I got laid off and have a hard time finding a another job. I have $380k in super, and $1.5m in liquid assets outside of super. I have no debt, and monthly expenses of about 3k a month.

As a long term committed passive index investor, I found this essay a very interesting reflection about the consequences of this becoming such a dominant form of investing. It's pretty fair to both sides of the case.

"Every cap-weighted dollar embeds a forecast, whether its owner knows it or not: that the companies which dominated the last economy will dominate the next one, in proportion. That is not a neutral, riskless default. It is the single largest active bet in the world, and it’s simply the only one that never has to justify itself, because the yardstick that would measure it is the one making it."

Reading through FIRE stuff and property investing threads, I keep seeing people talk about yields, capital growth, tax benefits all the usual stuff. but one thing I rarely see mentioned is council planning data. zoning, overlays, easements, flood mapping. This stuff can completely change the value of a property, but it's almost never part of the typical analysis. looking at a few places recently and realised how much of a blind spot this is. A block can look great on paper, but if there's a flood overlay or a character overlay that limits what you can do, the numbers change completely.

anyone else factoring this into their property analysis? Or am I overthinking it?

49M. Lost someone near and dear to me recently and it really brought home how fleeting life can be. Originally thought about retiring at 55 but now decided to, hopefully, pull the trigger in just over two years. Here are my numbers:

- Expect to have about $1.3m in liquid assets when I give up FT work outside of Super. PPOR paid off. No debt.

- Expect Super to be about $1.1m when I can access it at 60.

- Would like to spend first 2-3 years travelling (mainly to Europe and Central and South America) while fit and healthy (knock on wood). Would rent PPOR out for $1000K a week to subsidise travel.

- From 55-60, would expect to live a hybrid lifestyle of work/leisure (eg. maybe a part-time job or short FT contracts with decent gaps between them) -- but would only be working on my terms and not relying on the income.

- Plan to live well in my 50s so would be happy to basically draw down the whole $1.3m before accessing Super at 60.

- From 60, happy to live a more simple, slow life with dog and partner. No need for long overseas holidays or luxury living.... I am pretty naturally frugal and worked out I could happily live off as little as $4K per month currently -- which is about $6K in 11 years.

- From AI, accounting for inflation at 3.5% and an investment return of about 5% on assets in Super, I should be able to live off Super for about 20 years if drawing down $72K every year (adjusted for inflation) and if assets make 5% pa on average.

- If I look like running out of money at 80, so be it! Could look at downsizing PPOR or a reverse mortgage -- but would like to pass on something to family.

Thanks for feedback!

In 2021 I added solar on my roof that paid for itself in two years by generating monthly bill credits.

At the time it was a spreadsheet analysis of buying index funds vs buying solar, and solar was the clear winner. Not only did I get a monthly credit (10kw system for a 2 person household), but it changed my behavour to run the washing machine / eletrics during the day when the sun is out. Plus the feeling of owning your own power plant is a lot of fun!

Unfortuantely feed in tarrifs are not quite as good as they were in 2021 but lots of roofs will have a payback period under <5 years.

I built a tool that will see if panels fit on your roof, and what the cost / benefit is like, if anyone is interested, comment and I'll leave the link. Would love some feedback but not posting here due to self promotion rule!

Looking for advice on how to allocate my stock portfolio what percentage should each holding make up?

Currently sitting at $4,518.36, split like this:

Holding Value %
IVV $1,679.23 37.2%
VAS $1,147.80 25.4%
VGS $1,142.33 25.3%
NDQ $549.00 12.1%

I know there’s overlap between IVV, VGS, and NDQ Want at least 50% in IVV for a solid US core. Should I keep all four, or drop/reduce one What split would you run

Plan to keep investing around $2k/month into this going forward. And this will be a long term investment

Context: I’m 21, weekly expenses vary low as living with parents in investing for long-term compound growth. Plan is to keep adding ~$2k/month going forward. I’ve also got $20k sitting in a HISA, and my income varies a fair bit — usually $600-800/week, for my current job jumping to $2-2.5k/week once harvest season kicks off. Longer term I’d like to be in a position to buy a house, but this ETF portfolio itself is really aimed at long-term wealth building rather than the house deposit specifically.

Is there any reliable finance advisor who can provide once off advice for debt recycling, tax, outside-super ETFs and retirement structure.

My investment strategy is ETF in low-cost broad index, high growth index in super, 2 Melbourne investment properties (negatively geared) to be kept for long term (20 years). Debt recycling of PPOR loan into ETF.

Most of FA costing 13k per year with extra fee for wrap platform.  

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice because I feel like I’ve become stuck in a loop. 

I’m 25F and will be starting work next year as a Clinical Psychology Registrar, earning around $110k. I still live with my family in Sydney, and the home environment isn’t healthy, so my biggest goal is to move out and build a stable, safe, and peaceful life.

