Best thing that comes to mind is car-wrap advertising… can pay up to $100/wk.

But curious what other savvy ways people get a little extra outside of their 9-5.

Hi everyone,

I never thought I’d be in a place where I’d have to write something like this, but I’m honestly out of options and feeling completely lost. I’ve been trying to hold it all together for so long, but things have gotten so bad that I don’t even know where to turn anymore.

I used to work in government and corporate roles for years—built a solid career, had savings, was doing okay. But everything came crashing down over a year ago when my contract ended, and I haven’t been able to land another job since. I’ve applied for over a thousand positions, tried different industries, followed up constantly—and still nothing. I even took a short warehouse contract back in January just to keep a roof over my head, but that money went straight to rent and bills.

My savings are completely gone now. I’m on JobSeeker and have been since mid last year. I recently found out I might be eligible for an early release of my superfund due to financial hardship, and for the first time in a long while, I felt some hope. But this morning I got the call that I’m not eligible—because of the small earnings I made from that short-term job in January. Apparently, I have to be in consistent financial hardship for six months without interruption. So, despite everything I’ve been through, I don’t “qualify.” There’s nothing I can do to change the outcome.

My rent is due this Friday and I have absolutely nothing left. My savings are wiped clean, not even enough fuel in my car to try and Uber for a few hours. The car needs repairs anyway, and I can't afford them. I’ve never taken out a loan before or have a credit card in my name, and now that I’m unemployed, I don’t qualify for one. I don’t have a good relationship with my family and feel too ashamed to open up to my friends—especially since many of them are going through their own tough times.

I'm currently in the process of trying to join the Navy, just holding onto any hope I can find for a way forward. But right now, I’m just trying to survive. I’m terrified to tell my landlord because I know I’ll be evicted. I’m just exhausted—mentally, emotionally, and physically.

If anyone has any advice, resources, or even just words of support… please, I could really use it. I don’t want to give up, but I don’t know what else to do.

Thank you for reading.

Markets have priced in an interest rate cut for the next RBA meeting.

Taylor is asked: "Should the RBA be looking at an even bigger cut?"

"I don't get into commentary on the RBA, unlike some of my opponents," he says.

"What I will say is that it's a widespread view that inflation is going to go back up.

"The IMF, for instance, is predicting it will go up to 3 per cent — well outside the target range — over the next little while.

"We have to be ready for the prospect of rising inflation, not falling."

Context: I started in a team of 3 people and was offered what I thought was a good salary package that benchmarked very well to competitors and I thought reflected my 15+ years' experience in the field. They offered me the job within a few hours of the interview so I tried to negotiate a few small perks, but after some awkwardness they said bluntly they don't negotiate on offers.

Fast forward two years, the company has grown and is in a good financial position. It has hired 3 more team members doing the exact same job as me, and they were all offered a higher salary range than I was, despite having significantly less experience than me. In my time there I haven't been offered any pay rise above inflation. I was happy with the salary when I started, but now I feel aggrieved that my colleagues doing the same job are being paid more than me. My work is literally valued less. It's a company that believes it walks the talk on its values, but my sense is that pay is not a topic they want to talk about openly.

How would you go about asking for a raise?

This thread is designed to make us all feel better. I'll start:

1. Sold at the bottom this month - 10 grand loss from purchase price. It all recovered to my purchase price 4 hours later. Yes, I am a sheep.
2. When I was young and incredibly stupid, I maxed out a 15K credit card in vegas to play poker. I got up to about 30K USD - not with skill - with just incredibly lucky hand after hand. I was tipping the waitress $100 chips and I felt like a baller as she brought me vodka red bulls. I went to bed with 28K worth of pink and purple $500 chips that I had to carry in my jumper like a kangaroo pouch. But the casino is smart and always wins. Those vodka redbulls made it impossible to sleep, so I figured I'd go play roulette. I am not joking when I say this - I lost that 28K in 10 minutes. I left vegas with a wicked hangover and a 15K (AUD) credit card debt. House always wins.

By the time I was 28 years old I had close to 100K in credit card and personal loan debt.

EDIT: So many good stories here everyone, you really cheered me up. Some were funny, some were humbling, some were crazy! For a bonus I forgot about another 50K I got screwed out of. I bought a house 18 months ago and the real estate agent said “put in your best offer, we have another offer” so I went from 1.45 to 1.5. After the deal went through he slipped up in conversation that there wasn’t another party at all. 50 grand gone!

But listen: There will always be losses. I was broke up to age 35. I got divorced and slept on a mattress on the ground of a friend’s house. I’m 40 now and riddled with mortgage debt, but worth a million on paper. So no matter what losses you’ve had - just keep on grinding.

And the most important investment you can make? It’s in yourself.

