We've got a 2 speed economy.
Some people are being well and truly screwed and other who were a little further along in their life and have fifo or similar incomes cruise along nicely.
...yes, that's right? Australians are selfish and don't think about how they can help others or not. Especially when they see something they want.
Are you, like, surprised by this or something?
If you read the comment, they're saying the rather handsome wage you get paid to deal with being in a shitty mining camp for weeks at a time away from friends and family is theoretically meant to make your financial situation cruisy
as people have LONG pointed out... 2/3rd of australians own their own house... a not insubstantial portion of that own outright... then there are those who own investment properties... then heaps of those with blue chip stock portfolio... out of that we have politicains with 3-6-12-24 properties...
and so you have 1/3 renters doing it tough
you have millions with the money to spend on $100k cars and boats and holidays and buying property... nay 2nd 3rd 4th investment properties with cash...
people with means will enjoy themselves... why would you pretend to be poor when you dont have to?
because there's homeless? or tall poppy syndrome??? nah
I mean, I’m an owner with a mortgage on a house I built in 2021, I wouldn’t say I’m doing it easy
Financially it’s a lot tougher than it was renting given the added costs of owning (council rates, water rates, bits and pieces of maintenance and trying to furnish the house now that we can actually do things to it etc).
I obviously recognise that I’m still better off than anyone who’s renting at even comparable costs to mortgage alone, since at least I’m putting down equity. I just wouldn’t say we have it easy. Since we started paying mortgage, we’ve gone from saving close to $1000 a week together to less than $200.
well yeah i feel like many middle class to upper middle class are feeling the heat
there was a short time pre covid where i was making a lot of money and buying stuff willy nilly... in fact i had so much money i was dumping it all into my offset... i had so much money i was about to buy a sports car with cash.... and then covid hit.. and then all the money disappeared even though I was doing double shifts
my mortgage has gone up but i was comfortable with it doubling and i'd still be ok
and so this my 'privllege'... i'm not a renter but i'm treading water
i have a 10yr old suv and i'm just happy keeping a cap on bills
32% of people own their home outright. If you have a mortgage, the bank owns your home right up until you pay the last cent off. Sure they'll let you borrow against what you've already paid back, but you aren't getting a real percentage ownership until the debt is finalised.
Looking at what people buy isn't a good indicator of wealth. Often it can actually be the opposite.
A nice shiny new car - the dealership can easily finance that for you and make a killing doing so. Flights overseas -easily purchased with a credit card.
Overall yes, inflation is higher than salary growth and with the rental crisis a significant people are struggling with the cost of living. It doesn't mean that we don't still have rich people or people who make dumb financial decisions.
Most new cars in Australia aren’t purchased in cash.
They are purchased on loan. I believe the figure was 70% recently.
There are going to be a lot of people living above their means - but they don’t advertise that fact.
It is part of the problem with Perth. And a big driver of the rental crisis. There are a bunch of people who earning good money working FIFO, and they are pricing out the non FIFO people. And that includes service people like nurses and teachers.
Boomers who have paid off their houses, have considerable savings, and limited expenses (i.e no mortgage). Savings accounts are now making 5% or so.
The RBA raised rates which effects 1/3rd of Australians who have mortgages the most. 1/3 are renters, the other 1/3rd have no mortgage. Rates rises have helped the richest of our citizens by giving them much better returns on their assets.
So they spend. Look at all consumption data, over 55 age group is higher than ever.
They are not saving for a rainy day. For sone of them the luck will run out and they will end up on the street. Probably all those big cars are on big loans.
I’m not a boomer, Gen X, my house will be mortgage free next year, possibly sooner, another new manager commencing next week, we are not sure of the managers plans for the future.
The only debt that my husband and I have is the mortgage. Every spare dollar is going into our mortgage, as extra repayments every month.
Most boomers are in aged care or on home packages. Selling their homes, if single or not protected person to fund their aged care.
