Captain FI

An Interview with Prashan Mohan, the Chief Marketing Officer of Sharesight, to discuss what is Sharesight and how investors on the path to Financial Independence can use the Sharesight program to make their portfolio tracking, administration, and tax accounting easier.

On board the podcast today is Katherine Hayes, to talk all about insurances (how to cover your butt!). This is something not often talked about enough in the FI/RE space, so I was really glad to have an expert on board to break down the different types of insurances and what to look for.Katherine is a multi-award-winning financial advisor based in Canberra who has over 20 years industry experience, and is also the co-host of the Money Madams Podcast alongside Amber Parr. She is a business owner, mum of 3 energetic boys and before she got into financial advice she was actually a croupier working onboard sailing ships in the Caribbean! So it is fair to say, Katherine knows a bit about money (especially that the house ALWAYS wins!).I would describe Katherine as genuine, energetic, knowledgeable and passionate. Whilst we chatted for hours, we've tried to keep the episode down to a manageable chunk but it is still nearly an 1 hour 40 minutes so. I was super glad to connect with Katherine, and will definitely be asking her back onto the show to share some more of her expertise.

Today I am sharing an update about my FIRE Journey - specifically all about my decision to stop work and leave flying, leave Sydney and move across the country back to my hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. I chat about what I have been up to, latest decisions in the portfolio, my family update and finally finish with a reader question

On board today is Richard, a Sydney based digital marketer to talk all about digital marketing and online business. Richard actually has had a similar background to me, starting off his career in engineering and then chasing financial independence through leveraging his time and creating a business in his dream job. Richard grew up in Canberra and currently lives in Sydney with his Wife and daughters. Whilst web design and digital marketing is his specialty, he has actually been building websites since he was 15 years old (and back then it was a lot tougher and required a lot more coding!). After a break, he ended up getting back into websites as a side hustle as taught by Matt and Liz Raad at the eBusiness Institute after he and his wife attended one of their seminars. They ended up absolutely killing it - managing to create passive income from several personal websites as well as building some high-performing websites for local business clients.Based on their success, Richard continued to build client sites and actually was able to leave his full-time Engineering job back in 2019 and he and his Wife co-founded Paramark, their digital marketing agency which specialize in helping industrial, tech and finance businesses grow through engaging web design, search engine optimization and online advertising.Fast forward three years to today, he runs this business full time with a team of seven, and is continually expanding. Richard runs dozens of websites both clients and personal portfolio sites, enabling his family to reach financial freedom and regain control over their lives. He says he feels a lot better as he finally has time to spend raising his young family, with the ultimate 'work optional from home flexibility' that comes with running an online business.

Onboard today is Chris Brycki, the CEO and founder of Stockspot, a Sydney-based online investment company. Chris is an experienced fund manager, holding a Bachelor of commerce and some impressive credentials - Chris was the national winner of the ASX share trading game three years in a row, and went on to work successfully as a portfolio manager at UBS investments.After years working as a fund manager and openly discussing finance with his close friends and family, Chris saw the need for an investment tool that was fairly priced and focused on the client, and not just on extracting the most fees out of investors! He also decided he wanted out of the corporate rat race, and somehow managed to convince his partner to sell their property to found the dream of their very own investment company. Fast forward 8 years, Chris has been an absolute success story building one of the most popular automatic investment tools in Australia and is now managing over $450 Million of client funds completely hands-free for them.I actually really like the passive approach Stockspot use and after meeting Chris and the team I decided to voted with my dollars, and now have tens of thousands invested with them.Today Chris and I are going to unpack this bit more and talk about what Stockspot is, how it works, the role asset allocation plays and the impact of CHESS sponsorship on the structure of your investments. I'll also try to get as much valuable information out of Chris as I can about his journey to Financial Independence and his experience working as a fund manager.

On board today is Pat Garrett, co founder and CEO of Six Park online asset management. Pat is a financial advisor and member of the FPA, as well asgraduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has worked as a Board member, CEO, CFO, senior level corporate advisor and a private equity investor. Pat has over 30 years experience in the financial industry - having worked for JP morgan in New York and San Fransisco before moving to Melbourne where he worked as managing director for private investment firm Georgica Associates. In 2014 he co founded Six Park with Brian Watson (AO) who himself also worked at JP Morgan (as the Chairman of JP Morgan Australia).Pat is a serious investor, but outside of finance he loves Surfing, Barbecuing and spending time at home with the family and his dog Charlie. I've been in touch with Pat for some time now, and he has always had time to chat with me and answer any questions or concerns I have had - not just about my Six Park investment balance and whether I am in the right fund, but also about investing, mindset and life in general. He's even taught me a few new recipes he learned in lockdown!

