I'm 27M and currently take home around $5.6k/month after tax. I save roughly $1.9k–2k per month.

Current finances:

• $25k in a high-interest savings account (emergency fund)
• $7k invested in ETFs

My ETF allocation is:

• A200: 40%
• BGBL: 50%
• BEMG: 10%

I've been investing $500/month into ETFs and recently increased it to $700/month.

Since I now have well over 6 months' worth of living expenses sitting in cash, I'm wondering if it makes sense to be a bit more aggressive with my ETF investing instead of continuing to build up my cash balance.

Would you increase the monthly ETF contribution, or keep the current split between cash savings and investing?

So, you need to place two orders minimum?

• Assume you want to spend 10K on a ticker.
• The current NAV is $100 for example.
• Check the market depth by tapping on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines).
• Place a limit order with a bid that matches one of the asks with a large number of units. For example, 100 units asking for $100.05.
• Put the number of units to as high as you can so that it's close to your spend. In this example, 99 units.
• That fills at $100.05, so you are left with $95.05.
• Now, place a market order with the leftover money.
• You get a fractional share presumably at slightly more expensive than $100.05.

Is that right?

My wife and I are in our early 40s with two primary-school-aged children in Melbourne. I am medically transitioning out of Defence and expect to receive a combination of a CSC Class A pension and DVA incapacity payments. My wife currently works 4 days per week.

Our aim is not necessarily traditional early retirement. We are trying to build a financially secure, lower-stress life where I may eventually undertake 10–15 hours of suitable work each week, while protecting our family’s long-term position.

Our approximate situation is:

PPOR mortgage: around $1 million

Investment property: worth approximately $780,000 with a $140,000 loan

Potential net proceeds after selling costs and CGT: roughly $500,000–$550,000

My super: approximately $240,000

Wife’s super: approximately $185,000

Two children approaching the secondary-school years

Ongoing CSC pension and, subject to eligibility continuing, DVA incapacity payments, approx $100k pa.

I would appreciate views on the following:

1. Sell or retain the investment property?

Would you sell the IP and place approximately $500,000 into the PPOR offset, effectively reducing our net home loan from around $1 million to roughly $400,000–$500,000?

The alternative is to retain the property for rental income and future capital growth, but continue carrying a much larger PPOR mortgage.

For those pursuing FIRE, how would you compare:

the guaranteed after-tax return from reducing a mortgage at around 6%;

the IP’s expected rental yield and capital growth;

CGT and selling costs;

diversification and liquidity; and

the psychological benefit of substantially reducing our home debt?

1. What low-tempo part-time roles suit 10–15 hours per week?

I have military operations, HR, training, leadership and management experience, as well as postgraduate business qualifications. However, I am specifically looking for quiet, predictable and relatively low-pressure work rather than another demanding career.

What roles have people found suitable for 10–15 hours per week in a calm environment? Possibilities I have considered include administration, governance support, records or library work, mentoring, community organisations, university support roles or limited consulting.

The objective would be meaningful engagement and modest additional income, rather than maximising earnings.

1. How should we structure our super?

Because the CSC pension should provide a relatively secure base income, we may be able to take a slightly more growth-oriented approach with our accumulation super.

What low-fee, diversified super funds or investment options would people consider for:

approximately $240,000 in my accumulation super;

approximately $185,000 in my wife’s super;

a 10–15 year investment horizon;

avoiding unnecessary fees and duplicated insurance; and

eventually coordinating our super to support my wife and children?

Would you consolidate into the same fund and investment option, or deliberately use different funds or asset allocations?

1. Private or public secondary schooling?

We are weighing a well-regarded public secondary college against a comparatively affordable private school costing around $15,000 per child each year.

From a FIRE perspective, how would you assess whether private-school fees provide sufficient value to justify potentially spending $180,000–$250,000 across two children’s secondary education?

Would you prioritise school fees, mortgage reduction or additional investment, assuming the local public option is considered reasonably strong?

1. How much liquidity should we retain?

If we sell the IP, would you place nearly all proceeds into the PPOR offset, or retain a separate cash and investment buffer?

Given that part of our future income will come from defined-benefit-style payments, what size emergency fund or accessible investment portfolio would be sensible?

1. What should our version of FIRE actually target?

Traditional FIRE calculators do not fit neatly because our future income may include a lifelong CSC pension, DVA payments until pension age, my wife’s earnings and two super balances.

Should our primary target be:

eliminating the PPOR mortgage;

building enough super and investments to support my wife after retirement;

generating a specific amount of non-government investment income; or

achieving enough financial flexibility that paid work becomes optional?

I would particularly value responses from people familiar with defined-benefit pensions, ADF/DVA arrangements, investment properties or transitioning from high-intensity work into a lower-tempo version of financial independence.

Thanks team, appreciate all your thoughts.

One of the biggest parts of FI is figuring out what actually adds value to your life. What's something you've happily cut back on?

Currently looking at an investment property in QLD and trying to work out how much is reasonable to spend on due diligence before pulling the trigger.

Got the building and pest quote, conveyancer fees, all the standard stuf but I'm wondering about the council planning side. Zoning changes, flood overlays, whether the block could be subdivided down the track. Some of this stuff could seriously affect long term value but also feels like it could become a money pit if you go too deep on every property you look at.

What's everyone else doing? Where do you draw the line between essential checks and overkill? Any experiences where skipping something cost you later?

Genuine question for anyone who's relocated internationally while holding investments (crypto, shares, whatever) — did you actually calculate what the move would do to your capital gains position beforehand, or did you find out after the fact?

I'm asking because I've been trying to understand this for my own situation and it's been surprisingly hard to get a straight answer. The CGT rules are different enough between countries (discount vs no discount, different holding-period tests, totally different regimes in some places) that "just sell before/after you move" doesn't seem to actually be that simple once you look into it.

What did you do, or would you do? Pay an accountant/advisor to model it out beforehand?, Wing it and deal with the consequences after?, Just not sell anything and hope for the best?, or would you be looking at something else?

And if you did get advice on it, what (roughly) did that cost you, and was it worth it? Trying to figure out if this is a "everyone just figures it out" problem or an actual gap.

I'm 39 and have about 300k in super. Someone said to me I can completely stop voluntarily salary sacrificing and I'll be fine.

I don't need to build a massive nest egg as I don't have children to save for inheritance, and I plan to buy and own a home (eventually) outside of super - am just renting right now.

Is this is enough? Should I stop salary sacrificing and prioritise on building wealth outside of super now? Or is my friend's advice completely cooked?

I’m currently invested in the following ETFs: VGS, VAS, NDQ and SEMI

I have received distributions from all of them last week except SEMI. It was scheduled the same as the others. Any clue?

I’ve been learning about investing over the last couple of months, and I’ve decided to make DHHF my main long-term investment.
My plan is to invest around $1,200 a month and just “buy and chill” for the next couple of decades.
I know there are plenty of other ETFs out there, but I like the simplicity of DHHF. I’m not really interested in constantly following the market or managing multiple ETFs—I just want something I can consistently invest in and hold for the long term.
Just looking for other people’s opinions and experiences on what to do

Absolute nightmare of an ex, 3 kids and she said she won’t be going back to work for the next 16 years. (Youngest is 2)
What are my best ways to avoid paying a fucktonne in child support? She won’t budge on more time with my kids. I’m on a 2&1 roster and get them for 3 days of that 1 week off.

So last year I set up the pay2go and I over estimated as I wasn't sure how my business was going to go. I can't remember the exact amount about I think it had it at 20k maybe more and I had installments of $1500 quarterly. I didn't pay these as I thought it would recalculate at tax time.

So I've done my tax return and I've actually earnt only 13,000 for the year and made a profit of $4800. I was expected a return calculated by the ATO of $5000 and something however now they've used that money to pay $4500 owed for the pre set up installments. However my actual tax owing should only be around $1300 or so, so I'm confused why I have to still pay the installments I thought it would've adjusted it self for what has actually owed??

It's already auto adjusted itself for 26/27 and saying I only have to pay $247 a quarter instead of the $1500

Hi, I am in the process of setting up a SMSF with Stake and looking to start with approx. $500k.

I will have ongoing super contributions of approx. $3k per month.

I am looking for advice on ETFs for long term growth with a 20-25 year horizon.

I was considering the following:

GHHF - 65%

VGS or BGBL - 35%

I am open to other suggestions, but I want to keep it pretty simple and limit it to 3-4 ETFs max.

I have seen others go with lower GHHF (50%) and upped the BGBL or even GGBL.

I currently have a much smaller portfolio outside of supper that is:

DHHF - 70%

VGS - 30%

Few other questions:

1. Would it be better to invest all 500k at once, or stager it over a few months and try and catch any dips?
2. Should I turn on redistributions in the SMSF, or take dividends and re-buy/diversify into other ETFs quarterly?

3a. Should I essentially DCA my $3k month super contributions back into the same original EFTs, if so, weekly, monthly or quarterly? or 3b. use the super contributions to diversify into other ETFs?

1. If this was you starting out your ETF SMSF with $500k what would you go with?

2. Anything I missed???

Thank you, I have spent months reading plenty here on reddit and appreciate the comments and suggestions.

