She will do very well in the future
She's got her head screwed on rightIts nice to read a positive story
Living pay cheque to pay cheque!!
- Thread starter Alex P Keaton
- Start date
She will do very well in the future
She's got her head screwed on rightIts nice to read a positive story
If you're really poor, you get bulk-billed, but if - like most of us - you're not destitute, then there's a gap, and it can be significant to many people.I take it she is an Australian citizen and has a medicare card
I'm not complaining - our health system has far more positives than negatives, and is vastly superior to most of the world - but it can still cost significant $ to get medical care. To most of us, it's not enough to alter our decision to obtain treatment, but my doctor - in a middle-class suburb at a non-bulk-billing practice - says that he estimates only about 20 or 30% of the test requests that he writes out are actually performed.
Many patients prefer not to incur the expense unless they perceive it as life-threatening/essential, apparently. Likewise a substantial proportion of prescriptions that are written, are never filled. (Nowhere near as high a proportion, but significant.)I think those of us who are "financially established and/or savvy enough to be on a forum to learn about investing" can easily lost sight of just how many Australians aren't in the same position. I'm frequently astonished by how "abnormal" I am.
Many of my fundamental assumptions about life and money obviously aren't shared by the general populace.I can live with that.
I have been living No Pay Cheque to No Pay Cheque for the last 7 years!
Sometimes I think it would be great to have a few days where I'm relying on a paycheque from some other company that I did not have to personally create profits in!!!
You can always sell and go back to PAYE
You obviously don't live in Canberra. Honestly, it takes about 2-3 days to see a doctor here. Tough if you feel really crook and/or need a certificate for work straight away. You just have to wait until the doctor can fit you in. Either that, do a phone around to the other doctors in the city to see if they have any gaps in their schedule (and many doctors aren't taking on new patients either).
Plus it is nigh on impossible finding a doctor in Canberra that bulk bills.
The health system in Canberra is woeful.
g
I think those of us who are "financially established and/or savvy enough to be on a forum to learn about investing" can easily lost sight of just how many Australians aren't in the same position. I'm frequently astonished by how "abnormal" I am.
I wonder what the ratio of people that do live pay cheque to pay cheque compared to those that don't (or are financially comfortable) really is.
Having a guess, i dare say that most people in the lower and middle income brackets - and maybe a fair chunk of people in the higher income brackets could not survive for one month without an income. Taking this further, i think just about all in the lower income brackets coould not survive one week without a paycheque. (without needing a credit card).
Anyone care to dispute that guess?
Thanks
g
That hasn't been my experience at all. Many Drs. and clinincs bulk bill all their pts. and once you're seen your tests are usually free also.
I recently had various tests done and ended up having a CT scan and chest Xray all privately on Medicare and it did not cost me a cent. Infact I've had a few Xrays and other tests in my time and I can't recall ever paying anything.
Amen. When I lived in Canberra I used to go up to Goulburn for a GP - I could see someone same day, and there is a walk in clinic nights and weekends. No bulk bill, alas. And I used to go to Sydney for specialists.
This is a very regional thing, as I learned when I started to move around the country a bit. Bulk billing practices reflect the local market. gg1965 is right about Canberra - because there is a reasonable proportion of above average income earners, the market will bear charging fees, so nothing is bulk billed. Often not even for pensioners. At the one or two big clinics in Canberra that (used to) bulk bill, you waited (literally, no exaggeration) 6+ hours. And they've stopped bulk billing. The problem of course is that plenty of people in Canberra are on low incomes (retail workers etc), can't afford to pay $60 to go to the GP, and what are they supposed to do?
Agreed. Locally, I think some clinics will bulk bill patients who they know are struggling financially, but there aren't any within coo-ee of here who bulk bill every patient. (And I'm OK with that.
I'm actually philosophically opposed to bulk billing, but that's another discussion... )This thread has got me thinking about a friend/acquaintance of mine....
Back in 1987 her boyfriend's Father gave him $22k and he bought a block of land with it. Built a small modest house for $30k (believe it or not that was the going price), but he financed his car into the loan as well and they ended up with a (then) hefty mortgage of $55k.
They got married and over the subsequent ten years her husband refinanced 27 (!!!!) new cars into the house mortgage. When he got bored with the colour or it got more than six months old he had to go swap it for another new one. Each time they topped up the difference on the house loan. My friend got very depressed and frustrated with his limited income and spending habits- he worked in the fruit/veg department at the supermarket and she was a teacher, she consoled herself by amassing a $30k+ credit card debt.
Fast forward to approx the year 2000 and they are over $100k in debt and are forced to declare bankruptcy. They sell the house - let it go for an absolute song - about $105k - this was just before Perth's property prices boomed. That same house would be worth $400k now.
Today? Well they are 9 years post bankruptcy, STILL renting and YEP *STILL* buying new cars. Problem is they can't top the mortgage up anymore and at least get less than 10% rates. No, they have to go to all the financial sharks and pay upwards of 40% for some of their stuff. And we're talking hire purchase, lease, rent a fridge, purchase the bed on credit.
