I've been skulking lurking about reddit (Aus finance) and it seems that the general feel/thought on the economy is getting a fair bit worse - as previously mentioned by a few on the forums. Sentiments match the expectation of more lay off and less new jobs appearing in the market - leading to a few years (minimum) of hard times.

Now with jobkeeper and jobseeker benefits being reduced opinions are for more trouble ahead, especially with the now unfavourable diplomatic relations with China. Also it seems unemployment and under-employment are pretty darn high:
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8512-aus...20-202009030534

Expectations: we can possibly be made redundant once the reduction of JS / JK in a new round of layoffs - although I find it opposite in my company, major layoffs followed by mass hiring which seemed to be replenished by so many new faces. Even my IT team which laid off 2 staff are now hiring 2 new roles.

It felt more akin to a political culling of the old leadership, or at least that's how it felt to me. Even parts of the exec leadership were not spared.

Good luck with your application! Can unions block those who willingly want a redundancy?
Can it also backfire? They know you want that redundancy, but they'll just keep you in hopes that you'll get too sick of it and leave first?


I personally don't mind these types so much, all bark and no bite - you'll get over them in a few days with a sufficiently thick skin. There was one time a guy who was mentally unstable - he approached my wife and started mouthing off while we were waiting for a train, in town hall/central I think. He looked really aggressive and kept coming closer - I had to stand in between them and quickly moved us away. These crazy or more violent/physical ones are those to look out for.

To be fair I think the discrimination I received were roughly 50% locals and 50% other migrants who think I'm some rich mainland Chinese property buyer or they just dislike orientals(?) in general.

Haha, thank you - the thought itself is already great enough - but happy to meet up and makan. Wife enjoys going out to city or jalan jalan to destress so I have to oblige on and off.

Also no point to go toe to toe with these people, especially if they're in a group - half the time they're braver in a group or are physically big. Even at 174 lots of them are taller and bigger - I don't think its a worthwhile endeavour - you may feel wronged/slighted but I doubt it'll be worse than physically hurt and in areas like Bankstown it a lot less Sydney & a lot more Jingang (or whichever crime heavy Msian suburbs you know).

Yes, I'm just waiting/hoping for next year for the mandatory hotel quarantine to be lifted and switched back to home quarantine. Happy to do that rather than pay the 2k.

Also it's a big point in the gaming scene as new gaming hardware is out for PCs, and the new game consoles were also announced. The PS5 and Xbox One series have been made ready for pre-oder. What surprises me somewhat, that in an economy that is supposedly struggling - these new goodies have been sold out on pre-orders.

I am really eager to buy the new toys too, but I would think twice about dumping money into it now - these individuals do not seem to be worried in the slightest. These hardware cost upwards of A$750, and can be sold out in a matter of hours.

US elections taking place now, anyone following? Any expected change to hit Australian if either Biden or Trump wins?

What's the reason? My family is mostly the same but they just hate the Trump media presents to them and don't quite have their own personal opinion about it. Personally I prefer Trump over Biden-Harris but things aren't looking too good for Trump now.

Google is also showing Biden has 209 of the 270 required while Trump only has 112 right now. If this is accurate it looks like a landslide right now.

It might be tougher to get into Aus now, you might want to keep an eye on the immigration website and news. It looks like software engineers are still on the list but you may need to score more than 60 points to get a PR invitation.

Not sure if you need to migrate or become a PR to experience other cultures - you could just travel the world for a few months to get to know the culture instead of staying in one country on a semi permanent basis.
I wouldn't say the Aussie culture is very different from Msia, though it does have its own quirks.

Unless you have experience studying in Aus or working in globally recognised countries like Sg, most of your experience will not be fully acknowledged. I have a similar industry background and had to restart my career as a data entry staff. I'd recommend seek.com.au and linkedin. If you lack 'local' experience, you'll have to take the initiative when applying for jobs - calling potential hirers and marketing yourself instead of waiting for them to get back to you, etc. Things to worry about after you've gotten a PR.

Not the guy you're replying to but here's my 2 cents. I'm guessing most people who do migrate tend to have a more liberal mindset - which I think would explain their preference. Harder migration laws make it tougher for migrants like us, and with too much nationalism will definitely affect migrants in one way or another. Globalism good for many, and provides opportunities for people from third world countries like us. Trump's persona definitely does not help either and I noticed many that don't have a neutral opinion tend to highly dislike him. He's also criticized a lot for the Covid situation in the US. The US economy was doing well pre-covid and I quite like the hard stance on the CCP.

