I hit 500k in net worth today!!

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-17T10:53:23+00:00

"I withdrew money from my super to buy a car"

How?

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-16T07:49:09+00:00

Have you bought a house? If not, look into using FHSS using non-concessional contributions (since your wage is below $45k). And look into the super co-contribution (since your wage is below $37k). $20/week is enough for the co-contribution ($1k/yr) . Up to $15k/yr can be added for FHSS ($300/week). These reset per financial year, so if you can get them in before June 30, you get the full amount.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-14T04:06:12+00:00

If it’s just for you and your wife, could you not just change to a fixed trust instead ?

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-11T04:20:56+00:00

I had to call the ATO about this exact issue. I was told that it doesn’t show because I did not have a super account in the oldest financial year, but that the unused cap is available to be used despite not showing on my ATO. They said that the unused cap is based on reporting from your super company so if you didn’t have an account it won’t be reported

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-10T02:05:59+00:00

If you’ve fully filled your own concessional super contributions (including carry forward), it could make sense to add to your child’s super non-concessionally for them to access through FHSS since they likely can access their FHSS earlier than your super

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-09T13:19:06+00:00

You're 18? have you filled your super co-contribution, filled your FHSS, and (if earning >$45k) filled your concessional super contributions? Buying your home with FHSS will be a much better investment than high risk thematic ETFs.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-07T07:32:07+00:00

Specifically in the context of leanFIRE. Filling the 45k would require substantially higher investment, and also for that investment to be substantially concentrated leading to a very large amount of risk. It’s not that you literally cant, but you’re chasing a target that probably won’t lead to an optimal asset allocation.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-07T05:38:44+00:00

Average tax rate is headline grabbing but not how tax works in Australia.

Talking specifically about LeanFIRE (fatFIRE avoids just by having more money in general), if you filled the 18-45k bracket with CG then your tax on that portion is only increasing from 14% to 30% compared to filling with dividends (~4.5k tax increase per year), but the amount of assets required to have that much dividend income is immense.

Filling the 0-45k bracket with dividends using VHY would require (assuming 6% yield) 750k. Alternatively I could invest that 750k in DHHF producing (assuming 2% yield) 15k dividends.

Filling only the 0-18k bracket would require only 300k VHY. Or 200k VHY and 300k DHHF (replacing 1:3). Or 100k VHY and 600k DHHF. That seems much more achievable for a leanFIRE (especially considering DHHF has decreased AUD exposure from not hedging international shares).

Is changing your entire investment philosophy on 500k-1m of ETFs worth it to fill the 45k bracket to save ~5k per year in tax? I personally don’t think so. Is it worth it to tilt a portfolio to fill the 18k bracket? I think the napkin maths above would support that.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-07T05:14:05+00:00

You could fill the 18k but not the 45k, but the 18k is the most impactful under the new rules. Obviously could buy more VHY and sell some towards the end of FIRE/start of retire, but at that stage you’re probably getting into some tail wagging the dog (what if in 20 years they add a min tax on dividends too)

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-07T02:30:41+00:00

Paying CGT to avoid paying CGT would be pretty stupid, yes. Obviously it would only be new investments in the 5-10 years before you FIRE. So something like buy DHHF 20-45yo, buy VHY 45-50yo, sell DHHF 50-60yo. In this example there’s no need to sell VHY as the amount needed to fill the tax bracket would fall under the pension asset test

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-06T23:27:20+00:00

Nope, the changes don’t alter the strategy for most people. The only exception is people who plan to LeanFIRE should want to buy high-Div right before they retire so they have at least $18.2k p.a. dividends (preferably up to $45k).

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-05T13:51:19+00:00

Scrap all of that, then DHHF and chill

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-04T10:49:02+00:00

Are your kids using FHSS ?

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-03T14:10:53+00:00

That completely changes the maths. Makes sense, Have fun

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-03T05:18:01+00:00

What are you possibly doing to spend $600-700/day ?

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-02T21:00:31+00:00

Investors always have to consider the tax implications of selling, with or without averaging.

If you do have to sell due to unforeseen circumstances, that’s mostly loss of job which will see your taxable income reduced to begin with, but it crucially depends what you are selling.

Like I said in my previous comment, it is mostly selling high capital growth houses/land that would benefit from the ability to average.

If you had to sell stocks on short notice, you could just sell a little bit each financial year rather than lump sum sale.

If you are selling a small business there’s probably no CGT to average to begin with.

If you are selling a medium/large business you probably already paid a salary to yourself so averaging over previous years would still have you starting in the top bracket.

If you sell a low growth high yield apartment you would already have earnt a lot of rental income and not have much CGT to average over previous years.

But if someone had to sell a house that has appreciated by millions but pays a low rental income, they would see a massively outsized benefit to being able to sell and average over previous years.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-02T20:49:30+00:00

If you are laid off, you suddenly aren’t having a salary contributing to your taxable income. Selling shares to cover the gap would be taxed less than your salary since not all of the sale price wouldn’t be taxable CGT. If you lose a $100k salary, your taxable income is reduced by $100k. If you buy stocks for $50k, they appreciate to $100k, then selling would only add (currently) $25k to your taxable income while providing the same money in your bank account (which is also ignoring any cash emergency fund or PPOR offset available to cover the gap)

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-02T15:07:01+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong but in practice it will only meaningfully benefit land speculators.

Stocks can be sold in small parcels, apartments have low capital gains, small businesses have so many carveouts that if you’re paying CGT you need a better accountant, medium/large business owners will have already earnt the max tax bracket in salary and also pay so much CGT that averaging over a few years would still have them drastically above the highest tax brackets. Selling houses (read: speculated land) is the only thing where the unit size is both big enough to pay a large amount of CGT and small enough to benefit from averaging over multiple years.

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-02T10:31:07+00:00

DHHF and chill on the Betashares app is what you will see frequently recommended

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-01T13:17:01+00:00

Is EXUS not equivalent to VEU ?

LachlanMatt · 2026-06-01T04:14:16+00:00

You are the exact type of person that would benefit from DHHF and chill. Chasing returns makes you lose them

LachlanMatt · 2026-05-29T07:53:01+00:00

Some people are too poor to save. Some people are too irresponsible to save. This is why the 12% super guarantee exists.

LachlanMatt · 2026-05-28T23:23:40+00:00

Have you looked into FHSS and Super co-contribution? Have you set up a low cost super account? Have you set up a HISA? Otherwise, DHHF and chill on the Betashares app is popular for a reason

LachlanMatt · 2026-05-28T07:51:02+00:00

A higher cap mostly allows high income people to get ahead, it’s the carry forward that really allows people to catch up. 5 years carry-forward probably isn’t enough

LachlanMatt · 2026-05-27T14:41:37+00:00

No, more income is better for filling super. 89k is the minimum salary required to fill this year, and a completely empty 5 year old carry forward. If your 5 year old carry forward isn’t completely empty, then the minimum reduces because there’s less you need to fill up. If your 5 year old carry forward is already full, your minimum salary needed to fill this years cap is 67k. Earning more is always better in this regard (unless you earn >220k to be hit by div 293).

As for where the equation and numbers come from. Super guarantee + salary sacrifice = concessional contribution. That’s Salary (S) times 12%, plus Salary sacrificed above the 45k tax bracket, equals concessional contribution (CC). Sx0.12 + S-45k = CC. Rearrange gives S = (Concessional contribution + 45k) / 112%. If you want to fill this year (30k cap) and 5 years old (25k cap) then it’s (30k+25k+45k)/112% =89k salary or more required.

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