For anyone else wondering, The Money Café is continuing! Alan Kohler has stepped back from his regular ABC role, but he's not retiring from financial journalism altogether. He didn’t even get allowed a sneaky plug on the way out, or maybe just not his style.

The Money Café is still releasing weekly episodes, it’s got a way deeper look at things and doesn’t need to thread the needle of political realities, financial news and ABC’s expectations now.

He’s also starting a new podcast with his son, Chris, called Kohler & Kohler.

Money Cafe used to help break up the music/history podcast during long study sessions and given I was studying financial planning I found the odd related gem that went straight into my best marked essays.

So anyway he’s moving away from regular TV work not disappearing from the scene entirely. Hopefully can be one of the voices of reason on insiders still.

My kids say that they want to go to a school where they overseas leadership trips and international competitions. They also want to do the IB as they find school “too easy”.

My wife says “10k a year per kid = 120k for 6 years”.

It’s a lot of money. It’s like a deposit basically.

We’re on the fence about it. We can JUST afford it, but we’d be eating beans on toast on the weekends.

Took an equity loan of $15200 from my PPOR (personal name) to purchase a property in a trust structure.
Can I claim anything from the $152,000 equity loan on my personal tax return?

Morning AusFinance, I got a question regarding home loans as I'm new to this space and I'm not sold on my recent experience with the bank (ING).

For context, I purchased my 1930's 2 bedroom apartment last year for 775k, and at 92% LVR on a 1 year fixed rate of 5.44%. My home loan is now maturing this Tuesday and ING have offered me a standard variable rate of 6.94%, I called them to question why it was so high and they advised me my property had gone down and my LVR was now at 95.8% so I had to pay a top interest rate.

They then advised I could contact my broker to request a full valuation as sometimes the desktop valuations can be incorrect, anywho, I did the full valuation and it came back at my original purchase price of 775k and put me at a LVR of 89.8%. My broker then tried to request a rate drop to be inline with ING's advertised rate of 6.49% for a 80-90% LVR loan and in short ING to her to beat it.

I then contacted ING to follow up and if they had any offers or if there was a better product with a lower rate they could put me on, they told me no they can't do any better as all the advertised rates online are for new customers and that LVR doesn't count once the loan is already established. I though this part was a little bit extra, but the lady then advised if i wasn't happy she could send me a discharge form.

I don't think my request is unreasonable as all I'm asking for is to be on a rate they have available online that fits within my loan criteria. I guess my question is, is there anything else I can do to lower my rate or do just have to suck it up?

TLDR - ING offered me a 6.94% variable rate when my fixed loan expires, claiming my apartment’s value had dropped and my LVR was 95.8%. We completed a full valuation, which came back at my original purchase price of $775k, putting my LVR at 89.8%. Despite this, ING refused to match their advertised 6.49% rate, saying advertised rates are only for new customers. Is there anything else I can do to negotiate a better rate?

My mom sold our apartment in HK after my dad died and her accountant told her she wouldn't be taxed on it if she lives in HK for a year before coming back to Australia. Is that true? It doesn't sound right to me.

Four weeks ago I went to my accountant to do my tax return. It wasn’t a great experience and my lesson should be not to choose HR Block. There were repairs being undertaken on the roof and it was incredibly noisy and she kept stopping to complain.

I rang last week because they still haven’t submitted my tax return to ATO. I was given the excuse they haven’t had electricity in the office and they are working their way through the lodgements.

My problem is, I purchased the home with Vic Homebuyer Fund. SRO has requested as part of the annual review my completed tax statement. At the moment I have lodged everything, except this, and told them that I am waiting for accountant to
Lodge my tax return before I can supply the tax statement. It may give me a couple of months reprieve.

At what point should I be concerned about the failure to lodge my tax return?

ICYMI: Betashares Quality ETF (QLTY) recently change its methodology. It used to cap weights to 2% which made it more like an equal weight index fund i.e. less concentration to mega tech names.

Now it looks basically the same as QUAL etf. I'd rather put my money in IQLT (iShares quality equivalent) with a lower management fee at 0.25%.

Know that people here might not be fans of thematic/factor investing but this ETF has over 1 billion in AUM and decided to change it's methodology to be like everyone else 🤷‍♂️ - just go for BGBL or similar which has all the top quality names anyway at a vastly lower MER.

Edit (with PDS update):

STOXX Ltd, the index sponsor, has amended the methodology for the iSTOXX MUTB Global ex-Australia Quality Leaders 150 Index (Index), which the Fund aims to track before fees and expenses, in relation to the maximum weight that may be assigned to an individual constituent.

The current Product Supplement describes the Index as being weighted by free-float market capitalisation, with a single component's weight capped at 2%.

Effective following the close of trading on 18 September 2026, the fixed 2% cap will be replaced by a dynamic cap determined on a quarterly basis.

Accordingly, paragraph 4 under the heading "Further information about the Index" in the Product Supplement is deleted and replaced with the following:

“The Index is weighted by free-float market capitalisation and rebalanced on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. Each component's weight is capped on a quarterly basis, based on the close prices from the second Thursday of the rebalancing month. The applicable single component cap is determined as the greater of: • 2%; and • the highest average constituent weight observed in the developed market universe applicable to the Index, where, for each constituent, the average weight is calculated using its month-end weight history over the preceding 24 months, or the longest available weight history where a full 24-month history is not available.

The resulting cap is applied uniformly to all components.

The Index is reconstituted semi-annually in June and December.”

As we all know, capital gains tax is replaced with cost-base indexation and a 30% minimum tax rate on real capital gains.

CPI quarterly data is available on 31/3, 30/6, 30/9 and 31/12.

Say for example I decided to invest $10000 in shares for a period of 6 months only.

Would it make more sense to purchase shares on 30/3 as opposed to 1/4? And sell them on 1/10 instead of 29/9? The more CPI quarterly dates the shares fit under then the more the cost base will be indexed to inflation, thus decreasing the capital gains tax.

Say if CPI increased by 1% on 31/3, 1% on 30/6 and 1% on 30/9, then the cost base will increase by 10000x 1.01 = $10100 for 31/3, then 10100 x 1.01 = $10201 for 30/6, then 10201x1.01 = $10303.01 for 30/9.

Whereas if the shares were purchased on 1/4 and sold on 29/9 then only the 30/6 CPI data of 1% would apply to the cost base. Hence cost base only $10100.

As a result, we have a $203.01 difference in the cost base by purchasing and selling shares only a few days apart from the CPI quarterly releases.

I also see an added benefit for those in the lower tax brackets to buy shares before CPI quarterly releases as shares with quarterly distributions would provide distributions at their tax rate and the price of the shares would also drop.

Am I onto something? It's a small difference but it would work for those who like to optimise?

My rationale is based on a debt recycling strategy where I sell shares for a profit to then debt recycle further (have a net capital loss carried forward to offset). However as I will be splitting the loans at regular intervals, it is worth it for me consider when is the best time to buy and sell based on the new CGT rules. Thanks!

I’m currently with AustralianSuper and considering switching my super investment option to High Growth, but I’m unsure whether I should change my entire existing balance or just direct my future contributions to High Growth.
To be honest, I’m a complete beginner when it comes to super investments and don’t really understand the different options yet. I’ve attached a screenshot of the investment options available in my account.

Given the options available, would you recommend putting 100% into High Growth, or using a combination of options? If a combination, what percentage allocation would you suggest and why?

Asking for a friend - question for financial investors in Australia - what is the first best ETF to sign up for? Say you’re using the commsec app and investing for the first time ever, not using the commsec pocket app. Is the right app to use? Are there any other recommendations? I just opened my commsec app yesterday.

Any lifestyle changes or philosophies you routinely stick to to help with a good savings rate? Savings rate being a basic (money left over) / income after tax

looks like we all now know why the Firmus IPO failed (hint look at the Coreweave CDS costs (over 1% on 5year CDS...yikes) and this is at close to 16% yield.

Hoping someone here can help, we have decided to take Flexicommercial to AFCA. After communications with their legal team, they advised us that Flexicommercial didn’t need to be a member of AFCA.
We thought perhaps it was Humm we needed to name in AFCA report, as they are the parent company, again we couldn’t find their AFCA number.
Contacted AFCA, they couldn’t find registration numbers either.
Our conclusion was they were registered under a different entity.
So contacted Humm and asked for their AFCA number, their response was ‘look it up on AFCA website’, we’ve drawn a blank, any ideas please??
BTW…. It would have been much easier for HUMM to give us the six digit number, rather than reply with a couple of sentences.

Hi all, I've been to Australia for almost a year now. My previous employer used HOSTPLUS, I recently left that employer receiving my final super pay and my new two employer pays uses HESTA. I want to consolidate my super which provider should I go into? I hear HOSTPLUS is better choice? I'm an international student here so don't know much about the different providers here. Anyone can help me decide on which provider I should consolidate my super balance.

19m and recently started investing. I am aiming for high growth over the long term and understand that this type of portfolio is riskier than a standard DHHF & chill. I feel that over the next few decades the US will continue to outperform the rest of the world as it is the center of innovation and has complete global reach. Could I get some general feedback on this portfolio, especially from people in similar positions as me? Thanks.

Obviously doesn't count if you work from home.

Just wanted to know how much everyone is generally spending on lunch during weekdays at work. Im spending somewhere around $15-$20 per day. Sometimes $30 if I indulge in extras and sides.

Has anyone seen anything better than this ? For what I need this one is just perfect and complete, ability to add offset at whatever frequency desired (and multiple ways at same time)/ start date customization, rates increase / decrease/ tells you date when repaid with numbers / graph etc. I was searching for a while so thought of sharing with everyone and get views if anything better

https://figura.com.au/calculators/repayments

SHOW YOURSELF.

I just lost $94.50?

I received an email yesterday from Coles Flybuys saying 2,000 point had been redeemed by me at a specific time yesterday evening. As I had not been to Coles yesterday and though I did make a purchase from a take away at about that time, that purchase was using Apple Pay on my Apple Watch using my Coles card. There should have been no Flybuys involved as the shop was unrelated to Coles.

I phoned Coles support this morning and they said they had received many similar complaints in the past 24 hours and were investigating. So if you have had any unexpected redemptions in the last day or two, make sure you are recompensed when the issue is resolved.

I have several 18K gold jewellery that I’m planning to sell. Around 44 g in total. Yellow and white gold. Where can I get the best price for these? I’m based in Sydney CBD.

How would you invest money if the stock market crashed ? What’s past crashes taught you ?