This Is Why You Feel Poor in Australia

On paper the Australian economy is doing fine. Not good, not bad, just okay. Despite that, Brian and Michael are feeling the pinch of a stalling economy and wondered if everyone was feeling that way. 

The boys discuss per-capita recessions and what they mean. Once again, the boys discover that while on paper we are no longer in a per-capita recession, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. 

So why do we feel poorer in Australia? Because the world is experiencing an economic downturn whose effects are almost impossible to avoid as an individual.  

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Transcript

Why Feeling Poor Feels Normal

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Finance Show without Joe. And today I'm going to talk about why you feel poor in Australia. Brian, do you know why you feel poor in Australia? How long do you have? Well, we've got about a half-hour recording session.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

I felt it feels like therapy now.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Let's break it down.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Why do we feel poor? Is there is there a real reason behind it or is there some numbers that you can give me? Because I feel like I'm poor because there's things are expensive and my wages and growing with uh whatever I have to buy.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

So well, that's essentially what's going on. So like we're not in a recession, even though maybe there's been arguments. I actually saw Mark Boris talking about this the other day. He's like, maybe we should be in a recession.

Per Capita Recession In Plain English

SPEAKER_00 0:40

That's not what this episode's about, but we're actually in something called a uh a per capita recession, right? So basically, that's when your your country's overall output, your the GDP, yeah, it's growing slower than the population. Per capita recession, it's technically it's not a traditional recession. The average individual's share of the economic pie shrinks, so leading to a noticeable drop in your personal living standards. So that's what I'm talking about. That's why you feel poor, even though Australia on paper is actually doing fine. Yeah, we're okay. We're okay. Not great, but okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Okay. Better than the rest.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

But boots on the ground, how it actually feels. I mean, can you tell? Like, I have to go out every off weekend. It's a fortnightly thing instead of like a uh every weekend type of thing, like going out to dinner or bars or whatever it is. Are you noticing like something similar?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Yeah, because I feel like we're at the stage where even if I want to go out and do something, I now have more of a second thought. And it's not just because I'm trying to save money, it's more so because like even with saving money, or even if I was gonna be spending like a lunatic, it's harder for me to afford it considering all the expenses that happen. Like, let's say, for example, I have to travel, right? I've got to drive wherever I go, the cost of petrol has gone up. We know this. Uh, I have to pay for tolls depending on where you are. The tolls change in price, but they're fairly expensive. In Sydney, especially. Yeah. If I get to wherever I need to get to, I'm gonna eat, probably. That's depending on where you're eating, a minimum of uh let's say, let's say being modest in Sydney, because there's most places you can't buy food for $20, but let's say $20. I don't even want to break down how much that is, and I haven't even done what I need to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

And you haven't even got the Uber home yet.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Exactly. Oh, I don't even start with Ubers. I drive to make sure I avoid Uber's okay because I know I have to spend money on petrol anyway, so I'm just like, look.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah. And it's it's even at the grocery shop, right? Like these prices go up. So obviously, inflation going up during the pandemic, not specific to Australia. That's a global phenomenon, but that doesn't mean we're not feeling the pinch. And Michelle Bullock said this the other day when the when she announced that the rates were being held. Yeah. Is that once these prices go up, they do not come down. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

No, no.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Like this is it. Like, this is until our wages catch up, which I don't know when that's going to happen, if that's going to happen. Here's the thing we are not in a per capita recession anymore. But once again, the numbers are so small that it does it feels like it doesn't matter second. So here's the four. This is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Okay. And this is for the last four quarters. 0.6% uh growth, 0% growth, minus point uh plus 0.5% growth, and then minus 0.1%. So for a recession, you have to have negative growth for two uh two successive quarters. Now, in technically, we are no longer in a capital recession. Technically. Still feels like it though. Oh, yeah, I'm still feeling it. And it just doesn't really matter. And I've

The K-Shaped Economy And Wealth Gap

SPEAKER_00 3:34

also I've seen some people talk about this, it's a K shape turning into a K-shaped economy. Yeah. So, you know, you've got the the median, the middle, yeah, and then from there, there's two different ways. The high, the higher income earners are doing just fine, lower income earners are feeling the pinch more.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Higher income earnest, their wealth is tied into investments, yeah, and and things like that. And these things grow with the prosperity of the country, right? Like if you invest in real estate. Yeah. If real estate's doing well, it's usually because Australia is doing well, usually.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Well, and most of them usually have things like people who I don't know, like financial advisors and people who make trades and stuff for them if they have investments and they'll advise them on what to do in certain situations. So even when things aren't going that well, they know how to move their money in ways where they can actually be prosperous during a downturn for the globe for like the whole economy.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

