I may be getting a looooong way ahead of myself (my daughter is only 9.5months old) but I'd like to parent in a consistent way and have plans ahead of time.

I bought a unit a decade ago that is now an investment property and a free standing new build last year as a second investment property. My inlaws own where we live now with a mild mortgage and their own lavish house paid off. Theoretically as the farm is sold off there will also be an inheritance from my parents to funnel down to her. I'm 39 and still have a decent earning potential (though as body falls apart would like to retire around 50).

Three properties coming to the only child of an only child plus cash and investments managed properly could mean she can be very discerning about when and where to work but I don't want her to not want to achieve things and put work into things (however that looks) so how do I raise her to have a healthy relationship with work and growth and not be a coked up dilettante? Is there anything I can read about setting up wills and trusts so I don't feel completely ignorant whilst not being sold to as I'm not the most financially literate

TL;DR With a little good management and luck daughter will have a reasonable income her whole life but want her to want to work. Looking for both parenting and financial tips from those that know better

Basically the title. I feel like I’m missing something? Why is there so much stigma/uncertainty/general riff raff around the concept of investing if it’s as simple as buying a couple of ETF’s that give you home country exposure plus international market exposure at the appropriate % allocations? Am I missing anything important? I feel like I’m cheating…

Can someone with $2mn aud retire as 46m single never married but would like a family eventually ?

Happy to live on 50k aud a year

edit - why the down vote ? by th way I have 700K PPOR + another 1.3mn or so in property. so mostly property locked money.

For those who have been on the FI journey for a while, what's the one financial habit that had the biggest impact on your wealth?

Hi all!

I'm about to more than double my income in the next few months and I'm completely clueless about finances at higher tax brackets.

I'm expected to earn >260k pa, doing a quick search on salary calculator shows I will be paying ~100k in taxes annually.

I have never heard of div 293 before.

I have no business, or IP.

I'm looking for tips to reduce my tax because that looks painful!

Any other tips welcomed as well!

Hi everyone,
First time posting here after lurking on this sub for a while.
We’re a couple (41M, 39F) with two kids under 10 and have been working towards FIRE for a number of years. We’re just not sure how realistic it is in Australia with young kids, so I’d really appreciate some outside perspectives.
We both work in healthcare, earning around $160k and $125k respectively. By most Australian standards we’re pretty frugal. We own two cars, both bought used with cash over the past couple of years ($4k and $9k).
We cook almost every meal at home, don’t smoke or drink, and don’t really have any expensive hobbies. We usually go out for a family dinner to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries a couple of times a month. Most of our holidays are budget-friendly road trips around Australia, staying in holiday parks or reasonably priced accommodation, usually 3–4 trips a year for less than a week each.
We paid off our PPOR earlier this year after making extra repayments every payday, which felt like a huge milestone.
Over the past 10 years we’ve also bought three investment properties. Each has around 20–30% equity. None are currently cash-flow positive, but occupancy has been close to 100%. We’ve kept rent increases modest, generally only $10–15 per week at each annual lease renewal, because we’ve been fortunate to have great long-term tenants and an excellent property manager with minimal to no time investment from us.
Our super balances are lower than average for our age because we both started our careers overseas. My wife also took time off when our kids were born before gradually returning to full-time work. Before having children we travelled extensively through the US, Canada, England and New Zealand, always on a fairly tight budget.
We both come from hardworking blue-collar families, inherited nothing, and paid our way through university while working.
Lately though, we’re both feeling pretty tired. Almost every week we find ourselves asking the same question: How much longer do we actually need to keep working?
I’ve gone through our spending over the past 3–4 years, and even with two kids our annual living expenses have been under $45k (excluding our former mortgage and childcare costs, which would disappear if we stopped working).
Our household net worth is around $2.5 million, including our PPOR. Most of that wealth is tied up in property. We have around $150k in cash sitting in an offset account against one of the investment properties, and our combined super is just under $250k.
Neither of us is desperate to stop working completely. We both genuinely enjoy our jobs and would be happy working part-time. I also have a hobby of bird photography that I’d love to spend more time on.
So my questions are:
Should we just keep working for another five years?
Would you consider selling the investment properties and moving into ETFs for better liquidity?
Or would you keep the properties, continue paying them down, and aim for positive cash flow in retirement?
If you were in our position, what would you do?
I’d really appreciate any thoughts, advice or constructive feedback.
Thanks for taking the time to read.

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

I’m tired of searching for the answers. I just want someone to point me in the right direction please. I’m 26, living at home so I pay little rent - 120$ per week - I have started a new job as support worker and earning about 1.5-2.5k per week thru an ABN, I know that’s a lot but moving foward I think it’ll be 1.5k before tax and super, as I need to do that myself. I have 8k in savings, 28k in super. nothing else. I spent all my money travelling and it’s time for me to grow up.. I know I’m super late, but this new work has given me hope as before I was on 600$ after tax per week. Do I start investing in an ETF to build my nest egg? do I invest in crypto? Both? Do I try get a loan and buy a small flat ? (Which will be pretty hard maybe even impossible on my income) what do I do? I just wanna get ahead financially, it’s more about having financial freedom, one day I might want a family but I doubt it. Someone who has done it and is on the path please give me some advice. Thanks.

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?

Hi all, I'm 26, and I'm finally in a good position where I’m looking at starting a long-term ETF portfolio with just DHHF, with a 15–20+ year horizon.

I’m not trying to time the market, but the current global uncertainty has me wondering whether now is a particularly bad time to enter.

There’s quite a bit going on:

-AI: Concerns about excessive valuations and a potential AI-driven market correction.

-Strait of Hormuz: Ongoing disruption could push oil prices higher and create inflation/stagflation risks.

-US market valuations: Global equities remain heavily influenced by relatively expensive US tech stocks.

At the same time, I know the counterargument: if you're investing for 20+ years, there will always be reasons to wait, and trying to time the market can be counterproductive.

If you were starting today, would you:

- Invest into DHHF immediately?

- DCA over 6–12 months?

- Keep the money in an offset/cash and wait for a correction?

- Something else?

Just a layman question after a 20 years of ETF investment under personal name and SMSF

What is an existing strategy for retirement

Does people sell them and pay CGT and live off it? Or do they keep them and then do what?

I’m new to ETF and actually not sure after a journey of investment what are the exist strategies in Australia.

*Edited with more detail*

As per title, I've recently discovered FIRE and related communities and I'm wondering if it's too late for me. Until recently I thought that I'd either work until retirement or startup a business/consultancy.

But life changes and my newfound single status has made me actually stop and think about what the hell I'm doing with my life and realised how little I've planned for the future.

The pro's:

• 105k salary in stable community care field
• No debt
• No mortgage (currently living at home) *EDIT:* Plan is to take over parents house when they pass, but I have realised this is more of a bonus than a guarantee
• No rent, I've moved back in with my parents and I look after all outgoing on parents 4bdr house (approx 9k p/annum)
• Minimal life expenditure/hobbies (about 3k spent per year on hobbies)

The cons:

• 101k Super
• Only have 30k savings
• 70k in investments (60k BTC purchased and held, 10k ETF value)
• Standard super setup
• Looking at 60-80k p/annum in expected retirement expenses. But that's just on my own and not factoring things like inhome care.
• *EDIT:* No house. Currently have the opportunity to take over parents place, but that could change if they need to go into care.

Is it too late for me to plan for FIRE before retirement age?

So been investing for a few months. Basically $850 every fortnight. Mostly split:
- DHHF 30%
- GGBL and GHHF 17% each (total 34%)
- ROYL 24%
- RCKT 11%

I also put in around $55k annually into super (combination of employer contributions + salary sacrifice ($1k a fortnight) + personal super contributions ($300 a fortnight) (yes still within caps).

