LifeTips for Getting Ahead in Australia

ggkfc on 01/05/2017 - 15:02
Last edited 02/05/2017 - 11:01

What's your tips for getting ahead in life, besides scrouging Ozbargain for sweet deals? Personally, I think negative gearing is one.

Some offered below:

mokr: "surround your self with successful people, its mostly about contacts"

railspider: "get a good job that pays good money"

Archi: good general points but seems like people think good guys finish last

mini2: being frugal, delay kids, make use of family to help childcare

Seraphin7: "Study, work hard, demonstrate value to your employer/customers, spend less than you earn, repeat"

Education & Work

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 01/05/2017 - 15:08
    +3

    get a job.

    • mini2 on 01/05/2017 - 20:08
      +33

      Need a well paying one according to Joe Hockey.

      • Cluster on 03/05/2017 - 10:28
        +19

        Also if you're poor, you don't drive or just drive short distances, according to Joe Hockey.

        • mini2 on 03/05/2017 - 10:47
          +6

          He's not exactly wrong either, $1k in most states to register a car these days, however much to get TPP and then there's maintenance on top. Oh don't forget the speeding fines, parking cost etc. It adds up especially speeding fines are now a bit of a lottery in itself.

        • insular on 03/05/2017 - 23:11
          +4

          @mini2: speeding fines? don't speed.

          that way you don't enter the 'lottery' of whether you'll get away with it or not.

        • Cluster on 04/05/2017 - 00:10
          +2

          @mini2: The car, registration, insurance, etc are big burdens for people who don't have much money. Some of them need to drive.

          I wouldn't include speeding fines in there however. I don't exactly pussyfoot around in my car, but I also do stick to the speed limit without holding up traffic. In 17 years of driving I have one fine, from 2000. I'm not saying that to elicit 'you're so perfect' false choice statements, but to show it's possible to drive 25k km per year on average and not get fined.

        • Cyphar on 04/05/2017 - 16:20
          +4

          @mini2:

          Oh don't forget the speeding fines, parking cost etc. It adds up especially speeding fines are now a bit of a lottery in itself.

          Well don't be a (profanity) and you don't have to worry about it. Been driving for 20 years now and I've never received one so it's not like it's a hard task.

        • nikey2k27 on 05/05/2017 - 05:46

          Now back in real poor people drive in the bush every body drive in the bush unlike you city people with your fancy public transport

        • PerthectDeal on 07/05/2017 - 01:46

          @mini2:
          Dont forget the biggest one, depreciation.. If you own anything apart from an old cheap car, it is going to be costing you thousands every year (sometimes tens of thousands)….

        • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 10:31

          @mini2: It's like 'don't eat much of fruits if you are poor since they are quite expensive these days' instead of actually checking prices of fruits so that everyone can afford them. No? Just a thought about basic necessities for living in Australia. Sign.. wish our public transportation was as great as some places in EU.

        • mini2 on 07/05/2017 - 13:43
          -1

          @virhlpool:

          Perhaps vent your anger elsewhere? I don't set the prices so perhaps talk to someone that does or could do something about it. Your local MP could be a good start.

        • LakeVostok on 09/05/2017 - 21:26

          Also don't eat smashed avocados! Only eat whole ones! ROFL

    • Timothy-Mineworker on 02/05/2017 - 17:44

      hey how about you give me a job, i've applied to hundreds over the past few weeks, no luck

      • Moose-au on 04/05/2017 - 18:14
        +1

        Well, WTF are you doing wrong ? Are you applying for any job regardless of whether you have any interest, skills, or aptitude for the job ???

        • Timothy-Mineworker on 05/05/2017 - 09:48

          nope, applying for jobs via seek which suit my qualifications

        • JV159 on 05/05/2017 - 17:00
          +2

          @rowjack1993: Thumbs up from me, it's not always easy. I live in Melbourne, have a uni degree and over a year freelance experience in my field and still can't find a part time job for my skills.

        • Easygoingjoe on 05/05/2017 - 18:16

          @rowjack1993: Tough market - especially if you don't have much relevant work experience. Get your resume reviewed and keep trying mate. Good Luck.

