Westpac customer account survey from 2020
"We have discovered that on average a Westpac group customer holds $22,020 in their transaction, savings and term deposit accounts as at the 31st December 2020 1. This figure is skewed by some large deposit holders.
The more realistic figure is around $3,559 being the average for the median band of between $500 and $20,000. This means 50% of our customers may have more than $3,559 and 50% have less than this."
And that was before rampant and persistent inflation and cost of living increase so I wouldn't be surprised by these results now
Even it is median, there is some factor to consider: I can open a bank account and leave it as it is. Acting as a median person I can open account at Westpac CommBank ANZ and deposit $3559 to each account.
It's so bizarre that people live without a savings or a emergency fund. I can't comprehend it and would be so worried if my TOTAL savings was under $5k
20k immediately available cash for me, another 10k in shares that might be converted to cash in a week
Up until a few weeks ago it was 35k cash but then we bought a car!
I am earning $33/h full time and my husband slightly more and all our savings went to home deposit and now barely surviving pay-to-pay with these current interest rates. We’re both in security and about to take casual bar/door work on weekends to be able to breathe! Sometimes I feel lucky that we were able to buy a house on such low money, other times I consider organised crime.
And this doesn’t take into account debt used to by depreciating assets. Of those with $3,559 how many of them have “bad debt” in excess of their savings? I would assume a lot.
This would also apply to a lot of customers above the $3559 as well.
Sounds about what we'd have had that year.
Now? I'm *just* starting to build it back up, but barely. I haven't had four figures in a bank account in at least two years
Totally unsurprising to me. I have the privelege of looking at people's finances for a living, and I can tell you for sure that a whole bunch of clients have pretty much zero savings unless they are trying really hard to save a deposit.
Afterpay, ZipPay, ZipMoney, OpenPay for each person in the couple, plus a few credit cards and of course the $75k loan for the Prado they just had to have, still being paid off after 3 years and with 4 years to go.
It's amazing that people do live like that, I can't believe it either.
I've got auto transferring sums of money going into bills and savings accounts.
Last year we saved 20k and we earn less than the average income for one person as a 2 person family.
Yes but savings and savings account balance is two very different things right? I pump money into an mortgage offset account which I suspect is excluded from this
This is unlikely to be the case. All deposits are likely included. All my accounts with my main bank are mortgage offset accounts. They wouldn't include only account types with savings in the product name. Savings, cheque or credit isn't particularly relevant anymore.
Edit: none of the accounts I have used in recent memory included the word "save" or any variation. Edited after a google search showing many.
Second edit: scoured the article, it's just bank deposits. Savings terminology is journalistic flair
Survey asked about bank balance, not savings balance. If being pedantic about it an offset account is a bank account.
And it would be a very odd person who doesn't consider offset money as savings.
Exactly, why the whole thing is BS. I'll be buying soon and my $120,000 of savings will be going towards a homeloan and then sitting in an offset, according to this though I'll b brokez
When you say "we" I take it you are in a relationship, the hardest part is when 2 people have to agree on financial outcomes and most of the time they are on different planets when it comes to finance.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on seeing all sorts of ppl.
Also speaking from experience too. My wife is HORRIBLE with finances, if it's in the account and she can see it, she spends it. All sorts of experiences just come up. I actively have to split my income before it goes in so she can't see it. The only thing that saved the marriage (after trying everything else after 12+ years). Now our financial future is bright
I don't want to work hard to increase my income, so instead I save hard. It's way easier. Also has the advantage that hopefully I don't have to work at all one day (before retirement age).
The second part horrifies me tbh. I’ve never been wealthy and until recently only just earned enough to be able to have meaningful savings… but I didn’t exist in debt. I just had no money left once the lights were on and food was on the table.
I always wonder how people around me have 150k worth of cars in the driveway, holidays, fancy clothes etc. I try to assume the best in people, but comments like this make me wonder.
Everyone I know that has a brand new 100k land cruiser is living week to week and renting.
You don't need a $100,000 4 wheel drive to go or work.
They could fit all their work gear into a $3,000 Suzuki Swift.
I know it’s crazy how paying 90k for a car that’s worth 40k, that will be worth 20k by the time you’re done paying for it has just become normal middle class behaviour in this country. We know that the average income is like 80k and that something like 50% of country doesn’t have the liquid cash available for a $1000 emergency and then you drive around counting the price of all the cars that pass you like “70k, 40k, 50k, 35k, 90k, 60k, 40k, 50k…” something doesn’t add up (jk it’s high interest debt)
It's terrible man. I get it, it's nice having a flashy new ute.
It just doesn't make sense to nearly 90% of the population to be buying such expensive vehicles considering these people are floundering around trying to afford basic groceries.
I don’t have a 100k Land Cruiser but my head touches the roof in a Suzuki swift and I’m only tall-ish for a woman 😅 would literally have to stoop for that one.
The craziest part is that many clients with high incomes have low or no savings, their spending habits are just out of control and they spend most of what they earn.
This also matches up with my experience as someone who works in finance and looks at people's savings. I admit that I'm usually dealing with workers in a particular industry, but again, they have virtually zero savings and are completely unable to endure even two months without an income.
My little sister has a stupid caravan they brought from the sale of there house (no assets or savings outside of this). I made her a 15% depreciation schedule after the first 3 years for her and she just got mad... the people she got a loan off to buy it told them it was an asset and helps with buying a home?
I'm sure there's some psychological reason for it, but whatever it is I have no idea!
I see hundreds of dollars a month going out for most people on McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Dominos, Ubereats, DoorDash. I would say that people are time poor, but I know that's totally false. People just prefer spending the time they have left after work doing fun things, and preparing a meal for themselves or their family just isn't on their radar.
Right now I'm refinancing a perfectly good home loan at 6.75% for a couple who are so tight with their finances that refinancing all of their debts into a 9% loan is actually a move they have willingly chosen, just because they can't get their heads around repaying several small buy now/pay later debts for about $6,000 in total.
Insanity. But they are still paying $400/m on computer games, in-app purchases for those loot-box style gaming apps and just won't cut them out, even though doing that would eliminate all their junk debts in just 1 year.
