Australians in trouble “warning”

I think the dole would be better served by being cut to minimum cash and replacing the difference with food stamps and automatic rental payments etc. This would help to funnel the money where it was meant to go instead of being wasted in many cases. I know there would be fraud issues but this is another issue.

Robert Bou-Hamdan
Mortgage Adviser

http://www.mortgagepackaging.com.au

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Comments made are of a general nature and should not be construed as individual advice.
© 2004 Mortgage Packaging Pty Ltd

Steph,

Thanks for the well wishes. Kay and I had an absolutely awesome time skipping from island to island in our Seawind 1000 catameran. [biggrin]

Although it sounds cliche’d, I am glad to be home. The holiday was amazing and we’ll certainly be doing it again sometime, but there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed…

Its good to post again too, this is a great little internet community we’ve got happening here. Happy new year all!

Cheers,
Michael.

Hi all,
awesome post/thread! MOther-in-law moved in the other week (yea, I know, I know. But we get on well!) and it has happened at a most opportune time. My wife’s employment has finished (and she is currently enjoying a little time off before she will go back to work), Nanna is currently getting her bus license and will then be working virtually ful-time and then there is my work (to finish soon as well – too bad!). The way I see it, if we can put our working rosters together in such a way that our children are never alone, we can all work and live together, happily. Being male (and so not able to bear children – I’d be $$loaded$$ if I could), I see my role as provider (sorry to be so traditional) and that of my wife to be more the carer. Combine that with a live in Grand parent and we are moving back to the way it used to be with extended families! What is wrong with that? Grand parents have tought their children and so should qualify to look after their grand children. The children then assist looking after the grand parents and the circle just continues!
I kind-of like that as part of the solution!
just another opinion….

Happy New year! Keep on smiling.

Cheers

C@34

Steph,

Nope, I’m not a lawyer, the wife is the only one in this household. You’d be surprised how many Michael Whytes there are, even with that spelling!

C@34, I second Steph and say Good on You! My wife and I have already talked about taking my father in to our place when my mum passes on. He’ll outlive her by thirty odd years based on family histories. He’s unreal and they have both done so much for us. I wouldn’t contemplate putting him in a home unless that’s what he preferred, but I reckon he’d rather live with us any day.

Great stuff,
Michael.

maybe you cld get roger daltry from the who to be lead singer (my generation) – is he a boomer i wonder – maybe too old…

Hello,

I am wondering with the current economic landscape what indicators we need to look at in the year a head? I mean the property market can only ever do three things; go up, go down or go sideways. What indicators should we be looking for that when they change so will the chances of the property market in one of these directions?…Will the market hold, trip and take a tumble or dramatically go up say 20 or 30%?

I can see there is a 60% chance of a hold or correction (which in some markets is evident e.g. apartments). I am in Adelaide and I am finding it incredible the amount people are paying for homes regardless of the economic situation. I develop, renovate and invest – currently I have sold everything and only doing fast flippers that I can get out of in four months. I am seeing people buy property up to their necks in debt only to do nothing to it and try to break even in a year.

The fundamentals are not right, I smell the burden of debt. I also know that when uncertainty creeps in the prices get volatile as the sale volumes increase. This market has also been driven by the specultors looking for capital gain and they change their minds very quickly.

Cheers

I’ve been reading this discussion with interest because it has been bugging me too.

I’ve got my mother who is living in a Housing Commission house and on pension – it was without her choice (divorce and the crash in 1990s hasnt helped). I know she’s not the only one BB in the similar situation, but there is a huge lack of housing, services and support for people over 55s, except those who are lucky enough to be quite rich enough…

I could see there is a market for housing development for people over 55s who are on the low level of income… but the problem is location and money for the development – perhaps I cannot see that well heh.

Anyway, as for the generation differences. I am a GenX while my two sisters are GenY, however I felt that its more the other way around. I got married early and am expecting my third baby in 8 weeks time (I usually joke that I am doing the Costello – “one for daddy, one fo mummy and one for the country”). Am a staying home mother however I also work casual as a research assistant on demand (its like Im on demand forever!). I am torn between working or staying at home becuase I enjoy both! Kids both been in child care and loves it, only after 15months old – it allows them plenty of interactions, so depends on type of situations families are in and locations they’re at – in my area not many families at the same stages as us…

As for the government payouts, I scorned at the $3, 000 payment because it doesn’t really help at all. I felt it’s better off aiming at those with needs than us who are ‘better off’. (I am not saying I cope well, of course there are days when extra monies is welcomed.) I think it is a case of priorities for the government with taxation and such. My husband felt that he is paying way too much tax and for what… we have our own private health insurance, house full-paid off, two cars, etc… and we dont have any payments from government at all, but still we are required to pay extra more tax, just because we have more money than most. There are some inequalities in being a middle class I guess…

Anyway, my main concern is how the charities are “taking control” of the services that the government usually provided in past. This is my attempt to explain something that many wont think anything’s odd.

