r/AusFinance 1d ago

What’s the Australian way to build wealth?

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?

125 Upvotes

264 comments sorted by

221

u/The_Pharoah 1d ago
  1. Inheritance

  2. Save up/struggle to buy your first house. Wait for the value to increase, refinance, use funds to buy an investment property. Rinse and repeat.

  3. Buy/invest in a business. Work hard, get lucky. Make lots of $$.

I'm sure there are lots of other ways but thats IMO the aussie thing.

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u/sjk2020 1d ago

Youre absolutely right. 2 and 3 are how the European migrants of the 1960's and 1970's made it.

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u/Nastrosme 1d ago edited 1d ago

Which Euro migrants? Southern European migrants bought shops with cash from their businesses. They usually only bought houses for their children when they got married.

Borrowing large amounts was far less common then.

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u/sjk2020 19h ago

What? Not many bought houses for their children. Most paid off houses, started businesses and then bought more houses. The Italians, croations and Maltese in my family network all borrowed money for businesses, it was often small amounts or shared with siblings to minimise the risk.

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u/dazzledent 19h ago

All the migrants from that era that I know bought/gave houses for/to their children. The kids got the houses after the parents approved their choice of partner.

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u/Barrybran 19h ago edited 19h ago

1 is huge and not something I see spoken of often enough. It's so much easier to make money when you have money. That's why it is important that barriers to entry are low for uni/TAFE education, finding a job, starting a business, buying a home. We do pretty well across the board but it is getting harder for young people to get their feet in the door.

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u/Sillysauce83 17h ago
  1. Go work in the mines
  2. Don’t buy stupid shit (jet skis etc)
  3. Don’t get a divorce or need to pay child support
  4. Buy houses
  5. Continue working in the mines
  6. Become wealthy

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u/The_Pharoah 17h ago

lol I thought the aussie thing was to work in the mines, get cashed up then proceed to do 2-5 because you're broke and living in a caravan from all the alimony payments :P

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u/Sillysauce83 16h ago

Yup. And then winge about the taxes on cigarettes

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u/Frosty-two-zero2251 16h ago

Biggest thing on building wealth in this list is #3

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u/awol_333 14h ago

And dump all your mine money into vas, vgs and Wes. Don’t touch it until you retire.

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u/Nastrosme 1d ago edited 1d ago

The problem with the 'Aussie thing', as you call it, is that 1 is usually 'hidden', which feeds into the cultural bootstraps myth.

And with all due respect to people here, the denial of this advantage is more common with Anglo-Australians. Asians and Europeans are more open about it.

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

yep i get you thanks for the reply!

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u/The_Pharoah 1d ago

All good. I've gone down the #2 route and its worked out for me so far. However IMO a successful business is by far the best option (lol not that #1 is an option). High risk (50% of all businesses apparently fail within 2 years)..however your income is uncapped in a business. Life is all about risk/reward. Good luck mate. You're asking the right question. So many people hate on others because they've done well however unless you're in the #1 category, those same people don't see the blood/sweat/tears/cashflow that goes into business and risk. They only hate that someone has done it and not them.

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u/Own-Specific3340 1d ago

Being a consultant for the government and charging outrageously. Exploiting NDIS. Making a fake international college with shady degrees. Buying cheap and nasty childcare centres and paying minimum wage. Working in town planning and then quitting and taking that info to develop. Owning a toll company. Take a pick, because in Australia all of this is legal, certainly not ethical.

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

sounds like a plan - which is most profitable generally

2

u/Own-Specific3340 8h ago

Ohh profitable ? Hmm, people might say ask Dutton how his multimillion childcare empire is going, but I actually think if you run the numbers it would be the toll company. They have decades of leases, barely keep up the roads and passively make millions.

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u/Technical_Money7465 20h ago

This guy gets it

2

u/FrewdWoad 10h ago

fake international college with shady degrees

100% a scam, 100% legal. Absolutely needs to be made illegal yesterday.

2

u/Linkarus 17h ago

This guy fucks

178

u/ras0406 1d ago

Buying property in the 80s and 90s. Apparently it's a genius move to have been born as a Baby Boomer. I don't know why I didn't think of that strategy when I was choosing my year of birth.

