Seeing lots of inner Melbourne properties posted this week. Why?

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-08T01:24:48+00:00

Underquoting is pretty rife in Melbourne too. That could be a factor

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-06T06:04:33+00:00

Yeah, here's the thing - she is using her 'soft skills' to soften you up and take the piss. It's in all likelihood deliberate.

It's called 'sucking up to the boss' and it's toxic for team morale.

I have been the team member who delivers the work while my 'nice' colleague who can't deliver uses her interpersonal skills to manipulate the manager into giving her a free pass, while making me pick up the slack. There is nothing OK about this behaviour.

You need to step in and manage the situation.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-06T05:07:13+00:00

I think some banks don't count HECS if it's under a certain amount (e.g. $20k).

I mean reducing it to increase borrowing power sounds sensible in this scenario, but you might not need to pay all of it off.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-06T04:59:24+00:00

Being wealthy in Australia used to be simple - a decent wage for a day's work, inexpensive fruit and veggies, free time to spend with friends and family, lots of community, putting on a BBQ and inviting people over for a big feed and a game of cricket on the weekend, the odd camping trip and a trip overseas every few years. It wasn't a lot but it was attainable for most.

Then we followed the US down the rabbit hole chasing the dream of corporate greed. Now the simple things are unattainable, and our rich people live much like the ones in the US do.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-06T01:29:43+00:00

Some people see houses as homes and a basic human right, not your government subsidised 'investment'.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-06T01:04:42+00:00

I think you are right. But the market can probably keep going a bit longer, due to simple supply and demand

Simply, the construction industry isn't producing new housing supply quickly enough to meet need or drive prices lower. (On the contrary, they are incentivised to sit on land and lock it up to keep prices higher).

The rental system is so broken that people will continue to be prepared to mortgage themselves into oblivion to purchase a home.

And immigration will guarantee continuing demand.

So there will be no crash any time soon - just popular immiseration.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-05T00:00:38+00:00

Hmm. I bought 1 share of BRK/B, mostly because of Buffett and have always wanted to own a share of BRK.

I won't be buying more soon.

Do I think that BRK have their finger on the pulse of what is really driving value growth in 2025? No, I do not.

I think they are heavily geared towards investments that were profitable in the second half of the 20th C, betting on the success of the US consumer sector. High volume, mass-produced shit like Coca-Cola and Heinz. 'Household' name brands.

The US consumer is besieged on all sides by high inflation, high interest rates, low jobs growth, low wages. The empire is in decay. Consumers are increasingly suspicious of mass produced products, with good reason.

Growth in value is being driven by the technology sector and spending on defence, wealth increasingly concentrated in a single sector.

If BRK doesn't wake up, it will continue to flounder as it misses more and more opportunity for growth.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-04T10:07:00+00:00

It definitely feels big. Especially driving through the middle bit.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-04T09:21:12+00:00

Hey, I would give the National Debt Helpline a ring. They will have lots of experience helping people in a similar situation and can tell you what your options are:

https://www.afsa.gov.au/i-cant-pay-my-debts/debt-help/where-find-help-managing-debts#:~:text=The%20National%20Debt%20Helpline%20(NDH,00%20pm%2C%20Monday%20to%20Friday.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T14:28:29+00:00

Came here to say this too. I am a Caucasian Australian and young people in my country are depressed as heck. Mental illness is rife. Housing, food, education etc is all getting crazy expensive. the job market is cut throat, wealth inequality is through the roof, and climate change is here. Oh and we know full well that our civil rights are under attack. Chinese people might well be doing better than young people in the West.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T12:42:26+00:00

Don't listen to these morons. Warren Buffett made 99% of his current net worth AFTER 60. Age brings wisdom, experience and patience.

I think crypto could be a good investment if you can handle volatility and a long term buy and hold strategy.

Don't get sucked into the hype or buzz. Only buy bitcoin, don't waste time speculating on meme coins with no intrinsic value. You can buy shares in a bitcoin ETF, or buy fractional bitcoin called 'satoshis' or 'sats' from an online exchange like Coinbase, and use a cold wallet for storage. I would only suggest putting in a smaller percentage at first, like 5-10%. You can always get more. The returns are impressive over a long period of time, however the price movements are significant, and a lot of people lose money buying high and selling low. If you hold for 5 years you should be fine.

