The state of the economy at the street level

[Dona Ferentes]

When I was young, a friend who is an accountant told me to forget about health insurance, and instead put the fee into an investment account, but if you're not disciplined keep the insurance.

done that ... a good enough immune system , and having to reset over 50 y.o.,, and self insurance became a realistic choice

I've been thinking about dropping the building insurance and just having contents insurance.

And now, a recent move, and it's self insurance so far .... land value is > 80% of what I paid. An older home, subdividable, had 250mm in 24 hrs last month and no probs. No bushfires. Upgrading the electrics next week.

 

[Bellcose]

I was considering dropping private health insurance. My taxable income is such I don't receive any private health insurance rebate. However, when I looked into it, as a single person cancelling the insurance would mean I'd be up for the Medicare levy surcharge which is a bummer.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

I was considering dropping private health insurance. My taxable income is such I don't receive any private health insurance rebate. However, when I looked into it, as a single person cancelling the insurance would mean I'd be up for the Medicare levy surcharge which is a bummer.

View attachment 180613

the self funded retiree is getting pincered... add franking credits and I'm close. So maintaining the SMSF balance is important

 

[Bellcose]

the self funded retiree is getting pincered... add franking credits and I'm close. So maintaining the SMSF balance is important

Unsurprisingly, the income thresholds for the private health insurance rebate is the same as the Medicare levy surcharge. Who would have ever have thought that was the case?

For single people or single income households there is an imbalance as well. A single person on $100k is worse off cash wise than a dual income household with each earning $50k as a result of one tax-free threshold v two. It's around $1k per month. Admittedly two people can have greater expenses than a single person. However, that doesn't apply to rates, car registration, household and contents insurance, electricity or water charges (although a two person household may use more but I doubt it would be double the usage.)

Last numbers I saw was of the working population over 18 years of age, 25% of them were single. It would include quite a number of younger individuals but there would likely be a chuck who are in the older age brackets and a high proportion being female.

Possibly very interesting dynamics going forward.

 

[divs4ever]

I was considering dropping private health insurance. My taxable income is such I don't receive any private health insurance rebate. However, when I looked into it, as a single person cancelling the insurance would mean I'd be up for the Medicare levy surcharge which is a bummer.

View attachment 180613

even the phone-salesmen won't continue after just four key words ... Myocardial Infarction and Disability Pension

but it sure frees up the phone line quickly

 

[sptrawler]

I heard an interesting conversation this morning, when on my early morning walk.
I stopped to buy a coffee and was having a chat with some elderly ladies, one asked me if I knew anything about reverse mortgages, I said I've never researched them but that they aren't for everyone.
As the conversation moved on two of the three elderly ladies were looking at getting reverse mortgages as they were finding it hard to make ends meet. None were smokers and being in their 80's they certainly didn't look like hardened drinkers.
I suggested they talk to centrelink and share the cost of a local financial adviser.
But obviously things are tough for single pensioners.

Sounds as though it is becoming more common, older Australians seem to be struggling on the pension.

Reverse mortgages on the rise among cash-strapped seniors​

Seniors are using their home’s equity to take out loans at greater rates than ever, but there’s a risk they may be “eating their house” too early.

Demand for the federal government’s Home Equity Access Scheme, which allows those over 67 to receive fortnightly payments capped at 150 per cent of the pension as well as two modest lump sum advances each year, has skyrocketed.
There were 12,115 participants in the scheme in March, compared to 768 in June 2019.

The total outstanding loan balance on the scheme is now $340.7 million, more than 10 times what it was five years ago.

 

[farmerge]

Sounds as though it is becoming more common, older Australians seem to be struggling on the pension.

Reverse mortgages on the rise among cash-strapped seniors​

Seniors are using their home’s equity to take out loans at greater rates than ever, but there’s a risk they may be “eating their house” too early.

Demand for the federal government’s Home Equity Access Scheme, which allows those over 67 to receive fortnightly payments capped at 150 per cent of the pension as well as two modest lump sum advances each year, has skyrocketed.
There were 12,115 participants in the scheme in March, compared to 768 in June 2019.

The total outstanding loan balance on the scheme is now $340.7 million, more than 10 times what it was five years ago.

It would appear that as times get tougher then those who are suffering will suffer more.

