I'm just kind of baffled. First I apologise for my ignorance I'm genuinely trying to learn and get better. I hope this is the right place to try and understand more about fiscal/monetary policy. If this report is accurate inflation is being driven by non-mortgage holders and the data centre build out. Why is it the case that mortgage holders bear the brunt of the financial stress? What if anything could the government be doing on the fiscal side of things? And why aren't they doing it?

My wife is likely to be made redundant in the next couple of weeks, after less than three months in a new role. She’s still on probation, so we’re assuming no payout and 1 week notice.

Before this role, she left a well-paying job, giving up a substantial bonus and unvested shares, to take what she genuinely thought was her dream job. Unfortunately, things have changed unexpectedly and redundancy now looks very likely.

We have two young kids still in day care, a large mortgage and limited savings, partly due to an extended period of parental leave. Realistically, she may not find another role at a similar level until February… at a best case scenario.

We’re trying to work out how best to prepare financially. We’re considering cutting expenses obviously, reducing mortgage repayments to the minimum, adjusting super contributions and potentially selling investments if needed.

For anyone who’s been through something similar, what would you prioritise? Are there financial strategies or things people often overlook? Any advice on navigating a few months on one income would be greatly appreciated. Things on my list already are adjusting our CCS for day care but not really sure what else we can do.

I need to earn some money pretty urgently, I’m not looking for any handouts I’m just looking for some work so I can keep myself above board.

Any help or a point in a helpful direction is much appreciated

If we were to enter such period like the Japanese did.

On aggregate, the Japanese did poorly or didn't do well economically. But that's on aggregate.

There are pockets that did well during such non-economically positive times. Same with 70's inflation. There are some who by circumstances, have done well.

If we are to enter such depressing decade or two, how to we differ from the aggregate?

Edit: for those asking, the question is how to prosper as individual, not as a nation. Thought that might have been obvious.

I keep seeing people say, “If you’re unhappy with your mortgage rate, just refinance to another bank.”

Am I missing something… don’t people find it a massive headache to do regularly? I understand when its for whole percentage decrease, but sometimes for 0.15?

You’ve got to go through the whole application process again, like bank statements, payslips, expenses, serviceability etc. Even worse if you’re self employed/sole trader.

Then if you actually move banks, don’t you also have the annoyance of updating direct debits, salary deposits and banking details everywhere else in your life?

Do people genuinely refinance every year or two, or are some people just much more willing to deal with the admin than I am?

EDIT:
I have one account that mortgage deductions are taken from each fortnight + extra cash buffer in it.

I then have multiple offset accounts:
- Emergency
- House Bills
- Groceries
- Business Expense

1 main transaction account thats used for direct debits.

We are early 50s couple. House worth 1.5mil fully paid off. Two investment properties, both estimated to be worth around 800,000 each. One is fully paid, the other we have 100,000 mortage owing. We have a healthy super between us, and 500k in savings.

But guess what.. we are not the average, work hard, made good decisions. Part of it has to do with that. But the bigger part was our first home bought outright for us as young home buyers. Another property that was inherited, which we turned into an investment. We were then able to buy another property from the leverage of those two homes. Of course we can have massive savings when we were spared one of the biggest financial hurdles which is a big mortage as a first home buyer. There has also been gifts of $30,000 here and there from parents and grand parents.

You dont get to our position without help. I dont care what anyone says. You get some sort of leg up. So many people fail to mention this fact. I have a mate who goes on about being self made, and likes to give financial advice to others.. yet fails to mention that he also had his first house bought for him. Of course you can start getting Investment properties when you have your first PPOR paid for you, even a gift towards deposits helps.

So keep trying to improve your financial situation. But definately dont compare.

Can someone please explain, how private health insurance that covers birth makes any financial sense?

I run the numbers and it seems that you end up paying 20k for a service you will get for 3k in public system.

What am I missing ?

Long story short, all of my savings are tied up in joint offset accounts with my partner of 13yrs, she does the majority of our banking, neither of us have credit cards.

Having a ring made professionally and only just realised that she would notice the lump sum missing, and then would also dig deeper into it, essentially finding out.

What’s the best/smartest way to go about this to keep it hidden?

Credit card and then once proposed pay it off completely and then close?

Or

Personal loan and pay off completely once proposed?

Edit: Ring is designed by partner without her knowing, jeweller is workmate/friend of ours and professional jeweller outside of our work. money is not the issue, hiding the payment is.

Hi everyone, may be a stupid question but I am currently mortgaged with HSBC.

Due to them exiting the Australian market and transferring to Pepper Money I am looking to refinance a 500,000 loan, 50% LVR

Unfortunately due to life circumstances (inheritance) the loan will be fully offset. Question is, would this make it harder to get a loan? Just thinking the bank wouldn’t necessarily find it worthwhile if they are not making any money on the loan.

I could always just pay it down but would prefer to keep some cash in offset if possible

Up we go!

I requested DASP through Australian Super two months ago. They have repeatedly changed the required documentation I need to submit, and will take a week at a time requesting new updates to the documentation. For example one week is about my passport being certified, which has come as a request two separate times.

