How much do you need to live every year?

[Intrinsic_Value]

Don't know about other parts of the world, but here in Australia, some of the 'unemployed' serve a vital purpose: they work in cash jobs.

Australia doesnt have a 'mexico' next door, so this is the next best thing.

 

[kathryn d]

Don't know about other parts of the world, but here in Australia, some of the 'unemployed' serve a vital purpose: they work in cash jobs.

Australia doesnt have a 'mexico' next door, so this is the next best thing.

We have the same thing in Canada..referred to as working under the table.
What they should really call it is Tax Fraud.

There is no benefit for anyone, other than the tax cheat.
It is not illegal to pay someone in cash. They are not the party doing anything wrong.

When someone works under the table, they don't provide receipts or guarantees. They undercut honest people trying to make an honest living.

 

[Deltaberry]

Geoffw, is it ok for me to say I gagree with this post or is that offensive as well ????????????

I belevie Americans are capable fo human mistakes, cause I can credit them with being human.

I hope that non offensive enough to you Geoff that it can remain

America is just another force in the world that has its own agenda and propaganda and objectives, which includes the betterment of its nation at the expenes of others.

Anyone who thinks the civilisation has attained some form of 'enlightenment' like Buddha or Jesus and is now simply on a path to 'rescue' the world from all other forms of evils is probably too shallow and misses the picture that, humans never change and history always repeats itself (ie civilisations collapse). Unfortunately we probably won't live long enough for me to be proven right... hopefully there's an afterlife and we can tell the simpletons in another century or two, "ah see told you"

 

[Deltaberry]

We have the same thing in Canada..referred to as working under the table.
What they should really call it is Tax Fraud.

There is no benefit for anyone, other than the tax cheat.
It is not illegal to pay someone in cash. They are not the party doing anything wrong.

When someone works under the table, they don't provide receipts or guarantees. They undercut honest people trying to make an honest living.

Though the system seems much more keen to go after those who have created employment opportunities and invested billions of $$$ into the country by imposing very tough penalties for certain forms of non-compliance (I've once dealt in tax law for multinational corporates), rather than go after the people who receive under the table cash, who don't pay a cent to the govt coffers and draw Centrelink too when it suits them.

Probably just a function of chopping down tall poppies though. Trust govt workers to do that...

 

[Deltaberry]

Anyway I think you could probably live off $500 per week not TOO shabily if living expenses were covered (ie house is paid off).

- Sit at park during day and watch TV for free for entertainment
- Go to Borders and read books/magazines for free for entertainment
- Go shopping at Myers but don't buy anything for free

Food
- Breakfast: kathryn will tell you you can do it for $1.50, but let's be a bit more aggressive and go with $10
- Lunch: $10
- Dinner: $15
- $35 per day x 7 = $245. But if that's too much can always go with the $1.50 breakfasts

With $250 left to spend, maybe spend $50 on public transport

The remaining $200 should cover a few odd expenses here and there, and you'd probably still have $50 left at the end of each week.

$50 x 52 = $2500, so you can even go on a holiday to say Gold Coast each year or two.

 

[tom32]

It is not illegal to pay someone in cash. They are not the party doing anything wrong.

You will be pleased to know in this country for most employers it is illegal to pay cash. Of course if you just settle in cash and still retain PAYG tax, pay payroll tax and workers compensation i.e. declare them in your total wages pool then sure its legal to pay cash then as just the means of settlement, but if you pay all this the individual is not under the table at all they are a regular earner just getting his pay cheque in cash. Do it the other way and the employer can get is way more trouble than the employee.

Sure you can settle bills in cash if you are not a regular employer but for most employers who pay cash it would cause major dramas if the earner went in and tried to settle with the ATO.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

"One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people" - Dick Gregory

Are there really so many of us on this forum stuffing our pockets with retirement buffering dollars and thinking so little of those people in our world who could really do with some of our help. These 3rd world countries that some were talking about as great retirement opportunities can also benefit SO SO much from our efforts as volunteers in health and education programs where you can give a few months of your time each year to TRULY give something back of what you have earned (or is that "taken"?) Same applies right here in Oz too!

You will earn no money but you will have no expenses either and you will receive a king's ransom in life experience.

