Cannot see myself doing anything I'll enjoy in the future

[The Passenger]

Yeah HECS deal is the sweetest. At 57k you are paying back $233 for the year, or $4.50 a week. Not even noticeable.

http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/payingbackmyloan/loan-repayment/pages/loan-repayment

 

[MarcusP2]

233 for the year? Whut? Earning 57k you're paying $44 a week. I think you missed a decimal place.

Also after working for 5 years my HECS debt is still around 30K I think.

 

[The Passenger]

233 for the year? Whut? Earning 57k you're paying $44 a week. I think you missed a decimal place.

Also after working for 5 years my HECS debt is still around 30K I think.

i might be mistaken here so happy to be overturned but usually with tax things it doesn't work on an overall % thing, rather a % of that band of money earnt.

so you're 4% is on the $51,309 - $57,153, which is $5,844, of which 4% = $233.76 for the year.

I don't think you are paying 4% on the entire $57,153, which comes in at $2,286.12 or $43.96 a week.

I'm assuming it works the same as the tax bands where you pay nothing for the first $18,200, and you pay 19% from $18,201 - $37,000. So at $37,000 you are paying $3,572, not 19% on the whole $37,000 which is $7,030.

Otherwise you end up in a situation where people whose salaries will take them into the next hecs/tax band just ask for $50 a year under the next band and take a massive slice of their tax/hecs repayments.

 

[Squeaky]

I think you'll find that the 4% is calculated on the entire income - not just the bit over the threshold.
It is one of the cheapest loans you'll ever have though.

 

[The Passenger]

I think you'll find that the 4% is calculated on the entire income - not just the bit over the threshold.
It is one of the cheapest loans you'll ever have though.

probably is looking at it. with 0.5% increases the only time you'd ever be financially better of sacrificing some salary is when you've gone over the first threshold.

 

[Squeaky]

Yep, but the ATO have created the notion of 'repayment income' rather than have the calculation based on taxable income - therefore Reportable Fringe Benefits/Reportable Super (i.e. sacrificed super) are added back for the purposes of working out your HECs. Many loopholes have been closed.
Still doesn't change the fact that it is a cheap loan.

 

[sprockets]

Don't look for a career, create a career doing something you want to do.

 

[MarcusP2]

i might be mistaken here so happy to be overturned but usually with tax things it doesn't work on an overall % thing, rather a % of that band of money earnt.

so you're 4% is on the $51,309 - $57,153, which is $5,844, of which 4% = $233.76 for the year.

I don't think you are paying 4% on the entire $57,153, which comes in at $2,286.12 or $43.96 a week.

I'm assuming it works the same as the tax bands where you pay nothing for the first $18,200, and you pay 19% from $18,201 - $37,000. So at $37,000 you are paying $3,572, not 19% on the whole $37,000 which is $7,030.

Otherwise you end up in a situation where people whose salaries will take them into the next hecs/tax band just ask for $50 a year under the next band and take a massive slice of their tax/hecs repayments.

HECS is calculated on your entire income, as mentioned.

I got a bonus last year that pushed me into the next HECS bracket and I got a tax bill for 2k.

 

[nicky]

Don't look for a career, create a career doing something you want to do.

easily the best advice in this thread

 

[Scotland]

HECS is most definitely not incremental.

Earn $57,153 - pay 4%
Earn $57,154 - pay 4.5%

That extra dollar costs you $286 in HECS for the year. Annoying if you get a bill at the end of the financial year, but the more you pay the less the debt becomes.

The worst thing about the whole deal is that if you earn $57,153 you have to pay $10,979 in tax including Medicare levy, leaving you $46,174. When you have a HECS debt you pay 4% of the $57,153 and your income tax is calculated on the same amount. It's double taxation.

When I started uni HECS was tax free and you got a 25% discount for paying upfront. Now it's indexed to inflation and the pay upfront discount is gone.

 

[Schism]

Turn to organised crime for a while, it's fun, you make some money and you can always go back to uni later*


*may or may not include a stint in prison

 

[raskolnikov]

I agree with the sentiments that you should do something at uni that you enjoy doing and not look solely at the utilitarian purpose of it. I started accounting at uni because I thought it would lead to better job prospects than what I really wanted to do. I hated it and only lasted a semester before changing to a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Literature. After finishing uni I went oversea and taught English as a Second Language in Russia and later Taiwan. Came back to Australia and did a Grad. Dip in teaching, which I love and wouldn't do anything else(the holidays don't hurt either) . I couldn't imagine myself sitting in an office doing accounting all day. Occasionally we have a day where I just sit at my desk and do paperwork all day. I am usually going ga-ga at the end of the day. Anyway, the point of all that is follow your heart. You can't go wrong.

 

[BALKAN]

Don't forget to *~Live.Laugh.Love~* :x xoxoxo

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Turn to organised crime for a while, it's fun, you make some money and you can always go back to uni later*
*may or may not include a stint in prison

For those who haven't been around bigfooty for as long as some of us, I might point out that Schism knows what he is talking about.

And now it has me thinking. Maybe some organised crime might be worthwhile for a few years.

The prisons in Australia aren't that bad by world standards, and it would finally give me the forced free time I need to pen those memoirs.

And that's worst case scenario i.e. if I get caught, which I probably won't.

Hmmm...

 

[Schism]

For those who haven't been around bigfooty for as long as some of us, I might point out that Schism knows what he is talking about.

And now it has me thinking. Maybe some organised crime might be worthwhile for a few years.

The prisons in Australia aren't that bad by world standards, and it would finally give me the forced free time I need to pen those memoirs.

And that's worst case scenario i.e. if I get caught, which I probably won't.

Hmmm...

Aussie prisons are holiday camps

 

[The Passenger]

[goodfellas]
Let me tell you. Nobody goes to jail unless they want to, unless they make themselves get caught. They do stuff with the wrong people. They don't have things organized. You know who goes to jail? ****** stickup men. That's who. And they only get caught because they fall asleep in the getaway car.
[/goodfellas]

 

[rhinowce]

crime doesnt pay brah..

 

[Schism]

[goodfellas]
Let me tell you. Nobody goes to jail unless they want to, unless they make themselves get caught. They do stuff with the wrong people. They don't have things organized. You know who goes to jail? fellow stickup men. That's who. And they only get caught because they fall asleep in the getaway car.
[/goodfellas]

and then he got caught, and lagged all his mates in

A law degree would be good. In my experience, it requires semi-******ation to be a lawyer, which mean a law degree can't be all that hard, and yet you earn good money. Seems like a good balance of earning power and custard assness

 

[The Passenger]

A law degree would be good. In my experience, it requires semi-******ation to be a lawyer, which mean a law degree can't be all that hard, and yet you earn good money. Seems like a good balance of earning power and custard assness

yeah but then you gotta tell people your a lawyer... and no one wants that.

 

[Schism]

yeah but then you gotta tell people your a lawyer... and no one wants that.

Fair point. I guess you could always lie, at least to strangers

 

[Black Diamond]

yeah but then you gotta tell people your a lawyer... and no one wants that.

Fair point. I guess you could always lie, at least to strangers

The ability to tell people I study law is the main reason I kept doing it for so long. It was such a good feeling.

 

[Schism]

How about architecture

 

[Colin D'Cops]

yeah but then you gotta tell people your a lawyer... and no one wants that.

SonOfReep Unleash the beast

 

[The Passenger]

SonOfReep Unleash the beast

i thought we were banned from posting photos of the probst?

 

[PP34]

How about architecture

Been thinking about it but I can just imagine getting stuck designing suburban houses and other boring stuff.