Aussie FIRE | Financial Independence Retire Early
- Épisodes
- 130
- Parution
- hebdomadaire
- Dernier épisode
- 13 Nov 2026
À propos du podcast
The Aussie FIRE podcast is the ultimate guide to Financial Independence for Australians. Having started life as an e-book, then an audiobook, it's now reached its final form: a podcast that will keep on giving.
The Aussie FIRE audiobook is brought to you by Pearler, Australia's favourite long-term investing community; and Dave Gow, the brains behind Strong Money Australia. Each episode explores a different aspect of Financial Independence, so stay tuned for new releases!
https://strongmoneyaustralia.com/
DISCLAIMER: We’re big fans of sharing experiences and talking about money. However, please note that any advice is general, and does not consider your financial situation, needs, or objectives.
Consider whether it's appropriate for you, and if in doubt, speak to a licensed financial adviser.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Épisodes 130
100. Should you borrow against property to buy ETFs?
Two properties, $1,100 a week in rent and $1,700 a month in negative cash flow. That might not sound like the ideal starting point for buying ETFs with borrowed money. But after renovating both properties and …
Notes de l’épisode
Two properties, $1,100 a week in rent and $1,700 a month in negative cash flow. That might not sound like the ideal starting point for buying ETFs with borrowed money. But after renovating both properties and increasing their value, could refinancing to access more equity be a clever way to grow an investment portfolio, or simply another layer of debt that makes financial independence harder to reach?
For Aussie FIRE's 100th episode, Dave and Hayden unpack a listener's property renovation and refinancing strategy, then explore the bigger question of whether using property equity to build an ETF portfolio actually brings you closer to financial freedom.
In this episode we'll discuss:
🏡 How a $450,000 Sydney townhouse and a second property in Melbourne were renovated and revalued, creating opportunities to access equity without selling either property.
💸 Why collecting $1,100 a week in rent can still leave an investor around $1,700 a month out of pocket, and what happens when renovations have also drained their savings.
🏦 How refinancing a property to invest in ETFs works, and why accessing additional equity isn't the same as creating new wealth.
🛟 Why having no emergency savings and already being at your borrowing limit could make taking on more investment debt particularly risky.
🏗️ Whether investing surplus cash in ETFs makes sense when there's also a plan to subdivide and develop a property in the next few years.
📈 Why Hayden sees unused property equity as potentially unproductive capital, while Dave questions how continually increasing debt fits with an eventual plan to stop working.
🏠 Whether upgrading from an affordable apartment to a more expensive home could create a bigger debt recycling opportunity, and how stamp duty, selling costs and additional borrowing complicate the numbers.
🔄 Why Dave has preferred selling investment properties and moving the proceeds into ETFs rather than keeping those properties and borrowing against their equity.
📉 How losing employment income for six months or facing a substantial increase in interest rates could change the appeal of an aggressively leveraged property and ETF portfolio.
🔥 Why owning $2 million in property and $500,000 in ETFs doesn't necessarily mean you can afford to retire, particularly when debt repayments consume most of the available cash flow.
Building a larger portfolio and building financial independence aren't always the same thing. Property equity can provide opportunities to invest more, but it also introduces borrowing costs, cash flow pressures and additional risk. The real question isn't simply how much wealth you can accumulate, but how that wealth will eventually provide enough income and flexibility to live without relying on your next pay cheque.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
99. Retired by 40: What he'd do differently
How do you retire before 40 when you didn't start investing until 28, panicked after your first investment fell 10%, and lost money on property along the way? And what happens when you finally have enough money …
Notes de l’épisode
How do you retire before 40 when you didn't start investing until 28, panicked after your first investment fell 10%, and lost money on property along the way? And what happens when you finally have enough money to stop working, but can't quite bring yourself to leave a well-paid job?
Dave and Hayden chat with Perth listener Peter, who achieved financial independence before 40 after a winding journey through saving, property and individual shares. He shares the mistakes, lucky breaks and changes in mindset that helped him get there, along with what he'd do differently if he started again.
In this episode we'll discuss:
🧠 How growing up in a family of six on one income shaped Peter's scarcity mindset, making him an excellent saver but a reluctant investor.
📉 Why losing around 10% on an early investment led Peter to panic and sell, despite already understanding how investing worked.
🏠 What Peter learned from cashflow-negative investment properties, difficult tenants and selling at a loss, and why he's now sceptical about tying up too much wealth in a home.
🏦 Why Peter saw an opportunity in Australian bank shares during COVID, when the broader market had fallen substantially but bank shares had fallen even further.
🎲 How early investing wins encouraged Peter to chase returns of 20% to 30%, and why he now recognises that luck played a part in his success.
📊 Why Peter says he'd choose ETFs from day one if he could start again, despite making much of his money through individual shares.
🚗 How Peter weighed expensive cars, overseas holidays and housing against the opportunity cost of investing, and why he sees a difference between being frugal and simply refusing to spend money.
💼 How Peter achieved financial independence before 40 despite earning less than six figures until the final three years of his career.
🔓 Why reaching his financial target wasn't enough to make Peter quit working, and how an unexpected redundancy finally helped him escape the golden handcuffs.
🌴 What life looks like after early retirement, from writing a book and exploring new interests to discovering that having complete control over your time doesn't necessarily mean being less busy.
Peter's journey is a reminder that reaching financial independence rarely follows a perfect plan. From learning to live with investment risk to recognising when enough really is enough, his biggest lessons weren't just about growing wealth. They were about changing his relationship with money and figuring out what he wanted that money to make possible.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
98. "We semi-retired. Now we're scared we won't have enough at 60"
They've spent the last eight years working part-time so they can enjoy more time with their kids, and they wouldn't change a thing. But with expensive school years ahead and full retirement still on the …
Notes de l’épisode
They've spent the last eight years working part-time so they can enjoy more time with their kids, and they wouldn't change a thing. But with expensive school years ahead and full retirement still on the horizon, one couple in their mid-40s is starting to wonder whether they've sacrificed their financial future for more freedom today. Have they slowed down too soon, or are they actually in a much better position than they realise?
In this listener case study, Dave and Hayden unpack the finances of a couple who have been semi-retired for eight years but are worried they won't have enough to stop working altogether by 60. With an investment property, shares, substantial super balances and two young children, there's plenty to consider before deciding whether anything needs to change.
In this episode we'll discuss:
👨👩👧👦 How working just 25 hours a week for the past eight years has allowed this couple to enjoy many of the benefits of FIRE without actually reaching financial independence.
⚖️ The trade-off between working less while your children are young and staying in full-time employment to potentially reach financial independence sooner.
