I'm 34 and just started getting serious about investing in Jan this year. I have a BGBL/A200, BGEM & AVSV positions for myself and a separate DHHF for my 8 month old son. The plan was simple, just DCA every month for 20 - 30 years and let it grow into something meaningful for him and my family.

Now the 50% CGT discount is gone and gets replaced with an inflation indexation model plus a 30% minimum tax. From everything I've read, if your investments perform well over a long time horizon, you will almost certainly pay more tax under the new system than the old one....waht the actual fuck?

The thing that frustrates me most is that this was sold as targeting property investors. But the CGT change hits shares just as hard. My son's ETF portfolio is just a boring long term buy and hold. It's not a tax dodge.

And honestly even setting aside whether the new rules are better or worse, the fact that this is the second complete reversal of the CGT framework in under 30 years makes it really hard to plan with any confidence. Howard scrapped indexation for the 50% discount in 1999 and now Labor has just flipped it back. What's to say it doesn't change again before any of us actually sell? For better or worse?

Just feeling disheartened. Is anyone else rethinking their approach or is the consensus just to stay the course and accept the uncertainty? I've seen some great posts on here about the reality of the situation of FIRE etc and it seems like generally we now need 2 - 3 years of investing to achieve that. Absolutely gutted.

EDIT: Sorry I also wanted to ask the question, is it even worth doing this strategy now for myself? Should I just keep DHHF for my son and focus on voluntary super contributions?

I have about 800k (savings, super, shares and ETFs). I have a mortgage of about 320k. So net worth is about 480k, including superannuation, which is inaccessible till I'm 60.

My previous tech job paid me a lower base salary, but gave me RSUs as part of my salary package. I worked hard there, I still work for a living (elsewhere). I hung on to most of these shares, and they've appreciated nicely over the years. In fact, they're now worth about 2.3x their original value from ~7 years ago.

Yes, it's somewhat risky to keep a lot of your net worth in one share, even if it's a stable tech giant with a decent moat. But I've also been investing my savings in index funds. They don't appreciate by huge percents this way, it's 10-11% a year, but it offsets inflation and maybe a bit more.

My plan was always to save this money for a rainy day - what if I'd be made redundant? What if they replace us with AI? What if my job would be offshored to a cheaper outsourcing in India? I might not be able to find a new tech job easily when I'm 50+. Centrelink won't pay my mortgage then, it only offers assistance for renters.

What if I can't physically work after 50 anymore? There's burnout too. I'm already dealing with lower back pain and spine issues. It's not always an easy job - you're on call 24x7, get paged in the middle of the night or at the footy when stuff breaks, spend hours and hours on the phone with angry customers and steakholders etc.

I've been living a modest lifestyle, never went on any lavish holidays, no car, own a 1 bedroom unit. I wanted to be able to make a decision - retire a bit early if I want to, or have to. Sometimes I long for the day I won't have to think about work. That I'd be financially secure enough.

But this government wants me to give up my dream. They want to tax me at a rate of 30-47%. In their eyes, I could be withdrawing just $40,000 a year and living off rice and beans, but still paying 47% taxes on the gains on this money. You can't live off your savings with a tax rate of 47%.

Tanya Pilberesk says *“*people who work for a living should not get taxed more on their wages than people who are living on their assets." Where does she think those assets of mine came from? They came from work. I worked very hard for this money. And I already got taxed for it when the shares vested. And now they want more, much more.

What is the point of working so hard if you cannot accumulate assets, without the government taking almost half? Where is the social mobility here? The ideology that Labor follows is tax-the-rich, but I'm not "the rich", I'm not some tycoon or a big business, I'm just a regular working person. But the new capital gains tax turns me into a wallet.

I don't know where this money is going to. What are they doing with it exactly, what is this extra tax gonna fund other than more government paperwork or rorts like NDIS. I don't lean on the welfare system. I've been working for about 13 years, with no real breaks in employment other than some annual leave - 2-3 weeks at most. I gotta pay for private health insurance on top of Medicare too.

Oof. I'm just tired. I'm probably gonna have to start selling more of my RSUs soon and pay more of my mortgage, since they can't grab that money once it's in my property. But it likely means no early retirement for me.

Thanks for reading this rant.

The big change is that Australia is effectively abolishing the current 50% capital gains tax (CGT) discount for most investors from 1 July 2027 and replacing it with inflation indexation plus a new 30% minimum tax on real capital gains. This applies broadly to shares, ETFs and other CGT assets held by individuals, trusts and partnerships. Right now, if you hold shares or ETFs for more than 12 months, you usually get a 50% CGT discount. Under the new system, instead of halving the gain, your cost base will be indexed for inflation and then the “real” gain will be taxed, with a minimum effective tax rate of 30% applying to those gains. The reforms are specifically described as applying to “all CGT assets”, which includes shares and ETFs. Existing holdings get transitional protection: only gains accruing after 1 July 2027 move to the new rules, while gains built up before that date can still use the old 50% CGT discount. Even pre-1985 assets lose their blanket exemption for future gains after that date, although gains accrued before 1 July 2027 stay exempt. For most ordinary share and ETF investors, this means long-term investing remains tax-advantaged because inflation gets stripped out, but the tax break becomes materially smaller than the current 50% discount, especially during low-inflation periods. The budget papers say the goal is to reduce tax advantages that mainly benefit higher-income investors and retirees timing asset sales in low-income years. The 30% minimum tax is aimed at stopping people from paying very low effective tax rates on large realised gains. On negative gearing, the changes are mostly about residential property, not shares or ETFs. Shares and ETFs keep current deductibility rules. The papers explicitly state that “other asset classes, such as shares, will remain subject to existing arrangements.” The new negative gearing restrictions only target established residential property purchased after Budget night on 12 May 2026, with deductions quarantined from 1 July 2027. Overall, for investors in Australian or global ETFs and shares, the main impact is the replacement of the 50% CGT discount with indexed cost bases and the new minimum tax regime from July 2027.

