Housing. How Do You Look at It and Not Go Crazy?

oztite on 16/10/2019 - 11:51

OK, so I found out my boss's boss recently sold a home in a prestigious suburb of Melbourne for about a $7 million profit over a 5 year period. He will pay zero capital gain tax on that profit. Adding income tax back in, you'd have to make approximately $3 million before tax per year to make the same amount of money during that period. That is equivalent to ridiculous amount of hard labour (like 100 hours a day), frugal living and ozbargaining for people like myself. And what did he do to earn that? Well, simply by living in pure luxury and being very close to the city and public transport, nice parks (maintained by all tax payers) and good schools.

My question is, how do you work hard and indeed ozbargain hard when this is the sad reality? What's the point? You'd never catch up. And this is not a one off "lotto" situation. You can apply this to all home owners within 25km of all major cities in all developed countries.

Financial

Comments

  • digitalbargain on 16/10/2019 - 18:22
    +1

    Just did a search on recent real-estate sales search over $7mil in Melbourne

    Checked sales history on them all (there aren't all that many sales above that price..)

    Didn't find anything making $7mil profit in 5 years

  • Dr Techno on 16/10/2019 - 18:22
    +1

    I would say good on ya for your boss. The real question is how do you get ahead, so you dont need to do such posts on ozbargain :) At bosses at my previous company were more creative.. they would purchase their own house say a mill and then lease it back out to the company for employee accommodation.

  • DeafMutePretender on 16/10/2019 - 18:44
    +3

    My question is, how do you work hard and indeed ozbargain hard when this is the sad reality? What's the point? You'd never catch up.

    Your success in life is determined mainly by your genes and the circumstances in which you were born (1st or 3rd world country, poor or rich parents etc). A tiny minority can overcome all of these obstacles but it will always be a tiny minority.

    The sooner you accept this reality, the sooner you can be at peace.

    As far as housing prices in general are concerned, some people (mainly baby boomers) were lucky to buy cheap houses at a certain point in time (EG. their privileged circumstances). The only way young people under current circumstances (of low wages, high % of casual positions, dying unions etc) can replicate the baby boomer's success is to invent a time machine and go back in time.

    Like I said, genes and circumstances.

  • HardlyCharly on 16/10/2019 - 18:55
    -1

    Everything comes down to chance. We have some small and repeated influence at our disposal, but it's all chance in the end. People try to convince themselves that they deserve their financial success, because they are fragile and can't handle the reality that it mostly has nothing to do with them. Capitalism causing and maintaining unprecedented inequality doesn't help. My husband used to study at an Ivy League school in the US, and experienced/socialised with that privileged class of people extensively.

    Never mind the parents, even the kids who are given everything in life and literally are not able to fail simply because of money are not happy. Everything is facades, masks, playing pretend and conforming to vain surface level expectations. To find a genuine person, truly being themselves, who is happy, is very rare in the upper class. I know I could make real use of that money and opportunity being wasted on them because I am truly genuine and don't give two shits about wealth other than the opportunity it could bring for me to have more time to do the things I wish to do as an artist. But I do not envy their lives. Plus, most of them have crap taste just like normal people :P

  • Bluberry on 16/10/2019 - 20:10
    +4

    OP you should have invested in a 80K BMW as soon as you graduated.

  • Farrba on 16/10/2019 - 20:13

    well lots of people around the world get paid for labour with a meal, not wages.

    lots of factory workers get paid in other countries just enough to buy day to day expenses.

    hint: life's not fair, should of bought bit coin 8 years ago.

    • ProlapsedHeinous on 17/10/2019 - 00:20

      Protip from someone who invested in BTC in 2013 - Do some research on Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 16/10/2019 - 20:33

    Life isn't fair - but your boss is were he is because of hard work or luck regardless to buy an expensive house we would of paid a f*** tone of tax

    BUT

    Everything is about perspective and your boss is rich person to you but to someone living in a refugee camp praying for there survival you are rich.

    The bottom line is just simply being born/living in Australia you are incredibility lucky

    80% of the worlds population to us 'westerners' would consider poor or in poverty and they would consider us rich.