      • biltong2go on 05/05/2017 - 19:56
        +11

        I've been placing ads on Seek and Gumtree lately. The majority of applications I receive are of such a frustratingly low standard, as if they have put no thought into their CVs whatsoever.

        In your case, if I assume you were born in 1993 based on your username, being so young you may be short on work experience, which means you'll have to try even harder to impress prospective employers that you're worth pursuing. Also being young, Australians at that age have a slight reputation for having a poor work ethic, so you'll need to sell yourself as being passionate, organised, and committed to your jobs/roles.

        So the point being, if you aren't getting any responses, it's probably your CV.

        Here are some examples of common mistakes:
        * Don't just put "Sydney" as your location. Sydney is @#%$ing massive. WHERE IN "SYDNEY" DO YOU BLOODY LIVE??? If you are willing to relocate closer, say so.
        * Putting places you've worked but failing to put the company name properly, the location/city/country, the months that you were employed there, or the duties you had.
        * What are your work rights? Are you a citizen/PR? If you have a visa, what kind of visa, what are your work restrictions? Even when the ad clearly states that the role is for people with full work rights, we still get people applying, only to find out after the interview that they aren't eligible.
        * If you have a drivers license, scooter, or car, mention this in your ad.
        * Typos. Proofread your CV or get it checked by someone who can spell.
        * Answer all questions provided in the job ad. If you don't, it shows you didn't read the job properly. Who wants to hire someone that can't read properly?
        * Be careful what you say on your CV. If your stated "objective" conflicts with the job you're applying for, many employers will reject you. You may need to create multiple CVs for different purposes, e.g. 1 for your true career objective, and a general 1 for jobs before then.
        * Think of the profile of the person of the roles you are applying for. If I am advertising a very technical or analytical role, I want to see that kind of person in your CV, and not a sports or fitness fanatic who likes to surf and goes fishing every weekend, or an aspiring actor or part-time model who has completed a beauty school course in makeup. Of course you should still be honest about who you are, but there are occasions where your honesty may hold you back for roles you believe you are suitable for. If you are keen for a role at KFC for a few months, don't mention that you have a PhD in Neuroscience, as you'll be overqualified.

        I hope this helps.

        • Timothy-Mineworker on 06/05/2017 - 10:11

          woah, thanks for this, i don't put my correct address, just "Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast, 4218" but i will take what you said into account, thanks for the tips

      • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 10:35

        100's? Either your skills aren't in demand at present (in which case you need to upskill yourself) or you are doing something wrong. Even if by hundreds you meant 200 (being conservative in your favour), I doubt if success ratio for interview calls is as bad as lower than 1/200, assuming you did everything right.

        Don't take me wrong, I am just being practical about it though I know the job market is generally bad here due to our smaller economy as compared to some bigger places where jobs find you and you don't have to chase them generally.

        • Timothy-Mineworker on 07/05/2017 - 14:44

          its more along the lines of about 10 in the past 2 weeks, 100 in the past year

    • Lord Fart Bucket on 03/05/2017 - 13:15

      Marry someone with lots of money. Try to be like Mary and snag yourself some money… uhh…a prince.

      • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2017 - 13:37
        +2

        I'm on the lookout for any HOT YOUNG sugar mummas

        • Scrooge McDuck on 07/05/2017 - 22:10

          Why would they be sugar mammas if they were hot OR young?

      • chaz90 on 04/05/2017 - 15:26
        +2

        Apparently try to reduce exposure to Excessive Debt,Divorce, Disease & Disability, Disaster and Drugs..

        And infamously "dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge"

  • try2bhelpful on 01/05/2017 - 15:15
    +24

    If you ask the Liberal party it is get a well paying job - which is interesting as I think there main concept is to be born into a family that has money.

    • blint000 on 03/05/2017 - 09:53
      +2

      *their FTFY. Maybe they also paid attention in school.

      • try2bhelpful on 03/05/2017 - 12:24

        Funnily enough I did pay attention in school which is why I didn't have to be born into a family with money and why I will be able to fund my own retirement. The problem is the Liberal party wants to make sure the "born to rule" guys are the only ones with money. As shown by the attitudes of the Melbourne Uni "Young Libs", where they wish women would get back into the kitchen and stop bothering them as well.

        • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2017 - 21:14
          +5

          What a pathetic sweeping generalization.
          Not all liberal party voters were born into money either. The majority just don't want Australia becoming a welfare state. The hardest working, smartest people in Australia vote for the liberal party, and there's a reason for that. They appreciate that the liberal party doesn't just want to give their hard earned money away for nothing just because someone else didn't share their ambitions or desire to succeed growing up.

          I hope you see the irony in the above and think about your own statements.

        • dmac on 03/05/2017 - 22:14
          +9

          @murphy84: Whether we like it or not being part of Australia means you are part of a co-operative team. Those that are stronger members of the team do not help the team by leaving stragglers behind, a team works best when everyone works together. This means that more skilled and fortunate people help those that aren't at the higher end of the spectrum.

          It's not for nothing, it's so that we all benefit.

        • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2017 - 23:37
          +3

          @dmac:

          I agree 100%. Everyone has to work together but everyone also has to do their part. Their must be incentive for people to want to innovate and come up with new ideas. People need to work hard to get ahead. If they can't do that due to certain situations that are out of their control, then of course, empathy and help are required. Liberal party voters want less government intervention and a better balance between rewarding the active members in the economy and rewarding those who choose to do the minimum.
          You'll find 95% of business owners (from the fish n chip shop or home cleaner to the guy who owns 2 KFC franchises) will vote for the Liberal party because they are the only party that at least 'attempts' to reward businesses that provide the jobs to the citizens who then pay more taxes to the government, spend more money, and keep society more prosperous.

          Unfortunately, due to strong union manipulation and blackmail, the Labor party believes that businesses in Australia operate to provide overpaid jobs before providing any reward to those who take the risk on investing and creating markets.

          The real aim of a business is to make a profit, so it can keep operating, and thus keep providing jobs to society.
          The Labor party believes the aim of a business is the exact opposite.

        • try2bhelpful on 04/05/2017 - 11:03
          +1

          @murphy84: The majority of workers in Australia are not running fish and chip shops or small businesses. They are either employed by larger organisations or are they employees of the small businesses. Given there is a number of high profile cases at the moment where employees are being ripped off then there, obviously, needs to be very strong legislation in place to ensure that people are not exploited. I have no problem with people being paid for what they are worth, but there are a lot of people out there using loop holes in the law to ensure they don't pay their fair share of taxes. The Liberal party would, certainly, have more than their fair share of people doing this. I love the fact you guys get on your high horses about my generalisations but have no problem with making generalisations about the Labor party. Australia is not a "welfare" state. Interestingly enough the people who are the "welfare" beneficiaries are the ones rorting the system and using high powered accountants to hide their money. For every poor sod that takes a few bucks extra from unemployment benefits there are people at the top end ripping off hundreds of thousands, if not millions, by hiding assets offshore, using dodgy loan deals or family trusts.

        • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 04/05/2017 - 17:32
          +2

          @try2bhelpful: You comment about small business is incorrect. Small business in NSW employs over 85% of workers in NSW.( Source: data used by us , sourced from ABLIS)
          Not sure about other states, but cannot be too different.

        • try2bhelpful on 04/05/2017 - 17:36
          +3

          @varunpant: you obviously missed my comment of "or are they(sic, should be the) employees of the small businesses". I said the majority aren't "running fish and chip shops or small businesses".

          What I'm saying is the PAYG workers do not have the same ability to "arrange" their taxation as small business owners. The taxes are what gives us hospitals, roads, education, etc.

        • serpserpserp on 04/05/2017 - 18:43
          +3

          @murphy84:

          Not really. The smartest people in Australia are probably swing voters that vote for whatever interests they value are put up by either party. The liberals absolutely want to give your hard earn money away to big business via tax cuts and other things that are in their interests and not for hard working smart people. The Labour party are hopeless at accepting too much change when their leader gets rolling.

        • atolikan on 04/05/2017 - 19:58

          @varunpant:

          That's not even close to true mate and you are absolutely talking out your ass to come and correct someone with fraudulent statistics like this.
          In Australia only 45% of people are employed by small businesses, and in NSW its only 1.5 million people… small business only supplies a quarter of NSW wages…
          Furthermore, this statistic is entirely unrepresentative and meaningless (or rather, looks better than it actually is) because SIXTY PERCENT of those businesses do not employ ANYONE.

