Youtube comments of (@shadowminister4090).
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Hi Leo, I think one of the biggest issues is that Microsoft has effectively made older, but still usable machines obsolete, forcing people to buy new computers and throw their old machines into that growing pile of e-waste.
I have an old Windows 7 machine and my techy son has installed Linux on it. For my needs, it works great.
My other son was also using Linux, however, there were specific programs he now runs that require Windows, and Yes, his current machine runs Windows 10.
For day to day browsing etc, 10, without updates, if probably fine. I'm a bit more cautious when it comes to things like internet banking and internet shopping.
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I partially agree, but maybe have a very different slant on it.
Paul Keating established Super (SGC) @ 3%, with the longer-term goal of it increasing to 12%. It was an anti-poverty concept, because most people don't save. It was also intended to take pressure off the aged pension and with an aging population; in principal, a good concept.
Keating had earlier introduced Capital Gains Tax, with tax only payable on your gains, after CPI adjustments. So, even from when Keating created Super, it became attractive, to avoid CGT.
Along comes Costello and he axes CPI indexation for CGT calculations. He replaced that with CGT on 50% of your gains. (No discount on assets held less than 12mths). You could argue one way or the other: discounted CGT vs the loss of tax protection thru indexation. At the time, I was concerned about the loss of indexation.
Costello, famously encouraged families to have a kid for each parent and one for the country, as a means of encouraging a larger population base to fund future budgets (and the Old Age Pension). One of the "carrot" options was to make Super "Tax-Free" from age 60. It was to encourage people to stay in the workforce an extra 5 years and potentially not exhaust their Super earlier and double dip into the Aged Pension.
In 2017, ScoMo, as Treasurer, tightened up the Assets you could have (including in Super) and adjusted Deeming Rates, to force people to spend their own money and reduce the impact on Pensions and the Budget. The LNP also introduced the Downsizers Super contribution, allowing people to drop up to $300,000 each into Super, if they were downsizing their home. Behind the smoke, was a reality that you then homeowner would be losing a tax free asset for Old Age Pension purposes, with Super being an included Asset class.
It should also be remembered that over time, the LNP froze the increases to the SGC. Keating's plan was that it would have increased it to 12% much quicker.
With the benefit of hindsight, there have been 2 decisions that have had the biggest impact;
1.Discounted CGT: aka 50% Free Money and
2.Tax Free Super at 60: aka More Free Money.
I'm more than happy to take my Free Money Super at 60, because I worked an extra 5-6 years to get that privilege. I now have more Super and won't be entitled to the Old Age Pension. I'm not going to be a drag on the Budget.
On the other hand, the 50% CGT discount, in my opinion has been one of the key drivers in booming real estate prices. Maybe that's a problem?
Yes, those on high incomes (which has never included me) and those with SMSFs are always going to benefit the most from these schemes, but it's not entirely the fault of Costello or ScoMo. You could argue that over the years, the LNP put the brakes on Super, with things like maximum Super balances, maximum amounts you could salary sacrifice etc.
The positive thing is that these schemes do create savings. They do take the pressure off the Old Age Pension etc, so they are not all bad.
While mostly, the article attacked the generosity of the LNP, it should be noted that when in power, the ALP didn't change the legislation. They were happy to protect their votes. The ALP commissioned Ken Henry to review the entire tax system but mostly shelved the review.
Shorten tried to make changes but in order to protect his voter base, he wanted to grandfather the legislation. He then got lost trying to exempt different classes of taxpayers. If legislation needs to grandfathered, it's bad legislation. He lost the unloseable election because of it.
ScoMo's mate Josh, flattened the tax rates so that most people will pay no more than 30%, which I think will come back to bite us. Albo, had his chance, but elected to let those tax cuts continue.
Put simply, no politician of any persuasion are going to put their election or re-election at risk. Don't just blame Peter Costello.
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Hi Leo,
I, too, have been concerned about enabling family to access information should I croak it, more so because my wife isn't very computer savy.
I think for a lot of us, learning & understanding is easier when we do it, see it, and can experience the benefits. It took me a while to embrace Password Managers, 2FA etc, and move away from a list of User Names and Passwords (that were not always updated). My wife still uses a written list of Passwords.