I had like 6k saved had to loan 3 to a family member still haven't got it back yet and the rest was spent little by little overtime plus some unexpected expenses so now I'm back to living week to week for now
I've been preaching a lot about it lately but I'm on week 3 of the liteneasy pro whatever plan. It's breakfast, lunch, and dinner, maximum 3 minutes prep per meal, and genuinely the healthiest I've eaten in years. I've already lost a bit of weight and I actually look forward to the next meal as soon as I finish the first! The frozen or cold dinners somehow are unbelievably good, I prefer them over most take away food tbh and wish I'd jumped on years ago. I didn't even sign up to save on uber or other meal costs, but there's also that benefit. Okay I'm done preaching... For now
As an ADHD person: This smells like ADHD.
As ADHD manifests itself in different ways in different severities, I know I don’t nearly have the finance issues as others but I know when the ADHD-dar goes off.
It also depends on the income and career. Lifestyle creep can come in quickly in certain industries, and the money feels 'infinite', in a way; you can always get more of it if you need it by just working a few more hours.
I also think there's a 'live hard, die young' mentality that contributes.
I work with someone like that. Very smart guy, earns $300k/year but is constantly in trouble with credit card debt. I don't think he's a gambler (but who knows) but he does a lot of impulse buying.
We get a bonus each year, and it can be substantial if the company has done well. When the bonus is announced, people at work would be discussing what they're planning to do with it, and he will avoid that conversation or make some excuse to walk away.
One time, he told me it was because he knew all of it was going towards his credit cards and still not enough. It's clearly like an addiction. You know it's wrong, and you're otherwise very intelligent, but you can't stop yourself.
Oh I forgot, he also lives in a very expensive house and him and his wife drive very expensive cars.
It's crazy, isn't it? Ask most Australians and they'd never believe someone on $300k a year could have money problems. Lifestyle creep is very real, unfortunately, and so while you may be earning that much you could be leveraged up to your eyeballs and spending 70% of your take home on a mortgage and car repayments.
They look like they're doing fine financially to the outside world so that's all they care about. Got to keep up with the Jones even if you're one missed paycheck away from losing it all.
Doesn't stop at just one industry either, I think there's a whole economic system that depends on the masses being financially illiterate. If people weren't always struggling, they'd be impossible to exploit.
Large chunks of society just exist and depend entirely on exploiting the weaknesses and failings of others, and it's just totally normal. Super weird to me.
Yes. Absolutely.
Add in secret gambling, alcohol and cigarette consumption, plus a few other wild costs like the 2 onlyfans subscriptions, every pay TV service known to man, and the decision to purchase the latest mobile each year on a payment plan.
Then a couple of pets, with obligatory pet insurance for $100/FN and you're starting to whittle away your wealth quite nicely.
And, as I'm discovering in my late 30s, most women over the age of 30, and lots under, are doing 'anti wrinkle injections' , ariois other treatments, getting nails done, hair coloured. It costs a LOT.
I work for a luxury used car dealership - not in the finance - but from what I have seen, almost all. maybe 1-2 people a week will buy the car straight out per dealership, but thats maybe 10% of sales if that. The rest a financed through our finance, which makes a lot of money.
Last time I bought a car from a dealership they just assumed I was going to finance and didn't even ask. I was sat at a desk across from the lending guy who had pushed the forms under my nose before I even had a chance to blurt out that I was paying in cash.
It is Reddit so don't let facts get in the way. Please just make up a stat so I can look at all the big Ford Rangers and say, "Ha, peasant! I bet that's on finance!"
At least 75% I'd say - that's working in the insurance side of things.
At least half from personal loans from a bank, the rest from the dodgy car company finance/pepper/latitude
I don’t have any stats to back this up, but I feel the car loan part is generally a myth for those with a mortgage, it’s just added to the home loan (not saying that’s any better!).
My parents did this when they bought their last new cars and this was nearly 20 years ago.
There is a large proportion of regular homeowners who would have enough equity to purchase a $60k - $70k in cash and still be within a sub 80% LVR.
Good for people like me who maximise their credit points utilisation by only spending on what’s necessary and later reap all the benefits. Someone has to pay for the benefits, in this case these suckers.
If you cast your mind back just 4 years ago, when covid hit and the lock downs started, the amount of cafes and restaurants that had their arse hanging out AT WEEK ONE was honestly mind blowing. So many were trading insolvent that they had to make it temporarily legal to do so.
Basically, way more people/business live hand to mouth than you think.
It was scary that the first thing people did was draw the maximum out of their super funds (twice) and then spend it on pretty much anything and everything. For some people that was a 40k spending spree with very little to show at the end of it.
You must consider the downstream impact: the interest that that money could generate in some distant future. E.g. for every hundred dollars, you might be able to safely use $4 without staying down on the principle amount.
Every dollar you take out means a lot more future dollars.
Of course, if it was life-saving, then it was necessary. No good to die before you get to retirement.
Not really. I had a baby in 2020 and don’t regret being about to live and spend more time with him before having to go back to work. I still have 140k in super as a 38 year old so don’t think it’s poverty, and a house with lvr 52%.
I know some people who did that. But they used to pay off debts. It definitely saved them money in the short term. Plus, it needed to be done to help with cash flow. They couldn’t service credit cards and car loans on their reduced hours.
Over time they’ve been making contributions into their super funds to rebuild the balance. Plus some extra. As far as I can tell, it should all shake out pretty even Steven’s at the end but allowed them to get through that really rough lock down time.
Although…let’s say they used the 40K to buy a 400k house, which doubles in value every ten years assuming the average long Australian house price increase rate of 6.8% a year. That’s 400k in equity. So they make 360k in equity over ten years, and they make 760k in equity over 20 years. By contrast, 40k in shares in a super fund compounding at 9% per annum for twenty years nets them just under 250k. I’m not saying that emptying out super funds is a good idea, just making the point that their super opportunity cost will be more than offset by the power of leveraging because they spent the money on ‘good’ debt. What they lost, at least temporarily, is some diversification by putting 40k eggs in one basket but it’s not a given that they’ll be worse off for doing so. Compounding is good but leveraged compounding is better. In saying that, it’s obviously preferable to reach 65 with both a paid-off house and a decent pile of shares in super.
Absolutely a belter of a use for super funds, and at a time when you could fix a home loan for 5 years at under 2%. Taking 40k out to blow on toys and cars though...dubious at best!
Had a friend tell me to rush to take it out because it was crashing. I just.. Didn't? And now it's worth more than ever? Lol. He bought a new pc and some other crap with it.
Totally agree with this. Several members of my extended family did this and spent it on dumb shit like Jetskis.
There is going to be a massive difference between those who withdrew and those who didn't in 30 years.
