The Federal Government is six months old – what’s changed?

Right now for Gen Xers? Not so much.

There’s gas aplenty being produced in Canberra – enough to lift a flotilla of hot air balloons. But actual change to date?

We don’t have the new expensive maternity leave system. We’re still paying a carbon tax. We still have a mining tax. We don’t know what’s happening with Gonski. Government debt is still rising. The private health rebate hasn’t been restored.

Interest rates haven’t changed. The stock market is bouncing around, roughly where it was before. The Aussie dollar hasn’t moved much.

But this is the calm before the storm. Come mid May – after the Federal Budget is delivered – we’ll know we’re in the first year of a new government.

Watch for the little red laser-guided dot to appear on our foreheads. Xers should be ready to cop one between the eyes.

We’ve been warned that the “age of entitlement” is dead. And who is powering the economy? Gen Xers, that’s who. We’re the biggest and hungriest generation in the workforce.

If there’s more tax to pay, it’ll likely be paid by us. If there are services to be cut, it will come from what we’re using.

PM Tony Abbott’s maternity leave system could have a positive impact on our finances, particularly for younger Xers. But Abbott is facing dissent from his own colleagues.

In financial services, there have been a few changes. The low-income superannuation contribution (LISC) is to be ditched (but hasn’t been yet) and many of the financial advice reforms are also being binned, which should reduce the cost of getting financial advice.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.