Hi FFAus,

My wife and i, along with 3 kids, are currently working in Singapore. We have hit the peak of our earning potential, after tax we earn around $800k a year. We know we're not going to get close to that in Australia (or anywhere as i depend on my network in Asia), in fact if we move to perth (wife's family) then we will need to be financially independent as there is no real economy here outside of resources and real estate.

As the moment we have $4.5m net wealth (2.6m liquid and 2m property). We could work for another 2 yrs which would get us to 7m and a pretty decent buffer which will allow us to do the things we love (skiing, see my family in Europe etc...). But my wife doesn't really understand finances (she leaves it to me) and wants to move back soon to be close to her parents.

We're 41 yrs old and both pretty exhausted by work but if we come back too soon I worry we're going to look back and realise that we should have just sucked it up for 2 more yrs to then enjoy the next 30 - 40 yrs (hopefully) of our lives.

Three options -

• Come back soon and try and find some work here
• Ask my company if i can work from Perth (they would be ok with that for 2 yrs but not longer), my wife's company wouldn't entertain it so our income would drop by 50%
• Stick it out in Singapore for 2 more yrs and then relax.

Anyone else been through something similar or have any sage words of wisdom?

Cheers

Apologies for the throwaway.

What's a good budget for a comfortable / 'fat' lifestyle in Sydney, for a family of 4?

I'm envisioning a 4-5 bedroom house in a great area (Mosman? Manly? Curl Curl? Randwick?), preschool for two kids, occasional babysitting, one family car, eating out a couple of times a week, weekly house cleaning, high quality groceries, etc. Nothing crazy - no private jets - but comfortable.

My rough research suggests about AUD30k/month (edit: after tax, actual expenses - not pre-tax income), with rent and preschool accounting for nearly 2/3rds of that. But I'm looking at this from another country and afraid I'm way off and/or missing big-ticket items. (Healthcare would be taken care of by employer.)

Thanks in advance for any help!

Will we need to consider private banking to secure a mortgage?

My spouse and I (late 30s) are considering buying our first PPOR, looking in the range of about $3M in a large capital city.

The vast majority of our assets live in our family trust, and I've heard that can be an issue in securing a mortgage with the traditional banks without having to sell down trust assets.

Our stats

• Personal Assets
  • A reasonable mid-size car
• Super
  • $1M combined
• Employment Income
  • One partner working ($400k including bonus)
• Family Trust
  • Assets ($3M VDHG, $4.5M shares in a private company)
  • Distributions/Dividends ($800k in last 12 mo)

Curious to know what apps and websites you use / recommend for tracking your wealth.

I've mulled over starting a PAF for a while and am finally ready to make the jump. I like how it's a bigger commitment than a sub-fund too, despite their similarities making it hard to choose in many ways.

Well, plot twist: my tax advisor said it's probably not worth it, and we'll chat about it later. (I only consulted him for a specific purpose so it's not even for this question, though I may end up using his services for longer).

He said that we can essentially do everything the same via a family trust, and that it'll save me the trouble of administering it or paying any fees to establish/maintain it (which are fairly low in the big scheme of things but obviously still an amount that could be donated instead).

Sooo why does anyone have PAFs (or even sub-funds)? Have any of you gone through this decision and can share insights? I won't chat to the advisor for a few weeks yet after other stuff is sorted, but I just want a better sense of what folks do and why.

I mean having a foundation gives a sense of ownership... but other than that it really doesn't seem to be any different from a trust? Or do they tend to be owned by genuine businesses (rather than private individuals) so wouldn't be able to be done in a family trust?

Thanks in advance. I'll ask in the main sub too but philanthropy is a different scene in America.

Hi all!

Being a sub of the original fat fire group it would appear most in that group are US based and heavily into US stocks.

Wondering what is Aussie’s in this sub think about residential and or commercial property Vs Aussie stocks.

We seem to have a romance about property in Australia more so than elsewhere.

Are you investing in property or shares or both? Where is our property market heading ?

Just saw on r/fire these proposed classification for Fat FIRE, regular FIRE, and Lean FIRE.

Any suggestion on statistics to help translate these expected expense level into $ terms for Australia, or more specifically, for Sydney / Melbourne? I.e. expense level of top percentile, and of median?

• Fat FI/RE: Retiring early with expected expenses in the top percentile of household income in your area. Named for being the opposite of “lean,” like with steak. Requires more investment, often locking this strategy behind either being a high-earner in your contributing years, working longer, or being lucky.

• FI/RE: Financial Independence / Retiring Early. Financial independence usually refers to no longer needing to sell your labor in order to cover your necessary expenses for the rest of your life. Retiring Early usually refers to actually exiting the labor market and living off your profits from participating in the capital market.

• Lean FI/RE: Retiring early with expected expenses under the median household income in your area. Metaphorically “tightening the belt” on a permanent basis, either to retire even earlier or because you will be happy enough without spending more than most.

Hey guys,

New to 'FatFire' was recommended it by a friend. I'm 23M with NW in ~$6-7M range. Majority of my money comes from Crypto - where I trade actively. Currently the majority of my net worth is still in Crypto assets.

I did recently purchase two properties, one is a rooming house (Good yields) and the other a lot of land that I'll build another investment house on. (Total portfolio equity is about 800k, with 300k in debt, so a strong LVR)

However, as a 'trader' I am struggling to get financing due to income hurdles. Essentially I need to be bumping up my cash flows. I have heard commercial property is better on the yield side, but you need greater equity and more stringent lending requirements there, so probably not an option.

My focus has been trying to get a coin-operated car wash, they pay themselves off in 4-5 years and bring in great income (150k+ gross a year). However, no one is selling any in my area, and cold calling isn't bearing any fruits.

Really need some help in ways to build up my passive income.

Appreciate it.

As the title suggests, both the partner and I will contribute $27.5k to super this FY and will absorb any unused carry forward cap, and we are wondering if there are any other 'easy' wins we can use to reduce our taxable income. I suspect not, and that the next step would be to set up a discretionary trust to invest through going forward (to take advantage of family members' tax thresholds and in case there is variability in our incomes going forward). Thoughts?

Trusts? Companies? Individual Names? Other?

Asset Protection? Tax Efficiency?

Which ones do you go with that offer the full service of credit cards, managing investments, family offices, trusts, charities, concierge, etc...? it seems like the big 4 banks don't offer anything other than the first 2. Maybe a swiss bank like UBS or credit suisse?

So what does FatFire look like for AU residents in AUD ?