    Remember if you arent going hungry and have a roof over your head and know you can go to the doctor to get affordable medicine you are richer then most of the planet

    I thank god i live in one of the best if not the best country on the planet

    Never forget money doesnt buy happiness travelling the world i've learn some of the happiest people in the world are the poorest

  • Seraphin7 on 16/10/2019 - 20:34
    +1

    And what did he do to earn that?

    Probably worked jolly hard to get into a position to earn a high income.

    Probably saved and went without a lot at various times to afford the property.

    Probably paid an enormous amount of tax along the way to get the money to make the purchase of the house.

    Probably runs a business that employs a large number of people and enables them to have a decent standard of living far in excess of relying on government handouts.

    So yeah … not much.

    • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2019 - 20:38
      +2

      or was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

      • SlavOz on 16/10/2019 - 20:45

        Regardless, even those who are born rich tend to do a lot for the economy. They open new businesses, create more jobs, and keep money moving.

        • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2019 - 21:15

          Not disagreeing with either of you - only pointing out that not everyone work hard for their money. For some, it just fell in their lap.

          • ColstonAUS on 17/10/2019 - 11:18

            @[Deactivated]: Thats not true when you really think about it, at some point someone worked for the money, whether the person was born into it or not, their parents or grandparents still worked to get there so that their family could live a good life. Money never comes free and doesn't materialize from thin air

            • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 12:04

              @ColstonAUS:

              Money never comes free and doesn't materialize from thin air

              Clearly, you've never met my mother. She was an artist and , from all accounts, a beauty. She lived off her art and her benefactors and never worked a day in her life. Her estate was worth a lot more than mine ever will and I've been working since I was 14.

      • outlander on 16/10/2019 - 23:13
        +2

        What does a silver spoon actually cost these days, anyway?

        The spot price of silver is 60c per gram, and according to wikipedia, the average metal teaspoon weighs 25g. So.. pure silver spoon? Lets just say you're probably going to get change from a $50.

    • oztite on 16/10/2019 - 22:39
      +1

      He is indeed a hard working man, and he gets well paid for what he does - I have no problem with his high income level. What I was I guess complaining about is the fact that he also gets reimbursed handsomely for the non-productive part of his life - living in a luxury home. This I don't quite get

  • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2019 - 20:35
    +1

    a home in a prestigious suburb of Melbourne for about a $7 million profit over a 5 year period.

    Is that from hearsay? A terrace-style house we owned almost a decade ago and bought for about $500k at the time, recently sold for $1.4-ish. I thought that was impressive when I heard about it, considering the place was a shoebox.

    • oztite on 16/10/2019 - 22:41

      Not that unusual in Melbourne… Quick search online and I can see houses sold for 800k in early 2000 going for 7-8 million in Hawthorn and Toorak. I assume his home was bigger than that…

      • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2019 - 23:55

        It's the land, of course. Our place was in Elsterwick, vic and was tiny, with a shared wall with the neighbor, no garage and would be a struggle to get planning permission for a knock-down built.

    • oztite on 16/10/2019 - 22:43

      https://www.domain.com.au/news/potts-point-trophy-home-bomer…

      "At $35 million the sale result equates to a capital gain of $3.75 million every year that Catelan owned it."

  • Toffees on 16/10/2019 - 20:40
    +12

    In 100 years time he'll be dead, you'll be dead, everyone reading this will be dead.

    In a million years time the human race will probably be dead.

    In a few billion years the sun will explode and Earth will be incinerated.

    In a few trillion the universe may implode on itself and nothing may ever exist again.

    Just enjoy life for what it is, at the end of the day nothing matters.

    Lol

    • weee on 16/10/2019 - 21:20
      +1

      I agree with you on pure logical level but while you are living, trivia things just matter unfortunately, as trivial as money, I often wonder all these things are just particles interacting with each other, the very particles from the big bang, and yet we are so bothered by these, we gave it a name, life, how frustratingly fascinating.