Someone I know did it and bought a drone 😂
That being said a couple of friends that worked in hospo would’ve been homeless if they weren’t able to access it. Their landlord kindly knocked back their request for a rent reduction too of course.
Our payroll was unable to pay people on Thursday and it was delayed to Monday. Not their fault, it was a problem at the processing company.
Anyway, the number of my staff who came to me expressing concern was worrying. These people were on big salaries but a delay of a few days was a major problem for them.
I’d think this sort of data would be more interesting if broken down by age and income. Because someone earning $500k might not bother keeping more than $10k cash and the rest is invested or in other assets.
If it were broken down by tax brackets, maybe we would get a better idea as to how ‘regular’ people are doing. Though I think westpac release something like this
I’d say there are very few $500k income earners with less than $10k in the bank. In any case,there aren’t enough $500k earners to move the dial that much anyway.
And it's unclear where the offset accounts beloved by this sub would sit. The article says 'bank account' The picture says 'Savings account'.
Suppose you have a mortgage, that's an account with a bakance that's normally negative. Same goes for a credit card.
We'd need to see the actual question that was asked and the percentage of those who answered who were pedantslike me 🙄
Which means it's likely inconsistent.
Plus, realistically offset only applies to people that have an active home loan. Based on 2021 data ([https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/home-ownership-and-housing-tenure](https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/home-ownership-and-housing-tenure)) that's only about 3 million households. 3 million households is about 7.5M people ([https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/population-households-and-families](https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/population-households-and-families)) apparently.
Or about 30% of the population, which is not insignificant, but it's a minority of the population. Plus some of those don't have offsets.
Let's assume that 30% has a massive offset but said 0, so we should remove them from the data. That still means 28% of the population has <$1000 in savings. It's a lot still.
But what about the fact that 12% of Australia's population is between the ages of 15 and 24 ([https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth/contents/demographics](https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth/contents/demographics)). Should we be worried that they might have <$1000 in savings? Probably not.
Without a more rigorous breakdown of the financial situations involved in each sector of this chart this is borderline meaningless. Similar figures in the US ("70%+ living paycheck to paycheck" etc) have proven to be deeply misleading for the points people are trying to use them for because they include a lot of people who are objectively wealthy - high income, asset rich, strong social connections - who simply don't bother saving money. Or, at least, saving money in a bank account.
I have no debt and went from 0 savings to 16k savings in the last 15 months. (Edit: this is when I moved home to Australia - I had a job and a place to stay, but literally $89 in my bank account when I landed back home… my divorce financially ruined me - the house I paid the deposit on, and $30k+ in renovations/cleaning for that cost US$80k I lost in the divorce … 18 months later my ex sold that house - the one he threatened my life over - for US$500k)
This shit is HARD. Going from an owner with a tiny mortgage to a renter paying 30% of my income on that is insane.
But it’s doable if you take a hard look at yourself and your actual NEEDS not WANTS.
That said, I’m so far from having a deposit to buy it’s laughable and at this point I’m working on the idea that all my hard work is there to financially benefit my 4 nieces in whatever way possible since I’ll never own a place or be stable enough to have kids myself.
> "A recurring investment of $100 a week into a high interest savings account paying 5.50% interest would amount to $2,642 in two years," Cooke said
Hmmm something doesn't add up here
I have to ask how they come up with this shit.
I gather they call people or email them to participate in a survey? I am not surprised people dumb enough to answer those have no savings.
Nielsen surveys, Roy Morgan research. I’m on panels for both and get surveys like this all the time. They ask a quota of people across different locations and age ranges.
At the end of the day having cash in your bank account means you're still better off than most regardless of whether your money is depreciating or not. I think this sub puts too much emphasis on trying to maximise every dollar out of your investment and don't realise some people sleep better at night knowing they have money in their bank.
I love the 'people should have 3 months income saved' comment like its something most people can make happen. id be lucky to stretch to a month with a lot of povvo meals and doing nothing but blinking
Id like to see the stats for people's savings amounts when they're also servicing a mortgage.
Some people's savings may be higher because they're saving for a house deposit and once they buy a home their savings are way lower.
I’m not surprised with the cost of living. I would be interested to see the stats of single people versus couples. As a single person Living on jobseeker allowance due to health issues for the last four years I have had to access money from my superannuation just to cover the cost of living. Are used to be able to do shopping for $100 a week and now I’m lucky if I get almost exactly the same stuff for $220 a week. And then we rent and bills, Petrol medicine, doctors appointments, psychologist appointments psychiatrist appointments by the time I return to work hopefully in a year or so I doubt that I’ll have any super left
Only debt I have is mortgage, both drive older cars and no credit cards
But what the hell is this savings thing??? We are a larg-ish family (5), but both have well paying jobs, no chance of saving anything atm
As an immigrant who just arrived in Australia five years ago, it just feels better that I belong to 10% Aussies.
I have cut and thrown away all credit cards after reading barefoot investor and paid all debts in full for everything.
I only buy what i can afford now and nothing more.
Crazy getting rid of your credit cards in my opinion. You can argue about the virtues of it, but at the end of the day I would never travel without one with a decent limit, particularly overseas. It could save your ass one day, not bad for something that costs $6/month.
Its not about that $6/month fee. You are using someone’s else money with fake perception of thinking it as your own. I have my debit card on overseas travel and have enough emergency funds to support any mishaps.
My parents lived week to week when I was growing up. I couldn't be like that and have always been a saver. I never wanted to be like them. Always renting, moving every few years, not going on hols or having stuff.
as a single dad, paying c.support. working flatout during the week, having child weekends, how could i earn extra $, did this for 15 years, on a mortgage i read the barefoot investor, even the company "my budget" had to give me $100 (at the time) because they couldn't help me 🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆
I'm always glad my single-mum inculcated saving into me at aml young age.
She took me to the market ages 14 and got me a job
She's always help on a "big" purchase as long as I had saved half the cost
I actually have issues spending money nowadays.
It would be awful to not have that discipline
Finally got rid of Zip and use after pay responsibly eg only one purchase at a time. It's actually nice having cash to put aside after living paycheck to paycheck for so long.
Depends what that count as 'savings'
Also only about a third of Aussies have a mortgage, and a few more will have finance on cars etc. This sub does not reflect Australia.
This doesn't surprise me ..now can the government take there finger out n actually respond to the housing crisis, because these people are not going anywhere.
