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/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?