AusFinance

Planning to buy a house but not sure where to start. Any help is really appreciated.

Should it be done at all? Or how long should one wait for before getting credit card when having a existing mortgage?

FYI:

• we are here in NSW
• getting credit card only to take advantage of the points and convenience in some case, not a necessity

Watch out for scams, folks

This flowchart had been shared before, mostly on reddit and likely on lemmy too.

I believe it is good to keep passing this knowledge forward.

As for discussion, are there any changes needed for this flowchart? since it was created a while ago

Do you happen to know banks that meet these criteria?

• Telephone banking (of some fashion) provided
• TOTP for 2FA is a) available and b) its use is not contingent on the use of an app; 2FA seeds are freely exportable by the user via web login

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If independent consulting isn’t a good model, what are some other good alternatives?

Should we have a government agency monitors such contract and hold them accountable? So, pretty much a specialised ICAC constantly going through all gov-private contract to see if they are legitimate and determine if tax money is being ripped off?

I had always assumed that considering my share broker has my TFN that it would all be worked out automatically for me, the same as they already can with dividend income. But I go to MyGov to fill out the details and get met with a form asking me to manually enter CGT details:

Above it's got a list of a bunch of transactions, presumably from the large number of shares I sold earlier this year to pay for a downpayment on a house (the first time I've sold shares after a few years of buying).

From the company I buy shares through, I've got an "Interim Tax Summary Report" which has fields very similar to those in this sample PDF I found online:

If that sample was my actual report, would that be sufficient information to submit the three fields shown on MyGov with the following?

• Total current year capital gains: 36,767 (17,505+19,262)
• Net capital gain: 26,222 (17,505+9,631-914)
• Net capital loss carried forward to later income years: 0 (because Net capital gain is > 0)

And the "Wealth+ Management Fees" number (0 in this example, its equivalent not 0 in my real report) would go as a deduction under "Dividend deductions"?

edit: I have just realised that in my real one, (Long gains + short gains - losses - discount gains) is > 0. That makes me even more lost than I was to begin with.

As Vanguard retail funds are now closed to new investors, there is a risk that over time these funds may no longer be economically viable to operate and could result in increased fees or termination of the funds. This proposal gives you the opportunity to participate in a one-time transaction to transition to our larger wholesale funds without triggering a capital gain.

I just completed my tax on my gov and the estimate says I owe nearly a thousand dollars. I'm not earning any more than last year and I got about 800 back last year. Anyone else having this issue?

The online lists of bank savings accounts I've looked at are now mostly out of date.

The guardians for my grandmother recently got control of her CBA bank account (don't worry this isn't a horror story) and discovered it was all in an almost 0% interest account, so they've moved it to a goalsaver (4.65% at time of writing).

I have a CBA account, but moved my savings around a few years back first to Bank Australia (they had good interest for a while) then Credit Union SA (currently at 3.65%). I feel like I might end up with an account with everyone at this rate.

ING seems to offer 5.5% right now but they have a longer list of requirements attached than I expected (I'll have to start using their cards if I join them).

Any thoughts or advice? EDIT: Also are fixed term deposits ever sane? I've always assumed that guessing the direction of interest rates is a gamble.

After my license number was leaked in the Latitude breach I decided to put a credit reporting ban in place to provide extra protection. Having applied for a couple of banking products since then and having had the bans lifted a couple of times I am a bit disturbed by how easy it is.

To lift the ban you just fill out an online form with name, address, birthdate and license number - the same information that someone trying to steal my identity would have. Why isn't there some sort of two factor identification check? It seems like it would be pretty easy for someone else to lift the ban in order to access credit in my name, and even though I would realise quickly that something was wrong when I received the confirmation email that the ban had been lifted it would be difficult to do anything about it.

The wool market has dropped 20 per cent from last year. Brokers say they are dumping low-value wool into landfill. Growers are urged to keep producing wool despite the gloomy outlook.

Article

The Queensland Government in Australia has introduced new subsidies to help families with the costs of kindergarten (kindy) and childcare expenses. The subsidies aim to make these services more affordable and accessible for families in the state. Under the new scheme, families with a household income of less than $80,000 will receive free kindy for their children. Families with a household income between $80,000 and $100,000 will receive a subsidy of $2,500 per child. Additionally, families earning up to $160,000 will receive a subsidy of $2,000 per child. The government hopes that these measures will ease the financial burden on families and encourage more children to attend kindy and childcare facilities.

Canada's foreign home-buying ban sparks Aussie interest, but can it fix our housing affordability? PRD Real Estate chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said a ban for foreign buyers can potentially increase the supply of residential property.

VAS lowers management fee from 0.10% to 0.07%.

Discuss.

Rejoice!

When does ETF funds like Vanguard provide statement for tax filing? What fields should I look out for?

Another rate rise in the works? Or will they hold steady?

In his weekend market wrap, leading Sydney auctioneer and agent, Tom Panos, claimed “the exodus of real estate agents has begun”: