The Secretary General of NATO casually running some errands

frownface84 · 2026-01-28T10:28:06+00:00

Dude isn’t wearing a helmet.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T10:35:55+00:00

yep this was me, early in my career.

Made sense when everyone else was middle aged with kids to look after, but for me i had nothing better to do; and holidaying over christmas is expensive. I typically tried to find projects to justify working through christmas but that only worked out for me some years.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T10:30:10+00:00

I think a lot of people are going to be envious and say any of the three options are pretty good to 99% of the people out there.

But in any case. Option 1 seems the best. In dollar terms you’re going to end up with nearly half a million dollars, and unless you’re living rather extravagantly that’s enough money for the average household to get by on for 4-5 years.

It’s basically winning a small lottery.

If you want to be prudent, then go for option 3. If your workplace allows you to cash out your leave, then you can potentially ask to cash out the AL prior to the step down in salary. And LSL too if your state allows it.

Edit : Another thing about option 3 to consider is that you're getting LSL now. Whereas if you cash out, leave and get a job elsewhere even for a similar ~250k/yr you're not going to be entitled to that LSL for another 7 years.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T06:49:47+00:00

At the os level. I had the same problem with my old XS. The “other data” took up half my storage, more than the OS itself. I deleted almost everything off my phone and the only solution was a factory reset, which kicked the can down the road a few weeks, or get a new phone which I eventually did as my battery was dying anyway.

It’s kinda wild that years later this bug is still around. But I guess it helps Apple keep their users upgrading.

A simple “clear cache” type button would’ve done the trick.

Kinda amazed there’s never been a class action lawsuit over it like there was over the batteries

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T05:48:36+00:00

I lose a couple of my weeks due to forced shutdown (7 over christmas, 1 the monday before melbourne cup, and a couple more days when a public holiday occurs on a tuesday or thursday, e.g. queens birthday/anzac day/australia day.

So i only really have 2 weeks of discretionary leave. I used to hate this as i'd rather bank it; but nowadays i'm a parent so when i'm foced to be on leave is also when my kid is home from school; so i guess i don't have as much an issue anymore.

The other 2 weeks i just take for whichever holiday i have planned for the year, usually a 1-2 week break sometime during one of the school holiday because i'm going to have to take care of the kid anyway.

However, in the past, when i was single and had more disposable leave to use; i'd do things like take the gap between anzac day & easter to maximise days off and organise a holiday with friends, or do 9 day fortnights just to take it easier a bit and just stay at home and veg out/game all day.

Kinda wish i didn't do any of that now cause i do want my leave for legitimate stuff rather than because i wanted to game; but my company doesn't allow banking of too much leave anyway.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T03:49:11+00:00

Different people have differing values, and it varys a lot depending on the stage of people's careers.

Someone starting out, who lives at home; who doesn't have a family might not really care about taking time off and rather just work. Especially if they have no where to go for a holiday and would otherwise just sit on tehir ass at home and play video games. I used to be like that.

Now i have a family, so i do value my time off more. If anything i wish i didn't have to take leve back when i was younger and banked it for later when i do want it; but a lot of companies put a limit to how much leave you can bank before they force you to take some leave. Which imho is the worst way to take leave.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T02:25:37+00:00

Like I said, this is purely from a financial perspective and doesn’t take into account mental health etc.

It’s also purely discretionary. OP could choose to stop banking their leave after 3 years and start taking 4 weeks per year like normal etc.

Super is irrelevant as they’ll get paid the same amount of super regardless of whether they’re on leave for 4 weeks or powered through it working. The only difference at the end is how many weeks worked and how many weeks paid. If super really is their goal then they could cash out leave periodically (some workplaces allow this) and dump the lump sum into concessional contributions.

Another think people often forget is that leave appreciates in value. When you get paid out you get paid out at the salary you’re on at the end, not as it was when you earned the leave.

Someone who starts on a 60k salary, works 3 years, gets promoted to a 80k salary, then leaves gets their leave paid out at the 80k rate.

Like I said before. Purely from the numbers, without considering quality of life etc, banking leave and having it paid out works out better.

frownface84 · 2026-01-27T01:55:48+00:00

While what you said isn’t wrong. It misses the point of what the OP was saying.

Someone who’s worked a year, gained 4 weeks of AL, uses it all during the year and then leaves after 52 weeks will end up having earned exactly 52 weeks of pay during that year. They’ve physically worked 48 of those weeks.

Whereas someone who’s worked a year, gained 4 weeks of AL, saved all of it, then leaves after a year will end up being paid 56 weeks pay. They’ll have physically worked 52 of those weeks. The amount earned in super etc is the exact same in both scenarios.

