Yesterday I started another study unit and the textbook requirements weren't clear. It also wasn't clear because now I have committed to studying and enrolled in the university for the degree the method of payment is via a student loan. It said textbooks were required however on the enrolment letter it said to complete the form in time to ensure that your materials arrive in time so it was unclear as to whether I have to pay or it goes on the student loan and gets delivered. Then the university gave the login details and stated that no printed material would be distributed. (I am studying through distance education and while the majority of the units are through one university, some are through others). Due to not being sure of whether we buy the books or the university sends them and adds the cost to the student loan I decided to wait until the date the unit started. No books were sent and my form was submitted weeks ago (3-4) so it's clear I had to buy them. The cost through distance education was expensive at $168.75 for two. So yesterday I logged on to the course (which is at one of the different universities) and they had an ebook option with a discount code which amounted to $94.42! I was happy to use this option. It definitely pays to wait sometimes .
****
Our shopping for February came in at $621, which for us is pretty good - I like it around the $600 mark so this is fine. Our biggest expenses for February aside from the normal mortgage and bills category (which equates to 47% of our monthly income) were B's savings towards his tax payment next month of $570 and our cat's expenses of $744 (vet visit, then her medical test, then boarding kennel when we went away).
I have low-level anxiety about the cash outflow that's going to happen in March. I've known about it for a while and have budgeted and saved but really hope nothing goes wrong this month as it will stretch us. Pretty much on the same day we pay B's tax bill of $2780 plus get two car insurance policies deducted from our bank account for the amount of around $2100 - so $4880 roughly; a big cash outflow.
****
I received the $60 Safeway everyday rewards the other day so transferred that to Christmas savings - $4 to go then month 2 is complete!
At this point in time this is all I can think of, hoping that you are all well.
Sometimes It Pays To Wait; Feb / March
February 28th, 2017 at 10:49 am
February 28th, 2017 at 08:05 pm 1488312353
March 1st, 2017 at 06:42 am 1488350573
March 2nd, 2017 at 01:53 pm 1488462835
March 2nd, 2017 at 07:55 pm 1488484531
Employees can also create their own self managed super funds however due to the expenses involved and the constantly changing compliance issues they must start with a high amount (our work recommends $300k plus), be consistent with accounting and audit requirements which are done annually. (My work does a lot of accounting and auditing for self managed super funds). Hoping this helped provide an understanding of what goes on with retirement in Australia, let me know if there's anything else you wish to understand.