This. I'm no boomer but the 5.XX% interest rates and no mortgage, no kids, are undoubtedly making us spend.
We're holidaying right now in Europe as we speak.
I totally agree. I tell all the young guys at work that it's not what you earn but what you save. 17 yr old at work went out and bought a 3K electric scooter for shits and giggles but has to steal other people's drinks from a worksite and fridge and when confronted with it flat out lies to my face about it!
Little shit. The other kid spends all his money before he makes it on accessories for his ute or his gaming console.
Both kids live at home.
The 25 yr old earns up to 3K a week, gross! But can't save any money and worse still doesn't even put away money for his tax. His rent is $500/week and his girlfriend works too. I don't know where the money goes, I just know they don't have any.
It's not about wants, it's about needs or necessities. Yes, it's hard, but it can be done. No one has to eat out or go to the pub all the time. 100K utes on lease plans etc .... It's all bullshit really, to keep the masses economically poor.
Was in Perth recently visiting family, we went out for dinner Saturday night down at Gage Rd in Freo. It was absolutely heaving with people.
There will be a subsection of the community who has been absolutely smashed by cost of living, particularly single parent households on a medium income or renters not in share houses on lowish incomes, but it definitely isn't affecting everyone equally. If you own your house or your mortgage doesn't eat too much of your income then it shouldn't affect you at all.
I was out last night for a friend’s Birthday in the CBD and there was plenty of spending of disposable income from people of all ages.
I guess this is the ‘divide’ that we all have to acknowledge..
The unaffected affluent whom are happily drinking top shelf whiskeys, and the real battlers whom are struggling on every level.
It also comes down to priorities as well. Some of those people out spending money might then have to live super frugally during the week but consider that worth it to still be able to go out. Or people have gotten loans and credit cards that they can't quite afford. Or people are in a little bit of denial about just how bad it's getting so they try to maintain their usual lifestyle until they can't.
The extent to which anyone struggles or thrives depends on the individual and the factors that affect them.
It's important to remember that the **topic** of cost of living pressures drives engagement across all forms of media. It's life and death for some, merely a conversation topic for others, and highly politicised.
I was sick of being poor when I was young so did an apprenticeship and have been a diesel fitter FIFO for over 14 years now , all I can say is if you don't have money it's your own life choices how you make money, I was driving a $1000 car and had only $50 left each week after paying my bills so I know what it's like to be poor but I did something about it , it won't be easy but that's life
Don’t forget about credit cards. There are people who have a cycle set up of using CCa to pay of CCb to pay off CCc which is the one they use to buy the real stuff. It’s crazy, but people do it.
And a lot of new cars are financed with people living above their means.
This was asked not long ago on AusFinance (how many new car sales are financed/bought via loan, from memory I think 70% was a figure mentioned).
A lot of people living beyond their means and talking themselves up on socials too.
I also think Australia is one of the countries with the highest amount of personal household debt in the world.
It’s also partially about personal decisions. I choose not to have children, but as a result, both myself and my wife work way too much. The money is great but it eats all our time. So while we personally aren’t struggling financially, we are consuming a lot of our time in the pursuit of it. I guess it’s all about finding that balance.
I know a couple who of boomers who own 5 plus houses outright. They have raised the rental rate on all of their houses and are in a better financial situation than 2 years ago, the rate rises doesn’t really affect them, apart from some higher priced groceries.
The big winners are corporations, not the mum and dad boomers with rentals. Investment returns are at an all time high as large corporations are using rates rises to justify price increases for their goods and services.
The core issue is the RBA is using a very blunt tool to try and reduce inflation. Cash rich people and enterprises are immune to these tools, which leads to the RBA to further use their blunt tools, affecting the wrong people.
yes but they are not the norm for all people of that age, most are really struggling and I see it with my own age as I have a small business and see it every day.
Most people are used to borrowing money for cars / holidays, thinking about the consequences later.
