HI AGAIN!

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Hello boys and girls, what a ride it’s been.

How long ago since yours truly graced the interwebs?

TOO LONG.

But now, like some overweight, balding, fat phoenix…

I. AM. BACK.

But wait! Why was I in absentia for a while?

Some of you have speculated it was kids (we now have two rugrats). But no it wasn’t because of those ungrateful lil fkers.

Some have speculated it was trouble in paradise with MrsFrugalSamurai. No way, Jose I simply adore my wise and sexually appealing wife.

Some have speculated it was work. And er yes, kinda, but not for the reason you may think.

You see, someone at work decided to dob me into our legal and compliance teams about this site.

Can you believe it?!

Now I don’t know why a big 4 bank would take such specific interest in this basement gutter of the internet – but long story short, because I post about banking and finance, and work in banking and finance, and was employed by a bank in finance, I was told in no uncertain terms to cease and desist unless these posts went through the “appropriate” channels with sign-off.

Filter The Frugal Samurai with corporate BS and tow the party line?

And so it has come to pass that I no longer am employed with my previous employer.

Actually, I’m no longer employed with anyone period.

Hence why I’m pumping out this post without fear, without repercussions, without ANY CLOTHES COS I FEEL SO ALIVE.

GOSH YOU GUYS I HAVE MISSED YOU.

Anyway – taking a small step back, there’s been TONS of shit which has been going on in our lives, and I’m sure yours as well during these last few years.

Like I mentioned before, we now have two useless, whiny, let-daddy-sleep-for-5-more-minutes-you-lil-bastards, mouths to feed.

Of course we had (and still in possession of) MiniFrugalSamurai – whose now grown into a bigger version of himself.

We also welcome BabyFrugalSamurai – who was a spitting image of her brother at birth, but now is a splitting image of her mother and father.

Oh yes, apart from the new addition to the fam, we also have a new postcode we moved to just this year.

Truth be told I never really wanted to move away from the old place – it was close to the water, had plenty of parks, super convenient to two major shopping centres and had tons of cheap VALUE food.

But alas, like most things in life, you have to do things for the kids.

And because of them, we now reside in one of those “leafy” Sydney suburbs which is not close to the water, has no parks (but has a friggin CROQUET club), and cheap doesn’t exist in the vocabulary here.

But it does have schools. Or supposedly “better” schools. So that’s a win. For the kids.

And trees. Lots and lots of trees. Which is great! If you’re a bird.

Hm, what else?

Umm, oh yeah – personally I’ve moved away from the corporate life and started my own mortgage broker business brokering mortgages – both residential and commercial.

It’s been a pretty seamless transition so far, given I was working in that space for over 15 years with a whole bunch of banks. So doing the same work but just for myself.

Better pay and more flexibility? Yes please.

Apart from that everything else is ticking along.

We sold a couple of properties to try and clear as much of our primary mortgage as possible, and also to have a bit of spare cash lying around for the next recession when it hits “hint hint”.

Although we are still holding…

“counts fingers”

1…2…3…4…

Um, let’s just say we are still holding a few properties scattered all over the country.

Surprisingly post-COVID most have done really well. I’m sure there’s a future blogpost about them coming up.

That’s really it in a nutshell.

“scratches head”

Oh and thank you to everyone who has remained and continue to subscribe to this blog all throughout.

Indeed, I seem to have gained more subs during my hiatus versus when I was posting regularly, which confuses and amuses me at the same time. Maybe I need to disappear more often?

Kidding! I’m going to start pumping out more posts going forward, mainly because I want to pick up writing again.

There’s also a stack of things to discuss as well, both past, present and future.

Not just about work and family and ridiculous childcare fees.

Not just about investing and the economy and how to attain FIRE.

But just look at what’s still to come in 2024 – US presidential elections, RBA rate cuts (?), potential WW3 in the Middle East kicking off (do they ever stop fighting), CRYPTOCURRENCY BULL MARKET (maybe)*

*editor’s note: Cryptocurrency is and most likely will be in the forseeable future no better than gambling on the risk spectrum, take EXTREME caution when wallowing in those waters.

WOOHOO I’m excited and just happy to be back BABY!

But for now, MrsFrugalSamurai is shouting at me to put some clothes on, and also to change BabyFrugalSamurai’s nappy.

Why don’t you go and change her yourself woman – is not what I said to my enchanting wife.

Sigh.

Ooh Ooh Ah Ah.

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P.S. Every post is the personal opinion of yours truly, please seek your own personal financial advice regarding your own personal circumstances.