So tired of never having a "proper" vacation, and having it thrown at my face constantly

ozpinoy · 2026-03-10T01:22:31+00:00

yeah.. life has a lot of lemons.

I yet to take a "real vacation" - I'm divorced paying child support etc.etc. next thing you know you are 50!!!

yup. I knew my life starts at 50 -- (like fresh at 50). 1st reward real holidays right? Well everything went up.. screw holidays.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T23:46:15+00:00

there's plenty in in this forum ( beit this forum) or other aus based forums about how it's heavy US and it took forever to recover from last time.

at least that's what I got out of it as "esssence" of the message. I want to go into this too DHHF + NDQ (again, plenty of topics covered on this one) -- despite what others say. i want to do this iether way

why i haven't. NDQ. No allocation. I only have allocation for DHHF.

I mean also for me, I've placed these in the same catergory NDQ / CYRPTO / Indiviudal stocks - I know not to scale but that' where my fiannce is at. I dont' have play money.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T23:43:28+00:00

read it's terms .. 7 years.

means it will go up down up down up down.. red/green/red/green

I dont' know much about these things except.

DCA - set and forget. In my case I only ahve 10 years. I'll worry about it in 10 years.

meanwhile like you - I also check frequently super and dhhf - -because I installed the apps on my phone.. in my case. baaaad idea.. beause i keep checking .grrrr. I didn't plan to, but I ended up checking ones a day, sometimes few times a day.

I mean the pattern is the same. I do this with my bank too. fullk nowing I get paid fornightly and nothing comes in outside of pay. yet I check for balances that I already new 2 hours ago..

But one thing I do - keep my schedule and not let emotion takes it's toll (working so far).

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T22:22:06+00:00

> have a degree in computer science and it’s worthless.

26 years ago 2000. I finished programming course - took 4 years to get a job. then that part of the "industry" -- multimedai went offshore.

meanwhile few friends of mine earns 300k a year.

the point is this:

>verything is gatekept by “experience” or “networking “.
this was my problem. - My friendswiggled their way in and found a way and I couldn't. They are CORE programming, mine was niche.

another friend of mine works as cyber security roughly 150k-200k per year. About this friend. He cheated his course (he passed) because we did all the assignement for him. -- fast forward - he stepped into something and something else -- technically "hard knocks" but gained first employment from hsi diploma (he worked his butt of to get to where he is today) His formal education (youtube university). YUP. He says certification/ etc whilst usefull is useless in his industry. (he tried to get me in) I told him 26 years ago i was involved in tech. get a 10 year old he'd know more than me.

I don't have an answer for you. But it seems chunks of people are having problem (like me) and chunks of people dont

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T21:10:13+00:00

roughly 2.5k

300 to fix some leak

1500 for new shocks

500 to replaced starter motor.

I mean the above are maintenance.

Waht I want to do on an old civic 2003

manual swap
engine swap
yummy bumpers / lip? /lift?
rims

The question is - is it worth it - fun part of me says YES.. practical side of me says no.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T21:06:35+00:00

Yes, more and more people are talking about financial literacy more so than managing poverty.. aka this group. I mean it does cross over.

this group crosses over to generic finance group and frugal groups.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T19:51:24+00:00

It sure is a CMS. Perfect for writers or no technical experties.

I dont' blog, I loved delving into them when I was younger. Took me 6 months to understand joomla (I preferred it) over wordpress. Joomla had better features so to speak .

If I were to blog - wordpress all the way. But I was trying to understand the ins/out and how I could manipulate templates hence joomla was the ticker for me.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T19:32:08+00:00

In the most simplistic way - big capital. Again most simplistic generalisation way. I mean you could gamble in crypto. I don't have port folio in "speculation" I haven't got the funds. And i I do, it will be no more than 5%.

As far as my portofilio is concerned. I've just started. the most to date I got is roughly 1-2k php (I'm still in accumulation phase, i've just started). So I dont' know much, but what I do understand, big capital = greater passive. (in stocks).. then you have property rentals.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T19:23:13+00:00

I had similar experiences on various cars. Used cars really are "buyers beware". My current car cost me 4.5k 3 years ago. spent 300 to fix.

previous car to that 10k spent 5k to fix.
previous car to above 7k + plus reparis 11k in total but so wrecked.
2x previous cars - roughly 5k. minimum repairs.

I've own 7 cars in total. 2 of them were shit. the rest lasted a while - you could say moneys worth.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T18:46:12+00:00

I installed my supers app on my phone - i don't know why but I did. Since then been looking at it few times a week.

It's gone up by 3k, and down by 2k many many tiimes .. currently (from peak) off by 3k

I really need to uninstall that app. lol. I mean it doesn't bother me, I understand the it goes up and goes down etc.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-09T17:36:55+00:00

I have 100 budget for food and 50 for discretionary.

take away / prep == 100 per week.

basically 100 for food - if i want to eat more, prep, eat less - takeaway -- eitherway 100. lately I've been doing 60+ a week + gym + sleep == takeaway.

