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News.com.au
6 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Death of the middle class': Tradie's drastic action to get ahead financially
Sam Harper was earning $90,000 a year when he decided he needed to do something drastic to secure his financial future, believing the 'death of the middle class' was looming. Mr Harper, 27, was working as an electrician in Perth when he became sick of earning just enough to be able to pay his mortgage and weekly expenses. 'My partner and I both had a mortgage of like $480,000 and, once you paid for that, and your groceries and living expenses, yeah, you can live comfortably, but there are no overseas trips,' he told Mr Harper had always worked hard. He'd learned a trade and slogged it out as an electrician, but he didn't feel like he was getting ahead. 'We are going down that path (where there is going to be) the death of the middle class because the gap is getting bigger between the rich and poor,' he said. 'The way I look at it is, that is out of my control, so you have to start looking at different ways to get ahead. 'At some point last year I had this realisation that no one is coming to save me.' The only time he'd really made a big amount of money was from the sale of a duplex he bought when he was 22 years old and during the pandemic. 'I got lucky buying a duplex in Victoria, and it felt like a lot of money back then, but I paid like $270,000, which is absolutely nothing,' he said. 'I sold it 18 months later and I definitely got market growth for that one. It sold for $400,000.' The young Aussie was stoked with the sale and the profit he made from it, but he wasn't real estate savvy and viewed it as a one-off than a way to continually make money. 'I was pretty stupid back then,' he said. 'I thought it was great but it wasn't until later down the line that I started looking at real estate a bit more.' Alongside his partner, and with the profits from the sale of his Victoria property, Mr Harper purchased a home in Perth in late 2024 for $520,000. The plan back then was to get some equity into the property, use that equity to buy an investment property, and eventually amass a real estate portfolio. It wasn't a bad plan, but the electrician realised that he would have to cover multiple mortgages, even if he rented them out. 'I realised I'd be stuck in my job and in more and more debt and I didn't really like the job' he explained. Around this time, he had his primary property revalued after spending around $30,000 in renovations. To his delight, the property was reappraised at $700,000. 'I was surprised by the $700,000. I thought mid $600,000. It was definitely life-changing,' he said. The tradie had been able to save money because he was able to do a lot of the renovations himself, using his skills as sparky and watching YouTube tutorials for the parts he wasn't as sure about. That staggering evaluation made Mr Harper realise house flipping was a really simple and clear way to make money. Ultimately, he decided not to sell that property, with the couple instead refinancing and then flipping another home shortly afterwards. He struck a deal with a homeowner where he renovated the property and then they agreed to share some of the profits. 'If it sold above $530,000, we'd split the profits, and it sold for $610,000,' he said. The young tradie pocketed $98,000 from that sale, which gave him the confidence to start buying properties to flip. In the past 12 months, the 27-year-old has purchased two separate properties in Perth. From the first, he made $85,000 in pure profit, and from the second, he made $125,000. 'It is a lot more than I was getting paid as a sparky,' he pointed out. Mr Harper is pragmatic about his success. Yes, a lot of money is coming in, but he also needs to use that money to keep house flipping. 'It is the type of business where, once you get the money, you reinvest it back in,' he said. That doesn't mean he has quite gotten used to seeing over six-figures pour into his savings account. 'Once the money hits the account, it is still pretty crazy,' he said. 'We definitely have a long way to go, but looking back to where we were 12 months ago is pretty surreal.' Financial planner Alex Jamieson told that Australia's wealth gap is widening. 'The middle class used to buy from a purchasing power perspective in today's standards is no longer anywhere close to the purchasing power,' he said. Mr Jamieson argued that 'if you don't own a house', you're unfortunately missing out on amassing wealth. The problem being that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Aussies to break into the market. The financial planner argued that the middle class is having a tougher time these days due to the cost of living. 'Historically, one income was able to achieve a lot more in purchasing power than what the combined income of today can achieve for a couple,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Teacher, married electrician fined RM5,000 each over attempt at immoral act
