Living within your means

[Big Sauce 21]

Having your own personal refuge that you can afford is great, where you can just be yourself and your time is your own, but what enriches your life? Do you read books? Listen to music? Have a hobby? Exercise? Pets? Gardening? Investing in the share market?

What besides your abode are you happy to spend money on?

The occasional golf game with my brother and brother in law. I'm very boring and probably on the spectrum which is why I'm happy to repeat the same process nearly every day. 6 months a year I'll nerd out with sport. Over Summer I'll just chill on YouTube. I'm hoping to have the house paid off in around 8 years I think. After that I might relax and splash some money.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

The occasional golf game with my brother and brother in law. I'm very boring and probably on the spectrum which is why I'm happy to repeat the same process nearly every day. 6 months a year I'll nerd out with sport. Over Summer I'll just chill on YouTube. I'm hoping to have the house paid off in around 8 years I think. After that I might relax and splash some money.

Thanks for replying, I realise I sounded nosy

We're all different.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Thanks for replying, I realise I sounded nosy

We're all different.

It's all g. Been waiting for a thread like this lol.

 

[edgie]

I reckon there's a very health upper middle class in Australia.

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[errant bounce]

That brings another thought to mind: I also blame Afterpay (and its competitors). It teaches *ing terrible money habits. I get taking out a loan for a house or a car, but a loan to buy a pair of shoes? * me, if you don't have the money yet, don't buy it!

Can't you afterpay holidays now?

Everything is incredibly expensive but people really don't help themselves. I work with people who are buying lunch every time they're in the office, think it's funny that they can't cook, and obsess over a new car. they can't stay put for a long weekend so they're going to Hobart or Sydney four times a year and planning some extravagant trip to Mexico or the Med. I know people who can't get a tram to the next suburb so insist on a 20 dollar uber and then go 'we should have just walked that.' stuff like ordering food they don't touch, constantly buying absolute tat and having a house with anko products that break down and clothes that don't last. they'll go somewhere or buy something for convenience and out of pure laziness. chick I work with routinely goes to a 7 Eleven to buy a bunch of bananas and comes back with those and four packets of some other shite. that's got to cost genuinely 30 or so bucks.

I don't work at Ernst & Young and didn't attend an elite private school either so I don't know how they're keeping afloat, I assume it's just massive debt.

The biggest thing now though is the comfort of owning a home (outright or just about) and having had 20-plus years of working. being on 50 grand since in the 90s is completely different to being on 90 today. my parents can go on holidays on a whim, buy a brand new car when the old one dies like it's replacing the batteries in your TV remote, or decide they're over their job and have a couple of months off and it doesn't really change a thing. any of those things would cripple most of my peers.

Honestly if you've been regularly employed for the last 25 years and have nothing, you'd want to have some pretty terrific stories to make up for it.

 

[edgie]

Have a budget
Keep track of your expenses
Learn to cook
Don't eat out or buy coffee every day on your way to work

It's really not that hard

Many people these days won't even a coffee that isn't brought, there's some real instant coffee hate around.

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[ShooterMcGavin8]

I like to live by the motto if I can't afford I don't buy it. Housing excepted. Taking loans for things like cars and boats I'm not keen on. I bought an older ute and a tinny outright with cash. Suits my needs and in the price range. Buy a lot of food in bulk as well and freeze it.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Only ever borrowed for a mortgage. There used to be the lay-by system, where the shop would put aside whatever you wanted, eg kids’ Christmas toys, or something you didn’t have enough cash for, and you would pay it off over a few weeks, then collect it (always an exciting day ).

Then came credit cards…

 

[Frank Bunn]

Many people these days won't even a coffee that isn't brought, there's some real instant coffee hate around.

You can't beat a good barista made coffee but sometimes you pay $6 and it's meh. At home I've got an Aldi machine and use their no. 11 pods. It's pretty damn good for about 50c a cup.

 

[errant bounce]

Only ever borrowed for a mortgage. There used to be the lay-by system, where the shop would put aside whatever you wanted, eg kids’ Christmas toys, or something you didn’t have enough cash for, and you would pay it off over a few weeks, then collect it (always an exciting day ).

