octave

Just for clarification, this has not been recently changed and it has been the case since 1988.

We went for a ride along the Ballarat to Skipton rail trail today. We had lunch under this impressive bridge. "Nimons Bridge was Victoria's fourth-tallest timber trestle bridge when built, and is the third-tallest surviving example. It is also the second-largest composite bridge combining traditional timber piers with rolled steel joist spans and a timber deck." Built in the 1850s

There are also implications for those who go into aged care The house is subject to a means test. We have just been through this when my mother went into aged care, we had to sell her house for her (which is fine)

Absolutely, we won't be leaving much of an inheritance and there are no expectations from my offspring. We opted for not working too much instead of wealth and a big house.

So is this what you have done? I don't necessarily disagree with this but having been a landlord for a few years I did not much enjoy it, It is easy to think that being a landlord just involves buying a few properties and then sitting back while the money rolls in but it is a little more involved than that. Buying houses, doing them up, and selling them can be lucrative if you do it right but it is still work, OK if you enjoy it but a pain if you don't. There are many paths to living a financially secure and happy life. I could have bought a second house and rented it out and maintained it all the tie hoping my tenants would be responsible and would not screw me over. Instead, I chose to easy route, reasonably safe investments, and bugger all work to do.

The value of bricks and mortar is irrelevant unless you rent it out, borrow against it, or sell it. I know quite a few people who have a house that is worth a lot but complain that they don't have enough money to live on. What good is a million-dollar house if you struggle on the pension?

I read an article the other day about some people in Wellington NZ who bought a house on a large block together. I think it was 2 couples and 2 single folk. Wellington house prices are crazy. They bought this shabby house which was quite expensive (for 1 buyer) and demolished it. They then built what could be described as 6 townhouse-type buildings and some shared facilities. I think we are a bit stuck on the 3-bedroom house on a suburban block containing mum dad and 2.7 kids. My son has his own company and has a reasonable income. He could have bought a regular house but instead bought a house with his business partner and his business partner's wife (also a business partner). They bought a large 2 story house that had duplicated facilities on each floor. They also own a bunch of cool cars together. We consider this couple he owns a house with as his family and also our family. I am often struck by how well they all get on with each other, I wonder if stubbornly sticking to the dream of one family in a house on a block might be a little limiting.

In our case, we built our first house in 1985 during the high-interest period although we did have a slight advantage in that my wife worked at the Commonwealth Bank so we got a slight discount (still high-interest rates though) If I remember correctly $30K and the rest (25k) came from a defence home loan. After about 5 years (1990) we sold up and bought 44 acres in the bush, we owner built our modest house and virtually dropped out. We lived well on minimal income. One thing we did that enabled us to retire early was selling our 44-acre property and we bought modest premises. We stuck this money from our property into super. We did not see the sense in being property well off but still going to work. Our place now is not worth a great deal (but we like living here) and we are reasonably income secure. I cant really understand what joy there is in having a million-dollar property but dragging yourself into a job you don't enjoy or not having enough to live on.

Interest favorable taxation also schemes like salary sacrifice. Eight years ago we had stuff all super but we decided we wanted to retire early so we got serious about stuffing as much as possible in super and taking advantage of everything we could to build super. We thought we had left it too late but we managed to retire at 56 not with a fortune but comfortably without needing to work. Of course, it won't last forever but it will last past the age where we can get an aged pension. Without super we would both still be working.

