logo
Millennial reveals grim way she was able to buy a 'tiny' property in Sydney: ‘Struggling'

Millennial reveals grim way she was able to buy a 'tiny' property in Sydney: ‘Struggling'

Yahoo26-03-2025

A Sydney woman has shared how she was able to buy a "tiny" flat and said getting into the property market would have been impossible without it. Australia is about to enter the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in the country's history and many young Aussies are now relying on inheritances to get a foot onto the property ladder.
The woman was stopped in the street by property app Coposit and shared that she was 30 years old with roughly $28,000 in savings. She said she was lucky enough to be in the property market, but there was one thing that made it possible.
'My grandfather gave us an inheritance, so I just bought a tiny little flat,' she told the platform, which says it can help buyers into the market with a deposit of just $10,000.
RELATED
Inheritance warning over looming $3.5 trillion wealth transfer: 'Disaster waiting to happen'
Centrelink win for 460,000 pensioners in $450 million federal budget move
Centrelink blow for millions on JobSeeker, Age Pension as federal budget denies cash boost
She said she wouldn't have been able to buy a property without receiving the inheritance.
'Absolutely not. Oh my god, are you kidding? No way, I'd be struggling,' she said.
'I'm struggling even now, though, because I do have a lot of fees to pay and bills coming in, and I don't make that much money.
"So I'm just like, do I sell [my flat]? I don't know.'The woman said the cost of living was 'so bad' at the moment and joked it meant she was 'literally eating for lunch my leftovers that I had the night before'.
'Our employers are not giving us enough money in terms of how much we need to spend to live and it's tough,' she said.
Finder research found $152,775 was now considered a 'good' wage by the average Aussie, while $164,577 was considered a "comfortable" salary.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average annual salary for full-time workers is a little over $100,000, while the median salary for full-time workers is just over $80,000.
More young Aussies are now relying on inheritances to get into the property market, as property prices rise while wages lag behind.
Australian Housing Monitor data found nearly two-thirds of Aussies thought the only way they would ever be able to buy a home was if they received a large inheritance.
Victorian mum-of-four George Fox told Yahoo Finance a $85,000 inheritance from her uncle was the 'bittersweet' reason she was able to buy her first home with her partner a few years ago.
'We've all been told that if you work hard enough, you can buy a home, but I just really don't think that's the case at all,' she said.
'I don't know anyone who hasn't had some type of help in buying a home.'
Baby Boomers, who are Australia's richest generation, are set to transfer $3.5 trillion to younger generations over the coming decades.
Finder research found more than a third of Aussies expected to receive an inheritance in the coming years.
Of those, 28 per cent were expecting a cash inheritance of more than $100,000, 20 per cent between $50,000 to $100,000, and 15 per cent up to $50,000.
A further quarter said they were expecting to receive one or two properties.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Company's play for Coles, Woolworths, Aldi sparks warning for millions: 'Very concerned'
Company's play for Coles, Woolworths, Aldi sparks warning for millions: 'Very concerned'

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Company's play for Coles, Woolworths, Aldi sparks warning for millions: 'Very concerned'