💸 Why their reported $90,000 in annual expenses might actually represent closer to $60,000 in underlying lifestyle costs, and how that could dramatically change their retirement target.
📈 How their $200,000 share portfolio and $600,000 in super could potentially grow to around $1.9 million over the next decade, even while they continue working part-time.
🏠 Whether holding an investment property with $500,000 in equity makes sense, or if selling it and investing elsewhere could provide greater flexibility as retirement approaches.
🗳️ Why uncertainty around property markets and government tax policy complicates the decision to sell an investment property, and whether making big changes now could be premature.
💰 The challenge of funding retirement before age 60 when a substantial portion of your wealth is inside super, and why having investments outside super remains important.
🏫 Whether private school fees are worth potentially working another five years, and how parents might weigh the financial benefits of education against the value of spending more time with their children.
🌱 What investing the money otherwise spent on private school fees could mean for a child's financial future, and whether that presents a compelling alternative from a purely financial perspective.
🔥 Why semi-retirement doesn't mean wealth creation stops, and how the assets you've already accumulated can continue compounding even when you're no longer saving aggressively.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this case study is that the couple may already have achieved something many people spend decades working towards: more freedom, less work and more time with their family. Their biggest challenge might not be building more wealth, but recognising what they've already achieved, understanding what their future expenses will actually look like and deciding what they want the next stage of life to be.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
97. Remaining calm on the FIRE journey
Your FIRE plan might look perfectly reasonable on paper. But what happens when the share market drops, an investment property needs a $20,000 repair, interest rates rise or the government starts changing tax …
Notes de l’épisode
Your FIRE plan might look perfectly reasonable on paper. But what happens when the share market drops, an investment property needs a $20,000 repair, interest rates rise or the government starts changing tax rules? And if financial decisions are keeping you awake at night, is the answer to change your investments, change your thinking or simply accept that some things are outside your control?
After a listener asks how Dave manages to stay so relaxed about money, Dave and Hayden explore why financial uncertainty affects people differently, how they deal with their own investing anxieties and whether becoming more comfortable with risk is something you can actually learn.
In this episode we'll discuss:
🧠 Why Dave seems remarkably calm about financial setbacks while Hayden admits to being prone to anxious thoughts, and what their different approaches reveal about managing money stress.
🎯 How experience, education and learning to distinguish between possible and probable outcomes can help put financial worries into perspective.
💸 Why Hayden walked away from a $2,000 crypto investment that he estimates would now be worth $100,000, and why he still doesn't regret the decision.
🏠 Why investment property downturns can be particularly stressful when falling property values combine with negative cash flow, unexpected maintenance costs and the risks of leverage.
📉 How share market falls can feel devastating when you're measuring progress towards FIRE, yet potentially work in your favour when you're still accumulating investments.
🏦 Why interest rate rises and changing tax policies can make long-term financial planning frustrating, particularly when so much of what happens is outside your control.
📊 Why investors can spend too much time worrying about their exact ETF allocations, and how strongly expressed opinions on Reddit can make relatively small portfolio decisions seem much more important than they really are.
🧪 Why Hayden is considering a $5,000 margin loan as a way to explore an investment strategy he's previously found intimidating, rather than treating the decision as all or nothing.
⚖️ Why taking on the biggest mortgage you can afford might come at the expense of flexibility, and how leaving yourself more options can make unexpected work and life changes easier to navigate.
🔥 Whether financial peace of mind comes from developing a higher tolerance for risk, reducing the risks you're taking or simply becoming more confident that you can handle setbacks when they happen.
The big takeaway? Staying calm on the FIRE journey doesn't mean pretending that market crashes, property problems or financial uncertainty don't matter. It's about understanding the risks you're taking, recognising what you can and can't control, and building a financial life that gives you enough flexibility to deal with whatever comes next.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
96. Q&A: Super, ETFs and planning for retirement
Where should a retirement cash buffer live when most of your wealth is already in super? If you're aiming to retire in ten years, is it better to build your outside portfolio first or split your investing …
Notes de l’épisode
Where should a retirement cash buffer live when most of your wealth is already in super? If you're aiming to retire in ten years, is it better to build your outside portfolio first or split your investing between ETFs and super now? And once you're already retired, does it make sense to sell a large share portfolio just to get more money into super before pension phase?
In this listener Q&A, Dave and Hayden work through three super case studies that show how quickly contribution caps, access to your money and tax can complicate what looks like a fairly simple decision.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💰 Where a one to two year downturn buffer might sit when you're 56, plan to stop work at 59, and most of your investments are already inside super.
⏳ Why the gap between stopping work and being able to access super can matter more than fine-tuning where your cash earns interest.
🏦 What changes once concessional contribution caps are used, and the choice becomes keeping accessible cash outside super versus holding it inside a super cash option.
🔥 How a 39-year-old couple investing $7,000 a month could run into contribution caps if they leave their extra super contributions until later.
⚖️ Why building an ETF portfolio outside super first can look mathematically neat, but splitting contributions earlier may be simpler when contribution limits enter the picture.
📈 Why this couple's current savings and investing rate could leave them with substantially more than their estimated FIRE target, potentially changing the retirement timeline altogether.
🧾 What to consider when a retired investor with $500,000 outside super is advised to sell around $400,000 of investments and contribute the proceeds to super before starting pension phase.
💸 Why the cost base and embedded capital gains in an ETF portfolio can completely change the tax maths of moving that money into super.
🔍 Why a relatively small tax optimisation may matter less than being comfortable with how your retirement wealth is actually invested, structured and accessed.
The thread through all three questions is that super optimisation can look precise on a spreadsheet, but access, contribution caps, CGT and how the money is invested can matter just as much as the headline tax rate. Sometimes the difference between two sensible options is much smaller than it first appears.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
95. How to travel without killing your savings
Travel is supposed to be one of the things money gives you more freedom to enjoy. But when a holiday can cost $15,000 instead of $5,000, how do you keep seeing the world without feeling like every trip is …
Notes de l’épisode
Travel is supposed to be one of the things money gives you more freedom to enjoy. But when a holiday can cost $15,000 instead of $5,000, how do you keep seeing the world without feeling like every trip is sending your finances backwards?
In this episode, Dave and Hayden compare the simple principles and slightly more extreme hacks they use to keep travel costs down, from letting flight deals influence the destination to shared bathrooms, camping, house sitting and even taking annual leave to stay home.
In this episode we'll discuss:
✈️ Why Hayden thinks a typical one-to-three-week trip can be roughly one-third flights, one-third accommodation and one-third everything else, and why that puts the biggest savings opportunities in two obvious places.
💸 How spending $5,000 instead of $15,000 on a trip can change what remains available to invest, and why delaying the most expensive destinations can be different from giving them up altogether.
⚡ Why the best low-cost airline deals can disappear within hours, and why flexible travellers may get better value by letting the deal influence the destination instead of starting with a fixed itinerary.
🏨 What paying an extra $50 for your own bathroom reveals about how quickly comfort upgrades can become automatic, even when you barely use the room.
🏕️ How hostels, pods, campsites and house sitting can make expensive destinations more
accessible without turning every holiday into a bare-bones endurance test.
🧠 Why "travel inflation" can work a lot like lifestyle inflation, and how gradually expanding your comfort zone can change what feels acceptable to spend.
🏡 Why Dave sees taking annual leave and staying home as a legitimate travel hack, especially if holidays are becoming the only escape from a working year you do not enjoy.
📅 Why booking flexible accommodation early, checking prices again later and travelling outside peak periods can sometimes matter more than obsessing over small daily purchases.
🔥 How financial independence, semi-retirement and flexible work can create another kind of travel advantage: the ability to jump on cheap dates and inconvenient times other people cannot use.
The thread through all of it is not that cheap travel is automatically better. It is that travel spending is another lifestyle choice where flexibility, timing and knowing what you actually value can matter just as much as the headline price. The more deliberately you make those trade-offs, the easier it can be to keep travel in the plan without quietly turning it into another form of lifestyle inflation.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
94. Can you just live off high yield?
If the goal is to live off your portfolio one day, why bother selling investments at all? Could you simply build a portfolio that throws off enough income to cover your spending, ignore the 4% rule and leave …
Notes de l’épisode
If the goal is to live off your portfolio one day, why bother selling investments at all? Could you simply build a portfolio that throws off enough income to cover your spending, ignore the 4% rule and leave the assets themselves alone? It sounds neat. But once you look past the appeal of regular cash flow, the trade-offs get more interesting.
Dave and Hayden explore what a higher-yield FIRE portfolio could actually look like, why income investing can feel so psychologically appealing, and where chasing yield can start creating problems.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💰 Whether living purely off investment income could offer an alternative to regularly selling assets under a more traditional FIRE withdrawal strategy.
📈 Why total return still matters, even when a portfolio's dividend or distribution yield looks attractive on its own.
🧠 Why receiving regular investment income can feel easier than selling shares, especially once your portfolio becomes your main source of spending money.
🇦🇺 Why Australian shares have traditionally offered more income than US shares, and how that can shape the way local investors think about retirement portfolios.
🏠 How rental property, commercial property, peer-to-peer lending, savings accounts, shares and ETFs could all play different roles in a higher-yield portfolio.
🧾 Why tax settings can influence the appeal of income versus capital growth, while also making it risky to build an entire investing approach around today's rules.
📊 Why a 6% portfolio yield is not the same thing as a free extra 2% compared with a 4% withdrawal rate, particularly if higher income comes with lower long-term growth.
🏢 How listed investment companies can smooth income differently from index funds, and why the way they generate distributions can vary considerably.
⚠️ Why high-yield assets can bring their own risks, from loan defaults and property cycles to debt-heavy REITs cutting or freezing distributions.
🔄 Why Dave has moved away from a strong yield bias towards a more balanced mix of growth and income, while Hayden is reconsidering where income might fit in his own approach.
The broader tension is simple: reliable income can make a portfolio easier to live with, but yield is only one part of the return you receive. For long-term investors, the interesting question is not whether income or growth is universally better. It is how the trade-off fits the life the portfolio is meant to fund.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
93. Q&A: Optimising CGT, home bias and when spouses don't agree
Retiring overseas might sound like a straightforward FIRE move. But what happens when your portfolio was built around Australia, changing tax residency could create a tax event, your partner has a completely …
Notes de l’épisode
Retiring overseas might sound like a straightforward FIRE move. But what happens when your portfolio was built around Australia, changing tax residency could create a tax event, your partner has a completely different appetite for risk, or you finally start selling ETFs you have been buying for years?
In this listener Q&A, Dave and Hayden tackle three questions that show just how quickly a simple investing strategy can get more complicated once real life enters the picture.
In this episode we'll discuss:
🌏 Why home country bias exists in Australian portfolios, and whether it still makes sense if you plan to live somewhere else.
💸 What changing your Australian tax residency could mean for a portfolio you have spent years building.
🧾 Why simply holding investments through an overseas brokerage account may not remove the Australian tax considerations discussed in the episode.
🤝 What happens when one partner is comfortable riding out market crashes and the other is much more cautious about equities.
📉 Why your theoretical risk tolerance and your actual reaction to a large market fall may be
two very different things.
🏠 Why some investors can view highly leveraged property as "safe" while seeing share market volatility as risky.
⚖️ How couples with different risk tolerances might find a middle ground without forcing either person into a strategy they cannot live with.
🔥 Why getting to financial independence does not necessarily require massive investment risk or spectacular returns, particularly during the earlier wealth-building years.
📊 When you sell part of an ETF holding, how do you know which of the parcels you bought over the years you are actually selling?
🧮 Why choosing which ETF parcel to sell can ultimately become a question of when you pay tax, not simply how much you sell.
The thread through all of it: FIRE can look beautifully simple in a spreadsheet. Then tax residency, relationships, leverage, market crashes and eventually selling your investments turn up. Understanding those trade-offs before they matter can make the real-world version of the plan a lot easier to navigate.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
92. How your upbringing shapes your relationship with money
How much of your relationship with money was shaped before you were old enough to earn any?In this episode, Dave and Hayden look back at their own childhoods and unpack how financial stress, family …
Notes de l’épisode
How much of your relationship with money was shaped before you were old enough to earn any?
In this episode, Dave and Hayden look back at their own childhoods and unpack how financial stress, family circumstances and the people around us can shape our beliefs about money. They explore everything from frugality and risk-taking to ambition, scarcity and the feeling that there is never quite enough.
This is a more personal episode of Aussie FIRE. It is not about finding the perfect investment strategy. Instead, it is about understanding where some of our money habits might come from.
