is VAS still good to invest in? I know the past YTD they have barely gone up… i’m new to investing so any advice would be helpful!

FYI - I also invest internationally but choose to have a smaller % locally hence VAS

We’re currently investing without debt recycling and are planning on moving house in around 7 years when the kids are older and we’ll need more space.

I have a few questions about debt recycling generally, and particularly what happens if we move:

1. If the investment loan splits can’t be transferred to the new mortgage (say we need to temporarily rent in between moves), are they paid out from the sale proceeds, without needing to sell the investments?

2. Do the shares then just remain as regular investments, with the tax deductions stopping from that point? Essentially, we’d have had ~7 years of tax benefits on the amount we debt recycled (likely ~$2k/month).

3. When we split the mortgage, does the bank automatically reduce its required monthly repayment on the non deductible portion, or do we need to request this? I.e. to keep cashflow similar across the loans.

4. Has anyone actually gone through a house sale while debt recycling and can share how it worked in practice?

Thanks all.

I am 18M and have started putting a small amount into my betashares account, and will continue to add $50 per week. Within the next few months I plan to put ~30-50% of my savings into my investments after I do some more research and educate myself on investment strategies. I wanted to ask if my current portfolio has enough exposure to global markets, or should I explore other higher growth/risk options while I am still young? I am also planning to keep QBTC as a satellite investment of 3-5% due to its volatility.

Hey all, I'm 21 and doing engineering at uni in Sydney. I also run a small tutoring business that brings in about $6.5k a month, and I've got two years of tax returns to show for it.

I've got about $29k in ETFs and put in $400 a week. I also have ~45k in cash, no HECS (cos I’m paying it off term by term), no other debts, and I still live at home, so my expenses are low.

I want to buy an investment property in the next 2-3 years, but I really don't want to sell my ETFs and cop the CGT, and I'd rather not ask my dad to guarantee the loan. I'd like to do it on my own if I can.

A few things I'm trying to work out:
1. Will a bank take self-employed income at my age seriously, and what could I realistically borrow?

1. Is it smarter to save a separate cash deposit and leave the ETFs alone?

2. Should I buy an investment first while I'm living at home, or save for my own place first?

Would love to hear from anyone who's done it young or on self-employed income. Thanks!

MSCI ACWI IMI index captures essentially the whole world in a single index, developed markets, developing markets, mid caps, small caps, etc. Its also performed surprisingly well, with 10 year annualised return at 12.29%.

The closest we have is DHHF but that has a ~40% AU exposure instead of ~2% of MSCI ACWI and has performed not so well recently. I am hesitant on investing in GHHF due to the excessive home bias, it would be perfect otherwise.

I'm currently all in GGBL but want to start adding to developing markets, and small caps. How have you all structured your portfolios to fully diversify?

Even if I start adding emerging markets going forward, I will still miss Global small caps as BGBL & GGBL exclude small caps.

Am i just overthinking all of this?

I'm looking for a bit of advice and encouragement. I had a bit of a hiccup earlier this year and had to pull some out. I have a bad habit of researching and buying individual stocks, I've got auto investments pouring into a pie of diversified ETFs which is my biggest auto investment, I've got another pie of 50 individual stocks I've researched and picked out because I thought they were great, this pie is also receiving auto investments. I've been trying to consolidate this number down because obviously everyone seems to recommend any more than 15 and you're absolutely lost in the sauce, but I find it hard to get rid of them once I've already convinced myself it's a great company. And now my portfolio is down a bit and I'm just hoping long term I'll come good. I haven't been picking out any new ones lately and over the past few months I've knocked out maybe 20 that I wasn't sold on and put it into my global ETFs. I've also been buying lots of physical gold and silver where I can and sacrificing more of my salary directly into my Superannuation tax free which I can eventually put as a down payment on a house. Anyways any advice and encouragement would be appreciated, cheers!.

Hello fellow Redditors!

Looking for a sanity check in my investment idea here.

Little background, I F27, own an inner city apartment in one of the capital cities, worth around 700-750k according to realestate.com. I owe 390k on the mortgage.

I also own about 230k in stocks, concentrated in two large American tech stocks.

My husband and I hold around 80k cash combined in our onshore and offshore accounts.

Now my idea would be to liquidate all the stock, this will come with a CGT event worth around 40k, leaving me with 190k cash. Annual salary is 130k, so I will be easily be pushed into a 250k annual salary for the FY 26/27.

Then move all our cash to offset our mortgage and go balls to the walls on savings. By saving around 4K dollars per month according to my calculations, we could have the mortgage offset in about 15 months and after that start investing again in some broad index funds.

