Aussie Firebug

Today is a very special episode because if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be chatting to Steve McKnight on my own podcast, I would have never believed you. Steve is a professional investor, media commentator and online entrepreneur. But he’s probably most famous in the FIRE community for his book “From 0 to 130 Properties in 3.5 Years”. This was actually the second book about financial independence that I ever read and completely changed my life. Steve is one of three people who I’d consider as the most influential figures for me to come across throughout my investing journey so as you could imagine, this was a special episode for me personally.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Burnout and seeking an alternative path (00:06:15)
• Investing in property (00:17:37)
• Vendor financing (00:20:51)
• Australia’s housing market is a Ponzi scheme (00:27:44)
• Online entrepreneurship (00:46:30)
• Finding meaning beyond financial independence (01:11:37)

• Book - From 0 to 130 Properties in 3.5 Years
• Website - Property Investing
• Website - Money Magnet
• Website - Tree Change

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast/

Today I’m talking with Brad Smith. Brad is an entrepreneur and former young Australian of the year for Tasmania who founded a motorcycle company Braaap in 2005 at the ripe old age of 18. Entrepreneurship is sometimes popularised as a quicker way to reach FIRE with the added benefit of doing something that you love. But it doesn’t always work out this way.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Brad’s background and family upbringing (00:05:53)
• What made Brad start a company so young? (00:15:11)
• Finding a manufacturing factory in China (00:25:28)
• The importance of separating personal finances from the companies (00:30:55)
• Dealing with adversity (00:34:20)
• Marketing vs engineering (00:39:09)
• Electric motorcycles (00:43:36)

• Website - Braaap Motorcycles
• The Woke Salaryman - Stop blaming the poor for being poor
• Book - The Ultimate Sales Machine: Chet Holmes
• Linkedin - Brad Smith Braaap

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today I'm joined by my high schoolmate Luke. 

Luke and I attended FinFest and the Sydney FIRE meet-up over the weekend. I thought it would be fun to recap the event/meetup because we both had a blast.

Some of the topics we cover in today's episode are:

• The FinFest event (02:51)
• The presentations on the day (08:05)
• Food truck lines (09:18)
• Bumping into others from the FIRE community (15:51)
• The FIRE meet-up (30:08)
• Noisy venues (31:06)
• Other content creators coming to the meet-up (33:20)

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today I’m talking with Dr Cameron Murray. Cameron is a father of two currently living in Brisbane and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sydney. You may have seen Cameron in a collection of print media outlets and in TV programs such as Q&A on ABC. This is a big episode today because Cameron has such a breadth of knowledge across so many areas that affect our ability to retiree early. He has one of the most interesting and original takes on our Super system too which I think a lot of early retirees, such as myself, will be interested in hearing.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Why Australia should scrap Superannuation since the aged pension is a superior system that costs less and delivers more (00:11:20)
• Housing policies and what changes need to be made to help affordability (00:52:46)
• Money creation and its role in inflation (00:58:27)
• Political corruption and what it costs Australians (01:25:52)
• How to become a better economist (01:31:55)

• Website - Fresh Economic Thinking
• Report - Scrap Superannuation
• Book - Game Of Mates: How favours bleed the nation
• Twitter - @DrCameronMurray
• Substack - Fresh Economic Thinking

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today my guest is a legend in the Australian personal finance space. Noel Whittaker has been educating Aussies in money management and investing for over 50 years. He’s probably most famous for his international bestselling book "Making Money Made Simple" which has sold over a million copies worldwide!

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Noel’s upbringing and first investments (00:02:19)
• What made Noel become an author? (00:13:41)
• Noel’s investment choices and experience (00:18:08)
• Noel’s thoughts on Australian Superannuation (00:26:50)
• Annuities in Australia (00:42:46)
• The big issue with Lenders Mortgage Insurance (00:48:37)
• What’s happened to the financial planning industry and how would Noel fix it? (00:50:38)

• Website - www.noelwhittaker.com.au
• Book - Making Money Made Simple
• Book - Retirement Made Simple

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

I have an interesting episode for you guys today and I think you’re really going to like it. My guest today is Scott O’Neill. Scott bought his first investment property in 2010 with a $60K deposit after saving for 5 years. Just 8 years later, Scott and his wife had 28 properties generating $300K of profit each year plus around $7Million of equity. And Scott is very adamant that he didn’t receive any financial help, gifts, inheritance, living at home rent-free until his late 20’s etc. He’s self-made and agreed for me to dive deeply into exactly how he managed to do it.