Onboard today is Jade Johnson, a student from the USA who is on track to graduate University not only debt free, but with a huge investment balance. Jade shares her money journey and experience investing as a student, and just how she is graduating debt free through a combination of part time work, scholarships, side hustles and her money coaching business. Jade Johnson started her blog Finance for FIRE early 2020 to document her own financial journey. After paying off over $17,000 of personal debt and subsequently growing her net worth to $50k by the incredibly young age of 22, she realized that she had strategies that could help everyone achieve financial freedom. Jades business finance for fire focuses on teaching budgeting, paying off debt, raising credit, and investing so others can create generational wealth.

Josh is a young father on the path to Financial Independence who works in the engineering construction industry. Recently, he sold all of his crypto investments and used the money to start his own small business called 'You Knead Sourdough', which provides customers with complete sourdough kits to enable them to make awesome home made sourdough for a fraction of the price that it costs in store. He has seen amazing success so far with high demand for his kits, and is almost at the point where he is able to leave his full time construction job as the business income nearly covers his families cost of living.

On board the podcast today is Scott Rieckens, Author of Playing with FIRE and the director of the Playing with FIRE documentary. Happily married in California with a young daughter, Rieckens had his dream life: A luxury car, yacht club membership and a big house. Underneath this façade, he was struggling with depression, overworked and overwhelmed, with no exit strategy. After discovering the financial Independence Retire Early movement, Scott began learning as much as he could, finally explaining to his family it was time to change. After a lot of research, talking and hesitation, they finally agreed. He finally quit his job, the family hit the road to move interstate, worked remotely over a year, and finally settled in a lower cost of living area, downsized their home and cut their expenses by 50%. Playing with Fire is Rieckens' story as told from their ‘works in progress' perspective on their journey to financial independence through deliberate minimalism, reduced spending and maximised investing. A man after my own heart (and hairline!), Scott has championed Financial Independence, and his documentaries, short films, interviews and published works have provided information and inspiration to millions globally. I am absolutely stoked to have been able to chat with him and pick his brain for us all to benefit.

Liz Raad is a successful online entrepreneur and educator who's expertise is buying and selling websites and teaching women how to do the same. She is also the co-founder of theeBusiness Institute a private training organisation that provides digital marketing courses designed specifically for those who want to re-train for the digital future or earn income independently. Liz and I chat about her experience with Entrepreneurship, and how her and her Partner Matt transitioned from being professional zoologists on a PAY-G wage, into digital business owners producing a seven figure income.

On board today is Sherry, better known as the SaverSpender from her instagram channel, and her blog savespendsplurge.comSherry lives in Canada - the northern hemisphere's much colder version of Australia.Today we are talking aboot the reflections from Sherry's journey to financial Independence, and the powerful lessons she can pass on for us still working towards FISherry started her financial journey much like anyone else - graduating in 2006 at age 23 with enourmous amounts of student debt and into a less than satisfying working role.Working in Science Technology Engineering and Maths, Sherry realised if she quit her job and freelanced that she could make more money and pay her student loans off faster.in 2008 she did just that - pulling the pin on her traditional career, and trading off the stability for flexibility and higher pay.in doing so, she was able to quadrupel her income to $260,000 and become debt free by the end of the yearin 2010 she hit the awesome milestone of a $100,000 net worth, and was hooked. She started side incomes and watched her Net Worth rapidly climb.eight years later in 2018, she became work optional and then in 2019, became a millionaire at the age of 36.All in all Sherry worked 13 years to become a millionaire, and now commands an impressive freelance income when she chooses to work.Sherry is an accomplished author and blogger, having published several books on finance, investing, web design and social media management, as well as running her successful websiteand instagram channels.Sherry lives in Montreal with her partner where they are raising their child together, and enjoying the benefits of an early 'work optional' or 'semi-retirement' lifestyle.

