Get the Financial Independence Newsletter
Some questions I get are short: “What do you think about XYZ?”
Others are more like people’s life stories, with several questions which are the financial equivalent of “How long is a piece of string?”
In this article, I’ve put together a couple of case studies along the lines of “What would Dave do?”
I’ve also grouped two crypto questions together which I’m sure you’ll find interesting.
“What are your thoughts on Bitcoin?”
And basically “Is my partner a crypto trading genius?”
Read: Case Studies and Crypto Questions
STRONG MONEY PODCAST
In this latest episode, I tackle one of the biggest objections to the FIRE movement: what if everyone did this?
What if everyone became frugal, retired early, and stopped working? Wouldn’t the whole system collapse?
I unpack the merits behind all of these concerns, and explain why I strongly believe this is NOT something we need to worry about.
Listen here on Spotify, Apple, or on the website.
|
|
AUSSIE FIRE PODCAST
In this Q&A episode, Hayden and I unpack three listener questions:
— Should you participate in employee share schemes? If so, should you keep the shares or sell?
— Are LICs still a smart smart choice for long term investing, or have ETFs taken over?
— Are we guilty of ‘mental accounting’ with debt recycling?
Plus, we unpack the funny ways this concept – mental accounting – affects how we approach money in our everyday lives.
Listen now on Spotify and Apple.
|
|
THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK
“Renting means having pay rent forever”
True, but investments can pay your rent too. And here’s something nobody thinks of: your investment income and wealth can compound FASTER than rent does. This actually makes your rent CHEAPER over time, even as the cost goes up.
If you’re young and don’t know what to do with your life, it’s okay. Just commit to saving and investing and get yourself in the position where you can do anything. Give yourself protection, peace of mind and massive optionality.
If rich people say money doesn’t matter, it’s a lie – otherwise they’d get rid of it. If broke people say money doesn’t matter, it’s a cope to make themselves feel better for not having it. Money is important – it’s delusional to suggest otherwise.
QUESTIONS ABOUT ADVICE
Since I mentioned my new partnership with the team at Rask Advice, I’ve had some questions about financial advice in general.
I’ll probably do an article on when getting advice makes the most sense, but the ‘drafts’ list is quite long (haha), so here’s a few thoughts for now:
“When should I get advice?”
The most beneficial use-cases I can see are:
— Modelling different FI/retirement scenarios and doing projections — Tax and strategy optimisation
— Crafting a super vs non-super combined portfolio (and mortgage strategy) that fits your timeframe
— Sanity check of having someone carefully look over your scenario to make sure you’re on the right track (far more people want this than I realised)
“But would you actually pay for advice yourself?”
Actually, yes. I can see myself paying for advice as my situation gets more complex. This is where my thinking has evolved in recent years. There are plenty of things I don’t know, and as the numbers and potential complexity gets bigger, a trusted third party would be valuable and worthwhile.
“What makes you comfortable to refer people to Rask?”
I’ve known Owen Rask for a long time, and I’ve met the team. He’s even made them read my book before they could help any of you, haha!
On a more serious note, I’ve seen several examples of the advice they’ve given (with privacy protected) and it was sensible stuff that I agree with. And no stupid ongoing fees, percentage of assets charged or weird commissions – just flat fees for advice based on the complexity of what you need.
So, there’s a philosophical alignment of low cost simple long term investing for financial freedom, and also an ethical alignment of genuinely wanting to help people.
Anyway, I’ll save the rest of my thoughts for the article, but hopefully that’s useful for now. If you decide you want detailed help to fine tune your situation, you can reach out here.
MEETUP REMINDER
Perth readers – just a quick reminder about the upcoming meetup next weekend if you’re interested.
Here’s the details… (and the Facebook event page)
Location: Koorak Cafe, Kings Park
Date: Sunday September 14th
Time: 9am
Let’s meet just outside the cafe. If the weather’s good we might hang out under the trees – if it’s a bit crappy (as it has been recently!) we’ll bunch some tables together inside.
Come say g’day if you haven’t already and chat about life and finances with your fellow Strong Money misfits 😄
