Captain FI

We all know that a low cost of living is crucial to maximising your savings rate and minimise your time to reaching FI, but maintaining a low cost of living is also a principle of minimalism; being mindful with your money.

So when it comes to men's grooming, it sure doesn't have to be expensive! With one small investment, you can treat yourself to a lifetime of looking sharp, as well as reach milestones to FI.

Head on to the blog to know how I do it!

Shaving Years off FI | Captain FI We all know that a low cost of living is crucial to maximising your savings rate and minimise your time to reaching FI, but maintaining a low cost of living is also a principle of minimalism; being mindful with your money. None of us like waste, so here are my top tips to Shave years off FI with you...

If you're an investor with high tolerance for risk and volatility, then you may want to check out Betashares Diversified all growth ETF.

It is an 'all-in-one’ globally diversified, 100% high growth investment solution.

I share more about this ETF in a detailed review on the blog, so check it out to learn more and let me know if you're keen to add this to your FI portfolio.

BetaShares Diversified All Growth ETF (ASX:DHHF) Review | Captain FI BetaShares Diversified All Growth ETF (ASX:DHHF) Review from an experienced and long term investor on the path to Financial Independence.

G'day! A little welcome from down-under!

If you hadn't twigged by now, CaptainFI is all about Personal Finance in the land down under, but the lessons and strategies are just as applicable world wide.

To reach financial independence like me, all you need to do is two things;

1. Consistently live below your means, and

2. Invest the difference

How hard you go is up to you - the more you invest, the quicker you reach FI. It really is that simple.

I have tried investing in a heap of different things, but by far my favourite of all of my investments are my index funds. Simple, set, forget and collect (the dividends!)

Just spent $100 on plants, but saved $1.50 by repairing my thong with a milk bottle cap. I’ll call that a win 😅😅

BKI’s main aim is to generate an increasing income stream for shareholders using fully franked dividends, and their secondary aim is to deliver long term capital growth to shareholders, through long term holdings in a portfolio of diversified assets.

I discuss more of this on the blog, so go click the link and find out why I owned BKI and let me know if you've invested in them.

BKI Investment Company Limited (ASX:BKI) LIC Review | Captain FI BKI is an Australian Listed Investment Company who's strategy is to invest in a diversified portfolio of around 50 Australian shares, trusts and interest bearing securities. Read the full review

Financial Independence is all about choice. The choice to direct your efforts and energy into the things you care about.

The freedom to do this is liberating, and literally can give you unlimited options to pursue your life goals and dreams, and ultimately, to be happy. How can we practice these choices everyday?

In this blog post I share some ways we can be mindful and think about the long term benefit of FI.

Happiness Through Financial Independence | Captain FI Having money won't make you happy, but it can help you avoid things you don't like. Check out our blog on happiness through Financial Independence.

"This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever"

HOW TO EARN PASSIVE INCOME

Who doesn't want passive income? This money is income that you don’t need to actively go out and earn everyday.

Here are 11 ways you can earn passive income and passively grow value - although some do require some initial and ongoing effort.

🏡 House hack
🌽 Grow food
📈 Invest in ETFs and LICs
🏘 Own an investment property
💻 Start a website
📖 Write a book
📱 Become a social media influencer
📺 Create a YouTube channel
👕 Design t-shirts, stickers and merchandise
📸 Sell your photographs
🍺 Brew alcohol

Would love to hear your ideas for making passive income!

Ubank is an online bank which provides transaction and savings accounts as well as loans, term deposits and superannuation.

In this review I share the the pros and cons of having an account with this bank and also my personal experience as a Ubank customer for the past five years.

Check it out and let me you know if have an account with Ubank and maybe share your experience as well!

Ubank Review; How does this online bank compare? Click here to read a detailed Ubank review from a long term customer and personal finance expert who has reached Financial Independence.

If you’re looking for a social media scheduler, you may have come across Smarterqueue. In this review, I break down what the platform has to offer so you can judge whether it may be a good fit for your needs.