Then came credit cards…

Lay buy was a classic for working class families in Australia in England, I think actually going up and paying actual cash for an item is nowhere near as insidious as After Pay. you could also stop the payments and get the money back iirc.

I was always told to never get a credit card and to live within your means, but to treat yourself. I like buying good quality stuff and it’s all lasted for ages. it’s one of the nicest things my parents have instilled in me.

The issue with the middle class, all over the world, is they generally piss money away on absolute pish and go into stupid debt just to impress other people. I know people who went to good private schools but they’d alternate between toast and takeaway for dinner and have Sanyo TVs and shit clothes.

 

[Cruyff14]

We live within our means.

We are ahead in our mortgage, and that is the only debt we have.

We aren't extravagant in our spending, we shop at Aldi, Woolworths and a fresh food place to minimise our costs. But cost of living increases still don't make it easy, no matter how responsible you are with money. We don't wear high end designer clothes, we drive modest cars (both have Hyundai's), and we don't go out often for meals let alone expensive ones.

I'm pretty frugal, my wife a bit more free spending but not outrageous. Would spend far too much on coffee regularly and we'd have regular arguments about it. Better now.

No CC and decent amount of savings in the bank.

And I'm sure those with kids will understand when I say they cost a lot.

 

[Shane Sheridan]

I ore was quite careful for quite a while until about 2014. Only went interstate once a year, drank moderately. From 2015 started travelling overseas once a year; mortgage now has an offset with a dollar difference in it; don’t drink anymore; travel interstate or overseas at least 3 times a year; 500 a week into
superannuation; golf at least 3 times a week; went 12 days in a row before I took off to Japan on new years eve. I did the hard yards, now that the end is well and truly closer to the start I’m spending like a drunken sailor.

 

[revo333]

Hello crico

Certified Legendary Thread - Chrisco Hampers - who in their right mind buys them ?

As Christmas approaches and bogans all across the country await their hard earned chrisco christmas hamper it begs the question why ? The hamper contains readily available products from any supermarket for at least 3 times the price and you run the risk of it not arriving. Do you know anyone...

www.bigfooty.com

Crico must be a new thing because no way old people would be reckless with their money!

 

[revo333]

I ore was quite careful for quite a while until about 2014. Only went interstate once a year, drank moderately. From 2015 started travelling overseas once a year; mortgage now has an offset with a dollar difference in it; don’t drink anymore; travel interstate or overseas at least 3 times a year; 500 a week into
superannuation; golf at least 3 times a week; went 12 days in a row before I took off to Japan on new years eve. I did the hard yards, now that the end is well and truly closer to the start I’m spending like a drunken sailor.

If you have done the hard yards you have earned the right to go hammer and tongs eventually!

 

[jd2010]

I was always told to never get a credit card and to live within your means, but to treat yourself. I like buying good quality stuff and it’s all lasted for ages. it’s one of the nicest things my parents have instilled in me.

As a financial advisor who works on this sort of thing, getting people out of short term debt or paying their mortgage of in half the time the bank wants them to, this is key!

We've got studies that show people spend 12-18% more on credit than they do debit basis. It's not the interest that cripples people financially, it's the overspending. The banks actually want you to not notice it and never incur the high interest costs. Because you'll keep overspending year after year.

Had a client recently say but I get my $500 voucher end of year with the points. I pointed out that they probably spent somewhere between $10-16k more than they should have with the credit card in use. Banks don't run too many things as a loss maker, $16k overspending equals a lot of merchant fees for the bank, plus there was a $100 a year card fee.

 

[revo333]

As a financial advisor who works on this sort of thing, getting people out of short term debt or paying their mortgage of in half the time the bank wants them to, this is key!

The issue is many people on social media say you shouldn't pay your mortgage off as quickly as possible.

Finance is a difficult topic to get advice, one thing might be the right thing to do but there are equally more people saying the opposite.

Just like the Rent money is dead money debate.