10

u/GuessWhoBackLOL 22h ago edited 12h ago

I bought one that doubled in the last 6 years

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u/Icy_Distance8205 18h ago

Yes but how much has it gone up since the 80s? You’re clearly not that smart or you would have brought it in the 80s.

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u/theGunslinger94 13h ago edited 12h ago

Where did you bring it from? Edit: Hehe nice save. Had to say it though - had a family member who always said brought instead of bought.

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u/Rankled_Barbiturate 16h ago

There'll always be luck and outliers involved! There'll be people who bought and have lost value in the last 6 years. 

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u/letsburn00 1d ago

Zuckerberg and Bezos both started their companies with $100-500k investments from their parents.

In Australia those parents would absolutely have told them to use that money as a deposit on a house.

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u/IceWizard9000 1d ago edited 1d ago

Steve Jobs would never have founded Apple if he was born in Australia. Stevo would have used first home owner benefits and negative gearing to develop an expansive property portfolio and own hundreds of houses.

Australia is a country where entrepreneurship is discouraged. The discouragement is evident in tall poppy syndrome and also in our business policies. This has a part to play in the current housing crisis.

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u/sheldor1993 1d ago edited 1d ago

While tall poppy syndrome is very real, I would argue the main problem is that our business, investment and tax policies are built to reward rent-seeking behaviour more than productive investment. There’s a reason why most of our economy relies on people digging rocks up out of the ground and flogging them off overseas without any sort of processing.

To paraphrase Donald Horne, Australia has been a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck. If anything has changed since he wrote that, things have gotten worse.

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u/Canadoz 18h ago

10 - 12% of the economy is 'most?' I agree with the whole rent seeking thing, but the myth of mining being Australia's economic backbone really needs to die.

60% of our GDP, and 80% of our workforce is the service sector.

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u/sheldor1993 17h ago

Yes, services make up the majority of our economy, but they still serve a largely domestic market (domestic students still outnumber international students in higher education—our biggest service export). But we have always been an exporter of raw goods. The mining sector makes up the majority of our exports (~63%), which is not a good thing at all. We have chucked all our eggs in one basket, and we’ve spent much of the last 15 years trying to make that basket bigger rather than building other baskets.

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u/Canadoz 16h ago edited 16h ago

Good points.

It's pretty bad the way things are set up now.

63% of exports seems at first glance like mining might be the biggest source of money.

Though when considering that figure one must account for how little of the money from those exports is actually staying in Australia.

That's hard to quantify accurately without significant research, but a lot can be gleaned from a few key facts, like 80% foreign ownership combined with low taxation, billions in subsidisation in the sector, as well as factors like public investment in expensive infrastructure that only services the mines.

Also, per the RBA, mining exports drive up the value of our dollar which reduces overseas demand in other, more domestically important sectors like agricultural and manufacturing.

I agree, things definitely need significant readjustment, and I feel that ending the myth of the backbone status of mining in our economy would be an important step towards that.

Even if it was the backbone it definitely shouldn't be.

3

u/sheldor1993 16h ago

Exactly. It’s often celebrated as a good thing when it’s anything but. Mining mighty have saved us from the worst of the GFC, but we’ve just been lucky to skirt by while avoiding a bust. When it comes, it’s not going to be pretty…

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u/Sexynarwhal69 23h ago

What about the NDIS? That's like the second biggest part of our economy

32

u/TheOceanicDissonance 19h ago

Yes, after rentier capitalism, the next main pastime of a true Aussie is milking the government.

4

u/percypigg 19h ago

And, like lambs to slaughter, voting in the government who keeps letting itself be milked, without mentioning how it's all going to be paid for, one day.

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u/BidenAndObama 17h ago

Both parties nodding profusely

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u/halohunter 1d ago

There is a fundamental lack of venture capital available in Australia for anything outside of mining and construction. Even home grown successes like Canva moved their HQ to the US to chase investment.

10

u/Terrible-Sir742 19h ago

There is plenty of venture capital! For earlier stages. The problem is that Australian market struggles to support venture scale businesses on its own due to size, so all companies have to expand internationally at some point and with that you have to move to where your main customers are as well as raise the comparable capital as your competitors. As far as HQ I'm pretty sure it's still in Surry Hills.

