This Friday, another generation of school leavers will walk out of the school gates for the last time. Schoolies travel has been a rite of passage for Aussie teenagers since the 1970s, but the event that was synonymous with getting sauced on the sandy shores of the Gold Coast is changing.  Many young people are heading overseas to places like Fiji or Vanuatu. So, is it a good thing that today's school leavers are rewriting the script, ditching the binge-drinking and redefining what makes this milestone meaningful in the first place?

The trailer for the The Devil Wears Prada sequel has dropped - and viewers immediately noticed a huge change in the dynamic between the two main characters. In the original film, magazine editor Miranda Priestly famously terrorised her staff, but also served as an unconventional mentor to Anne Hathaway's character.  In the sequel's trailer, the pair look to be on even footing. So, who shapes our careers? And how big a difference can a mentor make? 

What's your average workday look like? Do you come in right at your designated time and leave exactly when the clock strikes knock off? Chances are, you mean to, but the average Australian worker does 3.6 hours of unpaid overtime a week. National Right to Disconnect Laws, which were supposed to tackle work-life imbalance, were phased in last August. So, has anything changed? 

Protein is added to many products: protein coffee, protein lollies, protein ice cream. But it's not just protein anymore. There's a growing trend of adding supplements and vitamins to every meal and snack. Between vitamin gummies and drinks fortified with this or that, we're constantly being sold "extras" ... even as headlines warn of inconsistent dosages and questionable efficacy. So, what's the consumer psychology behind their appeal?

Australia is on the cusp of welcoming its one millionth refugee visa since the second world war. Behind that statistic are so many stories of upheaval and hardship, but also resilience and hope in starting a new life.

If the great Australian dream is owning your own home... it should also come with a caveat: owning it outright and paying off that mortgage. In the United States, there's a new proposal to address their nation's housing crisis. The Trump Administration is working to introduce 50-year mortgage terms for home buyers. Here in Australia, some lenders have recently started offering 40-year mortgages. One-third of Aussie adults polled said they'd take out a 40-year home loan if it reduced their monthly repayments to a more affordable level. 

If you've got adult kids in 2025, you'll know that reaching independence looks a lot different now than it did in your day. New research confirms what lots of us already know - the intensive phase of parenting doesn't end on your child's 18th birthday anymore.

As the school year winds down, many teenagers are about to start the next chapter of their lives – and potential careers. Whether it's a bit of summer work experience or a mandatory placement for a university degree, unpaid work can often feel like the only way for young people to get a foot in the door. So how did working for free become the norm? What supports are available? And when does an internship stop being experience, and start looking like exploitation? 

In My Two Cents, we ask those questions you'd rather not answer about money. Today hear how actor, artist and author Ione Skye makes and spends her money.

Do you have your eye on a new toaster, a TV, a lap-top, a vacuum... or an outfit for the office Christmas party? Maybe you've already clicked "add to cart" a few times over the last couple of weeks? It's sales season ... Black Friday takes place on the last Friday of every November... this year it's the 28th.... but who are we kidding: It's no longer just a day. It's more like a month-long retail extravaganza. This year, Australians are expected to spend $6.8 billion over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday period. And the nation's consumer watchdog says it's conducting a sweep of retailers' claims. Already the ACCC has fined three major retailers for making false and misleading representations about last year's Black Friday sales. So, how did Black Friday evolve from a US phenomenon... to our biggest sales event? And what impact is this having on our year-round spending?

When two couples are close it can be a double marriage made in heaven. But what happens when one couple breaks up? Letter-writer Steve has split with his wife, but his best mate's spouse remains close to his ex. And now, this is impacting his friendship with his best mate. What can he do about this? If you have a dilemma in your life, the aunties would love to help! Email it to: lifematters@abc.net.au, feel free to use an alias, and we'll let you know before the aunties dive in. 