The two 31-year-olds pleaded guilty at the Melaka shariah high court over an incident that took place in February. (Facebook pic) PETALING JAYA : A secondary school teacher and a married electrician were each fined RM5,000 by the Melaka shariah high court today for attempting to commit an immoral act earlier this year. Judge Yunus Zin handed down the sentence after the two, both 31, pleaded guilty, Utusan Malaysia reported. They were charged under Section 52 of the Melaka Syariah Offences Enactment 1991. Both paid the fine. The case went viral on social media, with people sharing video clips of the man's wife confronting the teacher. Also shared were screenshots of lewd conversations on WhatsApp, said to be between the cheating pair. The scandal prompted the education ministry to temporarily suspend the teacher from her duties.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Brit arrested in Bali on drug charges avoids death penalty and is sentenced to 10 months in jail after ‘taking a package of drugs from a taxi driver'
A British man arrested in Bali for allegedly taking a package containing just over a kilogram of MDMA from a taxi driver has avoided the death penalty. Thomas Parker, from Cumbria, was arrested near Kuta beach in January after allegedly collecting a package from a taxi driver at a nearby street. The package contained slightly over a kilogram of MDMA, a party drug and the main ingredient in ecstasy, according to a lab test result cited in court documents. Parker, a 32-year-old electrician by trade, was initially charged with drug trafficking and could have faced the death penalty by firing squad if found guilty. But the trafficking charge was dropped after police investigators determined that the package was not directly linked to him. On Tuesday, the Denpasar District Court reportedly handed him just 10 months for drug possession. Parker repeatedly expressed his remorse in his final plea last week, and asked the panel of three judges to consider his situation and impose a lenient sentence. 'I am very sorry and apologise, I know it was a mistake,' Parker said, 'I promise not to repeat it again, because I really didn't know that (the package) was drugs.' According to the court document obtained by The Associated Press, Parker was noticed 'acting suspiciously' by officers while he was collecting the package. He allegedly discarded it in a panic and fled when police approached him. He was traced back to the villa where he was staying and was arrested. But Parker, in court, has maintained that he did not order the package and had initially refused to collect it, doing so only after a friend assured him it was safe and would not endanger him. The package was sent by a drug dealer friend, identified only as Nicky, who Parker had known for around two years and spoke to regularly through the Telegram messaging app. Parker was told someone would pick it up shortly from him, his lawyer, Edward Pangkahila said. Parker was not promised money or anything else by Nicky in return, Pangkahila said. During the police investigation, Parker was able to prove that he did not order the package. Authorities reduced the charge from trafficking to the less serious offence of hiding information from authorities. Prosecutors on May 6 sought a one-year prison term for Parker. However, under Indonesian legal system, judges have an important role as legal determinants in a trial. They could seek further charges if applicable laws are unclear or non-existent, meaning that the trafficking charge could be reinstated. Pangkahila said that Parker last met Nicky a year ago when he was on vacation in Thailand. As his friend was a dealer, Parker worried the package was filled with drugs. He panicked when he saw police officers on the street and and was approached by them, Pangkahila said. He was traced back to the 7 Seas Villas in North Kuta, where he was arrested. Police showed the discarded package to Parker, who allegedly admitted it was the package he had received earlier. They claimed they had found a light-brown powder inside later identified as MDMA. Police took the suspect to the narcotics office for processing back in January, and he has been remanded in custody since. The case went unreported until authorities showed a handcuffed Parker at a news conference on March 6. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office previously told MailOnline they were supporting a British man detained in Bali and are in contact with the local authorities. Indonesia has very strict drug laws and convicted traffickers can be executed by a firing squad. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections' data showed. Indonesia's last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.
Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Times
At last, a proposal to overhaul 188-year-old wills legislation
Death and taxes may be the two certainties in human existence — but legal strife is a subcategory that is rapidly attaching itself to the former. Battles over wills and inheritance are rolling before the courts in growing numbers as a boom in property prices over the past 30 years has significantly increased the value of previously modest estates. Within the past few months alone, this newspaper has reported on a court row between an alternative therapist who specialised in energy wavelength treatments and her sisters over their inheritance and two emotional support dogs, and another between an electrician and his sister over a £700,000 estate where a video showed the sister 'propelling' their mother's hand to sign a deathbed will. The wealthy