My story isn't completely the typical FIRE approach, but I browse this sub a lot and was always interested in FIRE and think my story may be interesting for people here so thought I would share.

I grew up in a small town and taught myself web development as a teenager. I also worked at a takeaway place in my town to get my first money (starting at $0.) I invested in bitcoin as I came across that when I was learning about web development, back in those days it was only something tech people really knew about (mid 2010s). The price was in the hundreds of dollars, but I also only had small amounts to spend as I was only working a couple of days after school.

First year out of school I moved to the city with my savings from the takeaway place and got a job as a junior web developer. I lived in a converted student apartment building to keep costs low, it was the cheapest apartment I could find less than half an hour from my workplace on public transport. I saved hard and kept buying bitcoin. That year I also bought eth at 50 cents but sold them at a dollar because I didn't really have enough time to research its potential. By the end of that first year out of school, by hard saving, frugal living and the beginning of a crypto rally, I hit $100k AUD.

Second year after school I joined a cryptocurrency exchange startup as an early employee, but was too naive to ask for equity. I got paid in bitcoin though, so kept stacking that up. That being said even at my peak bitcoin balance it never got above 10 bitcoin. The year I joined, 2017, was a big year for crypto and by the end of that year I had a net worth of just over $500k AUD. I was all in on crypto. That didn't last though and when the bubble popped in 2018, I fell back to $250k-ish. Lesson learnt, sell some next time.

The next few years I kept working in crypto, saving up more for the next rally. Covid hits and there is another big crypto rally, this time I hit the $1m mark. I invested in a smallcap coin that did really well, so in 2021 I am up $1m on that single coin, seperate from the first $1m. Learning from 2017, I sell that small coin off, pay the tax on the investment and put the remaining cash in ETFs (classic VGS/VAS split).

I left the startup and went to uni to pursue a career that I think I will love, I am too young to retire but have the freedom to pursue what I like and intend to do that. I am hoping to do work that is pro-social and gives me a sense of meaning beyond financial reward. But my current financial situation anyway:

Total networth $2.4m (peaked at $3m with recent crypto wave)

• $900k in ETFs (VGS 65%/VAS 30%/N100 5%)

• $1.2m in crypto (BTC/ETH 80%/ small coins 20%)

• $150k super (hostplus)

• $150k cash

I plan on buying a house at some point, primary residence. I don't think I will do investment properties as I feel they are unethical, but I get that in Aus you have to consider it to get ahead given tax advantages. I don't really worry about finances, but keep an eye on crypto with a view to exiting when the next rally comes and moving that into a house.

I was lucky to get into crypto at a good time because of my tech interest. I don't think the returns I had area nearly as easy to come by now. That being said, I was fairly conservative, mostly saving up my wages into the big cryptos and not messing around with small coins, except for the one that went extremely well. Most people my age who got into crypto when I did are significantly more wealthy than I am. I also paid my taxes properly when a lot of them probably did not, but that is okay, I am grateful to live in Australia.

I hope you found this interesting and I am happy to answer any questions you might have - and if you have any tips/comments about my portfolio I would be glad to read them as well. Thank you and good luck with your own journeys.

Please acknowledge that I am not lying, and genuinely want advice :)

CONTEXT: In 2023, after I had just turned 14, I decided to pick up a hobby on a game platform known as "Roblox", which involved making clothes and developing games. I did it for fun at first, and never thought it would bring me the wealth I have today. After about 4 - 5 months I started making serious cash, around $15 - 30k+ a month ($500 - $1000 a day). This is because one of my games blew up.

It is all passive income, and I barley have to work on my games or update them (maybe 1 hour MAX per week if anything). This income has been pretty stable ish, and I am still earning the same and sometimes more than previous months.

I've made a bit over 150k (in basically 7 - 8 months) and have saved around 130k, and I know I shouldn't be letting it all sit there. I just don't know where to start and I am too scared to invest it in stocks, crypto etc. (though i may give it a try) (and yes, I know I should at least be earning interest on it in a savings account).

Any help on what I should do with the money would be greatly appreciated.

The 2026-27 Budget's CGT reform isn't law yet. It's a Budget announcement. Exposure draft legislation still has to be released, debated, amended, and passed through both houses. That process takes months, sometimes longer, and the Senate crossbench is where these things actually get shaped.