In this episode:
🏠 How growing up in lower-income households shaped Dave and Hayden’s early views of money, security and wealth
💰 Why financial hardship can build strong saving habits, while sometimes making it harder to feel comfortable taking risks
🛟 How having a family financial safety net can change the risks someone feels able to take with careers, businesses and investing
🧠 Why money stress can stick around even after your financial position improves
🐛 Hayden’s “money worm”, the voice that keeps asking what could go wrong, even when things are going well
📈 How different childhood experiences influenced when Dave and Hayden became interested in investing and building wealth
💼 Why Hayden chose to reduce some of the risk of starting a business by working extremely hard elsewhere at the same time
🍔 How financial stress can make short-term comfort more appealing, even when it costs more over the long run
👨👩👧 Why people raised in the same household can develop completely different attitudes towards spending, saving and risk
🎯 When financial motivation can turn into compulsion, including the FIRE community’s familiar “one more year” problem
The big takeaway? Your upbringing can influence how you think about money, but it does not write the whole story. Personality, experience and the people around you matter too. Understanding where your habits come from can help you decide which ones still serve you, and which ones might be worth questioning.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
91. Work optional at 34 with Anthony Nguyen
Anthony Nguyen spent around a decade building towards financial independence. But when he got close to his target, he did something many people struggle to imagine: he stopped early.After years in commercial …
Notes de l’épisode
Anthony Nguyen spent around a decade building towards financial independence. But when he got close to his target, he did something many people struggle to imagine: he stopped early.
After years in commercial banking, Anthony took a career break, stepped away from the corporate world, and discovered that financial independence wasn't really about doing nothing. It was about creating the freedom to do more meaningful work, build stronger relationships and design life on his own terms.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 How Anthony went from feeling the Sunday scaries in commercial banking to Googling "how do I not work forever?" and discovering the FIRE movement
💸 Why he moved away from individual shares and towards ETFs after learning some painful early investing lessons
💸 Why property investing never appealed to him, despite growing up in Sydney surrounded by the belief that property should be the default path
💸 Renting forever by choice: how minimalism, travel and geographic freedom shaped Anthony's view of housing
💸 The 50% savings rate he adopted early in his career, and how salary increases went straight into investments instead of lifestyle upgrades
💸 Why Anthony didn't wait until reaching 25 times his annual expenses before stepping away from work
💸 The impact of Die With Zero, and why good health, time and financial stability pushed him to bring his plans forward
💸 Why the first year of freedom wasn't simply endless travel, cycling and hobbies — and how boredom and isolation forced him to rethink what a good life actually looked like
💸 Anthony's version of a perfect day: meaningful work, meaningful relationships and some form of physical activity
💸 Why FIRE didn't remove work from his life — it helped him discover work he actually wanted to do
💸 Going from full-time banking to no work, then part-time work, freelancing and eventually creating content and building a cycling community
💸 The loneliness nobody talks about after leaving a 9-to-5, and why Anthony had to deliberately rebuild social connection and routine
💸 His current portfolio approach, with most of his net worth in ETFs and smaller allocations to individual shares and crypto
💸 Why he no longer treats the 4% rule as a hard target, and how even modest income from meaningful work can change the maths dramatically
💸 The psychological shift that comes from earning your first dollar outside a salary — and why Anthony believes people often underestimate their ability to earn again after leaving corporate life
💸 Why he's now giving himself permission to spend more, rather than automatically investing every spare dollar
💸 Anthony's question for keeping lifestyle creep in check: "What is my enough?"
💸 His practical suggestion for anyone getting close to FI but unsure about quitting: check whether your employer offers a career break and test the lifestyle before making the leap permanent
The thread through all of it: financial independence can solve the money problem, but it doesn't automatically solve questions around purpose, identity, relationships or how to spend your time.
For Anthony, stepping away from corporate life wasn't the end goal. It gave him the space to work out what he actually wanted his life to look like.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
90. VAS disappoints, avoiding a crash, US tech forever?
Is the Aussie share market still worth it? Should a new investor wait for the next crash? And how much tech exposure is too much?Dave and Hayden open the listener mailbag and tackle three questions that all …
Notes de l’épisode
Is the Aussie share market still worth it? Should a new investor wait for the next crash? And how much tech exposure is too much?
Dave and Hayden open the listener mailbag and tackle three questions that all circle the same problem: it's very easy to make long-term decisions based on what has worked lately.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 Whether broad Australian shares still make sense for long-term income, especially after a weaker dividend period had one listener questioning their strategy
💸 Why a high-yield Australian share ETF has beaten the broader Aussie market over the past five and ten years — and why that doesn't mean it will keep doing so
💸 Recency bias in action: the temptation to look at the last decade's winner and assume you've found the best investment for the next decade too
💸 Why comparing cash with shares over a single year doesn't tell you much, especially when shares have both an income and a growth component
💸 The hidden risks inside REITs: leverage, management decisions and concentration in areas like offices or retail can make a high yield less simple than it first appears
💸 Why "normal" share market returns can suddenly look disappointing after a decade of extraordinary US tech performance
💸 A question from an 18-year-old worried about an approaching market crash — and Dave's argument that a bad market early in your investing journey can actually help long-term accumulators
💸 Why nobody knows when the next crash is coming, and why spending years waiting for one can sometimes hurt more than the crash itself
💸 Hayden's way of thinking about US market risk: look past the headlines and consider what the biggest companies actually own, earn and do
💸 Why starting slowly can make sense if you're nervous, rather than waiting on the sidelines for the "perfect" entry point
💸 A listener planning to invest $1,000 a fortnight for 40 years, with 70% in a US index and 30% in a concentrated mega-cap tech ETF
💸 The concentration problem hiding inside that portfolio: many of those same giant tech companies already make up a large part of the broader US index
💸 Why doubling down on a theme can work brilliantly — but also leaves you more exposed if that part of the market goes through a long stretch of poor returns
💸 The trade-off at the heart of diversification: you might miss some spectacular winners, but you also reduce the chance of landing near the worst possible outcome
The thread through all of it: nobody knows which market, sector or strategy will lead over the next decade. Recent winners can keep winning, or the whole picture can change. Diversification won't make your portfolio the most exciting one in the room, but it can make long-term investing much easier to stick with.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
89. How to increase returns without doing anything crazy
There are plenty of ways to chase higher investment returns. The problem is that most of them also come with more risk, more work, or both.Dave and Hayden sort the sensible tweaks from the bigger bets, looking …
Notes de l’épisode
There are plenty of ways to chase higher investment returns. The problem is that most of them also come with more risk, more work, or both.
