[back*again]

Just out of curiosity I went to the Centrelink estimator and put in zero for mine & DHs earnings. Turns out, we'd get enough money just from FTB (A & B) to live on. Things would be tight, but it would be do-able. There would be 2 ways we could do it.

1. Sell our investments, use the profits to buy or build a house for cash. Use the FTB to pay for our living expenses.

2. Sell 1 investment, use the profits to build a dwelling on my father's land. Use the FTB to pay for living expenses and rent to my father. In years to come the investments will start paying off so we'd eventually have a source of income.

Would you do it? Realistically we're not going to, but I will admit the idea is kind of tempting!

Edited to add-I made a mistake with the FTB-B calculations, it wouldn't be enough to live on, even frugally.

This post has been edited by back*again: 19/12/2012, 01:37 PM

[Madnesscraves]

No. The FTB can be easily removed/taken away, changed. Not ideal to rely on it unless you have no choice.

[CupOfCoffee]

I wouldn't do it (I believe if I have the capacity to support myself and my family, I should).

(For me, I would only do this if I had no choice (lost my job and couldn't get another one).

[ekbaby]

If you have investments/assets would this not affect your eligibility for FTB?

I don't think the family home is counted in asset tests but other investments would be. I am not 100% sure but if you are receiving rental income from investment properties this also counts as income for FTB purposes, even if the property is negatively geared.

[Ehill]

Not even remotely tempting.

[ekbaby]

Also how many children do you have? I wouldn't think many families could live on FTB alone. Are you including Parenting Payment or Newstart in that?

The max rate of FTBA is around $170 per fortnight (higher for teens) per child and FTB B is around $140 pfn (same rate regardless of how many children you have).

So if you have one child that's around $160 a week, 2 kids would be $240 a week, 3 kids $325 a week.... I guess if you have lots of kids it might be more doable but FTB alone would be lucky to cover groceries plus utilities in most cases...

[back*again]

I don't think the family home is counted in asset tests but other investments would be. I am not 100% sure but if you are receiving rental income from investment properties this also counts as income for FTB purposes, even if the property is negatively geared.

I could be wrong, but I didn't think FTB was asset tested? In regards to the rent affecting the eligibility, it does for positively geared investments. Currently they are negatively geared, and I'm assuming that as they become positively geared the loss in FTB would be replaced by the income from the investments.

[back*again]

Also how many children do you have? I wouldn't think many families could live on FTB alone. Are you including Parenting Payment or Newstart in that?

We have 6 children. I wasn't including Newstart or Parenting Payment, the figure I got out was just over $50k/year (if I did it right, I've never used the online estimator before)

[RiverOfDreams]

No. Sooner or later you have to go back to work and it's a lot harder to find the job you want when you have been out of the work force for a stretch.

... if both DH and I were home every day we would either feel like we were in holiday mode so go out for coffee or lunch... or drive each other crazy.... either way we'd probably end up spending money on things we don't now.

[Lees75]

If you have investments/assets would this not affect your eligibility for FTB?

I don't think the family home is counted in asset tests but other investments would be. I am not 100% sure but if you are receiving rental income from investment properties this also counts as income for FTB purposes, even if the property is negatively geared.

There is no assets test for FTB, only payments such as PPP, PPS, etc

Rental income will only impact FTB if you make a profit. If you come out even, it's like the rental doesn't exist. If you make a loss, the loss gets added back on to your taxable income to get your adjusted taxable income for FTB purposes, to ensure there is no double dipping:)