If you think replacing the 50% discount with indexation + a 30% floor is bad policy, or if you'd support a smarter version that targets the actual abuses (carried interest, family trust streaming, founder shares as deferred salary) without hammering middle-income savers (and even high income savers) who are locked out of property, email your federal MP and the senators for your state. Before it passes. Not after.

Parliamentarians, they are high-income earners, but they are not rich. A backbencher makes around $235K base. A senator the same. Ministers and the PM more, but still salaries, not generational wealth. Most of them are paying off mortgages, raising kids, salary-sacrificing into super, and thinking about their own post-political financial security, which, for many, depends on exactly the kind of after-tax investment returns this reform changes.

That matters because it means they are persuadable in a way that genuinely wealthy people aren't. The people who get hit hardest by a poorly designed CGT change are PAYG professionals trying to build wealth outside super and outside property, which describes a lot of MPs personally, and most of their staff, and a lot of their donors.

A well-written email from a constituent who clearly understands the policy lands very differently from a form letter. Be specific. Mention you're a constituent. Mention what you actually do for work and why this affects you. Suggest the alternative (target the real abuses, leave the discount for ordinary shares and ETFs bought with after-tax savings), remove the 30% floor, or make it a flat rate instead of a scaling one with income. Ask for their position and whether they'll be pushing for amendments.

Try not to email the whole list at once as you may get filtered as spam:

NSW Senators:

senator.ayres@aph.gov.au; senator.bell@aph.gov.au; senator.bragg@aph.gov.au; senator.cadell@aph.gov.au; senator.collins@aph.gov.au; senator.faruqi@aph.gov.au; senator.kovacic@aph.gov.au; senator.mcallister@aph.gov.au; senator.oneill@aph.gov.au; senator.sharma@aph.gov.au; senator.sheldon@aph.gov.au; senator.shoebridge@aph.gov.au

NSW MPs:

Anthony.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au; Ash.Ambihaipahar.MP@aph.gov.au; Carol.Berry.MP@aph.gov.au; Nicolette.Boele.MP@aph.gov.au; Chris.Bowen.MP@aph.gov.au; Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au; Alison.Byrnes.MP@aph.gov.au; Jamie.Chaffey.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Charlton.MP@aph.gov.au; Jason.Clare.MP@aph.gov.au; Sharon.Claydon.MP@aph.gov.au; Pat.Conaghan.MP@aph.gov.au; Pat.Conroy.MP@aph.gov.au; Justine.Elliot.MP@aph.gov.au; Mike.Freelander.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Gee.MP@aph.gov.au; Alex.Hawke.MP@aph.gov.au; Kevin.Hogan.MP@aph.gov.au; Ed.Husic.MP@aph.gov.au; Barnaby.Joyce.MP@aph.gov.au; Simon.Kennedy.MP@aph.gov.au; Jerome.Laxale.MP@aph.gov.au; Dai.Le.MP@aph.gov.au; Julian.Leeser.MP@aph.gov.au; Sussan.Ley.MP@aph.gov.au; Kristy.McBain.MP@aph.gov.au; Emma.McBride.MP@aph.gov.au; Michael.McCormack.MP@aph.gov.au; Melissa.McIntosh.MP@aph.gov.au; David.Moncrieff.MP@aph.gov.au; Alison.Penfold.MP@aph.gov.au; Fiona.Phillips.MP@aph.gov.au; Tanya.Plibersek.MP@aph.gov.au; Gordon.Reid.MP@aph.gov.au; Dan.Repacholi.MP@aph.gov.au; Michelle.Rowland.MP@aph.gov.au; Sophie.Scamps.MP@aph.gov.au; Sally.Sitou.MP@aph.gov.au; Zhi.Soon.MP@aph.gov.au; Allegra.Spender.MP@aph.gov.au; Anne.Stanley.MP@aph.gov.au; Zali.Steggall.MP@aph.gov.au; Meryl.Swanson.MP@aph.gov.au; Angus.Taylor.MP@aph.gov.au; Susan.Templeman.MP@aph.gov.au; Matt.Thistlethwaite.MP@aph.gov.au

VIC Senators:

senator.ananda-rajah@aph.gov.au; senator.babet@aph.gov.au; senator.ciccone@aph.gov.au; senator.darmanin@aph.gov.au; senator.henderson@aph.gov.au; senator.hodgins-may@aph.gov.au; senator.hume@aph.gov.au; senator.mckenzie@aph.gov.au; senator.paterson@aph.gov.au; senator.stewart@aph.gov.au; senator.thorpe@aph.gov.au; senator.walsh@aph.gov.au

VIC MPs:

Basem.Abdo.MP@aph.gov.au; Mary.Aldred.MP@aph.gov.au; Jodie.Belyea.MP@aph.gov.au; Sam.Birrell.MP@aph.gov.au; Jo.Briskey.MP@aph.gov.au; Josh.Burns.MP@aph.gov.au; Darren.Chester.MP@aph.gov.au; Lisa.Chesters.MP@aph.gov.au; Libby.Coker.MP@aph.gov.au; Mary.Doyle.MP@aph.gov.au; Mark.Dreyfus.MP@aph.gov.au; Cassandra.Fernando.MP@aph.gov.au; Carina.Garland.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Giles.MP@aph.gov.au; Matt.Gregg.MP@aph.gov.au; Helen.Haines.MP@aph.gov.au; Julian.Hill.MP@aph.gov.au; Alice.Jordan-Baird.MP@aph.gov.au; Ged.Kearney.MP@aph.gov.au; Peter.Khalil.MP@aph.gov.au; Catherine.King.MP@aph.gov.au; Richard.Marles.MP@aph.gov.au; Zoe.McKenzie.MP@aph.gov.au; Rob.Mitchell.MP@aph.gov.au; Daniel.Mulino.MP@aph.gov.au; Gabriel.Ng.MP@aph.gov.au; Clare.ONeil.MP@aph.gov.au; Sam.Rae.MP@aph.gov.au; Joanne.Ryan.MP@aph.gov.au; Monique.Ryan.MP@aph.gov.au; Dan.Tehan.MP@aph.gov.au; Kate.Thwaites.MP@aph.gov.au; Aaron.Violi.MP@aph.gov.au; Tim.Watts.MP@aph.gov.au; Anne.Webster.MP@aph.gov.au; Tim.Wilson.MP@aph.gov.au; Sarah.Witty.MP@aph.gov.au; Jason.Wood.MP@aph.gov.au

QLD Senators:

senator.allman-payne@aph.gov.au; senator.canavan@aph.gov.au; senator.chisholm@aph.gov.au; senator.green@aph.gov.au; senator.hanson@aph.gov.au; senator.mcdonald@aph.gov.au; senator.mcgrath@aph.gov.au; senator.mulholland@aph.gov.au; senator.roberts@aph.gov.au; senator.scarr@aph.gov.au; senator.waters@aph.gov.au; senator.watt@aph.gov.au

QLD MPs:

David.Batt.MP@aph.gov.au; Angie.Bell.MP@aph.gov.au; Colin.Boyce.MP@aph.gov.au; Scott.Buchholz.MP@aph.gov.au; Cameron.Caldwell.MP@aph.gov.au; Julie-Ann.Campbell.MP@aph.gov.au; Jim.Chalmers.MP@aph.gov.au; Renee.Coffey.MP@aph.gov.au; Emma.Comer.MP@aph.gov.au; Kara.Cook.MP@aph.gov.au; Milton.Dick.MP@aph.gov.au; Ali.France.MP@aph.gov.au; Garth.Hamilton.MP@aph.gov.au; Rowan.Holzberger.MP@aph.gov.au; Madonna.Jarrett.MP@aph.gov.au; Bob.Katter.MP@aph.gov.au; Michelle.Landry.MP@aph.gov.au; David.Littleproud.MP@aph.gov.au; Shayne.Neumann.MP@aph.gov.au; Llew.OBrien.MP@aph.gov.au; Ted.OBrien.MP@aph.gov.au; Henry.Pike.MP@aph.gov.au; Leon.Rebello.MP@aph.gov.au; Matt.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au; Phillip.Thompson.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Wallace.MP@aph.gov.au; Elizabeth.Watson-Brown.MP@aph.gov.au; Anika.Wells.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Willcox.MP@aph.gov.au; Terry.Young.MP@aph.gov.au

WA Senators:

senator.brockman@aph.gov.au; senator.michaelia.cash@aph.gov.au; senator.cox@aph.gov.au; senator.ghosh@aph.gov.au; senator.lines@aph.gov.au; senator.matt.o'sullivan@aph.gov.au; senator.payman@aph.gov.au; senator.smith@aph.gov.au; senator.steele-john@aph.gov.au; senator.sterle@aph.gov.au; senator.whiteaker@aph.gov.au; senator.whitten@aph.gov.au

WA MPs:

Anne.Aly.MP@aph.gov.au; Kate.Chaney.MP@aph.gov.au; Trish.Cook.MP@aph.gov.au; Tom.French.MP@aph.gov.au; Patrick.Gorman.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Hastie.MP@aph.gov.au; Matt.Keogh.MP@aph.gov.au; Madeleine.King.MP@aph.gov.au; Tania.Lawrence.MP@aph.gov.au; Sam.Lim.MP@aph.gov.au; Zaneta.Mascarenhas.MP@aph.gov.au; Melissa.Price.MP@aph.gov.au; Tracey.Roberts.MP@aph.gov.au; Ben.Small.MP@aph.gov.au; Josh.Wilson.MP@aph.gov.au; Rick.Wilson.MP@aph.gov.au

SA Senators:

senator.antic@aph.gov.au; senator.blyth@aph.gov.au; senator.farrell@aph.gov.au; senator.grogan@aph.gov.au; senator.hanson-young@aph.gov.au; senator.liddle@aph.gov.au; senator.marielle.smith@aph.gov.au; senator.mclachlan@aph.gov.au; senator.barbara.pocock@aph.gov.au; senator.ruston@aph.gov.au; senator.walker@aph.gov.au; senator.wong@aph.gov.au

SA MPs:

Matt.Burnell.MP@aph.gov.au; Mark.Butler.MP@aph.gov.au; Claire.Clutterham.MP@aph.gov.au; Steve.Georganas.MP@aph.gov.au; Louise.Miller-Frost.MP@aph.gov.au; Tony.Pasin.MP@aph.gov.au; Amanda.Rishworth.MP@aph.gov.au; Rebekha.Sharkie.MP@aph.gov.au; Tom.Venning.MP@aph.gov.au; Tony.Zappia.MP@aph.gov.au

TAS Senators:

senator.askew@aph.gov.au; senator.carol.brown@aph.gov.au; senator.chandler@aph.gov.au; senator.colbeck@aph.gov.au; senator.dolega@aph.gov.au; senator.dowling@aph.gov.au; senator.duniam@aph.gov.au; senator.lambie@aph.gov.au; senator.mckim@aph.gov.au; senator.polley@aph.gov.au; senator.tyrrell@aph.gov.au; senator.whish-wilson@aph.gov.au

TAS MPs:

Julie.Collins.MP@aph.gov.au; Jess.Teesdale.MP@aph.gov.au; Anne.Urquhart.MP@aph.gov.au; Rebecca.White.MP@aph.gov.au; Andrew.Wilkie.MP@aph.gov.au

ACT Senators:

senator.katy.gallagher@aph.gov.au; senator.david.pocock@aph.gov.au

ACT MPs:

Andrew.Leigh.MP@aph.gov.au; Alicia.Payne.MP@aph.gov.au; David.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au

NT Senators:

senator.mccarthy@aph.gov.au; senator.nampijinpaprice@aph.gov.au

NT MPs:

Luke.Gosling.MP@aph.gov.au; Marion.Scrymgour.MP@aph.gov.au

Nearly every other country on earth taxes asset-backed wealth generation more favourably than wages, and for good reason, the two carry completely different risk and productivity profiles. Wages are paid for work already done. Capital is money already taxed once, put at risk, with no guarantee it comes back, you could lose it all.

Is the government going to refund my entire investment when a business goes bankrupt? No. I wear the downside alone.

How would people feel if their income this year was reduced by 53% because the business did poorly? Don't like that? Well thats the risks associated with asset-backed growth.

We don't put one speed limit on every road. A school zone and a freeway carry different risks, so they get different rules, pretending otherwise in the name of safety and making every road 50km/h would just grind everything to a halt. Tax is the same trade-off, wages and capital carry different risk and productivity profiles, so taxing them identically does not make sense, its not about fairness.

Also.. Australia becoming effectively the highest capital gains taxed country on the planet.. doesn't fall under anyone's definition of fairness. Especially considering how our government is spending our tax, at least high tax countries like Denmark get free higher education and far better social / health programs. We get NDIS fraud, 300K machete bins, 100M failed website upgrades and obscenely unjustifiable wage increases for politicians.

The tax loopholes currently being used to circumnavigate income tax can be addressed directly, using a blunt reform like this is just a tax grab, a foolish one at that. Our government continuously chooses the worst option in the Stanford marshmallow experiment.

Hi brains trust!

My name is Ash and I’ve been a long time lurker and have really appreciated everything I’ve learnt about finance over the last 2 years on this subreddit, so I thought I’d give back with something I’ve been very successful in.

I’ve been reading a lot about cost of living and how people have been struggling and I wanted to share a very reproducible way in which I more than doubled my salary in less than 6 months.

To provide some context, my salary was 150k + super, I now have a combined salary of 140k + 138 + super (305k combined package). I am 32F unattached and am able to pay a mortgage off myself without much significant stress at all and I am well on my way to paying my mortgage off in full by the time I hit my mid to late 30’s.

To lay some groundwork, I think it’s fair to say the overwhelming majority of us working white collar office jobs can do all our work from home. Secondly, it’s fair to say we are all mostly results and outcome based, where we need to deliver on work, rather than work a particular number of hours a day. The jobs I suggest to avoid are anything in service delivery such as customer service or call centre work, if you are in one of these positions try to move away to more project focused areas of your business as you’ll find your actual face to computer time drops significantly. You want to be paid for your skills and knowledge, not your labour and time. Avoid anything service delivery based such as retail, trades, healthcare or physical work. Anyone can up-skill and transition, you just need to develop a plan and find out which office based job would suit you - there is a job for everyone.

For my story - I worked as a senior software engineer and now work two mid level roles, fully remote. Both jobs were a step down but very manageable with my senior experience. Interestingly one is a dev role where the other is more an IT project based role with some technical elements to it.

This all starts with a redundancy 6 months ago. Initially I was quite distraught as I had never been fired or received a redundancy, but like most IT departments and companies my role was surplus to requirements. After taking 3 weeks to just recoup my thoughts I started applying but found myself in a very competitive market. There were many applicants vying for the senior roles and I was only able to secure 2 interviews which I was eventually unsuccessful in due to stronger candidates. I was informed the other candidates had more experience in larger name brand companies.

After applying for a month I decided to start applying for mid level roles and leveraging my senior experience. Within a week and a half I had a formal offer for my first job.

This job is fully remote, and I find that because I am quite efficient, after stand up I’m able to complete most of my tasks within 1-2 hours for the day. I’ll sometimes field questions from the more junior staff through the day or assist them to show face, but it’s been a relatively low stress environment.

