Reading Time: 4 Minutes What’s up guys! Welcome back for another installment of your favourite Frugal Samurai! There’s a general sense of optimism in the Frugal Samurai household recently because we’ve been attending a number of weddings in these last few weeks – Kev/Di, Viv/Juju, Cosi/Nick, Spencer/Jess – all whirlwind romances. You know how it is at weddings – where the weather is glorious, the venue is amazing, people look beautiful and where, the bride and groom are radiating perfection. All that good vibes can’t help but rub off on ya right? Every time we attend one it reminds me of that magical day in April when MrsFrugalSamurai and I…
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Chinese Golden Week
Reading time: 5 minutes Whew, we are back boys and girls! Back from where? Well, China of course! Been a pretty epic trip this time, as chronicled in the last two posts (here and here). Although we spent the majority of the time in Beijing, we were pretty lucky (or unlucky) to experience Golden Week. What’s Golden Week? Well, Wikipedia explains it as the “week from the 29th April to early May containing a number of Japanese holidays”. Nice, nice – the Japanese really deserve it you know? What with their car-making, raw fish and exemplary manners. Good for them. Eh? Why’d you tell a story about Japan, weren’t you…
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CHINA!
Reading time: 3 minutes Yes, that’s right party people, The Frugal Samurai is reporting back behind the Great Firewall! Ahh Beijing, how I have missed you! It’s gonna be great to spend a couple of weeks with the extended family and friends, can’t wait to catch up with them all! MrsFrugalSamurai is joining me for the second week – should be great showing her around the old haunts. Been back in China a couple of days now and I have to say, the changes in the Motherland every time I get back is astounding. This time last year, I was amazed at the technological advances – the free public wi-fi,…
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Snapshot of the Oz Economy
Reading Time: 5 minutes Hey YOU! (Points finger in your direction). “M…me?” YES YOU! Have you ever wondered how the Australian economy is going right now? What our GDP growth rate and headline figures are? WELL?! HAVE YOU??? “N…no…no” Well today’s your day to find out! “Oh…O…OK” The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA aka Oz Central Bank) kindly released an economic snapshot (great info-graphics) of how our Australian economy is tracking right now. Given the negativity recently in the media and pundits stating we are overdue for a recession – it’s a prudent time to see just how we are doing. Courtesy of the RBA: Some solid numbers reported, with…
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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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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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Caution to All Passive Index Investors – Beware the High Winds!
Hai guyz! What’s happening? How was your weekend! Enjoy the winter chill much? Yesterday was pretty insane, waking up at six in the morning so I could be chasing little kids around the park (I’m a soccer referee). The wind chill and gusts felt like playing in a gale on the Arctic Tundra. In fact, it was so bad at one stage that the pegs holding the goals down snapped off and the goals flipped over themselves (they were the fancy mobile goals). Immediately after that, I made the decision to call the game off. You should have heard the reactions from the parents when it happened. “WTF TheFrugalSamurai, don’t…
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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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4 Things I learnt Investing in Cryptocurrency
“A young man stood to inherit $10 million if he could turn $10k into $1m by the end of the month. The young man put the entire $10k into Cryptocurrency and it turned from $10k into $100 million in a matter of days. Fortunately for the young man, on the last day of the month, the value of Cryptocurrency crashed through the floor and his $100 million turned into $1m”. That was a joke I first heard during the last Crypto boom in late December/early January, a mere 4 months ago. Surely you all remember how social media, mainstream media and our own personal medium were all abuzz with Cryptocurrency…