    • ProlapsedHeinous on 17/10/2019 - 00:30
      +2

      This is a great Perspective to have. It's also one of the reasons i don't bother chasing higher/better paying jobs. none of it matters in the end. as long as i have somewhere to sleep and something to eat i'm sorted.

      • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:14
        -1

        Puts the whole climate change and Extinction Rebellion thing in a new light.

        We say to them: who cares about their cause? We're going to kick the bucket eventually.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2019 - 19:28
      +1

      Best thing I've read all week. Thanks.

  • wordplay on 16/10/2019 - 20:45
    +1

    Was his house on St. Kilda road?

  • SlavOz on 16/10/2019 - 20:51

    Why shame the rich OP? You don't know what your boss has been through. In fact, nobody realizes how much we need rich people. If you take away the incentive to being rich, those who have lots of money will just pack up and leave and spend their millions elsewhere. Those who have dreams of starting their own business and building companies that employ thousands of people won't even bother.

    It's probably because of your boss that the company does well enough to be able to pay you a good salary. Be grateful. Yes they might be lucky, that's life. There's no garuanteed or promises in life. You do your best and try to avoid getting screwed. Some people will get lucky and get ahead easily. Shit happens. It's not a race anyway. You're in the top 1% of the world's population so complaining about how a new iPhone every couple of years, a modern car, subsidised education, and three meals a day is unfair because other people have more is pointless. Be grateful.

    If being a millionaire or billionaire was the secret to happiness, why are so many rich celebrities struggling with depression, drugs, and suicide?

  • cashless on 16/10/2019 - 21:26

    Ahhh, but is he happy?

    • HighAndDry on 17/10/2019 - 12:44
      +2

      Probably. Now what?

      • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2019 - 08:22

        Lol!

  • Jugganautx on 16/10/2019 - 21:43
    +3

    A house is a house, buying a housing trust house at 22 is better than what anyone else has got.

    70% of young adults these days strive to have a new car with a heft loan….

    There aren't any leaderboards in life and if there were, there are always going to be someone with a better score.

  • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2019 - 22:06

    How much money would you like to have, OP? What would you do with it?

    • oztite on 16/10/2019 - 22:46
      +1

      Pretty happy with what I earn now, and I work hard for it. I just don't understand why home ownership generates so much more income than good old jobs… In some way it's saying the value I create working my ass off everyday is less than someone living in a mansion

      • abb on 17/10/2019 - 09:36
        +2

        the value I create working my ass off everyday is less than someone living in a mansion

        You might be interested to hear about this old German guy named Karl who wrote extensively about this topic.

        • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:16

          It's too bad the far left had to take his very valid thoughts and usurp them into unproductive and pointless causes.

      • Stopback on 17/10/2019 - 09:54

        Best you can do OP is try to provide more for your next generation. A teach financial literacy to your children.

  • FareEvader on 16/10/2019 - 22:12

    Any tax experts here? How come he doesn't pay any tax on the capital gains?

    • cwongtech on 16/10/2019 - 22:21
      +3

      It's the main residence of the owner.
      Can not be rented out
      See ATO information here

      Pay particular attention to this
      move from one main residence to another – if you acquire a new home before you dispose of your old one, you may be able to treat both dwellings as your main residence for up to six months

  • Freitag on 16/10/2019 - 22:47
    +3

    To look at it another way, we have more than most of the people on this world right now and also in human history, how does anyone with less than us keep going?

    Maybe it’s not how much you have but what you do which what you do have.

    Contentment (with much or little) will lead to happiness. Greed and discontentment (with much or little) won’t.

  • Some Human on 16/10/2019 - 23:15
    +2

    I’m just grateful that I was born a human being in Australia.

  • CalmLemons on 16/10/2019 - 23:19

    Becoming rich or getting opportunities like this require lots of hard work and skill building. You build your wealth.

    He is your boss to start off with, and you work for him. First point.

    $7million profit? Maybe, but less opportunity cost, interest, rates, agent fees…..the criteria to achieve this are numerous, one being you need to have the money in the first place and serviceable income to play in that range of the market.