My wife is a social worker here in australia and I am a tradie with some construction experience and we plan this sort of retirement in 10 yrs or so, but with up to 6 months/year of volunteer work. I honestly can't wait!!!

Please think about this as a way of reducing your necessary retirement fund and earning a lot in "returns"....

A great idea. We plan on doing some such work in retirement (in about ten years). I like the idea of doing something useful while traveling. We do a fair bit of local voluntary stuff now, and retirement will be the opportunity to do some more, but further afield.

 

[kathryn d]

You will be pleased to know in this country for most employers it is illegal to pay cash. Of course if you just settle in cash and still retain PAYG tax, pay payroll tax and workers compensation i.e. declare them in your total wages pool then sure its legal to pay cash then as just the means of settlement, but if you pay all this the individual is not under the table at all they are a regular earner just getting his pay cheque in cash. Do it the other way and the employer can get is way more trouble than the employee.

Sure you can settle bills in cash if you are not a regular employer but for most employers who pay cash it would cause major dramas if the earner went in and tried to settle with the ATO.

Sorry, I should clarified what I was referring to.
I was thinking about when a homeowner hires a tradie to do electrical work,masonry,gardening etc.
I wasn't talking about someone running a business and paying their employees this way.
Even if an employer did pay their employees in cash, all they would need to do is sign for the cash, when it was picked up on payday.

Everything doesn't need to be difficult.

 

[jaycee]

America is just another force in the world that has its own agenda and propaganda and objectives, which includes the betterment of its nation at the expenes of others.

Anyone who thinks the civilisation has attained some form of 'enlightenment' like Buddha or Jesus and is now simply on a path to 'rescue' the world from all other forms of evils is probably too shallow and misses the picture that, humans never change and history always repeats itself (ie civilisations collapse). Unfortunately we probably won't live long enough for me to be proven right... hopefully there's an afterlife and we can tell the simpletons in another century or two, "ah see told you"

Had you been allowed to see my previous post delted by the moderateors for being "offensive", you might have seen Ithat I agree with you about americans being just as human fallable as anyone else.

 

[tom32]

Sorry, I should clarified what I was referring to.
I was thinking about when a homeowner hires a tradie to do electrical work,masonry,gardening etc.
I wasn't talking about someone running a business and paying their employees this way.
Even if an employer did pay their employees in cash, all they would need to do is sign for the cash, when it was picked up on payday.

Everything doesn't need to be difficult.

I wish it were true.

To justify the governments beuracracy it also forces buisiness through a whole lot of hoops and levies the likes of payroll tax making sure that business has a level of beuracracy to match the governments own.

Gone are the days when the pay lady took around a lock box and paid people little yellow envelopes.

Computers have just meant the level of beuracracy can be much higher...

 

[BayView]

Anyway I think you could probably live off $500 per week not TOO shabily if living expenses were covered (ie house is paid off).

- Sit at park during day and watch TV for free for entertainment
- Go to Borders and read books/magazines for free for entertainment
- Go shopping at Myers but don't buy anything for free

Food
- Breakfast: kathryn will tell you you can do it for $1.50, but let's be a bit more aggressive and go with $10
- Lunch: $10
- Dinner: $15
- $35 per day x 7 = $245. But if that's too much can always go with the $1.50 breakfasts

With $250 left to spend, maybe spend $50 on public transport

The remaining $200 should cover a few odd expenses here and there, and you'd probably still have $50 left at the end of each week.

$50 x 52 = $2500, so you can even go on a holiday to say Gold Coast each year or two.

This sounds pretty much like the life of almost ever pensioner I know, or run into on the street. Minus the trip to the Gold Coast

My idea of retirement is waking up in the morning, throwing a dart at the map to decide where I wanna go today - or for the next week or so, eating out wherever my whim finds me at the meal time and so on.

I think I'm gunna add a zero to that $500 per week for my retirement.

 

[kathryn d]

Anyway I think you could probably live off $500 per week not TOO shabily if living expenses were covered (ie house is paid off).

- Sit at park during day and watch TV for free for entertainment
- Go to Borders and read books/magazines for free for entertainment
- Go shopping at Myers but don't buy anything for free

Food
- Breakfast: kathryn will tell you you can do it for $1.50, but let's be a bit more aggressive and go with $10
- Lunch: $10
- Dinner: $15
- $35 per day x 7 = $245. But if that's too much can always go with the $1.50 breakfasts

With $250 left to spend, maybe spend $50 on public transport

The remaining $200 should cover a few odd expenses here and there, and you'd probably still have $50 left at the end of each week.

