recently moved to Australia & looking to start with one of the brokers. Lot of comparatives on Reddit & youtube but want to know how they stand in Nov 2024. Clean & functional UI preferred. (going to start with mostly ASX stocks & etf, but going forward also go into US & LSE).

I don't know why I can't post anything on aus finance so I am posting here

As the title says, I don't know the next step after this.

We (me and my family) moved to Australia almost 6 years ago when I was still in high school in my home country. I joined a local public school where I completed my schooling during the pandemic.

I enrolled in one of the good Go8 universities, where I studied STEM with honors. I joined as an international student but got my PR after the first trimester, where my status was changed to domestic student, and I eventually got citizenship.

While studying full-time, I got a retail job at a gas station owned by a friend of my father. I was working casual there with good pay, averaging about 30 hours a week, but in some situations like staff shortages, I have worked 70 hours myself.

I'm not going to lie; I’m a cheapskate. I drive a 2004 shitbox, have only two pairs of shoes, and I eat out once in a blue moon. Every time I got my salary, I transferred 95% of it to my savings account.

I have been saving for almost 4 years now and have $100k in my savings account and $9k in super.

I don’t know what’s next. My father, although I love him to death, has his own plans for that money. I just don’t understand his business model, so I don’t want to give him the money. I want to invest it somewhere safe, but I can't make up my mind where.

Stock market - too illiquid, some stocks don’t even move 3% a year.

Bonds - don’t understand a thing.

Real estate - can’t buy anything with 100k.

Crypto - off the table.

Please help me make up my mind because this amount is pretty significant for a 22-year-old.

Thanks.

Hi, new account created.

I have IOZ and VAS, equal investments.

I am looking to continue investing however given overlap I will probably go with VAS only.

Should I leave my IOZ as is? Or should I sell it and invest that money into VAS. I hear a lot about avoiding doubling up into ETFs that are same/similar. I get that and am going to change my approach going forward. I’m just curious what I should do with my IOZ?

Hey everyone! I’m 27 and just starting to explore investing through CommSec Pocket. I’m curious if anyone here has experience with it—what are your thoughts, especially on using it as a long-term strategy? Any tips or things I should consider as a beginner?

Is it worth it?

Thanks in advance!

Not trying to rock the boat here, looking to possibly have a genuine conversation. For the younger generation (20-35?) the effects that climate change will have on the economy as we get into retirement age appear to increasingly become more unpredictable, which is obviously the opposite of what is ideal for stable retirement plans. For years I had been putting off committing to long term investment plans as I was just unsure if I actually believed in the economic growth over the next 30+ years, with the decreasing birthrate and aging population globally being what I perceived to be a massive consideration I didn’t think many people were considering in regards to economic growth, as well as the obvious environment challenges which are coming with increasing severity and frequency. (Worldwide floods, droughts, hurricanes, fires etc etc etc )

Lately I’ve just sort of accepted it and concluded that any liquid cash gets decimated by inflation each year so even if things aren’t looking great in 30 years time it’s could be a lose lose but at least I tried my best to not be complacent. So I just pump into ethical ETF’s (ETHI)… not going to change the world but at least I’m not giving money to new coal mines etc

Would be interested to here other peoples views on if this is something that has played a part in their FI strategy

I understand that with individual stocks, many will go up and down over time and that some may go down and never go up again, but with stocks it’s also possible for companies to shutdown and so ALL money is lost.

Is it possible for the same thing to happen with an index etf?

I’m fine with riding the roller coaster but less so with it running out of track.

How does this work? Let’s say, I’ll start buying ETFs in Australia using Australian Chess broker and then move overseas. New banking, new place of residence, so what do I need to consider beforehand if I’ll decide to sell overseas? Or receive dividends to another bank. My understanding is that with Chess, shares are under my name so do I need to move them to another broker overseas to get dividends or sell? Thanks

I couldn't edit the Title of this post. My Actual Current Allocation is 27% VAS / 69% VGS.

I recently rolled over my Super Balance to Australian Super - Member's Direct Option

My current allocation is like this:

VAS: 27%

VGS: 69%

Balanced: 3%

Cash: 1%

I can either keep investing (every 8 to 10 weeks) in VAS & VGS from my ongoing super contributions that I receive from my Employer to allocate approximately 30% to VAS & 70% to VGS

OR

I can add one or two more ETFs with a goal of high long term growth (Time Horizon of around 10 to 15 years)

Can some of you who are using Member's Direct Option (Australian Super), Please recommend some ETFs, given my current allocation ?