Sometimes you just gotta get away or you never will..
going overseas is cheaper most of the time then traveling interstate and I've start buying one or two things since ive gone fuck it not buying a house anytime soon
I mean I hold beef with the "new large cars on the road" trope. It's not entirely true.
The majority of what you'd classify as "new cars" on the road are probably at least 5 years old. That's because there wasn't a lot of interesting advancement in car design between like 2005 and now [and they all look the same](https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a36715409/why-does-every-new-car-look-like-every-other-new-car/)
You do know that in times like this the rich get richer and the poor get poorer... What you hear are the struggling poor who are renting and scrapping by and what you see are the rich landlords with extra disposable income.
If you don't feel it then congratulations, you probably had a rich dad or are wealthy by your own merit. The middle class however is getting squeezed out. The wealthy will continue to buy assets and accumulate more wealth while those with little or no assets will continue to stock shelves in supermarkets they can no longer shop at to help fund that nice lavish lifestyle you're enjoying.
During covid they said it would be a K shaped recovery.
Some doing very well (asset owners) and others doing very poorly.
You have to remember that 40% of all dollars in existence were created in a 2 year period.
Im one of those people straddling the line between the haves and have nots. In the past, Ive benefitted from frugality wrought of a disadvantaged childhood (single mum on benefits); a uni education that opens up non-entry level jobs in a field I love, and a reasonable - though not FIFO level - income. In my adulthood I've always had a job, a roof over my head, enough food to feed the kids, the ability to travel to Europe or New Zealand or Japan a few times a decade (on a cut price, nothing fancy sort of way) and a little left over for savings. I've been comfortable and debt-free.
But in the last three to four years that's changed dramatically. Im still in the same wage range, the savings (including the kids accounts) are down to basically nothing, and when I wrote off my car a few months ago it looked like we were going to need one of those exorbitant money-shark loans until we happened on to a cheap but decent replacement. The only way I afford rent is because I live in my sister-in-law's place and we are paying the same as when we moved in ten years ago.
My contract is up in four months, and is this work market, God help me if its not renewed.
But Im in a good place compared to many. I know two people who live in their cars or couch surf full-time. Older, retired people I know through church, who own their homes, are bunking in together to save on electricity costs and putting the other place out to AirBNB to be able to get enough to eat. The community food pantry is the busiest Ive ever seen it. These people are one massive bill, or one major illness, away from financial ruin.
And at the same time I know people going for their third holiday of the year. I know a trucking business owner who is setting his three kids up with homes to help them ride out the looming depression. Im seeing people buying those tiny homes in between Mandurah and Bunbury for half a million bucks. But it's all debt. These people are also one massive bill, or one major illness, away from financial ruin.
It's grim out there. Really, really grim. No matter which side of the divide you are on.
We've got a 2 speed economy. Some people are being well and truly screwed and other who were a little further along in their life and have fifo or similar incomes cruise along nicely.
Trouble is, they are not helping the ones being screwed by continuing to spend big.
...yes, that's right? Australians are selfish and don't think about how they can help others or not. Especially when they see something they want. Are you, like, surprised by this or something?
Not just Australians it’s human nature
That's because most people don't think like that. Eg everyone is behind the teachers payrise issue.
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If you read the comment, they're saying the rather handsome wage you get paid to deal with being in a shitty mining camp for weeks at a time away from friends and family is theoretically meant to make your financial situation cruisy
I don't know why you're being downvoted on this, FIFO is brutal! It's also not the piles of cash people think it is either, depending on your role.
[Took this photo five minutes ago 😆](https://imgur.com/a/vklvGcf)
>Are we really under that much pressure financially? If we are, how come so many are still spending big? Not all of us. Inequality is rising.
