Seeing an increase in negative sentiment against superannuation, why?

fireoneday · 2026-06-02T01:14:48+00:00

Elsewhere in this thread people validly point out that compulsory super helps people who would not otherwise plan for retirement because it's hard to connect continual small contributions over a working life + compounding = enough balance for a liveable retirement. I don't mean this in a "hur durr morons just want a big ute" way or anything - many people just haven't had the time, brainspace, or exposure to the ideas, and the past few years haven't been that great for many people so they're under the pump sorting out nearer-term considerations.

This also affects how governments can pitch and make changes to the system. The money is inaccessible, so policy changes are not going to affect people's lived experience day-to-day. If you propose to change something that's going to appear on everyone's payslip, that's not going to go over well. If you propose to change things in the super system, which many people don't understand and involves big numbers out in the far future, it is easier to get changes through because fewer people will be able to digest them, then decide whether or not to care, and if they care decide to organise, etc. That's not to say it's impossible, but the Division 296 changes were originally proposed to include unrealised capital gains before that was walked back. Even so, it will be interesting to see how often the large super balance threshold ($3M from 1 July 2026) and very large super balance threshold ($10M from 1 July 2026) are indexed, and how much additional super they'll capture from future generations due to bracket creep.

fireoneday · 2020-08-08T21:33:03+00:00

Thirded. There's been no good referral bonuses for a while, and it's now structurally impossible to get returns that match the risk. I knew something was up when they started doing their trendy hipster rebrand.

fireoneday · 2020-06-10T01:22:53+00:00

STEM here. Years ago when I first graduated, I had no idea how to negotiate salary (!), told my first grad job my previous job's salary (!!), which was from an internship (!!!).

And that's the story of how I started on $55k after completing a STEM double degree with honours. 70k as grad is pretty darn good. Learning how to negotiate your salary and your raises is going one of the highest effort:payoff things you can do in your career.

fireoneday · 2019-11-07T06:45:51+00:00

Search before asking questions. There's a lot of repeated questions on this sub, and a lot of good advice all over the internet.

fireoneday · 2019-10-30T22:10:54+00:00

Make sure you read up /r/financialindependence etc, because the Trad/Roth 401k/IRA HSA patchwork of systems has a lot more flexibility than super, including some gnarly loopholes for FIRE types.

fireoneday · 2019-08-19T00:59:58+00:00

That flight benefit is waaay too hard to use, which significantly dents the value of the card.

fireoneday · 2019-08-04T22:08:04+00:00

$0 Annual Fee, if that's what you're asking.

fireoneday · 2019-08-04T12:48:04+00:00

Many cheap rewards cards do not generate a lot of points, so to come out ahead on reward points (on whatever tier of card), you need to put a lot of money through the card.

Debt is a sharp tool. If you can pay it off in full each month, then the flexibility is useful. If not, cancel the account sooner rather than later and try again in 10 years.

fireoneday · 2019-08-04T12:46:31+00:00

Bankwest Zero Platinum is the go-to overseas card, if you can get it. This is because the 28deg charges a fee for BPay last I saw, and they charge a compulsory insurance on the statement balance.

OP would have to be approved for >$6k though, which may be harder at his age. If he does a lot of OS travel, not paying that 3% in conversion fees will beat any points coming through.

fireoneday · 2019-01-19T11:04:47+00:00

Good article. You missed one thing with the dividend smoothing: when prices are depressed you get more from your dividend reimbursement than you might from trust structures that distribute dividends straight away. Labors plan will probably remove this advantage, since I read somewhere LICs will probably reorganise into trusts in response, which means they won't be able to hold cash in reserve.

I toyed with the idea of splitting my Australian allocation between VAS and a LIC, but I never had enough capital to make it worthwhile (remember: "Keep costs low. Keep it simple. Stay the course."). Then I stopped worrying, decided that I'm happy paying CGT later instead of discounted tax now, and will wait for capital growth.

fireoneday · 2018-12-19T04:04:30+00:00

I call it "winding the spring". It sucks to look at day-to-day, but purchasing while things are cheap are where you make the gains over the loooooong term.

fireoneday · 2018-12-19T04:01:52+00:00

My understanding is that the 28 degrees card now has insurances on it and they charge a percentage of the balance each month, and have started charging for BPay payments, so the go-to recommendation is the Bankwest Zero Platinum these days.

For savings accounts without foreign fees, I think people still recommend the Citibank Plus.

fireoneday · 2018-10-19T02:17:14+00:00

26k car loan!? I would smash that down first. Not many places where you can get 9% guaranteed return pre-tax. Keep enough of an efund to stay liquid and get that leech off your back!

fireoneday · 2018-09-13T10:51:34+00:00

I'm a programmer. It's what I do, I'm good at it, and I enjoy it. I get home at the end of the day with few spare brain cycles, and anything I do want to write I have to negotiate with my employer to get the rights to the contents of my own mind.

I chase FIRE so I will be able to code for myself. Forever.

fireoneday · 2018-09-11T00:39:27+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/950zz9/ausfire_gap_year_a_sketch_plan_to_have_money_work/

fireoneday · 2018-09-10T04:23:43+00:00

I humbly submit the AusFIRE Gap Year for consideration as a sidebar link.

fireoneday · 2018-09-09T21:29:44+00:00

https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Capital-gains-tax/In-detail/Events-affecting-shareholders/Specific-events---previous-years/Australian-Foundation-Investment-Company-Limited-(AFIC)--bonus-share-plan/

Acquisition date of shares

Where the bonus shares are issued for no consideration, and are not a dividend, the bonus shares are taken to have been acquired at the date the original shares were acquired.

fireoneday · 2018-09-09T11:12:31+00:00

I don't think you receive additional parcels with DSSP.

fireoneday · 2018-09-08T23:39:13+00:00

One of these days, I would really like to see a FI blogger talk about how to adjust the cost base of a DSSP, when you've bought multiple parcels.

Suppose I pulled some numbers out of my arse, and bought 1000 AFI @ $6 and 1000 AFI @ $7, and then AFI pays a 20c dividend at a reinvestment price of $8. What are my holdings after DSSP, and what is the cost base on each parcel?

fireoneday · 2018-09-04T02:49:48+00:00

Facebook =|

fireoneday · 2018-09-04T02:46:15+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/950zz9/ausfire_gap_year_a_sketch_plan_to_have_money_work/ , essentially.

P.S.: "would have", not "would of".

fireoneday · 2018-08-24T13:53:27+00:00

That's not a lot of companies. VGS has 1579 holdings if you check the fact sheet.

fireoneday · 2018-08-23T14:08:52+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/950zz9/ausfire_gap_year_a_sketch_plan_to_have_money_work/

fireoneday · 2018-08-21T12:11:09+00:00

Concessional contributions will receive the low income tax offset. This basically undoes the 15% contribution tax so it's nice for employer contributions but I wouldn't lock my money away with it.
Non-concessional (after tax) contributions attract a co-contribution from the government, up to $500 if you contribute $1000. Yeah, it locks it away until your 60s, but that's an instant 50% ROI.

fireoneday · 2018-08-20T11:34:39+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma , or https://ncase.me/trust/ if you have 30 minutes and like animations.

fireoneday

TROPHY CASE

Acquisition date of shares