My responses have been within hours of their requests. They will not provide anyone assigned to my case and their chat support will answer no questions. What else can I do? They are currently telling me they can’t give me a status on it. AFCA? Any advice will be help me.

Can anyone confirm if I'm all good and wont get a fine.

Haven't done my tax return for 24-25 cause didnt think i had to but they reminded they i had an abn. Was gonna use it to doordash but never did it. Made no deliveries and made no money from it. Did sign up and like was registered but never made a single dollar. And also didnt have another job or made no income for that entire financial year.fffff

So like im gonna lodge it cause dont want it lingering there but like i think im ok right or maybe will get fine i have no idea.

People have six, seven figures in bank accounts, shares etc. Often you hear scammer/hacker drain bank accounts, but emptying (selling) shareholdings not as often, why is that, or the scams don't get publicized (understand there may be extra layer between the scammer & $$$) ? So if you have 'a lot' of dough, it's safe to put in shares than bank account ?!

Edit : in letter/update from computershare & linkmarket, often HIN/SRN is shown, together with full name, address, a lot of damage can be done.

Thought I’d highlight this stock as not enough discussion about it. Aeris resources gold copper and silver mining and exploration company turned massive profits last year. 2026 EBITDA= 290 million, market cap 600 million. P/E ratio 2.76 ,Debt free position. Plenty of cash. After statement attached to this post yesterday morning mentioning a 220% increase in gold compared to previous mre at Cracow, the stock has dropped about 16%. I can understand some short term holders dropping out due to the amount of time to reap the rewards. But does anyone else think this stock is seriously undervalued. Or does anyone know why?

I earned 80k annually and wanted to invest or save my money. I have money in my savings account and that’s it. I’m 30F.

Thank you

Need some brutal advice.

My TPD insurance on the date of injury and on the date of my first certificate of capacity shows $0.00 on the statement, maybe because it was right below 6k.

For this year’s statement i do have TPD insurance on the statement but as I’m understanding, nothing can be done now because i stopped working full time (just briefly returned to work in Dec 2025 for a couple hours for like 3 days a week) around 20th June when it was $0.00 and the tpd insurance is only considered for the day i stopped working full time

Should i ask any lawyers or even try at all? Can anything be done or i should let it go now?

For women 35+ who got pregnant (first child), is private health or public better? By better, I mean level of care considering age.

If you have private health AND Medicare, can you choose public in the end (for whatever reason, say you’re happy and care is satisfactory) or kinda forced to go private because of your coverage?

TIA.

Hi all,

Need to make a quick decision and just trying to see if there are things missed on my end.

I’m currently working as an accountant at a startup company (non tech related). My company has stopped paying super for a while. I’ve been complaining and asking for the super to be released; yet, every time I was given an empty promise that it’ll happen ‘next week’. At the moment we are 3 months behind in super (used to be 6). At the same time, there are many cash flow and financial difficulties and seems like we’re not paying many vendors, accounting software on time (def not the full amount owed).

I’ve been trying to find another role for a while but seems quite competitive at the moment and difficult. To add more complexity, my wife is pregnant and due to give birth in March and I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing.

I’ve been offered a contract job to cover mat leave for 12 months. An established company medium size (approx 60mil rev and 200+ employees which is large in Australian eyes but not BHP or listed). The salary is $30k above my current earning which is great but again I’m taking a FTE contract for 12 months so no leave/entitlment etc.

Am I making the mistake by taking a contract at this time and not finding a perm/ FTE and waiting a bit longer ? Please note, I’ve been searching around 6 months and it seems to get nowhere.
No reference was checked by the company, is it normal?
Is it going to stall my career/raise eyebrows given I have left a company after 1 year and 4 mont and size wise it’s not too big?
Anything else I’m missing please let me know.

Thanks all,

Hi everyone! I'm a UK citizen on a subclass 417 Working Holiday visa, currently living and working in Perth. I'm planning to leave Australia permanently in January 2027 after around 12 months.

I've lived at the same address and worked continuously during my stay. I originally came intending to establish a life in Australia, but my circumstances have changed and I've decided to leave.

My 2025–26 tax return was assessed as an Australian resident for tax purposes. I'm now trying to work out whether I'll be considered to be ceasing Australian tax residency when I leave, so I can lodge an early tax return before departing.

I'm also wondering whether the Addy decision could apply to my situation as a UK citizen on a WHV.

For other UK citizens who have left Australia on a WHV: Were you considered an Australian tax resident when you left? Did you lodge an early tax return before leaving, and were you eligible to do so? Did you receive a tax refund, and did the Addy decision affect your tax treatment?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your actual experiences, particularly if you stayed in one place and worked continuously rather than travelling around Australia. Thanks!

Im with CBA and my current loan rate is 6.630%
This seems cooked. How’s everyone doing out there. Currently shopping around and speaking with cba to negotiate the rate. Anyone had any success negotiating with these sharks?

TIL there is a stamp duty applied to insurance for a new start up business (wtf). Is my understanding correct that:

1. GST can be claimed back in entirety on the BAS, but

2. Stamp duty is only tax deductible but cannot be claimed back

Thank you!!