    Don't covet thy neighbours starship, concentrate on how you will get there.

    Spending time on ozbargain isn't going to get you there.

    Besides, happiness is in the present. You will never ever be happy thinking you're going to work really insanely hard now constantly thinking one day you'll be in the same position as your boss. If you want to be happy, enjoy the present. Plan for the future. Don't live today longing for the future. The future comes regardless, today is now.

  • locknuts on 16/10/2019 - 23:28
    +1

    Stop comparing yourself to other people and assess whether your needs are being met (food, water, shelter, family etc). You'll be happier.

  • luffyex2010 on 17/10/2019 - 00:36
    +2

    Don't get overstressed or excited over the digits, it's just numbers anyway.

    We came here empty-handed and we will leave here one day empty-handed.

    Just make sure you have enough (enough for a good life) and you are happy or your family is happy.

    The world we live in today is all materialistic, we are all brainwashed to chase a material dream.

  • digitalbargain on 17/10/2019 - 06:37
    +1

    Happiness and income has been extensively researched..

    look up some of the work by Daniel kahneman (Nobel prize winning behavioral psychologist)

    The TLDR version is that money makes you happier until a certain point.

    after a certain income (around 70k in the US) the difference starts quickly diminishing and is pretty much gone (ie you no longer get happier) once you reach the average Ozbargainer salary ..

  • mlbrooke on 17/10/2019 - 07:34

    Stop looking at what makes other people happy and start learn to enjoy your own happiness, why do you need to care whether he/she sold a $7 million dollar property? Does it affect your life? Does it matter to you? Can you change the fact that he has money? The answer is NO by the way.

    Live your life, opportunities come along and you need to take them, work smart and work hard and you can be anything you want to be without worrying about his situation, 'Want' is not a feeling either, 'Want' has to be an action and you have to 'Want' it enough to put everything into achieving your goal.

    Your boss has most likely taken risks you have never even conceived of, he/she has worked very very hard over a very long time to get where they are toda, luck might get us the opportunity but being tenacious gets us the outcome.

  • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 17/10/2019 - 08:36

    It's quite simple. You don't work hard and OzBargain hard to make lots of money. It doesn't work that way.

    You have to be willing to learn about money and do the things that 99 per cent of people dont want to do.

    • mdavant on 17/10/2019 - 12:14
      +1

      No, you are wrong. You follow the herd and feed off their largesse, but turn before they do. That is how to make money easily. eg it was bloody easy to make a motsa over the past 20 years in property. Perhaps it is time to turn as it might not be over the next 20 years.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 08:38
    +1

    You know what they say - If you are born poor it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it's your mistake.

    • Numlock on 17/10/2019 - 08:49

      If you are born poor it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it's your mistake.

      Born poor, more likely to be poor. Hard to put yourself through uni when your parents can't keep the household running.

      • ihbh on 17/10/2019 - 09:09

        Born poor, more likely to be poor.

        True. The main way to get out of it is to be born poor, but smart. You don't need to go to uni, but you know how to learn how to learn.

      • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 09:37

        Hard but not impossible. I was raised for most of my life by my mother who was a single parent and didn’t finish high school. Studied hard, moved to a capital city, went to uni, lived on youth allowance and working in fast food.

      • HighAndDry on 18/10/2019 - 12:19

        Hard but not impossible. So the decider is hard work.

    • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:17
      +1

      Cycle of poverty is a thing and hard to stop.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 08:52

    Oh BTW your home is an asset to the bank and a massive liability to you until you have paid the lender in full plus interest of course! Even if you own your own home outright its still a liability.

    Council/governments can take your home away from under you anytime they want, hey we need to widen the road and build a highway through your suburb. Council can sell your home because you didn't pay your rates.

  • ihbh on 17/10/2019 - 09:03
    +2

    how do you work hard and indeed ozbargain hard when this is the sad reality?

