The Joyful Frugalista

This year marks 10 years of podcasting for Aussie Firebug, one of Australia's original voices in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement. From his early days tracking every cent to, working in the UK and (almost) reaching his FIRE goal, returning home to regional Victoria, and moving beyond retirement into new ventures, Aussie Firebug's journey has evolved. Podcast host Serina Bird catches up with him in his hometown, explores his coworking space, and discovers why he's no longer “obsessed” with the pursuit of financial independence—and what matters to him now. 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:10 The Journey of Aussie Firebug 06:56 Financial Independence and Life Changes 14:40 New Family Dynamics and Challenges 19:55 The Importance of Financial Security 24:52 Community and Family Support 30:07 Frugal Tips and Solar Energy Benefits    

This year, Aussie Firebug celebrates a decade of podcasting about his Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) journey. Podcast host Serina Bird visits Aussie Firebug at his hometown in regional Victoria, tours his coworking space and finds out why it is no longer 'obsessive' about his journey towards F.I.R.E..  00:00 Introduction and Background 03:10 The Journey of Aussie Firebug 06:56 Financial Independence and Life Changes 14:40 New Family Dynamics and Challenges 19:55 The Importance of Financial Security 24:52 Community and Family Support 30:07 Frugal Tips and Solar Energy Benefits    

Todd Polke is a seasoned investor, entrepreneur, and global wealth educator with over two decades of experience. He has guided thousands of investors in building high-performing portfolios and played a key role in facilitating more than $1.5 billion in investment opportunities worldwide. Todd is the founder of Portfolio Wealth, a regular commentator on Sky News and Your Money, and the author of Escape the Middle: Switch on Your Millionaire Mindset and Build Wealth that Outlives You. His mission is to empower people to think bigger, invest smarter, and create lasting financial freedom.

Todd Polke is a seasoned investor, entrepreneur, and global wealth educator with over two decades of experience. He has guided thousands of investors in building high-performing portfolios and has played a key role in facilitating more than $1.5 billion in investment opportunities worldwide. Todd is the founder of Portfolio Wealth, a regular commentator on Sky News and Your Money, and the author of Escape the Middle: Switch on Your Millionaire Mindset and Build Wealth that Outlives You. His mission is to empower people to think bigger, invest smarter, and create lasting financial freedom.

How important is purpose and mindset to achieving abundance? And what is abundance anyway? Emma Lagerlow is a wealth and mindset coach and author of Worthy & Wealthy: Discovering Abundance and Fulfilment Beyond Money. She has some great insights on how to reorient one's life to live an intentional life, as well as a valuable frugalista tip that involves an iPhone.

Our lives don't always go as planned, and often we need to rebuild. How should people, especially women, do this? In this podcast, licensed financial adviser and author Helen Baker shares tips from her latest book, money for life: how to build financial security from firm foundations, including why owning a home is important for women.

How important is purpose and mindset to achieving abundance? And what is abundance anyway? Emma Lagerlow is a wealth and mindset coach and author of Worthy & Wealthy: Discovering Abundance and Fulfilment Beyond Money. She has some great insights about how to reorient to live an intentional life, and a great frugalista tip that involves an iPhone.

If you are passionate about reducing food waste then this is a podcast for you. Dr Ananya Bhattacharya is a senior lecturer at Monash Business School and passionate researcher about food supply chain/food waste. She published multiple academic articles on food supply chain/food waste on causes and consequences of food waste and how food waste happens in different downstream stages or at the interfaces. In this podcast we talk about reducing food waste - especially in the food industry.

Many people love to take photos, but not everyone can make a career out of it. In this episode, Scott Leggo - former diplomat and RAAF veteran and now an award-winning photographer - shares his insights on how good savings practices have set him up in business and in life.

Kate Toon is an award-winning business mentor and digital marketing coach. Her Stay Tooned group of companies include the Digital Marketing Collective, The Clever Copywriting School, and The Recipe for SEO Success. In this podcast, she shares insights from her latest book: Six Figure$ While You Sleep: how to turn your services and skills into high-profit, low-effort digital products.

Saving money runs in the family, and in this episode Serina talks with her sister - Spring Bird - about clothes swapping and saving money at Christmas.

You've bought a property. Now what? In this podcast, OX Rooms (Online Exchange) cofounder Matthew Carmody talks about some common pitfalls in buying and selling property, and how to avoid them. Matthew is a former commercial and residential real estate lawyer and three-time winner of the REIACT Awards for Excellence – Solicitor of the Year award. Passionate about property and conveyancing, he and his wife Em cofounded OX Rooms to bring innovation to the conveyancing process and provide greater transparency.

In this episode, author and founder of Pivot Wealth Ben Nash shares his strategies for getting to a million dollars - and beyond. Ben has been listed as part of Australia's most influential Financial Advisers for seven consecutive years, and awarded by the Independent Financial Adviser as Australia's Best Client Servicing Financial Adviser. He is author of Replace Your Salary by Investing, Unstuck, and his latest book – Virgin Millionaire: The Step-by-Step Guide to Your First Million and Beyond.  

James Millard is Director of financial advice and mortgage broking firm Sufficient Funds, and author of Insufficient Funds: Make the Right Money Decisions to Bring Your Big Plans to Life. In this podcast, he talks about how to focus on what's important when building wealth.

Does your idea of financial independence also involve lots of travel? Brenda James, founder of FIRESPark Retreat and Travel Has My Heart Travel Planning, loves travelling and has visited 100 countries over 25 years of travelling. She's got some good ways to save money, including maximising frequent flyer points, creating good itineraries and looking for the best value for money. 

Téa Angelos, founder and CEO of the Smart Women Society, discusses how women can get smarter about their finances. Téa has helped more than half a million women get smarter about their finances, careers, well-being, and relationships. Téa is the author of Smart Moves: Simple Ways to Take Control of Your Life.

Are you dreaming of a holiday? Serina and her husband Neil talk about how they save money on cruising holidays.

What are the tips and tricks for buying property the right way? There are many myths, many of which are not shared by experts. In this podcast, Cake Bakos and Pete Wargent, authors of The Buy Right Approach to Property Investing, share some of their knowledge about buying property and profiting from it.

In the Great Depression, many Australian families survived by hunting, eating and selling rabbits. With the number of introduced, feral animals increasing in Australia's fragile ecosystem, could eating these animals be a frugal option in tough times? In this episode, Serina talks with Phoebe Youd, President of the ACT/Snowy Mountains Branch of the Australian Deer Association about her role in promoting venison diplomacy. 

Do you plan to work forever? Or would you like to be able to leave work sooner? Popular Tik Tok, Instagrammer and podcaster Natasha Etschmann (aka Tash invests), discusses her recent book, How Not to Work Forever, coauthored with Ana Kresina.

What if your boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, or spouse wasn't who they said they were? That happened to Tracy Hall, who learnt the man she knew as Max was really Hamish - after he was arrested. Not only that, but Hamish cleared out her life savings. In this podcast, Serina talks to Tracy Hall about her new book The Last Victim: The full story behind the relationship made famous by the hit podcast Who the Hell is Hamish? Tracy talks honestly about her experience, the red flags that she recognised afterwards, and shared her passion for financial literacy.    

Discussion with Scott on FIRE, Bob Dae from the Melbourne FIRE Brigade, Captain FI and The Joyful Frugalista about financial independence. Recorded on 4 May 2024 at the FIRESpark 2024 retreat.

Can a home loan ever be a happy experience? Atelier Weath Managing Director Aaron Christie-David chats about his book, The Happy Home Loan Handbook, how to get a home loan and how to buy successfully at auction.

Is it too late to start saving? Or are you hoping to one day win the lotto or receive an inheritance? In this podcast, Serina chats with Paul Benson about life, wishful thinking and beginning to save and invest at any age. Paul is a certified financial planner with over 20 years of experience. He writes Sunday's Ask an Expert column across the Fairfax network of newspapers. He is the host of the Financial Autonomy podcast, which focuses on strategies to help you make choices in life, and he is the author of Financial Autonomy: The money book that gives you choice.

While The Beatles might have said that money can't buy love, Kate Campbell is a financial educator who shares how good financial stewardship can help to 'buy' happiness.  Kate is a writer, author, course creator and podcaster, who runs the Rask online community. She is the author of Buying Happiness: Learn to invest your time and money better.

When was the last time you asked for a rate review? Rang your energy company? Or changed your NBN plan? Serina Bird (aka The Joyful Frugalista) did all three of these recently and shares how she did it.

Pascale Helyar-Moray is an entrepreneur and startup queen.  She is the founder and CEO of Super-Rewards, which has recently been rebranded as Grow My Money. On this podcast, she talks about compound interest, the importance of paying off your mortgage early, superannuation, and tips for Black Friday sales.

The cost of living crisis is biting especially hard for those with kids - or those thinking of having children. Ana Kresina is a financial educator and author of Kids Ain't Cheap. She works in the financial technology industry and is cohost of Australia's leading podcast, the Get Rich Slow Club. She also documents her journey to financial independence online.

How will AI change our lives? And can we use it for creating abundance, be it for learning to budget or to invest? Donna McGeorge is author of 11 books and publications, including bestseller The ChatGPT Revolution. And in this podcast, we do a deep dive into ChatGBT and how it works (and doesn't).

Drew Evans from Caifu Property discusses how to make money through property investing.

Kate Toon is an award-winning business mentor and digital marketing coach.  Her Stay Tooned group of companies include the Digital Marketing Collective, The Clever Copywriting School, and The Recipe for SEO Success.  She's the author of Six Figures in School Hours: How to run a successful business and still be a good parent (2023). And in this podcast, she has an authentic conversation about money, parenting, SEO and overcoming limiting beliefs around money.

In this podcast, Serina chats with friend and sustainability advocate Mia Swainson about ways to save money and the environment. Mia is a freelance writer and successful entrepreneur passionate about sustainable living. Mia is President of the Canberra Environment Centre and founding chair of Canberra's Zero Waste Revolution. She designs and delivers community workshops in Canberra and the region on how people can halve their household waste. And she is the author of Happy Planet Living: Simple Ways to Live a Climate-Positive Lifestyle and Make a Big Difference.

Simon Ree is the author of the #1 best-selling book The Tao Of Trading and the founder of taooftrading.com. He has three decades of experience in the financial markets, having previously held senior positions at Goldman Sachs and Citi. His vision is to help people live more creative, joyful and inspired lives by alleviating the burden of financial stress that weighs so many people down.

Celebrations! In this podcast, Serina recaps three and a bit years of podcasting - and she shares details of her new book.  How to Pay Your Mortgage Off in Ten Years (Even When Interest Rates Are Going Up) is in bookstores from 25 July.  Image by Akka Ballenger

Understanding tax is important to building wealth.  On this podcast, Serina chats with her accountant - Scott Ellis - about ways to minimise tax and build abundance. Scott is an accountant at Les Ellis & Associates Pty. He has advised Serina on tax issues for almost 20 years. 

In tough economic times, there is still easy money to be had. Bill-buster and money-saving nerd Joel Gibson is Australia's shares tips for how to reduce your bills and find money. Joel is a regular in the SMH and The Age, on Today, and on 2GB, 4BC and ABC Radio. In 2019 he wrote KILL BILLS, and now he's updated, expanded and simplified his money-saving system for the post-COVID cost of living crisis in his new book, Easy Money: 7 Steps to Bust Your Bills.

Ever bought something you thought was a bargain that ended up being anything but?  Financial educator, commentator and author Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon chats about the cost of living crisis, bargain-hunting mentality and bargain regret (aka #frugalfail).

CEO of Super-Rewards, Pascale Helyar-Moray, is passionate about helping to achieve greater financial equality. In this podcast, she chats with Serina about the gender pay gap, superannuation and women, and her experience in deciding to found her startup to do something about this. This podcast is brought to you with the support of Super-Rewards.

What conversations should we be having around money? And how do we have them?  In this podcast, Serina chats with money educator and communicator Vanessa Stoykov about her new book, The Five Conversations About Money That Will Radically Change Your Life. Did you know that 75% of people believe they should have conversations about inheritance before someone passes away?  And 53% of people said that the worst deal breaker in a partner was infidelity, with financial irresponsibility being a second factor at 25%?  

How is fintech changing how we bank? And do we even need a bank account?  (Spoiler: many people in the world don't even have a bank account, yet still manage to regularly send money to family overseas.)  In this podcast, Serina chats with friend Harold Dimpel, a mobile payment industry entrepreneur with 17 years of experience in fintech.

How do our beliefs, including inherited beliefs, affect our relationship with money?  In this podcast, Evan Lucas shares some of his behavioural finance knowledge.  Evan is Head of Strategy at Invest SMART and a regular commentator on ABC television and radio, TODAY, The Project and SKY News.  He is the author of Mind Over Money: Why understanding your money behaviour will improve your financial freedom. 

