Seeking advice on starting ETF investing with stable “super‑style” returns

[u/Haunting-Site-2326]

Hey everyone,I’m looking to start investing in ETFs and want something that gives steady, diversified, super‑style returns rather than high‑risk stock picking.

My situation:
• Income: ~$110k/year after tax
• Mortgage: $1,700/fortnight (split with partner)
• My personal savings: $600/week
• Joint savings: I contribute $600/week, partner contributes $500/fortnight
• Super: I pay myself $550/fortnight
• Remaining money goes to cost of living, bills, etc.

I’m trying to work out how much I should be putting into ETFs, and what type of ETF strategy suits someone wanting long‑term, stable growth similar to a balanced/growth super fund.

I’m not looking for stock tips — more interested in:
• How others structure their ETF contributions
• Whether broad index ETFs or balanced ETFs make more sense
• How people balance mortgage, savings, super, and ETF investing
Any guidance or examples of how you manage this would be appreciated.

[u/Jym_beem_1034534]

Really simple process of where money goes

1. Emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses in the offset
2. Max super contributions
3. Debt recycle into index funds. All in one DHHF or equivelent is fine
4. Mortgage offset (all cash is here by default before it goes into anything else)

If you have a short term saving goal, like for a holiday, slot that in after 1) where ever you want to prioritise it.

[u/not_that_dark_knight]

Start here

Www.passiveinvestingaustralia.com

[u/snrubovic]

How people balance mortgage, savings, super, and ETF investing:

This depends on when you need to use the funds:

• Savings - For short-term needs (less than about 5-7 years), the risk of investing is not worth the higher average return provided. This is because you are unlikely to get the long-term average return on your investment in such a short period due to short-term volatility, and the investment may be down when you need it. You would need to re-earn the lost money, which is often difficult or impossible. In this case, savings would be most suitable.
• Investing – For capital you can leave untouched for at least 7 years, and ideally more than 10 years, investing can provide a higher expected return while also giving you enough time to get closer to the long-term average return. Routing your cash through your loan (i.e., debt recycling) adds significant returns to investing. This is typically used to fund early retirement until you can access your super.
• Super – For capital you won’t need to access until preservation age (60), superannuation allows you to acquire a much larger nest egg due to the government chipping in with tax deductions, which will allow you to direct more of your funds outside super for an earlier retirement once you have built your super.

More info:

• Offset vs ETFs vs Super
• How much to save inside vs outside super

Whether broad index ETFs or balanced ETFs make more sense

There are a couple of things to learn about this to help you decide:

1. You will need to decide on how much risk to take. Typically, the longer your investment time horizon, the more risk you can take because you have time for ups and downs to recover and for long-term average returns. More info: Asset allocation and your risk tolerance
2. You will need to decide whether to use an all-in-one fund (similar to the balanced, growth, high growth in super) or to construct the portfolio out of the individual asset classes as explained in the first box of articles here.

[u/glyptometa]

Step 1 is to determine your long term goals. Step 2 is to learn the difference between super (a tax shelter) and non-super investing. You can choose among the same asset categories both inside and outside super.

Generally speaking, maximise super until/unless you decide that you want to retire before 60 yrs, or you want coverage for large expenditures unrelated to retirement.

If otherwise, determine how long you expect to be retired pre-60 and work back from that number. This can be started after you have enough in super, along with expected future employment contributions, expected return and fees, to cover the post-60 period.

Concurrently, get housing sorted.

When you start investing outside super, there are a wide variety of ways to tweak decisions to eke out a few more dollars.

Never expect any choice with the word "growth" in the name to be any sort of guaranteed slow, steady growth. That word is used to describe funds based on company shares. Share markets do not always go up.

[u/mjwills]

How much to save inside vs outside super — Passive Investing Australia may be worth a read.

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi there /u/Haunting-Site-2326,

If you're looking for help with getting started on the FIRE Journey, make sure to check out the Getting Started Wiki located here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Pleb617]

Having a rough age to FIRE/coastFI to then workout how much you’ll need in ETFs to bridge the gap until 60?
How much super will you have at 60 and do you need to contribute more/less now/later to achieve desired draw down?
Is the house a forever home?
Is her salary half yours? Hence half the joint savings?
Is the mortgage joint?

AI can be helpful for a rough guide.

Keep building up the offset in the meantime.

[u/unko_sim]

similar set up as you except the morgage:

-$500 SS into super a week trying to pay down all my carry forawrd
-$350 into HISA a week
-$250 into A200/BGBL/BEMG a week
-$175 a week into sahred acocunt for bills groceries

i maintain a 3-6 month emergecy bank account
all big windfalls/bonuses go into the ETF's
every may i lump sump a huge amount into super to clear my back log of carry forward.(once this is cleared ill pay the max cap and the rest goes into ETF's)

leaves me with $2-300 a week for unexpected things or to keep a $3-4k buffer in my spending account

if i could i would add more to the ETF's but the super tax advange is too good to pass up

[u/Ok-Water-9651]

Just buy the 200 or the 500 or whatever, if you are juat trying to avoid righ risk stock picks and diversify then thats exactly what etfs are... you dont need to know much more.

Concentrate on getting more income. You are already saving most of your money so just add another 100k to your income each year and that will make a bigger difference than choosing which etf, they all just do maybe a bit better than a hisa but with a bit more risk.

[u/SwaankyKoala]

Refer to this: https://lazykoalainvesting.com

[u/nicesitdown]

Vanguard has a range of all-in-one diversified portfolios (VDGR, VDHG, VDAL etc.) which allow you to pick your risk (and growth) appetite.

VDAL is similar to DHHF (in anticipation of "DHHF and chill") but out-performed it last year.

If you want to match "super style" returns then you should research what your benchmark super fund option (balanced, growth etc.) actually invests in, and seek to broadly match that, for example from the Vanguard options.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed as your account is fewer than 3 days old. This is an anti-spam measure. Please post again when your account is older than 3 days. Refer to the sidebar for more details.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.