$50 x 52 = $2500, so you can even go on a holiday to say Gold Coast each year or two.

It's true.
breakfast for 2 today was cooked oatmeal,4 slices of toast and coffee--$1.00
lunch (we rarely eat) but splurged and shared a KFC snack pack------ $3.50
supper will be creamed asparagus on toast,sausage links,and cordial--- $2.25
dessert is peaches and ice cream................................................... $0.54
Total =$7.29 for 2 people

And we ate the KFC at the park..with our bottle of cordial

 

[our obsession]

Actually, just on reading, ( a bit of a passion of mine), libraries are fun to me, free and very interesting places. Most libraries I am aware of provide free internet, all the daily papers, the Canberra library has every magazine you could imagine for free to read incidently too.

Don't forget kindle is an excellent electronic book that offers many opportunities to download books, magazines etc for waaay cheaper than the physical book/magazine itself.

Gutenberg the internet site has a lot of free books, classics, (fiction and non fiction).

 

[kathryn d]

OO,
That's great to know.
Wherever we house sit at, there are always lots of books too.
We did try the internet at a library in Woodend, Victoria but opted to go to an "internet hotspot".We would download our emails..go home answer them, and send them on our next visit.

Free isn't a bad word.

 

[tom32]

Free isn't a bad word.

Agree.

It all depends on how much time you have. If I am travelling for work it is planes, taxis, internet in the hotel, dinner in the hotel etc etc.

It is only partly because I don't pay for it.

When I travel for my own purposes I will take trains in foreign cities, go to internet cafe's, go to a kebab joint down the road from the hotel I am staying in and get more out of the experience than if I just did work style travel. Plus I really enjoy a kebab.

The boss would murder me if I flew in and did not turn up to the office for hours becuase I was trying to save $100.00 on a taxi and took Australia's supurb public transport system in stead...

 

[kathryn d]

When I travel for my own purposes I will take trains in foreign cities, go to internet cafe's, go to a kebab joint down the road from the hotel I am staying in and get more out of the experience than if I just did work style travel. Plus I really enjoy a kebab.

My MIL is in her late 60's,loves to travel and has just arrived in Athens (alone)
She always emails the family travelouges so we can enjoy her trip along with her. She goes to the local food markets for her breakfast supplies. She enjoys bagels, fruit and trail mix. She is always jumping on local transport and just enjoys where it takes her.If she sees something that catches her eye, she hops off.

 

[tom32]

My MIL is in her late 60's,loves to travel and has just arrived in Athens (alone)
She always emails the family travelouges so we can enjoy her trip along with her. She goes to the local food markets for her breakfast supplies. She enjoys bagels, fruit and trail mix. She is always jumping on local transport and just enjoys where it takes her.If she sees something that catches her eye, she hops off.

nice. You do get to places you otherwise would not think to go, getting off the tourist bus and just setting off.

Actually athens reminds me, I should have added lamb souvlaki is also very good.

 

[Deltaberry]

Had you been allowed to see my previous post delted by the moderateors for being "offensive", you might have seen Ithat I agree with you about americans being just as human fallable as anyone else.

Nah didn't see it. Came too late

 

[Deltaberry]

This sounds pretty much like the life of almost ever pensioner I know, or run into on the street. Minus the trip to the Gold Coast

My idea of retirement is waking up in the morning, throwing a dart at the map to decide where I wanna go today - or for the next week or so, eating out wherever my whim finds me at the meal time and so on.

I think I'm gunna add a zero to that $500 per week for my retirement.

Well heck yea... otherwise we'd all be retired now

 

[Sunfish]

It's true.
breakfast for 2 today was cooked oatmeal,4 slices of toast and coffee--$1.00
lunch (we rarely eat) but splurged and shared a KFC snack pack------ $3.50
supper will be creamed asparagus on toast,sausage links,and cordial--- $2.25
dessert is peaches and ice cream................................................... $0.54
Total =$7.29 for 2 people

And we ate the KFC at the park..with our bottle of cordial

That's not living, that's dying slowly.