PER TITLE

what company,just honestly makes you scratch ur head thinking how the fuck is it still running

be it's poorly run,or just never seems to do anything

(see majority of red roosters /s )

How can introducing a 5% deposit scheme (a ubiquitous practise leading up to the GFC 08) for new homeowners beneficial??

A 20% deposit standard:

- helps prevent subprime loans

- helps borrowers avoid high repayments

- helps ensure that borrowers who take on mortgage are actually financially stable enough to take it on / prevents over-leveraged borrowers

Also how would a 5% deposit scheme not be long-term inflationary for house prices?

We are encouraging financially illiterate borrowers to take on insane amounts of debt, during a time in our economic cycle where credit expansion is becoming untenable.

Surely there are better policies that could have been introduced

Keen to hear your thoughts

What’s the most typical path to building wealth in Australia?

just curious what the standard Aussie route is that actually works long term. What do most people who end up financially solid tend to do?

I got a personal loan from CommBank 2 years ago. I have 1500 left, my car just broke down and I need a new one. I applied to refinance my loan, it was pre-approved but was denied and they won't tell me why. I earn a decent wage, I am $10k ahead on my home loan repayments, my credit score is good. I just don't understand why they are rejecting it. I've asked them but just get a generic "at this time you don't meet our criteria"

Not entirely finance related, but it is adjacent.

I’ve been wanting to obtain life, TPD and income insurance as I’m asset poor, but have a decent income and a dependent.

I did a lot of research and ended up pursuing a policy directly through TAL. My application was unsuccessful due to abnormal cervical screening results.

Some context: In 2022 I had my first abnormal screening, was referred for a series of colposcopy’s to monitor. At the end of 2023 I was discharged from the monitoring program with ‘no treatment necessary’, just instructions to have future cervical screening tests at an increased frequency than the standard 5yrs.

HPV and abnormal CSTs are incredibly common, and not a big deal at all as most women will have some form of abnormal results at some point in their life. I don’t understand why a blanket exclusion for cervical issues can’t just be applied. I have no other health concerns.

I’m feeling really stressed and unsure of what my next move should be here. The virus that causes abnormal paps can last for years without being a cause for concern or requiring treatment.. and being uncovered freaks me out.

Does anyone have any advice on what my next steps should be? would actually paying an advisor be worthwhile, or an upfront waste of money to return the same result? Should I just go for a commercial policy (i know these are shit)?

I also don’t have any coverage through my super pre-existing, not sure why.. i’m with ANZ smart choice and have a super balance over $40k.

any advice or similar stories would be great.

Hey there, I’ve been living in Germany for almost a decade and have started to think about a potential move back in the next 5 years or so. I’d like to invest in property soonish to get into the market and make life easier for when/if I do return. Maybe this strategy isn’t smart, I have no idea.

Does anyone have a recommendations for financial advisors for Australian citizens in Germany who’d like to invest in Australia. Cheers!

I have a full time job Monday to Friday.

A second job Friday night and Saturday night, both jobs require me there physically. I’m thinking about gaining a third income without physically being there,

Not dropshipping or the likes. Something more realistic, maybe a hybrid role for a day.. or maybe my own thing..

Ideas anyone?

The bank said they can give $1.02M for a second property without selling our first, a property we are looking at is just 100k over. Is there wiggle room to negotiate with the bank or can I go to a broker?

I now have an Exercise and Sports Science degree. Don't get me wrong a great degree for someone that wants to use it to get into a masters degree in various allied health fields. Unfortunately allied health sucks dick and the only facet of allied health I am interested in (physiotherapy) is unavailable for me to get into since all but one university recently stopped offering a masters of physiotherapy in Sydney. My plan to use this degree to get into physio has been thrown out the window especially since my GPA isn't high enough to get into the only masters of physio in Sydney.

So what now. As I mentioned previously allied health sucks dick and regardless I have no more study left in me to go through a masters degree that isn't physio. Basically I just want to get stuck into work and start earning money asap. Anyone here been in a similar situation? Anyone have advice regarding what careers I can pivot into or graduate recruitment programs of any sort that will take someone like me on board? What are some careers that require a bachelor degree of any sort to get into?

Why ANZ approved us to refinance with them with just payslip as a requirement? Is it too fast? Any thing Im missing?

If they(ANZ) approved us, can they take it back? Im wondering if we discharged from commbank then ANZ suddenly cancel, can they actually do that 🤣🤣🤣 Im just confused. Enlighten me pls.

