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Do MORE with your MONEY. Hi, I'm Brad
Financial Adviser | Planner
Join the journey #investgrowrest Do MORE with your MONEY
This is misleading.
The cost of accepting card payments isn't disappearing. Businesses will still pay card processing costs and, ultimately, many will likely incorporate those costs into their prices. Fair enough too!
It's essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Personally, I'd actually prefer the cost to be incorporated into the price before I tap my card, rather than getting hit with an extra surcharge at the checkout. So I don't necessarily think it's a bad change.
But the way it's being promoted is misleading.
Removing the surcharge doesn't remove the cost. Someone, somewhere, still pays it.
Home values are falling. But buying isn’t necessarily getting easier. đźŹ
Capital-city home values have dropped 6.4% over six months, according to Cotality. Meanwhile, the Financial Review reports an average couple’s borrowing capacity is around $95,000 lower than at the start of the year.
With the cash rate now at 4.60%—its highest in nearly 15 years—owners face pressure on repayments and equity, while buyers may qualify for a smaller loan.
And September’s housing figures don’t yet reflect the impact of the latest rate hike.
A lower asking price only helps if you can still finance the purchase.
Are falling prices bringing your next home closer—or is borrowing power holding you back?
Source: Cotality figures reported in the AFR, 1 October 2026; RBA. Borrowing capacity varies by lender and circumstances.
One of the biggest tax breaks available to salary earners is being wound back.
Under the current rules, eligible EVs can receive a full FBT exemption up to the fuel-efficient luxury car tax threshold, currently $91,661 for 2026–27.
But changes are coming.
From 1 April 2027, the full exemption will be limited to eligible EVs valued at $75,000 or less. Above $75,000 and up to the applicable fuel-efficient LCT threshold, the concession drops to a 25% FBT discount.
Then from 1 April 2029, new eligible arrangements will only receive the 25% discount.
The good news? Existing eligible arrangements can potentially be grandfathered.
I've always been a little sceptical about borrowing money to buy cars, but I'll admit the current EV FBT exemption is pretty hard to ignore, particularly if you're on a higher marginal tax rate and you're buying the car anyway.
Just remember: buying a $70,000 car to save tax still means buying a $70,000 car.
PersonalFinance FinancialPlanning MoneyTips AustralianTax FinancialIndependence
15/09/2026
If you’ve got a GESB West State Super account, it’s worth understanding exactly what you’ve got before you ever think about rolling it somewhere else.
West State is a pretty unusual super fund. Being an untaxed fund creates some genuinely valuable opportunities, particularly around tax deferral and salary sacrifice, but there are also some traps that can get very expensive if you don’t know the rules.
In this video I run through the main things to know, including the $1.935 million untaxed plan cap, the potential 47% tax on amounts above the cap, what happens when you eventually move the money into a normal super fund or pension, and an old surcharge liability that can still catch some members today.
A niche one for my fellow West Australians, but an important one if you’ve got West State Super.
YouTube link in the comments 👇
Index investing gives you diversification… but maybe not as much as you think.
Right now, the top 10 companies make up around 49% of the ASX 200, with roughly 40% of the entire index concentrated in just seven major banking and mining companies.
Over in the US, the top 10 make up around 38% of the S&P 500, with much of that concentration sitting in mega-cap tech and tech-related companies.
Index investing still has plenty going for it. But owning 200 or 500 companies doesn’t automatically mean your money is evenly diversified.
Know what you actually own.
Investing FinancialIndependence
New draft legislation could leave existing family trusts with three choices from 1 July 2028:
1. Keep your discretion and accept the proposed 30% minimum tax
2. Lock in your beneficiaries and distribution percentages
3. Potentially restructure altogether
For now? There’s no point rushing into anything. The legislation is still evolving, so it’s a matter of understanding the options and seeing what changes between now and 2028.
General information only.
Interest rates on hold but what's the underlying message...
Check your offset account
Better-than-expected inflation news today. Trimmed mean inflation came in at 3.6% versus the 3.8% forecast, reducing the pressure on the RBA to raise interest rates again.
The hardest part of financial independence isn't the maths. It's trusting yourself to live off what you've spent a lifetime building.
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