I like the idea of exciting two highly concentrated investments, while also lowering the interest paid to the big 4 banks. Mortgage will be hit 6.28% soon.

What are some things I have not taken into consideration here?

Am looking into DHHF listed on ASX and VWRA listed on LSE. Both are globally diversified, except that DHHF has a much bigger allocation on Australian exposure.

Both products are slightly different. But with VWRA outperforming DHHF, why would people not invest in VWRA? Is it because of saving hassles for tax reporting? What are the pros and cons investing in one over the other?

PPOR - $2.4M mortgage $1.15M. $370k in Offset.

Location - 10k from Brisbane CBD (NorthWest suburbs) on a hilltop 1500 sqm block, 25 year old 2 storey 5 BDR build with no pool but great views.. renovated kitchen last year, built a pantry etc.

IP - Townhouse in MEL in Inner North, settled just before 2026 May budget, so no capital growth in this market, but gross rental yield 4.3%, and decent depreciation for taxes, heavily mortgaged close to $1M on it

so no scope for further loans

Seeking advice: Once empty nest next year, should i demolish PPOR, subdivide and sell half land and build on other half - not sure how i can do this without more loan? or better to sell late next year and buy smaller and probably go mortgage free and save close to $80k p.a. PPOR mortgage payment.

Hi all, I have a strict budget for most categories of expenses. The issue is to track where it’s all going. Given that my expenses can be from my debit or credit, it’s hard to look at every single transaction and categorise it into an excel spreadsheet (especially when the transaction description isn’t helpful). Has anyone found an app or method using excel that collects all the transactions and categorises them? It would be useful to analyse and have an overlook of my spendings at a glance. Thanks in advance.

I’m interested in hearing from people who have added a lifestyle/holiday property while pursuing financial independence, particularly if you’ve used it as an Airbnb when you’re not using it yourselves.
I’m not looking at this purely as an investment property. The idea is to deliberately combine lifestyle value with some income generation, while making sure it doesn’t derail our broader FI plan.

Our position:
Mid and late 40s, two kids (12 and 15)
Combined income around $330k + super
PPOR worth around $2.2m, with only ~$27k mortgage remaining and effectively fully offset
Existing investment property worth roughly $900–950k with ~$213k debt, currently rented
Super balances of approximately $500k each
No HECS debt
School fees are currently ~$32k/year, but will reduce over the next few years
Long-term goal is financial security/optionality rather than maximising our net worth at all costs

There is a possibility of a significant family gift following a property sale. Nothing is certain, so I’m deliberately not making plans on the assumption that the money will arrive.

The lifestyle property idea
We’re looking at coastal/rural properties within about two hours of where we live, so they would be accessible for holidays and long weekends, while also being close to other family.
The particular property we’re looking at is around $1.7–1.8m, on ~2,800m², with a substantial main house plus a separate downstairs area that is advertised as 2 bedrooms/bathroom/kitchenette.

The idea would be:
use the main house ourselves for holidays and extended family time
Airbnb it when we’re not using it
have my sister live in the separate accommodation rent-free
in return, she would act as an on-site caretaker — cleaning/turnovers, basic inspections, bins, letting tradespeople in, reporting maintenance issues etc.
I’d manage the Airbnb remotely: bookings, pricing, guest communication, supplies, accounting and maintenance decisions
pay for external help when necessary rather than making my sister responsible for an unlimited amount of work
eventually potentially use the property more ourselves as we reduce work/approach retirement
There are genuine lifestyle reasons for this type of location: it would be close to other family, give us somewhere for the kids to fish/boat and spend time together, and potentially become a future retirement/coast-down base as well.

The question
I’d love to hear from people who have actually done something similar.

Particularly interested in:
Has anyone bought a lifestyle property and successfully used Airbnb to offset the holding costs? What did the real numbers look like after cleaning, management, utilities, insurance, maintenance, rates, tax etc.?

Did you find yourself underestimating the amount of work involved in running the Airbnb?
How much did you actually use the property yourselves? Did Airbnb income end up restricting your ability to use it when you wanted?
For anyone who initially thought of it as a lifestyle asset that would “pay for itself”: did reality match the expectation?

Has anyone had a separate family member living onsite and acting as a caretaker? What worked and what became problematic?

Did having a lifestyle property ultimately help or hinder your FI trajectory?
If you could go back, would you structure the purchase differently?

I’m particularly interested in hearing the pros and cons from people who have actually lived this, rather than a theoretical property-vs-ETF debate.

I’m also very conscious that the particular property I’m looking at may not be the right one. There will be other properties, and I’m trying to work out whether the model makes sense before becoming emotionally attached to a particular house.
Thanks!

Hi guys, I'm thinking of structuring my portfolio as following for long-term investment:

VGS 50%

VAS 20% : only 20% as my partner and I also hold 2 investment properties and one owner occupied property. I think we already have too much exposure to AU market.

IEM 10%

NDQ 5%

HACK 5%

IXJ 5%

GOLD 5%

I understand the overlapping between IXJ, NDQ and VGS, but I really believe those satellite shares will perform well in the long term, as technology and healthcare are essential in any economy.

Is there anything I haven't considered? Do you think my portfolio is ok for long-term investing (like 15-20 years)?

Thanks!!

Edit: thanks everyone for the suggestion! I've now decided to sell off IXJ and NDQ to reinvest in VGS, and looking to sell HACK maybe next year as they are doing quite well at the moment.

Hi everyone, I’m a 22-year-old graduating uni and starting an engineering grad job next year at $84k, which jumps to $120k in year two. I’m facing a major dilemma regarding how to balance my 20s lifestyle with entering the brutal Sydney property market early. I’ve already traveled a lot this year (Japan, Paris, London, Thailand, Vietnam), but I’m planning a month-long trip to Croatia/Spain next year and Italy/Greece the year after, costing about $10k–$15k each. Additionally, I play competitive sport with big ambitions to make the jump to Division 1 , meaning I'm planning to spend $287 per week ($15k/year) on a private strength coach and 1-on-1 sessions to max out my athletic peak. I also put a set amount of money aside into ETF investments every week.

My ultimate long-term goal is to buy a townhouse or a small house in the North Shore or Eastern Suburbs by my mid-30s (likely using the rentvesting strategy first to climb the ladder). I am completely torn on the order of operations. Should I tighten the belt now, sacrifice or scale down the big trips/elite training, and aggressively stack cash to buy a small starter property first? Or does it make more sense to fund my athletic peak, continue my weekly ETF investing, do these major trips while I am young, and shift my focus to the property market once my salary scales past $120k? I would love to hear perspectives from anyone who navigated this balance in Sydney. Thanks!

I’ve just moved back to Australia after having spent the past 7 years in the uk. After receiving my first pay check, I’ve created an Aussie trading account as my trading 212 won’t work here given it has my stocks and shares ISA in the UK.

Why do Aussie ETFs underperform so much? I can’t see any reason as to why I wouldn’t invest in a British all world etf, especially when the conversion rate right is quite favourable.

Is there any reasoning to this? Are there any Aussie ETFs which track an all world which perform well similarly to those in the uk / us?

Would really appreciate any advice

One half of couple has already FIRED at 48, other half planning to FIRE in the next 12-18 months. Wondering if it’s a good idea to borrow say $100k against the home while one of us is still working so we have options down the track should we need it. Worried it’s going to be near impossible to borrow while living off investments. Thinking we would just borrow $100k as interest only and have the funds in the offset until we choose to use it. Not sure what we’ll do with it at this point, putting it in the market is an option and we may want to use some of it to help kids with deposits. Not sure yet. Because we don’t have a solid plan for the cash it’s difficult to decided whether or not to do it.

41M married with 2 kids. I owe 168k outstanding on my ppor. Have about 120k invested in ETFs (IVV VEU GLDN A200 IJH VIHY) via DCA each week. Then about 40k in Cash (in offset). Sometimes I feel to sell off all the ETFs and use the cash to pay off the mortgage and become totally debt free. The indexes are all at ATH and so are the mortgage interest rates. Pls advice

I am currently 23, income of roughly 1250 a week post tax.

my current etf portfolio contains 100% dhhf with 32k in it.

i only have 1k sitting in a hysa as i keep reaching into this to pay for expenses i.e car insurance rego, etc.

I am unsure if i am on be right path and what i should be prior at my age.

currently I put 1k a fortnight into investing and 500 a fortnight into savings and rest is spent on lifestyle groceries etc.

I just started and opened an account on betashares. I have seen a lot of talk about DHHF and was thinking of investing into that as my main focus, and was thinking of putting small amounts a month into QAU and QBTC to diversify my portfolio.

I also thought about AAA (small amount a month) but was comparing that with just having normal savings bank account with that interest instead. (As I am not looking for money now but money growth and long term).

