A millennial has raised an alarm, especially for young workers, about the best way to save money. The 29-year-old Sydney resident said many Aussies think about savings the “wrong way”.
While millions have cut down or changed their spending habits to have more money left over, the AI worker said you should instead find more ways to make money. He believed that was the only true way to get ahead in this cost-of-living crisis.
“I think that’s probably the better way to do it,” he told loan app Coposit in an impromptu street interview. “As opposed to maximising how much you can save, you should maximise how much you can earn.”
He added it’s worth learning how to use AI to see if you could find more time in your day for a side hustle or other gig.
“I think [AI] will change everybody’s way of living and how they’re doing things,” he said.
“If you’re not doing it, like just trying to get good at AI, I think you’re going to fall dangerously behind.”
How are Aussies finding more ways to make money?
Aussies have been able to pull in hundreds or thousands of dollars every week from side gigs when they’re not at their main job.
This could be recycling cans, refurbishing and reselling furniture, content creation, working in hospitality or retail, or affiliate marketing — the sky’s the limit.
NAB research from earlier this year found video editing, freelance writing, and gardening were the three most in-demand side hustles in 2025, with some paying up to $50 per hour.
Aussie dad Frank Hoyt told Yahoo Finance he could earn roughly $4,000 extra per month painting and plastering homes.
“In general, the extra money is just good to be comfortable,” he said.
Some have even been able to take on multiple full-time jobs on top of their main gig.
One of these over-employed people told Yahoo Finance he’s “easily hundreds of thousands ahead” thanks to having three full-time jobs at once.
Indeed discovered 93 per cent of white-collar over-employed workers do their other full-time gig on their primary employer’s time, with 65 per cent doing it regularly.
Nine in 10 respondents said AI has been the game-changing factor in this trend.
“The use of AI to manage multiple jobs highlights how technology is reshaping the workforce,” Indeed’s Sally McKibbin said.
“However, the toll on workers’ mental and physical health cannot be ignored.
“Balancing two full-time jobs — regardless of technology efficiencies — is pushing many to their limits.”
What’s driving this extra job trend?
The cost-of-living crisis has pushed many to their financial brink, and choosing to shop at a cheaper supermarket or cut down on fuel costs just won’t cut it for many households these days.
“If you’ve got a mortgage, those repayments have increased quite a bit over the last couple of years so I suspect people have sought a second job just to reach the higher cost of living recently,” SEEK senior economist Blair Chapman said.
He revealed some are being driven to multiple jobs because their hours, and as a result their pay, is being cut at their main gig.
A decent chunk of those with multiple jobs are aged between 20 to 24, with women more likely than men to have an additional gig.
“We are seeing more people being employed in industries where we tend to see a lot of multiple job holdings,” Chapman said.
“For example, we’ve seen healthcare and social assistance grow and that is one of the industries where multiple job holdings are most common.
“That comes down to the nature of the work, where you have shift work and one business may not be able to provide all the hours an employee wants so the individual has to work across multiple sites to get the hours they are desiring.”