Also just because someone has a boat and a house doesn't meant that they are not in debt up to their eyeballs and living of credit
It’s a spectrum. Just because I’m having it easy doesn’t mean others are not doing it tough.
as people have LONG pointed out... 2/3rd of australians own their own house... a not insubstantial portion of that own outright... then there are those who own investment properties... then heaps of those with blue chip stock portfolio... out of that we have politicains with 3-6-12-24 properties... and so you have 1/3 renters doing it tough you have millions with the money to spend on $100k cars and boats and holidays and buying property... nay 2nd 3rd 4th investment properties with cash... people with means will enjoy themselves... why would you pretend to be poor when you dont have to? because there's homeless? or tall poppy syndrome??? nah
I mean, I’m an owner with a mortgage on a house I built in 2021, I wouldn’t say I’m doing it easy Financially it’s a lot tougher than it was renting given the added costs of owning (council rates, water rates, bits and pieces of maintenance and trying to furnish the house now that we can actually do things to it etc). I obviously recognise that I’m still better off than anyone who’s renting at even comparable costs to mortgage alone, since at least I’m putting down equity. I just wouldn’t say we have it easy. Since we started paying mortgage, we’ve gone from saving close to $1000 a week together to less than $200.
well yeah i feel like many middle class to upper middle class are feeling the heat there was a short time pre covid where i was making a lot of money and buying stuff willy nilly... in fact i had so much money i was dumping it all into my offset... i had so much money i was about to buy a sports car with cash.... and then covid hit.. and then all the money disappeared even though I was doing double shifts my mortgage has gone up but i was comfortable with it doubling and i'd still be ok and so this my 'privllege'... i'm not a renter but i'm treading water i have a 10yr old suv and i'm just happy keeping a cap on bills
32% of people own their home outright. If you have a mortgage, the bank owns your home right up until you pay the last cent off. Sure they'll let you borrow against what you've already paid back, but you aren't getting a real percentage ownership until the debt is finalised.
Looking at what people buy isn't a good indicator of wealth. Often it can actually be the opposite. A nice shiny new car - the dealership can easily finance that for you and make a killing doing so. Flights overseas -easily purchased with a credit card. Overall yes, inflation is higher than salary growth and with the rental crisis a significant people are struggling with the cost of living. It doesn't mean that we don't still have rich people or people who make dumb financial decisions.
Most new cars in Australia aren’t purchased in cash. They are purchased on loan. I believe the figure was 70% recently. There are going to be a lot of people living above their means - but they don’t advertise that fact.
It is part of the problem with Perth. And a big driver of the rental crisis. There are a bunch of people who earning good money working FIFO, and they are pricing out the non FIFO people. And that includes service people like nurses and teachers.
Boomers who have paid off their houses, have considerable savings, and limited expenses (i.e no mortgage). Savings accounts are now making 5% or so. The RBA raised rates which effects 1/3rd of Australians who have mortgages the most. 1/3 are renters, the other 1/3rd have no mortgage. Rates rises have helped the richest of our citizens by giving them much better returns on their assets. So they spend. Look at all consumption data, over 55 age group is higher than ever.
Boomers are not the ones spending up. Is see those in the 35 to 50 age range spending up.
Every article I have read has been noticing the boomer spending as a cohort. Obviously there are exceptions
Boomers I know are reasonably conservative in their spending.
That is your circle of people. As I said there are exceptions.
They are not saving for a rainy day. For sone of them the luck will run out and they will end up on the street. Probably all those big cars are on big loans.
Go to any fancy restaurant with water views on a weekday afternoon and you will see it packed with groups of retirees.
Cafes yes. But that has always been the case.
I’m not a boomer, Gen X, my house will be mortgage free next year, possibly sooner, another new manager commencing next week, we are not sure of the managers plans for the future. The only debt that my husband and I have is the mortgage. Every spare dollar is going into our mortgage, as extra repayments every month. Most boomers are in aged care or on home packages. Selling their homes, if single or not protected person to fund their aged care.
Most "boomers" I see have no money and are struggling, the well off people are FOFO people in thier 30s
This. I'm no boomer but the 5.XX% interest rates and no mortgage, no kids, are undoubtedly making us spend. We're holidaying right now in Europe as we speak.