Wagner Boss Dies After His Plane Accidentally Falls Out of a Window

My debit card is from Bank Australia, the way I use it does not attract a fee unless I opt for a staff-assisted transaction or if I exceed my available funds or a dishonor fee. I never do any of these things. Bank Australia is a community-owned bank, the customers are the owners. Bank Australia is a not for profit bank As we're not listed on the stock exchange, we only answer to you. Profits are returned to you in the form of competitive rates, fair fees and quality products and services. We take action on the issues that matter to you, like climate. Our net zero by 2035 target is the most ambitious of any Australian bank. https://bankaust.com.au/banking/savings-accounts/savings-account-rates-and-fees Of course, there is a cost to the bank for digital transactions, and in the case of my bank, I would imagine that these costs are paid by the difference between interest paid to me and interest charged by the bank on the money they loan. My credit card does cost me $50 a year and no interest because I zero it every Friday. The $50 annual fee is more than compensated for by the reward points which I take exclusively in Bunnings vouchers (about $200-$250 a year). These digital transactions also do have a cost. The seller pays some of it which of course is passed onto the customers no matter how they pay. Whilst this may seem unfair to those who pay by cash we need to remember that cash also has a cost. That amoured van that delivers and picks up cash is not a free service. The bottom line is that at no point have I advocated getting rid of cash. I have not even tried to convince others to use digital. At least one post was suggesting that people shun digital methods in order to support the retention of cash. Being open-minded I have modeled that and it just would not work for the majority of my transactions and for the others I don't feel inclined to jump in my car and drive to the bank and join a queue. The bottom line for me is people should use cash if that is what they want to do. I don't believe (correct me if I am wrong) I have criticized anyone for preferring cash.

Red I twice expressed sympathy with those who struggle. To be clear I think there should be other ways of doing things whilst the demand exists. Bully for me? I don't really think my post is inappropriate in any way, is it? You expressed your experience and I expressed mine. Are we not here to exchange points of view or do we all have to agree on everything?

Yes, same with my mother although not quite there with phone apps though. We have set my mother up in the aged care home with her desk and laptop. When we visit (she is interstate) it is interesting to see that as you walk past people's rooms most people seem to be "installed" in their recliner chairs watching endless TV. My mother is more likely to be on a video chat with her friend in England (they were nurses together 70-plus years ago.) It is not necessarily easy for her but we provide support over the phone and can log into her PC to fix problems. I do think my mother is treated with an extra level of respect because of this. My inlaws are in their late eighties and are both reasonably comfortable with apps. My wife and I pledged a few years ago that we would keep up with these kinds of innovations even if it took a little effort. This is the equivalent of doing crosswords to keep our minds functioning well. I can see that those in their 80s or 90s came to this kind of technology later in life (if at all) and this can be difficult. Although in my family there are 2 computer experts I am always highly motivated to solve problems myself before asking for help. Nothing winds me up more than the assumption that my grey hair equals incompetence with anything past the year 2000. I think as time moves on new generations of older people will have much more experience with tech. Whilst I am very sympathetic to those older folks who struggle I have no intention of becoming that way myself.

Red I am not offended by it, however I think it does exaggerate (I appreciate that you did not write it). Here is my problem though. If the post says "No more garage sale without cash" and I have just had a successful garage sale without cash isn't it reasonable for me to say 'hang on that is not correct" Is that unreasonable? I do not wish to change what you do and in fact, it seems that you do a fair amount of digital transactions as it is. 😀

Really? Under what circumstances? I am happy to take that risk In fact, I don't imagine there are many people that do not use any bank services or credit card services therefore I think almost everyone runs the risk of being "cancelled".

Red I don't believe at any point I have said that society should go cashless. My post was only critiquing the list of supposed downsides to digital payments. I am not asking you to abandon cash but your post is asking me to use cash " Please pay with cash & please say no to a cashless society while you still have a choice." And I am happy for you to have that choice but I also want the choice.

How does the bank tell you what you can spend money on? That is a reasonable point but I think the answer to this is competition between banks and other payment methods such as Paypal. I have 3 methods of payment, I can tap my phone which uses money from my bank account, there are no fees for this. I use Paypal for online payments and I have found this to be very safe they are pretty accommodating with refunds if you don't get what you paid for. The third method is my credit card. I don't pay interest because it is merely a temporary payment method and I zero my card every Friday. The card does cost me $50 a year however I get rewards points that I redeem as Bunnings vouchers. i just bought all the hardware I needed to install my new range hood. I don't think I have ever paid Mastercard any interest however we are quite financially disciplined Like I said I really don't care how people run their finances, it is not any of my business. I am also happy to admit that both cash and digital have pros and cons.