Afterpay is keen on getting into the Australian supermarket sector now that buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services are more regulated. Under the revised law, these platforms have to follow the same rules and practices as credit card companies and lenders. Afterpay's co-founder Nick Molnar believes this update will give Woolworths, Coles and Aldi the confidence to accept BNPL as payment. But UNSW finance expert Andrew Grant told Yahoo Finance allowing shoppers to pay for their everyday shopping in instalments could be a slippery slope. "It is very easy to get in a hole if you are frequently buying things outside your budget," he said. "When it comes to groceries, am I going to spend more at the supermarket if you're offering Afterpay? That's something to be a little bit worried about." Afterpay, Klarna, Zip warning for Aussie users as major BNPL overhaul arrives Rare $1 coin worth 10 times more due to 'unfortunate' detail Woolworths shopper reveals little-known price tag trick Afterpay is already accepted at certain IGA and Drakes supermarkets. Grant said the majority of BNPL users keep on top of their repayments without a hassle. However, Domenique Meyrick, co-CEO of Financial Counselling Australia, believed a line needs to be drawn in the sand to prevent people from going into unnecessary debt. "We're very concerned about the possibility of these products being used in supermarkets," she told Yahoo Finance. 'Using credit to make ends meet is often a recipe for disaster — BNPL providers and retailers should not encourage people to do so." She added that financial counsellors have seen many people struggle to manage their finances because they're juggling multiple "unaffordable" BNPL loans and late these services have been used for big purchases, with shoppers more comfortable spreading out a $1,000 TV over four instalments. However, the cost-of-living crisis has pushed some into using BNPL to pay for much smaller items because they don't have the money to cover bare essentials. Before today, Aussies who wanted to use a BNPL service faced little opposition. They only had to fill in a few details before the cash advance was in their accounts. However, now providers will assess your ability to repay this money before approving your request. They will follow the same rules as credit card companies and lenders by looking at your income, expenses, and existing debts. BNPL platforms will also forward your payment history, whether it's good or bad, to credit reporting firms, which could harm your ability to get a credit card, personal loan, or mortgage in the future. Molnar believes having this type of regulation means BNPL services will be viewed more legitimately by the big supermarkets. 'Some of the biggest industries in [Australia] have been holding out to offer Afterpay until a date that we are regulated. We are now starting to scale into more everyday spend," he told the Australian Financial Review. Coles and Aldi told Yahoo Finance they had no plans to introduce Afterpay as a payment option in the future. Woolworths was a slightly vaguer, with a spokesperson telling us they had nothing to add. Grant told Yahoo Finance while the answer might be no right now, he believed they would consider it if they could negotiate with Afterpay the cost of acceptance. At the moment, it costs the merchant 2 to 8 per cent to take a BNPL payment, which is far higher than the 0.5 to 2 per cent they pay to accept debit and credit cards. The UNSW finance associate professor also highlighted that supermarkets might be be reticent in jumping on BNPL services because they could take a "reputational hit" if they're seen to be inadvertently plunging shoppers into debt. While these big supermarket giants don't technically allow people to pay with BNPL services, there is a loophole used by many. You can buy a Coles, Woolies, or Aldi gift card on several BNPL platforms and then use that card to purchase your groceries. Compare Club found nearly 31 per cent of Aussies surveyed had been using BNPL for essentials like groceries and fuel. However, the biggest proportion of users (66.67 per cent) reserved it for everyday non-essential items like clothing and gifts. Nearly a quarter of respondents to Compare Club's survey said they owed between $1,000 to $5,000 to a BNPL service. A further 20 per cent of users admitted to paying late fees every few in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data

Aussie workers facing brutal trend when applying for jobs: 'Frustrating'
Aussie workers facing brutal trend when applying for jobs: 'Frustrating'

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Aussie workers facing brutal trend when applying for jobs: 'Frustrating'

