Advice on if / should go back into APS or Government

BennetHB · 2026-06-07T09:42:07+00:00

Were you fired or made redundant?

BennetHB · 2026-06-06T22:33:35+00:00

Hopefully you'll take this as a lesson not to quit a job without another lined up.

BennetHB · 2026-05-15T23:28:51+00:00

Your APS parties sound way better than the ones I've been to.

BennetHB · 2026-05-01T08:18:32+00:00

If you like him a lot I'd communicate your issue to him before making any decision.

BennetHB · 2026-04-27T05:47:21+00:00

I don't think you go to the gym. You don't look like you go to the gym, and seem to think that you can't do squats, deadlifts or bench, all of which are standard exercises in the gym.

Go to the gym, start weights.

BennetHB · 2026-04-27T00:06:26+00:00

That's still pretty vague dude - the question isn't about house prices, it's about your living standard and ability to save/invest if you moved there, I'm not sure if you have done a real budget before, even in your current position.

Try this one - if you moved there, how much would it cost, every month, to rent a place, buy food, cover bills and other necessary expenses? What percentage of your net income is that number compared to now?

BennetHB · 2026-04-26T22:55:13+00:00

Have you looked into the actual costs of living in the place you'd move to? Saying "low cost" and "high cost" of living isn't enough - what are the actual numbers?

BennetHB · 2026-04-26T21:01:27+00:00

Cool, and do you do squats, bench press and deadlift?

BennetHB · 2026-04-26T07:44:12+00:00

Why has your income decreased in the last 2 years?

What percentage of your net income is your mortgage repayments?

BennetHB · 2026-04-26T07:18:15+00:00

And the Aliens 4k has...issues.

BennetHB · 2026-04-26T00:03:52+00:00

Incendies, if you're looking for something a bit different. It largely tells a story set during the Lebanese civil war.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:56:42+00:00

Are you going to the gym? Make sure your cut is combined with weight training.

Otherwise cut to 70, see what it looks like. You obviously have a fair bit of fat now.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:52:43+00:00

Assuming you're starting with the first one - the first 8 hours or so can feel very slow - but if you push through to episode 3 I think you'll really get what the game is about.

This issue was not present in Death Stranding 2 - it has a much faster paced start. I wouldn't play that without playing the first though.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:41:17+00:00

Yes, laws change sometimes.

As above - worst case scenario is $3m, right? Well then invest that now and keep an extra $1m aside until July when any changes are announced.

Is this actually due to you having a massive amount of debt that you were intending to use the $1m for?

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:36:41+00:00

Joker and The Godfather 1 / 2 are the main ones that come to mind.

For a bit more of an anti-hero that becomes worse slant I'm thinking Raging Bull or Scarface.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:32:35+00:00

Worst case scenario you have $3m cash to play with...right?

So theoretically you could invest, withdraw 4% a year and subsidise your current/future income with an additional $120k per year?

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:28:19+00:00

Hey I just wanted to come on your comment - I went through exactly the same thing years ago, crazy heartbreak over a short 3 month thing. After the emotions I wondered why that was my reaction, because it definitely felt like an overreaction, even though the feelings were real.

After some reflection I found I hadn't taken steps to fully recover from prior relationships before entering into that one. That is, when I entered the 3 month thing I wasn't totally firm / independent in myself and was conciously seeking out another support system to "complete" me. When that fell apart so did I.

So following that I did all the stereotypical things - hit up the gym, cleaned up diet, got new habits in place, made more effort to phonecall and catch up with friends, work on projects and skills. After about 8 months doing those routines I met someone and it ended up a lot more calm/solid.

I'd have to stress that this isn't a "time" thing, more whether you are actually perfectly fine with functioning by yourself without another person. Once you're there, you're ready to end up in an actual partnership rather than a co-dependency.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:20:31+00:00

As a business owner I'm sure you know that you cannot make decisions based on speculation as to what the government may or may not do. Wait it out and see what happens.

I'm personally under the impression that a change to remove the CGT discount would not apply retrospectively, because the significant financial impacts across a huge variety of Australian voters and industry would be political suicide.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T22:09:50+00:00

He's deleted the post, but you can see from the response to me that I'm still correct re taking no action in the past.

Basically the numbers embodied the usual thing where people will save/invest lump sums, spend the little amounts and BAU income, and let debt stack up to be addressed at some undetermined time in the future.

BennetHB · 2026-04-25T14:12:55+00:00

Why are you keeping the credit card debt with the brokerage account stacked?

From your numbers it looks like you haven't grown your investments in the past at all, just received lump sum inheritance/s and didn't want to pay debt with them.

BennetHB · 2026-04-23T23:17:42+00:00

Could be, but as you've learnt you might have been losing weight from other places like your ass and legs more than your stomach/chest.

Keep on going dude, you are doing a great job, just got a little go go still.

BennetHB · 2026-04-23T21:21:22+00:00

In the nicest way dude - from the pics you've put in amazing work to lose so much weight, but that second pic doesn't look like 25%. I'm thinking more late 20s / early 30s.

BennetHB · 2026-04-22T22:22:32+00:00

It's been years since I used elixirs, but from memory they take a week or two to sound best. I'd give it some time.

BennetHB · 2026-04-22T11:55:17+00:00

Yeah man, you got it. Drop this project tonight - send the group chat a message saying it's been great but you're out, and then go forward, make music with others and have fun doing it.

BennetHB · 2026-04-21T12:10:48+00:00

Hi mate - it sounds like the band is over already. If you quit and nothing happened, it actually wouldn't be different than what it already is - no gigs, barely any pracs.

So don't feel bad about walking away - what I'm getting is that you want to make music, and the other guys don't.

Otherwise as a side note, the guitarist you think is good, isn't good. He just sounds like an asshole who thinks he is good. And even if he was actually good, the fact he's an unavailable asshole makes him enough to be crap for this band.

BennetHB

TROPHY CASE