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Did anybody know about this??
Sorry to put even more of a dampener on things :(:
ABOUT 16,000 high-income families are set to lose the baby bonus, with the federal government means testing the scheme from the beginning of 2009.
The baby bonus will rise to $5,000 a year from July 1, but from next January 1 it will only be available to families with a combined annual income of less than $150,000.
hehe - too bad if everyone decides to spend their money buying stuff online from overseas! All that money will just be given away to other countries then!
Mummy Mountain, I think that means its means tested from 150k. thats pertty old news. The baby bonus went up to 5k this july just gone, not next year. From jan it will also be split up payments not a lump sum.
Wow, this is exciting. Now i dont have to worry aboutcoming up with the money for my homebirth!
So is it per family or per child?
True that! I love how the govt thinks they can "buy" us!! :rofl::
What a relief to hear this (if it turns out to be true). DH and I were getting concerned about how we would be able to meet DD's school fees for next year. With 3 children $3000 will almost pay for another term. Is that stimulating the economy??? Or does only buying "stuff" do that? :rolleyes:
Sushee: :hug: I completely understand and empathsise darl. I can't afford to go out to work. Recently I was considering getting night work (we can't afford childcare) but DH works long hours and even that would be hard to squeeze in. As a family we have missed out on quite a few of these kinds of bonuses. I'll never be eligible for a first home buyers grant because DH bought a house (that he lived in for 1 week... this was before the grant system began) with his first wife :( As a SAHM I can't buy a house in my name so i am penalised by my DH's previous life. That seems quite unfair to me. Anyhow as desperately as I would love to have the validation and adult contact that comes with having my own job this news certainly seals the deal... no job for me... until I can earn a professional wage at least (and thus afford childcare).
FJ, I understand the baby bonus going up is old news (#4 was born july this year ;) ) but the way this article read was that families earning over 150K were ineligible ... maybe Ruddy changed his mind about that too?? :p:
With the baby bonus it'll be that next year families income over $150k will not get it. that is how i read it.
I claim my FTB at the end of each financial year as a lump sum, will I receive the payment in Dec?
I cant believe how much they have put the first home owners grant up by. I built about 2 years ago and would have loved 21K. My BIL wants to get into his first home soon, I will have to let him know.
Wow i am happy about the $1,000 a child but so excited:hooray: about the first home buyers, dp and i will definetly be seriously looking into that.
honestly I think I will believe it when I see the $$ in my bank account
Is it one payment per family or per child?
Be pretty silly to give per child i think.. I don't know why I don't like jus being handed money for no good reason.. just feels wrong some how
Bath - you would still be eligible for your share of the first home buyers grant - just because one partner has owned before doesnt mean YOU arent entitled.
PM me if you want some more info - or check out the office of state revenue website.
Ta Kitten :) But I assumed that unless my name was on the mortgage/loan application then i wouldn't be entitled to anything? As a SAHM I don't have an income... so can't apply for a home loan. We've also bought an investment property (since sold) that I think had my name on it all for some reason so that would be another reason i wouldn't be eligible I guess. I'll PM you if I have any further issues. Sorry about OT discussion.
Nic: I agree... it is a bit weird getting so much money for "nothing". Infact it's kinda scary in a way. makes me think that the World Financial Crisis must be a lot worse that I imagine.... these are huge amounts of money for the government to be throwing around all of a sudden... If I didn't have to put it toward school fees i'd be stashing it in a home safe.... or buying something like a water tank.... something that would kinda help if the world's economy totally crumbled... the more i think about this the more it worries me.
:o
Hope I don't go overdue for bub number 4! Might have to line up for an induction on the 7th of Dec as I would be 13 days post dates *insert sarcasam here*
I feel very lucky that we live in a country that is able to give us such a gift.
As we refinanced to buy another car for our extended brood we will probably pay it back into the mortgage and try to make up for the extra we have forked out over the last year due to the higher interest rate...or we could blow the lot on a new plasma TV ;)
Bath - i agree, I really think this is more of a cause for concern rather than cause for joy. I strongly believe there is much much worse to come and that if you can, pop this money away in your pocket everybody - if it gets as bad as what some economists are saying a plasma isnt going to fill your bellies in a few more months..................
but.... hey lulu i agree on the vodka LOL!!!!
