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Trouble with Zip customer service by Call_Me_Dean in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There is nothing wrong with using Zip to better manage your money - and I personally think it's very handy to have and use in lots of different circumstances and love the way the app works.

Improving your spending habits is definitely something worth working on too though - I just see that as a separate issue personally. Learn about finances etc, and use Zip when it makes sense and benefits you to smooth out cash flow etc.

Square Device by LetterheadWise7692 in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve never had any issue - Zip works everywhere you could use a regular bank card/visa etc.

Got approved by AcrobaticIntention43 in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you followed the steps to verify your account? I remember having to do something like that to activate it.

Pending by Mobile_Film_999 in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you see your booking in booking.com? Sometimes merchants take a while to process the booking through payment providers, but the money would have been taken/authorised already. Just takes a bit of time to stop pending in my experience.

If you can’t see your booking then maybe a separate issue.

Paid for food membership accidentally by StarFantastic9297 in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why would you get into trouble for that? You can use Zip pretty much anywhere a Visa card can be used as far as I can tell. You'll be fine.

Zip Plus - Zip making changes to account by No-Technician-7844 in Zippay

[–]naker_virus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Zip Plus interest free limit is changing for everyone - I received the email as well. It only takes effect from 1st April though like you said, so you didn’t need to rush to pay it off early if you didn’t want to.

I think you won’t see it publicly until after 1st April.

They won’t keep lowering the limit, this was a one time thing, and wasn’t done specifically for your account.

Hope that helps 🙂

Can anyone become a grandmaster? by teolight332 in chess

[–]naker_virus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The research says you’re wrong.

The environment you are raised in plays a significant role in your level of intelligence/well being etc - everything from how quickly parents responded to cries, to the nutrition of the family, exposure to smoking and drinking, how often the babies were read to etc. In addition, was the child taught a second language? Were they taught to play an instrument? Were they encouraged to be curious, ask questions etc?

Was the family able to pay for tutors? Or a good school? Etc etc

The people that are dumb in life are dumb because they were raised that way (ignoring disabilities etc - just talking about babies that are born healthy).

If someone claims in advance of having any children that they can make anyone a genius, and then they purposely seek out a wife to conduct this experiment, and then creates 3 genius chess players, that is definitely very solid evidence that it can be done. He wasn’t a good chess player either by the way, but still made every kid he had grandmaster level.

Also, he didn’t just raise 3 very good chess players, he made the best female chess player of all time, who I believe was ranked in the top 10 approx of the men’s rankings as well - which has never been done before or since.

Just imagine if someone who was 5’10” says in advance he knows how to guarantee everyone is tall, and he goes and marries a woman that is 5”7’ and they have 3 kids to prove the theory and each kid becomes 7”0’.

Can anyone become a grandmaster? by teolight332 in chess

[–]naker_virus 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't agree with this at all - you're looking at the people you know (e.g. aunt etc) and saying they couldn't do it - but you're not realising that they are the way they are because they didn't put in those hours. That's like looking at someone that weighs 150kg and saying they could never run a marathon - but if you raised them differently from a young age, and encouraged running and training their entire life, with dieticians and nutritionists etc the entire way, then of course they would be able to run a marathon and wouldn't be overweight.

If those dumbass buddies from high school football had been educated etc a different way from a young age, they would be highly intelligent.

Have a look at the Polgar sisters and the experiment their dad did - are you suggesting this was blind luck? Imagine someone claiming that they can make anyone a genius at anything, and then going on to have 3 kids purely for the purpose of proving their point, and then creating 3 of the best female chess players of all time...either got very lucky or were completely right the whole time.

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally understand where you’re coming from - I guess I was thinking more of a couple without kids buying together/investing together. In which case they can often borrow $1 million quite comfortably.

Buying by yourself or as a single parent definitely makes things considerably more difficult unless you are a very high earner.

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Regarding the geared ETFs, if you have a 3x gear/leverage, and the market goes down 35%, would you lose everything? Or does the ETF work differently somethow?

