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Thread: superannuation

  1. #106
    Senior Member fairdinkum's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    i don't mind a bit of a draught in winter i think a slight breeze helps get the water off the grass
    Yeah and it's nice to sit in the pub with a nice cold draught watching the rain when you can't work

    Jason Forrest
    Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
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  2. #107
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawn Mowing Professionals View Post
    A great way to explain it and i would say there is alot of truth to it in America... we aren't that far behind!

    Seriously, I would love to know the figures of how many people in Australia (18 - 65) are actually debt free. As a 34 year old... Most people that i know are paying of home loans, family cars, credit cards, holidays, investment properties, business loans, personal loans, school fee's and education, latest electrical equipment etc

    If you look at face value... they are living a good life, when in reality they are usually living week to week and heading further in debt. As long as people can make the minimal repayments and work longer hours they keep afloat.

    Thise that i know are debt free, have business interests and passive income... It's not to say they don't have debt, but it's debt that makes a greater return than the interest that they pay (good debt vs bad debt... but that is for another day) Most Aussie's are struggling from bad debt.

    My opinion is to pay off your credit cards imediately and cut them up!

    (Australian's owe more than 36 billion dollars on credit cards alone!!! There is around 7.72 million cards which is around $5,000 debt for every single credit card in Australia with around $800 in interest a year payable per card!!!!)

    Second is to focus on your home loan repayments to pay off the loan ASAP.

    There is one thing that i can think off that superannuation is wonderful... if you aren't able to save or invest money wisely, people can have a porportion of there income direct deposited into there super fund... this way they are unable to spend it or touch it until retirement. As you don't physically see the money, you learn to live without it (make adjustments, earn more money, reduce spending etc)....

    i suggest doing the same princible to pay off your homeloan quicker and having a redraw facility available for an "emergency" like 30 days of rain straight with no mowing in summer... or a draught in winter


    Good luck everyone... i wish you all the best.


    Simmo.
    I think the biggest thing is having a supporting partner in life that is on the same track.. No good having one who wants to spend and the other who wants to save. This is just what I have noticed as a common thread. My sister and their husband are a good example, they are like 2 peas in a pod, all their life they have set a plan and both worked towards it and now they have everything in order. They are planning retirement in 3 years. The last 3 years is topping up their super, then they have a bucket list of things they are going to do in retirement.. both will be 60 years old
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

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  3. #108
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  4. #109
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by AJD Mowing View Post
    There is no right or wrong way in my opinion... Renting is definately cheaper (cashflow) and more flexible imo... paying off a home loan is generally more secure (if you can maintain the loan repayments) but can be very restrictive to your lifestyle.

    The dream of owning your own home... this makes me laugh every time i hear it. People go in debt for 500,000 and say they own there own home, maybe the bank does lol

    Paying off a home loan is smart option if your either a big spender (can't save), not confident in investing and/or want security. If you know how to invest, use the additional "mortage money saved" to generate your own interest and passive income.

    It's interesting that they are pushing the fact that more new homes/appartments are required to keep up with the population growth... if there is more available houses this will create low demand, therefore, prices will technically drop for buyers and renters (market crash/readjustment maybe??) if the property market is scarce, then demand is high and the rental and buyers markets should both technically increases in value.

    2% growth seems to be a good balance for the current economic conditions... let's hope we never experience 10% + interest rates at these new prices!!!

    A long term lease (say 5 or 10 years with 5 year option to stay) would be a game changer imo... I know i would seriously consider it as it offers the savings and also security!

    I wonder if it was the goverment pushing the "great Australian dream" concept all those years ago lol

    Simmo.

  5. #110
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Couldn't imagine renting when your on a standard pension. When I think of it, every elderly person I visit for lawn/garden care owns their own house. There might be a message to take into life sitting there.

    Very proud of my daughter and her partner building a very modern new home (moved in Nov 2012), fully furnished new and only have a house mortage. Started the deposit handover at 21 & 23 yrs of age. Both saved hard for a decent deposit and built up a glory box of goodies from the age of 16 onwards.
    She just comes home to flog food, soft drink, chocolate biscuits and what ever else she can get her hands on, but thats all OK as it's part of the helping process.
    Cheers Garry

  6. #111
    Senior Member seliment's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawn Mowing Professionals View Post
    ...