        • Harold Halfprice on 04/05/2017 - 22:03
          +1

          @murphy84:

          The hardest working, smartest people in Australia vote for the liberal party

          And, by the looks of it, the least modest as well.

        • [Deactivated] on 04/05/2017 - 22:57
          +2

          @sjn:

          Or most honest?

          I didn't neg you btw.

        • Harold Halfprice on 05/05/2017 - 01:07
          +2

          @murphy84:

          You don't have to be lying to lack modesty. Surely, Australia's smartest would understand that they're not mutually exclusive? :)

        • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 05/05/2017 - 13:09
          +1

          @atolikan: I rechecked the facts, and you are correct. Apologies to the original poster. But no need to use such expressions as "talking out your ass".

        • Wibbi on 12/05/2017 - 15:07

          @murphy84: *there FTFY. Maybe they also paid attention in school.

  • hell0 on 01/05/2017 - 15:20
    +10

    Act like your friends with people and use the friendship to your advantage.
    Don't buy crap on here just because it is cheap - spend your time bettering yourself.

  • Stopback on 01/05/2017 - 15:23
    +18

    surround your self with successful people, its mostly about contacts.

    But what do you have to offer them?

  • ihbh on 01/05/2017 - 15:26
    +7

    Learn the language and assimilate yourself into the Australian culture.

    • doodo477 on 02/05/2017 - 20:22
      +3

      AustrAsian?

    • frostman on 03/05/2017 - 08:37
      +29

      Learn the language and assimilate yourself into the Australian culture.

      Do you mean OP should start going to drunken house parties every week then take the occasional holiday to bali to act like a monkey?

      • ily on 05/05/2017 - 14:28
        +1

        Don't forget to assert that Australia is a Christian country as you aggresively promote secularim

        • frostman on 05/05/2017 - 16:35
          +2

          I'm not being racist, but people shouldn't assimilate to anything here, there's no culture to assimilate to, lol

          Anything that's partially labelled as "culture" can easily be thrown has habitual/hobby/lifestyle, not culture.

          Australia is a new country with English roots, that's it.

          Unlike countries like England, Morroco, Italy, Spain, Iran (+ many more) which have REAL culture established from centuries of the same kind. Australia is a melting pot of different cultures so we should celebrate that we have this mix here.
          I don't need to have a BBQ on Australia day, or walk around the beach with a longneck just because other people do it.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/05/2017 - 20:13

          There are definitely values that people should assimilate to; e.g. Freedom of individual expression. Many cultures simply don't have this to any degree in comparison. We aren't perfect, but as you mentioned, we are constantly adapting, and we aren't tied into millennia of nonsensical tradition, and maybe that's a culture that should be celebrated.

        • kangaroo on 05/05/2017 - 22:50

          @frostman: I agree. What I expect from new migrants is for them to have universally accepted core values of love, compassion, respect etc and a good understanding that no one should be discriminated based on race, religion or sexuality. There is nothing special about Australian Way of Life. Its the same as in any Western Democracy. Successive generation of migrations will reshape Australia too. One can't expect Australia to be the same all the time. It will change (for the good).

        • frostman on 06/05/2017 - 09:44
          +1

          @kangaroo:

          What I expect from new migrants is for them to have universally accepted core values of love, compassion, respect etc and a good understanding that no one should be discriminated based on race, religion or sexuality

          Well sadly not many people share your views in this country. People here want the migrants (new and old) to drop their religion, 2nd language, family traditions, cultural values + take up lifestyle choices such as drinking alcohol in events and gatherings otherwise you're the odd one out. Then when you do all that, you still haven't really integrated because you don't share the same appearance looks, so too bad.

        • ily on 06/05/2017 - 23:51

          @frostman:
          people shouldn't assimilate to anything here

          Agreed.

          @frostman:
          there's no culture to assimilate to

          People often mock Australians for not having any culture (dress, food, etc). But they often look for the wrong thing.

          There is a dominant culture, systemically built on the oppression of the first nations and the subsequent exploitation of minorities, "accepted" only when they're of fiscal benefit. From the top down they're used as a scapegoat for everything wrong with Australia and are spoken about, but never spoken with/to. A culture of creating false narratives to socially and economically tragic realities based on an us vs them divide.