This is your Captain speaking is a monthly update and a Question and Answer segment where I unpack some of the most popular questions from the Financial Independence community. If you have a question for the Captain, the best place to ask is the CaptainFI Facebook group or by leaving a comment on blog posts. If you would like to stay anonymous you can get in touch via the email from the CaptainFI blog contact form. I am also active on other social platforms and forums (but its easy for questions to get lost).

Part 2 of Superannuation with Life Sherpa. Important that you listen to Part 1 first.On board today is Vince Scully, better known as the Life Sherpa and Author of the popular book the Latte Fallacy which aims to dispel many common personal finance myths (like that ordering a latte or smashed avocado will stop you owning a home). Vince is a licenced financial advisor, and with over 40 years experience in the industry he has only just recently reached preservation age and is set to retire. Vince and I chew the fat on wealth, Financial Independence, Retirement, and how superannuation fits into the picture. Superannuation is a pretty massive topic, so Vince and I tackle it from a few different angles - including;Discussions on the evolution of SuperWhen and where it may or may not be appropriateThe different types and structures of super available (industry funds, Wrap accounts and SMSF),The effect of fee's on your super performanceInsurance within your super, andsensible asset allocation for your super.We look at the four important focus areas and decisions you have to make when selecting your super, and explore the trade-off of the tax benefits of super versus the flexibility of other investment structures. We also cover some interesting and important wealth topics such as home ownership, car loans and the concept of Human Capital and why early retirement might not be such a good thing.Because it is such a big topic and I had such an awesome time chatting to Vince, I have broken it down into two parts. I didn't want to cut too much away on the editing room floor, because there are so many gems in here and actually to produce this took over four hours of interviews.

On board today is Vince Skully, better known as the Life Sherpa and Author of the popular book the Latte Fallacy which aims to dispel many common personal finance myths (like that ordering a latte or smashed avocado will stop you owning a home). Vince is a licenced financial advisor, and with over 40 years experience in the industry he has only just recently reached preservation age and is set to retire. Vince and I chew the fat on wealth, Financial Independence, Retirement, and how superannuation fits into the picture. Superannuation is a pretty massive topic, so Vince and I tackle it from a few different angles - including;Discussions on the evolution of SuperWhen and where it may or may not be appropriateThe different types and structures of super available (industry funds, Wrap accounts and SMSF),The effect of fee's on your super performanceInsurance within your super, andsensible asset allocation for your super.We look at the four important focus areas and decisions you have to make when selecting your super, and explore the trade-off of the tax benefits of super versus the flexibility of other investment structures. We also cover some interesting and important wealth topics such as home ownership, car loans and the concept of Human Capital and why early retirement might not be such a good thing.Because it is such a big topic and I had such an awesome time chatting to Vince, I have broken it down into two parts. I didn't want to cut too much away on the editing room floor, because there are so many gems in here and actually to produce this took over four hours of interviews.

An important lesson us Pilots all learn in ground school is the value of having an experienced flying instructor. They guide, shape and mentor us as we learn to fly and eventually gain our wings.Well similarly, A financial advisor or financial planner is a professional who can help you learn to manage your finances like a pro. They can also help with estate planning and your overall financial strategy. They should work with you to comprehensively determine your personal financial situation, needs, challenges, behaviors and your future goals, as well as regularly check back in with you to make sure you are on track.Financial Advisors actually have to deal with some pretty impressive (and increasing) levels of regulation, and are bound in Australia by a legal obligation to act in your best interests. Having said that – they are not all the same. There are still some massive sharks in this industry, as well terrible financial products that you need to be aware of and that you probably want to avoid.So, do I have a Financial Advisor, do you need one to reach Financial Independence, and what are some of the common pitfalls when it comes to financial Advisors?I managed to track down an experienced, Not-for-profit financial advisor for a bit of a Q and A and got to ask pointed questions on the topic.Dee is a not-for-profit financial advisor with over a decade of industry experience. She has over 7 years of study behind her, having earned a degree in finance and multiple financial advisor qualifications including a Diploma, Advanced Diploma and Certification in Financial Planning - among many other industry specific, technical and regulatory qualifications.Dee deliberately made a pivot away from a higher workload and higher stress job, shifting into the not-for-profit sector to help design a more sustainable lifestyle.She mainly works with women and families to help get them on track to reach their financial goals - whether that is paying off debt, buying a family home, building wealth or literally just keeping their heads above water. Dee's partner also works in the not-for-profit field, and together they are raising a family and investing their way towards FIRE.Dee is no stranger to hard work. She initially earning $3 per hour in the families fish shop, and went on to be the first in her family to graduate university - even doing so debt free! She now balances the life changing work she does with ongoing professional development and being a Mum to two young children.So without further adue lets get into it and unpack everything you need to know about Financial Advisors...