    A long term lease (say 5 or 10 years with 5 year option to stay) would be a game changer imo... I know i would seriously consider it as it offers the savings and also security!
    Interesting observation ...
    Why is it that the house rental norm in Aust is the relatively short initial contract term followed by a 'month to month' occupancy?
    If my understanding is correct (from relatives, friends), in Germany it is more usual to rent a house on a longterm lease with possible renewal option as alluded to by Simmo (more like one leads commercial property here).
    Also interesting to note that the property (in Germany) comes 'bare' ... That is the tenant/lessor has to do the fitout/install their own kitchen, (hence the popularity there of ikea like flatpacks!) floor coverings etc (& take them when they go). Fundamentally it's only the bathroom etc with permanentt fixtures that are in place.
    The leases negotiated are often for 5yr initial term & and occupancies are often very long term (more akin to ownership times here).

    It's just quite a different way of doing things ...

    Joe

  7. #112
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by seliment View Post
    Why is it that the house rental norm in Aust is the relatively short initial contract term followed by a 'month to month' occupancy?
    So there can be more price increases for the owner... high Demand and low supply is the reason why they can get away with month to month rents imo. Real estates also like turnover of tennants as they wouldn't be able to charge as much if there was a 10 year lease in play (I know that i would pay for an agent!)... Also, a real estate charges an upfront fee when they find a tenant to place which the owner pays for.

    There is defence housing that offers long leases for the military families... private investors like it for the security and it's a win/win.

    I honestly don't know why there aren't more leases in place? Maybe everyone is focused on the great Australian dream?

    Simmo.

  8. #113
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by RSM-Gazza View Post
    Couldn't imagine renting when your on a standard pension. When I think of it, every elderly person I visit for lawn/garden care owns their own house. There might be a message to take into life sitting there.
    If you save $400 a week ($20,000 a year... renting vs paying off a loan) that would be $800,000 over 40 years of working (in todays money) without componding interest working in your favour and not the banks... I will take a guess but you should have somewhere between $1million and $1.5million in the bank or if your perfer, your super fund.

    With this money you could either continue to rent, purchase a house, or use the funds to pay for aged care (if required).

    Again... i'm neutral, there is no right or wrong and i see merit in both options (buy and rent)... A long lease would be a great option as it's the best of both worlds imo.

    Simmo.

  9. #114
    Senior Member fairdinkum's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Who can save $400/week? Maybe if you live in your car. I'm looking right now at my $900 electricity bill, $300 phone/internet/foxtel bill, $1200 ute rego, $150 monthly insurance bill, $400 car repayment, $330 rent, $120 water all due or over due. Then there's $2000 worth of overdue repairs to the work ute, requirement for new equipment, credit card payments etc etc. Went to the supermarket yesterday just for a few things to get us by until the weekend... $95. For us, saving anything is the big dream. The fact of life is that whenever you get a little bit ahead, something comes up to put you behind again. This is not negativity. This is REALITY! And the sad fact is that we are not actually too bad off as a family with 2 kids with another on the way.

    Jason Forrest
    Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
    Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
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  10. #115
    Senior Member fairdinkum's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    As for renting....In theory there are a lot of positives. In practise there is nothing good about it. Landlords are supposed to maintain the place, they generally don't. A landlords idea of maintenance is to slap a coat of paint on and clean the carpets between tennants and charge more rent for the next one. Rental properties always have the cheapest and least energy efficient appliances...ovens, cook tops, air conditioners, dishwashers etc. Any major repairs are almost always followed up by a rent increase. Then there is the cost of renting. The kind of place we need is a basic 4 bedroom house with air conditioning and a seperate bath and shower,built in wardrobes, about 30 years old. The going rate for something like that in my area is $400-$500 per week. This means if we were to move we would need to hand over a minimum of $2400 - $3000 up front. Add to that getting utilities connected and the general cost of moving and we would be looking at around $5000. Then you have to buy all new light globes and spend a few days cleaning the place because they are only ever just roughly clean for presentation purposes.