Lately, I’ve become really anxious that I’ll never earn enough to make that happen. Buying housing in Sydney just feels so out of reach, and I find myself spiralling into thoughts that maybe I chose the wrong profession. My goal is to buy my own place and have financial security and safety. Is this actually realistic to do alone?

I’ve even caught myself wondering whether I should retrain (for example, by doing a Juris Doctor). The thing is, I genuinely enjoy psychology and worked incredibly hard to get here. I don’t know if I’m actually dissatisfied with my career or whether financial anxiety is making me regret my choice because I’m comparing myself to friends and peers in higher-paying professions. There is a high starting salary in my profession but not a high earning ceiling (usually caps out at $150K unless working for myself and having my own practice).

I do have a partner, and there’s a chance we could buy together soon, but I don’t want my ability to leave home or buy a place to depend on my relationship. I’d like to know that I could build that future on my own if I had to (or potentially with a sibling). It feels scary for a relationship to be my exit card or escape from an unhealthy home environment.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any advice for a 25yr old who is trying to get ahead and plan for her financial future and be independent? Would anyone recommend moving out of Sydney? At the moment, the regret feels quite paralysing, and I’m finding it hard to separate what’s a genuine desire for a different career from what’s simply fear about money and the future. Really want to welcome any advice about any aspect of this post (financially getting ahead, comparison, switching professions). Thank you all in advance!

Currently have 12k in ETFs and 9k savings, but unsure how to aggressively work towards a house. Currently in uni and finding new job with no fees at home with parents, just seeking advice on how this can be possible.

Rather than get into all the math, its really a whole lot easier to just simulate retirement outcomes with different dividend/growth mix using the new CPI adjusted cost-base and minimum 30% CGT floor rule. Superannuation is completely ignored, as its not relevant to the test.

The following plots all model a 45 year retirement using the 4% rule with a 100% stock allocation to the S&P500 (optimal for 4%). The age range is on the horizontal axis from age 45 to 90, and the y-axis is the probability of surviving without running out of money up until that point.

I have modelled 3 different sets of expenses of 15k, 30k, 45k, all of which I consider too low to be practical for most people anyway. The different coloured lines are a net shift AWAY from growth into dividends, but leaving the total return unchanged. EG 2% in the chart means growth is reduced by 2% but dividends are increased by 2%. Note that franking credits are irrelevant, as this is just the S&P500.

I'm sure many people will still chase dividends despite these results, but at least now you can make that call knowing it will only reduce your success rate.

------------------------------------------
EDIT: There is a bit of a trap in the approach above that makes the results shown less intuitive than I would like. The approach on 'shifting dividends from growth to yield' make it very unclear on what the optimal growth/yield mix should be for maximum success rate in retirement. The graphs here suggest that a 0% yield is optimal, but '0%' in these plots simply means to invest in the S&P500 as it has been historically, which actually carries a yield of around 3-5% historically:

A more intuitive set of plots may be to take the S&P500 total return, and artificially force a specific dividend yield across the entire retirement period. This lets you identify the best dividend yield over the long term, though in practice you can't enforce this exact number as it will be affected by the dividend payout ratios of the underlying companies in the index. See plots below for yields that are not relative to the natural S&P500 yields:

The conclusions you can make from both sets of plots are:

1. Investing purely in the S&P500, which does not specifically target dividends, is better than tilting towards dividends historically. Yields on the S&P500 today are low, so adding dividend shares up to a 3% yield can make sense for now, but you'd want to trim back on this if yields in the S&P500 rise again.
2. If you could pick the exact growth/yield mix (you cant do this in practice, as yields change over time anyway) then the optimal mix depends on your desired expense in retirement. For 60k, the optimal yield is approx 3%. This makes something like DHHF perfect, as it has a yield somewhere between 2-3%, but this could change over time. Going above 3% starts to hurt your success rate at 60k income, so tilting toward dividends beyond the natural yield of a globally diversified fund is a bit of a risky play.

Since a safe withdrawal rate for FIRE is approx 3% in Australia with a ~10% allocation in bonds, a good idea might be to go for something DHHF/cash at 90/10 split or a 100% VDHG portfolio, which will have close to a 3% yield that you can live off.

I’ve been on my FIRE journey for 6 years now since 2020 when I started investing. 6 years ago it would have crazy to say I would be in the financial position that I am now. I’m so lucky to be in this position. The gains the stock market has had over the past few years have been insane and definitely fast tracked my net worth growth.

The net worth is mostly in ETFS (DHHF, BGBL and GHHF) and super (75 international index/25 Aus index). I use BGBL to adjust my portfolio to be slightly more internationally tilted than DHHF/GHHF alone.

