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Welcome to another edition of #AusFIWeekly. It’s Michelle here from FrugalityandFreedom.com, a mid-30s semi-retiree bringing you this regular selection of financial independence links and events from Australia and abroad.
Every second week, I welcome a member of our local FI community to choose some recent financial independence favourites (archives here). Today’s guest curator comes straight from YouTube to you: Family Finance. Take it away…
I’m Leigh, a mum to two young boys from Brisbane, Australia. I created the Family Finance YouTube channel to share our journey to financial independence and what I learn along the way. In making the channel, I was hoping to be relatable to those in a similar position to us (middle income, reduced hours and paying childcare fees). We are following a get rich slow approach to financial independence and trying to find the balance between working and saving for the future versus working part-time and spending time with our two boys while they are still young.
YouTube | Facebook
Instagram @familyfinance_
Australian Links
Considering Superannuation in Early Retirement (YouTube) – Family Finance
Like many, we feel that we discovered financial independence a little late. This video outlines how we are planning to include superannuation in our early retirement plans. It is a two stage approach which involves living off our pre-retirement savings until we have access to our retirement savings. When I ran through the numbers, I was quite surprised that financial independence might be closer than I thought.
Our Investing Strategy Explained – Aussie Firebug
Discovering Aussie Firebug was my initial introduction to the financial independence movement and what you would call my lightbulb moment. I also really appreciate how transparent and open he is with his finances. In this article, he talks about his investment strategy and how he’s moving away from investing in property and into index funds.
Paying Off Your Mortgage Versus Investing Revisited – Strong Money Australia
It was hard to choose just one article from Strong Money Australia. I really appreciate the research and detail that Dave puts into each of his blog posts. We have chosen to prioritise investing rather than paying off our home and Dave explains the advantages of this approach well in his article. We are going to let inflation take care of our mortgage.
Savings for Kids (No More Tears) – The Naked Investor
“Here’s my bold statement that will annoy the crap out of a lot of parents: Don’t set up an investment plan for your kids, it’s a bad idea”. “Look after yourself first. If you do that, you’ve got a fair shot at giving your kids one of the best presents they’ll ever get – a financially stable home life. Where there’s no risk of the bank foreclosing on your house. Where mum and dad (or dad, or mum, or mum and mum or whatever combination makes up your family) aren’t stressed to the gills about money.”
Australian Events
Wed 1 July, 8pm AEST – Investing 101 Free Webinar Series with Rachel White, Vanguard Australia (Part 3, Ethical Investing) – Ladies Finance Club
Mon 6 July, 12pm AEST – Glassbreaker: Live Q&A with ASIC MoneySmart’s Laura Higgins – Wake by The Reach Foundation
International Links
The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement – Mr Money Mustache
I quite often reference Mr Money Mustache’s table that gives a ‘ballpark figure of how many years it will take you to become financially independent’. He emphasises the double effect of cutting your spending rate which permanently drops your annual spending which is much more powerful than increasing your income.
Slow FI: The Real YOLO – The Fioneers
The more I am reading about Slow FI the more I think it suits us. Slow Fi is ‘‘when someone utilizes the incremental financial freedom they gain along the journey to financial independence to live happier and healthier lives, do better work, and build strong relationships. “Slow FI does not ascribe to a two-phase journey, where you work hard now for early retirement of eternal bliss later. With this approach, financial independence is a many stage journey where we make small shifts along the way to live better lives.”
How Billionaires Start Their Day – Robin Sharma
I recently read The 5am Club by Robin Sharma and it’s going to be one of those books I read annually. This brief blog post and video explains the power of optimizing your morning to spend the rest of your day being productive rather than just busy.
The Richest Man in Babylon Book – George S. Clason
A short read but filled with so much wisdom. The quote that had the most impact on me was: “I found the road to wealth when I decided that a part of all I earned was mine to keep.”
Thank you to Family Finance for selecting today’s features. Visit their YouTube channel for more financial independence videos.
Want to be an #AusFIWeekly guest curator? Got other Australian blog posts to recommend? Get in touch.
Yours in pursuit of FI,
Michelle @ Frugality and Freedom
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2 comments
YES agree 100% about letting inflation take care of the mortgage and invest what you have used to prepay principal instead. We’re doing that with all of our mortgages, including our rental mortgages, though we keep a healthy reserve and a conservative leverage ration (60/40 debt/ equity).
It makes a lot of sense Caroline. I was reading something the other day that a smart level of leverage is important in the pursuit of financial freedom. Sounds like you’re doing great, well done!!!