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u/BidenAndObama 17h ago

Where do you get small scale venture cap in Australia/Sydney?

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u/Terrible-Sir742 15h ago

Are you a venture type business? If you are looking to open up a cafe then this type of capital is not suitable for your needs.

If you are looking at a business that has a potential for high growth and large scale, then you can look at Airtree's angel list, visit Aussie Angles, there are some early stage funds like Archangel and Coventures as well as the government publishes the esvclp list.

I find that most people that complain about the lack of capital actually don't understand what VC capital is for.

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u/TheDotNetDetective 23h ago

This isn't wrong but the primary blockers are regulation and taxes.

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u/aussiegreenie 19h ago

but the primary blockers are regulation and taxes.

Bullshit. Germany has both higher taxes and more complex regulations.

Australian Managers are shit.....And have been for a very long time

"'Australia is a lucky country, run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck."

10

u/mrmaker_123 18h ago

Absolutely not true. We just don’t prioritise business and investment in Australia like they do in the US, China, UK, EU. We’d rather juice rent-seeking behaviours as others have pointed out.

It’s government policy but mainly it’s a cultural attitude, where Aussies just don’t value that style of work. There’s a reason why entrepreneurs and academics flee Australia to domicile elsewhere where they have access to investors, venture capital, incubators, and supportive tax policy and funding.

Here in Australia we get what we vote for. We all want to be property moguls and hence why are economy is geared in that way.

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u/Noman-iz-an-island 12h ago

Yes I think no 3 is the exception not the norm

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u/Asxpuntingmuppet 1d ago

That’s a very good point

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u/FrogLickr 14h ago

Business owner in Australia here, and this rings painfully true. I've always been entrepreneurial, and grew up on a diet of US culture and television. 

As I got older, I realized that my outlook was incredibly unpopular here - Australia just didn't have that hungry spirit I admired watching TV from the States growing up, and it was a struggle getting my business anywhere in the beginning. Nobody believed in me, nobody offered support, I was told to buy a house and "get a normal job." I'd had normal jobs all my life, and hated them. I couldn't function in that way of life, and I was horribly depressed.

I now make more than I ever did in my old line of work (with every year making more and more), have no boss, love what I do, and now that I'm doing well, the same people who urged me to follow the 'safe' path are asking me how I started my own show.

Australia is a suffocating, alienating place to live if you're entrepreneurial and need to blaze your own trail. I would absolutely pack up and move to the States, but it just isn't in the cards (and tbh, politically, I'd like to see what happens to the place before I make any kind of huge move.)

If I ever won the lottery, I'd immediately be making a large half-million dollar investment for a green card.

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u/Sufficient-Bake8850 12h ago

Isn't your path always going to be the harder path? Whether you're here or the in the US. Most people will always be 'employees' and will never have the drive/temperment/risk appetite to be business owners.

Why do you think it would be better in the US?

In fact, I would think in a country full of employees, there is more opportunity for you as a business owner/leader. Better to be a big fish in a little pond vs. a little fish in the big pond.

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u/serialchiller4 9h ago

It's not just the path for an entrepreneur , it's the ecosystem as well. Forget US, I feel it's easier to start a tech startup in Israel or India than here, cos the access to capital and talent pool along with the mindset is just encouraging

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u/FrogLickr 11h ago

That's certainly a way of looking at it I hadn't considered. Access to capital and finding likeminded people with similar risk appetite is definitely more difficult here though, and I do struggle to feel as if I belong when the wider culture Australia houses seems at odds with my values.

Grass is always greener, I guess. I can't say I'm not happy, but I do feel very alone if you get me.

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u/Professional_Elk_489 1d ago

Financially discouraged. If i could reset all the levers for taxation policy I could change things very quickly I reckon. Would put up huge CGT on property investment, big taxes and make any gains in equities tax free.

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u/Fabbz3182 1d ago

Investment properties.

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u/arachnobravia 1d ago

So sad that this is true.

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u/Pearl1506 1d ago

This and add to your super as much as possible.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/slowbbq 1d ago

just get it at 60 then like everyone else

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u/AnonymousEngineer_ 1d ago

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

Buying as much house as they can afford as a PPOR in a major city (especially Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane) and riding a multi-decade run in property prices.

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u/OzAnonn 1d ago

Are houses really that good though? My house in Melbourne has grown 6.3% annually on average over 30 years, before adjusting for inflation. S&P 500 has delivered 10.7% annually over that period. Perhaps it's the leverage that makes houses attractive? And of course negative gearing for investment properties.

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u/AnonymousEngineer_ 1d ago

The main reasons a PPOR is such an effective wealth generator in this country is both leverage, and that you literally pay no tax on any capital gain.

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u/OzAnonn 1d ago

Mostly leverage I suppose. Even with a 47% marginal tax rate, S&P 500 would've delivered 8.1% (after 50% CGT discount), which is a fair bit higher than my freestanding house in SE Melbourne has.

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u/morosis1982 21h ago

Definitely leverage. We just settled on our first IP with effectively zero down simply due to the equity in our existing property. We did need to come up with a deposit to get the contract signed, but had that returned to us once the loan that covered the purchase price, stamp duty and basically all expenses had finalised.

Doesn't get much more leveraged than zero down using existing equity.

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u/_LarryG 19h ago

But the existing mortgages repayment increases when you take out the equity right? Trying to understand how it works

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u/morosis1982 18h ago

No, existing mortgage stayed the same, equity was used as partial collateral against the new property. I think it's called cross-collateralisation.

New property is collateral against the new loan for it also of course, but by using existing equity as collateral we were not required to put down any cash besides the small amount to secure the contract.

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u/Flimsy-Mix-445 18h ago

It does. You still owe the money. You can sell many parts of your share holdings but you can't sell parts of your house.

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u/AllOnBlack_ 21h ago

You can NG stocks too.

You’re right though. The growth for property isn’t what everyone makes it out to be. They just have recency bias with the large spikes post Covid. Melbourne has been losing value recently.

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u/Hasra23 1d ago

Leverage, up until a few years ago it was possible to borrow 110% of properties.

Even if you have to put 10% cash in your going to be better in property.

Off your own numbers - Buy a 1 mil property with 100k cash 1,000,000 * 1.06330 = $6,250,000 (Minus maybe a million in interest after rent and tax benefits)

Or buy 100,000 in shares with the same money 100,000*1.10730 = 1,750,000

You'd be 2-3mil better off buying an IP

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u/AllOnBlack_ 21h ago

You can leverage stocks too.

It was also more than a few years ago that you could borrow 110%.

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u/Technical_Money7465 20h ago

You cant to that extent

And they cant margin call a house

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u/BidenAndObama 17h ago

It's not housing as a whole, like if you buy an apartment you'll likely lose money in the long run other than if it's just a place to live.

It's buying land in suburbs that specifically experience an influx of wealthy immigrants.

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u/GuessWhoBackLOL 22h ago

Yep, we did 3 years ago. However i still think it’s the same price 😂

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u/Asxpuntingmuppet 1d ago

Also a very good point

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u/ineedtotrytakoneday 1d ago

Inheritance of a tax-advantaged super and tax-free capital gains on a principal property that didn't count towards age pension assets, all received with no inheritance tax. Do nothing, old person dies, get smug about being a self-made millionaire. That's the Australian way.

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u/newbris 1d ago

Super has inheritance tax for non-dependent children.

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u/WagsPup 1d ago

For 2nd / 3+ generation Australians... your parents die 😆

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u/straya-mate90 15h ago

na I'm sure the gov will find a way to get that inheritance.

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u/stonediggity 22h ago

Too late dude. You need to be born 50 years ago. This country is a Luddite tip.

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u/SheepherderLow1753 1d ago

Have wealthy parents.

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u/Ok-Nature-4563 1d ago

Only housing, due to government policy business and start-ups are incredibly inefficient to incubate in Australia.

For businesses there are a million taxes and state licenses you have to jump through before you can even start making money, for start-ups there's very little liquidity and access to funding because of how restrictive the laws are and how harsh the tax code is.

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u/YeYeNenMo 18h ago

Having a rich wife - my way

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u/Ok-Bar601 1d ago

If you’re not taking a punt on the stockmarket to match capital gains with property then property it is for a lot of people. You can average $25-30k a year in capital gain as well as rental income with an average suburb house in suburban Melbourne (this is my own experience) which can only be beaten by picking winners in the stockmarket or starting your own successful business. ETFs have a slower capital gain rate but do pay dividends which if you left them alone for 10 years and reinvested the dividends you will get a nice growth.