But even so, like they've got more money to withstand the blow. Yeah, right. And then play with. Yeah, exactly. So like if you're on the if you're on the lower, the lower arm of the K, you know, you're probably an hourly worker. Um, you don't have any investments outside of your super, you probably don't own your your own home. Yeah. Not 100%, but probably that that the cost of living pressures are gonna hit you hard. Yeah, because you are literally just you get money in and money goes out. Money in, money out, and it's not, you're not getting any interest or anything back.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah. I hate to uh quote Andrew Tate, unfortunately, but um he explained it actually perfectly. He said the reason that rich people can stay rich as long as they do is that they don't have to sell stock in a certain in a certain economy to stay afloat. They can keep a stock that's going down and actually buy more of it while it's down at like a discount. And then when it goes back up, you've gotten it for less. So now your your returns are more. Whereas an average person who's investing, sometimes when things get tough, now your automatic thought is, oh, I need to sell this off to make sure I don't lose too much money from that. So that's kind of why the the wealth gap also increases too, because these people are investing with money that they can play with. So like they've they've mentally already like loved that money. Yeah, playing with house money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's monopoly for them. Yeah, they don't care if it if it goes. That's also part of the reason why you'll see like that K-shaped diagram where they're just getting richer and everyone else is just getting poorer.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

You know, when we're discussing the the tax reforms and stuff that have been, you know, still up in the air as to what they'll look like. I imagine that that's what they're trying to fight back against. Like this K-shaped thing. But again, is it because I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Look, in theory, you hope that's what they're trying to do. Yeah. But then it just feels like they're just vibing whatever decisions that they're making. Not to not to poorly talk the government, but sometimes that's what it feels

The Lucky Country Problem

SPEAKER_01 6:21

like.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah. Well, it's the it's that it goes back to that lucky country um quote.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

But we've been using it wrong. We're the lucky country, according to the book that it's from, is that we're lucky because our higher-ups, our our government makes poor decisions, yeah, but it turns out okay despite everything anyway. Yeah, that's why we're the lucky country. And that's been a consistent trend. Like we have the economic diversity of a developing African nation that is mostly like built on mining and agriculture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But our country is not the same as something that's happening in like Central Africa or something. Granted, we have stability and and and and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Employment isn't as uh isn't as low here.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

And we don't have like civil wars or anything. Like, like you know, we have state of origin, that's as close as we get. Yeah, blues versus words. Let's first the real is only it.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

That's both problems.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Uh yeah, look, and I don't really know what the solution is. I don't know if this is something that even we or the Australian government can fix for us.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

No, I don't think it is. I think this is look, they I'm sure there's things they can put into place to fix it, but what the past has shown us is that sometimes dramatic change right away can cause a different problem. Yeah. You know, so you don't want you don't want that kind of that kind of issue happening where now where we've we've created a bigger mess than we needed to. Sometimes we just need to focus on gradually getting better. Whether look, I think a lot of the time we blame governments for like not doing certain things, but sometimes those are the best options they had at hand.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, it's one of those things as well, is like the governments have big pictures, right? Yeah, they have information that we don't have, or they have specialists that can explain the economy. Yeah, that is not me. Yeah, because I but I don't I understand how it works on a very basic level. Yeah, ask me anything else, forget about it.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Yeah, look. I'm guilty of only following American politics more than I follow Australian politics until like something big happens. So I'm probably not the best person to ask about that. I've looked into it more recently, but still, it's not just not as exciting as American politics. They're they're interesting. I'm kind of glad for that though.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah, because I purposely like stepped, I can't consume the American politics, like the like the everyday stuff that they've got going on. I just can't. It's exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

I'm glad we have boring politics. It just means that we have less, you know, crazy stuff going on.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Yeah, I wonder if it's a cultural thing or if it's just like things just really are crazy. Because obviously, I'm sure the average American is living like they mostly always have. I don't know. I I don't have any friends or anything over there. So I've got no experience, just online. It's pretty rough over there too. And they're a bigger country as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