          Culture is vs isn't: It's not 'meat pies', rather the heckling that people get for halal food, stinky curries, weird 'asian' tastes. It's not the 'fair go' culture, it's the scapegoating of a criminal's race or religion when they're judged. etc

        • Scrooge McDuck on 07/05/2017 - 22:23
          +1

          @Cubist:

          We aren't perfect, but as you mentioned, we are constantly adapting, and we aren't tied into millennia of nonsensical tradition, and maybe that's a culture that should be celebrated.

          Or we could just do things as a result of rational thought processes rather than because our ancestors did them.

        • [Deactivated] on 08/05/2017 - 12:24

          @Scrooge McDuck:

          That's definitely a way to paraphrase what I was getting at.

    • OzzyOzbourne on 03/05/2017 - 17:42
      +2

      Awwwwwwe moyte!

    • Miss B on 03/05/2017 - 20:14
      +5

      Yeah, who would want to be around people who aren't just like them? We should also send people who dare suggest that any improvements could be made in Australia back where they came from if they weren't born here, or look like they might not have been born here!

  • mskeggs on 01/05/2017 - 15:42
    +17

    Personally, I think negative gearing is one.

    How rewarding is it in a flat or declining market?

    • ozbargainer888 on 02/05/2017 - 09:11

      Yeah I was thinking that this advice was true in the last 10 years but not so much beginning now going forward.

    • ensanguined on 03/05/2017 - 11:25

      We can ask that when the market actually does decline, which it hasn't for a very long time and won't for a very long time.

      • mskeggs on 03/05/2017 - 11:33
        +5

        and won't for a very long time.

        If you are right, there is nothing to worry about with taking out historically massive loans on property that is trading at many times historical valuations.
        I guess it is all different this time.

        But forget declines. How rewarding is negative gearing in a market with growth below inflation?

        • ensanguined on 03/05/2017 - 11:36

          True, but why does inflation matter? Don't the vast majority of investors rent the property out or improve/re-sell quickly, so growth isn't too important?

        • mskeggs on 03/05/2017 - 12:36
          +4

          @ensanguined:

          so growth isn't too important?

          Do you know what negative gearing is?

        • ensanguined on 03/05/2017 - 12:53
          -4

          Do you?

        • mskeggs on 03/05/2017 - 14:19
          +39

          @ensanguined:

          I'll take that as a "no".
          I'm not targeting you with this response, just the general "buy now" mindset.
          I get really frustrated with the Australia Real Estate lobby. People who do not own property, and especially people considering investment property, these lobbyists are not considering your best interests. As a result, there is this huge amount of noise and fury promoting real estate, yet very little consideration of the risk that property may not continue its meteoric rise. Consider how an average investor entering the market today would perform if prices stay flat.

          Average investment property price in Sydney (I'm guessing here): $600k
          Deposit @ 10%: $60k
          Stamp duty: $17,990 in NSW (let's capitalise it into the mortgage)
          LMI: we can ignore, maybe you refinanced your house as part of equity
          Gross rental yield at $450 wk rent = 3.8% (AFR says the average is 2.9%, looks like you got a bargain!)
          Agent management fee @ 10% rent = $2340p.a.
          Council rates : $1500 p.a. (low)
          Strata fees or building insurance = $1500p.a (low)
          Maintenance costs; $1250 (0.2% of price, low).
          Total annual costs: $6590
          Net yield: 3.25% (beats the bank!)
          Interest: 3.9% (pretty sharp like a true OzB)
          Net income before interest: $16,810
          Interest costs: $21,762p.a.
          Net loss = $4952 p.a.

          Assuming you negative gear in the top tax bracket, loss after negative gearing is $2575p.a.
          If there were 4 years of no growth, would you be happy down a cumulative $10k?
          And what if interest rates rose a tiny 0.5%?
          That brings interest costs to $24552p.a.
          Or heaven forbid, if rates went up 1%! $27,342 in interest each year. Over $5k in losses each year after negative gearing. That has to come out of your take home pay.

          I suppose if this happened you could always sell, right? But if there had been no growth for a couple of years, how many buyers will be lining up to get themselves in this loss making position?