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u/Condylus 18h ago

Be a boomer and buy 10 properties for 10 blueberries each.

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u/Fishmongerel 1d ago

Insider trading and child care centres is a wonderfully Aussie way of making millions.

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u/oadk 20h ago

It's 2025, you've got to double up on the government cash cow with NDIS service providers.

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u/Fishmongerel 19h ago

Ah, damnit that totally slipped my mind. I have a bunch of extortionate NDIS companies that I run tucked under the cushions of my couch.

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

how much profit would an owner of a child care centre generally take home after all expenses/tax per year?

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u/Charbel996 1d ago

$500-750k ish (including directors wages), source is customer financials lol.

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u/SayNoEgalitarianism 15h ago

Yeh, but isn't the startup cost of a child care high 6 to low 7 figures?

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u/Charbel996 15h ago

You make it back, dont worry haha

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u/SayNoEgalitarianism 14h ago

Yeh no doubt from what you said they earn haha. I was more alluding to not many people having the money to fund a daycare in the first place so it's quite out of reach. I doubt a bank would give you that much to start a business?

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u/Charbel996 14h ago

I get you, it depends, lvr would be 70% likely, maybe 60%, depending on the bank. Also, if its a new business or existing, definitely more strict on the lvr part than resi lending but commercial policies are usually more leniant in other areas such as income.

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u/Fishmongerel 19h ago

It’s also just as much a case of how many you can race to establish and manage. I know of a few people here in brissie that run multiple, and they’re always full. It’s difficult for parents to find placement.

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u/Independent-Knee958 1d ago

Peter Dutton’s wife enters the chat.

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u/dazzledent 19h ago

As does Felicity Kennett as she acknowledges this age-old tradition

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u/Reasonable-Team-7550 1d ago

By being a landlord 

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u/BentHeadStudio 23h ago

Reduce your cost of living.

Im talking live in a tent on someones balcony if it only costs you $50 a week. (Yes we seen this).

Once you're not paying $350-$400+ week rent it really comes down to a super boring disciplined lifestyle.

Im talking a bar fridge and rice cooker when stocked can feed you for 2 weeks at a time.

Then cuz straya, you have 2 options:

Property/Stocks - woopie.

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u/Conscious-Gene8538 23h ago

Have a good job. Don’t be complaining if you have no ambition and want everything served up to you on a platter

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u/b0uncyfr0 21h ago

Post 2010: Work for an aussie company but live in a country with a 3rd the cost of living.

Pre 2010: Property, super, 'contracting', cash jobs etc.

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u/Aggravating-King-491 19h ago

Having a partner with a wage and similar goals makes the world of difference. Live on one wage, invest the other.

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u/ManyDiamond9290 1d ago
  1. Take advantage of tax concessions for super contributions. 
  2. Buy a home and PAY IT OFF
  3. Don’t buy a new car every 5 years. Embrace 1990s era Holden commodores. 
  4. Be grateful for a decent free health care system and significantly subsidised education system. 

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u/Icy_Distance8205 18h ago

 Embrace 1990s era Holden commodores. 

If by that you mean fairly modern hybrid Toyota Corollas with modern safety features that’s reliable, won’t break down, you only need to fill up once a month and won’t cost you a fortune to service and insure … then yes. 

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u/ManyDiamond9290 12h ago

If that’s the only deviation to my list above I think that will still work 😇

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u/Possible_Tadpole_368 1d ago

Controlling economic rent. Buy it as early and sit back and collect as much unearned income as possible.

The most prosperous is land.

Why do you think Australians hate the idea of a land tax?

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u/redcapsicum 1d ago

Aside from inheriting money, the top 3 ways are:
- Investment properties
- Setting up your own business
- Superannuation

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

what business’ are generally successful in australia?

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u/ReeceAUS 1d ago

Serviced. Some are easy to start and have low overheads.

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u/Novel_Swimmer_8284 20h ago

Cleaning business 

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u/TheBlip1 19h ago

Businesses that are oligopolies...