Millions of Aussie workers say they have been 'ghosted' by a prospective employer after applying for a role. A workplace expert is warning bosses the practice could have major impacts, as job applicants are left feeling frustrated and "in the dark". Melbourne man Yosi Sisaye was recently ghosted by a prospective employer. The 21-year-old university student told Yahoo Finance he had gone in for an interview and a three-hour trial shift at a hospitality chain, only to hear nothing afterwards. 'It was a little bit frustrating because I felt like I put a lot of effort into the interview and the actual shift, some common courtesy of saying that I didn't get the role would have been nice,' the Bachelor of Commerce student said. RELATED Hidden reason Aussie workers are struggling to find a job: 'Breaking point' Rare $1 coin worth 10 times more due to 'unfortunate' detail Woolworths shopper reveals little-known price tag trick: 'Really clever' Sisaye said the manager had told him he would be contacted and told whether or not he got the job. But he received no further communication from them and admitted he didn't follow it up himself. 'I understand that it takes up some time, but I feel like the applicants are putting in so much effort to be professional within their resume and follow certain etiquette, you would expect that same kind of effort to be reciprocated,' he said. Sisaye said it was his first experience being ghosted by an employer. He blamed the trend on businesses being 'inundated' with applicants in the current tight jobs market. In hindsight, Sisaye said he should have followed up with the company himself following the trial shift. He has since gained a different retail nine in 10 Aussie workers say they have been ghosted by a prospective employer, new data from job site Indeed found. That's equivalent to 12.5 million workers. For one in six, it has happened so often that they said they rarely hear back at all. Indeed career expert Sally McKibbin said workplace ghosting wasn't necessarily a new trend, but we now had a name for it thanks to the dating equivalent. 'There can be multiple factors when ghosting occurs,' she told Yahoo Finance. 'It can be down to things like they've shifted what they need and maybe that role has been put on hold, or potentially they are interviewing and trialing other people and they haven't come back to you, or a line manager has disappeared and the recruiter doesn't have any feedback for you in that moment.' McKibbin said the high volume of applications for jobs, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, could be exacerbating ghosting. "The job market has softened in comparison to a year or so ago, but the unemployment rate is still sitting quite low at 4.1 per cent," she said. "But there's still 48 per cent more jobs on Indeed than there were during pre-pandemic times, which sat quite consistently." McKibbin warned businesses ghosting could have a negative impact on their reputation and brand. 'A simple follow-up to let the candidate know that they were unsuccessful really goes a long way,' she said. 'We all want to know where we stand in this process, but for your brand, if you're a consumer brand as well, think about the impact that has on that person telling somebody else, and somebody else.' McKibbin called out the Circle Back Initiative, which was launched during the pandemic and is dedicated to ensuring job candidates receive a response to applications and aren't ghosted throughout the process. Other workers have taken the matter into their own hands, with Australian software engineer Ricjohn Genoguin developing the website to call out companies who have ghosted applicants after being ghosted himself several times. McKibbin has called on employers to do better and not leave workers 'in the dark'. 'I really hope that with more technology, it frees up the time for recruiters and managers to have much better human interaction and businesses to have far clearer processes on how to get back to job seekers through that process,' she said. 'It really does impact the brand and how people feel towards them, but also that person's confidence as well, which is never nice.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data

‘Figure just thrown around': Super myth busted
‘Figure just thrown around': Super myth busted

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

‘Figure just thrown around': Super myth busted

Older Australians are likely closer than they think to having a comfortable retirement, with workers often overestimating just how much they will need before they finish their careers. The majority of workers believe they will need at least $1m in their superannuation fund in order to have a comfortable retirement, new research AustralianSuper research reveals. AustralianSuper head of advice Ross Ackland said 94 per cent of retirees would finish their careers with far less than $1m in superannuation, and despite the fear-based narrative, that would still be enough to live a comfortable life. 'You might have heard you need $1m – it's the figure that's often thrown around as the financial retirement ideal, but the truth is, there's no one-size-fits-all,' he said. 'A comfortable retirement will look different for everyone.' Figures released earlier in the year by Super Consumers Australia showed a single person needed about $310,000, while a couple needed $420,000 to achieve a 'medium lifestyle in retirement'. But this has two major caveats; the retiree owns their own home and they go on the aged-based pension at some point throughout their retirement. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia has also run the figures, saying singles living a modest lifestyle will spend $32,930 a year, again assuming the retiree owns their own home. For Aussies wanting a 'comfortable' standard, singles need a higher amount of $51,814 and couples $73,031 a year. This would require a single superannuation member to have $595,000 in their accounts, while couples need to have $690,000. Retiree Warren Morrison said after a career in local government, banking and media, he was able to retire in 2022 at aged 64 with far less than 'a million bucks in super'. 'I worked out what I'd need day to day, figured out what brought me joy and built my retirement around that, eventually leaving the workforce with around $350,000 in superannuation,' he said. 'I'm not sitting still – I'm officiating weddings, hosting trivia nights, doing a bit of acting and even judging roller skating competitions. 'It's not about being rich, it's about being purposeful. I still have my coffee and cake with mates. I'm careful, but I'm not missing out.' AustralianSuper points out funds in superannuation are just part of what retirees will have when they finish work, with savings, other assets, lifestyle expectations and the pension all playing a role in how Australians will be able to spend the latter years of their lives. 'We know superannuation is incredibly important and encourage members to make extra contributions where appropriate, but super is only one piece of the retirement puzzle,' Mr Ackland said. 'It's also important to remember that our superannuation system is still maturing and will continue to deliver stronger outcomes for more Australians.' Compulsory super was only introduced in 1992 and at much lower contribution rates than we have today. The superannuation guarantee has also been on the rise in recent years and, from July 1, 2025, will climb to 12 per cent of a worker's income.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store