This is your Captain speaking is a monthly Question and Answer segment where I unpack some of the most popular questions from the Financial Independence community. If you have a question for the Captain, the best place to ask is the CaptainFI Facebook group or by leaving a comment on blog posts. If you would like to stay anonymous you can get in touch via the email from the CaptainFI blog contact form. I am also active on other social platforms and forums (but its easy for questions to get lost).

World renowned Crypto expert Stephan Livera and I hang out in Sydney to discuss Crypto, Bitcoin, FI/RE and what the hell an NFT is! Stephan co-founded the ministry of nodes which is focused on educational content about the economics and technology of Bitcoin, and he also hosts one of the worlds leading bitcoin podcasts (regularly ranked in the top 10). Stephan has interviewed many high profile Bitcoin, Libertarian, Austrian economics and Macro guests, and has over 261 episodes released with over 2 Million downloads as of March 2021. Stephan is also ranked by Hive.one as one of the top trusted names in bitcoin, and he loves nothing more than calling out the 'shitcoin shills' as he puts it and other predatory behaviour in the industry. Listen in if you wanna learn how to 'Stack Satoshi's'!

We stop into Perth again, where Dan Jovevski (CEO WeMoney) joins us on the podcast to discuss all things expense tracking and financial well being. Just as well this flight is going to Perth, because this is a long one!WeMoney is probably the best expense tracking application I have found - I recently did a review on their software and my experience using it over the past 6 months or so, where I spoke to Dan over the phone countless times.I was pretty suspicious of it at the start, but after getting to know Dan, I knew he was legit and was someone I wanted in my corner on my 'Financial Independence Dream Team'. Plus, his software fitted in really well with my 'Steps to Financial Independence' with its awesome expense tracking and budgeting features.WeMoney is not just about budgeting and tracking expenses though, Dan and I unpack some of the additional features and resources, as well as some of the exciting updates and new additions coming to WeMoney in 2021.Of course, it wouldn't be the CaptainFI Financial Independence Podcast if we didn't go off on random tangents - but thankfully we have mostly kept to the script and left this to the end of the episode. We chat all about Dan's Financial Independence Journey, and his top tips for educating yourself and reaching FI

To reach Financial Independence, we all know we need to be investing. There are a wide range of financial products, investing tools and share trading platforms available today, making it difficult to know which is the right one for you. To make matters worse, many of these have outrageously high brokerage, or even hidden fee structures which can seriously erode your returns. To help de-mystify the investing landscape, Today I talk with Kurt Walkom - one of the Cofounders of Pearler, The Aussie brokerage platform dedicated to the Financial Independence community of long term investors.Pearler is a share trading platform based in Sydney. The company has a strong focus on Financial Independence, and has built tools for you to use that help you invest to reach Financial Independence - such as their Auto Invest feature.Pearler are so keen on Financial Independence, they even commissioned the Aussie Fire eBook to be written - which I had a lot of fun writing a chapter for back in 2020. If you want to have a read you can get a free copy when you sign up to the CaptainFI subscriber email list.I signed up to Pearler shortly after helping write the book last year, and have been using it to invest in ETFs - right through their Beta-testing phase. I found a platform that was intuitive and easy to use, that had great technical support, and that seamlessly linked to my existing sharesight portfolio tracking account.So, listen to find out what I think of the platform, and how can you use Pearler to reach Financial Independence. Kurt also Grills me on my portfolio and targets, providing a great constructive critique. Have a listen to find out more!