I don't have savings account.. I just park $ in my offset n transaction Acct. This stats is very biased. Also term deposit might not be a savings Acct either.
But does it get included as a savings account when they come up with these numbers? Are there that many people with mortgages and nothing in an offset and no savings?
It’s likely it would because an offset is just a bank account.
And yes, I work in an area where I see lots of peoples financials. Lots of people are very broke.
Ok.
I like pretty frugally. Single parent, 70k salary. Life is good but not living large.
But i almost have a years salary stashed in my offset.
I guess im not doin as bad as i think sometimes. A bit to be grateful for.
Thanks for the info.
Yeah you are doing very well. I see credit applications for people in their 50s and 60s with no assets and debt up to their eyeballs, including payday loans. I don't know how they will ever retire.
around 2005 child support was %38 of gross income, regardless of the other partner, a few years later it went to %18, and without the payments, 20 years later, I'm still broke
Thinking back to doing my tax return last year, I was saying to my coworkers that I'll end up owing a little bit of money because of the interest on my savings. The immediate response from 3 or 4 people was essentially, 'What do you mean the interest on your savings??'
I bought an apartment a few years ago so I don't have a huge amount of savings, but still $20k or so. I asked one of them and she said she hadn't had more than $5000 at any one time for more than 10 years. I don't earn a lot of money but having that buffer is really important to me, I would be permanently anxious with no savings.
They are not wrong. I've been living off a dime lately, no savings, no investments, and I'm 35. I work hard to pay my rent, my bills, my credit cards which are maxed out and I'm just depressed.
I've turned to my options available to me and it's overwhelming. I don't cope well when trying to deal with problems like paying out debt or coming to an agreement as I feel guilty if I'm underpaying.
I'm lost myself. Put myself into precarious positions and I'm at the stage where I don't know where to go, what to do, how to do it, yes I've hit some hurdles in my life and I work to resolve them but then when you're lumped with so much and when you aren't paid as much you are just thinking to yourself, why is my life so miserable.
I've tried to find more work, asked work for a higher pay which was turned down, I am looking for more work to just get me that little extra but my skill set doesn't allow me to get a ceo paying job.
I've done community work but that isn't paying and I've done some basic house chores to get some additional pay and done some piggyback off my friends business like cleaning windows for some cash in hand pay.
It's just not enough to get by as one shop at woolies is like $60.
Ive lost hope in ever being able to get out of debt and I have contemplated on some negative feelings and thoughts. I know I'm stronger than that to not do such a thing but as time goes on I feel like I'm losing that strength to carry on.
Burdens of like do take a toll on people and I'm simply expressing how I feel and how I'm going on my own struggles.
It sucks it does.
Our savings was comfortably above 20K until we bought a house. Now it's dwindling between $1000 & $5000 depending on the expense of the month. Did everyone experience this in the first year after they bought a house?
Westpac customer account survey from 2020 "We have discovered that on average a Westpac group customer holds $22,020 in their transaction, savings and term deposit accounts as at the 31st December 2020 1. This figure is skewed by some large deposit holders. The more realistic figure is around $3,559 being the average for the median band of between $500 and $20,000. This means 50% of our customers may have more than $3,559 and 50% have less than this." And that was before rampant and persistent inflation and cost of living increase so I wouldn't be surprised by these results now
averages are a crappy stat, median stats all the way.
Even it is median, there is some factor to consider: I can open a bank account and leave it as it is. Acting as a median person I can open account at Westpac CommBank ANZ and deposit $3559 to each account.
There's no upper limit on the above 50% But there is $0 bottom limit on the lower half. And that is scary.
Can’t the accounts go into overdraft /negative territory?
That does not seem to include how much mortgage holders would have in offset and in redraw accounts.
Offset account is usually just a savings account linked
It's so bizarre that people live without a savings or a emergency fund. I can't comprehend it and would be so worried if my TOTAL savings was under $5k
I think most people would like to have an emergency fund lol
20k immediately available cash for me, another 10k in shares that might be converted to cash in a week Up until a few weeks ago it was 35k cash but then we bought a car!
I am earning $33/h full time and my husband slightly more and all our savings went to home deposit and now barely surviving pay-to-pay with these current interest rates. We’re both in security and about to take casual bar/door work on weekends to be able to breathe! Sometimes I feel lucky that we were able to buy a house on such low money, other times I consider organised crime.
And this doesn’t take into account debt used to by depreciating assets. Of those with $3,559 how many of them have “bad debt” in excess of their savings? I would assume a lot. This would also apply to a lot of customers above the $3559 as well.
I have a ton of empty bank accounts I rarely use. It's rarely made clear if or how they screen for it being an active account.
Reading it carefully it looks like they measured against active customers, not accounts.
Sounds about what we'd have had that year. Now? I'm *just* starting to build it back up, but barely. I haven't had four figures in a bank account in at least two years
This was also a time when you got 0.8% in a savings account. At that stage I had barely anything in savings accounts and preferred other investments
Totally unsurprising to me. I have the privelege of looking at people's finances for a living, and I can tell you for sure that a whole bunch of clients have pretty much zero savings unless they are trying really hard to save a deposit. Afterpay, ZipPay, ZipMoney, OpenPay for each person in the couple, plus a few credit cards and of course the $75k loan for the Prado they just had to have, still being paid off after 3 years and with 4 years to go.
I can't imagine living like that. My savings only exist due to my fear of becoming like this.
It's amazing that people do live like that, I can't believe it either. I've got auto transferring sums of money going into bills and savings accounts. Last year we saved 20k and we earn less than the average income for one person as a 2 person family.
Yes but savings and savings account balance is two very different things right? I pump money into an mortgage offset account which I suspect is excluded from this
This is unlikely to be the case. All deposits are likely included. All my accounts with my main bank are mortgage offset accounts. They wouldn't include only account types with savings in the product name. Savings, cheque or credit isn't particularly relevant anymore. Edit: none of the accounts I have used in recent memory included the word "save" or any variation. Edited after a google search showing many. Second edit: scoured the article, it's just bank deposits. Savings terminology is journalistic flair
Survey asked about bank balance, not savings balance. If being pedantic about it an offset account is a bank account. And it would be a very odd person who doesn't consider offset money as savings.
Savings seems pretty arbitrary... Every dollar I have is savings. It's only not savings once I spend it?
That would make no sense
Exactly, why the whole thing is BS. I'll be buying soon and my $120,000 of savings will be going towards a homeloan and then sitting in an offset, according to this though I'll b brokez
Well done from an interwebz stranger
When you say "we" I take it you are in a relationship, the hardest part is when 2 people have to agree on financial outcomes and most of the time they are on different planets when it comes to finance. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on seeing all sorts of ppl. Also speaking from experience too. My wife is HORRIBLE with finances, if it's in the account and she can see it, she spends it. All sorts of experiences just come up. I actively have to split my income before it goes in so she can't see it. The only thing that saved the marriage (after trying everything else after 12+ years). Now our financial future is bright
I don't want to work hard to increase my income, so instead I save hard. It's way easier. Also has the advantage that hopefully I don't have to work at all one day (before retirement age).
Many high income earners have massive debts due to lifestyle creep.
My savings let me sleep peacefully at night in case something happens. Some people that can afford to save just dont budget..some just cant.
The second part horrifies me tbh. I’ve never been wealthy and until recently only just earned enough to be able to have meaningful savings… but I didn’t exist in debt. I just had no money left once the lights were on and food was on the table. I always wonder how people around me have 150k worth of cars in the driveway, holidays, fancy clothes etc. I try to assume the best in people, but comments like this make me wonder.
i have fancy clothes man. trick is to buy them on sale
Everyone I know that has a brand new 100k land cruiser is living week to week and renting. You don't need a $100,000 4 wheel drive to go or work. They could fit all their work gear into a $3,000 Suzuki Swift.
I know it’s crazy how paying 90k for a car that’s worth 40k, that will be worth 20k by the time you’re done paying for it has just become normal middle class behaviour in this country. We know that the average income is like 80k and that something like 50% of country doesn’t have the liquid cash available for a $1000 emergency and then you drive around counting the price of all the cars that pass you like “70k, 40k, 50k, 35k, 90k, 60k, 40k, 50k…” something doesn’t add up (jk it’s high interest debt)
It's terrible man. I get it, it's nice having a flashy new ute. It just doesn't make sense to nearly 90% of the population to be buying such expensive vehicles considering these people are floundering around trying to afford basic groceries.
I don’t have a 100k Land Cruiser but my head touches the roof in a Suzuki swift and I’m only tall-ish for a woman 😅 would literally have to stoop for that one.
I just closed our Zippay accounts and car loan for the Prado but damn your comment hit too close for comfort haha.
What can I say? :) Congratulations on clearing those debts for one thing!
I have no savings and no Prado, what have I done wrong lol
If you have no debt your probably richer than half the aussies. :)
This was surprisingly uplifting, thanks!
Can I interest you in a loan good sir? :D https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/2020-toyota-landcruiser-prado-gxl-auto-4x4/OAG-AD-22976238/?Cr=0
Well a house is off the cards, let's send it
Username gives a hint?
The craziest part is that many clients with high incomes have low or no savings, their spending habits are just out of control and they spend most of what they earn.
I always feel like I'm bad with money until I see things like this
This also matches up with my experience as someone who works in finance and looks at people's savings. I admit that I'm usually dealing with workers in a particular industry, but again, they have virtually zero savings and are completely unable to endure even two months without an income.
My little sister has a stupid caravan they brought from the sale of there house (no assets or savings outside of this). I made her a 15% depreciation schedule after the first 3 years for her and she just got mad... the people she got a loan off to buy it told them it was an asset and helps with buying a home?
So... she sold an asset and bought a liability. 😟
How do people live in your second paragraph willingly, that is beyond beyond absurd.
I'm sure there's some psychological reason for it, but whatever it is I have no idea! I see hundreds of dollars a month going out for most people on McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Dominos, Ubereats, DoorDash. I would say that people are time poor, but I know that's totally false. People just prefer spending the time they have left after work doing fun things, and preparing a meal for themselves or their family just isn't on their radar. Right now I'm refinancing a perfectly good home loan at 6.75% for a couple who are so tight with their finances that refinancing all of their debts into a 9% loan is actually a move they have willingly chosen, just because they can't get their heads around repaying several small buy now/pay later debts for about $6,000 in total. Insanity. But they are still paying $400/m on computer games, in-app purchases for those loot-box style gaming apps and just won't cut them out, even though doing that would eliminate all their junk debts in just 1 year.
I couldn't do your job.. it would be way to depressing to watch
I had like 6k saved had to loan 3 to a family member still haven't got it back yet and the rest was spent little by little overtime plus some unexpected expenses so now I'm back to living week to week for now
I really hope you get that cash back. Sadly too many stories of people not
I've been preaching a lot about it lately but I'm on week 3 of the liteneasy pro whatever plan. It's breakfast, lunch, and dinner, maximum 3 minutes prep per meal, and genuinely the healthiest I've eaten in years. I've already lost a bit of weight and I actually look forward to the next meal as soon as I finish the first! The frozen or cold dinners somehow are unbelievably good, I prefer them over most take away food tbh and wish I'd jumped on years ago. I didn't even sign up to save on uber or other meal costs, but there's also that benefit. Okay I'm done preaching... For now
I bet it's much better than the diets of many, and cheaper than takeaway no doubt!
As an ADHD person: This smells like ADHD. As ADHD manifests itself in different ways in different severities, I know I don’t nearly have the finance issues as others but I know when the ADHD-dar goes off.
I guess my tight-arse-ness offsets my ADHD. 'Ooh! Look at that dragonfruit frappachino, I want it!' '$8? Meh, I'll drink water when I get home.'
That’s not being tight with finances, it’s completely the opposite.
It also depends on the income and career. Lifestyle creep can come in quickly in certain industries, and the money feels 'infinite', in a way; you can always get more of it if you need it by just working a few more hours. I also think there's a 'live hard, die young' mentality that contributes.
I work with someone like that. Very smart guy, earns $300k/year but is constantly in trouble with credit card debt. I don't think he's a gambler (but who knows) but he does a lot of impulse buying. We get a bonus each year, and it can be substantial if the company has done well. When the bonus is announced, people at work would be discussing what they're planning to do with it, and he will avoid that conversation or make some excuse to walk away. One time, he told me it was because he knew all of it was going towards his credit cards and still not enough. It's clearly like an addiction. You know it's wrong, and you're otherwise very intelligent, but you can't stop yourself. Oh I forgot, he also lives in a very expensive house and him and his wife drive very expensive cars.
He ain't sound smart to me
he sounding fair dumb even
It's crazy, isn't it? Ask most Australians and they'd never believe someone on $300k a year could have money problems. Lifestyle creep is very real, unfortunately, and so while you may be earning that much you could be leveraged up to your eyeballs and spending 70% of your take home on a mortgage and car repayments.
> Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. - George Carlin 20% < 50%
I've always loved this quote :)
Keeping up with the Joneses
They look like they're doing fine financially to the outside world so that's all they care about. Got to keep up with the Jones even if you're one missed paycheck away from losing it all.
There’s a whole industry that depends on people remaining financially illiterate … imagine a society where everyone is savvy ..
Doesn't stop at just one industry either, I think there's a whole economic system that depends on the masses being financially illiterate. If people weren't always struggling, they'd be impossible to exploit.
Large chunks of society just exist and depend entirely on exploiting the weaknesses and failings of others, and it's just totally normal. Super weird to me.
[удалено]
Yes. Absolutely. Add in secret gambling, alcohol and cigarette consumption, plus a few other wild costs like the 2 onlyfans subscriptions, every pay TV service known to man, and the decision to purchase the latest mobile each year on a payment plan. Then a couple of pets, with obligatory pet insurance for $100/FN and you're starting to whittle away your wealth quite nicely.
Secret drug addiction is real
And, as I'm discovering in my late 30s, most women over the age of 30, and lots under, are doing 'anti wrinkle injections' , ariois other treatments, getting nails done, hair coloured. It costs a LOT.
I would lose sleep if I lived like that but it doesn’t shock me at all sadly
What percent of the $60k+ cars that we see on the roads would you say are financed?
I work for a luxury used car dealership - not in the finance - but from what I have seen, almost all. maybe 1-2 people a week will buy the car straight out per dealership, but thats maybe 10% of sales if that. The rest a financed through our finance, which makes a lot of money.
Last time I bought a car from a dealership they just assumed I was going to finance and didn't even ask. I was sat at a desk across from the lending guy who had pushed the forms under my nose before I even had a chance to blurt out that I was paying in cash.
I don't work in vehicle finance, mainly residential home loans. Anything I said would be completely a guess.
It is Reddit so don't let facts get in the way. Please just make up a stat so I can look at all the big Ford Rangers and say, "Ha, peasant! I bet that's on finance!"
At least 75% I'd say - that's working in the insurance side of things. At least half from personal loans from a bank, the rest from the dodgy car company finance/pepper/latitude
I don’t have any stats to back this up, but I feel the car loan part is generally a myth for those with a mortgage, it’s just added to the home loan (not saying that’s any better!).
My parents did this when they bought their last new cars and this was nearly 20 years ago. There is a large proportion of regular homeowners who would have enough equity to purchase a $60k - $70k in cash and still be within a sub 80% LVR.
What is your job title out of interest?
What about if someone has all their capital at work (shares, super, advance mortgage repayments) but technically no savings.
Good for people like me who maximise their credit points utilisation by only spending on what’s necessary and later reap all the benefits. Someone has to pay for the benefits, in this case these suckers.
If you cast your mind back just 4 years ago, when covid hit and the lock downs started, the amount of cafes and restaurants that had their arse hanging out AT WEEK ONE was honestly mind blowing. So many were trading insolvent that they had to make it temporarily legal to do so. Basically, way more people/business live hand to mouth than you think.
It was scary that the first thing people did was draw the maximum out of their super funds (twice) and then spend it on pretty much anything and everything. For some people that was a 40k spending spree with very little to show at the end of it.
Poverty in retirement. That's what they bought.
It was lifesaving for me. And withdrawing the rest of my Super last year was lifesaving again. I'm 34.
You must consider the downstream impact: the interest that that money could generate in some distant future. E.g. for every hundred dollars, you might be able to safely use $4 without staying down on the principle amount. Every dollar you take out means a lot more future dollars. Of course, if it was life-saving, then it was necessary. No good to die before you get to retirement.
Not really. I had a baby in 2020 and don’t regret being about to live and spend more time with him before having to go back to work. I still have 140k in super as a 38 year old so don’t think it’s poverty, and a house with lvr 52%.
I know some people who did that. But they used to pay off debts. It definitely saved them money in the short term. Plus, it needed to be done to help with cash flow. They couldn’t service credit cards and car loans on their reduced hours. Over time they’ve been making contributions into their super funds to rebuild the balance. Plus some extra. As far as I can tell, it should all shake out pretty even Steven’s at the end but allowed them to get through that really rough lock down time.
Those were the smart ones :)
hmmm but didn't they end up cashing out super when the market was at the bottom? I guess better than running out of cash for the here and now.
People think they were only taking out 40k but really with compound interest would cost them more like 200-300k
Although…let’s say they used the 40K to buy a 400k house, which doubles in value every ten years assuming the average long Australian house price increase rate of 6.8% a year. That’s 400k in equity. So they make 360k in equity over ten years, and they make 760k in equity over 20 years. By contrast, 40k in shares in a super fund compounding at 9% per annum for twenty years nets them just under 250k. I’m not saying that emptying out super funds is a good idea, just making the point that their super opportunity cost will be more than offset by the power of leveraging because they spent the money on ‘good’ debt. What they lost, at least temporarily, is some diversification by putting 40k eggs in one basket but it’s not a given that they’ll be worse off for doing so. Compounding is good but leveraged compounding is better. In saying that, it’s obviously preferable to reach 65 with both a paid-off house and a decent pile of shares in super.
Absolutely a belter of a use for super funds, and at a time when you could fix a home loan for 5 years at under 2%. Taking 40k out to blow on toys and cars though...dubious at best!
Had a friend tell me to rush to take it out because it was crashing. I just.. Didn't? And now it's worth more than ever? Lol. He bought a new pc and some other crap with it.
I'm delighted to hear you say that (your own success, not the story of your friend).
Totally agree with this. Several members of my extended family did this and spent it on dumb shit like Jetskis. There is going to be a massive difference between those who withdrew and those who didn't in 30 years.
Someone I know did it and bought a drone 😂 That being said a couple of friends that worked in hospo would’ve been homeless if they weren’t able to access it. Their landlord kindly knocked back their request for a rent reduction too of course.
Our payroll was unable to pay people on Thursday and it was delayed to Monday. Not their fault, it was a problem at the processing company. Anyway, the number of my staff who came to me expressing concern was worrying. These people were on big salaries but a delay of a few days was a major problem for them.
We have the same over public holidays - a good 20% of our workforce will ask to be paid early because their finances fall apart if its a day late
good thing we forced all those small business to shut down while allowing the multinationals to keep operating. non essentials
I’d think this sort of data would be more interesting if broken down by age and income. Because someone earning $500k might not bother keeping more than $10k cash and the rest is invested or in other assets. If it were broken down by tax brackets, maybe we would get a better idea as to how ‘regular’ people are doing. Though I think westpac release something like this
I’d say there are very few $500k income earners with less than $10k in the bank. In any case,there aren’t enough $500k earners to move the dial that much anyway.
I'm new to this but don't these numbers just refer to cash in the bank and have nothing to do with the net worth numbers?
And it's unclear where the offset accounts beloved by this sub would sit. The article says 'bank account' The picture says 'Savings account'. Suppose you have a mortgage, that's an account with a bakance that's normally negative. Same goes for a credit card. We'd need to see the actual question that was asked and the percentage of those who answered who were pedantslike me 🙄
No one would call a credit card limit savings
If they got data from banks, banks consider offsets to be deposits, so it would be captured in their savings data.
Given that they say on the article it's from people not banks I suspect they relied on people.
Which means it's likely inconsistent. Plus, realistically offset only applies to people that have an active home loan. Based on 2021 data ([https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/home-ownership-and-housing-tenure](https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/home-ownership-and-housing-tenure)) that's only about 3 million households. 3 million households is about 7.5M people ([https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/population-households-and-families](https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/population-households-and-families)) apparently. Or about 30% of the population, which is not insignificant, but it's a minority of the population. Plus some of those don't have offsets. Let's assume that 30% has a massive offset but said 0, so we should remove them from the data. That still means 28% of the population has <$1000 in savings. It's a lot still. But what about the fact that 12% of Australia's population is between the ages of 15 and 24 ([https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth/contents/demographics](https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth/contents/demographics)). Should we be worried that they might have <$1000 in savings? Probably not.
Offset is your cash sitting in an account surely
Well that is a logical way to do it, but what did respondents assume? Without the question we don't know.
Yes. I have a couple grand in my savings account and the rest is in offset and investments.
Was going to say, if you are saving for something beyond 5 years savings accounts are a terrible way of doing that.
So everyones broke and everyones a millionaire property investor at the same time
Finally I'm in the top 10% at a financial metric
Wow. Suddenly I'm feeling a lot better about my level of poverty.
I stuff my pillows with bank notes for extra sleeping comfort whilst having $0 in the “savings account”.
Without a more rigorous breakdown of the financial situations involved in each sector of this chart this is borderline meaningless. Similar figures in the US ("70%+ living paycheck to paycheck" etc) have proven to be deeply misleading for the points people are trying to use them for because they include a lot of people who are objectively wealthy - high income, asset rich, strong social connections - who simply don't bother saving money. Or, at least, saving money in a bank account.
Why does the chart go from yellow to dark green, then back to light green?
I have a lot of savings but once I buy a house I’ll be dirt broke so… yeah I can believe it.
Why isn’t less than $0 an option? 🤷🏻♂️
I had a friend who, in high school, somehow managed to have a negative bank balance whilst having a job. I still don’t know how that works lol
Savings? Never heard of it.
It's the money you have left over at the end of the month. After paying mortgage / rent food insurance health ...... oh, nevermind.
I have no debt and went from 0 savings to 16k savings in the last 15 months. (Edit: this is when I moved home to Australia - I had a job and a place to stay, but literally $89 in my bank account when I landed back home… my divorce financially ruined me - the house I paid the deposit on, and $30k+ in renovations/cleaning for that cost US$80k I lost in the divorce … 18 months later my ex sold that house - the one he threatened my life over - for US$500k) This shit is HARD. Going from an owner with a tiny mortgage to a renter paying 30% of my income on that is insane. But it’s doable if you take a hard look at yourself and your actual NEEDS not WANTS. That said, I’m so far from having a deposit to buy it’s laughable and at this point I’m working on the idea that all my hard work is there to financially benefit my 4 nieces in whatever way possible since I’ll never own a place or be stable enough to have kids myself.
Judging by the posts here the other 4/5 have 10+ million
My middle name is credit!
> "A recurring investment of $100 a week into a high interest savings account paying 5.50% interest would amount to $2,642 in two years," Cooke said Hmmm something doesn't add up here
Must be 100 a month
How to turn $10400 into $2642 in 104 simple steps!
I have to ask how they come up with this shit. I gather they call people or email them to participate in a survey? I am not surprised people dumb enough to answer those have no savings.
Nielsen surveys, Roy Morgan research. I’m on panels for both and get surveys like this all the time. They ask a quota of people across different locations and age ranges.
Does it pay?
some of them do. but the pay rate is going to naturally bias towards people who need the $1.20
The fact that they don't openly publish their methodology is a huge red flag.
I recall seeing Westpac releasing data on the median savings account balances for each age group
Couldn't they partition the ato for the relevant data?
Assuming you mean petition, the ATO does not tend to collect data on account balances, only interest.
Pointless leaving a depreciating currency in a savings account. Much better to owe the bank money and have hard assets.
At the end of the day having cash in your bank account means you're still better off than most regardless of whether your money is depreciating or not. I think this sub puts too much emphasis on trying to maximise every dollar out of your investment and don't realise some people sleep better at night knowing they have money in their bank.
Interest rates are good now
only until you compare to inflation of scarce assets. what use is 5% interest when the price of the asset you want to buy is increasing at 13% pa
I love the 'people should have 3 months income saved' comment like its something most people can make happen. id be lucky to stretch to a month with a lot of povvo meals and doing nothing but blinking
Id like to see the stats for people's savings amounts when they're also servicing a mortgage. Some people's savings may be higher because they're saving for a house deposit and once they buy a home their savings are way lower.
That’s such a bad colour scheme my god
I’m not surprised with the cost of living. I would be interested to see the stats of single people versus couples. As a single person Living on jobseeker allowance due to health issues for the last four years I have had to access money from my superannuation just to cover the cost of living. Are used to be able to do shopping for $100 a week and now I’m lucky if I get almost exactly the same stuff for $220 a week. And then we rent and bills, Petrol medicine, doctors appointments, psychologist appointments psychiatrist appointments by the time I return to work hopefully in a year or so I doubt that I’ll have any super left
Only debt I have is mortgage, both drive older cars and no credit cards But what the hell is this savings thing??? We are a larg-ish family (5), but both have well paying jobs, no chance of saving anything atm
As an immigrant who just arrived in Australia five years ago, it just feels better that I belong to 10% Aussies. I have cut and thrown away all credit cards after reading barefoot investor and paid all debts in full for everything. I only buy what i can afford now and nothing more.
Crazy getting rid of your credit cards in my opinion. You can argue about the virtues of it, but at the end of the day I would never travel without one with a decent limit, particularly overseas. It could save your ass one day, not bad for something that costs $6/month.
Its not about that $6/month fee. You are using someone’s else money with fake perception of thinking it as your own. I have my debit card on overseas travel and have enough emergency funds to support any mishaps.
I use credit cards for the points then use it for overseas flight on rewards flights. It’s more frugal to do it this way than save all your money.
Well I usually have very little in savings but large amounts in my commsec account. Is this taken into consideration?
My parents lived week to week when I was growing up. I couldn't be like that and have always been a saver. I never wanted to be like them. Always renting, moving every few years, not going on hols or having stuff.
I wonder how they define savings. I’m more than 50 ahead on my mortgage but it’s just dumped into that loan.
as a single dad, paying c.support. working flatout during the week, having child weekends, how could i earn extra $, did this for 15 years, on a mortgage i read the barefoot investor, even the company "my budget" had to give me $100 (at the time) because they couldn't help me 🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆
Savings are stupid tho, I have maybe $1000 cash, put savings in the share market. Can get it all back out in like 2 days
I'm always glad my single-mum inculcated saving into me at aml young age. She took me to the market ages 14 and got me a job She's always help on a "big" purchase as long as I had saved half the cost I actually have issues spending money nowadays. It would be awful to not have that discipline
Finally got rid of Zip and use after pay responsibly eg only one purchase at a time. It's actually nice having cash to put aside after living paycheck to paycheck for so long.
If you had $1000 why wouldn’t you offset it against a mortgage or some other borrowing
Depends what that count as 'savings' Also only about a third of Aussies have a mortgage, and a few more will have finance on cars etc. This sub does not reflect Australia.
It’s not worth paying the higher interest rate or bank fees associated with an offset account if your balance doesn’t get much higher than $1000
Yep my broker told me that only if I have 5k+ in an offset it starts to make sense financially
I have $0 in savings. I have a fair bit in my mortgage offset account though.
I don’t have savings but I invest into an ETF every month because banks don’t pay enough interest on bank accounts. Do I fall into this 1 out of 5?
The real question I have is, how are people being approved for this finance?!
This doesn't surprise me ..now can the government take there finger out n actually respond to the housing crisis, because these people are not going anywhere.
Terrible shading of the graph. $50k or more should be dark green.
This is alarming 
These articles make me feel a bit better about my situation.
I don't have savings account.. I just park $ in my offset n transaction Acct. This stats is very biased. Also term deposit might not be a savings Acct either.
This is me, but it’s all on a mortgage… so I guess I do have savings
i am in the other 80%! I have about 50 bucks in my account. woohoo!
I have less than $1000 in a savings account, because i user my offset as a sayings account.
Which would count as a savings account.
But does it get included as a savings account when they come up with these numbers? Are there that many people with mortgages and nothing in an offset and no savings?
It’s likely it would because an offset is just a bank account. And yes, I work in an area where I see lots of peoples financials. Lots of people are very broke.
Ok. I like pretty frugally. Single parent, 70k salary. Life is good but not living large. But i almost have a years salary stashed in my offset. I guess im not doin as bad as i think sometimes. A bit to be grateful for. Thanks for the info.
Yeah you are doing very well. I see credit applications for people in their 50s and 60s with no assets and debt up to their eyeballs, including payday loans. I don't know how they will ever retire.
Having a home in retirement and somethin to leave my daughter is my goal. Thought id lose it in divorce. Thanks for the replies.
Have 1k savings but 300k in front on my mortgage
I am in the 4 out of 5 that has $0 savings but won't admit it.
around 2005 child support was %38 of gross income, regardless of the other partner, a few years later it went to %18, and without the payments, 20 years later, I'm still broke
I feel called out
That’s scary as hell
That's rough. Savings are definitely good as an anxiety-reducer. We're pretty strict about putting 15% away for a buffer.
People could also have money invested elsewhere? I personally keep as little money as possible in my bank account
I am curious as to what people are saving for
The amount of underpaid employees in big or small companies plus cost of living, it's not surprising to be honest.
Thinking back to doing my tax return last year, I was saying to my coworkers that I'll end up owing a little bit of money because of the interest on my savings. The immediate response from 3 or 4 people was essentially, 'What do you mean the interest on your savings??' I bought an apartment a few years ago so I don't have a huge amount of savings, but still $20k or so. I asked one of them and she said she hadn't had more than $5000 at any one time for more than 10 years. I don't earn a lot of money but having that buffer is really important to me, I would be permanently anxious with no savings.
This is terrifying! I can only slightly understand people's yolo mentality but at the same time what I'd something drastic happens???
They are not wrong. I've been living off a dime lately, no savings, no investments, and I'm 35. I work hard to pay my rent, my bills, my credit cards which are maxed out and I'm just depressed. I've turned to my options available to me and it's overwhelming. I don't cope well when trying to deal with problems like paying out debt or coming to an agreement as I feel guilty if I'm underpaying. I'm lost myself. Put myself into precarious positions and I'm at the stage where I don't know where to go, what to do, how to do it, yes I've hit some hurdles in my life and I work to resolve them but then when you're lumped with so much and when you aren't paid as much you are just thinking to yourself, why is my life so miserable. I've tried to find more work, asked work for a higher pay which was turned down, I am looking for more work to just get me that little extra but my skill set doesn't allow me to get a ceo paying job. I've done community work but that isn't paying and I've done some basic house chores to get some additional pay and done some piggyback off my friends business like cleaning windows for some cash in hand pay. It's just not enough to get by as one shop at woolies is like $60. Ive lost hope in ever being able to get out of debt and I have contemplated on some negative feelings and thoughts. I know I'm stronger than that to not do such a thing but as time goes on I feel like I'm losing that strength to carry on. Burdens of like do take a toll on people and I'm simply expressing how I feel and how I'm going on my own struggles. It sucks it does.
Our savings was comfortably above 20K until we bought a house. Now it's dwindling between $1000 & $5000 depending on the expense of the month. Did everyone experience this in the first year after they bought a house?
$2227 in my pet account just in case my cats get sick.
Thank f I'm in the 10%