Same!!:
I agree Kitten (about buying something edible!!!) Even though we don't have a mortgage and a house full of nice stuff I'm kinda glad that DH and I have put so much of our money into education for our kids and myself... if the economy craps itself and we all end up bankrupt you can't repossess an education can you??? ;)
I was just joking about the plasma BTW. Debt reduction all the way in this household!
Ok, so I received FTB A, last financial year as a lump sum payment of a grand total of 29c lol! I did notice that it has now reduced our safety net amount that we need to reach, so does this mean that I may be eligible for this one off payment? Seems kind of funny if I am. Though not entirely worried if I'm not.
Nic
God, i think you would have to be pretty stupid to go out & buy a plasma anyway. Don't they chew through your electricity?
The only new appliance I will be buying (with the baby bonus) is a water efficient washing machine. living on tank water I think I deserve that.
Other then that, I wont be upgrading anything in the house, if it aint broke then I aint getting a new one LOL.
Oh, Might use the money to get Evan a new mattress as the kid does complain about his being too hard. But thats not exactly a plasma.
Unless things have changed since 2002, as long as one partner has owned a house previously, and the home is going in join names, neither person can get the first home owners grant, I thought. My DH had never owned a house previously, but I had (prior to any first home owner grant) and we couldn't get any help. So as a family, we've never ever had a grant to help buy a home.
I'm still a little peeved actually (thanks btw to all you lovely ladies to empathised. I thought I was being petulant!). DH and I had a chat about it over lunch, and he's saying I may be better off giving up my higher duty arrangements and going back to my lower paid, part-time position. Or get a higher level position. Right now, from my rough calculations, I think I may be worse off in the long run despite earning close to $6000 more a year than in my previous, lower level job.
So what am I working like dog for? What is the point? I spend less time with my family, spend heaps of time working, but I have to work, so I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. I either stay in a boring, lower level position that I'm overqualified for just so I am eligible for govt benefits or I work hard and earn more just to lose the equivelant (or more!) in benefits.
What kind of choice is that?
Yeah it's probably leading up to something... they're putting little notches in their belts so when it all falls apart they can lay the blame on us for not being responsible with all the money they gave us.
This $1000 will come in handy for my P&T that I was going to buy after this one was born, then the $5000 can go to pay off the CC that is eating up $100 a month and $45 of that is interest. So the $1000 is coming at a great time, and I would love to put it all away but I don't drive and a good pram is really important to me. I do agree that this is a sign we are up for some troubling times ahead but thankfully I am preparing for this in other ways like stocking up and collecting seeds for my garden and buying as many staples as possible when grocery shopping.
That's true about the plasmas (chewing electricity). When we go over to people's houses that have them i can feel the heat radiating off them so i dread to think how much they cost to run. During winter I must confess that I briefly thought of upgrading our little standard TV.... to keep warm without having to use central heating! :rofl:
I know it was a few pages back now, but Liz, you are so right. The ones targeted by this payment (and I mean that in no disrespect at all, just stating the obvious) will just go and blow the lot the day it comes into their accounts. And they are the same group who are more than likely not affected at all by this crisis - they are unlikely to own their house, have any loans/mortgages and certainly not have shares. Again a kick in the guts to those who get out and have a go and invest for their futures. I can picture my single SIL with no kids and the tirade she'll come out with about this.
Oh yes! Spot on Liz and Trill. A definite kick in the guts to the people who have been investing their money in superannuation (My DH puts aside more in super than he legally has to) and education. We could have easily been the kind of family who blows all their disposable money on "nice to have stuff" but no... we try to invest it so that we can take care of our future (and save tax payers the cost of funding our educations/retirements/healthcare)... maybe we should have been more selfish and had some 'fun' with our money instead like most people seem to do? The lyrics from Dire Straits song "Money For Nothing" seem to spring to mind.... I know there ARE genuine battlers out there... but why are they having more fun than us? We can't afford to drink to excess, smoke and party as much as our battler relos either :( <--- now THAT'S what called being petulant Sush ;) )
quick question from me- i've just checked my bank account and i get two fortnightly centrelink payments- one says FB but the other is just numbers. the amount of the second one is $48.30. is this FTB A?????
BG- help!!!
