• Economy,  Investing,  Life,  Real Estate

    The Wealth Effect (Another Crazy Auction Story)

    Reading Time: 3 Minutes “And SOLD, to the young woman in green”. “BANG” goes the gavel, as it comes crashing down… to the applause of the crowd. Yep. You guessed it. It’s another bumper auction result from what is Sydney, nay Australia’s biggest past-time. That is, having a sticky-beak at your neighbour’s property auction. This time, the property in question was a street over from ours. But First, To Set The Scene. MrsFrugalSamurai and I had viewed this one at it’s first mid-week open about 3 weeks ago. It was a standard 3 bed/2 bath/1 car on a sloping block, freshly landscaped and renovated throughout. I was sipping a freshly…

  • Economy,  FIRE,  Investing,  Real Estate,  Stock Market

    Where To Next?

    Reading Time: 2 Minutes Hello all! Some of you have commented on the fact that I’ve not been posting much regarding our own investment journey lately. Have we slowed down our buying journey? Yes. Have we slowed down our investment journey? A resounding no. Now regarding the first point, I am fully aware of this, but the reason is simple. The reason we have slowed down our buying journey is that frankly, I don’t see any value where it makes sense to buy anything. Don’t confuse activity with productivity has been one of my biggest takeaways on this journey. Property values are at all time highs. With corresponding yields at…

  • Economy,  FIRE,  Investing,  Life,  Real Estate,  Stock Market

    Mistakes I’ve Made A Few

    Reading Time: 3 Minutes Recently I was perusing the required reading material that is the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letter. If you don’t know what this is – basically it’s the shareholder letter Warren Buffet writes each year since 1977. Every year it’s a hot topic of debate and there’s gems a-plenty. This time, he discusses a lot about his mistakes which I think makes him unique in the market – in that he talks more about his failures than his successes. Editor’s Note: Incidentally I never trust a person who only talks about their wins, never their losses/learns. Anyone who has been investing for a while knows that the more…

  • FIRE,  Life,  Real Estate

    6 Things You Learn Buying A House (Vs Units)

    Reading Time: 3 Minutes Howdy folks! Been full bloody on these last few weeks. Why? Well MiniFrugalSamurai’s arrival is INBOUND. Less than 8 weeks left and it is ALL SYSTEMS GO over here. So, I apologize off the bat for going missing here and there. Especially going AWOL with the Youtube channel, but honestly peeps… I have no time. From scans, to doctor appointments. Prenatal classes to baby shopping (buying things for the baby, not buying babies – that is illegal in most countries). It just doesn’t stop. HOWEVER. I do have a spare hour or two to punch out this quick post. As many of you know, late last…

  • Economy,  FIRE,  Investing,  Stock Market

    An Uneasy Feeling

    Reading Time: 2 Minutes MrsFrugalSamurai recently asked me how the performance of our stock portfolio is going. “Decent” was my one word reply. Why? She wanted to know. I could have told her it was because one of our holdings has received a significant boost from the early roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine. Or that another holding has surged off all-time lows from March last year. Even still, another could be the prospect of re-opening international borders, which would allow free travel to commence once more. But. The truth is. I don’t know. More to the point, I don’t think anyone truly knows why markets move up or down. We…