Dave and Hayden sort the sensible tweaks from the bigger bets, looking at ways investors might improve their long-term results without putting their whole FIRE plan on the line.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 Why quitting stock picking could actually improve your returns, and Hayden's two near-misses with Boeing and Qantas
💸 The brutal maths of individual stocks: a small number of huge winners drive much of the market's long-term return, which makes consistently picking them incredibly hard
💸 Why fees matter more as your portfolio grows, from expensive funds and advisers to the recurring costs hiding in your everyday budget
💸 The simple super tweak that could have an enormous impact over 40 years: matching your investment option to your time horizon and risk tolerance
💸 Debt recycling as an optimisation strategy: using money you were already planning to invest while gradually turning home-loan debt into deductible investment debt
💸 Tax efficiency beyond debt recycling, including asset ownership, income versus growth, super, and why your marginal tax rate can change the return you actually keep
💸 Why Dave and Hayden are comfortable holding relatively small cash buffers, and the trade-off between emergency cash and keeping more money invested
💸 The next level of risk: borrowing to invest, geared ETFs, and the questions to ask before adding leverage to your portfolio
💸 Hayden's argument for looking for a discount rather than simply asking what will grow fastest, plus Dave's case for paying attention to mean reversion in unloved markets
💸 Why thematic investing sits somewhere between index investing and stock picking, and why a convincing story about AI, healthcare or any other theme isn't the same thing as a guaranteed return
💸 The case for looking beyond traditional investments, from commercial property and private businesses to earning a profit share or commission by taking more responsibility at work
💸 Hayden's take on outsized returns: there are usually two paths — more effort or more speculation — and owning part of a business can give you more influence over the outcome than simply parking money in an asset
The thread through all of it: there are ways to squeeze more from your long-term plan, but extra return rarely comes free. Sometimes the opportunity is cutting costs or improving tax efficiency. Other times it means taking on more risk, effort or uncertainty. The important part is knowing which one you're accepting — and making sure the potential reward is worth it for you.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
88. Savings vs offset vs investing: How each stacks up at 6% interest rates
A few years ago mortgages were under 2% and cash earned you nothing. Now rates sit around 6% and every option looks different: savings accounts are suddenly respectable, offsets feel like a guaranteed win, and …
Notes de l’épisode
A few years ago mortgages were under 2% and cash earned you nothing. Now rates sit around 6% and every option looks different: savings accounts are suddenly respectable, offsets feel like a guaranteed win, and borrowing to invest looks scarier than it maybe is.
Dave and Hayden work through how a high-rate environment reshuffles the deck, and the mental shortcuts that lead people astray in both directions.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 Savings accounts are back, but interest is taxed at your marginal rate, and plenty of high earners forget that 5% is really more like 3%
💸 A quick test for whether you're carrying too much debt: how nervous do you get before RBA meetings?
💸 Dave's peak-debt confession: millions owed in his twenties, and why a 2% rate rise would have broken the strategy
💸 The offset trap: why "a guaranteed 6% return" isn't permanent (it moves with rates), and why "6% tax-free equals 10% invested" is the wrong comparison. Compare after-tax returns to after-tax returns
💸 Waiting for rate cuts before investing: why asset prices reprice on the way down, and if everyone has the same plan, you need to be early for it to work
💸 Dave's counterintuitive maths on borrowing to invest: how borrowing at 8% into a low-yield growth ETF can still come out ahead after the tax deduction
💸 Why people happily suspend the maths for property ($923 a week in interest on an $800k Sydney apartment) but won't extend the same long-term logic to shares
💸 Hayden's crusade: housing's advantages are mostly structural (CGT exemptions, pension treatment, cheap secured lending), and why he wants mortgage-rate loans against boring index ETFs to exist
💸 A cracking listener tip from Jared: pay a lump sum into the loan and ask the bank to recalculate your repayments. Unlike an offset, it actually improves your monthly cash flow
💸 The cherry-picked chart problem: the friend who "proved" property beats shares using 1998 to 2018, and why you should go find the raw data
The thread through all of it: know what a decision actually costs you over the long term before you anchor to big theoretical numbers.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
87. From investment properties to ETFs: how Dave actually made the switch
Most people sit firmly on one side of the property versus shares fence. Dave Gow spent 15-plus years on both, building a property portfolio, hitting the borrowing ceiling, then selling down to fund the ETF …
Notes de l’épisode
Most people sit firmly on one side of the property versus shares fence. Dave Gow spent 15-plus years on both, building a property portfolio, hitting the borrowing ceiling, then selling down to fund the ETF portfolio he now lives off.
In this episode Hayden puts him through a barrage of listener-style questions on how the transition actually works, and why most property investors have never honestly audited their returns.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 Why the property-only plan stalled: maxed-out borrowing capacity, and cash flow forecasts that looked grim even with the properties paid off
💸 The mechanics of the switch: sell a property, park the lump sum in an offset, live off part of it, and dollar cost average the rest into ETFs over a couple of years
💸 Why holding maximum debt while living off your portfolio rarely works, even when the maths of leverage looks appealing
💸 Surviving the brutal years: Perth rents falling while expenses rose, negative cash flow on a falling asset, and why Dave banked on mean reversion
💸 The self-delusion audit: anchoring to purchase price and forgetting stamp duty, holding costs, selling fees and CGT. "I bought for 600 and sold for a million" rarely means what people think
💸 Why leverage only works when returns clearly beat the cost of servicing it, and why interest rates and timing matter more than the property you pick
💸 How much you need to retire via property: roughly 30 to 35 times annual expenses instead of 25, to cover selling costs and tax on the way through
💸 Which property to sell first: most equity, strongest market, worst cash flow, and the psychology trap of always keeping the recent winner
💸 Dave's contrarian take on Melbourne: why the unloved market (with some land, away from apartment oversupply) might be the interesting one
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
86. The $500k tax mistake Aussie expats don't see coming w/Brett Evans
Last episode Dave and Hayden covered the general idea of geographic arbitrage: take your Aussie wealth, live somewhere cheaper, retire sooner. This episode is the technical follow-up, and it's a sobering one …
Notes de l’épisode
Last episode Dave and Hayden covered the general idea of geographic arbitrage: take your Aussie wealth, live somewhere cheaper, retire sooner. This episode is the technical follow-up, and it's a sobering one. Brett Evans from Atlas Wealth has spent nearly three decades advising Australian expats across 65 countries, and he joins the boys to walk through everything that changes the moment you step on that plane. Fair warning: Hayden reckons it's the most information-dense episode they've published.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 The main residence trap: why selling the family home while you're a non-resident can mean capital gains tax all the way back to the purchase date, and the six and seven figure bills Brett has seen because of it
💸 Deemed disposal on shares, ETFs and crypto: the one-time election at departure that stops you accruing CGT overseas, why plenty of accountants don't know about it, and the client sitting on a seven-figure bill who found out too late
💸 How Australian tax residency actually works: the resides test, the domicile test, the 183-day test, and why "resident of nowhere" defaults you straight back to being an Australian tax resident
💸 The proposed new residency rules: a hard 183-day line, a 45-day count, and a four-factor test where holding an Aussie passport already counts as one strike against you
💸 What non-residents lose: no tax-free threshold, 30% from the first dollar of rental income, no 50% CGT discount since 2012, and why positive cash flow property becomes a problem
💸 Withholding tax on dividends at 15% or 30% depending on where you land, and how franking credits can offset it
💸 Why SMSFs are brutal for expats, including a case study where a client ignored the advice, got audited, and lost 45% of his balance
💸 The brokerage headache nobody warns you about: platforms freezing accounts, CHESS holdings converted to issuer-sponsored, and share registry mail going to a country with no postal delivery
💸 Getting your money home: the deemed acquisition rules, why to start planning 12 months out, and the $10,000 transfer myth that makes you look like a money launderer
💸 Why Brett tells clients to stop asking ChatGPT, and why good advice for expats is simple and flexible rather than clever and structured
Around 70 to 80% of expats eventually come home, so the decisions you make before you leave matter more than most people realise. Nothing here is personal advice, and Brett's own point is that if your situation is simple you probably don't need someone like him. But if you're carrying property, a share portfolio, an SMSF or a trust, this is an hour and a bit well spent before you book the flight.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