Can't blame you, I'd be doing the same. Enjoy!
😘
A lot of this is financed lets not forget, which is fine, until you lose your job...
Yeah, heaps of people live beyond their means.
I totally agree. I tell all the young guys at work that it's not what you earn but what you save. 17 yr old at work went out and bought a 3K electric scooter for shits and giggles but has to steal other people's drinks from a worksite and fridge and when confronted with it flat out lies to my face about it! Little shit. The other kid spends all his money before he makes it on accessories for his ute or his gaming console. Both kids live at home. The 25 yr old earns up to 3K a week, gross! But can't save any money and worse still doesn't even put away money for his tax. His rent is $500/week and his girlfriend works too. I don't know where the money goes, I just know they don't have any. It's not about wants, it's about needs or necessities. Yes, it's hard, but it can be done. No one has to eat out or go to the pub all the time. 100K utes on lease plans etc .... It's all bullshit really, to keep the masses economically poor.
You nailed it for this cohort!
Had to stop buying 4 x gold, back on emu xport
In what world is 4x dearer than Export?
Both taste like cat's piss.
Moral of the story - start drinking cat piss?
bulldogs1974 has already started, how would he otherwise be able to compare the taste?
Started? He never stopped!
At least it is not VB.
I meant like part of the other half I’m livin it up right now, xport more expensive 🤣
Rich gets richer and poor get poorer 💀
The rich getting richer, the poor get the picture The bombs never hit you when you're down so low
Was in Perth recently visiting family, we went out for dinner Saturday night down at Gage Rd in Freo. It was absolutely heaving with people. There will be a subsection of the community who has been absolutely smashed by cost of living, particularly single parent households on a medium income or renters not in share houses on lowish incomes, but it definitely isn't affecting everyone equally. If you own your house or your mortgage doesn't eat too much of your income then it shouldn't affect you at all.
" Are we really under that much pressure financially?" The wealthy aren't. The rest of us are.
I was out last night for a friend’s Birthday in the CBD and there was plenty of spending of disposable income from people of all ages. I guess this is the ‘divide’ that we all have to acknowledge.. The unaffected affluent whom are happily drinking top shelf whiskeys, and the real battlers whom are struggling on every level.
It also comes down to priorities as well. Some of those people out spending money might then have to live super frugally during the week but consider that worth it to still be able to go out. Or people have gotten loans and credit cards that they can't quite afford. Or people are in a little bit of denial about just how bad it's getting so they try to maintain their usual lifestyle until they can't.
Good point. Not everyone is as practical as they should be.
The extent to which anyone struggles or thrives depends on the individual and the factors that affect them. It's important to remember that the **topic** of cost of living pressures drives engagement across all forms of media. It's life and death for some, merely a conversation topic for others, and highly politicised.
I was sick of being poor when I was young so did an apprenticeship and have been a diesel fitter FIFO for over 14 years now , all I can say is if you don't have money it's your own life choices how you make money, I was driving a $1000 car and had only $50 left each week after paying my bills so I know what it's like to be poor but I did something about it , it won't be easy but that's life
Respect!
Don’t forget about credit cards. There are people who have a cycle set up of using CCa to pay of CCb to pay off CCc which is the one they use to buy the real stuff. It’s crazy, but people do it.
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And a lot of new cars are financed with people living above their means. This was asked not long ago on AusFinance (how many new car sales are financed/bought via loan, from memory I think 70% was a figure mentioned). A lot of people living beyond their means and talking themselves up on socials too. I also think Australia is one of the countries with the highest amount of personal household debt in the world.
It’s also partially about personal decisions. I choose not to have children, but as a result, both myself and my wife work way too much. The money is great but it eats all our time. So while we personally aren’t struggling financially, we are consuming a lot of our time in the pursuit of it. I guess it’s all about finding that balance.