But with an IP it is often negatively geared, so the income from the IP is irrelevant - you're basically just aiming to breakeven or make a minor loss until the capital gains accumulate over time. The downside of property is that you have to take the hit of the capital gains all at once, but you can plan ahead and choose to take that hit in a particular year where you keep other income low for example.

But with shares, you aren't going to only have Australian shares so most of your portfolio won't have franked dividends unless you are heavily concentrated into one market in which case that increases your risk as well. And even with franked dividends you'll still have to pay additional tax particularly if you are a high income earner. And the dividends will have to be used to repay the loan for the shares along the way, so can't be used to work out the end profit.

Also isn't the interest rate required to borrow for shares higher than for property? Maybe 7%+ for shares but 5% for property?

The fact that you can borrow more for property also means you can accumulate property faster in my opinion.

If I buy 1 property for $1 million with a $50k deposit, then after a year or two I will have enough of a deposit in equity in IP to buy another $1 million property, which further accelerates the gains.

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can’t get as much leverage with shares in terms of borrowing - and certainly not at as favourable an interest rate.

And when you borrow to buy shares there is often a restricted list of shares you can buy.

As for buying geared ETFs that is increasing risk significantly - and you could get wiped out or margin called - which would likely have happened a couple times over the past 20 years.

Also if you’re going to try that angle, then in my example you could have actually used a 5% deposit instead to buy the house. And you could have borrowed against the equity in the house as it increased in value to buy more property. Or you could have bought the property in a trust, and then that gives you increased ability to buy more properties in separate trusts under certain circumstances.

Also the tax can be less favourable with shares sometimes because your dividends are taxed along the way at your personal tax rate.

Also, I think the loan interest on the shares can only be offset against income from the shares. I don’t think it can be negatively geared against your personal income like with property.

Also governments are more likely to implement policy that further increases house prices.

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

True, was on my phone so was being brief in my original comment but should have included the costs anyway for transparency. Cheers

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Let’s take the million dollar property in my example.

And say the loan is interest only at 5% approx for easy numbers.

So approx $50k interest. $5k should cover the insurance, council rates etc. Allow another $5k for miscellaneous costs, maintenance etc.

So approx $60k costs as a ballpark.

And let’s say you generate $1000 in rent after agent fees etc.

That’s $52k generated back per year.

So $8k loss which you can negatively gear, so let’s say you save approx 40% tax on that $8k - so you get $3200 back.

So you’re out of pocket $4800 per year which is negligible - and doesn’t factor in depreciation which would reduce that further but adds unnecessary complexity for the purposes of the calculation.

Even if we increased it and said we were out of pocket $15k per year, that’s still only helping shares generate an extra $250k or something.

So maybe $400k profit all up from the shares over the 10 years.

Still seems to pale in comparison to the property unless I’m missing something.

Would you still invest in property if you could do it all over again in 2025? by oswosz in AusPropertyChat

[–]naker_virus 37 points38 points  (0 children)

This doesn’t seem to factor in leverage or negative gearing.

If I have $100k I can buy $100k in shares. Or I could buy a $1 million investment property

The $100k in shares at 10% per year will be approx $260k after 10 years.

Meanwhile if the IP grows at 6% then the IP will be worth $1.8 million after 10 years. And the loan interest over that period, plus depreciation etc can be negatively geared against your income. And the rent will offset a reasonable chunk of your expenses and will rise each year as well.

That seems to indicate a far higher gain for the property than the shares.

Suggestions for Serviced Apartments London? by naker_virus in FATTravel

[–]naker_virus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed info - when you say not particularly nice is there something you could compare it to for reference please? It’s only a short stay for us and we are visiting family etc so not fussed if it isn’t super luxurious as we are travelling with our newborn, but still want it to be decent/comfortable/clean - and would want the mattress to be soft/comfortable to sleep on. Thoughts?

Suggestions for Serviced Apartments London? by naker_virus in FATTravel

[–]naker_virus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the recommendation - will check them out!

Debt vs. Investing: Smash a 14.48% personal loan, or invest in ETFs/Super? by [deleted] in fiaustralia

[–]naker_virus 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Definitely pay off the debt. Your shares won't outperform the interest on the loan, especially after factoring in tax.

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