I am pretty sure we have flogged this subject to death before. I am someone who operates cashless nearly all the time. People seem to think that therefore I am somehow advocating for everyone to go cashless. In fact, I don't particularly care what others do. It is none of my business. I operate cashless because it is cheaper and easier. This one is easy to dispel. A few months ago my 90-year-old mother who lives interstate ended up in the hospital and from there opted to go into aged care. It was up to me and my wife to put her house on the market. The house sold quickly and we had to dash over and empty her house over a 3 week period. This meant selling most of her possessions. My mother lived on an estate that was exclusively for older people. Over the next 3 weeks, we had an ongoing garage sale. Initially, we thought that most buyers being older folks would insist on paying with cash. This in fact only happened twice. we were quite surprised that these older folks were quite with it when it comes to technology. Before we started selling things we went to the bank to get a selection of denominations. This meant trying to predict how many $5 notes we would need, whether would we need coins, and what denominations. In fact, this ended up being totally unnecessary. Most people opted to do bank transfers the money going straight into my mother's account and a few used Paypal. People who were just passing by were not limited by how much money they happened to have in their pockets. I would suggest that this is how most garage sales operate these days. Not even sure what this means in practice. Aged pension also goes through a bank. I would suggest that in these modern times, kids are like;y to have bank accounts and are likely to be more financially literate than in days gone by. As a child, my grandmother would give me 20 cents a week of spending money. This did not stay in my pocket long. perhaps if it had gone into a bank account I might have learned to save up for something rather than blowing it straight away Do people still send birthday cards? Why? No different from selling my mother's possessions. In our house, we kind of have a voluntary simplicity philosophy. This means we don't tend to keep things that we no longer need, we would rather someone use these items rather than them taking up our space. I sold a few things this week and I was not impeded by lack of cash either on my part (change) or on the buyer's part. No one in recent times has offered me cash. I have not found this to be true. We bought a new range hood last week from Appliances Online. Delivered to the door (free) delivery. I don't believe I have had limited choices due to not paying with cash. Maybe. I am not sure what the downside of this is really. I would be more than happy to share my Woolworths shopping list from my delivery this morning. Yep. I always carry my mobile phone. I guess this is true. Most people are not paid in cash therefore at some stage you have to deal with a bank. If you are worried that a bank will block your account then surely this could be also done by the bank blocking your cash withdrawals or ATM withdrawals. Sometimes there is a good reason to block someone's bank access, proceeds of crime, drugs, or terrorism. Yeah, I am not worried about that. Yes and no. If my mother had adopted modern methods she probably could have stayed in her own home longer. As a 90-year-old getting a taxi to the bank became too much. I have given this example before and nobody ever comments on it. I worked at a music studio that was situated in an industrial area. My wife managed the studio for the owner (he managed our other branch) The students were expected to pay for a whole term's worth of lessons upfront on the first week. At the time this would have been $350 per student. you can see that as we had over 1200 students that on any given day there could be a lot of money in the cash draw in an area that was not very busy at night. We never had to have a policy because hardly anyone wanted to pay by cash. Often the kids would come up by themselves the parents having paid by direct deposit or over the phone. Even though the business took in a lot of money in a day it did not require a safe or a nervous walk to the night deposit safe at the bank. it also did not require much counting of cash and tallying up at the end of the evening. I can see why many sole traders do not like having to deal with cash. I remember when we lived near Canberra and the attendant at our local petrol station was stabbed to death in a robbery gone wrong. And on Facebook! I estimate that more than 90% of my purchases are online. I am not sure how I could achieve this with cash. Apart from that as I get older I do not want to lose the ability to function in the modern world. When I walk along city streets I do not envy the queue at the ATM or people waiting for the bank to open. When I do shop in person I do not have to predict how much money I am going to spend or worry about being mugged. If someone asks for my wallet they can have it, but it will not do them any good. Oops nearly missed this one. This is easy to dispel. At my local Woolworths there are usually one or two homeless (I assume) people. Firstly if they were not getting any "donations": they probably would not bother being there. What I see and I have done this myself is that instead of giving cash which could be spent on anything people tend to give food or a coffee or fruit etc. I believe this is better than giving money. I have even given someone a Woolworths voucher. There is a man there a couple of days a week who sells the Big Issue and I noticed he has the capability of accepting digital payments and this is what most people do. I reallly don't care what people choose to do and I accept that there are pros and cons however I think some of these points are exaggerated or actually untrue. Dealing only in cash does not for the average person cut out of the bank. If the system goes down my digital methods of payments may be affected but those who draw out money will also be affected. I would argue that almost no one operates purely on cash. if you buy a car you don't go into the showroom with 20k in your pocket. if you are a pensioner your income still goes through a bank

