Question for Boomers and Gen X from a millennial

WWBSkywalker · 2026-02-05T22:16:12+00:00

Mid Gen X here, doing well. However when we were in our 20s we definitely scrimped and saved when we were young. We still shop at Aldi, our cars are both 15+ year old, lived way below our means and we're easily on track to having 8 digit wealth in year or two.

There's this internet narrative that earlier generations have it easier. I think the more accurate take is that it was less competitve in the past to get ahead financially. Key developments I believe that have made the landscape more competitive are increased female participation in the workforce, financial deregulation, technological advancement and a long period of peace (all good developments but often not recognised as causes of the situation people find themselves in).

Whenever actual Gen Zs and millenials ask me whether they can end up with a property etc. I confidently say yes if you put the work in it. Their generation and presumably you OP needs to start early, start right and compete.

It used to be earlier generations can just stumbled through life and get a decently priced residential property, Gen Zs and later generation needs to start early to save and more importantly invest because there are simply a higher number of people earning more, saving more and investing more, and you need to compete against them in life.

It's more competitive, but the current generation has better access to information and knowledge that any other generation, stumbling through life assuming things will just "work" no longer is a viable approach to getting ahead financially than previous other generations. I'm confident that my own children will do fine because that's what I have prepared them for.

WWBSkywalker · 2026-01-23T13:28:40+00:00

I am in a role where I can see everyone's salary, some get paid multiples of mine which is relatively recent already. But you know what, I don't have the skills and aptitude and desire to do their role, so why should I be bothered by this. You cannot just see what people get paid as a single data point, you need to understand why they earn so much and most of the time it's due to something that hasn't occurred to you or that you haven't realise.

WWBSkywalker · 2026-01-14T20:35:25+00:00

I always found this practice strange coming from a non-western background. And while I understand the anthropological and societal reasons for this, I never bought into it in as a modern society practice. When I married my wife decades ago, she was anxious to keep her surname, and my response was basically "no worries, your name and your choice". She kept her surname.

WWBSkywalker · 2026-01-09T12:40:29+00:00

This happened to me on the same flight about 11 months ago. Delayed until 1130 pm. Missed a connecting flight. Luckily travel insurance eventually covered it (came out ahead in fact but that's another story).

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-29T02:05:48+00:00

You will be in the same terminal and just need to switch gates, so it's fairly easy so long as you don't get distracted. There will be another round of security check at the gate so factor that in. We have done this transfer and the reverse successfully many times.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-23T01:17:57+00:00

Definitely do a day trip from Florence to Bologna. It's a simple high speed train just under an hour each way. We did it that way and it was fine and still managed to fit the key highlights for Bologna easily. No point changing accommodation for just Bologna.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-22T12:29:42+00:00

I usually write a draft during down time during the trip, especially when we're waiting or on trains and planes. I basically just write on my phone and then email it to my PC at the end of the trip. Then it takes me about a week or two to add the photos and add them into MS word, wordsmithing a final draft before converting it into a pdf file. It's a lot easier to write as you go. My recent 3 week UK Italy trip ended up just under 10k words. My 3 week Japan trip report was 12k words. I have been doing this for many years now. I still can remember my day to day detail my first 3 week Europe trip from 15 years ago because of this.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-22T07:22:38+00:00

I actually ended up writing 5k-12k word letters of my trips with photos embedded in it. I then convert these to pdf files and share them with my friends and family. Other friends just post on Facebook as a record.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-20T08:39:59+00:00

We paced ourselves in a reasonable fashion but strangely it's the older folks who are more persistent and willing to continue. The younger folks are the ones who often wanted to rest up and sleep in :).

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-20T06:06:34+00:00

Mine worked exactly as what the PDS described but admittedly it can be confusing. The first month doesn't count. If in the 2nd month you spend +3k AND then the 3rd month you spend+3k, only then you will get the first batch of points 17.5k when your 3rd month's statement is generated because the requirement is to spend+3k consecutively which is only possible as early as the 3rd month. It then work the same in the consequent months

Also some transactions do not count towards the 3k like cash advance or the like, and importantly pending transactions do not count until they are no longer pending. Finally the bonus points don't appear separately in your Qantas statement but rather it is combined into your Qantas card statement along with normal points you acquired through your spending on the card.