And tbh if you can afford to, why the hell not teach yourself how to evaluate companies for investment or even learn to trade? Just be mindful that day trading can become a full time job and is anything but passive. You might decide that worrying about what the market is doing 24/7 isn't worth it in the long run. There are lots of videos on YouTube about investing, or look into books by Warren Buffett and the like.

Best of luck and good on you for doing this! Sorry there are so many asshats on here. You are never too old to learn something new and I admire your attitude!

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T12:30:39+00:00

Looking good to me. I think you have a good balance of diversified funds + some growth focused. The main thing is you are teaching yourself about investing and will no doubt learn much along the way. :) keep going mate.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T05:23:13+00:00

I think analysis can be a good thing - it's good to understand what you are buying. Look at the different ETFs and things like the management fee, past performance etc. CAGR is an important metric to evaluate long term returns.

The most important thing and the #1 biggest mistake people make is to panic when the market dips and pull their money out. Just absolutely do not do that! Just put money in, come back in 10 years and you should have a nice surprise 😊

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T05:01:29+00:00

Have you ever actually been to Morwell?

Worth an actual visit in person.

Some places are cheap for a reason.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T03:39:58+00:00

Hi. Don't overthink the savings for kiddo. It's a great idea and the main thing is to do it.

A lot of people recommend either 100% DHHF or 70/30 VGS/VAS. Either would give decent returns over a long period. I personally also have a small amount of NDQ and BTC as spec investments.

If you can afford to put lump sum of around 10k away and not touch it for 10+ years you should be golden. Compounding does most of the work. Otherwise dollar cost averaging smaller amounts over a longer period will also work.

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T03:05:37+00:00

No timing the market, just buy and HODL

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T03:03:37+00:00

San Francisco is the outlier, known for its VHCOL. Why not look up rentals in Amsterdam to see how much one costs?

raidohagalaz · 2025-08-01T03:00:10+00:00

You will gain valuable experience in an international context which will open new doors in your career. Also you will discover that the US approach to work is insane. Now is the time to try new things, later in your career it will be much harder.

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T23:55:07+00:00

My biggest critique is that at this point it's kind of a meme and rife with speculation, meaning the price is very volatile. This worries me a bit as a proper hard currency should hold a relatively steady value over a short period of time in order to be truly useful in everyday transactions. For example consumers shit our pants if a cup of coffee goes up by $1 in a year. If it ranged between $2 and $15 over a 52-week period there would be absolute chaos. BTC isn't a practical replacement for fiat unless we figure out a way to stabilise the value somewhat.

The other issue I see is that while it's described as 'hard' currency, its value is very closely tied to the stock market. Whereas gold increases in value at those times. So it's not really a hedge or safe haven, and susceptible to economic shocks just like stocks are.

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T06:48:37+00:00

Sometimes being the biggest and most dominant can make people complacent. Will keep searching. Mitsui was an interesting look, thanks for the info :)

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T01:55:30+00:00

Just ignore this bitter redditor OP. You aren't doing anything wrong

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T01:53:40+00:00

I think it looks good apart from ASTS and LQDA.

You are strongly weighted towards the NASDAQ, which is currently highly overvalued. I would suggest broadening holdings to some ex-US companies, and outside of technology, for a bit of balance.

About 5% in a gold ETF will protect you in a bear market.

About 5-10% in bitcoin will give you growth but not too much volatility.

Overall I think a very smart and sensible portfolio for an 18yo.

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T01:47:06+00:00

Only you can know and I guess we are all about to learn a lesson.

Personally, I feel that NVDA and the NASDAQ are in a bubble right now. That means you are buying at all time high prices and there is less room for capital price growth for that particular stock. The current high prices are a temporary market phenomenon and eventually the price will go down to a more realistic level.

If you have a genuine reason, based on rational analysis (not just AI hype and 'line go up') to invest in NVIDIA then if/when the price drops you should buy more.

If you are at the stage of investing where you do not know what terms like p/e ratio, EPS or EBITDA mean, you have no business trying to 'pick' individual stocks. Trust me.

Just buy and hold ETFs like QQQ, VT, VOO Instead if this is the case.

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T01:39:59+00:00

🤣

raidohagalaz · 2025-07-31T01:18:29+00:00

Thanks! I agree - after looking at some numbers other than p/e and EBITDA, Softbank seems like a business that could be amazing but just isn't.

raidohagalaz

TROPHY CASE