 

[sptrawler]

It would appear that as times get tougher then those who are suffering will suffer more.

At least the reverse mortgage elderly have something to mortgage, I'm starting to see some elderly living on the street, that are obviously new to it.
One lady who is obviously new to the life has moved into the local public toilet block, and another chap who looks exmilitary, very orderly with his gear, has camped in the entrance to the tourist bureau.
Packs up his gear at about 6 am every morning, has a wash and heads off for the day.

 

[farmerge]

At least the reverse mortgage elderly have something to mortgage, I'm starting to see some elderly living on the street, that are obviously new to it.
One lady who is obviously new to the life has moved into the local public toilet block, and another chap who looks exmilitary, very orderly with his gear, has camped in the entrance to the tourist bureau.
Packs up his gear at about 6 am every morning, has a wash and heads off for the day.

And this is Australia.
It's what we would unfortunately expect to see in the USofA

 

[sptrawler]

And this is Australia.
It's what we would unfortunately expect to see in the USofA

I guess it's pretty hard to find a rental, at an affordable price and that situation doesn't look like it will change in the near future.
i know someone who works pretty hard as a farm hand, just for a rent free farm house, better than living on the street though.
You hear some pretty horrible screaming and shouting during the night, if you live near the centre of town.

We haven't got to the USA stage yet, I was in San Francisco and Honolulu recently, there are pretty substantial tarpoulin structures on the footpaths and in the median strips.
I guess we are new to type of living, also our councils seem to move them on, when they start to get too established. They obviuosly don't want them to get too comfortable, whereas in the U.S it is that widespread, it would be pointless trying to move them on.

 

[farmerge]

I guess it's pretty hard to find a rental, at an affordable price and that situation doesn't look like it will change in the near future.
i know someone who works pretty hard as a farm hand, just for a rent free farm house, better than living on the street though.
You hear some pretty horrible screaming and shouting during the night, if you live near the centre of town.

We haven't got to the USA stage yet, I was in San Francisco and Honolulu recently, there are pretty substantial tarpoulin structures on the footpaths and in the median strips.
I guess we are new to type of living, also our councils seem to move them on, when they start to get too established. They obviuosly don't want them to get too comfortable, whereas in the U.S it is that widespread, it would be pointless trying to move them on.

View attachment 180696

Not the way of life that we as Australians are accustomed to.

 

[rcw1]

... I guess it's pretty hard to find a rental, at an affordable price and that situation doesn't look like it will change in the near future.
i know someone who works pretty hard as a farm hand, just for a rent free farm house, better than living on the street though. ...

Good evening sptrawler,
Hoping find you well. rcw1 yarn:

rcw1 lived in a farmhouse (free accommodation inclusive of free power) for many years, no concrete floors in them days ha ha ha ha. The landowner always provided breakfast and lunch and NQ lager ha ha ha ha. Managed to save some good coin and later on that provided opportunity. Worked fingers to the bone, picking tobacco and cash crops, mangos, lychees whatever the boss wanted. Got on well with Italian land owner. Treated rcw1 like another son, over time.

Worked hard, shut my mouth, earned respect and was looked after, even in bad times.
rcw1 bought that block, it sits there to remind rcw1 what is needed in life to make ends meet, indeed a beautiful place to go to reflect. Most of the block is under agistment ... to a battler.

Yes that journey in life was much better than living on the street. rcw1 wishes your friend all the very best, with cost-of-living these days, smart move by your friend. 100% true that.

Have very nice week.

Kind regards
rcw1

 

[sptrawler]

Good evening sptrawler,
Hoping find you well. rcw1 yarn:

rcw1 lived in a farmhouse (free accommodation inclusive of free power) for many years, no concrete floors in them days ha ha ha ha. The landowner always provided breakfast and lunch and NQ lager ha ha ha ha. Managed to save some good coin and later on that provided opportunity. Worked fingers to the bone, picking tobacco and cash crops, mangos, lychees whatever the boss wanted. Got on well with Italian land owner. Treated rcw1 like another son, over time.

Worked hard, shut my mouth, earned respect and was looked after, even in bad times.
rcw1 bought that block, it sits there to remind rcw1 what is needed in life to make ends meet, indeed a beautiful place to go to reflect. Most of the block is under agistment ... to a battler.