I personally dislike Biden and Kamala, especially Kamala. I want to see Biden investigated for his potential Ukraine deal involving his son, which was conveniently swept under the rug. Not to mention his decline mental capabilities, which would definitely make him replaced by Kamala - who I think is more akin to our Msian politician, she'll do what she can to get votes even by pandering to looters/rioters. I'm also sure there will be more intense/harsher lockdowns for the US under the democrat presidency.

It might be a better idea to have someone replace Trump as the new face of the team and I personally prefer the moderates than the too-progressive left, but it doesn't look like the democrats are not the moderates anymore. I like aspects of both teams, but even my pals are not happy with me for not going with the popular view. To me, your pro Trump stance in the minority - like 2 or 3 out of 10 people I spoke to supports Trump or thinks neutrally of him.

A fair number of shares in the US that had a massive drop in March has more or less recovered - at least for the few my friends were looking at/bought. I have bought mainly Australian Vanguard ETFs so I don't need to worry too much about looking into individual companies. I tend to overthink/analyse these stuff and won't be able to make a quick decision - so this route is probably a decent option for me.

I have read comments and articles on the education + chinese students affecting both the education/apartment demand direly and I too think you will get your golden handshake sooner than later. Recently ate at "Hochiak" in Strathfield with my aunt and one of the nasi lemak options was 27 dollars - that is some premium nasi lemak. I think it's priced a bit too high for my liking and felt i was not worth the price tag. The price did curb my craving for Malaysian food for a while.

Quite excited to hear about the golden handshake, not because of the meal.
Hopefully it'll be finalised and you'll get it, a few people in my company were in a similar situation when they received a forced handshake.
As I'm one of the few in the IT team not celebrating Xmas, I'll be working through to Dec but will be in the city on either the 21st or 22nd to makan / jalan-jalan around Chinatown too.

Had Pancakes on the Rock at Circular Quay, it was quite alright - should probably learn about nicer places to makan from you, but we usually just eat out once a week, and probably won't wait till the weekend to do it - sometimes too tired from work we'll just eat somewhere close. Also, it seems like overseas travel out of Aus is banned till at least March next year.


The meal at Ho Chiak was quite authentic, but certainly wasn't up to the standard for the price in my opinion. Nothing against them, but I preferred the food at Albee's in Campsie. My favourite makan place is a Vietnamese(+asian food) restaurant in Chester Hill which makes sweet & sour pork pretty close to Msian version without being too expensive - been going there for my fix once a month for over a year. Always happy to support restaurants which produces food with decent quality at reasonable prices. All the same, I avoid those which does not deliver quality on par with the price after eating once even if they're different branches of a franchise. If one wants to charge more than other shops for the same product but does not impress, I'd reckon it doesn't bode well (which depends on a person's personal preference).

I was previously happy to meet and support fellow Msians, but I've been screwed over twice by fellow Msians looking to make a quick buck. Pretty anecdotal - I know, but I no have the initial trust as one would have for a fellow countrymen. I can understand supporting a friend but I wouldn't let it cloud my judgement. If I think fi is not justified I'll let them know, and it's up to them to accept/reject it. When one grows up eating bread and biscuit, it's easy to ignore premium places/things that I feel are not worth it. My wife has better taste, and at least this balances things out - otherwise I can be happy eating rice with great gravy.

Those are some impressive benefits, never knew the education industry was so generous - as long as the money flowed well. 10 weeks of leaves is just mind-blowing. I think I won't be able to change jobs with when given that many days of leave. Too bad the education line just isn't for me, I'm a crappy student and probably a worse teacher. What's gonna happen to the organisation now with the worsening relations with China? On the plus side, hopefully you will be getting your handshake soon and this will no longer be an issue for you. I like to think organisations should put money aside for a rainy day, but with so much growth through the years it'll probably feel pointless to be frugal.
At least the unions are doing something - they have to make themselves seen fighting for the people they represent. I guess they're doing their job to stay relevant.

It's gonna be a rainy week till next week, not the best time to travel around but it looks like we'll still be going around to the city. Hopefully its not gonna be cats and dogs and maybe light drizzles. I'm looking forward to a few days break from the busy project go live - and hopefully work won't be too intense - which always seems to be the case when we're operating with a skeleton crew.

This post has been edited by kagenn: Dec 15 2020, 06:25 AM

Yeah, even my neighbouring suburb of Homebush may potentially have more cases too. A friend has cancelled a meet up as they were worried about the sudden surge in cases - can see more people getting worried about this. So far people aren't too worried about it yet I guess as the numbers are really low.
I was in the city yesterday and there were so many people out and about.