    The sad reality is your lack of understanding:

    1. You assume the past is representative of the future. WRONG. If you were right, why don't go get 1000 of your fellow mindset people and pitch in and set up a unit trust or similar structure (you'll have to get expert advice which will add to the cost; the property might have to be in one person's name to avoid the CGT with call options owned by the trust for security). Everyone puts in say $10,000 and buy similar property and then when all sell it down the track, earn the similar return to your boss. The reality is that if you had bought 2 years earlier, your investment might have gone sideways for 10-20+ years.

    2. You don't know much about real estate or assets and returns. Did your boss inherit the property or did he purchase it himself? When was it last bought? For how much? How much additional money did he put in (major renos cost many millions, which he would have put in from his pocket)? E.g. $7m return on $70m over 5 years is chicken sh*t. $7m return on $5m over 5 years is very good at almost 20% p.a.

    3. You are talking about absolute dollars. He put more in so he should get more out. If you can only put in 1/100 of what he did, why would you expect to be able to pull out similar dollars? Some hedge fund founders have earned ~$1bn a year due to CG; also the likes of Gates, Buffett, Bezos. There is nothing wrong with capitalism and building something that increases in value.

    4. There is nothing to stop you from investing or getting a high income job. Start small and compound interest will help you build your assets. Some people might be fortunate to inherit significant assets, but many others are senior executives, professions on large incomes with large mortgages. There are also savvy investors who build to such a position over time. But then you might just be a problems kind of guy instead of a solutions kind of guy. Whinging won't improve your lot.

    You never catch up.

    If you want to be happy, run your own race.

  • Youi2018 on 17/10/2019 - 09:06
    +6

    This cannot be a serious post !

    Have you been anywhere outside australia ?

    There are people who only meat on special occasions . There are people who are sick that cant afford to see a doctor . There are people have to work day and night just to get by . Ect ect

    And your complaining that you didnt make 7 million in 5 years like one person you know ! Boo hoo join the club with the 99% of us who also didn’t make that

    Does anyone personally know anyone else who has made 7 mill profit from their house in the last 5 years . I dont

  • GourmetFoodie on 17/10/2019 - 09:11
    +3

    Welcome to the unfair advantage that baby boomers and gen x-ers got. And yet so many of them still complain about being "poor" if you're "lucky" enough to work with one or for one! Worst generations!

    It is verrrrry depressing but there is literally nothing you can do about it except work your ass off to make as much money as possible then try to be smart with how you invest it. You have to accept you are not going to get the "worst house on the best block" like past generations did. You will have to start way further down the ladder than they did and make a lot more sacrifices. Your first home will probably be 1 hour from the cbd, no where near public transport and with no local amenities.

    But life is a long journey. You have to pace yourself. Also I'd recommend delaying having kids as long as possible to focus on your career and earning money.

    • wizzy on 17/10/2019 - 10:18
      +6

      As a member of gen X I really don't think that myself or my parents were given more advantages than my kids have. I grew up in a low SES part of NSW. My Dad was a blue collar worker and my parents had a high school education. My Dad grew up in a house that didn't have an indoor bathroom, and his mother (my grandmother) had to wash clothes in a river. My parents struggled to buy their first house and it was hours from the nearest city.

      I worked hard at school, and was able to move to Sydney to attend Uni. I put myself through uni by working casual jobs.

      I married young, but When I got married my husband and I lived very frugally. We basically worked hard, lived in cheap accommodation, and saved every spare cent until we had enough money for a deposit on a house. It took years. We bought the worst house on the worst street and made the best of it. We have built on things from there.

      It is true that I am in a very good position now, but I don't think it is fair to say that it is because myself or my parents were given an unfair advantage.

      • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:22
        +1

        As a member of gen X I really don't think that myself or my parents were given more advantages than my kids have.

        A lot of people would strongly disagree with that statement. For example, house prices to income ratios are much higher now than before: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Depart…

        House prices were objectively and by all measures cheaper in the 1980s compared to now. That sounds like an advantage to me. Do you have any rebuttals, apart from your anecdotal evidence?

        • wizzy on 18/10/2019 - 10:08
          +1

          Housing affordability doesn't exist in isolation. Advantage and disadvantage take many forms, all of which contribute to the overall health, quality of life and financial prosperity of every generation.

          For example:

          Life expectancy has increased since the 1980s

          https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/3302…

          So has the number of teenagers receiving higher education (pg 22)

          https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/907-Mappin…

          So has our disposable income

          https://edge.alluremedia.com.au/uploads/businessinsider/2015…

          So has female participation in the workforce

          https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/lookup/6202.0Media%…

          Infant mortality has decreased

          http://www.healthstats.nsw.gov.au/Indicator/bod_infdth

          The number of women dying during childbirth has also decreased

          https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2016/205/8/maternal-mortality…

          Every generation faces their own unique set of advantages and disadvantages. You have to look at the overall picture and not take any one indicator on it's own as evidence that one generation is advantaged over the other. Generally speaking, it is better to be alive today than it was 50 years ago. I am grateful that my life has been easier than my parents, and I hope that Gen Y and Gen Z have a better life than me.

          House prices were objectively and by all measures cheaper in the 1980s compared to now

          I was a little kid in the 1980s!

          • DeafMutePretender on 19/10/2019 - 00:14

            @wizzy: I thought you were talking only about financial advantages and not advantages and disadvantages in general, so in that case, sure young people have it better today in some respects (better and faster internet etc compared to their parents who had no internet as well as the other things in your list). However, I am still of the opinion that if we look at housing and renting affordability in isolation, then young people today have it worse.

            Also, I will also push back a bit on some of your points.

            Life expectancy has increased since the 1980s

            That's a good thing. But the disadvantage is that because of this, the Government keeps raising the age eligibility for pension. Past generations can enjoy their Government funded pension earlier in life. Young people will be near-dead before they can apply for the pension.

            So has the number of teenagers receiving higher education

            That's a good thing. But the disadvantage is that because of this, every Tom, Dick and Harry now has a university degree and now every company requires a bachelor degree when in the past, they wanted proof of passing high school. Don't even get me started on getting jobs.

            So has female participation in the workforce

            That's a good thing. But the disadvantage is that… think of it this way. Does immigration lead to higher house prices? Of course. Higher quantity of demand, more competition between buyers to buy any given house (EG. the sky rocketing house prices in Vancouver, Canada, nicknamed Hongcouver due to the Chinese snatching up all the properties). Well, female participation in the workforce
            is basically immigration on steroids. And the result? In the past, 1 man can pay off a house. Now, it requires 2 incomes (man and woman). The day women could get education and jobs, is the day the real estate industries around the world celebrated.

            • wizzy on 19/10/2019 - 08:37

              @DeafMutePretender: Yes you are correct, the picture is very complicated and positives often have some aspect of a negative too.

              In regards to female participation in the workforce - I am female myself, so I can only regard my increased opportunities over the generations of women who went before me as a good thing. I want to have choices and independence, and I would not sacrifice that even if I was offered 10 free houses.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 09:33
    +2

    Money can make life very easy, but it doesn’t make a fulfilled life necessarily. Many of these people work long hours, don’t see their family or are constantly travelling and buttering up clients to make more money. If that’s what they want to do great, let them live their life instead of wasting your time being jealous. It’s just money and material possessions, you can’t tale it with you when you die.

    Living modestly, travelling, working a fufilling job and giving time what matters to me and in my opinion is a privileged life. That can be done on a modest income, it can be done on one income in a capital city.

    • ihbh on 17/10/2019 - 09:57
      +1

      Absolutely, the most important things in life are health and relationships, which time promotes, but not necessarily money as it can reduce.

      Money can make life very easy, but it doesn’t make a fulfilled life necessarily

      Too much money can also be counterproductive. See the health-wealth paradox of developed countries - as they get richer, they have less time, less time to cook and eat crap and obesity rates and rates of chronic diseases rise. Also, outsourcing a lot of physical activity and and paying the price for it later in life.

  • Indi24 on 17/10/2019 - 10:11

    They are paying more tax than what you are paying. So, logically they have right to get more than you. (As you mentioned they are living on public maintained amenities like parks).