85. Can you really afford to leave Australia?
After the recent tax proposals, plenty of people were half joking about packing up and taking their money overseas. Enough of them were half serious that Dave and Hayden decided to make an episode out of it …
Notes de l’épisode
After the recent tax proposals, plenty of people were half joking about packing up and taking their money overseas. Enough of them were half serious that Dave and Hayden decided to make an episode out of it. This one is the broad overview of geoarbitrage (or "geo-FIRE"): why people do it, who it actually suits, where they tend to go, and what it does to your FI number. The technical side, tax residency, visas, and how to structure it properly, is coming in the next episode with a guest who does this for a living.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 The $800 a month apartment in Chiang Mai, modern build, lagoon pool, walking distance to shops, that would cost roughly $800 a week in Australia (one of Dave's readers is testing it right now)
💸 Purchasing power vs exchange rates: why "the exchange rate is great over there" means nothing, and what the Big Mac index actually tells you
💸 The real numbers: singles living well on $15k to $25k a year in Southeast Asia, a recently retired couple budgeting $100 a day, and what that does when you multiply it by 25
💸 What a decade off looks like: a 15 year FI journey turning into 7, or half a million to a million dollars less in the portfolio you need
💸 The bit nobody budgets for: consumer guarantees, the ombudsman, banks that have to make it right, police body cams (Hayden on why it all feels academic until the day it isn't)
💸 Never quite being a local: the guy born in Japan, fluent, schooled there, who says he is "from Japan" but not Japanese, and why two white kids from regional Australia have never had to think about belonging
💸 Selling the Sydney house: a million in cash, invested, could fund a very good life overseas forever, so why do the alarm bells go off, and is the fear of not being able to buy back in a reasonable one?
💸 What actually moves the needle: housing, childcare and schooling, not $4 Grab rides and $6 chicken skewers (a fun novelty, not a financial plan)
💸 Why you have to live somewhere, not holiday there: three months of grocery runs, bank accounts and boring admin beats a year of nice trips, plus visiting in the bad season before you commit
💸 Your portfolio probably needs to change: if you won't be spending Aussie dollars, a big home bias stops making sense
💸 Geoarbitrage as a backup plan rather than a goal: why the people it works best for are somewhere in the middle, not the ones who can already comfortably buy a house here
We're not pro or anti this idea. If you come away googling what life is actually like somewhere you'd never considered, that's a win.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative 1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL 337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
84. The ETF tax trap costing Aussie investors thousands (ft. Navexa founder)
To kick off our FY27 tax-time series, Dave and Hayden are joined by Navarre Trousselot, founder of Navexa — an investment tracking and tax reporting platform (if you've heard of Sharesight, it plays in the same …
Notes de l’épisode
To kick off our FY27 tax-time series, Dave and Hayden are joined by Navarre Trousselot, founder of Navexa — an investment tracking and tax reporting platform (if you've heard of Sharesight, it plays in the same space). Because here's the thing: most of us agonise over what to buy, then put zero thought into how we sell — and selling is the part where you actually get your money back. As Navarre puts it, too many investors are "selling in the dark" and handing the ATO far more than they need to.
In this episode we'll discuss:
💸 How the exact same sale can be a $30 loss or a $20 gain: why choosing which parcels you sell (not just what you sell) can save you thousands in capital gains tax
💸 The ETF tax trap most investors have never heard of: AMIT cost base adjustments, and why ten years of dollar cost averaging leaves you 120 parcels to adjust every single year (get it wrong and you've either overpaid tax or filed incorrectly — hello, audit risk)
💸 FIFO, LIFO, minimise gain, maximise gain and minimise CGT explained — including why everyone's a FIFO milk drinker, but nobody's a LIFO milk drinker
💸 When realising a bigger gain is the smart move: using a maximise gain strategy in a low-income year (career break, slow year for the business) to land in a lower tax bracket
💸 The NAB shares Navarre almost sold as a dud — until he added up the dividends and realised he'd made roughly 40% (why annualised total return beats staring at the share price)
💸 Why ChatGPT can't do your capital gains tax: LLMs still only score around 70% on maths benchmarks, and "ChatGPT said so" won't cut it with the ATO
💸 Record-keeping 101 for new investors: keep every contract note and AMMA statement, don't assume your old broker sends your trade history to your new one, and remember foreign dividends (Apple, Tesla and friends) don't prefill with the ATO
Navexa is offering Aussie FIRE listeners 20% off their first year, plus a two-week free trial — head to navexa.com/aussiefire to check it out.
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
83. Should you switch to the newest (and cheapest) ETFs?
Would you sell your ETFs just to save 0.1% a year in fees?In this episode, Hayden and Dave unpack some of the newest additions to the ETF marketplace, and work out where (if anywhere) they'd fit in a long-term …
Notes de l’épisode
Would you sell your ETFs just to save 0.1% a year in fees?
In this episode, Hayden and Dave unpack some of the newest additions to the ETF marketplace, and work out where (if anywhere) they'd fit in a long-term portfolio.