It’s the time of year when you can't wait for time away from your job.  But, as you reset for 2026, workplace researcher Dr Michelle McQuaid says there are lots of changes you can make to how you "do work" and how you "do life" so you feel re-energised in both these domains.  And if your job is the problem, she says there are strategic ways to take the first steps towards a career change.

The federal government is pushing local content quotas, forcing big streaming platforms to invest in Australian-made shows.  Yet fewer Year 12 students are choosing creative arts subjects like drama, music, dance and visual arts. Can you blame them? For years, it’s been all about STEM, with arts degrees now costing nearly $55,000 and many universities making cuts to creative programs. So, are we doing enough to support the next wave of artists and performers? And what do we lose — as a country and a culture — if we don’t? Statement from Education Minister Jason Clare: "The Universities Accord is a blueprint for reform of higher education for the next decade and beyond. "It made a number of recommendations and called out the previous Government's Job Ready-graduates program as a failure. "We've bitten off a big chunk of its recommendations already – 31 of 47 in full or in part. "This includes changes to make the repayment system for HECS fairer, which we've delivered as part of our legislation to cut all student debt by 20 per cent. "In dollar terms, we're investing an extra $6.7 billion over the next decade in higher education after the previous government ripped money out. "There's more work to do and we'll keep working through the recommendations."

When you see someone begging at a train station, park, or outside your local supermarket... what goes through your head?  Maybe you ask yourself - what should I do? Or you try to remember if you actually have any physical money you could give them. What you're probably not asking is ... "is this legal?" Across Australia, the laws around begging vary from state to state. In Victoria - where begging is illegal - its become an issue of public debate, following an inquest into the death of a Melbourne woman who was forced by her abusive partner to beg for food, cigarettes, and money. A Victorian coroner didn't criticise police, but said officers responding to complaints about her begging seemed to treat it as an individual issue rather than considering it in a broader context. And that's really the heart of it. Begging isn't just about someone asking for spare change ... it's a visible symptom of much deeper social problems.

Throughout 2025, ethicist Patrick Stokes has been unpacking the thorny topics for us.  "Is it ok to lie in a memoir?", "Am I evil for not wanting to be around children?", "Is it ethical to create AI clones of people who've died?" We've named the segment Ask Aristotle, but we want to use this week as an opportunity to get back to basics. What sort of lessons did Aristotle actually espouse?  What are some golden rules of philosophy we can apply to our lives in 2025?

New research shows lifestyle sports like BMX riding can be really beneficial for teenagers, providing positives they don't get from organised sport. Navigating new BMX jumps is a key drawcard of the sport, but these jumps are falling foul of local councils across the country, being demolished for safety and resident concerns.  But if we're about to kick teens out of their online world, do we have a duty to make sure they can build communities in real life?

Would you give up Christmas presents? Or are you like many of us and associate what you spend, with how much you care? There's been a backlash against over-consumption, so why do we still go wild at Christmas?  And how can we untangle ourselves from the cycle of holiday spending?

The classic image of the Australian coast is in trouble. Eroding dunes. Crumbling cliffs. Clubhouses teetering on the edge. Coastal erosion is quickly reshaping Australia's iconic coastline. It's a problem that's not just affecting us as beach-goers and taxpayers... it's potentially going to make the job of life savers harder in the future.

What could you buy with a trillion dollars? That's $1,000,000,000,000. It's hard enough to grasp just how much money that is, let alone how a single person could ever accumulate that kind of wealth. But with Tesla shareholders approving a record-breaking pay package for Elon Musk, the deal could make the world's richest man the first person in history to become a trillionaire. So how did we get to a place where one person can accumulate so much wealth? And why is the gap widening between the world's richest and the rest of us? 

When you're stuck in a lift ... or waiting for a meeting to start, what's your go-to "small talk" opener? "Wow, it's hot today" "How was the traffic on the way here?" "Did you find somewhere to park?" Why do we even make small talk? And what happens if you just ... stop?