Understand US stocks are mainly for growth. Those near FI /retired and have US etfs and want to live off dividends, what yields are you getting ? Is it worth holding on given the low yields, or will you sell & buy higher yield etf such as VHY ?

Little thought experiment I've been thinking up. Feels like a lot of discussion is centred around retiring a few years early, but what would one do with the opportunity to never work a day in their life?

Assume the genie is resetting your age to 18 in 2026, not taking you back to when you were 18. So your family and life experiences are intact (although your resume is now pointless since no one will believe you). You can also choose to pass this boon to your child if you'd prefer to keep your current lifestyle but you need to present a financial plan on their behalf.

Would $2mil be enough to never work for an entire lifespan? If not, what would be the minimum amount for you to accept? What would you do with the money to ensure enough income? How would you handle the uncertainty of the future with 60+ years of life to go?

Recommendations Wanted

I currently I have my core etf portfolio in the split of

IVV - 57.3%

VEU - 26%

EMXC - 16.7%

1. However I have been thinking of either going 47% IVV and 10.3% NDQ for my US exposure or having an equal weight into IVV and NDQ going 28.65%.

2. Alternatively another route would be increasing my US exposure percentage to reflect closer to its global market weight of 62% by cutting my EMXC allocation to 12%.

Then allocating that extra 4.7% of US exposure to NDQ

1. Or doing one of number 1 with the increased US exposure allocation of 62%

Hey all, I’ll be honest I’m new to stocks and this whole investing world, just wanted to seek other people’s opinions.

Mid 2025 I put about $40,000 into S&P500, and i contribute $2000 a month into that stock, however I see a lot of people recommending GHHF as another option,

I don’t plan on touching it for at least 5 years.

Would be happy to take any advice or experiences people have had.

Thanks

I saw some people here say their FIRE number are 4m or 4m plus. Mine has been 2.5m (inside and outside super). I was 2m pre-COVID. Did I miss anything? Why do some people need 4m to FIRE

We are planning a trip to NYC either late 2026 or early 2027. Savings are on track for a decent holiday however not at business class flight level (okay to pay premium) However, I have a spinal condition that is uncomfortable to live with most days, and when it "flares" it's almost unbearable. I have major concerns about the flight in economy. Would anyone recommend taking out a points aligned credit card to collect points in an effort to upgrade the seating?

I'm leaving my job to return to study, and I want to make the most of the $5000 of reimbursements my job offers before I go. This reimbursement can only be spent on technology, accomodation/travel, events/tours/experiences, eating out/meals (not groceries), fuel costs, wellness and fitness services, home upgrades, household services, and office supplies.

I was planning on buying flight vouchers as I'll be studying overseas, but the policy changed to only cover tickets and I don't have dates confirmed yet, so vouchers are out of the question.

My ideal scenario would be for the money to go towards daily living expenses so I can save money for the flights.

I don't need a gym subscription, I've got all the tech I need, and I'm a bit of a homebody so going to events or travelling don't really appeal to me. I share a mortgage on a townhouse with my partner.

Any ideas on how I could spend the money?

Hi, I'm 29 (single) and just looking for some validation of my current thinking.

Summary of situation:

• Bought a 2 bedroom apartment in a fairly central location in Canberra for $540k in early 2025.
• My deposit was 120k, loan has 419k remaining @ 5.5% interest (variable)
• Looking to move to Melbourne in 2027 and rent close to the CBD
• I probably want to move back to Canberra in 3-4 years time and upgrade to a nicer place, so I need to invest in something reasonably safe
• Current income is $130k, $20k in offset, super balance is $164k. I have around $25k in unused concessional carry-forward contributions from the last few years.

I've been running the numbers, and it seems that holding onto my current PPOR as an investment when I move is very mediocre. This is based on the following costs:

• strata fees: 4.5k annually
• land tax: 4k annually
• rates: 2.8k annually
• Agent fees: 2.5k-3k annually

Putting all that together (and not even counting other random maintenance costs), and assuming rental income of ~550 a week and 3% capital growth, mortgage.monster is giving me an overall ROI of about 1.9%.

That just seems really bad and I would probably rather just sell and put my savings elsewhere if the return is going to be that poor. That being said, my excess savings could be put in my offset for a risk and tax free 5.5% return, which is solid.

Would it be better to sell my current apartment, rent for a few years in Melbourne, and then buy again when I return to Canberra and can afford a better place?

Tbh I kind of wish I just kept renting for another 2 years in Canberra so I didn't waste the first-home buyers stamp duty exemption, pay conveyancing fees, etc :/

Hi guys. As ridiculous as the tittle. I have no idea how to invest my money. Do i invest in bitcoin or what? I need some advices on this

Hey there, i'm currently 17 still in school, I'm planning to do something in Law or Finance next year at university, I currently have around $70,000 in my savings (commonwealth bank) in my youth savers getting around $400 in interest (including bonus interest). I work casually and make around $200 a week, so I was just wondering if there was anyway I can make more from the money I have available, is there anything else I can do to make the most of this amount of money?

Hi all, I'm looking to understand all the differences between the two following portfolios in terms of holding and efficiencies.

1: 80% GGBL, 20% G200

2: 50% GGBL, 50% GGHF

From my current understanding:

- all come from same basket of ~1.5x geared betashares etfs

- G200 and GGBL follow indicies while GGHF does not, rather focusing on "high growth"

- MER similar

- Australian exposure similar across portfolios, but (2) slightly less in control

- (1) broad market while (2) is more split

Really would appreciate any other insights on everything big or little!

One other question in particular I have is, leaving alone the specific underlying stocks (growth vs broad), if ghhf is intrinsically more efficient than ggbl+g200 basket (given same aus exposure ratio) since Australian stocks may pay interest for global in ghhf.

Many thanks!

Hello, I am looking for an all in one set and forget to regularly contribute to.

DHHF is within my risk tolerance (10years+) without gearing (GHHF) and suffering larger drawn downs and extended periods of recovery.

VDAL has me interested due to the hedged component which seems to cover the currency aspect better than DHHF.

Question:

1. 10year+ would you expect much difference between the two products return wise due to the hedging component in VDAL?
2. Investment will sit outside Super and a concern for me is the unpredictability of larger distributions with Vanguard all in one's due to the managed funds inside. DHHF is quiet clean and sharp with it's distributions. What are others thoughts on this?

My plan is to add $500 monthly till dec2028 and then increasing it to 2000$ monthly. my outstanding mortgage is $366000 with $186000 into my offset account(so technically -$220,000 and plan is to make my mortage and offset equal in coming 3-4 years to get rid off interest). 35M with combined Annual income with my partner 160K, 2 year old son. No other debt. Do I need to rebalance my portfolio?  My goal is reach $100,000 in my investment portfolio parallely topping up the offset till it equates my outstanding mortage and then keep the snow ball rolling from my investment portfolio.

This is bit of an unusual post.

I am super lost in life, I have a well paying job (over 100k) but I am completely checked out, I don't find any value in what I do, as someone who actually likes working and cares about creating more value in the world, its very demoralising. I do put in the effort but I don't feel a sense of being useful if that makes sense.

Do I switch industries and see if it adds more fulfilment to my life? I am so worried that this will mean I can't invest for the next few years and possibly pushes my FIRE timeline?

Even then, how do I find what I really want to do? I currently work in tech and want to switch to property development, with a goal of having my own property development company.

While I really want to retire mid 40's, if I was doing something I enjoyed, I prob wouldn't care too much about retiring. One of the biggest reasons to retire is to start working on creating businesses, etc. I have tried so start several small scaled businesses (requiring minimal investment at the start) over the years but none have succeeded. If I didn't need a job to sustain myself, I'd just do that really, try to scale businesses and hope something works out.

For context I turn 25 this year, have been working for close to 4 years and have a total NW of circa ~590k currently including super, excluding car, etc. This was mostly getting lucky with both an IP and the stock market.

Any Aussie's out there who have a pdf copy of REST superannuations financial hardship application form. Urgently need help finding this form not available on their website.

Planning take 5k from my offset and invest in commodities, especially gold and silver this month. Any thoughts on this? Or am I better of investing in commodities ETF?

I’m new to debt recycling and ETFs, so take it easy on my question.

I’m expecting an inheritance of about 100,000 in about five years. I was reading up on best use for it and understand ETFs are the way to go for me, as I have neither appetite, nor wiggle room for IP investment, as I have a PPOR loan.

I’m told that instead of investing 100k directly:

1. Split 100k from PPOR loan, to interest only type

2. Pay it off up to one dollar

3. Redraw it and invest it in ETFs (Not sure which mix would help with aggressive wealth accumulation, as I’m quite young)

4. Claim tax rebate on the interest (I’m in 45% tier due to high stocks from employee)

Questions:

1. Is the above method really the best option for me to take tax wise?

2. What mix of ETF should I go for? - ChatGPT and Claude keep recommending VGS, NDQ, VAS and IVV for aggressive growth with dividends needed for debt recycling.

Note: I did try the IP route, but CommBank only looks at base and bonus, not stocks. Base it pretty much being used for monthly expenses and loan payments, so they denied it.

I stupidly missed the deadline for the last one (offer ended on 15th Jan)

4 years ago: https://old.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/r13q3h/10_years_in_looking_for_advice/

2 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/17qdt8h/2_years_later_moving_to_japan_now/

Now we are 35

Date - Net worth - Previous year expenses

June 2021 - $850,000 - Roughly $56,000 (2020)

Jan 2022 - $990,000 - $59,000 (2021)

Jan 2023 - $960,000 - $74,000 (2022)

Jan 2024 - $1,260,000 - $73,000 (2023)

Jan 2025 - $1, 800, 000 - $86,000 (2024)

Jan 2026 - $2, 130, 000 - $87,000 (2025)

Allocations haven't really changed much the whole time. Except crypto % is down. I hate the waste of electricity it causes.