          Imagine after 3 years you sold for what you paid, happy to be not losing anymore. The sale will cost 1.5% agent fees ($9k) and you still owe $557,990 in principle. So your 3 years of property ownership has left you with $25k of your original $60k.

          That is what happens if prices don't grow even if rates stay very low.

          Rates can't drop much further, income growth has stalled so rents aren't growing. What is going to cause the growth you need to make money here?

          Or to put it another way - what is going to stop you losing a lot of money?

          Now I am the first to admit I would be much richer if I had ignored the sensible numbers and bought more properties in the last 5 years. But that doesn't mean I am wrong now, and the margin for error is shrinking and shrinking. To not lose a lot of money in a new real estate investment purchased today, you would need a continuation of extraordinarily low rates and ongoing above average price growth. After years of both, making a reversion to the mean increasingly likely.

          There are people retiring from work in Japan today who have been paying off a mortgage for 25 years who still owe as much as their home is worth. Bad stuff can happen, and it sucks to be the last ones to the party when it occurs.

        • gromit on 03/05/2017 - 15:50
          +1

          @ensanguined: inflation matters a LOT, negative gearing only makes sense when the market is rising and it has to be rising well above the rate of inflation otherwise all negative gearing means is you are losing a shitload of money. Negative gearing is not a short term investment option, you don't want to be negatively geared on a property in a flat or declining market.

        • swen83 on 03/05/2017 - 19:51

          @gromit: I think negative gearing sucks too many people in. That said I think negative gearing on a short term (or short period on an) investment is better than on a long term one. Committing to taking a loss for 30 years just to get some tax back requires a fair amount of capital gains to break even. For the individual, and the country.

        • Skramit on 04/05/2017 - 11:28
          -2

          @mskeggs:

          Where in your calcs have you factored in the 21k tax deduction? I can't see it. The whole point is the tax deduction….

          Net income before interest: $16,810
          Interest costs: $21,762p.a.
          Net loss = $4952 p.a.

        • mskeggs on 04/05/2017 - 12:15
          +1

          @Skramit:
          The costs (interest and mngmt/rates/maintenance etc.) off set the income resulting in a net loss of $4952p.a. So the owner's income goes up by $23400 (total rent received) and they get all the deductions (costs) of $26,714.
          I split interest costs out from the other costs so I could more easily show how sensitive the bottom line is to changes in loan rates.

        • ProggerPete on 04/05/2017 - 13:33

          @mskeggs: It's so good to see someone spelling things out to people. So many have bought into the anti negative gearing hype, but claiming expenses is standard for any entity and removing the ability to negative gear would actually be treating house investment different to any other form of investment.

          The capital gains tax discount on the other hand obviously encourages investment in housing over other investments. There may be some value in applying it to new builds only if you want to encourage investment in that area, but I don't see the merit in applying it across the board.

        • timi2fly on 04/05/2017 - 15:10
          +3

          @ProggerPete:

          I agree completely. I think there is a widespread misunderstanding that negative gearing simply implies that you get a special 'tax deduction'. This completely ignores the fact that you have to be making an actual loss (of money) to be entitled to negative gearing. If you have no capital growth then negative gearing is pointless.

          Put it this way - for any given property, if you had the option (as magical as it would be) to either negative gear or positively gear it, only a lunatic would choose for it to be negatively geared.

          It's amazing the number of people I speak to who have this distorted and misinformed perception of negative gearing and it's refreshing to see some solid understanding here on OzB.

        • DingoBilly on 04/05/2017 - 18:35

          @mskeggs:

          I feel like this is pretty misleading, at least some of the numbers. I'm able to achieve 6%+ rental yield easily without trying too hard. If you pick the most expensive place to buy in like Sydney though, of course you're going to have a more difficult time. But $450 on a $350,000 property is much nicer.

        • mskeggs on 04/05/2017 - 18:42

          @PhilipJWitow:

          Not many $350k properties for sale in Sydney. As stated, the AFR reports average gross yield in Sydney is 2.9%, so 3.8% is reasonably fair, I think. Consider too, that prices rose nearly 20% last year, so a property yielding 5% gross 18months ago is now yielding 4% if you had to buy it again at today's prices.