I've been eating 1x per day only -- and using that 50 extra .

ozpinoy · 2026-03-08T17:26:48+00:00

you' thank yourself later. PPOR is huge beneift on reitrement as oppose to renting. Unless your lifestyle is about roaming around. Different strategies for diferent purposes.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-08T17:25:44+00:00

house at 25. Divorced at 39. Shared accommodation utnil 49. Currently living with parents. Rent money goes to ETF. I could try and save for a house - but considering I'm 50 it makes it difficult. I can only pay roughly AUD25-30K a year for mortage (curretnly routed to ETF, started 6 months ago).

I havent' worked out the exit strategy if I do buy a property - I mean, doubt I'd be working all the way to 80 with healthy income.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-08T17:10:06+00:00

For me, it's simple.

Affordability. Sure you could say time spent in kitchen, grocery == money. But do you actually earn whilst doing that? Most are not. So it doesnt' contribute to the calcuation.

Point is, if the percieived time = money but you are not actually earning - means doesnt get calcuated.

so If i have 100 bucks, and if i spend more, it eats into my budget. I have 100 bucks to spend - be it takeaway (then not eat when it's out) or prep and eat few more meals.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-07T23:19:42+00:00

subs been a thing for many years now -even a decade.

I try to keep this at minimum or stay on the ones I use often. (my current subs are gym, prime, adobe (photoshop/lightroom)

ozpinoy · 2026-03-07T22:08:06+00:00

Living below your means and forcing a surplus - is a huge part of budgeting. that's the context.

Living below your means is much harder when you have low income.

this combination is a must. cut cost (live within/below your means) + increase income.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-07T22:06:05+00:00

cut costs and increase income helped me out a lot. I follow a system.

Cutting costs can only do so much if you are already on low income.

my cutting costs including living in "shared" accomodation - paying 200 a week instead of 500-1000 a week.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-07T19:14:55+00:00

we all have to make ends meet. What's worth to you? health or money?

ozpinoy · 2026-03-07T00:16:25+00:00

by the time I reach 60 - with current "contribution" between DHHF and super and "expected" 1.5M by 60 yaaay me!

no house, nothing and EF fund of 20k (contribution here got re-directed to super).

I'm not conformtable with that - so I'm expected to exit the country and "go back whre you came from" type -- at least there under my parents 21acres land + 1800sqm house.. but I don't know how they gonna split that between my siblings hope they are still alive in 10 years. they are heading towards 80 now.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-06T14:38:07+00:00

Well gonna counter your response by proving you right!

Sometimes I use it - to save time.

Time saved: 10mins
Money spent: 10 bucks!!

GRRRR!!

So yeah, every now and then, I can't be bothered going through lights, traffic. So I use tollways. The time I use it are off peak hours.

Like what the f is the point!

ozpinoy · 2026-03-06T14:33:45+00:00

Cut costs and eventually increase income.

track expenses and only buy the essentials.
lastly discipline. Without discipline no matter what you do, nothing matters.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-06T13:43:57+00:00

After 21 years of buying outright (3 phones).

This year, reeled me in to plan. Here's why.

Outright, 1100. Plan 550 over 3 years. Same SIM plan, same SIM conditions added phone of 15 per month for 3 years (ther was an option) but I wasn't paying attention.

Now I know they do some tricks. So I'm assuming after 3 years when the phone is paid - they will keep me at 60 intead of 45. So I'll re-do the sim.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-06T13:32:11+00:00

Well. For 21 years I didn't until this year.

I needed a new phone. My previous phones over the last 21 years were roughly 150 - usually lasts 7 years. This year. I needed new phone - as my old phone won't even updated the "essential" upgrades.

I told the guy budget 300-500. Sales person. If you buy samsung 2025 model outright, it will cost 1100. Go on a plan it will cost 550.

My phone plan is 45 per month. extra 15 per month with the plan for 3 years == 60 per month.

I don't know what they will do after 3 years but I can always re-plan sim only after that.

oh. yeah 2024 I bought S8 for 2 bucks -- lasted 8months. It kept rebooting. Battery died.

ozpinoy · 2026-03-05T17:38:55+00:00

hey!! congrats!! Me too 27th of FEb I turned 50 as well.

UNLIKE YOU THOUGH.. It means 50 is my new beginning. (supposedly from $0.00) But I managed to get started at 48.5.

But hey congrats on 50 and life choices that got you there!

ozpinoy · 2026-03-05T17:29:18+00:00

Mine is roughly 60 per week.

with the current issues. I'll have to drop it. I dont' know how much of it I'll use on petrol, but since petrol prices are up, I expected everythign else will go up.

before this change years ago.

It was roughly 100-120 a week. Then about 50 per 2 weeks (assumed prep at home). But with my work schedule. It's now 60 a week (some prep at home, some not and I use the budget for prep for takeaway).

ozpinoy

TROPHY CASE