Net Worth SEP 2025

Chart updated to end of SEP in sidebar.

Stocks/cash decreased -$3,155 (-0.64%) to $493,421. Mostly due to stock market and the negative gearing property investment impact on my cash flow.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by $26,156 (+1.16%) to $2,283,210.As I am currently unemployed/retired there are no contributions adding to the balance, so this increase was due entirely to market gains (minus the small monthly decline in the 'guaranteed cashback' value of my QSuper pension accounts).

Est. valuation of our home (my half) increased by $35,499 (+2.98%) to $1,227,410 , but this was offset by the decrease in estimated value of the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) which decreased by -$33,322 (-1.53%) to $2,138,701. Overall a net decrease in real estate estimated valuations this past month.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by $6,982 (10.39%) to $74,193. I am currently still adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month.

Overall, NW increased by $32,160 (0.62%) to $5,224,944 during Sep. It needs to increase by about 0.2% per month on average to keep pace with inflation (maintain real value).

I've so far applied for 54 positions and so far had 27 confirmed rejection notifications, another 20 or so were likely unsuccessful, and 6 are likely still being 'considered'. I had one 'initial interview' with a prospective employer last week (will hear next week if I am invited to a second interview), and one telephone interview with a placement agency acting for a local position.

I also did a short evaluation 'bootcamp' online for a US AI training company, which paid about A$440, and they have offered me a contract part-time job (max 8 hrs/wk at about A$100/hr). Between doing a few nights of Door Dash and this contract AI work I *might* make around A$K/wk for the next few months. We'll see. I also need to do some more work on my PhD.

I only recorded one youtube videos during September -- I'll try to do at least one a week from now on to see if it slowly gains views and subscribers (or not).

I managed to get my global ranking in Fortnite to 'unreal' (currently just in the 'top' 2,000). I really should stop watching youtube and playing Fortnite and instead do some work on my PhD literature review ;) I might do some youtube videos of 'how to rank in Fortnite if you have bad eyesight, slow reactions, and can't build things' --- should be a hit with the over-60 gamers ? ;)

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Net Worth AUG 2025

Chart updated to end of AUG in sidebar.

Stocks/cash increased $1,397 (+0.28%) to $496,576. My monthly pension from QSuper commenced during the month, which should cover the bulk of my basic living expenses. The negatively geared investment property will be a net cash sink each month, so this figure will likely slowly decline during the year, until I make my annual minimum required withdrawal from my SMSF pension phase account next June.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by $35,740 (+1.61%) to $2,257,054.As I am currently unemployed/retired there are no contributions adding to the balance, so this increase was due entirely to market gains (minus the small monthly decline in the 'guaranteed cashback' value of my QSuper pension accounts).

Est. valuation of our home (my half) was again unchanged at $1,191,911 (for the seventh month in a row!). And the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) increased by $2,601 (0.12%) to $2,172,023. This month the estimated value of my investment apartment again rose slightly, while the estimated value of my holiday home was unchanged.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by $2,741 (4.25%) to $67,211. I am currently adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month.

Overall, NW increased by $42,479 (0.82%) to $5,192,784 during Aug.

I've so far applied for 46 positions and so far had 15 confirmed rejection notifications, another 12 or so were likely unsuccessful, and 12 are likely still being 'considered'. I'm aiming for at least one application per day -- sticking with Financial Planning, Associate Planner and related jobs in the Sydney area. We'll see how it goes.

I recorded three 'test' youtube videos during August -- the first one got 23 views (likely given a 'boost' by the youtube algorithm as a new content provider), but the other two videos only received 1 and 2 views respectively. I'll keep putting up one or two videos a week and see how things progress (or don't progress).

I managed to get my global ranking in Fortnite to 'unreal' (currently just in the 'top' 7,000). I really should stop watching youtube and playing Fortnite and instead do some work on my PhD literature review ;)

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Net Worth JUL 2025

Chart updated to end of JUL in sidebar.

Stocks/cash increased $202,199 (+69.01%) to $495,179. This was mostly due to receiving a large payment for redundancy and accumulated annual and long service leave. I will keep about six months of basic budget requirement ($25K) in my credit union savings account, and the rest of the cash will be sitting in my investment mortgage offset account to reduce the monthly interest payments. About 21% of my retirement budget of $48Kpa is allocated to savings/emergency fund, and the 'surplus' pension income will be either added to my mortgage offset account or contributed into my SMSF as an personal deductible contribution. My TSB is over the limit for making undeducted contributions, so I am limited to the $30Kpa concessional contributions cap (SGL+ any SS or personal deductible contributions). Making deductible contributions (that are subject to the 15% contribution tax within super) only makes sense if I have taxable income (same with my negatively geared property investment), so I might need to use all the 'surplus' to just add to the mortgage offset account so the investment property is no longer negatively geared. I'll see how things stand towards the end of this year.

