The Irish FIRE Podcast

In this episode Michael lists the 7 steps that he followed when he started pursuing financial independence. Michael tackles the "how" to FI, and gives practical steps for you to get started on your own FI journey.

Show Notes:

Rich Dad Poor Dad:

A Simple Path to Wealth:

Money Master the Game:

Come and join Michael at an event:

In this episode, Michael talks to Aoife Gaffney, AKA Prudence Money Penny. Aoife is a Certified Behavioural Money Coach (CMC), Accredited Business All Stars Thought Leader, professional speaker and writer and former financial adviser.

Michael interviews Aoife about a person's relationship with money, how you can improve your view point with money and just share general tips and advise when it comes to managing money!

Quotes from the episode:

"The different between an opinion and a pizza, is you opt for a pizza."

"A bargain is only a bargain if you needed the thing in the first place and you had planned to pay full price for it."

"The word budget doesn't sit right with me.... we call it a personal spending plan."

"Make spending decisions based on a plan, not whats in your bank balance."

"I see money as a friend... if you only spoke to them once a year, they're not going to hang around... "

Show Notes:

Cork Financial Independence Meet Up Group:

Link to Aoife's books on Amazon:

Email Aoife: [email protected] 

For events and webinars visit:

In this episode, Michael explores the different tax rules around investments in Ireland and explain why he invests in certain assets based on the tax rates.

He explains that tax rates are all about incentives and explores the good and bad investments based on tax rates.

He highlights three investment tools that are tax efficient - pensions, capital gains tax and corporate tax - and explores options around each of these.

Show Notes

For events and webinars visit:

In this episode, Michael explores the idea of building potential income streams, in the hope that if one of them takes off, the upside payoff will give unlimited potential.

He talks about why he made the decision to work part time - in the hope of using more of his time to work on various projects which might have a bigger upside in the long run.

Michael mentions how financial Independence isn't just a financial journey, its a personal discovery journey!

He talks about how to leverage other people's time and focus on taking baby steps to shift your focus from a single income steam, to multiple income steams.

Show Notes

For events and webinars visit:

In this episode, Michael shares how he uses credit cards to manage his daily cash flow.

He gives a history of how he found himself in €30,000 in credit card debt 12 years ago and what he learned from that experience.

Today, Michael uses two credit cards to pay for his day to day expenses.  He discusses how this strategy can be useful to improve cash flow and decrease bank charges.

In this episode, Michael shares some of his knowledge on the FOREX trading industry.  He looks at various options around active and passive FOREX trading. 

Active trading is where you are in control over the trades that you carry out.  Passive trading is where another trader trades on your behalf.  Once the account is set up, the trading is fully passive.

Michael is running free live webinar's each month, covering both active and passive (copy trading) FOREX trading.  To view the events and register, visit:

In this episode, Michael talks to Ralph Benson from Moneycube.

Ralph is on a mission to add more transparency to pensions and investment products.

Pensions are a fantastic way to invest in an extremely tax efficient manner.  For many in Ireland, especially those who are PAYE earners, a Pension is the most tax efficient route to invest.

Ralph is looking to make pensions "cool again".  He is going out on the road as part of the "Pensions Awareness Week".  He is hosting various free events where you can learn more about how you can utilise a pension as part of your financial freedom journey.

Show notes:

Pensions Awareness week website:

For other events and webinars visit:

In this episode, Michael tackles the question of should you focus of paying debt (or your mortgage) quicker by making extra repayments, or should you invest.

He looks at different options, such as:

In this episode, Michael talks with Guy Davis. Guy is a long time friend who Michael meet back to 2004.

Guy started his financial Independence journey when he was 18 (he is in his mid 30's now.) What makes his story special, is that he began investing before the 2008 financial crisis, so has survived a recession and came out the other side better for it.

Guy has always had this amazing ability to put time and freedom ahead of material possessions. This hasn't stopped his doing what he loves (such as traveling), but at this same time he has this vision to life his life in a relaxed, low cost life style.

Guy is originally from Brisbane in Australia, but is currently living in Auckland, New Zealand, and has two kids aged 7 and 4. We touch on his financial education approach with his kids during the interview.

Quotes from the episode:

"When there is blood on the streets, that's when you need to be buying stocks."

"If it is truly going to be the end of the financial system, the money in the bank is probably no good to you... so you may as well put it in equities as there is a very good chance your close to a bottom."

"Financial Independence is delaying the short term gratification, knowing that your going to get a better pay off down the track."

In this episode Michael discusses the trap between time and money. He mentions that there is no magic number and that what we are ultimately looking for when we aim for financial Independence, is time freedom.

He mentions to start micro managing your FI journey and focus on yearly goals, rather than focusing on the final "big number".