          If you can find a property on realestate.com.au for $350k that will rent for $450 in Sydney I will be gob smacked. Perhaps part ownership of a hotel room where they "guarantee" income for the first x years?

        • DingoBilly on 04/05/2017 - 18:55

          @mskeggs:

          Again, don't pick a place in Sydney, it's not representative of Australia at large…

        • mskeggs on 04/05/2017 - 18:58

          @PhilipJWitow:
          OK.
          Fair point. There are plenty of country towns and smaller capitals where yield is good.
          I do worry that they will suffer a bit from gloomy conditions when Sydney and Melbourne come back to reality, but if you have a good yield and long time frame, its all good.
          And no need for negative gearing either!

        • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 10:48

          @PhilipJWitow: Please post some links of properties that have 6%+ yields in today's prices. That will be awesome and end the debate right then.

        • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 10:51

          @swen83: Well said. Even 5 yrs of neg gearing without any capital gain would put me on high alert though it's unlikely to be true in case of Sydney seeing the recent past.

        • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 11:06

          @mskeggs: Totally agree with your analysis. Don't you think though with stable flow of immigrants (200k a year at least), and people moving in from others states to Sydney because its greater economy, the prices will keep rising and can't stall like they did in Japan? People need more houses. Everyone living on rent in Sydney aspire to own a house in the city some day (same with any other city).

    • virhlpool on 07/05/2017 - 10:46

      Tax exemption on losses incurred can be called profits, hey! Losses are new profits now.

  • chumlee on 01/05/2017 - 15:52
    +12

    Enter parliament. Great income with great benefits and you don't even need to be good at it

    • the cheeky dropbear on 01/05/2017 - 16:18
      +3

      You need to be good at making empty promises

      • Kangal on 01/05/2017 - 16:24
        +5

        I promise you that I am :P

        (..wait double-negative d'oh!)

        • Yarkin on 04/05/2017 - 15:51

          Actually I think you're doing just fine!

  • tomleonhart on 01/05/2017 - 16:02

    getting ahead in what way ?

    • Kangal on 01/05/2017 - 16:25
      +16

      Traffic

    • AMLagonda on 03/05/2017 - 16:44
      +2

      Id like to get some head….

    • ronnknee on 04/05/2017 - 10:12

      OP made a typo. There's supposed to be a space in "ahead".

  • Archi on 01/05/2017 - 16:26
    +37

    • Common sense, seems like a lot of people lack this basic thought process, I guess it is not so basic to some.

    • Karma, treat people and things the way you would like to be treated. be a "^%$# wit" and you get treated like one. but next level stuff would be, just because someone is a "^%$# wit" doesn't mean you should be one back (common sense prevails or see point below)

    • People need to learn to let go and ask yourselves was it necessary to react or behave in such a way (road rage comes to mind)

    • Empathy, not enough people understand what this is, and the ones that do, don't show it very often. (look at the world from another persons point of view)

    • Lead by example, show people the right way to do things using the above points and be compassionate and patient

    • learn, not everyone will be the same as yourself, people come from different backgrounds and from different experiences.

    don't sweat the small stuff, the way you choose to live your life doesn't just impact you but everyone around you.

    • John Kimble on 01/05/2017 - 18:03
      +17

      Nice guys (almost) always finish last, so the Karma thing (although I try and live by it) doesn't always work out. People will take advantage of you.

      • Archi on 01/05/2017 - 22:08
        +4

        You are probably right. But the problem with karma is alot of people look at it the wrong way, some expect something in return for their actions or validation that it happenned.

        • stanstho on 03/05/2017 - 11:17
          +3

          I'm not so sure he's talking about the relationship slant of this saying; but more the career/life slant.

        • John Kimble on 03/05/2017 - 18:49
          +2

          Well that escalated quickly!

      • Praeto on 06/05/2017 - 09:07

        That just isn't true. None of the suggestions by Archi suggesting being a door mat and letting people walk all over you. The trick is surrounding yourself with people that also share these values.

    • dogboy on 01/05/2017 - 19:12
      +5

      Common sense isn't that common unfortunately.

    • outlander on 01/05/2017 - 19:20
      +6

      Empathy, not enough people understand what this is

      What is it?

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