    Money is not everything..but money is something. Everyone wants to do something what they cherish most, but they couldn't because they have obligations to work. Think about having enough money to quit working..you can do whatever you want. Freedom..

  • esty on 17/10/2019 - 10:45

    the rich get richer

  • moneyhungry on 17/10/2019 - 10:53
    +1

    I bet if your boss's boss's boss sold his house and made 20m profit, your boss's boss would be envious of him too. It's a vicious cycle that never ends.

  • gyrex on 17/10/2019 - 10:59

    Unless your boss isn't going to buy another house to live in (unlikely), he didn't "earn" or "make a profit" on his house. The next house that he buys will have likely experienced the same or similar capital growth. This is why we don't pay capital gains tax on your own home because if we did, properties wouldn't move and the housing crisis would be even worse.

  • kaleidoscope on 17/10/2019 - 11:23
    +2

    Whats your pick between happiness and money? Be grateful with what you got.

    You only need money to a certain extent for living a normal and happy life. Beyond that there is no point.

  • field1985 on 17/10/2019 - 11:41
    +2

    It's all relative…

    If you earn just Aud$50,000 you are in the global top 1% of incomes.

    That said, our generation got absolutely screwed by the boomers. Who turned housing into an investment to line their pockets at the expense of their own kids futures.

    • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:24
      +1

      That said, our generation got absolutely screwed by the boomers. Who turned housing into an investment to line their pockets at the expense of their own kids futures.

      This needs to be pointed out everywhere, all the time.

      • Numlock on 19/10/2019 - 17:24

        That said, our generation got absolutely screwed by the boomers

        The current generation of people over the age of 35 are doing it too.

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 17/10/2019 - 11:50
    +2

    The best days of your life is ahead of you. You are alive and reading this so take control of your life today, find your one thing in life and do whatever (and I mean whatever) it takes to get to that one dream.

    Work hard, work even smarter but keep going no matter what. Believe in yourself because if you don't nobody will.

  • mdavant on 17/10/2019 - 12:10
    +1

    You might be envious, but it didn't end up too well for Richard Cory did it… nup. Don't look at what other people have, look at what you need, and what you don't need to sacrifice (eg time) to get there.

  • pegasusx on 17/10/2019 - 13:25
    +1

    Its one of those human condition fallacies that we are inclined compare ourselves to the local/current social standards and always look up.
    Looking back, it took me almost 12-15 years since I have found "contentness". Life is so much better now when you dont compare your lot to what others have.
    Guess its one of those things that you gain as you grow older/wiser. OP: I hope you find your peace in your work and what ever lot you have.

    • digitalbargain on 17/10/2019 - 18:52
      +1

      Sadly, this condition was made much worse with the advent of social media

  • reddead2067 on 17/10/2019 - 14:10
    +2

    In 2008, it was the GFC. Doom and Gloom all around. But if you had the courage to buy property then, you would have doubled your money.

    Get on with it, and buy a place now.

  • Drogo on 17/10/2019 - 14:26
    +1

    I dislike that housing has turned into a profit making/wealth generating thing to prop the economy up. Kinda like a pyramid scheme. A house is a pretty fundamental part of life. Will be interesting in 20 years time to see if the people that have remortgaged and remortgaged with 5% deposits to get 3+ houses are living like kings or working to the grave

    • SupeNintendoChalmers on 17/10/2019 - 16:36
      +2

      I'm not greedy, I have two kids and already resigned to the fact that they probably will never be able to own a property even on the outskirts of a capital city if current house price projections continue.

      So with that in mind, I'm investing in two small properties for them, so they won't have to struggle like I have.

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 17/10/2019 - 16:33
    +1

    sometimes it's being in the right place at the right time or being born before the 1980s

    other times it's because you were born rich and daddy buys you a nice home or perhaps you went to a blue chip school and that opens up a helluva lot of doors

    other times it's because you worked hard/smart

    • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 18:00

      or being born before the 1980s

      Probably in 50 years they'll be saying:
      …or being born before the 2020s

  • lltravel on 17/10/2019 - 17:40
    -1

    Mate that's the reason why he is your boss

    He has learned the skills to make sure he can beat the taxman.

