What a joke! 155k net income yet only saves 6k a year in a 3p family

I've been having a laugh at some of these articles posted on news.com.au over the past 6 months or so about people revealing their monthly spending habits. The latest one, if true, is kind of pathetic.

The big drain on our $215k income

What I find amusing is that the husband is a financial advisor!!! Judging by his extremely poor ability to control his own finances and his inability to find how to cut his monthly expenses, he's probably in the wrong field.

In the pic you'll see the family's budget. There is some pretty wasteful spending on there. Do others agree with me in what I see as wasteful. Or is this budget a solid one?

From the pic attached I believe the following this are wasteful or have potential to be scaled back...

Gym: Not sure how often they go, but if they are only going a couple of times a week then need to ditch it. Better off buying free weights and using an app on your phone to train you. There are plenty of free activities that can be done to help you shape up.

Recorder lessons: When I read this I thought they were taking the Mickey. Who pays for recorder lesson!?!? It's called Youtube and it's free.

Tennis lessons: At a certain point, you get good enough to play with your friends and as long as that's your goal, you'll no longer need lessons. If it's for the child, fair enough. Again though, unless they have potential, I don't see they need to continue with lessons once you reach a certain level.

Swimming: 90 bucks a month on swimming!?!? How, why?

Clothing/shoes: 433 bucks... A MONTH! And this bloke can't see where to cut money???

Groceries: I don't know if 1200 is cheap or expensive for a family of 3.

Entertainment: what? On top of all the other entertainment like swimming, golf, dancing, gym etc. 1100 dollars... that's almost 300 dollars a week. Crazy.

Seems to me that this family have a high quality of life with a fair bit of spending that could be cut if needed. Which is the exact opposite of what the bloke says in the article.

Honestly, I can't believe that this family can't see how to save more money. The fact that they don't want to is actually more the issue.

 

Well, you swallowed that click-bait, hook, line and sinker.

 

$2166 per month repayments for “cars, piano and holidays” shows someone who has no intention of living within their income.
Marg

 

There was a couple on one of the mainstream news channels a number of years ago that had been included in a segment about housing affordability in Perth
He worked in the mining industry earning $200k a year with a stay at home wife and a young child.
Then you have a lot of single income families trying to do it in $50-60K
.

 

Geez, they must drink crappy coffee. $46/month.

My coffee habit is $8/day (for 2 cups) in addition to the ½ kg of beans. So I'm at $180/month or more.

 

Surely this is a joke.
What sort of financial advisor has a piano loan and borrows to pay for holidays?

 

Don't ask me. My household expenditure is less than $2,000 per month all in for 2 adults. I would actually not have a clue how to spend as much as they do.

 

Are they double dipping on the cars? Listed in the personal loan as well as $1100 mv expenses?

 

Another one of these stories on news.com.au to stir people up:

The big drain on our $215k income

"As a financial manager, Toby keeps a tight grip on his family’s expenditure each month to ensure they don’t dip into the red. But it’s the repayment of their $100,000 personal loan that hits their hip pocket the hardest each week. This includes paying off $46,000 on a Subaru Forrester bought in 2016, and $38,000 on a Hyundai i40.

“We pay $1000 each fortnight for the personal loan,” he said.

“The loan includes the cars, piano and some holidays.”

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Something doesnt add up here... its basically like saying: "Im a personal trainer who sruggles with my weight because I eat exclusively at mcdonalds"...

[Mod note: merged from another thread]

 

Financial adviser but he still hasn't mastered the most basic rule of spend less than you earn!!!

On their incomes I can't fathom why they are even taking out 'personal loans'., let alone a 100k personal loan for depreciating assets and leisure activities. Even worse they live in a regional area and they are still renting (a 5 bedroom house). The income isn't the issue it's living beyond their means.

 

Yeah... but it's a bit of fun and there is something to be learnt perhaps.
Plus some of the participating people have been actually quite interesting with their budgets. I'd imagine they only pick the interesting ones though.

 

What about people who do the opposite of this. That is, they are great savers. When Jay Leno was on the Tonight Show, he would save 100% of his salary from the show. Lived off his side hustle, which was occasional stand up comedy.

Does anyone on PC manage to save 100% of their primary salary and live off their side hustle? Or maybe get close to an 80% savings rate.

 

My rent is more than that.

 

It doesnt seem very believable does it. Although there is no shortage of people that are bad at their job or dont practice what they preach

 

There was a life coach on tv the other day who was in so much debt that she was looking at selling her house. Dreadful show. I couldn't watch it.

 

If you do not have a clue how to spend money you need "toby that financial advisor" lol

 

A very good mate of mine is from Sydney and for many people from Sydney the car is the status symbol.
Not uncommon for many to have really nice Subarus and upwards all bought on bank loans of 40k and upwards .
And were both in our early 50s , not sure if this is still common with the younger generation or just a bad generalization.

 

High chance of being stuck in traffic all day means you might as well try and flash the cash to as many people as you can.

 

I honestly think, there is more to be learnt from your reaction to the click-bait than the story itself.

 

Subarus can be great cars;. We bought ours on its third birthday for around 50% of its new price.