Yes that journey in life was much better than living on the street. rcw1 wishes your friend all the very best, with cost-of-living these days, smart move by your friend. 100% true that.

Have very nice week.

Kind regards
rcw1

That's what I told him, learn as much as you can and you will always find work in farming. He is loving it.

 

[noirua]

This is the way to do it with no personal taxation. I do not understand how personal taxation works in America and he only refers to Federal taxes and not State taxation. Anyway, why not do this in Australia? All State Taxation brought in line with Tasmania.

Trump Wants To Eliminate Income Taxes: 4 Other Ways You Would Pay Instead​

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/trump-wants-eliminate-income-taxes-4-other-ways-you-would-pay-instead

 

[JohnDe]

Australia was the lucky country. It’s now the - very - stupid country

Can’t argue with that, the evidence is out there for all to feel and see.

It’s still the economy, stupid. When I look at Canberra, individually and collectively, the very stupid.

The sharemarket might be at record levels; property prices continue to defy gravity - making the two-thirds of adult Australians who own property at least feel rich; superannuation balances have just jumped 8-10 per cent over 2023-24.

Yet the vast majority of Australians feel anything but financially well off.

Their all too-real day-to-day reality is high interest rates soaking up much of their disposable incomes - if they have a home loan.

Or punishing rents if they don’t. If they can indeed find a property to rent, that is.

Then, move on to the weekly supermarket bill; electricity and gas, education, health care, etc etc and many more etcs.

Those tax cuts? The $300 electricity handout to come?

Yeah, right; sitting somewhere between a drop in the ocean of financial pain, and an almost deliberate insult to their intelligence.

We’ll screw you blind; and then expect adulation when we ‘give’ you some of it back.

Then spare a particular thought for the 2.5 million or so SMEs - small and medium sized businesses - in Australia, and the maybe 5-7 million actual people behind them.

They suffer all the pain that every Australian has been subjected to, as individual Australians.

Plus the (quite unnecessarily) exploding costs of trying to run a business - plus the ever-expanding red tape.

In that broader reality of Australians as consumers suffering financial pain and not having the discretionary money to spend on their goods and services.

The critical, absolutely core, point is that it is all entirely self-imposed.

It doesn’t have to be this way. It is the direct and deliberate decisions of politicians - mostly but not exclusively in Canberra.

With the latest most obvious iteration, the out-of-control CFMEU - aided and abetted by the abolition of the construction industry watchdog by Prime Minister Albanese and the IR minister Tony Bourke.

Now, we can focus on this, and a host of other specific factors driving up costs and seriously hurting both jobs and business prospects and disposable incomes.

Including by forcing the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates higher than might otherwise be necessary.

But in big picture terms it all comes down to two things: two monumental stupidities.

The first is the completely out-of-control level of migration: a million migrants net in just two years, mostly flooding into Melbourne and Sydney.

Yes, they might keep the economy ticking over at the margin - providing workers in hospitality, and pumping their spending into the economy.

But those benefits are far, far outweighed by the costs - which spread right across the economy. Even to those sectors which receive no benefit on the other side.

The second is the deliberate program to destroy our electricity system.

We should be living in an Australia where electricity is plentiful, is reliable, and is cheap. As it used to be.

It’s not just the pain you feel in your bill, but the way high-cost power feeds so destructively into everything.

Australia was the lucky country. It’s now the - very - stupid country.

 

[qldfrog]

Australia was the lucky country. It’s now the - very - stupid country

Can’t argue with that, the evidence is out there for all to feel and see.

This is so accurate....
Mr @ducati916 you are lucky being spared this mayhem

 

[moXJO]

Aged care and disability seem to be firing a lot of workers. Have had a few people mention it.

 

[wayneL]

Aged care and disability seem to be firing a lot of workers. Have had a few people mention it.

When in Qld I shod horses for the biggest Riding For Disabled establishment in Australia, now closed, NDIS made it unviable.

I also hear many aged care facilities are losing money.

 

[moXJO]

Restaurants were full tonight. All the way till closing time.

 

[farmerge]

Restaurants were full tonight. All the way till closing time.

@moXJO I wonder after today's debacle whether they paid cash or card.