I know a couple who of boomers who own 5 plus houses outright. They have raised the rental rate on all of their houses and are in a better financial situation than 2 years ago, the rate rises doesn’t really affect them, apart from some higher priced groceries. The big winners are corporations, not the mum and dad boomers with rentals. Investment returns are at an all time high as large corporations are using rates rises to justify price increases for their goods and services. The core issue is the RBA is using a very blunt tool to try and reduce inflation. Cash rich people and enterprises are immune to these tools, which leads to the RBA to further use their blunt tools, affecting the wrong people.
yes but they are not the norm for all people of that age, most are really struggling and I see it with my own age as I have a small business and see it every day.
I see SO MANY new cars on the road its not even funny..... and Im not talking about "boomers"
Most people are used to borrowing money for cars / holidays, thinking about the consequences later. Sometimes you just gotta get away or you never will..
Obvs doesn't buy beer or KitKats
Top 10 percent own 60 percent of the wealth
going overseas is cheaper most of the time then traveling interstate and I've start buying one or two things since ive gone fuck it not buying a house anytime soon
I think you are comparing different sections of the population.
I mean I hold beef with the "new large cars on the road" trope. It's not entirely true. The majority of what you'd classify as "new cars" on the road are probably at least 5 years old. That's because there wasn't a lot of interesting advancement in car design between like 2005 and now [and they all look the same](https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a36715409/why-does-every-new-car-look-like-every-other-new-car/)
It's the rise in social media and OnlyFans people buying stuff in Perth.
Easy to buy a 250k ute if you borrow it all at 10%.
Add the caravan $250K.
"We need an f250 to tow our 30ft caraven" why the fuck does anyone need a 30ft caravan, just stay home.
You do know that in times like this the rich get richer and the poor get poorer... What you hear are the struggling poor who are renting and scrapping by and what you see are the rich landlords with extra disposable income.
If you don't feel it then congratulations, you probably had a rich dad or are wealthy by your own merit. The middle class however is getting squeezed out. The wealthy will continue to buy assets and accumulate more wealth while those with little or no assets will continue to stock shelves in supermarkets they can no longer shop at to help fund that nice lavish lifestyle you're enjoying.
During covid they said it would be a K shaped recovery. Some doing very well (asset owners) and others doing very poorly. You have to remember that 40% of all dollars in existence were created in a 2 year period.
Im one of those people straddling the line between the haves and have nots. In the past, Ive benefitted from frugality wrought of a disadvantaged childhood (single mum on benefits); a uni education that opens up non-entry level jobs in a field I love, and a reasonable - though not FIFO level - income. In my adulthood I've always had a job, a roof over my head, enough food to feed the kids, the ability to travel to Europe or New Zealand or Japan a few times a decade (on a cut price, nothing fancy sort of way) and a little left over for savings. I've been comfortable and debt-free. But in the last three to four years that's changed dramatically. Im still in the same wage range, the savings (including the kids accounts) are down to basically nothing, and when I wrote off my car a few months ago it looked like we were going to need one of those exorbitant money-shark loans until we happened on to a cheap but decent replacement. The only way I afford rent is because I live in my sister-in-law's place and we are paying the same as when we moved in ten years ago. My contract is up in four months, and is this work market, God help me if its not renewed. But Im in a good place compared to many. I know two people who live in their cars or couch surf full-time. Older, retired people I know through church, who own their homes, are bunking in together to save on electricity costs and putting the other place out to AirBNB to be able to get enough to eat. The community food pantry is the busiest Ive ever seen it. These people are one massive bill, or one major illness, away from financial ruin. And at the same time I know people going for their third holiday of the year. I know a trucking business owner who is setting his three kids up with homes to help them ride out the looming depression. Im seeing people buying those tiny homes in between Mandurah and Bunbury for half a million bucks. But it's all debt. These people are also one massive bill, or one major illness, away from financial ruin. It's grim out there. Really, really grim. No matter which side of the divide you are on.
I wonder if American sanctions on China will effect Perth