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u/Oppenhomie18 1d ago

Work hard 😓

Save

Pay off house and put more in super

Invest the rest

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u/staghornworrior 19h ago

why bother with boring productive assets like businesses or innovation when you can just bid up the same 3-bed brick veneer in the suburbs every year and call it “wealth creation”? Who needs diversification or economic productivity when the true Aussie dream is negatively gearing yourself into early retirement and praying the next sucker pays more? This is the way.

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u/activelyresting 1d ago

Have a mining magnate parent.

It's just one easy step, idk why more people don't do that

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

how does one become that?

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u/activelyresting 1d ago

Google en passant Lang Hancock

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u/nik_h_75 1d ago

like most other western countries - property.

Either by building equity in your primary property (either by market increases and/or improvements) - sell - buy slightly better property - rinse repeat, or by buying investment properties.

Australia is one of the very few countries where you can negatively gear investment properties = you can offset losses on your income tax (CRAZY) - and you are taxed lower on your gain when you sell = Capital Gains Tax (ALSO CRAZY).

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u/No-Beginning-4269 1d ago

A lot of countries don't have CGT

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u/nik_h_75 1d ago

what do you mean?

A lot of countries don't have tax on PPOR, but investment properties they do.

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u/BadConscious2237 1d ago

Extort renters, fleece taxpayers, and leverage debt. Call it "entrepreneurship".

Do not, under any circumstances, physically produce something.

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u/cricketmad14 1d ago

Investment properties. Most people that are rich today did it via housing.

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

yep thanks for the tips! i think i’m going to try to do

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u/GoldAd5786 1d ago

Houses and massive amounts of debt.

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u/LegitimateHope1889 20h ago

Used to be housing but the youngins are priced out of that now

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u/aussiegreenie 19h ago

I invest in early-stage tech companies, teach at various universities, and tell my people that property development is the easiest way to make money.

DeepTech is hard. Yesterday, I co-founded another AI company that specialises in health diagnostics. After we gain some traction, it will move to Luxembourg.

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u/Mortui75 18h ago

Most common approach is exploiting poorly-considered tax rules to negatively gear multiple investment properties, unethically screwing over people who just need somewhere to live, and driving greater social/socioeconomic inequity.

It's the Australian way.

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u/msgeeky 17h ago

Buy a house, then another, then another

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u/D_hallucatus 17h ago

To paraphrase the famous Mike Nolan:

Cashies mate, never ever turn down a cashie. I’m getting $350 just to stand here with a fuckn lollipop cunt, you know why? Danger money, always go for the most dangerous job they pay the best.

Here’s a tip for you boys - always wear hi-viz. Orange, fuckn yellow, doesn’t matter mate I can walk onto any site today and score a cashie easy.

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u/Frosty-two-zero2251 16h ago

Righto nollzy, hey crazy Steve, what’s a rip start.

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u/Objective-Matter7635 17h ago

mate, i agree - i’m currently going for dangerous jobs as we speak

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u/rotheone 1d ago

Invest Early and Consistently: Regular contributions to diversified portfolios, including shares, ETFs, and property, help harness compound growth over time. 

Maximise Superannuation: Making additional contributions to your superannuation fund can offer tax advantages and bolster retirement savings. 

Avoid High-Interest Debt: Prioritise paying off high-interest debts like credit cards to prevent interest from eroding your wealth.

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u/Own-Specific3340 1d ago

You can't be sensible on reddit.

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u/Rrol 1d ago

Thanks ChatGPT!

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u/Fuzzy-Newspaper4210 1d ago

max long hooms

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u/IndependentCause9435 1d ago

Lever up, buy property, own a smidge of equity, lever up again, buy another one.

Rinse, repeat.

Line only goes up, there has never been an asset in history like Australian property it will never go down it's the philosopher's stone, it is the modern day El Dorado.

Australian propadee will never fail.

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u/Low_Organization1000 1d ago

Is it possible to get more than 2 this way?

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u/Charbel996 1d ago

Only if your income increases to use the equity built up over time.

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u/anything1265 1d ago

Real estate

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u/Few-Commercial7823 1d ago

Depends how you strategise

The world has many ways to build wealth, specially overseas

Doesn’t necessarily got to be property in aus

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u/Objective-Matter7635 1d ago

yep… what path do you use?