We went to see QI live when it came to Melbourne in about 2011 I think. It was good but a little bit recycled, still worth it though. There is a related podcast called "No such thing as a Fish" which is done by the QI Elves https://audioboom.com/channels/2399216-no-such-thing-as-a-fish

I believe losses outstrip gains. Current estimates place the loss of hydrogen and helium at 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms) per second. That works out to just a tad more than 100,000 tons (90,700 metric tons) per year. When you compare that to the estimated mass of meteoric material that falls to Earth each year (approximately 50,000 tons), indeed, our planet does seem to be on a weight-loss program. Is the Earth Gaining or Losing Mass?

This is a line from Tim Minchin's poem "Storm" If you show me that, say, homeopathy works, then I will change my mind I'll spin on a fucking dime I'll be embarrassed as hell, But I will run through the streets yelling 'It's a miracle! Take physics and bin it! Water has memory! And while it's memory of a long Lost drop of onion juice seems Infinite It somehow forgets all the poo it's had in it!'

I would argue with the use of the word "measuring". I would suggest that it is a little difficult to "measure" the unseeable or things that cant be felt by our physical senses. Tell me how to measure these things and I will give it a go. This may or may not be true however within all cultures there have always been individuals who are not spiritual in the sense of believing in a higher power. Spiritual is not a word I tend to use however I do not consider this to be problematic. I am not sure how belief in an unseeable creator would make any difference to my life. Religious folks are often quick to insinuate that those who don't believe in a creator must therefore have barren futile lives. I love and I am loved. On an evolutionary level, love may just be a release of oxytocin in order to preserve our close fellow human beings. The important thing is love feels good and is not reliant on a creator. I can be moved to tears by music, I can lie on my back on a dark night and look at the stars in wonder. I do not need a creator to appreciate these things. I totally agree with this. The story of the universe is endlessly fascinating and the explanation "god did it" is just not satisfying to me at least (I accept that others may disagree) My life is pretty good. You won't find me posting on the "gripes" thread. I really can't see how life would be made better by believing in a creator. I accept humans will probably never fully understand all the details of the universe. God did it doesn't cut it for me.

I think if friends and relatives may want to get together and that is fine. I guess I think that the disposal of the body (to put it bluntly) does not in my view need to be tied to some kind of memorial event. These days my friends and relatives are dispersed around Australia and the world. I think a problem with the funeral business is that at a time of distress, people are expected to make expensive choices. Call me a tight arse but I am more likely to go with this sort of thing. Bare Any other get-together or remembrance will be for and at the discretion of my family.

My father had a prepaid funeral but of course, my mother was sold extras at the time. I think she felt pressure to put on a good show. Personally, my wife and I are not planning on having funerals.

As far as I am aware some level of music is taught to all primary school children. People do not really opt out. By this, I mean learning some music not necessarily learning an instrument or playing in a school band. In high school, I think it is more of a choice. When I was in my first year of high school I had to do music and a language. In the second year, you could choose either a language or music. Of course, I would say that being exposed to music education to a small degree is good however I don't believe every student should be forced to learn an instrument. We are not really talking about 3 or 4 students leaving class to do music so it is not exactly the same as RI. By the way, I have absolutely no problem with students doing RI if that is their choice. I would say the same with music. I used to go into schools and teach instruments. This did involve students leaving class. I think that is fine but I would not expect lessons for the rest of the class to be affected and I think that should be the case for RI. When it comes to the 3Rs, how much time is needed to teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division? Arithmetic and maths are not exactly the same thing. I used to have an American friend who spent a few years in Australia working for CSIRO. He is now a professor at Arizona State University. I once had a friendly dig at him when he didn't calculate the bill splitting in a restaurant ( he has a couple of PhDs in mathematics.) As he pointed out to me, a mathematician is not someone who knows their times tables or is great at long division. The skill is taking a problem and working out equations to solve it. Want to send a probe past Pluto? How long do I fire the engine? What path will it result in? I am not discounting basic literacy and numeracy however as the world changes new skills are also required. I would argue that computer literacy is a basic skill that just about everybody will need in their work life.