Currently they have 3 NEW cars (I don't know how a family of 3 - they have one child needs 3 cars, one of which is a sports type Ford) and they owe over $90k on the 3 cars alone. Can't sell 'em as they are under complicated finance arrangements and if they did sell them they might get $40-$50k for the lot.
My friend is the same age as me - 40. At the age of 18 she got the "golden goose". A FREE block of land courtesy of her father in law. Now she's still in $100k+ debt post the bankruptcy with no assets unless you call cars assets.
She came and visited me on the weekend - turned up in the flash 4x4. But we visited the supermarket in my 12 year old Barina. I paid for lunch - 'cause she only had $2.50 in her bank account until her pay goes in this week.
Think it can't get any worse? Well it can. She's having marital problems you see. So much so that he's moved out with their child and renting around the corner. So they have x2 lots of rental payments and guess what? He's just not cutting it on his $500 per week cleaner's salary 'cause he took x2 of the cars and her name is on all those loans (joint). The marital problems started about 6 months ago and I suggested she go to court and get a property (debt) settlement and get him to hand back the cars. 6 months on and he's still got the cars, still getting loans from loan sharks - he borrowed at 40% the bond money for the rental property 'cause he was too stupid to try for a gov't housing loan/bond.
I shake my head as I sit here eating my generic weetbixs. I've got 5 properties, shares, a nice home and I regularly forget to put in my timesheet and it doesn't matter 'cause we are cashed up with a year's salary in the bank.
What I want to know is how these loan companies can continue lending to people like my friend. I just don't understand it.
Oh yeah, still driving our 12 year old cars!!!!!!!!!!
Back in 1987 her boyfriend's Father gave him $22k and he bought a block of land with it. Built a small modest house for $30k (believe it or not that was the going price), but he financed his car into the loan as well and they ended up with a (then) hefty mortgage of $55k.
They got married and over the subsequent ten years her husband refinanced 27 (!!!!) new cars into the house mortgage. When he got bored with the colour or it got more than six months old he had to go swap it for another new one. Each time they topped up the difference on the house loan. My friend got very depressed and frustrated with his limited income and spending habits- he worked in the fruit/veg department at the supermarket and she was a teacher, she consoled herself by amassing a $30k+ credit card debt.
Fast forward to approx the year 2000 and they are over $100k in debt and are forced to declare bankruptcy. They sell the house - let it go for an absolute song - about $105k - this was just before Perth's property prices boomed. That same house would be worth $400k now.
Today? Well they are 9 years post bankruptcy, STILL renting and YEP *STILL* buying new cars. Problem is they can't top the mortgage up anymore and at least get less than 10% rates. No, they have to go to all the financial sharks and pay upwards of 40% for some of their stuff. And we're talking hire purchase, lease, rent a fridge, purchase the bed on credit.
Currently they have 3 NEW cars (I don't know how a family of 3 - they have one child needs 3 cars, one of which is a sports type Ford) and they owe over $90k on the 3 cars alone. Can't sell 'em as they are under complicated finance arrangements and if they did sell them they might get $40-$50k for the lot.
My friend is the same age as me - 40. At the age of 18 she got the "golden goose". A FREE block of land courtesy of her father in law. Now she's still in $100k+ debt post the bankruptcy with no assets unless you call cars assets.
She came and visited me on the weekend - turned up in the flash 4x4. But we visited the supermarket in my 12 year old Barina. I paid for lunch - 'cause she only had $2.50 in her bank account until her pay goes in this week.
Think it can't get any worse? Well it can. She's having marital problems you see. So much so that he's moved out with their child and renting around the corner. So they have x2 lots of rental payments and guess what? He's just not cutting it on his $500 per week cleaner's salary 'cause he took x2 of the cars and her name is on all those loans (joint). The marital problems started about 6 months ago and I suggested she go to court and get a property (debt) settlement and get him to hand back the cars. 6 months on and he's still got the cars, still getting loans from loan sharks - he borrowed at 40% the bond money for the rental property 'cause he was too stupid to try for a gov't housing loan/bond.
I shake my head as I sit here eating my generic weetbixs. I've got 5 properties, shares, a nice home and I regularly forget to put in my timesheet and it doesn't matter 'cause we are cashed up with a year's salary in the bank.
What I want to know is how these loan companies can continue lending to people like my friend. I just don't understand it.
Oh yeah, still driving our 12 year old cars!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed. Locally, I think some clinics will bulk bill patients who they know are struggling financially, but there aren't any within coo-ee of here who bulk bill every patient. (And I'm OK with that.
I live in an affluent area and I know of 2 clinics in my suburb that fully bulk bill. I don't know the other Drs./clinics but they may very well bulk bill also.
I assumed if Adelaide has this available for anyone most other places would too. Obvioulsy not
.VB that site has at least 2 bulk billing clinics missing from the SA list (my area) and at a guess a ton of clinics missing from the poorer areas. The clinic my husband visited and bulk billed at the GC QLD was missing too.
WOW..... that is truly breathtaking!
I thought my sister and her ex were bad.