EDIT UPDATE: Thanks for all the input so far. After taking on feedback and weighing up my options I have narrowed it down to the 2 revised strategies below to start as a lump sum. I will then continue to DCA my fortnightly contributions to keep an approx. target of 80% INT/ 20% AUS.

1. 50% GHHF/ 50% BGBL

2. 80% BGBL/ 20% A200

Furthermore, I am more than likely to take dividends to the allow me to re-invest on dips/ and keep my allocation in check or possibly explore an additional ETF down the line.
Thanks

Hi All,
28 year old here, I’m looking to invest $50k I was thinking of shares/stocks but have been told there’s no point in investing shares/stocks with the new tax laws… would this be the same scenario with ETFs?

Thanks all

Good day,

For all those that started with GHHF when it was first introduced, what are your thoughts today? If starting out today in your investing journey given the options available, would you still be inclined to go 100% GHHF or something more like 20%G200 70%GGBL 10%IEM?

Thanks!

Hi all,

So I am after some guidance and advice on where to go next, probably half psychology half financial advice ha

40M &41F with a HHI of $460k (before super). Before you comment yes I have seen Financial advisors etc, in fact 3 and none were worth the money.

2 Kids (14 and 16)

Income Split:

Him - $210k

Her - $130k

Military disability pension - $120k (for life, but not transferable on death) – I ask that you please respect this and don’t comment regarding the fairness on this as I would much rather walk, live pain free and sleep.

Assets:

PPOR: est Value $1.8m, loan remaining $520k , Fully offset

IP#1: est value $750k, loan $463k

IP#2: Est value $790k, loan $570k

IP#3: Est Value $780k, loan $780k (settlement next month)

ETFs: $160k (45% IVV, 20% VAS, 20% EXUS, 15% IEM)

Other Savings: $100k

Super:

Him - $280k (plus the military pension)

Her - $700k MSBS (defined benefit scheme)

Other:

Kids both have $125k each held in public trust from their Aunty who passed away. Side note if anyone knows how to release this would also be great because the fees and returns are rubbish.

What next:

We have worked extremely hard and sacrificed a lot over the last 23 years but not sure what to do next. At the moment we invest around $7k a month in ETFs and save around $1-1.5k a month for an annual holiday. I was going hard on property to leave for the kids one day but not sure that is worth it anymore.

I don’t think I could / should retire yet as no one else I know has so I imagine it would be a bit boring. I don’t love my job but it pays well. The kids are almost at the point where they will want to go do their own thing.

Advice either way on financial or mindset moving forward would be really helpful, not sure what if any financial goals I should set for us or should they all be lifestyle goals now ?

Thanks.

Hi all,

Just wanted to do some sanity check, my wife's boss (medico) is retiring and wants to sell the practice which includes business premises (clinic) + stock. She is interested however we can't really afford to pay cash directly obviously. So what we were thinking was using SMSF to buy the business (commercial) premises and lease it back to a different company (controlled by us).

E.g. (not exact numbers) but our total industry supers are about $500k which is about what the total asking price is (clinic ~$420k + ~$80k stock). Ideally we'd setup SMSF, LRBA, etc. with ~50% LVR and rest diversify into shares within the SMSF. We can pay cash for the stock but that would unnecessarily stretch the savings so would rather explore some commercial lending options. At the moment her employer has it setup as 2 different entities anyway, Clinic Pty Ltd which owns the clinic and leases it to Medico Pty Ltd that owns the stock, etc. So basically the SMSF would buy (from) Clinic Pty Ltd and we'd privately fund the stock which isn't that much anyway.

We're early 30s if that matters.

Obviously we'd consult a FA and accountant anyway for structuring but trying to hear some experiences.

Thanks!

im considering trying to leave australia and transfer all my wealth to a country with 0 cgt. this feels like a potential lifestyle optimisation beause im fifo and have invest aggressivley so i dont have that much capital gains yet for how much i have sitting in my investments. moving at 31 and coast fire into early retirement vs staying in australia and having to work hard job for longer seems like a no brainer.

my research so far has showed that if im a tax resident of the 0 cgt country at the time of selling stocks and transferring back to australia it would not be subject to cgt here.

can anyone point me in the direction of any obvious flaws in the plan to potentially have millions more at retirement age without investing any extra

Have recently set up a Hostplus super august 25.
High index $~8.5% performance

Annually about 33k employer contribution p/a
283 tax -$5-6k p/a
Insurance $-2-3k p/a (advisor set up high coverage plan for short term) approx next 10 years.

In a few years, once this balance improves
My question to experts is - What are some smsf investment options or other I should consider using my super for to maximise retirement and value.