Thanks a lot

Cheers.

I am seriously working hard to work out a concrete budget for monthly spending, but I've found it so hard because I swear every month theres a big expense that I never even thought about that comes along. I find it impossible to accurately predict spending.

I've never been a good budgeter to begin with but I'm wanting to improve my skills somewhat. To help me find my bearings a little I would like to hear the thoughts from the community on what you would consider a decently monthly budget averaged over the year for two adults, no kids, living in a major city in Australia. For simplicity I have excluded housing as it varies so significantly between renting, mortgage etc.

At this stage we are spending around 8-9k a month which I feel is too much. That being said I know for a fact I have a lot of fat I am able and am willing to trim.

Looking at the four tiers I have shared, what monthly expenditure range do you think falls in to each category?

Where are you in that category?

If you don't mind sharing a rough monthly budget so that I can use it as a guiding stick to some degree.

Hi all, My wife and I finally entered the housing market last year, which took nearly all of our savings. Our property is valued at $600,000, with a mortgage of $500,000. In addition, I took out a $17,000 personal green loan at 6.65% to finance a solar panel and battery system, which I managed to pay off in six months, leaving just a $0.10 balance to keep the loan open as an emergency fund. This costs $10 per month, and the available redraw amount is now $15,500. Since then we’ve built up an offset balance of $40,000 over the past 10 months, which covers about six months of household expenses. And now I have this urge to play around with the 15k redraw (greedy, I know ).

I’ve been reading about debt recycling, though most information is tied to PPOR mortgages, and I understand Tiimely doesn’t allow loan splitting. My question is: can I redraw $15,000 from my personal loan, invest it in an ETF (DHHF), and then claim the interest at tax time? No interest has accrued on the loan yet this financial year, so calculating the claim should be straightforward.

While the interest amount is relatively small (around $1,000 per year), I think this could be a good way to see if debt recycling is right for me.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi all,

What are your thoughts on a 50/50 split of vts and ioz?

I hold these currently as well as so many others that overlap with these. The portfolio is small atm (less then 5k each)

Would you suggest selling down everything else and only investing in these two or keep everything we have but only put in to these two going forward.

We have about 15 holdings which include Etfs, Lics and individual stocks

Would love some advice! I have a few upcoming appointments with independent financial advisors, but want to temperature check my thoughts on here first to help prepare

1. Aus hedged:international. My understanding is that ~50-75% of your overall assets should be Australian hedged, what is your opinion? Following that, as someone who owns their house, should I be exclusively buying ETFs tracking international indexes (e.g. VGS) until the desired ratio is achieved?
2. Lump sum vs DCA. I have recently received a large inheritance (in relation to my earning capacity) but am hesitant to invest it as a lump sum in case of a downturn. I'm thinking it makes sense to DCA into the market, but am unsure over what time period and what to do with the uninvested amount in the interim. Thoughts?
3. Discretionary Trust. For someone who would has no beneficiaries with low marginal tax rates, is there any reason to hold assets in a trust?

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Hey all,

I got a mail from the ASX saying I have been registered to CHESS. I recently opened an account with Westpac so I am wondering what this was about. And is Westpac even a good broker? What's a good first share to get into.

edit: sorry got tired and forgot i named this tax?

my tax question is, when do i start having to declare to the ATO and pay taxes on my earnings on the ASX. thanks in advance.

Hey just want to sanity check something. We are semi-rural. If we wanted to buy a city house for the kids at uni but wanted to either subsidise or no rent we wouldn't be able to get a tax deduction on the loan. If we were in a position to get a loan, pay it down in full then redraw to invest elsewhere we could then fully deduct that couldn't we?

Gday guys, I got a sizeable inheritance and want to ensure it grows for the future. I will be investing some in a good solar system for the house with batteries etc. reduce energy bills. Any suggestions on how much to invest ? I have some Wesfarmers shares as well as pocket etfs with commbank. Don’t want to make the same mistake as my folks and retiring dirt poor. Both my sisters are up to their eyeballs in debt. Advice greatly appreciated 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻

Hi all,

looking for feedback/constructive criticism regarding our portfolio allocation.

