Happy Australia Day folks! To all our international friends – January’s usually a good month here in Australia, because so shortly after the New Year celebrations – there’s a three week hiatus which culminates into another party for the Australia Day long weekend. Surely there are worse things in life than moments spent with your family and friends accompanied by yummy food and delicious wine? That’s what makes living in this country so great, the sense of community, good living and general good vibes. Our attitude towards real estate is pretty unique as well – the “Great Australian Dream” is ingrained in our national psyche, a generational belief that home…
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Investing in Real Estate 102 (Mindset and More)
HEY news flash guys – did you know big circles are really hard to fit inside small rectangles? After 2 hours of trying, MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be and I know now. Yep, that’s the scenario that confronted her and I when one of her good friends’ generously offered a barely-used dining table to us. With hindsight, I should have figured out something was slightly amiss when she said that the table was a “demountable”. The only experience I’ve had with demountables are mobile classrooms and other really really big structures that can fit whole adults inside them. I tried to quiz MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be on how big the table was BEFORE we left to pick…
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What I Learnt From Losing $40,000
Back again guys! I hope everyone enjoyed my previous post – the one where I gave myself a good paper-cut and squeezed some lemon juice onto old memories just for your viewing pleasure. There’s been a fair amount of messages about that episode, mainly around what I did next, what I learnt, what I’m wearing when I type out a post. To be frank (Anne – come and find me, oh dear “shakes head”) I took that hit pretty hard. I mean it wasn’t like I blinked twice slowly and then continued with whatever I was doing, it was a good 18 months or so before I could contemplate investing again…
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How’s Your Mindset?
HAY GUYS – how are you? Ready for another post? Of course you are! Before I get in stuck in have to say I received plenty of public and private messages for the last post about FIRE. Looks like it’s a topic which strikes a chord with many people. Hats off to Banesan for pointing out that in order to retire early you can just move to a developing country, in fact it’s what a lot of people who have achieved FIRE do. The USD or AUD goes a long way in those places. Ooo also before I forget, I’ll sneak in a big thank you for everyone who’s read and supported…
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How I Got Started With FIRE
Wait, what do you mean how you got started with FIRE? Do you mean FIRE as in exothermic combustion? Careful there laddie, explain yourself. No sir, nothing as malicious as that – I meant FIRE as in Financial Independence Retire Early. It’s a pretty novel concept and sort of a movement which originated in the USA. Here in Australia though, I haven’t really heard of anyone achieving FIRE. Mind you, I don’t expect the ones who have “retired early” to sit home and play Call of Duty all day. I’m sure once you reach a level where you can retire young, you don’t. Life’s too short to sit around shooting…
