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Hello all,
It’s been a couple of weeks between posts!
Truth be told the hiatus is mainly because we are dealing with a few matters in our personal lives at the moment.
But nothing, and I mean nothing stops this juggernaut of a blog.
Even if judgement day comes, and woe is upon us – this blog and you dear reader, will be at the forefront of my mind.
So gee… a lot of catching up to do in the last month or so aye?
WHAT A WHIRLWIND IT HAS BEEN.
I thought it be best to try and do a short blurb of every notable event which has transpired in the last 3 weeks.
First cab off the rank…
Federal Budget
About a week after my last post, Treasurer Jim Chalmers unveiled the Federal Budget, which was aimed at providing some cost-of-living relief, investing in public services and addressing economic challenges.
This came in the way of tax cuts – with low income earners the main beneficiary, receiving annual tax savings of up to $536.
Investment in infrastructure, healthcare and early childhood education were the other main beneficiaries – with more funding for additional early learning opportunities to children through to expanding medicare services through to significant upgrades in existing public roadworks and infrastructure.
TheFrugalSamurai verdict:
A safe, election year budget – nothing really stands out, much of a muchness. I could say more… but how many times does one say boring without saying boring.
Federal Election
Looks like we are all voting on 3rd May 2025, and without consulting Dr Google or the papers or anything – I can pretty much guess what the main policy agendas will be:
Labor – we need to help the poor, young working families, the environment, public sector and public infrastructure.
Liberals – we need spending cuts, promote businesses, reconsider our energy makeup and cut immigration.
TheFrugalSamurai verdict:
Ah Australian politics, does it even matter which party gets voted in? Nothing ever changes, we have one of the highest cost-of-living countries, export all our natural resources overseas but import it back for domestic consumption at triple the cost, do fuck-all with the billions generated from rocks and dirt and have the same archaic tax system which promotes wealth inequality like no tomorrow.
You want to see change? Introduce a negative gearing cap (after say 2 investment properties), a death tax (on say estates over $5m), tax the shit outta multinational corporations who use loopholes to avoid paying their dues, and y’know build some shit instead of forcing everything good overseas – some refineries, some reactors and maybe a tech hub or three wouldn’t hurt. Australia has so much potential, is lucky in every sense of the word – but our future generations are fucked up the whazoo based on short term votism BOTH parties are guilty of – foresightedless a-holes.
But alas this ain’t Sim City – so nothing is going to change.
Tariffs
Or import taxes, seem to be the new buzzword.
The Donald of course, caused widespread consternation when he introduced tariffs on basically everyone and their dog.
They range from a flat 10% across the board to a whopping 65% for Chinese goods.
It’s also raised a lot of tit-for-tat tariff wars with reciprocal tariffs levied on US goods going into other countries.
TheFrugalSamurai verdict:
No one really knows whether tariffs are truly a good or a bad thing, smarter people than I with fancier academic credentials have argued for both sides, albeit more economist seem to suggest they are harmful to the economy in the long run – but truth will be in the eye of the beholder when all this comes to past in the future (“A genius move by Trump” vs “He FKED US ALL THAT REDHEADED DWEEB” circa 2030).
What’s most surprising, and confusing to me – is the shock reaction to the tariffs (OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE HE JUST DID THAT). Well, the guy did… just as he campaigned for tariffs in 2016… and implemented them during his 1st term… and then campaigned for them in 2024… and implemented them in his 2nd term. Say what you want about Trump, the guy basically is just doing what he is saying he will do. I think the shock stems from the fact a politician is actually doing this… keeping their word instead of merely saying something, anything, just to get votes; “there will be no GST”, “I did not have sex with that woman”, “I will not invade Poland” etc.
Markets
The markets weren’t prepared for the tariffs were they?
I mean both the US market and our local ASX are now well and truly in correction territory (-10%), and that’s not factoring in the chaos in the FX and bond markets all this bruhaha has caused.
It got so bad that the share market made the front page headlines for a couple of days (I rarely pay attention to what the ASX does, but whenever it makes the front pages, I usually take a sniff of the market and have a gander… cos it usually does the opposite to the headlines next).
When I saw that it had dropped a mere ten percent, my first thought was that perhaps these investors should try investing their money into crypto – that’ll put hair on your chest.
TheFrugalSamurai verdict:
Someone asked me recently if the recent correction was enough cause to panic. Not really was my response – cos if you remember that market corrections (-10%) occurs roughly one or two years, bear markets (-20%) occurs every 5 or so years and market crashes (-30% or more) every decade or so – you just see it as part of the natural market movements, healthy in fact.
And sharp, violent moves are the ones which make the headlines – not a slow drag which occurs over several months or years. But I’d much rather prefer these sudden moves – one which catches everyone unawares, because then everyone takes action to restore equilibrium. A trend which takes over in the long term, like many things in life – often goes unnoticed yet these are the ones which are the real killers. So nah – I’m not really worried about the latest correction, it’ll sort itself out. Trump can easily cause the market to move the other direction with a different stroke of his pen.
And if things get worse… just keep buying I spose.
Birthdays
Now onto something much more personal.
The period March/April is usually a special time for our family – because my daughter was born in late March, myself early April and my son mid-April.
My daughter turned 2 this year, and not a day goes by where she doesn’t make me laugh, she is the jewel in my eye. Turning two one day, twenty the next.
My son is about to turn 4, and he is one of the bubbliest, brightest and cheeky boys that I know – I am very proud of him, as any father should. He’s going to achieve great guns.
For myself, the inevitable age where you start with a “4” is approaching thick and fast. I’ve always dreaded the 4 and 0 because subconsciously – it means that you are no longer deemed “young”, on paper at least.
But age is just a number – I still weigh the same since uni, still staying active, still doing what I can to be the best version of myself.
Although my body aches in areas now which I didn’t know existed, and I have to get up to pee twice every night – but apart from that, I feel great!
TheFrugalSamurai verdict:
La Familia, it is the most important for me. None of anything matters without it.
~~~
Sponsor’s Note:
A longer post today, so will try and keep this one short.
In light of the tariffs and global uncertainty – most economists are in line saying that rate cuts will now occur as early as May.
I agree.
It seems to be the right move, the poor will love it – as it eases cost-of-living/mortgage stress, the wealthy will love it – as it increases asset prices, businesses will love it – as it reduces cost of borrowing, labor should love it – as voters are happier, the only person who probably is against it is Peter Dutton, but he can fek orf.
As always, if you’re looking for a review of your finances, or just a general chit-chat don’t hesitate to drop me a line here.
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P.S. Every post is the personal opinion of yours truly, please seek your own personal financial advice regarding your own personal circumstances.