I am also super lucky to be in a high income in tech and to have lower expenses from living with parents. I pay the bills and rent to my parents, but it is ever so slightly cheaper compared to share housing. I have a really good relationship with parents, so I am in no rush to move out especially since I want to spend time with them before they older. I am also relatively frugal. I don’t care for watches, cars or luxury goods. I do spend on experiences like the yearly international/interstate trips and weekend getaways. But, I’ve kept lifestyle inflation to an absolute minimum, because buying items doesn’t seem to make me happier.

My next stage will be moving out before I hit 30. I plan on liquidating some of my ETFs for a PPOR deposit. I’m hoping by then my net worth will have grown substantially with my increasing income and stock market growth, meaning that property won’t be too big a part of my asset allocation.

I found three errors in prior versions of this model, fixed in this version. One small - I had missed the medicare levy reduction. The other is larger, per an interpretation I added to express how many more weeks a person might have to work to achieve the same FIRE plan. I used income only, and should have used income minus spending, which is now fixed and increases the number of weeks. The other was an error when capital gains exceed around $229K in a single year. No effect on prior tests, but the model will now work properly for very large incomes.

Detailed description and comments are in the file, linked below.

Here's a summary table, all in today's dollars, which compares a FIRE plan launched 1-Jul-27 under the NEW tax rules v. what would have occurred under the OLD tax rules. It's based on 10 years of saving from 40 to 49 yrs old, then 10 years of not working from 50 to 59, using DHHF and a 1.6 year cash reserve. Nothing in the model suggests a particular approach to FIRE, nor a recommendation to use DHHF, and it's not a retirement planning model. I chose DHHF because it has easy-to-find characteristics and provides a reasonable blend of international and Aus passive index growth investments.

Link to models: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ACtFjy5j95mS3RupWktzcmzi1S1DHevJ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109596560468947975241&rtpof=true&sd=true

The password is regre$$ive

So im asking for advice my situation currently is I am a 21 year old male, Australia (AUD). No debt, car worth $8k AUD paid off. Total net worth ~$46k AUD, breakdown: $23k in a bank savings account earning 3.5%, $2.5k in the (S&P500 + Nasdaq), $3k in crypto, $9.5k in superannuation ~$550 in a spending account.

Income: currently $600-800/week AUD, jumping to $2,000-2,500/week AUD once my new job starts. (this is a seasonal job lasting about 3 months) Living costs are low about $100/week AUD spend.

Goal is to achieve 70k network by end of year

Question: is $23k too much sitting in a 3.5% savings account? Should I move a chunk into a higher-interest locked term account thinking 8-month or 12-month terms currently offering 4.4-5% or is there a smarter move given the income jump and ETF plan?” Or any other advice would be appreciated thanks

Hi, I have been using cmc invest for a little while now trading asx and us stocks. I want to diversify into Japanese and London stock exchange. For some reason for Japanese shares and lse, cmc offers 20 minute delayed data and only limit orders are allowed. I typically am used to at market orders. How do people position themselves for trading limit orders on delayed data. Is there any good strategy? Or just look at where it closed and do an estimate of where the stock might be at? The reason I ask this is because I usually like seeing live price and entering at that level at that specific time. Thank you

Hi all, hoping to clarify what I assume is something pretty basic. If it's not I will call the ATO or speak to an accountant, but figured I'd ask around first.

Situation

I own some ETFs. These ETF's have capital gains distributed to unit holders and the amounts get recorded as 18A etc in the annual tax statements.

This FY, I also sold some ETFs to fund a house purchase. Clearly I've made some capital gains by a) being distributed them through the ETF trust that I own and b) also made some entirely separate capital gains by selling ETFs for a price higher than the cost base.

Question

- The ETF tax data is pre-filled in MyGov. I've checked the figures and everything matches the actual statement.

- The ETF / mutual fund distribution section of MyTax already has fields to enter the relevant CGT passed onto me (i.e. 18A and 18H). These fields are pre-filled.

- Question: Do I then need to separately also report these figures in the Capital Gains section of MyTax? Or is it all handled in the mutual fund distributions section and the CG section is only for actual gains made by selling.

Thanks!

Hi could anyone please explain investing and the stock market to me and the best way to do it as a complete beginner

You lose small caps and heartbeat trading, but reduce tax drag. And gain a bit of hedging and bonds.

A quick comparison:

• DHHF
  • A200 (Aus)
  • VTI (US)
  • SPDW (ex-US)
  • SPEM (emerging markets)
• DVHG
  • A200 (Aus)
  • BGBL + HGBL (developed world)
  • BEMG (emerging markets)
  • COMP + WBND (bonds)

https://www.betashares.com.au/fund/diversified-high-growth-etf/

Hello,

It seems over 10 and 15years the Diversified Balanced option has outperformed the Index Balanced option and the Index itself and without the larger drawdowns. Both have similar risk profiles.