I also discuss pricing, features, and some of the complaints that have been made about their app. Take a look at the review, as Smarterqueue has defintely helped me to manage social media scheduling for my (growing) portfolio of websites and their related posts.. https://bit.ly/3Bwicui

The 'not-so-glamour' shot showing the reality of building a deck out of recycled timber on a mountain side.

It does take a while to select each piece that fits the gap, but it was well worth it, and the cost of this was practically zero (well, apart from a few hundred at Bunnings Warehouse Australia on screws and nails but that's par for the course)

Some great quality time with family!

The meaning of Frugality, in essence, is learning to be smart with your money in order to embrace a life of simplicity. However, if you choose to lead a frugal and simple life, it doesn’t have to be forever.

By embracing frugality now, you can invest more money into your future, allowing you more money and freedom to provide for a family, or perhaps do more of the things you enjoy later on.

Here are 10 ways to embrace frugality where spending is inevitable, to invest more money into your future and help you achieve financial independence. https://bit.ly/3Rr6434

Enlon pls, why my Tesla stock not go up more. I thought it was going to Mars via the Moon

Personal hygiene products like shampoo and body wash, as well as cleaning chemicals and products are worth hundreds of billions per year.

Accordingly, billions of dollars are spent on advertising these products, convincing you that you need to buy them.

But do you really need them? In this blog post I share ways we can somewhat reject this subconscious obsession with cleaning and purity, the racial undertones used in advertising, and learning that its ok to say no to unnecessary spending on cleaning products.

Check it out on the blog and if you have any cleaning tips or ways you have cut down unnecessary cleaning, let us know!

The Soap Scam | Captain FI Captain FI Don't be misled by the soap scam: unnecessary and wasteful cleaning products hurts your health, your wallet and the environment

I'm was so stoked to speak with A Purple Life on the podcast! Purple has a huge success story that I know you're going to love: she retired at the age of 30!

What's amazing about her journey is that she only discovered FIRE a few years ago and, with an incredible savings rate, managed to retire 5 years earlier than her initial goal.

On the podcast we chat about how she found out about FIRE (spoiler: on Reddit), how she got her dream job but realised it wasn't all it was cut out to be, how she worked hard to save money and how she quit her job only recently.

She also shares her top financial tips for success:
1. Take the time to reflect on what makes you happy
2. Consider where you live and how that impacts your savings rate
3. Map out the life you want, cost it out and then save and invest for that
4. Do experiments
5. Don’t ever apologise for being you!

Would love your thoughts once you've had a listen to the episode!

Captain Fi Podcast | Reaching FIRE with A Purple Life On board today is Purple, the author behind the award winning blog A Purple Life. Purple reached Financial Independence and has just retired at the age of 30!

Cheers! Little cheeky gin and tonic on the beach unwinding and getting some rays on the sand.

As someone who finds it hard to relax or schedule in ‘me time’, I am forcing myself to take more breaks and go slowly

Of course though, I'm not paying $14 per drink at the beach side resort. I have my esky packed with ice, frozen berries, diet tonic water and my favourite gin.

What are your ‘go to’ relax or unwind activities on your days off?

DO YOU TRACK YOUR NET WORTH?

I've been tracking and posting my net worth monthly since 2019 and it's been a great way to stay on top of my financial health and make sure I'm on track to meet my goals.

Prior to that, I only loosely tracked my net worth growth with a few crazily complicated spreadsheets and a tattered old notebook.

Net worth is calculated as your assets minus your liabilities. Assets are things like shares and real estate you own, while liabilities are things like your mortgage, credit card debt, student or personal loans.

Not everyone agrees on these definitions, as some will only consider assets as things that produce a return or yield (like investment properties or shares) and therefore don't include cars or physical property.

Actually, a lot of people consider cars to be a liability, since they cost you so much! Especially if they are leased or have a car loan attached to it.

Personally, I include physical property as an asset and a side goal of mine has been to get all of these below $10,000. This is because I am confident I can sell them when needed, but also because it only makes up such a small amount of my net worth it doesn't really matter much to include them.