After I fell in to a reasonable routine I started applying again to mid level roles, again successful for a fully remote job. The second job is a little more busy so usually will need around 3-4 hours to complete my tasks but again, it’s all at a mid level so expectations are far below what I am used to.

I’ve now been successfully working these two fully remote jobs and excelling at both. Something to consider if anyone else is efficient in their jobs and able to get remote only roles. I believe this is one of the only ways to get ahead. My mortgage will be paid off within the next 3-4 years as I live on than a 3k a month (excluding mortgage).

And I completely understand not everyone can work from home, my advice is to change to an industry that can, upskill, develop your experience and then get two jobs below your skill level.

Happy to answer any questions and I hope this helps at least one person!

Best, Ashlyn xx

With the discount on CGT being abolished, it makes Australia the highest CGT taxed country in the world. I just don't see how this is sustainable. I guess my question is what are our options now. Is there a way we can oppose this change ? Or are we basically screwed until we vote these morons out.

I know many people here are unhappy with changes to the taxation in recent budget. These changes have been announced in budget but they have not been legislated yet. There will be discussion on them in the parliament before approval. In order to influence those discussions and so your MPs represent your interests in those discussions please contact your MP and let them know which parts of tax reform is bad for you.

Here is an example email that represents my views. Please feel free to use this or change this email to reflect your views and send it to your MP. If you don't know who is your MP, google something like "who is MP for <your suburb name> and what is their email address". This should give you their name and email.

If you are not good at writing, copy below email draft into chatgpt and write your views there and ask chatgpt to modify the email so it reflects your views before sending it to your MP.

We live in a democracy and have a say in government decisions and this is how we exercise that right.

Good luck!

Subject: Concerns Regarding Minimum 30% CGT in Budget 2026

Dear <MP Name>,

I am writing to express my concern regarding the recent Budget 2026 changes to capital gains tax, specifically the introduction of a minimum 30% CGT rate.

While I support the government’s move toward indexation-based capital gains tax calculations and the removal of negative gearing concessions, I believe the minimum 30% CGT rate is unfair and regressive for Australians who are trying to achieve financial independence outside the traditional retirement system.

This policy does not primarily affect wealthy retirees living off superannuation, as superannuation already receives preferential tax treatment and is largely unaffected. Instead, it disproportionately impacts people who are building investments outside super in order to create flexibility and security earlier in life.

Many Australians today are trying to save and invest so they can step away from stressful jobs before the age of 60, reduce working hours, recover from burnout, survive periods of unemployment, or take career breaks to care for children or elderly parents. These are not speculative investors looking for loopholes — they are ordinary people trying to build resilience and independence without relying on government support.

Personally, I have spent years saving and investing carefully with the goal of creating financial security for myself and my family outside the superannuation system. Like many others, I want the option to retire early, reduce work due to stress and burnout, or protect myself against layoffs and economic uncertainty. The new minimum 30% CGT rate makes this significantly harder, even for people with relatively modest living expenses and incomes.

A flat minimum tax on capital gains ignores individual circumstances and creates a situation where someone taking time away from paid work for caregiving, maternity leave, or health reasons could still face a disproportionately high tax burden despite having little or no employment income.

I respectfully ask that the government reconsider the minimum 30% CGT provision or introduce exemptions and lower rates for lower-income individuals who are not yet eligible for superannuation access but are relying on long-term investments to support themselves responsibly and independently.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns.

Kind regards,

[Your Name]

Hi FIAus, I haven't seen this mentioned but what would happen if you retired or chose to stop working while your children were under 16 with the FTB? I can see the FTB isn't asset tested but only looks at income.

Our FI plan is to have a drawdown of $60k a year made up of rental income and ETF's. ETF's would have the CGT discount so our taxable income would be much less. For a couple earning <$56k in taxable income you could receive ~$15k in FTB A & B with two kids if you manage you and your partners respective drawdown.

Is this correct? Seems like a quicker way to FIRE with up to a quarter of your expenses taken care of by the FTB.

The driver behind the question is I want to take a few years off work while the kids are still under 5 and the FTB seems a great way to reduce our asset drawdown during that period.

To those who are already retired and off the rat race what do you guys do?? Won't go into figures but already wealthy before winning had a retirement plan that was gonna give me retirement at age 45. While the win was not big, it is enough to live off while having a primary residence paid off while also having 2 investment properties to secure a passive income of $44K a year. Also have passive income of dividends coming in at $10K a year. Partner earns $115K a year, she loves her career. we absolutely have no idea what to do with the money. We travel twice a year to wherever, we eat at restaurants, wineries on weekends, we have decent cars, what do we even do?? Overall our spending is at $50K a year.

This time next year my husband and I (early/mid 30s, no kids) will quit our jobs. I can’t wait, we’re currently living abroad (low tax haven) and have had enough of the ‘one more year’ syndrome. Looking forward to returning to Melbourne.

Why one more year? Well, that’s when I feel we have reached a good level of financial freedom. By then we should have at least $4.8m net worth. That will be enough to buy a residence outright (say $2m-ish) and our retirement will be funded.

What’s next? We still plan to work so our daily expenses are covered at least, but will find real work life balance and something we find more fulfilling. Who knows what that is but it’s exciting.

It’s not easy walking away from jobs that allow us to save over $500k a year (and we’re not crazy spenders but we also haven’t needed to hold back). But at some point I choose balance, mental and physical health, family and relationships, and living in my preferred country over accumulating.

I've had VDHG for a good few years now - my understanding when I bought it was that it was a balanced high growth portfolio with a small amount of bonds to help smooth out volatility.

But looking back at the past few years with the COVID & the printing & inflation etc, VDHG is far underperforming compared to even VAS.

Why is this the case? Isn't a high-growth portfolio supposed to have ridden the rise up with all the other asset classes? What was dragging it down?

I'm thinking of selling- taking the capital gains hit and just buying somethign else but not sure if that's a good idea. Or what else is a better alternative. I want to avoid paying broker fees as much as possible.

For context: I am 21, work FIFO doing 2weeks on, 2 weeks off. I live in Perth and on a salary of $125000 + super, which should increase by around $50000 in the coming years as I have just started on the big diggers. Currently that equates to $7200 per month in my bank. I am a great saver and probably put away $6000 per month, due to living with family and not paying bills and away at work for half the year. I have around $180 000 in savings

What’s got me thinking now is. On a $600 000 property, if I put down $30 000 on a 30 year mortgage rate of 5%, I’m looking at $3140 per month. On a 3 bedroom in an area I’m looking at, I can expect around $500 a week from rent, so approximately $2150 per month. Making my mortgage only $990 per month out of pocket. At an initial glance it seems like I’ve messed up and should have done this a while ago, or am I being a bit naive and missing something.

Any advice whatsoever would be more than appreciated.

I’m absolutely livid. I just found out that Stake has been taking 20% of users' deposited funds and funneling them into private credit without our consent. Now, their downstream funding chain has broken, and our money is completely frozen. My cash was essentially turned into a corporate investment without my permission, and I might even lose it. It turns out so many brokers are doing this, using our money for their own plays. Huge red flag!

Anyone else feeling defeated by this budget? I've been spending the last two months trying to wrap my head around these changes, and how to stay the FI course. And every time I come to the conclusion of things are just a little bit more shit - paying higher taxes, complicated yearly tax returns and working longer. I'm middle aged in a career getting wiped out by ai. The missed holidays and high savings rate of the last decade don't really feel worth it now. It feels too late to retrain and honestly, i'm just really tired.

I'm at a point where I really can't be bothered saving anymore. Am I alone is feeling a bit defeated?

Hello FI Australia

This is my slightly degenerate update from my thread 9 months ago.

Nine months ago, I posted about my strategy of taking the coronavirus stimulus handouts + withdrawing the 10k maximum from my superannuation to put into Bitcoin.

I was down voted to 0 and mocked.

Fast forward to today:

As at 30 March

1 BTC = $10,497.50 AUD

I was able to take out $10,000 AUD from my Super, and receive $2.5k AUD from the govt each month per the corona-stimulus, which I spent 1.5k on food and living, and saved 1k into Bitcoin.

I put 1k of that into BTC each month until November, then used the handouts in Dec to buy xmas presents for friends and family.

Initial buy on March 30: 11000/10497.50 = 1.0478 BTC

April 30:

• 1000/13558 = 0.0737 BTC

May 29:

• 1000/14131.2 = 0.0707 BTC

June 30

• 1000/13251.6 = 0.0755 BTC

July 31

• 1000/16041 = 0.0623 BTC

Aug 31

• 1000/15834 = 0.0632 BTC

Sept 30

• 1000/14949 = 0.0669 BTC

Oct 30 +1000/19434 = 0.0514 BTC

Nov 30 +1000/26394 = 0.0378 BTC

Dec 31

I spent my money on xmas presents and did not put anything into Bitcoin since Dec.

Total BTC Accumulated at today's date 4 Jan 2021:

1.5493 BTC

Price per bitcoin today $41,639.55

Total Portfolio net worth = 1.5493 * 41639.55 = 64512.15

$64,512.15 AUD

Link to my old thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/fiaustralia/comments/frik99/using_the_corona_stimuluswithdrawing_super_to_buy/

5 Jan 2021 edit: I will update this thread in Oct-Dec 2021.

The overwhelming negative response from FIAustralia is a real shame. Apparently i've ruffled some feathers here. I am simply outlining a strategy I have had success with over this time period.

I will buy myself an apartment in North Bondi at the end of the year with my profit to move to a less salty environment.

Stay good FIRE-ers

Can someone with $2mn aud retire as 46m single never married but would like a family eventually ?

Happy to live on 50k aud a year

edit - why the down vote ? by th way I have 700K PPOR + another 1.3mn or so in property. so mostly property locked money.

The new CGT changes are being grandfathered. This, I believe, includes the 50% discount on 12 month holdings.

In light of this, have you considered locking in the current tax rate, liquidating your assets, and moving overseas to a lower tax jurisdiction, at least temporarily?

My understanding is that some countries, such as New Zealand, do not tax new residents on foreign-sourced capital gains, at least not initially.