Im deaf and requires sign language interpreter to interpret/relay information between me and any hearing people in almost all situations. Anyway, after years of lobbying for a National centre of sign language interpreters (agency) that covers the health section for both deaf and hearing impaired people, the government has finally acknowledge the need and seek to tender it out. Two organisations that works closely to the deaf and hearing impaired communities applied and discovered that Wesley Misson won the tender! We are not amused nor happy with it – it indicates how government really works. Not for the appropriate needs of people but to throw it at others they think will have the idea fizzed out…

Sorry for the ramblings here.

Keep it going, its quite interesting…

Steph and others,

I spotted this post by another forumite on “the other” REI forum today and thought you nice folk here might be interested as it related to this thread we had going some time back about the different generations. Its interesting in its implications for us as REI landlords.

BTW, what’s the netiquette when posting someone else’s post? Should I reference the poster or hide their name as they didn’t post it here??? I’ll go with the latter for lack of better knowledge…

Cheers,
Michael.

I came across this interesting article today about the “Me” generation (18’s to 30’s) about their various trends and social values.

The key photos displayed two girls shopping in Rundle Mall yesterday “Clothes are our major expense. I’m not looking to buy a house right now – paying off my credit card is on the agenda first”….”I spend a lot of money on clothes, shoes, going out and dinner….I plan to wait until marriage to buy a house”

I have found in my own investing that my tenants fall into two distinct categories. Single men from broken marriages or DINKS/SINKS with money to burn.

For the “Me” generation that dont live at home, I think for a long time to come there will be a demand for rental accommodation for this finicky group having the effect of driving up rentals and ensuring limited vacancies.

What do others think?

Cheers,

Forumite name ommitted

Summary of article

No mortgage, no partner, no children
Living with parents
Fashion conscious, assertive, educated, interested in the world and ambititious
Materialisim – mobile phones, Ipods, Internet
Aspire to have designer clothes, be famous, shop at prestige stores, have a university degree
For leisure, they go to concernts, pubs and clubs, go for a drive, listen to music or go on the internet
Deferred committments
Source – AustraliaScan, Quantum Market Research

Full Article: The Advertise, February 3, 2005

People aged under 30 who live with parents are well-educated and spend most of their income on themselves and are emerging as the dominant generation, a leading social researcher says.

Reveealing the recent trends in social values yesterday, AustraliaSCAN director David Chalke said the nation was undegoing a significant generational change that had created a period of “adultescence”

Defined as 18-30’s, Mr Chalke said the adultescent generation was “uncommitted”, with many yet to reach the milestones of a mortage, a partner or a child.

They will be a huge force in the future but we are already starting to feel it now” Mr Chalke said in Adelaide.

You only have to speak to HR managers about the problems with retaining bright young graduates these days. They are very focused on money and no particularly intererest in career paths and development. They are likely to up sticks and run if you dont meet there needs.

He said the new generation was quite likely (61%) to be living with ther parents and did not aspire to marriage. “They are self absorbed and they do put self above others” he said. They dont want a mortgage, marriage or children straight up – or they dont want them at all.

“They dont want to stick in a job they dont like just so they can pay the mortgage.

And there is a lack of desirability for marriage. They can get companionship wtihout marriage and think it is only going to fall apart anyway, as it did with their parents”.

He said they described themselves as fasion-conscious, educated and ambitious – but the steriotype of the hard-working Aussie battle did not apply to this generation.

He said their aspirations were more materialistic, such as wearing designer clothes, being famour or having a university degree or being recognised as experts in their field.

Mr Chalke said the adultescent generation was more mobile and more likely to travel, raising the risk of a “brain drain” from smaller states such as South Australia.

the `bad’ debt problem in this country is staggering. why the hell do people need credit cards anyway???? i consider myself as someone in a reasonable good financial situation and refuse to have a credit card. in fact i dont have any bad debt and so i sleep very well, thank you very much! the thing that really p’s me is the number of letters i receive from banks (citibank, virgin money, amp etc.) each month offering me a credit card. maybe if they stopped doing that (read, banned) then maybe we could see a reduction of this ballooning problem.