There are a number of tools you can use to begin tracking your net worth, ranging from expensive paid accounting solutions, right through to free online tools or even trusty old Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. I track mine using a variety of tools - and make it pretty public on the blog!

Do you track your net worth? And if yes, what tools are you using to track it?

Why you Should Track your Net Worth | Captain FI Your Net Worth is the positive sum total of your assets (such as stocks) minus any liabilities (such as a mortgage or credit card debt).

If ETFs are part of your investing strategy, you'll want to take a look at this article, where I walk you step-by-step through the process of buying Vanguard ETFs.

How to buy Vanguard ETFs in Australia | Captain FI Click here to learn How to buy Vanguard ETFs in Australia

When Autopilot and chill is connected during the cruise segment and I gotta listen to colleagues tell me about their Forex business and pretend not to sound horrified 😱

Best one yet was when someone convinced the entire crew that the AUD/USD exchange rate was 'about to go down heaps' and everyone withdrew spare cash they had in their banks into USD before flying home to Australia 😬

(I mean they ended up being right, but still...)

Finspo is a digital-first mortgage broker that works with a number of lenders and allows its customers to get better deals on home loans. With the help of the Finspo app, customers can manage their money more effectively and possibly even pay off their home loans faster.

So are they really worth it and is it free? Find out in this review article. Read on..
https://bit.ly/3ex1r9a

I had an interview with the accomplished author of the 'Old Money' book series, Bryon Tully. He is a full time writer and has created awesome streams of passive income through his literature.
He also shared his investment strategy, net worth and his future plans.

Click on the link to learn more about him and my key takeaways from his financial approach.

An interview with Byron Tully | Captain FI An interview with Byron Tully, an accomplished writer and author of the 'Old Money' book series.

A while ago I posted here that the income from my websites now exceeds the dividend income I’ve built from nearly 7 years of investing in the stock market.

I know that a lot of people in the FIRE community are interested in sharing their journey to financial independence on a blog.

Here are my 10 steps to making money with blogs:

1. Figure out what your goals are and choose a niche

2. Develop a business plan: what does your site do, and how will it work?

3. Register a domain name and choose a hosting service. BlueHost are great to start, but there are dozens of great hosting services - pick a shared plan with a sign up discount!

4. Build your website – I highly recommend you use WordPress as your back end

5. Create your content - make it useful and informative for your readers

6. SEO your content – With almost 2 billion websites out there, you need to learn about SEO (that’s search engine optimisation) so that people can actually find your website

7. Get on social media – promote your site, share your articles and engage with your community

8. Regularly post new content – you’ve got to be consistent with what and when you post, both for Google and your community of readers

9. Review your Google Analytics regularly – Analyse your website traffic so you know what people are interested in and create MORE content on those topics

10. Monetise the site – Start bringing in the dollars! You should have outlined this in your business plan. You can make money through advertising or affiliate marketing - there are plenty of ways.

Do you have your own website or blog? What tips have you got for making money online?

Flying this vintage tiger moth was a real career highlight for me!

Flying an open cockpit biplane, with the wind in the wires was an absolute treat

Its aerobatic rated, too! So we took it upside down 😍

Audible, which is owned by Amazon, provides its subscribers with either one or two audiobooks per month as well as giving access to original podcasts.

So is it really worth it?

Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of using Audible in this full Audible review..

Have you used Audible? What was your experience? .. https://bit.ly/3TC4pJl

I have done far too many job interviews in my life and will be glad to only ever have to do one or two more...

Commercial property investments make up a huge part of the property industry in Australia. These typically are much larger and more expensive investments than residential property, and are generally focused more on strong cash-flow rather than capital growth. This article explores everything about commercial real estate property, its types, benefits, risks, best locations to invest in and much more.

So if you're interested in investing in commercial property, check this out and find out whether I will personally invest in commercial real estate as part of my 'Financial Independence' portfolio.

Commercial Property Investment in Australia | Captain FI A commercial property investment in Australia can be great for an established portfolio, but there are a number of unique risks and factors to consider prior.