Can you bring your abundance into your life?  And can you make money doing what brings you joy?  Suzy Cherub is an international award-winning psychic medium, published author, speaker and intuitive coach. She was awarded International Psychics Association Psychic of the Year 2014 (Australia.  Suzy is a successful businesswoman and real estate investor who left a highly paid-public service career to follow her calling. 

Ever been cornered into a timeshare presentation? That was our experience on our September visit to Florida. Find out how it went, how it stacked up - and how we got out of it.  In this podcast, Serina chats with her husband, Neil, about their experience.

How can you attract real wealth into your life? In this podcast, Steve McKnight, author of the bestselling book From 0 to 130 Properties in 3.5 years, shares some insights from his new book - Money Magnet: How to Attract and Keep a Fortune that Counts.  And he also shares some never-before-revealed secrets from his childhood as well.  

My husband, Neil, and I recently travelled to Orlando, Florida, to attend #fincon2022 (a conference for money content creators aka money nerds).  And we had a bit of a holiday. In this podcast, we talk about how we saved money on flights, accommodation, cars and sightseeing.

Val Dempsey is Senior Australian of the Year 2022.  She has spent over 50 years volunteering with St John Ambulance, including more recently during bushfires and floods.  In this podcast, she chats about going to London to represent Australia at the Queen's funeral, bumping into a world leader (literally), why everyone who drives should learn first aid, plus a fabulous frugalista tip that involves bling.

Ever wondered if the problems of accessing things like lettuce are just an Australian problem or a global one?  And whether food prices will go up or down?  Or what about the facts facing food waste? In this podcast, Serina chats with Professor Johannas le Coutre, who is Professor Food & Health at UNSW.  His research is based on cellular agriculture to strengthen food security and alleviate the agricultural burden on the environment.  Professor le Coutre holds a PhD in biophysics and has an extensive and impressive CV that includes working in the US, Switzerland, England and Tokyo. Before joining UNSW, in addition to his research activities, he served as the Secretary-General for Nestlé's Scientific Advisory board and as coordinator of the International Nutrition Symposium, an annual event featuring world-leading scientists debating critical topics in food and nutrition.

One of the biggest issues affecting our finances isn't our job or our investments - rather, it's our romantic relationships (or search for them). In this podcast, empath and internationally acclaimed life advisor Suzannah Galland talks about her experiences coaching clients to avoid scams and unhealthy relationships.  Suzannah leads her clients to achieve breakthroughs in all aspects of their lives.  Through conscious mindfulness, Suzannah guides others on their journey to happiness and fulfilment.  Suzannah has written for publications including Huffington Post, Harper's Bazaar, Thrive Global and Medium.  She has been featured in Forbes, Vogue, New York Magazine, USA Today and is co-author of Goop's The Sex Issue.  Suzannah has appeared on the Today Show and is a frequent guidance expert on America's Next Top Model.

During COVID, friends Nicolle Hood and Annie Shoen felt that their (combined) seven children were beginning to act entitled. Specifically, they weren't doing much housework - and they thought their parents could buy virtually anything at the click of a button. Realising there was a bigger problem around financial literacy for children, the pair decided to create an app - My First Nest Egg. In this podcast, Nicolle and Annie discuss incentivising housework through gamification, teaching financial literacy and lean innovation. This podcast was recorded live at #fincon22, and the sound quality is less than perfect. We apologise and hope you will still enjoy the messages.   Love the sound of the My First Nest Egg app and want to use it? Use the promo code JOYFUL to use it for free.

Can you earn a solid income from freelance writing, including about personal finance?  You can, and that is the reality for Laura Gariepy, who began taking freelance writing seriously when she took a four-month sabbatical from work that ended up becoming permanent.  Laura is the founder and owner of Every Day by the Lake. In addition to being a freelance writer, she is also a writing coach.  This podcast was recorded during #fincon22, a conference for money nerds.

When a couple separates, they will often speak to a lawyer. But they are less likely to speak to a financial planner, despite the uncoupling having a profound effect on women and men. In this podcast, financial adviser Helen Baker talks about issues women must consider when building their wealth - and ensuring they rebuild after separation. Helen is a qualified, practising and licensed financial adviser. She is the founder of On Your Own Two Feet, which empowers women to gain and retain their financial freedom. Helen is a finalist for Australia's Financial Adviser/Planner of the Year and a two-time finalist for Women's Community Program for the Year. She is the author of On Your Own Two Feet: Steady Steps to Women's Financial Independence and On Your Own Two Feet, Divorce: Your Survive and Thrive Financial Guide.