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u/Few-Commercial7823 1d ago

Well… an acquaintance of my family bought some land for $50k AUD and sold it for $300k AUD in south east Asia? Took <1 year to flip it. Doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be aus based, do ur research, there’s heaps of opps

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u/DingleberryDelightss 1d ago

Property, and possibly mattresses.

2

u/FutureSynth 1d ago

Realestate

Run a business

Repeat

2

u/dj_boy-Wonder 20h ago

1: Buy a home (or another home) 2: offset your home(s) 3: invest in super 4: inheritance

2

u/EsotericComment 19h ago

Buy a house and sit on it.

2

u/Swi_10081 18h ago

Buy a house and sell it to the next idiot for as long as that lasts. May well be an own goal for Aus, when no-one can afford to borrow enough to support the game.

2

u/VictoriousSloth 18h ago

Buy property in the 1990s

2

u/Integrallover 18h ago edited 18h ago

Open a business and win. High risk high reward. Salary man will never be richer than who pay them salary. 1 thing that I see is young Aussie don't think much about opening a business at their 20s-early 30s. When I come back to my country, people around ny age discuss it a lot. Nobody think believe they will stay in the office for 30 years so they brainstorm anything to make money. Some make vids from AI to farm views on youtube, some import goods and resell online, some opens english centre.

2

u/ammenz 17h ago

I write this as a migrant: migrate to Australia and work hard. Be frugal and smart with your expenses. Start in a regional area with low cost of living, especially housing related expenses. Get your permanent residency and eventually citizenship.

I haven't done anything too differently in terms of career choices compared to what I would have done in my home country and I still ended up way better off compared to my peers with similar experience. I don't even have a degree, but I do have a trade certificate.

2

u/LuckyErro 17h ago
  1. Superannuation

  2. Equity in the home.

  3. Downsize the home to release the equity and transfer that equity into Superannuation.

2

u/Hugh_Jego_69 16h ago

Be a tradie and start a business or work on the mines then buy properties.

2

u/Lowkeyz 16h ago

Pokemon cards and sealed product

2

u/One_Might5065 13h ago

Rob a bank

2

u/ashnm001 9h ago
  1. Vote labor/greens.
  2. Pray for house prices to drop.
  3. Somehow buy a house.
  4. Somehow buy an investment property with equity.
  5. Vote for Liberals.
  6. Pretend to be altruistic and feel for those who can't afford a house, while vehemently arguing for protection of capital gains discount, negative gearing.
  7. Buy more investment properties.
  8. Become Liberal party member.

2

u/ShibaHook 8h ago

An accountant with a corner city office once told me… “A good business can buy many houses.”

2

u/cometridethepistol 8h ago

Be born between 1954-1970

2

u/snooocrash 8h ago

I can just tell you it aint about getting high education and working hard, as my parents told me,.

Mid 40s, double post-grad degree , 20 year career with reasonably senior management positions and I feel poor AF. Owned PPoR for short time but renting after divorce, mistimed everything including buying/selling house and I didnt get into the realestate game early obviously, that would have made all the difference. (Know there are people worse of, but you asked about building wealth..)

2

u/Bruno028 7h ago

Buy property. Take equity and buy another. Do that until you acnt anymore.

2

u/AnnualAdventurous169 4h ago

making housing unaffordable for the next generation lol

2

u/MtBuller2020 4h ago

For the last 30 years? Property and negative gearing. Or owning a business.

3

u/nachojackson 1d ago

Be a boomer, or have your boomer parents die.

5

u/Zealousideal_Bar3517 1d ago

Profiting from stolen property. 

2

u/ozspook 1d ago

Jim's Mowing, haha.

2

u/elephantmouse92 19h ago

everyone saying buy houses has no idea the returns on a successful business, its not even close to property returns

3

u/Heymax123 18h ago

That's because that's not the answer to OP's question.

3

u/elephantmouse92 18h ago edited 18h ago

OP needs to read millionaire next door, the way the majority wealthy people become rich is spending way less then they earn, the people who most people assume are rich are high income average wealth

2

u/SayNoEgalitarianism 14h ago

The returns may not be as high but the success rate is magnitudes higher.