30% VAS - $133k

30% VGS - $133k

10% PMGOLD/AGVT - $22k/$22k

30% Cash in PPOR offset (6.39%) - $133k (with $275k owing on PPOR)

Seems pretty reasonable to me, but I am relatively conservative. If our PPOR mortgage rate was lower, I'd invest more in VAS/VGS. I like to hold a decent chunk of cash as one of us works in an industry that is sensitive to recession which I think is on the cards for Australia in the near future. I also feel that having a large cash buffer makes us less likely to do something stupid if the market tanks tomorrow.

For context we are early 30s DINKs with combined household income after tax around $160k (both earning around $100k before tax). Our savings rate is 50% (which is reallocated to the portfolio on a quarterly basis).

I would just like to get some input on my fortnightly allocation of extra money towards ETFs.

I'm 36 at the moment so I was leaning towards more aggressive options.

I originally started with just VAS and VGS but later added the other ones as I felt they covered some niche areas which may see some high growth in the near future.

But at the same time I have a feeling I might be putting money into too many different things.

I'm very new to this so would really like your thoughts.

Thank you 🙂

Vanguard 21.81% VAS 36.36% VGS 14.54% VVLU

Betashares 9.09% DRUG 9.09% HACK 9.09% NDQ

I'm looking at some of the hotsplus superannuation indexed options and I see some of their fees are really low. Like 0.04% + admin fees. 0.04% is lower than what I'd have to pay if I bought a similar product directly with Vanguard who are technically non-profit and have way more scale. So how can hostplus be so cheap? What am I missing? Surely it can't just be the admin fees - are they doing some synthetic stuff with derivatives in order to do this?

Having done the research on ETFs im ready to make the first big investment that includes US stocks.

What's the view on the US market with the pending election?

I'm wondering whether I wait some weeks to see what happens.

Hi, I'm very new with this. I try to stydy it myself but seem very complicated when my first languese is not english. Normally I only put my money in bank with interest rate 5.5% per year. ( I have 150k aus) that I never use and have no plan to use.

now I got 13k in IVV and 4k A200 with IBKR

but after reserch I'm thinking to put my 100k in BGBL , is it a good move?

I earn 60k with my main job but I saved 50k every years by use money from my sidejob for living and traveling. ( I only have 150k due to I only stop fulltime traveling 3 years aho and just decide start settle now)

I do not want to have a kid (I'm female )

what you think about only hold 20% cash thanks you so much.

This week I opened a CMC Invest account, which created a new HIN in my name associated with this new account, which I must have selected during the application process.

It was my intention to transfer my existing HIN and stocks from Selfwealth to CMC, however you can't have two HINs associated with one account. To cancel the new HIN would mean cancelling the entire account.

CMC's chat team told me again and again there are no fees for transferring ASX securities between HINs, however Selfwealth states that there is a $27.50 "off-market transfer fee" for holdings transfers between accounts with different registered owners.

I am the same owner, but these are different HINs, with different brokers. Has anyone else had to transfer individual ASX securities between two HINs in the same name from Selfwealth to CMC? Does this count as an off market transfer?

i'm currently doing hsc, but judging by my previous marks, my atar won't help me at all. i was going to go to TAFE and job search for the next year, but now i'll have to move out when I turn 18, which is december 7. I have no experience in a job, crap grades and bad social skills.

it doesn't have to be a path onto being a millionaire, but i need enough FI to move out soon. Thanks for any help.

Hi there, I opened a HUB24 account two years ago to invest in a managed portfolio following a detailed SOA from a financial planner. After not proceeding with an ongoing arrangement with the planner I became a “non advised” user of the platform which meant I could no longer access the managed portfolio products or even add funds to my existing investment.

I’m currently looking to invest a significant sum in a DIY portfolio of ETFs. I looked into Net Wealth which does give non advised uses greater options but the fees are very high. The costs to transfer over the managed portfolio to net wealth will also likely be very costly given the number of securities in it.

My other option is to leave the managed portfolio in HUB24 for now and use a platform like CMC or Pearler for the ETF investments.

