Reading Time: 6 minutes Ah yes, the Great Australian Dream. What is it you ask? Well, since the beginning of time, us Aussies – we’ve got this fascination, no, not the right word, this need of owning our own home. The insatiable desire for the quarter acre block and a piece of land we can call our own. I’ve discussed it previously in some of the earlier blog posts (here and here) regarding our attitude to real estate. Not only does the property market provide housing to all of us – it is also an enormous asset class which dominates the media airwaves and creates a huge number of jobs. Which…
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5 Ways to Combat Stress
Reading Time: 5 minutes What’s up guys – how y’all doing? Hope everyone’s having a great weekend! The days are slowly getting longer which means we’re coming through the back end of winter, as we limp forward through the second half of 2018. How’s your year coming along? Hopefully it’s been productive and fruitful so far. If not – don’t fret, still some time left to get cracking! Sometimes though, I have this feeling that I’m spinning wheels for the sake of spinning them as opposed to actually gaining any ground. Know what I mean? These days, there’s a seeming badge of honour to boast as to how “busy” we…
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5 C’s of Credit
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Hey, can you lend me twenty bucks?” I stopped in my tracks and surveyed the scene in front of me. A young man, dressed sharply in a suit and tie held out his hand with an air of confidence. A myriad of thoughts permeated through my mind. Did I know this person? Why is he asking me for money? Will I get it back? Hm, I hope they still have those tasty Schnitzel sandwiches left. Where is the nearest toilet by the way, might make a pit-stop. Turning back to the young man, I reached into my wallet and handed over some of my hard-earned… You…
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4 Things to Consider Before Buying Your “Dream” Home!
“Oh please! Please, at least take a look!” “No! We can’t afford it, move on.” “Come on! We can – it’s not that much, we can do it!” “How much is it again?” “Listed for $1.3m, but think about the space for the kids and it’ll be a place to call home.” “Hmm… what’s the address again?” …. So went the conversation I overheard at lunch today between a young professional couple. You could see it in their eyes really. Hers was fixated and pleading, stubbornly refusing to let go. His was unsure and trapped, not wanting to disappoint yet knowing deep down the truth… fear. They were of course,…
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The Frugal Samurai wants your questions! (He’ll answer them…I think…)
Howdy guys! How’s your long weekend going? Yep, have to thank the Queen for that – us Sydneysiders, we celebrate the Queen’s Birthday on Monday – even though she was born on 21st April. That’s how baller she is – everyone has to celebrate her birthday on a day that is not her birth date. Westminster Represent Yo. It’s also been heaps wet in Old Sydney Town – so much so that grandpas and grandmas sit around the Winter fire telling the young ‘uns what it was like “back in the good old days” when the sun still shone through the clouds. Speaking of old tales and Winter fires, I caught…
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Investing in Real Estate 108 (Vacancies)
“…If you would like to leave a message, please do so after the tone… BEEP” “Hi The Frugal Samurai, it’s Kay here – listen I’ve got some bad news, the tenants in your property at 123 Slightly-Above-Average-Investment Drive have given notice to vacate, they’ll be gone in 4 weeks. Oh and the other tenants at 456 Cash-Flow-Drain-But-I-Can’t-Sell-Because-Of-The-Growth Street have also advised they won’t be taking up their lease when it expires in July… Goodbye” FFFFFF! Goodbye to you too Kay you FFFFFFFffffff! Joking joking, love you Kay, tier 1 property manager she is. What’s up dudes and dudettes! As you can see – not the most ideal time for yours…
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Visualizing The World
What’s up Frugal Samuraites! Hope everyone’s having a great time. MrsFrugalSamurai and I are still recovering from our magical wedding day, was worth every rocky step of the journey planning it. We took out some of MrsFrugalSamurai’s relatives from overseas afterwards to thank them for making the long journey to celebrate with us. During lunch, a relative of hers (a very successful career woman in financial services) found out that I too worked in financial services. As you do, we both started talking about… you guessed it – financial services. The conversation twirled from the Australian economy, to how hard difficult it is to purchase real estate in Hong Kong…
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6 Cons To Buying Off-The-Plan
Hay guys and gals! How y’all doin! The year keeps on rumbling on doesn’t it, we are almost a third of the way through, how are you going with your goals and plans for this year? If you’re like me – who hasn’t ticked anything off yet, don’t fret! Still plenty of time to get started, but get started you must. Following on from the post last time (here) about buying real estate off-the-plan (new build whether apartment or house), I received quite a number of messages regarding people’s stories of their successes and failures of purchasing off-the-plan. Suffice to say, although some people have done quite well with this…
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6 Pros To Buying Off-The-Plan
What’s up ladies and gentlemen! Hope everyone had a great weekend. MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be certainly did – seeing as she had her hen’s on Saturday night. Poor old me was left home alone to entertain myself. I was crestfallen. … for about a minute! Because HUZZAH! It meant I finally had free rein over what I wanted to watch on Netflix. No more Korean dramas or American sitcoms for me! No siree, straight to bingeing on “The Adventures of Tintin”. Totally. Wild. But call me old, fact is that after the day I had on Saturday I really just wanted to lie in bed and watch some nostalgic childhood TV shows to unwind.…
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Are You Part of the 85% Disengaged at Work?
Hi guys – what’s up! How’s your week going? Mine’s alright except I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently. Oh no – here we go… Wait! Hear me out. No, I’d rather go play hopscotch with Peggy the one-legged giraffe. … Look this’ll be quick. Fine, but hurry up – Peggy’s waiting. OK I’ll try… You see, I read a pretty concerning report recently, on the state of the workplace, and of management practices used in many organisations. It was orchestrated by Gallup (one of the world leaders in data analytics and consulting for big corporates when it comes to brand perception, attitudes and behaviours from customers, to employees…
