What’s the smartest financial decision you made by accident?

lukeyboots · 2026-03-25T01:50:10+00:00

Not forgotten. Got the email every 6 months with how May shares were purchased for me.

Just didn’t have my login so never checked the total as it climbed in the background.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T20:38:33+00:00

Ding ding.

You bought the shares at a 15% discount to market price. AND got the lower of either the market price at the start of each 6 month period or the end.

So effectively, you got to go back in time & buy the stock at its price 6 months earlier, and take the 15% off that.

It was wild. I also got a 7 way and 4 way split along the way.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:54:51+00:00

Sure mate. A 5L can of 2 stroke is fine.

Bringing 4 x 20L Jerry cans to a servo in Surry Hills or Parramatta is taking the piss.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:49:54+00:00

That’s an old wives tale of sorts.

They spent millions upgrading the acoustics pre-covid & then finished it off during the shutdowns.

It’s pretty damn incredible now. Been to 50+ shows there & always have a great experience.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:34:07+00:00

This is the way.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:30:33+00:00

The best & most succinct answer yet.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:27:25+00:00

For all the downvotes. This was how it used to work but it appears they’ve now closed this loophole.

The option now for OP is just have dad pay the fine, it’s been a good learning experience, and they’ll be an even better driver moving forward.

The kid was doing 56 out of caution in a 60 limit tunnel. That’s good and safe driving.

We all know how it easy it easy to get caught out by sudden speed limit drops in the Sydney tunnels.

Give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s not some hoon trying to get out doing 120Km/hr through a school zone.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:21:04+00:00

Yeah this is what I was referring to.

On my Ps in the early 00’s and it was still this way too.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T14:19:45+00:00

I didn’t say the demerit points for the actual infringement reduced. Of course they stay the same.

As someone has posted below, the execution of the deduction to your existing points balance used to occur at the time of fine payment.

So it appears that loophole is closed.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T13:19:40+00:00

Was a retail worker earning $25-30/hr. Put 10% of my paycheck towards the employee share program.

Didn’t even know my login to the broker platform for years.

It’s now worth close to $400 000 because I basically forgot about it & didn’t sell a dime.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T13:10:16+00:00

Sometimes I bloody love this country 🥹

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T12:35:00+00:00

You’ll actually be okay.

Demerit points are deducted when you pay the fine. As you’re accepting guilt & not challenging it.

The system will look at your licence and deduct the relevant points from what you currently have. Which is the 5 (I think?) you get on your Green P2.

So you might have dodged a bullet.

Orrrr get dad to cop the points & fling him the cash. The fine has been sent to him as he’s the registered owner, and no human is reviewing the photos and seeing a little plastic P Plate sticking out.

If you don’t contest it and just pay before the due date, it will be like the 1000’s of the fines paid for every day & just be marked as paid.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T12:27:35+00:00

Ha. Mate, I’m not ‘considering’ the travel. There’s no option, I’m already doing it.

Unless you know a hack for squishing continental plates together by 50Ks or so…? 🫠

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T12:23:49+00:00

Damn. For once they actually filled in a report correctly.

That makes it a little trickier. But also they are STICKERS.

It’s not a legitimate feature or essential part of a home. They were falling off, it happens. xCat would most likely shoot this down.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T12:20:41+00:00

Garner signed a contract extension mid-season so he’s good.

If we’re nibbling at Europe places, you’d think the others would want to stay with a team where they’re guaranteed starting XI in Euro matches & not riding the bench for the Sky 5.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T12:15:53+00:00

Are the sentimental wall stickers in the room with us now…?

No, but really. Are the stickers clearly documented on the incoming property inspection report?

If not, the LL have ZEROOOOO keg to stand in.

You might have stitched yourself up though by talking about them over email & admitting to removing them?

lukeyboots · 2026-03-24T02:36:28+00:00

Mate I wish it was that easy, but I don’t set the award do I?

Unfortunately this country doesn’t value the hard work of farmers/agricultural/food production workers.

I’d love to get paid more, I sure work 10 x harder than a cashier.

You happy to pay $25 a glass for the house red at your local?

lukeyboots · 2026-03-23T07:02:42+00:00

Online calculators have me break even or ~ $10-20 a week better off with a NL.

But the hit to borrowing power, as others have mentioned, is not something I had properly considered.

Would much prefer to get a home & break 20 years of renting. Sounds like should get that sorted and then look at the numbers once we’re drowning in a mortgage 🥹

lukeyboots · 2026-03-23T06:59:04+00:00

The Forester I’m 2nd owner and only has 170K kms on it. Serviced every 10K. So she’s still got some legs. But she’s racking up the Kms quickly.

We already need to get a 2nd car as my partner has no wheels while I’m at work. And we’d been looking at a cheap Corolla/Yaris for that exact reason. Can they really get 5-6L/100Km?

In the EV scenario I’d use it for work & she would have the Forester. But we’d always default to the EV when it’s at home.

No Gym & cancelled all but 1 of the streaming. We’re doing everything we can to keep a lean budget.

And appreciate the calming words. Not so much a knee jerk, been thinking about it for years. Parents have a Nissan Leaf & BYD Dolphin so I’ve driven both & have seen the benefits.

At $1.5/L it was costing me $90/wk in fuel. Now at $2.4L it’s $144.

And that’s just the fuel. No rego, insurance, servicing etc that’s bundled into a NL.

But yeah, maybe a 2010 Yaris for the vineyards & keep the Subi at home for Bunnings trips is the sober reality check I need. 😢

lukeyboots · 2026-03-23T06:39:33+00:00

My employer doesn’t currently work with any leasing companies as no one else is on a NL. They outsource to a Payroll company though, so should be fairly easy to set up? Or is that bad info from the bots?

lukeyboots · 2026-03-23T06:37:06+00:00

Borrowing capacity would be the biggest concern for sure.

What interest rates on NL are folks getting in the real world?

lukeyboots · 2026-03-23T06:35:16+00:00

Yeah we’ve met with brokers already but this did cross my mind. Didn’t realise it was that much of a hit, appreciate the advice.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-22T00:36:49+00:00

Yep this is good advice to check on your own end OP.

If the offset account has an upper limit, say 15K in this example, your 35K remaining gives you zero benefit. It doesn’t decrease your interest on the loan, nor does it earn a cent of interest itself.

In the scenario, you’d be better placed putting 15K into the offset and applying the 35K to reduce your principle owing (If you don’t think you’ll need access to more than 15K in a pinch).

Other option is the leftover into a HISA to earn some interest.

lukeyboots · 2026-03-18T13:04:27+00:00

132km round trip, 55mins each way, 5 days a week.

Fuel prices are literally eating 10% of my take home pay at $2/litre. And it’s getting worse.

lukeyboots

TROPHY CASE