Retirement savings (SMSF etc.) increased by $49,785 (+2.29%) to $2,221,314. Part of this was due to receiving a 0.5% 'bonus' payment into my QSuper accumulation account when I moved about $440,000 into two lifetime pension accounts. The pension accounts have an initial value of the purchase price (that would be paid out if I died tomorrow), and that value will slowly reduce over time by the cumulative amount paid out as pension payments (until the final residual value of $0 is reached). The fortnightly pension payments commence next week, so I probably won't need to withdraw the mandatory minimum 4% from my SMSF pension account until the end of this FY (the required minimum has to be paid out by 30 June each year).

Est. valuation of our home (my half) was unchanged at $1,191,911 (for the sixth month in a row!). And the 'Other real estate' (my 'lake house' and the investment apartment) increased by $191 (0.01%) to $2,169,422. A slight rise in estimated value of my investment apartment was offset by a similar slight decline in the estimated value of my holiday home.

Other assets (my online depository bullion account at Perth Mint, and the bullion value of my gold and silver proof coin collection) increased by $991 (1.56%) to $64,470. I am currently adding $200 worth of gold to my Perth Mint online depository account each month.

Overall, NW increased by $253,166 (5.17%) to $5,150,305 during Jul.

After enjoying two weeks of retirement (gardening and tidying up the house and rearranging furniture) I already got a bit bored and reconsidered my decision to permanently retire and decided to see if I would get any responses to financial planning/associate planner/CSO/assistant job applications. I've applied for 15 positions and so far had 3 rejection notifications, 11 are in limbo (awaiting a response), and I had one phone interview today that resulted in a second interview via 'zoom' next week. The pay rates seem to range from slightly below to slightly above what my previous job provided, and any financial planner role would be more interesting than my previous IT QA role. I'm not too fussed about the salary as my tax-free pension payments provide about the same amount as my previous after-tax salary. I'll be mostly working for the pleasure of doing financial planning and helping people, but any extra income that gets added to my mortgage offset account will be nice. I'm only applying for positions that seem relevant/interesting and are in the Sydney area, and in the meantime will continue to work on my PhD.

I also started recording some youtube videos (well, one so far) and will see if that slowly builds up to becoming another stream of income (and a retirement hobby).

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Retired!

Well, sort of. Most of the tasks that comprised my usual workload had been automated during the past year, so my current position was made redundant. There were a range of alternative positions that I could have 'applied' for, but none were really of great interest to me, or a good fit for my skill set and qualifications. It also made little sense financially to continue working rather than receive a redundancy payment (which gets rather good tax treatment). So I decided to take early retirement. As I am over 60 and retired, I was now able to purchase a lifetime pension product from QSuper and use the remainder of my Transfer Balance Cap to move most of my SMSF accumulation account into pension phase.

I used about $440K of my overall super to purchase a lifetime pension from QSuper, that will provide about $29,682 pa pension. The amount isn't automatically increased in line with CPI rises, but does get 'adjusted' annually based on the performance of the underlying Balanced fund vs a 5% 'benchmark' and also how the 'pool' of pension recipients fares in terms of mortality (vs. actuarial expectations). Looking at how the Balanced fund has performed over the past 17 years, the average ROI was 9,85%, with two years of negative performance. After taking off the 5% benchmark hurdle, the average performance was 4.85%, with four years of the past 17 having a negative 'adjusted' return. The mortality adjustment is a bit harder to estimate, as there was only five years of historic data available, and the mortality adjustment ranged from -0.50% to 0.64%, with the average being -0.21%. However the mortality adjustments were likely affected by the impact of Covid on life expectancy during this period. Overall though, it looks like there is a good chance that the average adjustment during my retirement may will be able to keep pace with CPI. There is a minimum total payment guarantee, so if I die before the total pension payments exceed the initial purchase price, the difference would be paid out to my estate. On the other hand, if I live a long time most of my longevity and sequence-of-returns risk is mitigated.

As my annual budget is only about $48K, this means that the lifetime pension should cover about 60% of my core retirement expenses. My remaining TBC 'space' meant that I was able to also move about $1.55M of my SMSF accumulation account and TRIS into 'pension phase'. At the current 4% minimum pension withdrawal rate (based on my age), this means I will have to receive about $62K pension from our SMSF. As I only 'need' about $18Kpa in addition to the lifetime pension to cover basic living expenses, I will use the 'surplus' pension income to continue my regular investments (PM gold and my Investment Bond contributions) and to build up my investment property mortgage offset account balance. Overall, my tax free self-funded pension payments total around $90K pa, which is equivalent to what my after-tax salary income was.

I spent the first two weeks of retirement organizing my superannuation pension transactions, planting some blackberry bushes in the garden, and doing some home chores (tidying up and throwing out accumulated junk, and rearranging some furniture). I was already getting a little bit bored (although I could always spend more time working on my PhD...), so I decided to submit a few job applications for financial planner positions. I have no idea if I'll get any job offers though. As my superannuation pension payments are not taxable income, any employment income would be quite tax effective, so if a get a job offer I might reconsider retirement. Fortunately reconsidering and resuming employment after retiring will not impact superannuation that is already in pension phase.

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