Some of the topics we talk about today are:

• Scott’s background. What type of socioeconomic situation did he come from? (00:06:24)
• How did Scott come to be an investor? (00:11:41)
• The schools Scott attended and what type of career he had once he graduated from uni? (00:14:13)
• A timeline of Scott and his wife’s salary and savings rate during those 8 years from 2010 to 2018 (00:17:15)
• How did the banks let him and his wife load up on that much debt? Especially during the APRA crackdown in the early/mid-2010s. (00:42:04)
• How much of their success does Scott attribute to timing and luck vs skill and hard work? (01:00:26)
• How much he personally draws from his buyer agency business even after reaching financial independence? (01:13:39)

• Website - Rethink Investing

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today I’m chatting with chemical engineer/home energy advisor Tim Forcey. He’s probably known best in the FIRE community for creating the extremely popular Facebook group, My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) which currently has over 65,000 members.

I’ve always said one of the most common traits in FIRE community is hyper efficiency of everything we spend money on, so I was very excited personally to have Tim on the show, especially with energy prices creeping higher and higher.

Some of the topics we cover include:

• What made Tim become a home energy advisor? (00:02:25)
• What are the low hanging fruits to make our homes more energy efficient? (00:08:42)
• Is it true that electric air-conditioners are cheaper to run than gas systems for heating your home? (00:11:07)
• What is the “thermal envelope” and why is it important? (00:25:06)
• Building regulations in Australia and what Tim would mandate if he were in charge (00:37:46)
• What are heat pumps, how do they work and why has gas heating been so popular? (00:44:21)
• Tim’s thoughts on solar energy and home batteries (00:52:12)
• The story behind “My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH)” Facebook group (01:00:50)

• Website - timforcey.com.au
• Facebook group - My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH)
• YouTube Channel - Renew
• YouTube - Heat Pumps - Part 1 - Hot Water
• YouTube - Heat Pumps - Part 2 - Space Heating

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today we’re talking about two popular career paths - starting out at one of the big four or going into a government role. 

The Big Four is the nickname used to refer collectively to the four largest professional services networks in the world. These include Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Joining me in this discussion is my old schoolmate Jeremy who did a cadetship at Deloitte where he worked for 6 years. Jeremy explains the interview process, culture, work-life balance and salary during his time at one of the big four.

I’m going to be representing starting out in government as I spent the first 8 years of my working life in the public sector.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• What is the process of landing a job and what were the interviews like? (00:05:18)
• How does a cadetship actually work? (00:14:51)
• First year experiences (00:18:44)
• Salary progression (00:21:36)
• Big Four workloads and expectations (00:24:25)
• Government experience, expectations & work culture (00:35:12)
• The pros and cons of both career paths (00:48:28)
• Dealing with burnout (00:56:49)
• Finding meaningful work that brings purpose (01:00:25)

• Website - Small Giants
• Book - The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life - David Brooks

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Today we’re talking about succession planning with the one and only Terry Waugh.

This is a pretty big topic but we’ll be focusing in on areas such as:

• What is succession planning and why should we care? (02:22)
• What are some of the available options for succession planning? (04:19)
• Wills (07:06)
• Testamentary trusts (13:31)
• Succession planning within companies (20:52)
• Superannuation - who gets it when you die? (24:15)
• SMSF - what are the key differences? (28:42)
• Life insurance inside superannuation (39:30)
• How to protect your kids in case you die (31:01)
• How much do these structures cost? (33:27)

• Podcast - 46. Terry Waugh - Structuring
• Website - Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd
• Podcast - The Structuring Podcast
• Facebook - Aussie FIRE Discussion Group
• Forum - Property Chat

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast

Have you ever been ripped off by a financial advisor? 

Today’s podcast is all about identifying the tactics financial advisors use that put their interests ahead of yours. 

Joining me in this discussion is Phil Harvey. He’s an independent financial advisor and one of the founding members of PIFA which stands for the Profession of Independent Financial Advisers.

Some of the topics we cover are:

• Who is Phil Harvey? (05:41)
• Phil's personal experience with financial advisors in 2010 before the royal commission (08:01)
• What motivated Phil to help start PIFA? (11:20)
• What is an independent financial adviser? (13:29)
• Fee structure differences between independent and non-independent advisors (15:25)
• What percentage of all financial advisors are independent? (22:09)
• Red flags when vetting financial advisors (36:15)
• Phil’s tips on avoiding being ripped off by a financial advisor (55:11)

• Website - PIFA (Profession of Independent Financial Advisers)
• Website - Construct Wealth - Independent Financial Advice
• Podcast - Are Financial Planners Worth the Money? feat. Paul Benson

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast