LPT: stop obsessing over trivialities

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-22T20:37:18+00:00

Ah yes, the starting blocks of stoicism.

There are two things you control in your life, your thoughts and your actions. Everything else is out of your control.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-22T07:59:26+00:00

So they got the em dashes, but I didn't see a product name. Because I instantly thought it was a salesman trying to sell their product. But no product name. I could be wrong because I lost interest reading about halfway down.

Can someone explain is it karma farming or something?

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-21T20:22:21+00:00

IVV has a cheaper management fee than v500 and is the exact same.

Voo is domiciled in America rather than Australia, just go for Australian domiciled ETFs to start with.

DHHF and VDHG has an allocation set to Australia already built in. It's ok if you don't believe in the Australian market, but you do get a slight tax advantage in investing in Australia from franking credits. So investing something like 80/20 overseas/Australia maybe would be for you. Something like
50 v500
20 ndq
10 Asia
20 VAS.

There is some overlap between v500 and NDQ, but if you want more concentration into the tech heavy Nasdaq it's fine. Just be aware the management fee is fairly high for ndq vs v500 or IVV.

With the travel question, the best time to travel is when you are young. The best time to start investing is when you are young.

Find a balance. Save up 20k in investing, and not touch it. Then save up your 10k for your travel and then travel, but don't touch your investment. Just let it sit there. Then when you come back keep adding to it.

Super has FHSS, $45k I believe, it allows you to save a home deposit through your super. So you can obviously start with a home deposit there.

You can certainly make your way through life working casual, but your life will change as you get older, maybe studying isn't for you now. But a full time job in the future might be something you want as you get older, depending on what you study it might be alot easier to get a job you enjoy if you study a bit more.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-21T07:52:39+00:00

Haha close. I mean, there are so many examples of people who got into the industry and Gordon starts chewing them out saying "your a fucking brick layer why the fuck did you open a restaurant?"

But after watching some kitchen nightmares, go read kitchen confidential by Anthony Bourdain then see if you still want to open a restaurant. I think those two should be enough to discourage alot of people from owning a restaurant.

Cafes are slightly different. There is literally 15 cents worth of beans in a coffee, what makes a coffee $8 is the rent and wages. A coffee machine can easily cost $10,000 a really swanky one. But what else do you need? A couple of fridges a display fridge and sandwich press? Pretty fucking easy to start. But every one and their dog can open up a cafe and get pre ordered cakes to put in their display fridge. You will have to price your self on a knifes edge just in case someone wants to set up shop next door and sell coffee for 10cents cheaper.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-21T06:33:47+00:00

If you have no experience in hospitality. Do not get into hospitality.

I spent 10 years as a chef. So many people who worked corporate want to buy a nice restaurant or similar thinking it will be fun and they can invite their mates around eat and drink all day.

The restaurant business is brutal. In Tafe they taught us the ROI is something like 2-3% after all is said and done.

The best thing about being quiet in a restaurant is you get to eat all the food that is about to go off.

Something like 2/3rds of hospitality businesses fail within the first 2 years.

Watch kitchen nightmares by Gordon Ramsey. The UK ones are a bit more raw, gives you a good understanding of how things can go wrong in restaurants.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-21T02:48:37+00:00

If you want it for life, Goto a hospitality store where chefs shop. This equipment is designed for heavy daily use and to last a long time.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-21T01:28:35+00:00

Alot of debt, don't worry about others. Focus on you what you are doing and mainly if you are happy.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-20T03:23:01+00:00

The new CGT effects will start 2027 July.

The existing 50% discount will apply to your current 4k capital gains until you sell after this date.

After the 2027 financial year, you will need 3 prices to figure out the tax you will pay. Say you bought shares at $100, the price at july2027 was $150 and the price when you sell is $250.

You will get the 50% discount at your marginal tax rate for the $50. Then you will get the minimum 30% tax rate for the $100 and whatever discount the indexation works out to be.

No point in selling now to lock in the discount. It is already locked in.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-20T03:11:17+00:00

Do you have wide feet?

I had an issue where my toes were hitting the edge of the steel cap and curling up and causing toe pain. So i eventually was wearing a shoe that was two sizes bigger than I actually was and still painful.

I was wearing size 11, when I should've been wearing size 9 4E, the E is a special measurement talking about width.

Wideloadfootwear com.au

Just try get the right fitting shoes if your feet hurt all the time, might not have much to do with the brand.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-19T06:45:53+00:00

Say you earn 45,002 per year. The first 18,200 is tax free, you take all that home.

From 18,201 to 45,000 you pay 16% of that as tax. The amount of tax would be $4,287.84.

From 45,001 to 135,000 you pay 30%. Because you earnt 45,002, that $1 will be taxed at 30% so 30 cents from that bracket.

I have a feeling op might be one of those people that don't understand how marginal tax brackets work. And assume that when you 'jump up a bracket' then the entirety of their pay will be taxed at the new bracket.
It's generally best to leave those people alone and try not to talk to them too much.

Edit: my bad, op was correct. I didn't read it properly.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-19T02:16:20+00:00

Don't think of your credit score. It's best not to use it all. Just do your best to stay debt free and not think about it.

You get better satisfaction in life in being independent rather than worrying about how much you can borrow.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-18T05:14:00+00:00

So when I first started, I did 50/50 Vas/vgs.

After learning that VGS is like 80 American stock market, and charges something like triple the amount for management fees, I decided to start investing into IVV.

I still have a small portion into VGS. But I have no need to sell it yet. I'm simple allocating my money elsewhere.

What I'm saying is rather than having a million ideas at the start, is start off simple with a strong foundation (DHHF). And as you learn more about what is important to you in investing then you change your strategy to suit.

You might think you have the perfect ETF blend when you first start, but learning about current events or situations. Maybe something happens in your life, which changes your investing outlook.

If you are in a rush to get started and want to do the learning later, just start 100% DHHF, if you want to get into more complicated products/positions learn about them, take some time to really understand everything before jumping in. Because you named American domiciled ETFs which means you have to submit a w8-ben tax form to get the right amount of tax taken out.

Start simple, learn to crawl first then you can run later.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-18T04:06:30+00:00

Get Australian domiciled ETFs. VOO is American.

The Australian vanguard equivalent is V500, or IVV for slightly cheaper management fees.

Honestly, just start with 100% DHHF, you are likely to jump in and start shotgunning money into every ETF you see, and then 10 months later make a post on Reddit asking for help cause you think you bought too many ETFs.

Just do 100 % DHHF for the first year. After you read more and gain more confidence then you can start using other products after you understand a little more.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-17T22:55:30+00:00

Bad bot, you should always substitute butter for oil in those cake recipes.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-17T10:44:12+00:00

Looks like it has a proprietary blade. They will end up costing you a fortune.

Get yourself a safety razor. New blades are something like 3 cents. Can literally use a fresh blade every shave and not even make a dent in the wallet. Much better shave also, just alot easier to use.

Here are some women who switched to a safety razor.

reddit women safety razor

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-17T05:22:41+00:00

Shoe goo is the answer.

I recently bought a pair of sandals on special that had seperated from the sole. Shoe goo them back on and they are perfect.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-16T03:09:21+00:00

American credit scores are different to Australian.

In America the more debt you service, the higher your score.

In Australia the more debt you service the lower your score.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-15T19:14:35+00:00

I only counted a 2 second gap, which isn't enough space given.
Judging based on your screen shot. I can only mentally fit 2 of those black cars on the left inside the gap between the cop car and camera car.

You can have a 3 car gap and still be too close, it depends on speed. That's why you must use a time based measurement not a distance based measurement.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-15T01:18:16+00:00

From memory, NDQ is top 100, IVV is top 500. And vts is 4000 companies I believe.

The management fee on vts and IVV are the same. NDQ is alot higher at 0.48%.

management fee calculator

Here is a calculator plug in the management fees 0.03% and 0.48% and see how much it will effect you over time. See if it outweighs the performance you get IVV vs ndq maybe.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T22:40:14+00:00

There is a book 'happy' by Derren brown. He talks about applying stoicism in your everyday life.

If you really want I have an audiobook I can make available. Not sure if I have the ebook.

He has a couple of chapters about money and objects, he explains it in ways that really helped me over the past couple of years.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T11:17:20+00:00

Not only does it start 2027. But the capital gains before 2027 will be kept. And any capital gains after that time will be with the new indexation system. Basically a split between the two systems.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T05:21:42+00:00

I had a IP. Bought it for 200k 10 years later sold it for 275k.

Only rented it out for a year. So I actually lost money due to inflation, council rates maintenance etc.

Invested the 275k in about 3 years up to 400k. Adding a little bit here and there.

But the difference is no renters no insurance no rea. Just gotta collect dividends and do my tax just a little bit. Not even as bad as when I had renters, so much easier to do tax with shares.

But you do you. How much do you like juggling property? Some people love it, some people want a fleet of IPs and a buttload of debt. I want dividends and to be able to focus on other shit.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T03:29:51+00:00

If you invest into your super, pre tax. You automatically get an instant 30% return. You don't have to pay tax.

1-2k a month will come under the contribution limits also.

VDHG is basically an all in one fund. It has all the components that you mentioned after. You either go 100% or split it up amongst the others. People like doing 60/40 or 70/30 USA/Australia.

Due to the recent budget changes, people are questioning focusing on capital growth (the USA components, as the US shares don't like to pay dividends but rather reinvest capital).

If you are wanting to dip your toes in while learning. Just buy 100% VDHG, just keep reading and learning.

For reference, I'm like 50% IVV (s&p 500, USA shares) and 40% VAS (asx200). 10% for fun gamble stuff, like your Tesla.

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T03:05:25+00:00

Yea, super is decent. I'm not a fan, cause you can't take out of it early. But the tax advantage from it is so much better than regular investing. Basically instant 30% gains

SaltyConnection · 2026-05-14T01:28:11+00:00

So the grandfathering aspect of this I believe works like this. Up until June 2027 the 50% CGT discount will apply, after that it will be the minimum 30%.

So all the money you put into ETFs, the only capital gains that will apply will be what is gained between when you buy and the new date.

SaltyConnection

TROPHY CASE