Have you ever heard of matched betting? It keeps coming up in the FIRE community, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.Matched betting is basically a technique that allows you to profit from online gambling, by taking advantage of Bookmakers loss-leading promotions. It exists because bookmakers give away free bets in order to encourage punters to bet with them.Matched bettors collect these free bets, and then go to a betting exchange where they can sell them for 70-80% of their face value. It is a bit more complex than that and there is a few more steps, but that is the general vibe.It is not a get rich quick scheme, it is certainly not passive income. Most people can realistically expect to make around $10 to $50 per hour once they get good at it (but you might even lose money over the first few weeks as you learn the ropes). Experienced matched betters using advanced techniques such as horse racing promotions may be able to get past the magical $100 per hour.However, there are a few catches that you need to be aware of. I go more into all of these in the show notes.So is it worth your time? In order to make a bit more sense of all this, Nico has jumped onboard to share his experiences with matched Betting

Today, we are popping a bottle of champagne from the first lounge to celebrate an awesome achievement with ‘A Purple Life’. Purple has just completed her journey to Financial Independence, and has reached early retirement at age 30.Purple first heard about the FI/RE movement in 2013 when her partner discovered it on Reddit of all places – however she didn’t think much of it initially. It challenged her way of thinking and confronted societies programming, and so like most people she then came up a bunch of objections and reasons why it wasn’t for her.She was working in client services and advertising, and managed to work her way up to achieve her dream job running her own advertising and media agency within the firm. However, she found that even once she had climbed the corporate ladder and got the dream job she had always wanted, that she wasn’t miraculously any happier than before. It turns out her top job actually wasn’t actually all it was cracked up to be.Reflecting back on the FIRE community, Purple read everything she could find on the topic and even began blogging about it in 2015 where she talked about her experiences with Finance, Food and Travel. She set an ambitious goal to retire in only 10 years – circa 2025, and aged 35.Well fast forward to today- by adopting a disciplined saving and investing regime, increasing her income, maximising her tax leveraged accounts, and using things like geo-arbitrage she was able to smash her goal right out of the park and been able to retire in only half the time – and officially left her job a few weeks ago aged 30.Whats more? She did so without needing to resort to 'Hustle Culture' and burning herself out. Rather than adopting a number of time-consuming small side hustles, she adopted a laser like focus and put all of her efforts into professional development and advancing her career to increase her income - whilst maxing out all of her tax advantaged accounts.As a woman of colour she has also overcome many issues that most of us could never understand, and has reached FI without all of the privileges that many in the FIRE community have. Purple’s life has also unfortunately been touched by tragedy with the loss of many loved ones, which actually strengthened her resolve to Retire Early so she could spend time with those who truly matter.I am so happy to be able to interview such an inspirational figure, and learn the valuable lessons she has to pass on to those of us still our own Financial Independence journey.

On board today we have two VIPs in the first class cabin. These entrepreneurs were able to light the afterburners on their own wealth engines through a number of successful business ventures. Coming from humble farming backgrounds, this couple actually met whilst studying at university and managed to spark each other’s fire for financial Independence.Dropping out of university in pursuit of Financial Independence, they learnt the harsh realities of the business world when they unwittingly invested their entire life savings into a failing manufacturing business! Neither of them being one to admit defeat, through hard work, sheer will power and at times a 90% savings rate they were able to reinvest almost every dollar they made to turn the struggling business around into a profitable venture.From this trial by FIRE, they educated themselves in due diligence and to prove it to themselves they even began buying and selling small businesses, scaling up as they went. Eventually, they found themselves in the corporate space of Mergers and Acquisitions for High Net Worth investors and business owners.One day they discovered the power and leverage of online business and how they could use them to escape the corporate world – and began building and buying their very own websites. Fast forward 12 years later to today, they have built an incredible portfolio of online businesses and investments which is now generating a 7 figure passive income!Being true entrepreneurs, they are absolutely hooked on the game and admit despite being Financially Independent that they will never ‘Retire Early’, and so continue to reinvest almost all of their earnings into a diversified portfolio of business, shares, gold and real estate.They now live in South East Queensland where they are raising a family, giving back to the community as prominent Angel Investors, and are passionate about educating people on the power of investing and online businesses.When they aren’t buying or selling websites or analysing potential investments, they run training courses teaching people how to do exactly what they did - using online business to transition out of a conventional job and reach financial independence.I’m absolutely stoked to introduce you all to Mat and Liz Raad

On board today is a frequent FI-er and a bit of a celebrity in the Australian Financial Independence community, Dave from Strong Money Australia!Dave and his partner are a regular Aussie couple from Perth, who maintained a healthy savings rate and regime of property investing over a ten year period.One day they discovered that if they moved some equity from their investment properties into dividend producing index funds and LICs, that they could completely cover their cost of living.A few years ago this pivot let them reach Financial Independence and Retire Early at the insane age of only 28!Dave writes about his experience with Early Retirement on his blog Strong Money Australia, as well as co-hosting the popular ‘Fire and Chill’ podcast with Pat Seyrak.Dave has been a major influence on my own Financial Independence journey, and I am thrilled to invite him onto the show.