We had a plasma until it blew up this january...we noticed that our electriciaty bill has dropped $50 a quarter...big difference, we bought an LCD screen instead thought :ROFL::
We put extra into our super aswell....we live on a tight budget and Sushie honey..I hear you about the job front. I was going to go back when Wilhelm was 2 but I was worse of by $60 a week after child care, petrol ect than if I stayed at home.
Dh salary sacrifices into his super as well as makes spousal contributions to mine. I shudder to think how low mine would be now as I think I only had 7% invested in cash and the rest were shares. If he is serious about seeing this country through this crisis then he needs to be proactive about helping those who help the economy over the long term. There is so much more he could spend $10.4bn on.
sure is babe!! just checked ours and although dosent say FTB A its the same amount that we get!:
Sush I totally get what you are saying. I thought long and hard about going back to work at the beginning of the year. Putting 2 kids in creche full time plus the travel made it not worth going back to work and I was putting in another year as a SAHM till Angus started school but fate had other plans for me as you know.
I totally admire those who do it on their own. I managed to get through a lot of my course self funded when I realised I could manage both part time work and tafe and cancelled my Austudy allowance, and when the time comes for me to go back to work if I lose FTB so be it! I'll be making up for the lack of contribution to my personal super to be sure we are fully self funded for retirement.
Fingers crossed the butt doesn't fall out of the building industry in the meantime and I'll have a career to go back to ;)
I wont be telling DP if we get this... I'll put away for our JIC account.... although it would come in handy with DS's b'day and christmas but i think we'll be better off saving it for now.
Oh you lot! Why are you worried about your super? Are you planning to take it out soon :D. I don't mean to be rude but if you chose to invest in shares you should be watching them and the world economy closely. How many people could see this coming? HEAPS.
Everyone around here seems to have a crappy idea about 'the people the will spend it all in one day' - jaysus I spose you wouldn't see unless you work in the welfare industry but yanno not everyone plans it. I know no one here means disrespect but dealing with a crapload of c'link recipients you know a far higher proportion have no plans to be on it long, most are on a sole parent payment about 5 years - and are off as soon as they kids are at school. Yep there are long term recipients but gawd who would wish them any ill will or be envious just because they get this money? Anyone that can life on that kind of money long term must not have dreams and thats just sad.
There are HEAPS of sole parents with mortgages.....and Sushee my dear friend i SO hear you. I ended up quitting because it wasn't worth it for me either, not even to try to get ahead for the future but you and me are smart chicks and we can find away around it.
MAZZZZZIE - did you see you get the Carers side as well? Vy can get a bloody stained glass window now :lol:.
Yes, these are hard times financially and economically but things will and always get better afterwards.... I honestly do believe people are scared because of the way the media portrays everything lately on the news etc.... there is so much focus on all this that it is scaring people more than they even need to be iykwim? Well that's my opinion anyway ;)
Yes, we need to be savvy with our money but we should always be savvy with our money through good times and bad times.
This is a good thing for alot of people but shame the govnt isn't putting some of that $10Bn towards our cr@p hospital systems.....ie more beds....maternity services/support etc for women whilst in hospital
:
we're thinking double glazed so the neighbours dont hear her scream when she's sent to her room :ROFL:
I seriously contemplating taking the whole lot out in $100 and putting it over my bed and rolling in it!!!!! I jsut want to see what its like once..
LOL Maz about rolling in it!!! But it's true: once people actually hold and touch hard cash it's harder to actually spend it. Plastic cards have a lot to answer for. Psychologically people don't link swiping a card (either a credit card or a debit card) and handing over cold hard cash. If this "crisis" does what it ought to do (make people rethink the way they use money and credit) then maybe plastic should be abandoned for a while.... just imagine what that would do to our spending habits.
EAT: oh and Maz!!! Congrats on reaching 6000 posts! :clap: I'm on your heels! LOL
I think the money could be better spent.. why do I need to recieve a $1000 (well $2000 cause I have 2 kids)? We arnt rich but we have no debt, nice furniture thats only 1.5yrs old, have everything we need, want and more. We have been debating about buying a house... we would still be able to live comfortable with a mortgage so I feel guilty receiving this "bonus"
Watched the 4.30 news and pretty sure they said it was $1,000 per child, anyone correct me if I'm wrong.
Regards,
Dianne
u are correct!!!:
haha i have done this before when moving states: