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Welcome to another edition of #AusFIWeekly. It’s Michelle here from FrugalityandFreedom.com, bringing you this regular selection of great financial independence links, news, and events from Australia and beyond.
I mentioned my audiobook obsession and the free resources I use in a recent edition. I’ve also been filling my spare time with free courses. I’ve studied video editing and graphic design on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com, free with public library membership) and checked out some Australian university short courses on FutureLearn (28 free certificate courses until 30 June). I also enjoyed a free 5 Day Virtual Assistant challenge (running again from 25 May), which helped me get set up for remote work clients… and here I am with three projects a month later. Unexpected benefits to this pandemic time off!
Recently at FrugalityandFreedom.com…
- PODCAST: FYF 17: Quarantined Abroad: COVID’s Impact on Nomads & Full-Time Travelers – I was interviewed on the Find Your Freedom podcast about how my plans have changed due to COVID-19.
- POPULAR POST: Lessons from eating on $2 a day – This time last year, I was taking part in the ‘Live Below The Line’ charity week and was surprised by what I learned. If you are looking for a low-spend challenge to reduce your food bill or change up your relationship to food, take a look.
Australian Links
Gods Must Be Strong – FIRE, Resilience and COVID-19 – Aussie HIFIRE
“At the risk of being the millionth blogger to quote Mike Tyson on this, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. There isn’t much we could have done to prevent this particular punch in the mouth. But there are things that we can and could have done to build up our resilience and reduce the impact so that we can bounce back from this and future crisis situations. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, or even better not have them affect you much if at all in the first place. So how does pursuing FIRE help with being resilient?”
Do You Need to Own a House to Retire Early? – Strong Money Australia
“There are clearly benefits to both options, and each can work well. Once again, it comes down to what suits the individual. If you value security, control, settling in, access to cheap debt, or the structural advantages of buying, then maybe owning a house in retirement is the best move for you. But if you value freedom, flexibility, having more investments/ diversification, the ability to retire a bit sooner, working your money harder or to avoid holding the cookie jar that everyone dips into, then maybe renting in retirement is a better fit.”
What Not to Do When Working From Home – Money Bites
“Today, many of you are working from home who haven’t done so previously. I am one of those people. I keep seeing many people humble bragging about their perfect working from home (WFH) set-up, where everything in their house looks like a magazine cut out or Instagram filter come to life. So, let’s disrupt that picture-perfect filter with some brutal honesty: I failed at working from home… Here is everything I did wrong when working home so that you can do better than me.”
You Should Be Buying Cheap Shit – FIRE by 35
“Just last week I said that you should stop wasting your money on shit. A big part of that is not spending money on cheap shit that falls apart after a couple of uses and you have to constantly replace. I’m not changing my mind, but sometimes you really should buy cheap, second-hand, knock off shit before you buy the expensive top of the range good stuff.”
Australian Events
13 May 7.30pm AEST – Finimize Australia Presents: Financial Health Check During a Pandemic
21 May 6.30pm AEST – Making Money Moves During Covid-19 with Kate Campbell of How to Money – Ladies on FIRE meetup
International Links
The Novel Frugality – Vox (USA)
“Frugality is a trait and a value as old as time, spiking in certain cultures and generations, living situations and individuals, out of both necessity and outlook… What’s newer, in fact, is the past 70-ish years of American materialism, which birthed the idea that some items are immediately and obviously disposable… Since quarantine started, following the spread of Covid-19, there has been a move away from this culture of waste. This new strain of frugality — call it the novel frugality — is defined by its attachment to this moment and its participants’ motivations.”
Time, Money, Health, and the Early Retirement Hack – Mr Fundamental (Canada)
“Time, money, and health. These are three of the major components of happiness… Over many years, our lives have been designed so that we only ever have 2 out of the 3 at any one point in life. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could have enough time, money, and health for many years in your life? Mr Fundamental thinks so, too. This is where the early retirement hack will come into play.”
Beyond the Simple Path to Wealth with JL Collins – Life Outside The Maze (USA)
“Money is a tool. It’s not your life and it’s not the objective of your life. The more you have and the better you handle that tool, the more effective you’ll be in your life. That’s anything from travelling to selecting the kind of work that you really want to do… If you have that tool of money, you can craft everything else in your life to be more aligned with what you want as opposed to what you have to be doing to pay the bills if you are living paycheck to paycheck.”
In Withdrawal – Jiab Wasserman on Humble Dollar (USA)
“Retirement isn’t just about reaching some magic savings number. You also need a strategy for turning that pile of savings into a reliable stream of retirement income that’ll last for the rest of your life. In academic lingo, it’s about changing from accumulation to decumulation. There are three common strategies… Which approach is best? All three strategies have benefits and drawbacks.”
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another guest curator next week. Missed one? Check out the archives here.
Yours in pursuit of FI,
Michelle @ Frugality and Freedom
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