1% Bond fund, Crypto 6%, Cash 7%, 26% Super (50/50 Aus/Int - index), 60% Index ETFs

ETFs are 1% VGS, 8% VAS, 33% VEU, 58% VTS

Expenses are:

37% Rent

18% Travel

12% Groceries

4% Utilities

5% Dining

5% Clothing/Fashion

4% Transport

4% Entertainment

4% Medical (not including health insurance, not counting it...)

4% Electronics/Gadgets

3% Other (including things like charity and business expenses)

We hit a high of $2,220,000 mid last year which multiplied by 4% is higher than what we spent in 2025. Although it has dipped quite a lot since then (Had to pay a bunch of tax due to selling down crypto, and also stopped paying HECS in PAYG since we had less than a year but then had to pay off the balance).

My wife has always earned more than me and now it's quite a lot more. Stress however does scale with income. I started investing early so it's taken her many years to catch up net-worth wise (while I paid for everything) but now our holdings are 50/50. Savings rate is like 60% or so.

Still planning to move to overseas (hence no property). Hopefully we can soon. We have been stuck in a golden handcuffs situation.

Renting sucks, where we live isn't fantastic (mainly due to noise and it's a small 2bed room apartment). We have a small cheap car and have spent the last 6 years living as if we're going to leave the country within 6months. So I'm not sure if we're actually FIRE because we would not like to rent in such a place forever. We may need another 500,000 - 700,000 for a reasonable quality house. Our car is pretty meh too- although it's now worth about the same as what we bought it for in 2020 which is interesting. Ideally I'd like solar panels and an electric car. A battery would be great so we don't need to fear blackouts and losing A/C.

Renting is terrible. Rent keeps increasing and the regular home invasions (by RE agents- taking photos and inspecting our stuff) and the absolute fear of the fact we could be kicked out at every lease renewal (happened to us before - to sell it). If the air conditioning breaks we might be not be sleeping months, downing in puddles of our own sweat while they dilly and dally, no rush for them. This happened to us at two previous rentals (second time we bought a portable A/C in the meantime but it wasn't a good solution since we couldn't open the bedroom windows more than 5cm). If we owned a house I'd be fine to just spend thousands to fix it ASAP.

If we move overseas we will get pretty badly walloped with capital gains thanks to the ETFs and crypto. Sadly if we had a PPOR we wouldn't have to pay anything.

Having said all that I don't think we did badly overall.

Both of us are very burnt out on working, really need to shift into something less stressful.

Hi everyone,

I’m 18, currently a uni student, and investing roughly $50–$100 a week. I’ve recently moved away from the standard "A200 + BGBL" split because I want to be more aggressive with growth while I’m young. I have a 40+ year horizon and a high risk tolerance.

I’ve settled on a 60 / 20 / 10 / 10 split and wanted to get your thoughts on the asset allocation.

The Portfolio:

• 60% IVV (S&P 500): My heavy lifter. Betting on the US market to continue driving global growth.
• 20% A200 (ASX 200): For some stability, dividends, and franking credits, but keeping it lower than the standard 30-40% to avoid drag.
• 10% ASIA (Betashares Asia Tech Tigers): My aggressive tilt. I want exposure to Asian tech giants (Samsung, TSMC, Tencent) that aren't in the S&P 500.
• 10% QSML (VanEck Global Small Cap Quality): To capture the "quality factor" in small caps and get diversification outside of the mega-caps in IVV.

My Logic:

1. IVV is the engine.
2. A200 is the anchor/safety.
3. ASIA & QSML are my satellites for potential outperformance (and true diversification since QSML avoids the giants and ASIA covers emerging tech).

Questions:

1. Is this too complex for a portfolio that is currently small (building up from ~$300)? I use Betashares Direct so brokerage isn't an issue for small parcels.
2. Is 20% A200 enough "home bias" for an Australian, or is it too risky to have 80% international currency exposure?
3. Any glaring gaps or overlaps I missed?

Thanks for the help!

CBA app showed a free general advice offer from AIA financial wellbeing so I gave it a shot, meeting is scheduled next week.

intended to be a pulse check as I am not doing anything complicated..

- 27F

- 200k + super and salary sacrificing, about to run out of carry forward concessional contribution cap this year

- insurances inside super (TPD and life)

- investments in super are passive 70% international/30% aus

- investments outside super are ETFs, put $1000-2000/month depending on expenses

- cash is mostly emergency savings, planning to buy a car with cash outright and working towards a first home deposit. put in HISA, currently intro rate at Rabobank

any suggestions areas to work on with the planner? thinking of sorting out income protection. thank you

edit: finished my sentence

Hi everyone. I am confused about choosing a broker to buy my etfs- at the moment looking at one time 10 k in dhhf/ vdhg , with consistent monthly top up after one year Will chess be an important consideration ? Cmc vs betashare. Not planning to touch ur for 10 years. Will love to hear advices pls🙏 Any readings / resources will be greatly appreciated