Upon further investigation, I realised that HUB24’s brokerage fees are very similar to CMC (without the under $1000 brokerage free option though) and that they offer access to the most popular ETFs. I would also get consolidated tax reporting across the managed portfolio and ETFs.

The downsides of staying with HUB24 are the platform fee (albeit lower then Net Wealth), crap UX and customer service for non advised clients and smaller portfolio of ETFs.

I would be grateful for any feedback from anyone that has tried to DIY their investment portfolio with HUB24. I’m planning on taking a passive approach and being very hands off for a good few years after my initial investments in the ETFs.

Many thanks in advance!

Just a low value vent, feel free to ignore.

My lovely SO holds the view that only banked profit is “real profit”. Ie cash dividends or realised capital gains added to a cash account balance. My enthusiasm about growth in the value of our investment portfolios is usually met with “but it’s just paper profit that’s not real”. 🤷‍♂️

Given the circumstances I am glad that SO has no interests in managing investments and leaves me to do what I want to do with our portfolios, so long as I leave our cash buffer in the offset accounts alone and do not mess up to somehow negatively affect our lifestyle.

Treading a fine line.

/end of vent.

Hi all,

Pretty much as the title says, would it be worth it to add VHY to my VAS/VGS (40/60) portfolio purely for the dividend income quarterly? The dividends would be reinvested until they are covering some or all living expenses for example.

I know there is a lot of overlap between VAS and VHY as VAS contains all VHY holdings? But there might be some benefit to adding VHY as an income producing source compared to VAS/VGS growth in the long run.

Also I am looking at A200 vs VAS, A200 seems better on paper? Additionally, would it be more beneficial to go A200 if I was going to add VHY?

Regards

Edit: Added question about A200.

At 37 I’ve finally landed a job that pays up to 440k if I work the whole year. It’s been a long slog to get to this point but now that I’m here I don’t know how best to put this money to work. I’ve got a $150k house deposit but I’m still renting so the obviously first step is buying a house. I’ve no wife or kids, I’m completely debt free. Would you guys plough it all into an offset account or some into etfs? I’m planning on maxing out my concessional super contributions too but I don’t know what order in which to do things or what to prioritise.

Just wondering if my thinking is correct. Let's say our household required $70,000 per annum pre tax for expenses. If we retire at 55, then we would only need $350,000 to see us through till when we can then draw from our super (at 60) assuming we are no longer working and ignoring inflation and interest/growth of the $350,000.

Second thing, based on the 4percent rule, we would need to have 1.75mill in super at age 60 to maintain that level of expenses. Again ignoring inflation.

I’m new to all this and taking my future into my own hands and looking at making my money work for me.

I’m currently operating as a sole trader and have $1000 extra income to invest per week?

What advice would you give to someone looking to get started. I’m looking at money from things short and long term.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice on my investment strategy. I started with Raiz 5 years ago, investing small amounts monthly. Now I'm learning more about investing and want to explore ETFs.

Here's my current situation:

• Raiz Account: ~$9,500 (personal) + ~$3,000 (across 3 kids' accounts)

• Total Invested: ~$6,850 (personal)

• Market Return: ~$2,650 (personal)

• Monthly Fee: $4.50 total (for all 4 accounts)

• Portfolio (personal):

AAA 5.234124 x $50.26 = $263.07

IAA 13.999713 x $110.01 = $1,540.11

IAF 2.619259 × $100.31 = $262.74

IEU 6.914442 × $85.61 = $591.95

IVV 15.421493 x $59.05 = $910.64

RCB 93.735693 x $20.06 = $1,880.34

STW 54.653269 x $74.39 = $4,065.66

I'm unsure if Raiz's performance is good enough, especially with the fees. I have about $12,000 more to invest and am considering these options:

• Keep the Raiz accounts and invest the $12,000 in ETFs.
• Withdraw from Raiz and invest everything in ETFs.

My goal is mainly to accrue some savings with the opportunity to cash in returns say every year (provided there are returns). I'm looking for medium-long term growth and am comfortable with moderate risk. Any advice on the best approach? Thanks in advance!

I am considering debt recycling part of the mortgage on my PPOR.

I understand the tax benefits and there are many pros to the idea.

My concern is exposing myself to the risk of having to carry full mortgage repayments again if interest rates soar again.

Am I over thinking this? What do I need to know to make an informed decision?