You have to, we have to like consider that too. So when they get when these changes start happening because they're a bigger country, of course, there's a lot more people on the lower end that are being affected, even the middle class. Right. But I'm sure our middle class is bigger in relation to the the US. Yes, yeah. I was like if we look at a ratio, obviously not the number of people, but if we look at a ratio, I'm sure our middle class is bigger. Whereas America, their biggest issue right now is they've basically eradicated the middle class. You're either ultra wealthy or you're dirt poor, which is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Oh, yeah. I saw someone describe it. Um, is it in America, and this was more like for career opportunities, but I think it I think it works broadly. Is America, you can achieve really high highs, like the ceiling is really high. Yeah, and the lows are really, really low.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Extremely low.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Whereas in Australia, the highs might not be so high, but the lows are also not that low. So you've got this like the middle is great safer, stable sort of thing going on. Yeah. But again, it if you're the ambitious type, probably not that appealing to you.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Well, that's probably also why they have such a high homeless population as well. Because it's like I went to I went to LA and I think I saw the most attractive homeless people I've ever seen in my life. And it was confusing, but then when you think about it, it makes sense, right? Because you're like, they're probably all like aspiring artists or whatever it is, because everyone goes there for yeah, yeah. Actors, musicians, everyone in the creative fields, they all go there, and then obviously they come on tough times. That's what it leads to. So it's a very, like, it's a very interesting country.

Populism And The Politics Of Anger

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I've heard that the middle class is being eaten away in Australia as well. Maybe this is a late-stage capitalism thing as things just move along. And I think this is part of the reason why, like um you're getting like one nation really starting on the come up, right? Because it's sort of similar to what happened in the US. You get that people are dissatisfied with the the status quo, right? Yeah, so you're like, I something needs to change, and obviously, you know, Labour and Liberal are the center, the center parties, they they are the status quo. Yeah. It used to be a joke that there was no difference between liberal and labor. It feels a bit different now, but the granted the Labour Party is changing, the Liberal Party hasn't, and which is why they're not getting voted in at all. And one nation is just offering what's I personally see it as a protest though, but I'm not dismissing it because I remember the same conversations happening back in 2016 when Donald Trump was first um campaigning. Yeah, and everyone's like, This is stupid, he's never gonna get in, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we all know how that went. Yeah. So I I'm not, I'm not like dismissing Pauline Hansen or anything like that. Yeah, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

You really can't, especially when people are in a situation where like now everyone's searching for answers and they want change. And now the change might just come from the complete opposite side to what you thought you wanted.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah. Did you happen to watch her press conference thing? Or like any of it? And they had that little sign. Well, there's that sign, yeah. But that was that was whatever. That's not actually what I wanted to talk about. But yeah, I did see the sign.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, I've seen the talk a few times. Look, I don't, I don't really, like I said, I don't follow politics that much. I've seen a few of the clips of her talking. And look, a broken clock can be right twice a day as well. So, like, sometimes I agree with her, sometimes I don't. Yeah, I don't really know how to position my views on that situation.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah, my my thing was from what I from her recent press conference that she did, she said that she wanted to one, abolish SBS, which I thought was interesting, considering the World Cup's on there right now.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Yeah, like one of the only places we can watch free to air sport. Great, okay. Yeah, ABC.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Don't have my vote. Yeah, the ABC to become subscription only unless you're in the regions, okay, and no government funding, and she wants to ban the Guardian. So basically, all left-leaning outlets in Australia, and it's like pretty obvious where that's where you lose. Yeah, exactly. Um, she says she doesn't believe in multiculturalism, so that should go away. So there goes the Soccero side. Fair enough, I guess. And then economically, outside of limiting migration numbers, which I think the broad Australian population um agrees with. I don't actually see any economic plans.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I think, and this is the same thing when it comes to like Donald Trump, right? When you have when you have people who are big personalities, sometimes their big personalities puts them in certain rooms that people start listening to them. And because they're the shiny object of the situation and they seem like the best of the worst options, you're now gonna get a situation where people will start voting for Pauline and then there's no real explanation as to what else she's doing for the economy besides you know stopping SBS. You know, like there's yeah, there's no, you know, like Donald Trump comes into her presidency, you know that he's a businessman and he's he's purely numbers. He's looking at the business side of America. That's what you're gonna get from him.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

300 billion to Iran, yeah, that's good business.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

That's the art of the deal. That's what you need to do. But it's like that's that's who you that's who you expect, right? Yeah, yeah. So like if we're now putting, I don't know, whoever we put into power, I don't, I don't really care. Whoever we put into power, you have to realize who you're who you're putting in based off what they've been showing you for X amount of time. Yeah, you can't just now expect boy now to say, no, I really want improve immigration to continue. No, that's not what you're getting from from her. Like, listen to people.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah, honestly, I actually think it would be a slam dunk for Labour if they just reduced immigration numbers. Like I straight up, I think One Nation loses a lot of legs after that point. No, not completely, yeah, but a lot of legs. Everyone would be happy. I think because I think the broad appeal of One Nation isn't there. I still think that a little, like some of their opinions, even my dad is like, no, all right, calm down without some of that shit.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

