www.aussiefirebug.com/aff/In today's episode we chat about:- Is gold part of our financial independence plan?- Are FIRE chasing missing out on returns by only investing passively? - How we manage to spend less than $50K a year!Question (1:50)Thanks for the great content!I was just wondering what your thoughts are on gold? Is owning some gold a part of your financial plan?Thanks a lot for your time,JuliaQuestion (7:28)Hi AFB,Congratulations to you for what you have achieved & continue to achieve on your FIRE journey.Thank you for your incredible generosity in sharing your knowledge, passion & enthusiasm. Inspirational!Up until about 6 months ago, I exclusively purchased ASX listed shares directly but in the last 6 months decided to start purchasing ETFs.Now that I have the ability to compare apples with apples, I have to say that my annualised returns for direct share purchases are at least twice that for the ETF benchmark of VAS (over the entire 6 years).I am not writing to boast - in fact, my purchases have been largely recommended by 2 share sites I subscribe to (intelligent investor & barefoot investor) so I can hardly take any credit.I know that the FIRE community is so bullish on indexes but I am not sure that you are not missing out on some reasonable returns.I know the theory that most people don’t beat the index & probs that is true in context. Little of what Buffet says in regards to share investing is wrong. but I think with a little bit of ‘expert’ advice & by that, I don’t mean full-service brokers who only work for themselves.I reckon that solely investing in indexes might be limiting your returns.Anyway, I guess I just write to you to raise the issue with you & share my thoughts.Once again - congratulations. I wish I had had your insight at your age.Thank you, take careTanyaQuestion (15:38)Hi mate,I'm so happy to find our Australian fire blog. I've been reading and listening to people like Mustache, fientist etc for quite some time.One thing that has always annoyed me is seeing how little they live off and not understanding how they can possibly make that work. I would love to see a breakdown of your yearly spending habits. I've had a look through your blog and can't find anything that matches this. I noticed you seem to live off only 50k a year with you and your partner, which also seems too bloody good to me haha.I look forward to seeing what sort of expenses you count.Thanks, Cameron.Closet F.I addict