To reach Financial Independence, we all know we need to be investing our savings.There are a wide range of financial products, investing tools and share trading platforms available today, making it difficult to know which is the right one for you.To make matters worse, many of these have outrageously high brokerage, or even hidden fee structures which can seriously erode your returns.To help demystify the investing landscape, I am going to talk about the share trading platform that I have personally been using for the last few years, and which is undoubtedly one of the most popular choices in the Australian FI community at the moment.This is of course, Selfwealth. On board today is Jarrod Purchase, a general manager and marketing representative from SelfWealth. We talk all about the platform, its background, where it is today and the direction SelfWealth is headed in the future.I ask Jarrod some tricky questions, but one of the most important things of the interview was hearing how Selfwealth plan to stay relevent and compete with newer entrants to the Australian Investing space like market disrupters Pearler and Superhero - who both offer reduced and even zero brokerage on some ETFs.So sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. It's about an hour long and of course due to COVID the beverage service has been suspended.

On board today we have Amy Lunardi, an experienced property investor and buyers advocate. Amy is barely into her 30s and has already built up an impressive property portfolio which she continues to grow.Initially working in the public sector, Amy devoted her evenings and weekends to researching, buying, renovating and developing properties. In doing so, she found her true passion and took a leap of faith to leave her comfortable government job and pursue her dreams starting a property business.With over 6 years of economics and commerce study, and 10 years of practical experience, Amy now heads her own successful property advocacy firm. She provides buyers agent and vendor advocacy services to help people make smarter property investment choices. Amy is passionate about financial education, and even runs her own blog and podcast all centered around helping first time investors into the market.Today we explore more of Australia's obsession with property, some of the mistakes and misconceptions I had, benefits and risks of property investing and how a property advocate might be able to help you make smarter property investment decisions. We also discuss Amy's personal property investing strategy and explore how she is using property to become financially independent

On Board today is Mike Staunton: Investor, Personal Finance Coach and the CEO and co-founder of Money like Mike. Mike lives in inner Melbourne, and after reaching Financial Independence he left a high stress career as an Engineer to pursue his passion of helping others take control of their wealth.Mike has a pretty interesting story - originally from North Carolina in the USA, he trained and worked as an electrical engineer. Despite being in one of the highest paying career paths, he somehow only seemed to go backwards with money, ending up with over $100,000 in personal debt in his early twenties including loans on three cars - one of which didn't even run!Mike needed a change, and after being inspired by Dave Ramsey 8 years ago, jumped on board his first ever aircraft flight on a one way trip to Melbourne, taking a chance on a transfer to his employers Australian office. Mike sold everything when he left to pay down as much of his debt as he could, and adopted a lifestyle in the city which kept his cost of living rock bottom enabling him to drag himself out of debt.Through a combination of frugality, cycling, not having a car, being plant based and being alcohol free Mike was able to pay off his debts and start investing. Mike invests in both the US and Australia through his 401K, IRA, Superannuation, Mutual funds and a conventional brokerage account. Ultimately, understanding the difference between a want and a need enabled Mike to pay off his debts and Reach Financial Independence in only 8 years.Now on the path to becoming a deca-millionaire, Mike shares with me some of the top saving and investing tips he uses with his clients. Although we don't exactly see eye-to-eye on everything, Mike certainly provided me with a refreshing perspective and I had a great time chewing the fat with him on everything from Cycling, 'the rules', getting out of debt, investing and psychology. Strap in because its a pretty long poddy!