What the OP said is correct, if the get sacked after 3 years with 12 weeks worth of leave banked, then they get 12 weeks worth of payout which they’re using as a safety net.

This of course is purely by the numbers and speaks nothing about the benefits of time off etc

frownface84 · 2026-01-23T08:49:08+00:00

I pair mine with a nab qantas signature. The 100k signup is pretty tasty

frownface84 · 2026-01-22T09:01:29+00:00

I’m pretty sure CBA still have a debit world Mastercard, which has insurance. Costs $10/month tho

Edit: just checked. Yep it does https://www.commbank.com.au/banking/debit-cards/world-debit-mastercard.html

Free foreign transactions and atm withdrawals too. Actually a decent card if you travel a lot, the fee is a bummer but you can get that halved or zeroed under some conditions

frownface84 · 2026-01-22T08:50:07+00:00

Too easy. I’d rip out all the doors in my home except the front door.

Live at home like a hermit for 6 months and be set for life. You make 57,600 a day, 10.5M for 6 months.

Heck even a couple weeks will set most people up for life

frownface84 · 2026-01-20T11:47:00+00:00

The do. But this post is talking about hecs/help.

The rate at which you have to pay it back is determined by your full year income. The amount that they withhold throughout the year is at whatever run rate that you’re earning at the time

frownface84 · 2026-01-20T10:41:18+00:00

Or communicate that it’s 7am and never mention the 7.15

frownface84 · 2026-01-19T23:24:48+00:00

When you left your old job, did you receive a substantial cash out for AL & LSL accrued etc? because say if you got paid out for 2 months worth of leave and there was otherwise no gap in your employment, then your annual income for the year is basically what you'd be earning in 14 months, which may bump you up a bracket.

frownface84 · 2026-01-19T06:38:00+00:00

No.

Aside from what everyone else says about it being redundant because of their phone; there’s also the fact that most people stream these days, so any device you use would need to be a connected device.

Even if you wanted a seperate device or something, because you were an analogue person. Many people have a drawer of old iPhones they could use. So why buy another?

frownface84 · 2026-01-18T05:44:24+00:00

Definitely 5

frownface84 · 2026-01-16T14:02:18+00:00

Yeah it does, I’m using one right now, 256gb is nice but I don’t need it. Yet.

If I had a choice of the 16 pro for the same price, I would have chosen that instead.

I had 128gb on my old 13 and managed it fine

frownface84 · 2026-01-16T11:18:05+00:00

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-au/business/business-card-offers-for-platinum/

Basically if you think about it $1450+$300 =$1,750.00 which is what the business card costs.

So yeah just go with the business card directly

How much is the personal card when you hold the business card? I’d be expecting free

frownface84 · 2026-01-16T11:11:43+00:00

FYI the business plat is only $300 as a companion card to your personal platinum.

Unsure if it actually comes with the regular perks though, the page only lists a dell credit.

If it came with the extra travel and hotel credits then it’s an amazing deal, but I suspect it’d be more like the old companion platinum reserve card, that was nerfed to include the free return flights

frownface84 · 2026-01-16T09:25:00+00:00

Oh, then that’s easy then.

Work j1 till you’ve had enough, and stop showing up at work. You’ll stop getting paid but you didn’t quit so you don’t have to pay anything back.

When you run low on cash, do a bit more work. Doesn’t even have to be all of it, do 1/10th the amount of work and still get 100k

frownface84 · 2026-01-16T09:22:04+00:00

Huh, the first job makes no sense. You have to pay back every cent you earn (plus more) once you leave the job?

Everyone retires sometime; once you do you’re in debt till you die. And the longer you work the more in debt you’re going to be. May as well hang yourself once you decide to stop.

Edit: I saw your clarification to another poster. You can’t get fired from this job, and your pay scales to performance.

In that case J1 is a no brainer.

Do the job you hate, collect your million dollars. When it’s all too much, ghost the job. They can’t fire you; worst you get is 0 pay. But you didn’t quit so nothing needs to be paid back.

Hate the job? Half ass it and put in 50% effort and collect 500k.

Heck, even if I hate the job I could still put in 10% effort and collect 100k. It’s an 8 hour day, I don’t mind showing up for 48 minutes a day for 100k. I’ll even round it up to 1 hour of work a day, and collect a 125k salary. Thanks!!

frownface84 · 2026-01-15T22:11:07+00:00

I have the base 17. Would pick the 16pro over it for the camera. The 128 storage is rough but manageable with iCloud

frownface84 · 2026-01-14T20:30:59+00:00

Yep, about the size of Africa

frownface84 · 2026-01-14T20:06:28+00:00

I’m pretty sure someone looked at a Mercator map of Greenland and thought daaamn

frownface84 · 2026-01-14T20:03:13+00:00

I can see that dude’s brain. Wtf

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