    And as far as rent prices in sydney go this is cheap. My sister just moved into a half decent 3 bedroom place in merrylands which would have been built in the 60s and is paying $410 per week. Merrylands is a really ****ty and dangerous suburb by the way. Shootings galore!....and they hadn't even bothered mowing the lawns for her so it was waist height when i did it. Plus there is a massive pile of rubbish in the back yard.

    I could go on all day about the cons of renting vs buying. Personally I'd prefer a mortgage and all that goes with it over renting. But the "DREAM" of saving a deposit is beyond us until the wife starts working which is probably another 4 or 5 years away. By then I will be 46 meaning if we buy a house I may not even be alive to see it paid off!

    Jason Forrest
    Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
    Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
    0407 435 642


    fairdinkumlawns.com.au

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  11. #116
    Senior Member AJD Mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    All of the above = stabelizing the population to fix.. bring back ballance will make things affordable again like the Australian dream..
    Everyone feels sory for pensioners but realy they have it good compared to our kids,, they have 1 a pension 2 only one person had to work 3 affordable house payments 4 job security.. #4 is now non existant
    AJD Mowing Giving Back Your Life

    http://www.ajdmowing.com.au/

  12. #117
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    My 89 elderly father is a DVA pension (WW2vet) on $1050 a fortnight owning a quality home with zero debt. They can have between either $150,000 or $170,000(can't remember which limit it is without checking his paperwork) in investments without a drop in payment. Not to mention the DVA Gold Card for full medical and items to assist him at home.
    He financilly wise, lives like a king and chooses what he wants to buys gadget wise, furniture or just sit on pokie machine in the clubs. Plus Jilliar is about to raise his income.
    Some pensioners have it not too bad, but he went to war and experienced total SH*T and was lucking to come home from it. Although he got some injuries from it. Going to the war enable him to get the Gold Card.
    But for pensioners on standard payment, they struggle as they have approx $300 less per fortnight.
    Cheers Garry

  13. #118
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Fairdinkum,

    I can understand the journey there mate, My misses didn't work for 9yrs when the family arrived. Things were as tight as an antartic's fishes arse and we were forced out of a company supplied rental home to a mortage at the time too with interest rates at 13% with a 20% deposit required. Plus a first child was 2 months old (The company ceases all company supplied homes with little warning)

    With me in my own home now, every appliance fixed or not is off the highest energy star rating available, including insulation improvments in the roof.
    My house was built on a hand selected block compass bearing wise on a hillside to maximise energy use and comfort. My power bills are half of yours with a large workshop shed and 10.5m pool running 1x 1.5hp pump and 1x1hp pumps.
    Heating wise we don't use the central much due to installing a 6 star rated Archer Gas log fire which keeps our gas usage over winter undercheck.

    But renting gets you non energy efficient appliances and the non efficient lighting structure as you highlighted, plus a non GPS sited property that can increase energy usage.
    I understand you can't do this at this stage in life, but my wife and I keep our power bill $1000 in credit at all times. It gives us enormous authority in conversation to the phone operator to put us on hold and have their line mgr approve a higher discount for paying bills on time. We get the higher discount for 12 months, then when it drops out we make the call and get it reinstated.
    But I'll be full solar panel with enough panels to cover the gas usage in a couple of years in readiness for when income decreases -- another thing one can't do whilst renting.

    I'm home because I dropped out a couple jobs to have the morning off, because I was tired.
    Cheers Garry

  14. #119
    Senior Member Lawn Mowing Professionals's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    If you purchase a house you need to also have a nice deposit of at least 10% ($65,000 + for medium house price) there are also other associated cost such as mortage insurance ($10K??), rates ($2,000 per year??) , general repairs, replacements, renovations and major repairs ($5000 pa???), water bill ($500 p/a???) and i'm sure other things that a tenant doesn't pay but inclusive in the rent.

    I'm not sure of the exact rates as they vary from house to house... but anywhere $150 - $250 a week would be very close to the mark.... this is ontop of $800 mortage repayment

    Owning your own home is great if you can afford to... all i am doing is pointing out is it is alot more to own your own home and if you save the money (in additional payments of renting vs owning) that should fund your retirement quite comfortable.