They cover:
👉 BGBL vs VGS: half the management fee for basically the same portfolio, and why switching isn't free once tax enters the picture
👉 VDAL, Vanguard's answer to DHHF: all-growth and all-in-one, minus VDHG's 10% bonds, and when one-fund portfolios make the most sense
👉 EMKT and factor investing: why this emerging markets fund has outpaced VGE, and the catch of paying guaranteed fees for an unguaranteed outcome
👉 Currency hedging, finally explained: what HNDQ actually does differently to NDQ, and who might genuinely need it
👉 V500 and A300, the new cheap rivals to IVV and VAS, and whether brand power beats a lower fee
👉 Old-school LICs trading at 15% discounts: buying a dollar of assets for 85 cents, and the risks hiding in the bargain
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
82. Will AI take your job (and what can you do about it)?
What happens to your job, your income and your investments when intelligence becomes almost free?In this episode, Dave uses Hayden as his window into the tech world, unpacking what AI actually means for jobs …
Notes de l’épisode
What happens to your job, your income and your investments when intelligence becomes almost free?
In this episode, Dave uses Hayden as his window into the tech world, unpacking what AI actually means for jobs, businesses and long-term investors.
They cover:
👉 How AI went from "write me a poem" to breaking big problems into bite-sized steps, and why the last 12 months surprised even the tech insiders
👉 Which parts of your job are actually at risk: why AI disrupts skills rather than whole jobs, and why the alone-at-your-computer work is the exposed bit
👉 The graduate problem: starting uni in a booming industry and finishing in a shrunken one, faster than the industrial revolution ever managed
👉 Whether AI is a bubble, a 20 to 30 year megatrend, or both, and what that could mean for indexing, Aussie property and white collar incomes
👉 Why your best hedge isn't a hot AI stock: keep earning, keep upskilling, and use the cheap intelligence everyone's worried about to your own advantage
Questions, disagreements or your own scenario: [email protected] or reach out on socials at Strong Money Australia and Pearler.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer:
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it's appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
81. Case Study: Sell the investment property, or hold for the long game?
Would you sell a property that's grown from $280k to $800k, even if it meant a six figure tax bill? In this episode, Hayden and Dave sit down with listener Lachlan to work through a big financial decision …
Notes de l’épisode
Would you sell a property that's grown from $280k to $800k, even if it meant a six figure tax bill? In this episode, Hayden and Dave sit down with listener Lachlan to work through a big financial decision: whether to sell his investment property or keep holding on.
They cover:
👉 The equity Lachlan has built up on his investment property, and what selling would actually cost him in CGT
👉 Debt recycling and whether redrawing equity could achieve the same goal without triggering a tax hit
👉 Why simplifying from property to shares might reduce stress, even if it's not the highest returning move
👉 What semi-retirement within a decade would actually require from Lachlan and his wife's finances
👉 The pull of sentimental value and FOMO, and how that shapes decisions that are supposed to be purely financial
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
80. How to eat cheaply on your path to FIRE
What if one of the biggest leaks in your budget is sitting in your fridge? In this episode, Hayden and Dave get honest about how much they're actually spending on food right now, and running through some hacks …
Notes de l’épisode
What if one of the biggest leaks in your budget is sitting in your fridge? In this episode, Hayden and Dave get honest about how much they're actually spending on food right now, and running through some hacks to eat on more of a budget on your path to FIRE.
The gap between a $15 and $25 daily food spend might not feel like much. But compounded over 20 years, that difference could be huge.
They cover:
👉 How much each host is actually spending on food right now (one answer is going to raise some eyebrows)
👉 The slow creep of "brand drift" and food waste that inflates your grocery bill
👉 Why skipping breakfast might be the easiest budget and health hack you're not using
👉 Cheap protein swaps, bulk cooking and home brand experiments worth trying
👉 Whether it's worth shopping online
👉 How to tell if your food spending actually reflects your values
Whether you're deep into your FIRE journey or just starting to question where your money goes each week, this episode will make you look at your next supermarket run a little differently.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
79. Should war change how you invest?
What actually happens to your portfolio when the world feels like it's on fire? In this episode, Hayden and Dave look back at how share markets have responded to major global conflicts, from WWI and WWII …
Notes de l’épisode
What actually happens to your portfolio when the world feels like it's on fire? In this episode, Hayden and Dave look back at how share markets have responded to major global conflicts, from WWI and WWII through to COVID, and what that history can teach us about investing through periods of fear and uncertainty.
They walk through the data most people have never seen: markets that fell sharply in the first six months of a war, only to roar back stronger than before it began. It's a timely reminder that the instinct to act during a crisis isn't always the one that serves us best.
They cover:
👉 How the US and Australian share markets actually performed during WWI and WWII, including the sharp falls and surprising recoveries
👉 What 31 wars across 130 years of market data reveal about how long downturns really last
👉 Why war tends to be inflationary in a way that's different to a typical recession, and what that means for share prices
👉 How governments have historically intervened in markets during wartime, and where COVID fits into that picture
👉 Why 24/7 news and social media might be making market volatility feel worse than it actually is
👉 The case for sticking to dollar-cost averaging and diversification even when the headlines are dark
At its core, investing through conflict is a bet on humanity's ability to find its way through. A look at history that might just change how you think about the next crisis, whatever it turns out to be.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
78. Case Study: Should we buy or keep renting on the path to FIRE?
When your landlord puts the property up for sale, the rent vs. buy question stops being theoretical. For Shyann and her husband, that moment became the push they needed to make a decision they'd been circling …
Notes de l’épisode
When your landlord puts the property up for sale, the rent vs. buy question stops being theoretical. For Shyann and her husband, that moment became the push they needed to make a decision they'd been circling for a while.
In this case study episode, Shyann walks through how she and her husband approached one of the biggest financial decisions a FIRE-chasing couple can make, and what it actually looked like once they got the keys.
They cover:
👉 Why security and long-term control tipped the scales toward buying over rentvesting
👉 How they funded the purchase on a strong combined income while keeping their investment strategy intact
👉 The trade-offs in choosing a home that fit the life they were planning, not just the budget they had
👉 Managing mortgage anxiety when one income might shrink after starting a family
👉 What actually happens when you move into a renovated home and the plumbing has other ideas
Is buying always the right move for someone on the path to FIRE? And how do you keep building toward financial independence when a mortgage is suddenly in the mix?
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
77. FIRE later vs living now
Today Hayden & Dave are unpacking an email they received from a listener. He's 29, originally from the UK, drives trucks for a living and keeps moving on after a year or two because the passion just isn't …
Notes de l’épisode
Today Hayden & Dave are unpacking an email they received from a listener. He's 29, originally from the UK, drives trucks for a living and keeps moving on after a year or two because the passion just isn't there. He loves to travel, wants to build wealth, but struggles to commit to investing when the next adventure feels a lot more appealing to him. He also lost his brother 13 years ago, which has really changed his outlook on things.
