FIRE in Australia: Super, Medicare & Franking Credits
In Australia, FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) means building enough invested wealth to make work optional well before Age Pension age (67) — and, because super is locked until preservation age (60), planning two separate pools: one to live on until 60 and super for after.
The core FIRE formula is the same everywhere — a portfolio of about 25 times your annual spending, drawn at roughly 4% a year — but in Australia the money has to be split by access date. Everything you need before 60 must sit outside super; super funds the years after.
Australian FIRE has structural advantages. Compulsory super contributions build the post-60 pool automatically. Franking credits lift the after-tax return on Australian dividends. Medicare covers the healthcare cost that dominates early-retirement budgets in the US. And assets held for more than 12 months get the 50% CGT discount when sold.
The bridge years are the hard part. Someone retiring at 45 needs 15 years of spending held outside super, and every dollar salary-sacrificed into super to cut tax is a dollar that cannot be touched until 60. Getting the split between the two pools right is the main planning decision for an Australian early retiree.
Common strategies: salary sacrificing into super up to the concessional cap ($32,500 a year from 1 July 2026; it was $30,000 in FY2025-26), holding a mix of Australian and global share ETFs outside super for the bridge, using a mortgage offset account to keep cash liquid while reducing interest, and drawing the bridge pool down first.
Savings rate matters more than income: at a 50% savings rate the classic FIRE maths puts financial independence roughly 17 years away, and at 70% roughly 8.5 years (assuming about a 5% real return and a 4% withdrawal rate). The same rule holds in Australia; the difference is only in which pool the money sits.
Richify calculates your Australian FIRE number across both phases (pre-super and post-super), models franking credit income, and tracks your progress with personalised milestones.
