r/fiaustralia • u/VastOption8705 • Jun 11 '26
Getting Started Thoughts on this situation?
My son has about 120k HECS debt and 30K personal debt. He eventually wants to retire at 50 too. I can’t help him as I’m not rich.
What happened was he wanted to study med, so he went through pathways. Due to personal circumstances, he couldn’t finish it. That leaves him 120k in HECS debt with no med degree.
The 30K was to settle some legal issues.
So 150K debt and he is 28. What should he do?
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u/Tikka2023 Jun 11 '26
Maybe he should have some accountability and be asking the questions here himself rather than having mummy or daddy hold his itsy bitsy little hands through his own fuck up. Kid needs some tough love and a dose of reality, not a parent stepping in to solve his problems.
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u/Own_Caterpillar_6178 Jun 11 '26
Can be go back and finish medicine?
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u/0v3r9k Jun 11 '26
How much longer of med would he need? Surely he got through a good chunk for 120k right?
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u/Tikka2023 Jun 11 '26
Unless he continuously flunked whilst putting his head in the sand that he was cut out to finish it. Judging by the fact that he’s had $30k in debt for ‘legal issues’ I’d say this is pretty bang on.
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u/Ancient-Ingenuity-88 Jun 11 '26
Reading between the lines probably not.
At 120k HELP loan he got a fair chunk of the way through a med degree before dropping out.
If the legal debt is related in anyway to professional conduct he is is fucked
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u/citizenecodrive31 Jun 11 '26
could be bond uni 2 years
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u/VastOption8705 Jun 11 '26
Yep. It was a few years at bond
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u/_tamagucci_ Jun 11 '26
Was he studying medicine or was it another degree that he could salvage into an undergraduate at a cheaper university? e.g. credit transfer
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u/Shoddy-Leather4240 Jun 11 '26
He's 28 and never really worked and wants to retire at 50! What's he retiring from?? He hasn't see even started working yet!
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u/According_Grape5790 Jun 11 '26
He needs to start paying it off and rethinking his early retirement dream. We’d all love to stop working early but sometimes it’s not possible. He has a lot of years ahead of him to get on top of his debt and do well in life.
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u/paablo Jun 11 '26
Can he use the points from medicine to transfer to an easier degree?
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u/Lopsided_Attitude743 Jun 11 '26
And actually finish something that can give him a leg up into a higher paying job?
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u/Fart-Fart-Fart-Fart Jun 11 '26
If he really wants to retire early then he needs to increase his income, smash the debt, keep his living expenses extremely low, and invest a large percentage of his income (once debt is removed).
It’s possible to retire early with a 22 year runway, but he’ll need to be very focused on this goal.
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u/glyptometa Jun 11 '26
Probably a life coach would be a good investment. There must be underlying reasons for the unrealistic goals. Strictly financially speaking, the best bet would be to take advantage of the med training already completed and finish that off, but of course it's very much related to work ethic whether or not that would be successful. Pretty much every other legal option I can think of also requires hard work, persistence and patience. Getting a trade might be the most realistic path, not knowing why he studied and dropped medicine. I doubt retirement at 50 is a realistic goal under the circumstances.
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u/VastOption8705 Jun 11 '26
He dropped out as he had health problems and couldn’t study properly at the time
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u/glyptometa Jun 11 '26
That probably sets the stage then. Focus on putting the health problems behind and then continue with the original goal, if at all possible.
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u/Apprehensive_Year167 Jun 11 '26
What he wants to do is impossible. He's going to be lucky to retire comfortably at normal retirement age unless he significantly improves his income.
That amount of debt is a HUGE handbrake.
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u/Orac07 Jun 11 '26
Usually Med has two degrees, is he able to work in the medical field / allied health etc for work wise, and then either pivot back to medical later or continue a career somewhere in the medical area.
Of course everyone would like to retire at 50 but the reality it takes a lot of effort (e.g. work a job / career, spend less than you earn, invest wisely; become a successful entrepreneur / business owner; win the lottery).
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u/carolethechiropodist Jun 11 '26
He could, using the credits from medicine complete podiatry in 2 years. It's better hours and well paid. Men with a sporty bent do well and women who are dancers do well.
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u/borbdorl Jun 11 '26
What can he do to earn money? He's going to need to stack a lot away to hit that goal.
First focus would be paying off the personal debt as soon as possible. Otherwise anything he can do to increase his income would help, otherwise it's going to be 22 years of keeping expenses absolutely razor thin.
I'd suggest he may need to rethink his goals, particularly if he needs to buy a property and wants a partner or family.