They cover:
👉 Why losing a loved one can make the "now vs. later" question so much harder to answer
👉 The problem with expecting your job to be a source of passion (and what to expect instead)
👉 A simple mental framework for deciding whether spending & living today is actually worth it
👉 How to stop thinking about life choices as all-or-nothing trade-offs
👉 Whether the rise of AI is a reason to bunker down financially, or something else entirely
If you've ever felt the pull between building for the future and not wanting to miss the present, this one's worth a listen.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
76. Should your portfolio change as you approach FI?
In this episode, Hayden and Dave dig into one of the most overlooked parts of the FI journey: what to do with your investments as you get closer to pulling the trigger. Does your strategy need to change? And if …
Notes de l’épisode
In this episode, Hayden and Dave dig into one of the most overlooked parts of the FI journey: what to do with your investments as you get closer to pulling the trigger. Does your strategy need to change? And if so, when and how?
They cover:
👉 Whether you actually need to de-risk your portfolio before retiring, or whether it's just a psychological thing
👉 The difference between accumulation and drawdown, and why the same portfolio can feel very different depending on which phase you're in
👉 Cash buffers, offset accounts and other ways to protect yourself from selling at the wrong time
👉 How paying off debt fits into a pre-retirement strategy and what it does for your cash flow certainty
👉 Growth ETFs vs. income ETFs: does the distinction actually matter when you're drawing down?
👉 What Dave is doing with his own portfolio
Free calculator here to work out your CGT with the new proposed changes.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
75. A final word on the Budget: How we're thinking about it now
The episode was updated on the 30th of May to remove some comments around assumptions around tax losses in the new budget if an asset underperforms inflation, as well as removing some comments around tax …
Notes de l’épisode
The episode was updated on the 30th of May to remove some comments around assumptions around tax losses in the new budget if an asset underperforms inflation, as well as removing some comments around tax deductions which were oversimplified.
The dust has (somewhat) settled on the Federal Budget, and Hayden and Dave are back to go beyond the initial reactions. This week they dig into the real numbers, the philosophical tensions behind the changes, and what investors should actually be doing differently (if anything).
They cover:
👉 If and how our investing strategies will change
👉 How the CGT changes hit a sell-down strategy versus a dividend/income strategy differently
👉 Why the two-phase super strategy takes a bigger hit than most people realise
👉 The case for semi-retirement over full FIRE under the new rules
👉 Whether continuing to invest is still worth it when the rules keep shifting
Plus, is the budget actually doing anything meaningful for housing supply? And what does the 30% floor really mean for someone trying to live off their portfolio?
Free calculator here to work out your CGT with the new proposed changes.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
74. The Budget: What it actually means for investors
The Australian federal budget just dropped and there is a lot to unpack. Hayden and Dave dig into the changes that matter most for everyday investors and the FIRE community, cutting through the political noise …
Notes de l’épisode
The Australian federal budget just dropped and there is a lot to unpack. Hayden and Dave dig into the changes that matter most for everyday investors and the FIRE community, cutting through the political noise to focus on what actually affects your money.
They cover:
👉 The switch from the 50% CGT discount to indexation
👉 The surprise 30% minimum tax floor on capital gains that nobody saw coming, and who it really hits
👉 Why the "death of debt recycling" narrative doing the rounds online misses the point entirely
👉 Negative gearing changes, what's grandfathered, what's not, and who actually benefits
👉 How growth vs. dividend investing strategies stack up under the new rules
👉 Whether super just became a lot more attractive overnight
👉 The six year exemption loophole that rentvesting fans will want to know about
There are still plenty of details being worked out in Canberra, exemptions being carved out, and edge cases nobody has good answers to yet, but these are our thoughts so far.
Free calculator here to work out your CGT with the new proposed changes.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
73. CGT and negative gearing: What the Budget could change for investors
The federal budget is coming, and there's already noise around two policies that could shake up the investment landscape: capital gains tax and negative gearing.Hayden and Dave break down what's actually being …
Notes de l’épisode
The federal budget is coming, and there's already noise around two policies that could shake up the investment landscape: capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Hayden and Dave break down what's actually being floated, and what it could mean for your portfolio.
They cover:
👉 How governments "soft launch" policy changes before they're official, and why it matters for investors right now
👉 The current CGT discount rules and the proposals that could change what you actually keep when you sell
👉 Whether indexation could be a better deal than a flat discount, depending on how long you've held an asset
👉 The grandfathering question that every existing property investor needs answered before panicking
👉 How capping negative gearing could reshape who benefits from it and what it means for property prices
Plus, a timely reminder on building your investing strategy around any single tax settings.
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
72. Case Study: Doubling down on investment properties vs. shares
Chris is at a crossroads and unsure which way to go. He's spent time in his career working in real estate, and now he's trying to decide whether to buy a family home, double down on investment properties, or …
Notes de l’épisode
Chris is at a crossroads and unsure which way to go. He's spent time in his career working in real estate, and now he's trying to decide whether to buy a family home, double down on investment properties, or pivoting entirely into a more aggressive share portfolio.
He's got a good case of analysis paralysis, and Hayden & Dave are here to help him work through some of the numbers and thinking behind it all.
In this episode they cover:
👉 How much Chris saves & invests on a $170k household income
👉 His ultimate FIRE goal
👉 What Chris should do with an underperforming IP
👉 Chris' concerns about mortgage stress
👉 How Hayden & Dave would approach all of these things!
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
71. Q&A: Homebuyer’s regret + does flipping houses still work?
Got a property and wondering if it's time to sell, rent it out, or just… hold on? In this episode, Dave and Hayden tackle two listener questions that a lot of people are quietly sitting with. First up is a …
Notes de l’épisode
Got a property and wondering if it's time to sell, rent it out, or just… hold on? In this episode, Dave and Hayden tackle two listener questions that a lot of people are quietly sitting with. First up is a listener who bought their first home two years ago is now craving more flexibility to make some big career moves, and wants to know whether to sell or become an accidental landlord.
Then, they dig into the age-old question of house flipping and whether or not it still stacks up in today's market? They'll walk through the numbers you need to crunch and the situations where it might actually make sense.
It's pearler's 5th birthday! Get 5 free trades here 🥳
Dave's books on Amazon and Spotify
Disclaimer
Any advice is general and does not consider your financial situation needs, or objectives, so consider whether it’s appropriate for you. You should also consider seeking professional advice before making any financial decision.
Pearler is an Authorised Representative #1281540 of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd AFSL #337927. Read the FSG available from https://pearler.com/financial-services-guide
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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