COVID-19: who’s going full doomsday prep on this?

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
Well i moved away from friends and family 300 km away to NE Vic when I was 26yo .
Have great friends locally and family generally moved here. A few friends still in Melbourne .
Hated Melbourne, best thing I ever did.
 

Cyclomaniac

Likes Dirt
I moved 10 hours out of Sydney in my early twenties. It was a great decision for me and the missus. We did find a bit of local resentment though as the true locals felt invaded by us city types who were pushing up house prices and driving their kids to move even further away. In some places there seems to be a knock on effect. You think you are solving a problem and then realise you are part of it.
 

downunderdallas

Likes Bikes and Dirt
the chance of buying in your childhood suburb is gone..
In Perth and I would suggest Adelaide too, it's still achievable for a reasonable proportion, as long as you didn't grow up in Peppermint Grove or Dalkeith or Cottesloe in Perth (or equiv in Adelaide) but then Mum and Dad can probably help out! Certainly on this side of the country we have had something like 10-15 years of property value decline.
 

slowmick

38-39"
Three generations in one house is getting popular in out area. Knock down a 70s house then build a massive two story home for mum, dad, kids and grandparents. Grandparents and living downstairs - young family upstairs. So many cars...
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Three generations in one house is getting popular in out area. Knock down a 70s house then build a massive two story home for mum, dad, kids and grandparents. Grandparents and living downstairs - young family upstairs. So many cars...
Next will be the explosion of love hotels
 

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
For anyone interested or considering drawing down on their super. This is Scott Pape's view on the scheme.
Truth be told, Australia was one of the least prepared countries for this crisis. That’s because the average Aussie household is shouldering some of the highest household debts in the world, and has skint savings: half of us have less than $7,000 in the bank, according to the Grattan Institute. So for those people who have lost their jobs or their small businesses, the government is offering you a gamble: They’ll let you take up to $20,000 from your super, tax free, to live on.
(It kicks off with $10,000 in mid-April, then you can request another $10,000 in the new financial year. To access it you need to be unemployed, getting a Centrelink payment like youth allowance, or have had your working hours or business income reduced by 20% or more. Then again, it’s self-assessed, so, you know …)
On the upside, you’ll have money to tide you over for the next few months.
On the downside, you could be putting your retirement at risk.
So, what should you do?
Well, with a hat-tip to the late Kenny Rogers: “If you’re gonna play the game, boy, you gotta learn to play it right”.
There’s a saying in poker: you’re not really playing the cards … you’re playing the other players.
So, let’s see who’s sitting around your table.
First, you’ve got your bank. They’ve been dealt a really bad hand. That’s why they’re giving their affected customers up to a six month ‘pause’ on their home loan (and in reality, all their debts).
Next to them sit your utility providers and telcos, who will offer payment arrangements.
Finally, there’s your landlord, who looks like they’ll be forced to go easy on renters who are in financial difficulty.
In other words, if you’ve lost your income, you can put on your poker face and call their bluffs.
All you need to do is contact their hardship department (pro tip: email them, their phone lines will be jammed), and explain your situation, preferably with written evidence.
So, should you still take the $20,000, just in case?
Well, the Gambler advises “you never count your money while you’re sitting at the table”.
But I don’t agree.
See, you may think you’re cashing in $20,000 of your super money, but you’re really not:
If you’re 45 years old, that $20,000 would be worth $50,000 by the time you retire.If you’re 35 years old, it’s an $80,000 decision.
And if you’re 25 years old, you’re really gambling with $132,000!
Why?
Because you’re cashing out your investments during a share market crash, where the price of stocks are 25% cheaper than they were a few months ago. You’re selling out cheap. And history tells us that over the long-term the stock market always goes up — through panics, pandemics, wars, depressions and recessions.
Always.
Still, I was curious to know how popular the Government’s proposal would be.
So on the weekend I asked people on Facebook: would they be touching their super because of coronavirus?
Drumroll ...
image
Some 58,000 people were so utterly bored that they took the time to vote on a poll on … err … super.
Yet what’s encouraging is that the vast majority of them said ‘no’ — they wouldn’t touch their super.
For them, the long-term stakes were too high … and instead they’d decided to fold and walk away.
Of course, that doesn't help you if you’re a hospitality worker and you’ve got to put food on the table.
Your kids can’t eat compound interest.
Yet before you cash out part of your retirement savings, make sure you have exhausted every last option available to you (including eating baked beans for a few months).
Remember, this crisis will likely last a few months — yet your retirement will last decades.
So if you do have to access your super, make a pact with your future self that when you get back to work, you’ll increase your repayments to 15% of your gross wages, so you automatically pay it back.
Do whatever you can do now to avoid a royal flush of your financial future.
Tread Your Own Path!
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
In Perth and I would suggest Adelaide too, it's still achievable for a reasonable proportion, as long as you didn't grow up in Peppermint Grove or Dalkeith or Cottesloe in Perth (or equiv in Adelaide) but then Mum and Dad can probably help out! Certainly on this side of the country we have had something like 10-15 years of property value decline.
Yeah for sure, I mean no offence but when I was talking cities it’s Melb or Syd with Bris right up behind..
The only advice I can provide is if you have children best to live in the same city as the family even if it’s 40-60mins door to door..
 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
There is some resentment by some locals, early 80 s they were just wary of outsiders .
Now its resentment by everyone to CUBBS cashed up baby boomers who sell their shack in Melb or Sydney for 2 million and come here with too much money to throw around.
The parasitic estate agents smell them coming , jack up the prices and rents and the local kids particularly get priced out.
With modern communications its easy to live most places and still keep in touch with everyone.
Lots of distant friends we meet up every year to do a holiday together eg Derby , Charlotte Pass , NZ .
 

rowdyflat

chez le médecin
In Perth and I would suggest Adelaide too, it's still achievable for a reasonable proportion, as long as you didn't grow up in Peppermint Grove or Dalkeith or Cottesloe in Perth (or equiv in Adelaide) but then Mum and Dad can probably help out! Certainly on this side of the country we have had something like 10-15 years of property value decline.
I went back to my childhood suburb in Melbourne about 2 years ago for the first time in 40 years.
Wont say which cos people who live there might be offended, lets say expensive SE bayside .
OMG what a pit of Mcmansions leaning into the streets ,smug twee yuppiness , streets packed with helicopter mothers in gym clothes and 4WD tanks.
Most of the modest weatherboard houses had been pulled down , traffic lights everywhere.
Lesson learned dont go back , so wont be visiting the surf coast thanks.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
There is some resentment by some locals, early 80 s they were just wary of outsiders .
Now its resentment by everyone to CUBBS cashed up baby boomers who sell their shack in Melb or Sydney for 2 million and come here with too much money to throw around.
The parasitic estate agents smell them coming , jack up the prices and rents and the local kids particularly get priced out.
With modern communications its easy to live most places and still keep in touch with everyone.
Lots of distant friends we meet up every year to do a holiday together eg Derby , Charlotte Pass , NZ .
And here we have a virus that specifically targets an older demographic...

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Now its resentment by everyone to CUBBS cashed up baby boomers who sell their shack in Melb or Sydney for 2 million and come here with too much money to throw around.
The parasitic estate agents smell them coming , jack up the prices and rents and the local kids particularly get priced out.
We like to export that attitude as well. I see it in parts of Japan. Buy out the locals, use property for part of snow season, close it up for the year...makes it hard for workers to get accommodation for the rest of the year for work like farming.




So these douche bags that decided they'd still go overseas, despite all the warnings. Far out! Should we view their quarantine in mostly luxury hotels as the government's hand out to that industry?
 

gillyske

Likes Dirt
Completely reasonable request. Are you 12 by the way?
All im saying is that here we have a society where people travel over 50km by car to see their friends and family and people wonder why have ever growing mental health problems and people feel isolated.

I compare this to where my mother grew up and although the neighbourhood was much poorer they were all walking distance from each other and would actually meet up every night outside and just sit and talk in a common space. People would bring chairs from their homes and sit out in a court yard, share stories and food and the kids would play together.
Now something like this has to be an event, like a party or back yard bbq that happens occasionally.
I just don't see it anywhere in Melbourne.


I'm really getting off topic so I'll just conceed that I'm childish and we don't have a social isolation/mental health problem created by ridig economic class structures (it was all the kids and the innernet i tell ya what).
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
All im saying is that here we have a society where people travel over 50km by car to see their friends and family and people wonder why have ever growing mental health problems and people feel isolated.

I compare this to where my mother grew up and although the neighbourhood was much poorer they were all walking distance from each other and would actually meet up every night outside and just sit and talk in a common space. People would bring chairs from their homes and sit out in a court yard, share stories and food and the kids would play together.
Now something like this has to be an event, like a party or back yard bbq that happens occasionally.
I just don't see it anywhere in Melbourne.


I'm really getting off topic so I'll just conceed that I'm childish and we don't have a social isolation/mental health problem created by ridig economic class structures (it was all the kids and the innernet i tell ya what).
Times have changed unfortunately. Your dream is no longer reality.
 
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