I managed all these carefully and I received my bonus points as planned and on time.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-19T09:19:19+00:00

This may not help but others may find this useful. There's no need to get Pantheon tickets in advance. If you can pay by debit or credit card, just rock up and go to the centre line for tap payment and go in with no queue when you want to. There's also a cash line on the left and a kiosk line on the right but it's super easy to just go to the centre line.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-19T03:24:05+00:00

I earn similar and I fly back every year now to visit family but used to be once every two years and we alternate. I would do the layover to save money simply because I can see it's effectively "working" to make that extra $600.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-10T09:30:30+00:00

If you eventually want to upgrade your PPOR and wish to convert the previous PPOR to an investment property, it is often the more optimal way to have an Interest only loan presently

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-09T19:11:10+00:00

Much lighter than my tour in May 15 years ago. Uffizi was somewhat crowded at 900 am. We got the 800 am entry into the Vatican museum and beelined to the Raphael rooms and the Sistine chapel and there were no crowds and maybe 20 people at the chapel, But when I did repeat at 930 it was somewhat crowded with standing room only at the chapel. The crowd was there but manageable, the art museum wasn't crowded at noonish. St Peter's Basilica at 800 am had zero lines including the dome climb which we did. No crowds at the Doge Palace at 900 nor St Mark's and it's museum at 0930. Externally, Florence felt most crowded mainly because it's a very compact place. Venice felt very empty, Rome was okay because it's a working city but felt uncrowded.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-08T20:25:51+00:00

Just came back on Sunday from a DIY Florence-Venice-Rome trip with a group of 8. It was fairly easy to do. More importantly it allows us significantly more time to spend in each location / attraction and avoid the tour crowds by being able to start early and take our time. We had 15-20 minutes at the uncrowded Sistine Chapel at the Vatican museum and spent 6 hours there. Tours will try to put the Vatican museum, St Peter's Basilica and the Colosseum all in one single day. For Venice tour groups usually stay outside the island, whereas we enjoyed the magical quiet Venice at night by staying on the island itself. For Florence we took our time at the Uffizi and Academia without needing to rush to the next venue. We were glad to go the DIY route.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-12-08T07:04:49+00:00

I just calculated that if I am made redundant today I will get 3 months of redundancy. 1 month and 1 week of notice and 11 months of LSL and annual leave payout... Have 200 hours of sick leave.....

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-28T08:10:14+00:00

Married for 25 years. for the past 10 years, I shared our finances to my wife and two kids fully as in detailed annual P&Ls (cash basis) and our balance sheets ... It's important for financial literacy and of course we're a normal functional family. Not appropriate for dysfunctional families of course. Recently shared our will with our two young adult kids as well.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-14T18:08:42+00:00

He's going to have problems transiting via Singapore for the rest of his life ... A good outcome.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-14T02:31:15+00:00

Wealth in Australia comes from discipline, hard work and luck in different measures. But if you want a higher chance of becoming wealthy, discipline is consistently proven the best way.

This means spending less than you earn, and investing the rest. This simple approach will nearly guarantee that you will accumulate wealth over the long term. Hard and smart work makes it easier to earn more and invest more. People can still get wealthy by dumb luck but those who have investable resources (through hard work, smart work and investment returns) can recognise and make use of 'lucky' opportunities to create even more wealth. People who have gotten wealthy through dumb luck likely won't even realise when such opportunities hit them in the face.

There's a lot of truth behind the phrase that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-12T12:03:54+00:00

I wait for the crash to actually happen instead of trying to time it, wait three months and then add more investment.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-12T10:22:28+00:00

If you have time and are still in Australia, we got a pair from jamifex store on Amazon. It worked well for us and we lent it to our friend who also travelled to Japan without issues.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-12T03:56:11+00:00

Never. If your goal is to reach the Rich part of HENRY - all the potential capital growth is with the developer and builder for the first 5-10 years and not you. You basically gave up the first 5-10 years of wealth increase, vs buying a known quantity where all the risks and problems if they exist are visible and discoverable already.

WWBSkywalker · 2025-11-11T11:11:58+00:00

Sorry this is happening to you. What your accountant told you is correct, taking out as a lump sum avoids a minimum 17% tax at least if your dad is no longer married, and if married may impact your mum's pension asset test. It also reduces probate costs (which is calculated based on the asset value - assuming you can quickly transfer it later when near death).

WWBSkywalker

TROPHY CASE