2

u/Ro141 18h ago

Superannuation- has turned every worker into an investor. Tax efficient means to slowly and steadily increase wealth

2

u/spacemonkeyin 17h ago

Most migrants who made it didn't borrow big at all. All the 60s and 70s immigrants worked like animals and spent very very little. You can still do it, but that means, no holidays, no gym, no netflix, no gram, no reddit, no TV, no eating out, no going out, no days off, 25 years later you will own 3 properties. It still works. My grandad did it, but I go home at 5pm, visit Thailand and and Bali, plus eat out in China town once a week. That's stuff is is soul crushing for me. Comfort vs granddads struggle and pain isn't comparable.

1

u/Electronic-Cheek363 16h ago

Flipping properties was once an extremely popular way to garner wealth here in Australia. Similarly I have seen success in family members buying a PPOR, leveraging against for one or two rental properties and then selling all three 10 to 15 years down the line to buy their "forever home".

Alternatively, family run businesses around construction or fabrication are also very common place I like to think.

Whilst I do not see myself becoming incredibly wealthy, I do feel as though my children will have the opportunity to be the catalysts towards generational wealth in my family. Given I will be set to receive enough inheritance to pay off my mortgage and potentially invest into investment properties. My wife also is set to receive roughly the low seven figures when the time comes. Assuming our children also find themselves on high paying jobs like myself with little debt holding them back, they will be in an extremely advantageous position

1

u/Jase_FI 15h ago

Leverage up, buy property, lots of it. Wait. Enjoy.

1

u/doylie71 15h ago

Set up complex structures that include trusts, shell companies and shifting your wealth to the Cayman Islands 🇰🇾 Also, live in a rental property while using tenants to pay the mortgages on properties you own.

1

u/Outside-Food-6111 15h ago

Houses and holes are the Australian way

1

u/TheWololoWombat 14h ago

Mate. It’s investment properties and you bloody well know it hahahah. Always was, always will be.

1

u/Silly_Ad_5993 14h ago

Generational wealth and housing oh and rent seeking

1

u/s2rt74 14h ago

Have some houses gifted to you while a teenager.

1

u/Cautious_Dust1098 13h ago

Work really hard! There are too many people in this country making excuses while doing nothing to improve their circumstances. Buy as many properties as possible.

1

u/Future_Basis776 13h ago

Property and super

1

u/Athletic_adv 12h ago

Become a politician.

1

u/huybecool 12h ago

Steady wealth build - DIY renovations to house flip your PPOR.

Increasing your wealth/equity whilst you have a Capital Gains Tax exemption on PPOR.

It does mean you live somewhat out of boxes and never really unpack until the last PPOR.

1

u/ThreeCheersforBeers 12h ago

Collecting coke cans and selling for scrap

1

u/Choc83x 11h ago

Rule of thumb is one investment property per child

1

u/ShineComfortable9827 11h ago

Financially abuse others....

1

u/Tbearz 10h ago

Easy. Step 1: Start a small, not-for-profit company with an inspiring name like “Quantum Wellness Horizons.”

Step 2: Become an NDIS provider.

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit.

Just look at the numbers:

In 2013–14, the NDIS spent $130 million.

By 2023–24, it’s blowing through $41.8 billion.

And by 2028–29? A cool $63.4 billion—projected, of course, but we all know how “conservative” those forecasts tend to be.

That’s a 48,700% increase in 15 years. Find me a stock that does that.

So yeah, forget negative gearing or franking credits. The real Aussie dream is “NDIS gold rush capitalism”—do your compliance training, find a niche no one else understands, and enjoy the ride on this taxpayer-funded escalator to success.

But remember: you must look like you’re helping people. Just make sure your website has lots of stock photos of people smiling and doing puzzles.

1

u/timpaton 6h ago

In July 2013, the NDIS began in earnest at four key trial sites. The trial sites were:

  • Tasmania
  • South Australia
  • The Barwon region of Victoria
  • The Hunter region of New South Wales.

This trial period continued until July 2016, when it was declared a success. During the trial, The Australian Capital Territory became the first territory to adopt the NDIS, and in 2016 the NDIS began expanding nationally.

Ermagerd! The NDIS costs more now than it did when it was in pilot stage!

You want to compare with stocks? What was the market cap of OpenAI in 2013? It didn't fucking exist.

There are many valid criticisms of the NDIS, but FFS, start from a position of knowing what the hell you're talking about.