Outer suburbs’ housing cost advantage vanishes when you add in transport – it needs to be part of the affordability debate

Has anybody ever regretted purchasing property in Australia? - Please share your story and what things had to give up to pursue the Australian dream. Do share details such as being able to move, change careers, follow your passions and other examples.

Who's fixing, who's riding the variable wave? - We're about to come off our fixed 2.09 and need to stick with NAB / Defence due to DHOAS.

Debating locking in 5.99 for 2 years to just keep anxiety at bay.

We started our mortgage with rates in the 5s and ... See More have paid as if it's a 6 forever.

Who's riding the waves and who's looking to fix?

Also, for context, retail rates were around 7-8% when I had my cash in a term deposit a decade or so ago.

Is a job that you’re ‘passionate’ about overrated? - In my mind, the three biggest reasons why someone should pursue a career are because:
- A. it is something that provides value to others (ie. pays a lot)
- B. it is something you’re good at
- C. it is something that you ... See More enjoy (or are passionate about)

A lot of people tend to advise others to “pursue a career that you’re passionate about”, but I wonder whether that is actually good advice. If I were to rank those three reasons from highest to lowest priority, I would go with A, B then C.

What are your thoughts? How would you rank them in terms of priority?

Since the pandemic began, Australians have spent $114bn more on retail than you'd expect based on a continuation of the pre-pandemic trend. $5bn more in April alone.

BHP CEO halts ALL new Qld spending after ‘unreasonable’ tax jump

Am I stupid for not being attracted to property? - Late 20s single male, earn 150k+, minimal debt (only with the ATO), had some luck with investments over the past year or so leaving me with 300k liquid. Currently renting an apartment in inner Sydney.

It seems like the first thing ... See More I should be jumping on is buying property, but I simply can't bring myself to care. Am I crazy? Why would I want to spend 1m+ on either a ramshack property close to the CBD, or a nice place 2 - 3 hours away. Being in debt for the next 30 years sounds horrible. Why should I participate in the property rat race like society and the government so desperately wants me to?

I'd rather buy some toys for myself and put the rest in the stock market. How big of an idiot does that make me?

Got rejection after 5 rounds of interviews. - Recently, I have been part of mass lay off happening in IT industry, so I am applying for jobs everywhere. One of the IT companies reached out to me for a job role they had. They said they liked my profile and ... See More qualifications and everything and I am a good fit for their role. So they started interviewing me, I am usually used to giving 2 rounds of interviews but this one went till 5.

1st one was with HR and went on for like an hour.
2nd one with the Team went for 1+ hour.
3rd with the hiring Team went for 1 hr and 30 mins.
4th they asked me to Demonstrate and review something for them.
5th meeting with management again lasted for more than an hour.

Even after all that they came back saying you were perfect but we are going with an internal application 😞. Now I firmly believe internal applications should be considered first but then why bother wasting the time of someone else. If you had an internal one you could have not tested someone from outside 5 times. Don't they realise, preparing for interviews takes a lot of time (at least for me)? This seems like a cruel joke with me while I am desperately looking for work outside. I remember in my last meeting they were even discussing what time I can start work and what will be your first few days look like. Also, you don't expect a rejection after climbing 5 rounds and just to put more perspective this is not a senior-level position by any means.

It is my humble request to all HRs or recruitment companies, please don't waste anyone important time like this and before you apply any strategies put yourselves in the candidates position, for you, this might just be another role you are hiring for but for him/her, it's the opportunity they desperately need to feed their family.

OECD report shows corporate profits contributed far more to inflation in Australia than wages - Source: media release jun 8 2023

What are your thoughts on this?

Aust Institute report and research finds that Australia's high inflation is due to high corporate profits. The media release says "in aust, corp profits ... See More reached their highest share of GDP ever in 2022".
Then says "however the rba continues to ignore the role of profits in driving prices".

In their tiktok video, the Aust Institute says "funnily enough the report did not go down well with big business and the conservative media. They seem to prefer the narrative that workers just need to wotk harder and tighten their belts". And says that the AFR requested that they walk back the report.

Wife just purchased a bottle of wine for $70.00 because she no longer likes the "cheap stuff". I accept full responsibility for next week's rate rise. - As the title says, the wife insisted on purchasing a bottle of $70.00 wine with tonight's dinner, for no special occasion or reason ... See More other than she likes it more than our usual $23.00 bottle of Oyster Bay.

Said purchase may very well be sighted in Monsieur Lowe's minutes as a reason to increase rates yet further... to which I am sorry.

Can anybody just randomly have their bank account hacked? - One of my friends had his account hacked and he lost all of his savings with zero warning, and he has no idea how it happened. He didn’t fall for any scam, and he didn’t provide his bank info to ... See More anyone aside from some trusted websites when he was purchasing a few things.

Is he likely not telling the full story? Or do people really just get hacked out of nowhere from ‘actual’ hackers (not scammers).

And how can I best protect my account to ensure maximum safety?

Ok so got preapproval... overwhelmed on what to do next. - Edited: looking for 2/3 bedroom apartment in Melbourne for under 600k.


Mortgage broker gave me the congrats saying i was preapproved etc and im stoked but... now what?

Aside from typing in partment filters on realestate.com, i have no idea how ... See More to begin my search.

Is it worth getting in touch with a rea? Or are they scum that shouldnt be supported at all?

Once i find a place a d view, what are the steps to go through? Still confused when to call conveyancer, and to do stuff like prepurxhase inspection/building report etc.

Anyone have a checklist for someone wanting to buy?

Cheers

UPDATE: Am quitting my job, the stress has crushed me, i'll be living off the 40k-ish savings i have to find a job i can manage within 3-4 months.

What is something you would never pay full price for? - For me it would be good quality cuts of meat - there’s no way I’m paying $40-$50/kg for a steak. Yeah it’s delicious, but I can make cheaper cuts taste delicious as well. So unless it has a big ... See More markdown on it I’m not buying it.

That and running shoes. I’m a runner and go through several pairs a year. These companies do a great job of making you think that this years model will make you run faster. But last years model is just as good and always a much better price.

Office space occupancy all time low, residential housing/rental crisis, why cant we convert/rezone offices to houses? - News is splattered with commercial real state struggling forcing people back into the office.

On the other hand, we need immense amount of housing construction to meet immigration and housing needs.

Is it just bureaucracy ... See More that prevents a floor of offices becoming apartments? Or would it cost $500k+ per an apartment to convert an office floor into a dozen 1 bedroom apartments (e.g. plumbing and electrical works)?

Curious to hear thoughts from those in construction and planning.