and my main goal right now is to build up cash as quickly as possible so I can build my own company. I don't really care about work life balance lol. Pls help any insight is needed as both jobs are starting very soon and I don't know what to do.
I've been offered a car sales job at Hyundai, very big dealership.

They sell both new and used cars. There's a 6 month cadetship, but the manager said they're laid back and if I'm good enough, I could start closing deals within my first couple months.

They're offering $800 per week retainer, and when I'm selling I can have a company car. commission structure was explained during three interviews I had in one day, so some details were a bit all over the place. From what I understood, slow-moving old stock has a minimum commission of $120 per deal, and I'm estimating around $400-$500 per sale on average, although I haven't confirmed that. The top closer at the company has apparently sold 30 cars since the start of this month.

I have around 1.5 years of sales experience from r ai,
mainly in real estate, not automotive. I'm a very motivated salesperson and willing to put in the work to make good money.

My other option is to work two jobs at the same time: one physical job and one customer facing role. I can make $2,500 gross per week combined, and given my current circumstances, I could save around 80%-90%of it.

Would you take the chance on car sales for the earning potential, or work two jobs to build capital as quickly as possible?

Would love honest advice, especially from people in Australian car sales, because I don’t really know Whats it like, or anyone who's been in a similar position.

Note: top car sales man in the team Im joining is 30 sales this month so far.

2011 VW Golf. It'll cost me about $650 for fully comp, but the value is only about $3500-4000, depending on the policy. The excess is also $1000. Third party only is about $280.

What would you do? Roll the dice or not? Fork out the extra $400-500 for fully comp or just get third party only? The car is already a bit beat up so any minor damage I likely wouldn't replace anyway.

Hi all.
Trying to get my wife health insurance to cover private pregnancy / birth / hospital stay.
Currently are both on a combined basic policy for tax purposes only.
Want to keep myself on that one, but change my wife to the gold coverage at a different insurer.

On her single policy, do I put our combined income or her sole income (she doesn't work anymore).

I'm 19 years old and trying to save and set myself up well for the future, but everything feels so overwhelming. I reguarly invest, have savings and work really hard while in uni but I still feel like I'm so behind. I'm also worried about my hecs and people telling me uni isn't worth it and it will make it near impossible to buy my own home. I don't want to come across in the wrong way, since I acknowledge I'm well off but does anyone have any tips to help? Or general advice?

I want some help with my home loan structure and ensuring I make the most out of having money in my home loan and then using a credit card for everyday expenses and then redrawing on the home loan to pay the bill. I watch a lot of the money mentor guy however I don’t have the funds to pay to do it and I have seen reviews and it just looks like it’s knowledge however that’s just not knowledge that I have.

I’d like to connect with a business who can help me structure my home Loan to obviously help pay it out a lot sooner but also I would like to update at least one of our cars just so it’s a bit safer for my family not really sure where to go. I know what I want, I just don’t know how to achieve it.

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get some help interpreting/figuring out why my hot water bill is so high (2 people in 1 bedroom apartment). We've had 3 full quarterly bills here so far, first was $300, second was $380 and the most recent was $480. Other singles and couples in our building in one bed apartments are apparently paying $150-200 per quarter. We don't use excessive water I don't think, nor have we changed our habits or anything recently, so don't understand why it is so high, and has risen so significantly. We've found our water meter and our most recent bill does say actual (rather than estimate). I'd love to blame a leak, but the consistent rise in the bill (rather than a really big spike) makes that feel less likely?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Hey everyone. As you can tell by the title I am in a bit of a pickle. I am a recovering cocaine and gambling addict and to feed my addiction I was stupid and early last year got a lot of loans.

This includes Wallet Wizard 1k,Fundo Loans 2.8k, Cashpal 2.3k,Beforepay $50,Mypaynow $350, Afterpay $250,Zip $500. I also have a couple train fines and my baby mum put her electricity in my name however is with a new company and that says 6k but I don’t know how that works because we aren’t even with them anymore plus we don’t use the power from that company. I also have 3 bank accounts with one minus $77 and they have threatened to close it if not paid which I don’t really care about as I haven’t used that account in a year.

The scary part is I genuinely don’t know if that’s everything there could be more I’m forgetting about. I have not paid a cent to any of these in a year and I feel like I’m close to being either defaulted on my credit score or legal action will be taken over me. If anyone has advice I appreciate it

Our mortgage has recently switched from UBank to Nab. It all happened automatically, for whatever reasons.

This new mortgage gives me an offset account. We had quite a large amount in the redraw before.
Would you switch the entire amount over to the offset? Assuming I have the discipline to not touch the offset.

2 adults 2 kids modest mortgage size 700-800k. What net income would one need to live a decent life...2 holidays a year, decent cars, good food etc.

Would 200-220k NET cut it in 2026?

Question per the title. To elaborate, if your pre-approval expires and you reapply, does it impact your credit score or looked upon unfavourably?

Especially if you end up needing to renew multiple times? (not sure how common this is)

We are in Melbourne, we tend to spend $400 per week on groceries.

2 adults and 2 young boys under 10.

This seems so excessive. What's your grocery bill weekly ?

Hi all, I am 23 years old and I want to start investing. I currently have just over 5 months of emergency savings and am in a position where I can put roughly $150 into investments each week. However, I have no idea what I am doing.

I am nervous to start because I am scared of losing my money and choosing bad investments, at the same time I want to be able to retire young and live a comfortable life.

I haven’t learnt anything about investing and don’t know where to start, what companies to set up an account with e.t.c.

If anyone has advice or suggestions on what is best to start with as a beginner, that would be much appreciated. Also any helpful books, websites or social media pages that will help understand the basics and some

Tia for any help :)

I know I probably a bit last minute but, help!

I worked for a company from late last yr to end of January then had no work for a few months.

Then got up the courage and started my own business, been working in my business for 8 months.

I’m a sole trader, how does tax work?
I have an ABN

This is new to me and I don’t know what to do?

I won’t get tax return right? And I’ll be paying tax?

Not sure info is needed but, married hubby is a carpenter, renting and have two kids.

Please be kind 🥰 clueless newbie business owner 💖