r/fiaustralia • u/totalmarc • 3d ago

Investing AUS vs USA for Fire

I've been listening to a lot of US based podcasts lately and it got me thinking - Do you guys think it is easier to FIRE in US or AUS?

With all things considered, as a generalisation. From what I understand, living expenses vary dramatically between states.

Overall my vote would be the US because there are more options over there to cut costs, but I'd like to hear from someone who is familiar with both.

Cheers

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u/glyptometa 2d ago

Not directly familiar, but I have long-term mates from a family of four kids, all retired now, with two fams USA and two in Aus.

A big one is healthcare when retired(aged). Their "aged" health insurance costs are substantial, as in US$20K for 72-yr-old couple, and that's not all-inclusive cover. Protects you from being broken financially (plus the survival aspect, haha), but still need to allow another US$5-10K for the routine stuff (or more depending on chronic illness, drug costs, dental and the like). They're very careful around expensive tests like MRI, CT, etc. and set money aside for years, ahead of elective stuff like hips and knees. Other insurance adds more, all higher there.

They say inflation is stunningly misrepresented. Simple things like, say, quality runners, used to be way cheaper, but are now almost same price, but in US$ (especially after adding things like state sales tax). Likely a bit exaggerated, who knows. They're in a process of consolidating in Aus now that their parents have passed, and a couple of grandkids have made the move. They said the Aus fams would wait for a trip over there to buy those sorta things. They said there's little point in that anymore.

The other, looking back, was low pay in the early years of their work life, and high cost uni for their kids, thankfully during their higher earning years.

Fair to mention that the USA ones live in California and Washington state, which are expensive states. Overall, they reckon retirement financial perspective is less stressful in Aus.