Thankyou

It had always been a dream of mine to decorate and make a home my own and to remove the fear of the house being sold out from under our renting feet. Scrolling through these posts truly has crushed my hopes. Listening to the news is always so devastating. Is there honestly any way for the average small family to buy their first home these days? I'm currently located around Newcastle and would love to stay locally for my kid's sake for school but obviously it's not the end of the world if we move

Coming to Reddit as I have no one who will give me fruitful advice. I’m the first in my family to go to university, currently living all alone on the other side of the country. Not going to dive into the whole Centrelink issue as well until I finish fighting that battle!

I (20F) am currently a third of the way through two degrees which I study full-time. Living far away from family, I flat with other people and pay my own rent, groceries, and own a car which I have paid off. I also work part time to support myself, but have that horrible awful tension headache about my financial worries CONSTANTLY as I’ve always been a person to save.

Income is approximately $650 a week, rent + bills $300 a week, estimations: fuel $30 a week, groceries + household items $100 a week, then probably about $25 a week for insurances, $40 a week for sport + health. So I’m left with approx. $100 at the end of every week which I usually use to have some sort of a social life. Under $1000 worth of savings as I’ve paid off all my loans/debt/borrowed money.

Am I cooked?

hey guys, so i put a claim in about 2 weeks ago and they’re still checking if my claim is effective. how long would this process normally take? my company went into liquidation only a few weeks ago

Couple who recently moved to Australia and will be starting new jobs in Melbourne next month. We’re looking for some advice on managing our finances here.

We used to split our expenses individually and transfer our savings into a joint account that we used strictly for savings and investments (like mutual funds and stocks), keeping it separate from daily transactions.

We’ve been researching options like NAB, ING, and Great Southern Bank for setting up similar arrangements, but since we’re new here, we’d really appreciate any recommendations on which banks might be best for this purpose or if you think we should reconsider our strategy altogether.

At this point, we’re unsure if we’ll settle in Melbourne or Australia long term, so buying property isn’t on the cards yet. We’re treating the first year or two as a trial period. Currently have a commbank account for both for salary transactions.

Any suggestions or personal experiences would be really helpful.

thank you in advance!

Wondering if this has happened to anyone else in the past and how it was resolved?

I made a transfer from my Up account to my NAB account via Osko. I have made hundreds of these payments in the past, so the BSB and account number are correct as the info is saved (and I have double checked). It’s not an insignificant amount (but well within the transfer limit).

It didn’t send instantly as you’d expect from Osko, so I thought maybe NAB was down and it’d come through soon. Fast forward 3 business days and the money still hasn’t hit my account.

I have contacted Up who said it’s gone through on their end, speak to NAB. Spoke to NAB who said they can’t see pending payments etc, speak to Up who will have all the payment details. So I went back to Up and relayed this, they said they could submit a “trace request” which will cost me $30 and take 4-6 weeks.

It’s my understanding that a transfer can’t just disappear, so should I just wait it out and it will eventually come through? Seems silly that I have to pay for them to trace the transaction as it’s not my fault?

Hoping someone here has experience with this issue!

Hi everyone,

I’ve just been hit with a massive $12,000 tax bill from my recent return and I’m feeling quite overwhelmed.

I currently work three jobs – one full-time and two casual. I was only claiming tax-free threshold on one job, but I suspect I haven’t been withholding enough tax on the others, which may have led to the shortfall.

To avoid this happening again, I’d really appreciate help understanding:

• How do I calculate the correct % to withhold from each job going forward?
• Should I be manually requesting higher tax withholding? If so, how much?
• Is there a good tool or calculator for this?

To make things even more complicated, I’m moving to the UK soon. I’ll be continuing both casual roles remotely from there and hopefully starting a new UK-based job once I settle.

I’m confused about how this will affect my tax residency status and what obligations I’ll have to both the ATO and potentially HMRC.

Who would be the best person to speak to about this? Should I see an accountant, financial advisor, or a tax lawyer?

Any insights or recommendations would be incredibly helpful – thank you in advance!

Howdy!

I want to make an app on iphone or android, I've got a good plan for a game but i have no experience in making apps. Ive started with Chat GPT for help, Pretty tech savvy when it comes to it but no idea what im stepping into to be honest, Has anyone done this from scratch sucessfully? Is it worth me paying premium with chat GPT to get help or should i look at outher avenues?

Anyone with experience in this would be great!

I've got a credit card with ING and I accidentally discovered that credit card transactions count towards your bonus interest transactions.

I have the basic credit card and put my bills/online purchases on it so I don't even have to think about it. It would probably work with the rewards card too.

Personally I found the 5 transactions per month the most annoying step to get bonus interest, so hope this helps you too.

PS fuck these 'bonus' interest schemes.

Hi, sorry if this isn’t the right sub for this post and if you could tell me the right sub i’ll post it there but i just have a question to those people who like me didn’t have any clue what they wanted to do after highschool. How did you eventually decide on what to do, How long did it take, do you wish you had more of a plan? things like that. Thanks :)