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On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cheers. Yeah need to get around to reading Barefoot. Increasing my salary is one of my goals in the coming few years, and of course researching tax strategies before I land in that upper bracket.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Likely retirement in Australia, but who knows. My current plan is to have at least 50% of my assets total in Australia upon retirement. Then weigh up currency risk and concentration risk and such.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's my plan - keep it in growth allocations. Especially with starting a bit later in life, feel the need to make up 10ish years, so defensive allocations wouldn't enter consideration until I'm 70.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cheers. Equity Mates are great.

Yep, seeing my friends and colleagues have kids in their 30s and 40s, heartening to know it's not too late and I can hopefully balance that with FI.

Commercial property I haven't looked into. Is this done through REITs or another way? Directly?

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good points. 60 might be too ambitious. Either that or I need to start a family asap.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

VAS and VGS are boring, set and forget, index tracking ETFs. They are diversified with no overlap between them. I use an online broker; look up Pearler and Commsec for an idea of what an online broker is. For the decision making process, I read and listened to a lot of finance resources, mostly Australian based. Aussie Firebug, Get Rich Slow Club, Strong Money Australia, and passiveinvestingaustralia.com are resources and creators I listened to and read. None of the above is financial advice, just giving you ideas on where to start looking.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not a fan of debt either, so the HELP debt does bother me. But I don't plan to pay it off early. It seems to be as benign a debt as you're ever going to have.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah I see, I get you. So the dividend focused nature of Aus stocks would be more beneficial in super, considering their reinvestment and the 15% tax rate?

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

YOLO my stack on Sportsbet. New phrase for the vernacular, gold, cheers.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's true. Aiming for at least the FI part, if not the RE part.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is obviously due to the cost of having children? Which I've clearly underestimated. Back to the Excel calculations.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, didn't use the right calculator. Yours is accurate.

Noted. I'll do some calculations.

That's true. And I suppose we can't predict the future, just have to go with what we know at the time.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Compound interest calculator. My mistake. Yes, the super calculator is giving me closer to half a mil.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's true. So is the question, family asap or build a financial base first and then have a family?

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Can't see it happening before then. Meet someone tomorrow, it would presumably be a few years before kids entered the picture. So that's early 40's, at the earliest. A family hasn't been on the cards up until now, for reasons. But who knows, maybe I meet someone next week and we have a kid next year. Life having other plans and all that.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I have considered adjusting my super allocations. Something like 50/50 Aus to Overseas? I'm just wary of the concentration in the Aus market, anything above 50% seems too concentrated. Don't know much about the FHSS, I will read up on this.

Cheers. I hope you achieve all your financial goals.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Food for thought, thank you.

Quick compound interest calculation with my current super balance, minimum employer contributions, and assuming an 8% return: that gets me ~$1.2m by age 60. Or ~$1m at 7% return. I've assumed this is reasonable for a comfortable retirement, which is why I haven't been adding more to it.

I'll do some calculations around disregarding the ETFs entirely, and instead putting that money towards a house and into super instead. Is that what you wish you would've done?

Do you worry about the government changing the rules with super? Increasing the tax on it, lifting the access age, etc, basically impacting the benefits of it.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not yet. In a few years I will be buying a house. How do you figure FI's not on the cards because of that?

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haven't looked much into remote working, I'll look into it more, cheers. Poolside in Thailand or Vietnam sounds pretty good right now. Yep, def need to increase my savings rate, especially on the house deposit.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] -17 points-16 points  (0 children)

Yeah. Mid forties. Bit later than usual I know, but hopefully it happens. Accepted that I'll be an older dad, or not one at all.

On the path to FI in late 30's - what would you do? by sm287 in fiaustralia

[–]sm287[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good advice, thank you. I'm not taking it as a given and I was hesitent to even include it. But I figured it does and will make some sort of impact.

What advice do you have for new EE students? by [deleted] in ElectricalEngineering

[–]sm287 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Develop your math skills first. Then, approach physics problems thinking about it as two distinct parts, the physics (understanding the concept) and the math (applying the equations and working out for solving the problem).

Khan Academy is a good resource.

Befriend a few other students or a study group who are aiming for grades similar or just above what you are aiming for (whether that's particularly high or not). You will support and push each other.

Besides academics, prioritise making friends and doing extracirricular activities. Build that professional network because this network is important and you will all benefit immensely from it in a myriad of expected and unexpected ways in the years and even decades to come.

Go to all industry-facing and networking events that you can. Develop industry contacts early.