They're like, they're like they're very like they're on the extreme end of the spectrum where it's like very hard to like if you had more of a middle ground approach to it, I'd I'd be more willing to listen to just be more reasonable. It's more reasonable, but it's like if you're so far to the other side, like how can I even I feel stupid agreeing with you? Like, like even if I do like some of the things you're saying, I can't physically pull myself to uh 100%.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Well, look, the next the next federal election is not for two years, not till 2028. So I'm not saying that the one nation is a mirage or anything like that, but I am saying a lot can happen in two years. Yeah, like Labour won this last election purely because Donald Trump ran won and a bunch of shit happened in the news, and Peter Duncan was running on a very similar like campaign. Yeah, and people are like, no, we don't want that. And that was just timing. That was just timing, that was nothing else. Um, also, Labor was it like an incumbent um government, which usually wins like two in a row? Yeah. Um, but it's not like like Albo's never really been that popular. Yeah, no, never. People really don't like him. Also, funny, uh, funny aside, do you think it's funny that Pauline Hansen and Donald Trump are both orange?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Coincidence. Is it a is it a ginger thing? Is hating is hating immigration a ginger thing? There were there was that period of time where they were saying that gingers were black. So like I'm not that South Park episode where like gingers have no souls. It's like what are what are we doing here? Is it it must be a ginger thing? So, like, all all things, all things aside, jerky jokes aside, yeah, for the average Australian, what do you think is something that you can take into your own control to try to mitigate the effects of these changes in terms of our cost of living skyrocketing, but our wages not moving at the same same pace? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

To be honest, you're asking me, I'm a bit of a pessimist. Yeah, there's not much you can do except adjust to the new reality.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

And you can be frustrated and you can be angry, yeah, but you've also got to kind of understand that it's kind of never gonna go back to the way it was, no matter what anyone not no matter what anyone promises you. You can't go back in time, it's never gone back.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Like, you know, I I I hate keep harping on about Donald Trump and and that sort of stuff. But the reason is is because the one nation is it's sort of following the same playboard. Yeah, yeah. And you know, they can't make America great again, right? When, and okay, let's just say it was the 80s and Reagan and stuff, conservatives' favorite time, the 80s. It wasn't that good in the 80s at the time. Yeah, the imminent threat of nuclear destruction with the cold war going on. You had like things were getting better economically from the 70s and stuff, which is probably what they're talking about. Yeah. But the economy in the US right now is not like it's doing okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yeah, but it's only it's honestly only doing okay because of the upper end, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah, and uh, and I'm sure all the stuff that happened in Iran did not help.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

No, oh no chance.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Inflation's running away. I know that you know America's got Venezuelan oil and oil now, so I'm sure that the prices, yeah, that's the good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

That's the good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

I don't want Australia to go on that same trajectory. Yeah, and we probably won't because really what's I feel like it's more similar to the UK, right? You've got over there, you've got reform, the reform party becoming a big uh movement. Yeah, and they've got their own Labour Party in there with their own extremely disliked Labour leader. It's very, very eerily similar. Yeah, huge polling numbers for reform that do materialize that election, not in the huge landslide that they expected, but more than like essentially getting rid of the traditional Conservative Party, which for us is the Liberals, for them, it's the Conservative Party, the Tories.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So that that's gone. That's the same thing that's happened here. Yeah. So the UK is just a few months ahead of us. They're also having big problems with housing and immigration.

Immigration And Housing Must Match

SPEAKER_01 18:45

From our conversation, all I can hear here is all I can hear here. Yeah, all I can hear is we should stop immigration for a little while for however long it takes and just keep on building more homes to make sure that we have enough infrastructure to cope with what we currently have, yeah, to make sure that you know our what our people kind of stay afloat.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah, and I think tying immigration to housing, um, um, like housing creation, new new developed dwellings and stuff like that. So tying them together so the amount of immigrants you bring in, permanent residence and stuff like that, yeah, is equal to the amount of new housing or available housing or whatever it is. Yeah. I mean, it seems to make sense, but again, I'm not an economist and I know that someone has a problem with this.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