    The reality is most people won't save money and simply spend it... As a matter of fact it doesn't matter if you earn $1000 a week or $2000 a week as the average person will be left with nothing at the end of the week.

    What i have learnt to do (the hard way)... is to keep my costs down to a minimum... and focus my energy on earning more income.
    i currently have 4 different income streams and work alot less now than a few years ago when my debts were well over $1m. Although i had the cashflow to service the debt, if i saved the money (that was interest only) I would have been able to pay for my house outright over the 5 - 6 years.

    I've said it before, having a plan and clarity of what you want and sticking to it is vital to success. Gary, you obviously have the right mindset, determination and passionate about your dreams and is the main reasons why you are in a better situation compared to the average family.

    Jason, between you and I... on average it takes 7 years for someone to be flat broke to then become a millionaire... If you want the lifestyle of working 6 hours a day and 5 days a week it will be difficult to save up a deposit for a house. If you work smarter and create opportunities that work in your favour you may be able to save hundreds of dollars a week or even thousands... At the end of the day, that choice is up to you.

    I thing i can almost guarantee is this... if you decide that you don't want to change, than nothing will change in your life. Success is all about stepping out of your comfort zone, educating yourself and then and only then, consider taking calculated risks. it's primal instinct that forces us protect ourselves and to stay safe in a comfort zone... unfortunately this comfort zone in society does more harm than good!

    Many will disagree and thats fine... i've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. But everyones journey will be different! Dream and think big and then ACTION it is my motto.

    Simmo.

  15. #120
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: superannuation

    Quote Originally Posted by Lawn Mowing Professionals View Post
    If you purchase a house you need to also have a nice deposit of at least 10% ($65,000 + for medium house price) there are also other associated cost such as mortage insurance ($10K??), rates ($2,000 per year??) , general repairs, replacements, renovations and major repairs ($5000 pa???), water bill ($500 p/a???) and i'm sure other things that a tenant doesn't pay but inclusive in the rent.

    I'm not sure of the exact rates as they vary from house to house... but anywhere $150 - $250 a week would be very close to the mark.... this is ontop of $800 mortage repayment

    Owning your own home is great if you can afford to... all i am doing is pointing out is it is alot more to own your own home and if you save the money (in additional payments of renting vs owning) that should fund your retirement quite comfortable.

    The reality is most people won't save money and simply spend it... As a matter of fact it doesn't matter if you earn $1000 a week or $2000 a week as the average person will be left with nothing at the end of the week.

    What i have learnt to do (the hard way)... is to keep my costs down to a minimum... and focus my energy on earning more income.
    i currently have 4 different income streams and work alot less now than a few years ago when my debts were well over $1m. Although i had the cashflow to service the debt, if i saved the money (that was interest only) I would have been able to pay for my house outright over the 5 - 6 years.

    I've said it before, having a plan and clarity of what you want and sticking to it is vital to success. Gary, you obviously have the right mindset, determination and passionate about your dreams and is the main reasons why you are in a better situation compared to the average family.

    Jason, between you and I... on average it takes 7 years for someone to be flat broke to then become a millionaire... If you want the lifestyle of working 6 hours a day and 5 days a week it will be difficult to save up a deposit for a house. If you work smarter and create opportunities that work in your favour you may be able to save hundreds of dollars a week or even thousands... At the end of the day, that choice is up to you.

    I thing i can almost guarantee is this... if you decide that you don't want to change, than nothing will change in your life. Success is all about stepping out of your comfort zone, educating yourself and then and only then, consider taking calculated risks. it's primal instinct that forces us protect ourselves and to stay safe in a comfort zone... unfortunately this comfort zone in society does more harm than good!

    Many will disagree and thats fine... i've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. But everyones journey will be different! Dream and think big and then ACTION it is my motto.

    Simmo.
    Summed up pretty well on the mark for me, the one word I don't like or phase that doesn't sit for me - procrastination or I'll do it tomorrow.
    Cheers Garry

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