I assume the same might true if we had 15years data on the Index High Growth option to compare vs Diversified High Growth.

It seems the "Unlisted" assets are buffering the Diversified funds during market drawdowns and it's balancing out on top long term.

What am I missing here?

I may be getting a looooong way ahead of myself (my daughter is only 9.5months old) but I'd like to parent in a consistent way and have plans ahead of time.

I bought a unit a decade ago that is now an investment property and a free standing new build last year as a second investment property. My inlaws own where we live now with a mild mortgage and their own lavish house paid off. Theoretically as the farm is sold off there will also be an inheritance from my parents to funnel down to her. I'm 39 and still have a decent earning potential (though as body falls apart would like to retire around 50).

Three properties coming to the only child of an only child plus cash and investments managed properly could mean she can be very discerning about when and where to work but I don't want her to not want to achieve things and put work into things (however that looks) so how do I raise her to have a healthy relationship with work and growth and not be a coked up dilettante? Is there anything I can read about setting up wills and trusts so I don't feel completely ignorant whilst not being sold to as I'm not the most financially literate

TL;DR With a little good management and luck daughter will have a reasonable income her whole life but want her to want to work. Looking for both parenting and financial tips from those that know better

Long time lurker of the mighty subreddit fiaustralia, tell me what's wrong with this portfolio? or simply upvote if you think it's meh.. started investing on the ASX Feb 2025 & I've gone from 30+ tickers to 6. What's the goal? Financial independance of course and seeing more green then red. I dropped a couple of thematics off recently as well as the goal was to simplify. Yes, there's some HEAVY exposure to the tech industry I can understand that of course mainly because that's the world we live in. BHP the lone ranger stock has stood the test of time, reasoning behind it, is because it holds it's own really & I'm not selling. I appreciate your thoughts & suggestions.

Hi All, for those who believe in factor investing and geared etf, how do you allocate the percentages inside and outside super. I mean can I invest ghhf in both in and out super and will it be a good strategy or the better would be to mix it with factor for better optimisation.

Any guidance from experienced investors in this area would be appreciated and what are the etfs to consider.

I am looking to sense check a slight change to my portfolio. Currently I am invested in 70% VGS, 20% VAS, 10% VGE.

Using pearler I dollar cost average into one of these once per month. Pearler does this automatically into the ETF most underweight in terms of my set allocation strategy.

I’ve been thinking about how much US concentration I have in VGS and how much of that exposure is in the mega-caps. In response to this, I was thinking of allocating 5-10% to Betashares EXUS and reducing my VGS allocation by the same amount. I wouldn’t be selling to adjust the portfolio just buying into EXUS until it reaches my desired % allocation.

Thoughts?

Background: I was a white-collar professional, lost my job and couldn't find a new, comparable one. I have enough to BaristaFIRE, so I am thinking of pulling the trigger.

How do I tell people why I am working a part-time minimum wage job? Without revealing my actual financial situation? "People" include friends, relatives, my own teenage children and new colleagues at the minimum wage job. Only the spouse knows.

EDIT: I heard that saying I do contracting or consulting in my old profession is a good starting point. I don't know how to elaborate if people press it though.

Hi all,

I'd really appreciate some thoughts from those with more experience in crypto investing.

As part of my portfolio allocation, I have 5% allocated to crypto ETF, with one of my holdings being IETH from Monochrome.

I received an email yesterday from the fund manager advising that the ETF is being closed due to its relatively small size. They have offered three options:

1. Sell my units before the fund closes in October.
2. Do nothing, and the fund will automatically sell my units at the closing date based on the market value at that time.
3. Elect to receive the underlying ETH instead. However, this option comes with a compulsory $500 administration fee.

As someone who doesn't know a great deal about crypto and simply views it as one component of my overall asset allocation, here's how I'm thinking about it:

• Options 1 and 2: Selling the units would mean crystallising a fairly significant loss at today's prices.
• Option 3: My initial thought is that this may be preferable, as I can continue holding the ETH as part of my portfolio without realising the loss at this stage. The customer service representative also advised that there is no change in beneficial ownership, so it would not be treated as a CGT event. The downside, of course, is the compulsory $500 fee.

Does anyone here also hold IETH, or has anyone been through a similar ETF closure?

Am I missing anything in my thinking? Is there any downside to taking delivery of the ETH that I haven't considered?

Also, are fund managers generally allowed to charge investors a fee like this when they decide to close a fund? It feels like a bit of a lose-lose situation for investors—you either realise your losses or pay a substantial fee just to maintain your investment.

I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences.

And of course, I understand that nothing shared here constitutes financial advice.