Am I now across Passkeys? No. I'm still a bit clueless, but I am convinced that they are something I need to get my head around.
I appreciate the information you provide and watch every video.
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Some years ago, my bought me an external HHD. At the time, he didn't realise it had preloaded backup software. He said he wouldn't have bought it, had he known.
I had an old computer & after Windows 7 stopped, he switched me over to Ubuntu, which I happily used. That HHD and the software was not compatible with Linux.
My current computer is a 2nd hand Windows 10 machine. The software on the HHD is no longer supported and for reasons I don't understand, we couldn't just run it, as it was.
Being a software guy, he did his voodoo and managed to get my photos off the old drive, formatted the drive, reload the pics (We now have other copies) . There was a base unit that he disassembled and rewired, and now all is good.
His strong opinion is that an external drive, should be just that; a blank drive. Nothing proprietary on it.
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We had a look at a Model 3 & a standard Model Y yesterday. Initially, I thought the 3 would have been my choice, but because the seats in the Y sit up on a raised platform, getting in and out of the seat is so much easier, for an old guy. It was absolutely amazing! The 3 was hard to get in and out of.
The biggest dissapointment however, was no spare tyre. The salesman said there was 4 years of road service, but frankly, if you have a flat, that can't be repaired with a tube of goo, you could be stranded for a long time! He countered with "For $300 you can buy a spare wheel". Yeah, but where do you store it!
We declined the offer of a test drive, because we knew that the wow factor could have us buying it, against our better judgement.
Seriously, no spare wheel was the breaking point. We have family in rural NSW & Victoria and buying anything without a proper spare could be a recipe for disaster
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Toss a coin, I guess?
$30 doesn’t buy you a lot of anything, anywhere, so maybe it's not so outrageous? (Although it may not be $30 outside in the US....in Australia, I'm expecting a higher cost because of exchange rates and, we just seem to pay more because we are a small market).
That said, by paying the $30, are we ultimately just deferring a decision for 12 months?
Our needs are mostly fairly basic. At this point, I'm inclined to move over to Linux. We had Linux (Ubuntu) for some years, after Windows 7 stopped being supported. I'm not a techy person, but quite liked telling people I used Linux. 😂
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Thanks, Leo. I sense your frustration, with where an old long-term employer has headed. I also understand that.
We have an old, slow, un-upgradeble lunch-box size computer. At some stage, we'll have to do something with it. We are pretty basic users. I have created a boot disk for FlexOS and will try and instal that on an unused PC, to try it out, before October. Alt, we have a techy son, and might go with Linux. Most of our stuff is web-based anyway.
Our other son uses specialised software that requires Windows (or Apple). He can't afford a Macbook, so yeah, he's a bit stuck.
We have a problem when companies like Microsoft don't see us as their priority, competitors like Apple are priced outside of what a lot of people can afford, and Linux is seen as just too techy.
Thank you for your support. Very appreciated. 😊
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Hi Leo, I have 2 Gmail accounts on my smartphone. It's a bit of a pain. I'm aware of the Pop 3 option, however, haven't used it, yet.
I manually unsubscribed and unsubscribed to my YouTube feeds, but it all became too hard when it came to Photos!
Then, to make things worse, I have a Samsung phone and because Samsung wants to have its own ecosphere on your phone too, I have 3 Calenders and 3 Photos on my phone. 😱
My wife also has 2 emails, however, only has 1 on her phone. Good smart. except, she misses emails on her 2nd account, because she never uses the desktop computer. 😂
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One of the services I use requires these steps. In this order
1. User name
2. Secret word
3. Password
Seems reasonably secure, until you forget your Secret Word.😮. To make things worse, I had forgotten my User Name and needed to get that emailed to me first, and was hoping to also reset my Password, because I didn’t know that either, but the Secret Word became the big stumbling block.
The Secret Word I was asked for was the name of the first company I worked for and there were multiple ways it could have been written - full words, abbreviations, just the first word, etc. I was locked out 13 times, and my account had been flagged as a potential fraud case. I was needing to change my address because we have moved, which I guess was another big red flag. 😂
Eventually, I got access. I changed my Secret Passwords to words to single unambiguous words, created a new strong Password, enabled 2FA, AND recorded it all in a Password Manager! 😊
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