    Don't be envious. Ask him for advice. Complaining about it isn't going to do much.

    You forgot the part where he spent countless hours working on his business, making sacrifices.

    You only see the outside but forgot the part of countless hours of hard work making that income to offset his gains.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/10/2019 - 17:56

    Glass half empty?
    A Boss way to go crazy. Your boss is your ticket to easy street, and he's not charging you a dime. Optimism my good man.

  • mungicide on 17/10/2019 - 19:11

    How much did he pay to buy a new home to maintain same living lifestyle. Prob $7m plus original price if he needs to maintain or it would be a downgrade. Zero sum game if it's your own residence

  • netsurfer on 17/10/2019 - 20:34

    The truth might really hurt.

    1. Let's not pretend we work very hard. The reality is that had we not slack off during our high school years and got into medicine, you/we could be in the similar situation as your boss.

    2. In my first job, the company was getting listed / doing the IPO and in a meeting about staff share allocation, it was very clear the managers got heap more shares than normal staff. A staff put his hand up and asked the CEO why the allocation is like that - being so unfair. The CEO's response was: (That person's first name), life is unfair.

    3. There was an OZB type of way to get rich. Had you purchased 1000 bitcoins when they were $1 or less each, you would have profited more than your boss.

    Honestly, if you spend too much time on OZB, clearly you are not going to be rich. So, step 1 on getting rich, actually do something, rather than wasting time saving little $$$ on bargain hunting.

  • afah0447 on 17/10/2019 - 21:12
    -1

    For a start people could stop voting for the LNP as they don't give a toss about housing affordability and even less about intergenerational inequality.

    The Baby Boomers setup up the current society to greater benefit themselves and subseqent generations are now suffering. Every generation since them has had a lower standard of living and this is continuing to decline.

    People (esp the young) should be more pissed off about this…but they sold lies by the likes of Scott Morrison and his ilk who are doing absolutly nothing to improve the situation. They lied at the election and everyone bought it.

    • DeafMutePretender on 18/10/2019 - 03:29
      +2

      Genuine question: which party actually cares about working class Australians?

      The LNP are pro-business and anti-union/worker and pro-immigration.
      The LP are LNP-lite.
      The Greens are anti-white working class and pro-open borders (surprise: the far left and the neo-liberals support the same policy).
      The rest are reactionary right-wingers, far-lefties and anti-science parties.

      • Thaal Sinestro on 18/10/2019 - 04:28

        So true. The lower class are systematically discriminated against in all democratic countries. All political parties in the democartic system despise the poor. Democracy is nothing but "government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich". Everything the government does (like upping immigration and lowering interest rates) is designed to drive the price of housing and land through the roof in order to maximize to the profit obtained by the property owning elite.

        We desperate need a "dictatorship of the proletariat" to correct these wrongs.

  • chubbychicken on 17/10/2019 - 22:49
    +1

    Sorry to break it to you OP but life is not fair.. how you deal with it is up to you.

  • Thaal Sinestro on 18/10/2019 - 04:23

    This is why we need a wealth tax, with all assets including housing and superannuation being part of the wealth calculation. People who own assets (like land or housing in inner city areas) can make a huge profit without having to lift a finger.

    The LNP is wrong; it is the rich who are the leaners, not the poor. Marxists would use the term "rentier".

    • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2019 - 08:40

      If we have chosen the position in life in which we can do most for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.

      -k. Marx

      Interested to know what position you have chosen in life and what is your contribution to mankind…

    • Baysew on 18/10/2019 - 09:59

      "We need a wealth tax" sounds like a real election winner.

    • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2019 - 10:12
      +1

      And they can loose everything and go bankrupt for taking all those risks to get there.

      Contrary to an employee with minimal risks exposure.

  • Eeples on 18/10/2019 - 08:15

    There is no such thing as intergenerational fairness.

    Accept that and then make you own plans on the existing unlevelled playing field.

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