They bought a block of land in 1988 ish for 16K, 18months later was worth 40K. BIL wanted to sell it to pay off his car! Mind you they were still living at my parents place with 1 baby and another on the way. My father was not a happy camper and convinced him to keep the block. Took them another 4 years to build (eldest child was now 5 and about to start school when they moved in to the new house) and had had another child (3 in total and still living with my parents).Total cost for the very small 4 bed, 1 bath, 1 garage, 1 living area house and land was 70K I think.
My sister used to make Christmas pesents because she said she couldn't afford to buy them.. fair enough. My mum used to buy the kids shoes. They only had 1 car.
But.... BIL earned around 70K at the time... in the early 90s. He was earning almost 3 times my wage, and probably at least twice the average wage at the time.
Fast forward to about 2005 and they seperate and divorce. They split everything 50/50. Sister buys him out of house and she struggles to get a loan.. has to go lo doc. She only has 40K equity in the house. House was now worth 270K
Turns out BIL was a gambler and loved his drink. He used to draw down equity from the house without her knowledge.
I keep thinking what I could have done if I'd earnt his wage for even half that time! sigh!
Something interesting happened today.
Someone asked another co-worker if he was going to go out on the town and help his mate spend his first pay cheque for the department. I without thinking mumbled "oh is it pay week" and this guy who is 22 who sits in my team thought it was really strange that I wouldnt know when pay week was. "how can you not know when pay week is? dont you need the cash?" The other lady, the lady i have been talking about who is broke and in debt piped up and said dont you know kimmy is a property tycoon, she doesnt need to worry. I joked and said i had 14. Then said i have 1, 1 that i live in.
I went into the webkiosk to see my pay. Yey i'm getting an extra $150 a fortnight now in this new job.
Someone asked another co-worker if he was going to go out on the town and help his mate spend his first pay cheque for the department. I without thinking mumbled "oh is it pay week" and this guy who is 22 who sits in my team thought it was really strange that I wouldnt know when pay week was. "how can you not know when pay week is? dont you need the cash?" The other lady, the lady i have been talking about who is broke and in debt piped up and said dont you know kimmy is a property tycoon, she doesnt need to worry. I joked and said i had 14. Then said i have 1, 1 that i live in.
I went into the webkiosk to see my pay. Yey i'm getting an extra $150 a fortnight now in this new job.
Lots.... think the only way to get rich is to win lotto!!
Here is a recent wall post on facebook. Its so sad!
She works full time btw in a reasonably paid job
Ally
is wishing that money wasn't so important in life... *sighs*
2 people like this
Replies to Ally
Bob
Yeah the world would be a better place!
Cindy
I SOOO hear you. If you know anyone who does FIFO wants to pay $150 a week to live in a shoebox and not appear when I'm home or touch my stuff, let me know
Ally
haha! i know that feeling!! lol I'm feeling so broke!
Max
Well Ally here's some wise words from your Uncle! If you don't want money to be so important, do things and go places that don't cost much money i.e. come down and see us on the train!
Jenny
Hey you! Money's always an issue...no matter how much or how little you think you have. Just always remember that your are "truly rich" when you are happy and have good health and family and friends who love you!
Sandra
sounds like you have a pretty special an wise family there Ally. I was going to say similar things, its about living to your means an makin sacrifices sometimes. ;-) when you coming for a visit this way ;-)
Ally
Awwww thanks guys... yeah just struggling with the bills and wanting to do stuff but alas most of it requires money!! Maybe I just need to win lotto? Lol... Miss you guys heaps though
Here is a recent wall post on facebook. Its so sad!
She works full time btw in a reasonably paid job
Ally
is wishing that money wasn't so important in life... *sighs*
2 people like this
Replies to Ally
Bob
Yeah the world would be a better place!
Cindy
I SOOO hear you. If you know anyone who does FIFO wants to pay $150 a week to live in a shoebox and not appear when I'm home or touch my stuff, let me know
Ally
haha! i know that feeling!! lol I'm feeling so broke!
Max
Well Ally here's some wise words from your Uncle! If you don't want money to be so important, do things and go places that don't cost much money i.e. come down and see us on the train!
Jenny
Hey you! Money's always an issue...no matter how much or how little you think you have. Just always remember that your are "truly rich" when you are happy and have good health and family and friends who love you!
Sandra
sounds like you have a pretty special an wise family there Ally. I was going to say similar things, its about living to your means an makin sacrifices sometimes. ;-) when you coming for a visit this way ;-)
Ally
Awwww thanks guys...
yeah just struggling with the bills and wanting to do stuff but alas most of it requires money!! Maybe I just need to win lotto? Lol... Miss you guys heaps though Kim5,
I would be absolutely mortified if a colleague of mine were to post about me on an internet forum and to discuss my lack of financial skills with strangers... including posting my facebook updates etc...
As Evand says - "Some people don't have money and/or aren't financially literate. Big Deal." Doesn't mean it's ok to post their private thoughts to a wider audience than they intended, without their knowledge or permission.
I would be absolutely mortified if a colleague of mine were to post about me on an internet forum and to discuss my lack of financial skills with strangers... including posting my facebook updates etc...
As Evand says - "Some people don't have money and/or aren't financially literate. Big Deal." Doesn't mean it's ok to post their private thoughts to a wider audience than they intended, without their knowledge or permission.
