Hi The Traveller - welcome to the forums/thread. I'm sorry for your predicament, but financially as happy and terrier56 mentioned you have a lot of options available to you.
I'll start by throwing out my suggestion of what I think you should do with the shares, the super and the $450K, then talk about the "other stuff" afterwards. The usual disclaimers apply, but this is my best-effort based on data I have seen.
Assumptions:
You rent instead of buying a house.
Summary: Put aside $50K cash, then aim for $435K in each of shares and defensive assets (in reality comes out at $430K/$440K respectively)
Regarding the $230K in shares, I'm not entirely happy with this. If you had $23K each across 10 blue chips I'd be fine, but three companies is a bit more risk than I think I'd be comfortable with in your situation. If you are able to sell down without incurring capital gains and buy some VAS instead then I'd look at doing that (unlikely with CBA, but maybe possible for TLS/NAB, depending on what price you bought at). Regardless, I'm going to assume you keep the full $230K in Australian equity.
Regarding the $240K super, I'd be trying to avoid accessing it (you do have options though!) and I'd try to make sure it was allocated about 50/50 between bonds and equity. Consider changing providers if you can find another that has lower fees, and make sure the insurance that comes with the super is relevant (life insurance is one that I'd be looking to ditch, assuming you have no kids still in school).
As for the $450K, I'd split it up as follows:
$50k set aside as cash for your first year getting settled in (hopefully you won't need this much). Then,
$40k as cash, in a high interest savings account or term deposit.
$80k PMGOLD call warrants.
$200K in bonds. Simple way is to just buy $200K of VGB. You can make this as complex as you like. Other options would include adding to the mix some VAF or some bond LICs trading below NAV, manually creating a ladder of bonds with maturities between 2-7 years (so that you have a guaranteed lump sum freed up at least once a year until your pension kicks in), some long term bonds to protect against interest rates dropping further, etc.
$40K in VAS (ASX300)
$40K in VGS (international shares)
All up this should yield about $25K/year in the first year (assuming you just reinvest the super) from the saver, shares and bonds. Because you're not touching the super, and because VAS and VGS operate like growth investments, I'd be comfortable with you spending that entire $25K each year. Also, you've set aside $50K in your first year, so the first $25K will become your emergency money going forward. I'd try and not spend more than was yielded in any 12 month period for the first seven years, and after that I'd be looking to reassess, maybe rebalance into shares, etc.
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Positives about your situation:
1) You have some decent savings! There are a lot of people with a lot less at your age.
2) You've started to become used to living frugally. This is a skill that some people never master, but you've been practicing for the last 12 months already. If there are no major market gyrations over the next five years or so then you have a good chance of being significantly more wealthy than you are now thanks to your frugal ways.
3) You have a few options for accessing your super (personally I'd make sure it was invested sensibly then leave it alone for a few more years)
4) Australia still has a decent public health care system. This is something that Asia may not necessarily have.
5) Some Asian countries are currently involved in a kind of bidding war for retirees at the moment. Traditional destinations have been Indonesia (ie Bali), the Philippines and Thailand. However Indonesia and Thailand have odd laws starting with land ownership and property rights and there are a few other things I don't personally like about the way they view foreign retirees (ie as cows to be milked), and don't look like they're making efforts to improve. Meanwhile, Philippines is trying it's little heart out to attract retirees, and also Malaysia is a new player in this space (I imagine Vietnam would be too but haven't looked into it). If you were after the "frontier" experience you could try Cambodia or Laos but personally I'd be inclined to go for a place with slightly better expat infrastructure. Worst case you could set up something semi-permanent in a couple of these places and spend three months at a time in each indefinitely. (on a side note, I wish Japan had a suitable visa because you can easily find a place in the country for $350/month, and other ex-healthcare living costs are about half what they are in Australia if you're prepared to eat a bit of raw fish every now and then. And you could probably find work teaching English without much effort).
Other things to consider:
1) Definitely get that consultation with that fee-based financial planner.
2) Do you have an online brokerage account? My father still phones up his broker at $45 per trade. You won't pay half that at the most expensive online broker, usually between $11-16 per trade.
3) I'm not sure where you are looking for accommodation in "the outskirts of Brisbane" but I priced a couple of places, you seem to be able to get modest houses for around $250/week. Unfortunately this is about half of your $25,000/year
4) Any benefits available to you now? Unemployment benefits, etc.
5) Are you a pushbike rider?
6) Have you considered writing in to the Sydney Morning Herald "Ask an Expert" in the Money section?
7) What are the storage costs for the furniture? If you can sell some to the tune of $5000, that $5000 invested will theoretically give you an extra $15/month for the rest of your life.
8) I'd absolutely be looking to rent as opposed to buy, at least for the first year until things have settled down a bit. Even then, you want to be quite decided on an area as it's a big, illiquid investment.
Topic: Australian Investing Thread (Read 2709116 times)