We bought quite a number of books from Kinokuniya so we'll have a fair bit of things to do at home. Also I bought a fair few cheap new games to entice the wife into my gaming habits. Stay safe all, and have a Merry Christmas!

Hi all, Happy New Year! Just an update on currency exchange: My usual currency exchange. Orbit remit is showing A$1 to RM3.1.

All good, we're pretty much eating at home and at most just tapau or quick grocery visits since I'm in Lidcombe with some recent cases as well as beign right next to Berala. No rush regarding a lunch meet up, happy to meet up when the situation is better.


No kids yet, but spoke to a friend and it does cost a fair bit, with school necessities + tuition. For them it was like over a hundred++ for a set of school clothes - this is public school. If you want to be able to put your kids into a good school you'll have to rent within the school catchment area, which also usually means higher rent as the demand is there. I personally think it'll be better than Msian education but some parents here will be able to give you a more accurate picture.

It's good to see he forum still lively - it's been a busy period in my company with so many people leaving and joining - one would think that the job market is back to pre-covid situations.

I's great that the vaccine roll-out is here - though I've seen news that those in China who recovered from Covid caught it again about half a year later. Without clear reporting it's hard to tell if it was the same strain - but I am also in the boat that the vaccine is temporary like the flu jab. Wife has shared news of Malaysians scrambling to get the vaccine desperately in a bid to return to normalcy, though I highly doubt that the current government will relinquish their new found grasp n control and power. Imo, it's too politically unstable with all that power struggle which will quite well last past my lifetime.

On a side note, Vanguard looks to be starting their own Super in Australia. Any opinions on this? I'm pretty keen to find out more and hope they're gonna be low on fees too: https://www.canstar.com.au/superannuation/v...superannuation/

I've set my current super to roughly 50% high growth and am thinking of making it 80%. If he Vanguard super (I assume) allows for investing into their ETFs, I'm more than happy to put it all into Vanguard's High Growth ETFs - that's where the bulk of my stock purchases are anyway.

Does the super grow your account even after retirement age if you choose to leave money in it? Would it be better to put the entirety of one's super into dividend stocks and living off the dividends alone without touching the base? I've read living off dividends (roughly 50k/year from 1mil in dividend stocks) and this looks like a nice way to retire, while doing something fun or earn a little on the side. Something to strive for.


Both areas are good, more than happy to follow your recommendations. Also no issues taking the train to either destination - I dislike driving into the city and will avoid it when possible. At least 60% of passengers still wear their masks so I don't think it's too bad.

This is as close as it gets to Malaysia during the raining season. Best chance to convince your wife that the flooding now is just like in parts of rural Msia.

I personally quite enjoy the slightly gloomier weather, it's the best to sleep in or relax for the indoor person I guess.

For those living in Sydney and had their passports expire, can it only be done if we go to Canberra? Any options to do it online? Was hoping to renew it back in Msia but with Covid this is now not feasible.

Thanks for the info, probably a good excuse to travel and explore Canberra a little. A day trip might be good - anything nice to check out in Canberra?

Hope you're enjoying the weather - nice sunny day today. Time for you to go out and makan more. Personally itching for good cendol but nothing here beats the roadside cendol in Msia.

Thanks for the suggestions on where to visit in Canberra. Will note down the places and also do some research on makan places there too. Won't be able to visit Canberra anytime soon either. Highly doubt we can travel out of Aus for the next few months anyway - so passport renewal can wait. I also hate long distance driving, especially alone as I tend to get sleepy when bored driving down a straight highway. Driving to Taiping/Ipoh was especially boring back in Msia as it was a uneventful drive. Would be great if I could nap through any long drives.

Lunch next Sat sounds good - both missus and I will be going. Looking forward o this meet-up. I'll do my best to remember regarding LYN topics. Also don't mind going earlier if that helps with the lunch crowd too.

Yeah, it'll be easier to chat with friends and family from Malaysia now. It was a nice catching up with you and the wife yesterday too - always happy to meet other Msians. Always up for another before you make a move back to Msia (if/when you do).

Lol thanks for the confidence boost! Yeah I know the feeling, we were also mingling around a little and it is pretty hard to mix with people whose values are vastly different (cultural and personal) - but I think we're slowly adapting.
Some colleagues are great people and they're a blast to work with.

Gonna be mostly house chores now - we're supposed to give the cat a shower and clean the house yesterday, so today is the replacement day. I gotta wash my car too - troublesome as ther's no car wash bay here.
Maybe dinner with our ex-landlady in Bankstown. You have a nice break too - I really miss these long weekends and Msian holidays.