But it also has to be based off the actual houses that are actually being constructed, like not in theory. Yeah, not the theoretical, like, oh yeah, we're gonna make 80,000 new homes, only 400 are only 400 are made. Right. So I hear what you're saying though. It just has to, everything has to correlate to balance everything out, and then that way we stop having people with their pitchforks out talking about immigration because yeah, because it also just lets racists run run around.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Because there's like a real economic discussion to be had and and infrastructure argument to be had about immigration and the influx of immigration into Australia. But man, is it so easy to get racist with it? Yeah, like well, for some people like we we already know that, like at some of those, like the neo-Nazis where they yeah, granted that they're illegal now, so they're gone. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Um, so like that, you know, I that's why I'm always like, ugh, I don't want to talk about it because it's it just leaves the door open.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, but look, here's the thing you have to also talk about these things to actually address them. So there is gonna be a lot of I don't know, a lot of shit sticking to walls and like so there's no real way to address it without pissing off some people and getting some extremists, but also it's a necessary evil to happen to make sure that changes can be made. Like, and this is coming from immigrant, I think, yeah, I think immigration should should be stopped to a certain certain degree as well, until we can get to a point where everyone can be looked after. And that way we don't have racists running red, but talking about send them all home. Yeah, send them back. Like, all right, calm down. Yeah, that's really possible.

Build Buffers And Make A Plan

SPEAKER_01 21:00

The general summary that I could give is that we need to stop relying on governments. This is where we have our biggest problem. Because if you keep on waiting for things like reforms, bills to be passed, petitions to go through, and whatnot, there's no real way of guaranteeing that is gonna happen. You need to figure out what's going on, what affects you, and kind of adjust and be like, okay, well, if these are the rules that are in place, how do I use these rules to my advantage? Someone who does that very well is uh uh what's his name, Jack Henderson, right? Um, who talks about uh he's a very he's self-accountable, is that the word? Yeah accountable to self-holds himself accountable. Yeah, he holds himself completely accountable for like his destiny as a person. Right. So he's like he's like he's obviously extreme sometimes, but he's like, I don't vote at all. I go put in a blank ballot, I just went shop to the polling booths because I don't care who's in power, it doesn't really affect me. Which as bad as it sounds, I think you need to operate that way at times because if you don't operate that way, you leave yourself super susceptible to these things.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

There is a sense that, you know, the hyper individualism, right? Doing it yourself, taking control, taking the reins of your own life, right? That's that's all well and good, but nobody exists in a vacuum, right? Nobody's done anything by themselves completely. Everyone's gotten help from someone in some capacity. Like even just the the little things of the, you know, the school that you would have gone to, the roads that you used to get, the hospital that you were born in, and so on and so forth. It's fine, like it's not, it's not the end of the world if you do it. If you are upset with the way things are, yeah, your only voice is the ballot box. Yeah. Once an elect if an election's just happened and things are changing and you don't like it, focus on yourself, focus on what you can do. Yeah. But there's also a lot of people who can't do that. And I don't know what the answer is. Like, can everyone pull themselves up by their bootstraps? I don't think everyone has the opportunity because if it's I mean, everyone's got the opportunity, but everyone's got different hurdles, right? Yeah. Like, for example, if you're born with a mental illness, and I'm not talking like anything severe, but something that like debilitates you, like on occasion, or like say if you got bipolar.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah, yeah, true.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

That could, you could have the best month ever. And when you're on your high, and then when you're on your low, you've ruined your career, you've burned bridges, you've done this, that, and the other. I don't know if like that person is gonna be okay if they're just left on their own.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