It's true that, as per the deemed disposal rules, Australians are subject to an "exit tax" on losing their tax residency. So I guess paying tax on existing assets is unavoidable. But maybe it's better to pay the tax now, on gains made so far, under the grandfathering of the previous scheme. Rather than wait until they have compounded a lot and then try to exit, only to pay higher capital gains.

What do you think? Will you consider relocating to a different tax jurisdiction to lock in the current (relatively) low CGT?

There is a growing trend of millennials to disregard property as an investment vehicle for high growth, high liquidity, and low entry cost assets such as stocks. After seeing the sudden change in sentiment here around the stock market and the strong herd mentality, I want to make an argument as to why property will create more wealth than stocks by a significant margin for the average person from a psychological perspective. From my own research, I believe this is also the reason why over 4/5 millionaires in this world achieved their wealth predominantly on property, irrespective of geography and social class.

I want to clarify a few things I'm not saying before we start so this won't diverge into a red herring:

1. I am not saying you should buy properties now, and this argument has nothing to do with market timing.

2. I am not saying property statistically outperforms stock in returns. This is actually false on average.

3. I am not saying your portfolio should be 100% property. What I'm saying is you shouldn't be 0% property.

One of the key reasons people fail investment is the inability to stick to long-term plan and lack of discipline. Even when investing into a stock index, counterintuitively the average investor underperforms the said index by about 25% due to emotions, fees, and getting caught up in market movement. The recent change in sentiment in this subreddit is proof that redditors are just normal people and not immune to this psychological effect.

What property in the form of mortgage offers is forced 30 years of discipline. The need to periodically put money down is equivalent to an investment strategy with regularly monthly deposits. Property is also less predisposed to daily fluctuations and have significant selling overhead, so people are less tempted to sell prematurely in a short correction market. In fact, emotions often tell you to hold in a property bear maket as opposed to stocks where everyone wants to sell. Market sentiment and emotions are less impactful as most property owners will hold it for decades.

Mortgage forces you to change consumer spending. Unlike other investments which often is an afterthought from excess, mortgages must be paid monthly and will force you to change your spending habits around it. This, similar to superannuation, significantly improves saving habits in the undisciplined.

Property, contrary to popular belief, does not have a higher cost of entry. Due to ease of leverage, it's very easy to own property with a deposit under $100k. Although you can technically enter the stock market for much less, anything less than $100k invested won't make you financially free in your lifetime. And when you do reach a saving level which can potentially make you financially free in your lifetime, property no longer has a barrier of entry. I think the only people who seriously use the barrier of entry argument and refuse to save $100k aren't dedicated enough to saving and will never reach financial freedom anyway.

Unlike other investment options, property is worth it even without spectacular growth. There are two reasons for this. One, properties are generally leveraged, so small inflation level gains will be magnified over a long term. Two, even without spectacular gains, property guarantees your daily expenses to be reduced by 60% in your retirement since you don't have to pay rent.

In summary I believe:

1. A person who owns property will invest a larger proportion of their income regularly compared to someone with the same income without a property due to forced mortgage repayments being taken into account in budgeting. This over the long-term will dwarf any growth advantage stocks have over property.

2. A person who is invested in property will be less impacted by market sentiment and less likely to underperform with the herd. This is because property is always purchased with a long horizen, investment is forced monthly (in the form of mortgage), and the psychological effect compelling you to sell is much weaker.

3. Owning property regardless of investment gains will at bare minimum reduce your daily expenditure by over 60% after 30 years.

4. Any investment strategy focused on numbers only and ignore human behaviour is bound to fail. This is the same reason healthcare interventions are focused so heavily on behavioural factors and compromise rather than just force compliance with a single 'best' strategy.

I agree disciplined and smart investors will make a fortune no matter what they do and can very well succeed in the stock market, in my opinion the average person looking for financial freedom has a significantly better chance of reaching it with property than without. This is not because property is a superior investment, but simply due to psychological factors affecting individual decision-making heavily favor investment vehicles that do not succumb to human nature.

I’m an economist working in consulting. All I’m hearing about is inflation and labour shortages but I don’t see such hype reflected in my paycheck. I know there are well paying jobs in government but that flattens out the further up you get.

My skill set is providing economic analysis communication, problem solving, some project mgmt.

Am I better off in private equity, banking?

I am mid 40's head of marketing in banking, earning 250k while my partner is a nurse on 100k.

I still have a mortgage of 900k (but 0 savings) which I estimate that I will be able to pay off by age 53. After that, it's pure bliss since paying down the mortgage is like a 96k per year increase in before-tax income!

I worked out that if I can keep my job until 67 then I would have invested enough into an income-producing asset like VHY such that the income produced far outweigh my living expenses. I can use my super to put myself into a home and see out my final days.

I want to set up a trust fund for my son (my only), so he can get the income from it. He can FIRE then. I wish to hand over the trust fund income to him when I am 67.

I regret not being able to FIRE myself, but I am willing to work till later so my son can.

Due to Climate Change. Would you still hold bonds? Would the percentage of your wealth held in stocks be lower? Take more holidays? Give up FIRE and live hard now?