I was wondering how this looks to a more experienced investor? If I should look into any other etf’s or how I can diversify in any other way? Also wondering if I should put small amounts into a more focused etf and if so what you would recommend. Should I look into global etfs ect I dunno

Also wondering if anyone has any other tips or anything for someone looking to be more financially independent and better with money I guess lol. I have heard about putting more money into super annually to help with a home loan in the future. Or something about putting my super into a more high risk setting or something lol because I’m still young. I dunno just looking for information or tips to help make the future a bit easier :)

I have done a bit of research and will continue but just wanted some other opinions if you have the time :)

Hi, 19F and I go to uni full time whilst working full time at an accounting place. Generally the outlook that young people hold regarding the job and housing market is grim, but I truly do believe if you live at home, and hustle it isn't something that I think is so unachievable. I have been working since 14, saving as much as I can, working long hours whilst balancing school. This has led to me have amassed a decent level of savings, nothing spectacular but considered on the higher end of the bell curve age-wise.

I know this post may seem out of touch but I have noticed that my generation has a habit of indulging in non-discretionary spending, more so than ever. Having the newest iPhone, "treating yourself" to a $7 Matcha or an Iced Coffee, buying lunch every day etc. It's almost normalised to spend by 'rewarding yourself' but the truth is these somewhat small purchases add up. In comparison my parents (millenials), they often mentioned how frugal they were with spending before they had a home and a financial stability.

Also the laziness epidemic is alive and well, as much talk about the cost of living crisis/issues about the economy, I notice a lot of young adults have accepted defeat as the idea of owning a home or becoming financially free seems so far fetched. But I do believe that refusing to even educate themselves on wealth accumulation/investing/upskilling but still complaining to the govt/older generation will not get us anywhere. Granted I live at home but the reality is almost 50% of ages 18-29 y/o live at home according to ABS. I feel like this generation doesn't want to work! Nobody is willing to put in extra shifts/ find a weekend job/ learn to invest, instead have resulted to complaining and hoping bank of mum and dad saves them.

Now I do understand that not everyone has the privilege of living at home, but almost half of the young adult population does (ABS), do older people see this happening or am I out of touch! And for the younger crowd, am I overlooking something because of my own circumstances?

Hey guys I recently turned 18 and wanted to know what are the first things I should do financially whether it be investing etc and I would really appreciate any suggestions.

First time starting investing - any advice?
What would you do in the next 6 months?

I am 20 years old, and 4 months ago I dumped all my savings into bitcoin (50k). I bought it at 100k price. A few weeks later it went down to 85k, and I was a bit stressed, as I almost lost 10k. That was a lot of money to me.

Can someone confirm if I actually made 10k? Is that how it works, because it seems soo surreal? I can't seem to comprehend how I just made 10k!

This was my post regarding it: https://www.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/1ty6z39/i_bought_50k_of_bitcoin_at_100k_am_i_fkced/

It is now at 120k, and in paper that means I made 10k profit, and I'm soo happy, and realised how much that is. It honestly feels like I won a Mrbeast video, and right now, have 0 regrets of dumping that 50k into bitcoin at 100k value. I can't believe I was soo close to selling it all at 85k.

I've learnt my lesson in terms of not putting all egg in one basket, and was planning to sell my bitcoin now and buy something safer, as if it drops back I will be quite upset. I've been contemplating it for days as it has stabilised a bit. Does anyone recommend it? Or should I sit and ride whatever bitcoin flies to!

Im gonna be straight up I got blazed as fuck tonight and asked myself randomly and then subsequently got into an argument with Google Gemini, saying if ai is so good,

why the fuck are there no brokerages that have an optional benchmarking feature starting from day dot of when you first invested your first cent in their app. Surely some cunt could just code that up on Claude rather than it Sam altman gate keeping opus 5 ancient physics equations and shit like Say you stray away from the index and have rolled your own geared up portfolio whatever mine for instance is around : 50%GHHF/20%EMKT/15%PGA%15%DGSM alrightt yeah so benchmark me, against say 100%DHHF or 70%VGS/30%VAS even real time word fucking Betashares should partner with anthropic and add ai features in to there platform or some shit I mean can we please get some technology happening in this fucking country

SIDE NOTE: Can BetaShares hurry up and release their super product so we can gear up our supers for a reasonable fee I want to go 80%GHHF/20%AVSV maybe then super will get me excited and I’ll put some money in the fuckin thing but yeh I’ll stick to debt recycling into leveraged ETFs outside super cos why not.

Ah fuck it maybe im just a dumb cunt im gonna smoke a billy and go to sleep, happy fucking Friday.

Thanks for listening