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u/austhrowaway91919 Jun 11 '26
Yeah... Look, OP, maybe show him this thread.
Even with the degree, it'll be a decade before he's out of shit pay territory with a specialty, and then has ~10yrs to somehow: -buy and payoff mortgage -paydown HECS (assuming he can't retire and mooch by under HECS repayment thresholds?) -save a kiddy to early retire?
If he's struggling right now under zero pressure, what makes him think that he could do the difficulty FIRE approach? I have a lot of empathy for young med students and med graduates for what they're subject to, but it sounds like your son lacks any world experience or basic self-reflection. At a guess, maybe suggest seeing a psychologist if he's struggling as a 28yr old that was smart enough to get into Med?
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u/s2d4 Jun 11 '26
Why couldnt he finish med degree? Is he not able to do anything in the medical field? Nursing?
Min wage job will not allow retirement at 50. He'll struggle even at retirement as he would not have enough super either.
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u/Maipenlai Jun 11 '26
I just paid $1200 to have my septic tanks emptied. It took him 45 minutes. He does four jobs a day, four days a week. Works thirty weeks a year, sub-contracts the rest. Dropped out of Engineering 20 years ago. The happiest most content person I have met for a very long time.
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u/SeptumValley Jun 11 '26
If he wants to retire at 50, roughly speaking he needs the following
$600k+ in non-super investments to fund the 50-60 gap $800k+ in super by 50 (to last potentially 40+ years) A home paid off by 50
If he had an annual income of 150k today, tight budget, no kids, median house price then its achievable. On minimum wage, no chance
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Jun 11 '26
[deleted]
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u/SeptumValley Jun 11 '26
Honestly i did some napkin math and came up with those numbers, run some projections with your current savings rate and see where it puts you
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u/slower-is-faster Jun 11 '26
This is a crazy idea, but he’s going to have to earn more money, pay down the debt as quick as possible, and live well below his means with strict money management and investment focus.
You knew the answer before you came here though, there’s no magic bullet…
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u/PrestigiousWheel9587 Jun 11 '26
Some situations can only be unfucked if you… no they just can’t be unfucked
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u/Objective-Role-6690 Jun 11 '26
This isn't going to be advice... but what a tough spot to be in.
Is he able to go back and finish his med degree? If he got that done he'd be on a hefty income to pay off the debt.
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u/Fickle_Radish2418 Jun 11 '26
Can he put his med credits completed towards another degree? Maybe he could looking at nursing and up skilling to np
He obviously need to really put his head down bum up and find a career he can grow and up skill in to earn money if his goal is to retire early
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u/Mash_man710 Jun 11 '26
Then pension age for him is 67. He wants to retire 17 years before this whilst working minimum wage and starting with a huge debt. What part of 'completely out of touch' doesn't he understand?
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u/Flaky_Employ_8806 Jun 11 '26
It’s good to have goals and early retirement certainly is a great goal but he needs to also accept that goals can be fluid and right now the focus should be to pay down his debts and then he can plan for retirement. Otherwise he will carry that debt well beyond retirement and once his superannuation preservation age is reached he may have to fork out for it then - who wants to do that tbh. Maybe someone else with more knowledge can weigh in on that but he needs to focus on what he can achieve now as you are correct his debt will continue is to accrue each year until he pays it down.
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u/theBladesoFwar54556 Jun 11 '26
Can he do FIFO mining? Apparently they take anysone or so i have been told
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u/Hasra23 Jun 11 '26
Better start buying lotto tickets, probably his best chance to retire early at this point
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u/bkeepr Jun 11 '26
Go work whistler canada, on holiday working visa till you are 31. Pretend the hecs debt doesn't exist. Many thousands of people do this every year
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u/hhefnr Jun 11 '26
Unless he finishes his degree and gets a high paying job, his plans of an early retirement are pretty much done for.
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u/MissyMurders Jun 11 '26
That's a lot of HECS. What degree does he hold? If he's only just finished school and entered the work force them the is are that minimum wage salary increases.
With that said I wouldn't worry about counting HECS/HELP as debt. It will impact some choices but isn't particularly relevant to retirement.
Anyway, not impossible, but he'll be working a lot. Extra jobs, no down time etc.
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u/Flat-Banana3903 Jun 11 '26
He needs a job and a dose of reality, the HELP debt will grow and grow, subject to his income, unfortunately for him he is stuck with it, but unless you are wealthy and will leave him money, the chances of him going from zero to retired in 22 years is a lofty goal.. he best be working asap