I have no issue taking risks and high ratio loans on property.

Not keen on trading palforms like member direct in Aus super happy to stick with Hostplus for the short term.

Thanks

Hi everyone, question for you, I am Irish and on a WHV in Australia (hoping to stay longer than a year). I have been investing the last 2 years in Ireland. When I got here I had to open a brokerage account in Australia to invest. I wonder when I do go back to Ireland what should I do with my investments in Australia? Should I sell them before I leave Australia or sell them in 7 plus years even though I could be back in Ireland at that point in time? What is the most tax savvy thing to do? Thanks

I am curious as to the reason why we need Aus exposure within our portfolio e.g vgs/vas 80/20 split ot dhhf which holds 36% Aus. Is there any reason beyond currency risk or is there more too it/ would you lose anything by holding only vgs etc

I asked Gemini a good strategy for financial security and it came up with <text below> does this seem like a legit option?

Gemini:
Step 1: The Setup (Do This Now)
The Bridge (DHHF): Open your brokerage account and deploy your $60,000 lump sum into DHHF. Set up an automated transfer of $1,000 every single fortnight. Finally, log into the share registry and turn on the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) so your quarterly payouts automatically buy more units.

The Vault (Super): Log into your PSSap account and ensure your investment option is set to Aggressive. Because you are 21, you have decades to recover from any market dips, so you do not need "defensive" assets holding your returns back. Let your employer's 15.4% contribution pour into this account automatically.

Step 2: The "Hold the Line" Phase (Ages 21 to 30)
This decade is about automation and consistency. You do not need to check your portfolio every day.
Pause Extra Super: For now, hold off on the extra 4.6% salary sacrifice. You need liquidity in your 20s. You might want to buy a house, travel, or change careers. Keep your cash accessible by directing it into DHHF.

Beat Lifestyle Creep: As you get promoted and your salary grows beyond $79,000, do not instantly upgrade your car or rent. Take 50% of every pay raise and automatically add it to your fortnightly DHHF contribution.

Step 3: The Optimization (Age 30 to 39)
By the time you hit 30, your portfolio will have incredible momentum. Your DHHF will be spitting out serious dividends, and your super will be a six-figure powerhouse.
Tax Strategy: If your salary pushes into the 37% or 45% tax brackets, you can start aggressively salary sacrificing into super to slash your tax bill, using the ATO's "carry-forward" rule to dump large chunks of cash in at once.

Fee Check: As your super balance grows, percentage-based fees become a massive drag. At this point, many FIRE investors switch from funds like PSSap to ultra-low-cost, index-based options (like Hostplus Indexed High Growth [1.2.1]), which are designed to minimize fees on large balances [1.2.1].

Step 4: The Escape Hatch (Age 39 to 45)
This is when you run the final math and pull the trigger.
Once your DHHF bucket holds roughly $800,000 to $900,000, it is mathematically large enough to pay you $60,000 a year and bridge the gap entirely until you turn 60.

Once your Super is projected to hit $1.5 Million by the time you turn 60 (which it easily will with 15.4% going in for two decades), your "Vault" is secure.

You hand in your resignation.

I have been seeing increasingly more content discussing whether bonds still have a place in a portfolio. From my understanding their primary function is typically as a defensive asset which is negatively correlated to equities, providing value in downturns. I have seen the case they are becoming increasingly correlated with equities, I.e. how they behaved in 2020, thus less useful. Thoughts?

I caught a glimpse of Nine News on social media from the other day and they were talking about how there’s been increased interest in ETFs especially dividend/income ETFs.

I’m not surprised that’s happened, I was already considering it myself in the lead up to the changes becoming legislation. I’ve read comments from those here more learned than myself that you’d be better off reinvesting dividends or investing in predominantly growth ETFs and letting it compound while you can sell down each year for what you need regards income.
That’s absolutely logical prior to the tax changes, and possibly still applies after depending on the ROI each year.

Yet now with the changes passed it seems to be that people are wanting to extract value from the ETF holdings as tax efficiently as possible via franked dividends even if the ROI might still be beneficial overall in the long run with compounding in growth oriented ETFs.

Can we be certain that holding ETFs for compounding over a period of time will be better off, and if so why are an increasing number of investors pivoting to income ETFs? More easier to deal with administratively and simplicity? There is a benefit that dividends remain untouched for now?

Like to read some thoughts on this development because I haven’t seen much discussion here of late about it.

What would be the best diversifier between DGCE , DGVA or VVLU to add to my portfolio?

I am aiming to have 50% leveraged and 50% unleveraged with some factor tilt.

50% GHHF

20% DGCE/DGVA/VVLU

15% PGA1

15% EMKT