On Board we have Emily and Simon, the powerhouse couple behind Smashed Avo! They are an Aussie millennial couple from Sydney who like investing, and brunch! Emily incredibly started investing in property at the tender age of 18! While Simon, the Ying to Em’s Yang, was mostly interested in the stock market; He regularly invested in ETFs, shares and managed funds. Being together for almost a decade, they have combined finances and purchased further residential and commercial property together as well as adopting a predominantly index style stock market investing approach to diversify their investments. Simon is an Aerospace Engineer and volunteer fire fighter, and Emily works in an executive management role, she is also a talented writer and is completing her Masters degree this year! Today we will explore;Who they are and what they doHow they learnt to become great with moneyThe touchy subject of combining finances in a relationshipHow they discovered FI/RETheir investment strategyTheir specific tips to investing in Australian property and structuring finances,Their financial goalsHow they use superannuationHow and why they want to help others and their top three tips to reach Financial Independence

Episode 5 of the CaptainFI podcast is a quick domestic hop to chat to another Sydney-sider, Nicholas G. Muscat - the Aussie Money Man! Nick has been fiercely independent from a very young age; at the incredible age of only 20 years old he has been able to produce an income of $10,000 (AUD) per month using multiple online businesses and eCommerce stores, investing in the stock market, peer-to-peer lending, and affiliate marketing. Nick has even written eBooks, and started the YouTube channel 'AussieMoneyMan' to help spread the powerful message of financial literacy, and now has over 7000 active subscribers to his channel. Today we chat about his upbringing, hobbies, education and what started him on the path to Financial Independence. We explore his income earning strategies, his saving strategies, and his investing style and strategy. We also delve into his YouTube success, and his experience starting multiple channels. Finally, we discuss some of the most powerful lessons he has learnt on his journey so far, alongside his top reading recommendations and the tips he would go back in time and tell himself! So sit back, relax, grab a beverage and enjoy the flight!

Episode 4 of the Captain FI podcast takes an international connection, stopping in London to feature none other than our very own, Aussie Firebug! The Aussie Firebug was one of the first Australian Financial Independence bloggers, coming onto the scene in 2015. He is a millennial trying to escape the 9-5 grind by reaching financial independence through investing in real estate, index funds and superannuation. He is from Melbourne, Australia and is currently on a working holiday in London as he and Miss Firebug near the end of their FIRE journey. Starting from zero net worth, through his blog and podcast, The Aussie Firebug has tracked his investing strategies, tools, decisions and net worth as it has grown from zero right through to an incredible $770,000. He has also shared many personal stories and lessons learned along the way, including his current experience of working abroad, and deep reflections on his path to FIRE and the impact it has had on his relationships and his own mental health. Its a whopper of a show we have for you today at 80 minutes, so sit back, relax and enjoy the flight!

Episode 3 of the Captain FI podcast features Shang from Savemycents. Shang hit her (7 figure) FI/RE number and reached 'Work optional' status at age 31, making her a Millionaire after only 11 short years in the workforce. Shang graduated from Harvard University and is an MBA. She now lives in New York, where she balances her free time between passion projects (like being a money coach and finance blogger) with being a new mum. Shang is the author of savemycents.com, and is a bit of an Instagram influencer now that her channel has nearly 30,000 subscribers. Shang is a woman of many talents; in addition to her writing and media skills, she is also a very talented musician. In this Episode we explore Shang's background and motivations for FI/RE, as well as the steps she took to reach it; including how she was able to shake self limiting beliefs and adopt a mindset of abundance and gratitude. We cover the common stumbling grounds of frugality and self deprivation vs delayed gratification, as well as stock picking vs index funds. Shang is also an experienced travel hacker, ruthlessly racking up points to fund around the world travel with her young family; we discuss how she was able to cover 95% of the cost of a 3 month long all-around-the-world family trip using only points. Shang delivers some valuable insights for those on the path to FI/RE, including her favourite blogs, authors and her top three tips for financial independence.

Financial Independence gives you the choice to direct your time and energy into the things that you truly value, rather than the things that don’t (like working that 9 to 5 grind…). Episode two of the podcast explores Captain FI's personal investing strategy. This covers maxing out my superannuation and regularly investing in ultra low fee stock market index fund ETFs and low fee stock market LICs. I discuss my path to discovering the Financial Independence community and the effect it had on my investing strategy and mindset.

Financial Independence gives you the choice to direct your time and energy into the things that you truly value, rather than the things that don’t (like working that 9 to 5 grind…). It’s about working out what you value the most, and empowering you to have the freedom of choice. This uses the core principles of mindfulness, efficiency and minimalism. In this episode we introduce the concept of Financial Independence for beginners, and discuss how you can achieve true happiness through Financial Independence. We then explore the 8 key steps that anyone can take towards achieving FI, and tackling the big question "How much is enough?"