The best, the best way to do it is by providing everyone with the information, I guess, and the tools to help them get to that stage. And those who can utilize it, utilize it. And those who can't, well, unfortunately, regardless of the fact you're gonna be left behind. There's no there's no winner in this situation. Look, there's no, there's winners. There are winners. Yeah, there's most certainly winners in the situation, but in in reality, like you make you can make yourself a winner. Yeah, or you can make yourself close enough to a winner that you don't feel the effects as much.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah. And it does come down to working hard and not taking a victim mentality as well, which is honestly, it's a little hard to not do that in Australia because we're a nanny state. Yeah. The government really coddles us. And I don't know how many people in this country are even aware how coddled we are. Oh, precious baby, don't, don't, don't worry, don't worry. You won't go bankrupt. So you'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, don't until our uh don't until things start slowly getting taken away from them. I think that's why like the the whole budget, which was like a massive, massive, massive thing in the last few weeks. I think that kind of it showcased what you can do um when everyone gets together for like common good, which is which is great to see. But it also shows that there are certain situations where you have to take matters into your own hands. I'm not saying like protesting, I'm saying like you need to adjust and pivot for whatever reason. We're making this, we're making this podcast after they've said that they're gonna go back on their whole CGT changes.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Yeah, yeah. Some of them, so like that two million dollar turnover thing for the small businesses, that's gone. It's increased to 10 million. So you should keep the 50% discount now.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah, so like for things, for things like that, those people who are business owners were obviously gonna pivot and do something and do something else if these changes went through. Yeah. But this that's like a perfect example of you can only control so much. So like after that point, there needs to be a way you can adjust, whether it's I'm sure there's a I'm sure there's a way for for people to adjust, right? So most business owners have things like financial advisors, right? So I wouldn't say you need a financial advisor for for life or like at this stage. What do they call those life coaches? No, I'm not a life coach. I've done yeah, I don't prescribe, I don't describe to that garbage, anyways. Um, I think mentors are great though, mentors are great, but I'm saying there's certain situations where I feel like financially to help yourself, you need those people around you to kind of try to help you out. What's an extra 250 to an accountant that can help you manage your manage your accounts to make sure that you can somewhat get ahead? Right. Um, I was speaking to one of the one of the younger, younger boys in the in the office who was talking about, oh, I get worried after I get paid because uh we get paid fortnightly and there's like a gap between my my my payments, yeah. And I was kind of just like, well, I hear you, but like I'm sure there's other stuff that you can kind of cut out, create that buffer so that you're not feeling like that every pay run. So it's like whatever it is, maybe for six months, you decide to sit there and be like, okay, I'm having a strict saving regime. I'm cutting out this, this, and this just for six months, so I can increase my spending account. Still save and do whatever you need to do, but you're cutting down how much you're spending. Then once that six month period is over, you have a transaction account that looks kind of like a savings account, but it's not. It's money that you can actually use and not have to worry about, oh, what if I don't get what like what if pay is different if you're working casual, or like, what if I have a massive expense that I need to pay for? You're less worried because you're creating your own internal buffers. I think that's a big thing that Australians probably need to look into is creating those internal buffers for yourself when these changes happen and you have no control over it.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah, and I that's probably really common with people's mortgages. Yeah, everyone's borrowing right up to the limit of their capacity. Grants are not really their fault considering prices in the cities. Um, but yeah, I think really the summary of what you just said is have a goal and have a plan. Yeah. I think it's as simple as that. Like plan it out. Yeah, it's not gonna go exactly to plan. Yeah. But if you're working towards, like if you're working towards a goal, even if you, you know, take a few side streets, couple alleys, and end up back on the highway and up to your goal, yeah, that's fine. Because you could also, even on those like side streets, I'm digging into this metaphor, you could find, you know, a restaurant that you never thought your new favorite restaurant. Yeah. And in this case, it could be a career goal or or a new option or a new opportunity that you didn't anticipate, yeah, but is a good thing anyway. Yeah, and you're not gonna do that if you just sort of aren't doing anything. Yeah, so have a goal, have a plan, and do something.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah, and yeah, just creating that safety net, right? There's no look, I think it's sometimes for some people it's hard when they see that extra money in their account and they're like, Oh, I could get it, I could buy this, I could do this. And like everyone's guilty of it. Like everyone, like everyone has those things that they spend money on that someone else would look at and be like, why are you spending money on this? But it just varies from person to person. So I think it's like kind of putting those things to the side for like your greater, your greater good, yeah to make sure that like if any of these changes are enacted or and things happen, you're not feeling as if like I my whole world is falling down because financially I'm I'm strained because I wasn't prepared. Like I'm I'm kind of a pessimist sometimes as well. So like preparing for the worst case scenario, like what happens if I'm not prepared. So prepare for that scenario. So then when it does happen, and it may never happen. Yeah, but you won't be surprised. But you rather be you like you rather be ready for it. What do they say? It's better to be a warrior in a garden than a guard than a gardener in a wall. That's what that's what it is, right? Like you're basically you're just ready. Like you're just ready.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

I guess it's the same thing as the condom thing. It's like you'd rather have one and not need it than need it and not have one.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

The same thing, I guess. It's the exact same thing. Uh mine's more like children friendly, yours is more adult friendly, it's different.

Wrap Up And Where To Get Help

SPEAKER_00 29:17

And with that, that has been the finance show without Joe. He's Michael. That's Brian. Uh, we hope you enjoyed this one. And if you ever need any like mortgage broking, any finance, head over to itsimple.com.au. Hope you had a good one.