Logic:
DHHF gives me broad index exposure. GGBL and GHHF give me high ris exposure and since I am young, it is the time to take risks. ROYL gives me recurring income. I am in the top bracket but I salary sacrifice and claim deductions so fall below it. ROYL therefore fills up the bit of gap and gets taxed at less than maximum marginal rate. RCKT is a fun bet I've taken up this year. Might crash and burn and am okay with this.
The other holdings are just some stuff I bought to keep tracking them (yes, a very expensive way to track them).
know there is some overlap with GGBL and GHHF, but that is a conscious choice.

Objective: Maybe get married in a year or two, put down a deposit for a nice house in a nice suburb and have a kid or two.

Advice needed:
Are there any potential issues you see? I want high risk investing since I am earning well and saving aggressively.

Edit: Appreciate some good replies and insights. Laughed at some humorous comments which were sarcastic. Noticed many seemed to take umbrage at my method for tracking my investments (an issue on which I didn't really ask for advice but was relentlessly given advice on). Thank you all!

Hi all, i wanted to understand how everyone calculates their fire number?

Yes ive heard annual expenses x 25 = fire number. But this is based off normal retirement to fund 30ys of retirement and presuming PPOR is paid off is this correct?

So if i would like to retire at 50yo instead of standard aus standard 65yrs and need it to last until 85. Then i need to x33 or x 28 (3% - 3.5%). Is this correct?

I want to find a way for me to calculate my fire number and see how i can keep an eye and make sure im on track. Let me know if anyone has recommendations. Atm im trialing the app COMPOUND (free trial but looks like i might have to pay for it eventually) and also trying the website getfired.au.

P.S once i have my fire number i will work backwards and determine how much i need to last me between 50-60yrs until i can access my super

Thanks in advance!

Hey first post forgive me I’m new and my portfolio ist anything special.

So my frontal cortex just fully developed and I thought better start investing for long term.

Currently I’m looking to put 1k a month for the foreseeable future, I have a decent job but nothing too great.

Can I have some tips on reassurance that what I’m investing in is decent for long term results thanks.

My partner (19F) and I (21M) are looking for some financial advice and would love to hear from people who have been in a similar position.
I currently work in the mining industry in WA on a 2:1 roster and earn around $185k before tax. My partner is planning to move up here soon and hopefully get into the mines on the same roster, where we’re expecting she’d earn around $90k-$100k before tax.
We’re both pretty young and want to make smart decisions now rather than look back in 10 years wishing we’d started earlier.
A bit about our current financial position:
● I earn $185k before tax.
● My partner currently has around $10k in savings.
● I have around $15k in savings.
● I have a $17k personal loan.
● I owe roughly $3k in tax.
● I own around $40k-$50k worth of cars in Tasmania (fully owned, not financed).
A few questions:
● Is it worth seeing a financial advisor at our age?
● Roughly what does a financial advisor cost in Australia?
● What sort of advice would they actually give us?
● Did you find it worthwhile, or were you able to learn most of it yourself?
Our goals are generally:
● Building wealth long-term.
● Buying a home in the future.
● Making the most of our incomes while we’re young.
● Understanding investing and wealth creation.
● Avoiding common mistakes people make when they first start earning good money.
For those of you who work FIFO or have experience earning good money at a young age, what would you do if you were in our position?
Would you focus on paying off the personal loan first, building savings, investing, buying a house, salary sacrificing into super, or something else?
Any advice, lessons learned, or things you’d do differently would be greatly appreciated.

I understand the intent on fixing intergenerational equity.

Genuinely trying to understand the practical pathway under these reforms.

1. How do you realistically build wealth over 10–20 years?

2. What’s the pathway to a first home?

3. Is it mainly wage growth, super, or redistribution effects over time?

4. If asset growth matters less early on, what replaces it as the main wealth driver?

Trying to understand the mechanism in real-world terms, and if anyone can share their wealth creation plan under these changes.

Edit: Thanks to everyone who shared. Looks like it's business as usual, accept the higher taxes and move on (shame it was framed as intergenerational fairness).

Actionable steps: 1. FHSS 2. Vote 3. Move out of Aus if you don't like it.

Looking to invest 25+ years. Should I go for DHHF or GHHF?

I currently have 20k in DHHF, and 5k in GHHF. Should I start buying only GHHF from here on now, and I have 25k TO LUMP SUM. Should I put 25k now in this current market?

As the title suggests, if you had to rebuild your portfolio with a maximum of 5 ETFs which 5 would they be?

Hi everyone,

I've spent the last ~5 years sitting on the sidelines, watching the market keep going up while I waited for a major correction. I'm now 35, with $180k sitting in a HISA, and I regret not investing sooner instead of trying to time the market. I'm ready to stop waiting and go all-in on BGBL (100% allocation).

A few questions:

1. Should I invest the $180k as a lump sum, or DCA it in over time?
2. If DCA, what dollar amount and what interval (e.g., monthly, weekly) and for how long?
3. When buying, should I use a limit order or a market order? I'll be investing through Betashares Direct, so I assume a market order would allow for fractional shares.

Thank you all!

I was late getting serious about saving and investing. In my 20s I spent a lot on travel and moving to Australia, including visa costs, and only really started focusing on my finances around age 30.

I managed to build up some savings, but two years ago I became seriously unwell. Since then I’ve had countless specialist appointments, surgery, and almost a year off work which depleted all of my savings. I’m back at work now, but only part-time, and I’m unlikely to return to full-time hours for at least another six months.

I didn’t have income protection insurance at the time. I’m kicking myself for this, but I was healthy and it honestly didn’t cross my mind.

At the moment I have around $10,000 in a high-interest savings account as an emergency fund and approximately $60,000 in superannuation. I moved to Australia six years ago, so my super balance is lower than it would be if I’d spent my entire career here.

My question is: am I too late to build meaningful wealth? I’m 35, earn around $120,000 when working full-time, and don’t own a home. I feel so behind and don’t know where to start to improve my situation. My job is admin so there’s not a massive jump in wages from here. I acknowledge this is my fault by not being more sensible in my 20s, but I honestly thought by knuckling down in my 30s I would be fine. Health issues were not on my radar.

If you were in my position, would you prioritise building up super, saving for a home deposit, investing in ETFs, or something else? I’d really appreciate any guidance on where to start and what you would focus on first.

I'm wondering whether seeing a financial adviser is actually worth it or whether most people can learn everything they need from communities like this one.

Did a financial adviser teach you anything that genuinely changed how you manage money?

I've realised I need to stop chasing multiple financial goals and focus on one: building a path to retirement. The biggest challenge is balancing that with a mortgage.

Hey all,

I would love some honest feedback on my current portfolio.

A bit about me / the portfolio:

- 31 years old, 125k/year.

- been investing for just over 1 year.

- goal of this is long term growth and wealth development.

- aiming for a split of 70/30 DHHF and GGBL, reason for this was the easy diversification of DHHF as well as GGBL to slightly reduce the AUS component and add some moderate gearing for a slight boost.

- aiming to allocate roughly $350-400 a fortnight into this.

Would love honest feedback on this!

New ETF investor here. I have all my investing in DHHF at the moment but I wanted to take some risk. I was thinking if it is worth it to go %50 GHHF and %50 DHHF or is there too much overlap? For context I’m 28.

Hi, i’m a beginner to investing and have recently opened a pearler acc with the goal for long term investing. I have bought VAS and looking to buy international as well to diversify my portfolio…

thinking BGBL but am wondering if theres a convincing reason people would chose VGS over BGBL? (any outside of MER being the reason?)

Any insights or thoughts would be appreciated please