One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is deciding on the best amount to save and spend.

Save too much and you will be miserable. Spend too much and future you will be miserable.

When I […..]

A lot of people dismiss financial independence as something that is not for them. Many see it as deprivation. Not living for today.

But […..]

In early 2024, our family are moving up north to our new build house to a new location that should allow us to slow down the pace of life and be a part of a small community. Both very important goals of ours to enhance our quality of life.

Before we […..]

Don’t dismiss financial independence just because you enjoy your job now. I firmly believe financial independence is an attractive goal for everyone.

I have seen too many people, myself included, think […..]

Coast FIRE is the vague direction our family are targeting.

From next year, we will be slowing down at work, only really hoping for enough income to cover our expenses. If we receive more doing what we want to be doing then we’re not going to complain! But income is […..]

When I first discovered the concept of FIRE, I went in all guns blazing. Cutting costs big time, until I couldn’t cut anymore.

It was exciting for a short while before I realised I had cut too much. I wasn’t happy.

But maybe it was worth it?

Cutting down my time to work to only 10 more years was exciting, knowing that I would be financially independent at age 45 […..]

The other week I received an email asking if I worried about what would happen if everyone wanted to achieve FIRE.

I’m not the deepest philosophical thinker, but at first thought […..]

In my earlier years as an impressionable young adult, my idea of success was having a massive house, nice car and all the best gadgets. It also meant having the best job which I thought […..]

Below is a checklist to see if you have reached peak FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) status yet […..]

If you are anything like me, at first discovery financial independence seems like a straight forward goal. Have enough money to live off for the rest of your days.

But a combination of lifestyle inflation and mental biases has meant a continual shifting of the goalposts for me.

Regarding lifestyle inflation, when I […..]

When I first discovered FIRE, I was excited about the possibility of saving enough money to exit the rat race and say goodbye to a well paid, but unfulfilling job.

But FIRE should not […..]

So often in the solution to a problem in our lives, we wonder what we can add to make our life better.

It is our natural instinct to want more of something. I know because this was […..]

There was a famous Marshmallow study conducted in 1972 by Stanford University where a group of children were placed in a room one at a time. They were offered the opportunity to eat one marshmallow immediately, or wait 15 minutes and receive two marshmallows.

The FIRE community latch on to studies like this and […..]

For the long Matariki weekend, my wife imposed a no work policy on me. I think she could see I was working too much, and needed a break. For a workaholic, it’s great having a supportive partner that can help balance things out.

Anyway, she surprised me with […..]

My plan is to have the ability to retire before I hit the age of 50. I want the ability to be able to choose how to spend my time, instead of giving my most valuable time to my employer.

A typical lifetime for someone from the age of 23 may look like this […..]

Before I discovered the concept of financial independence I was living dollar to dollar.

I was the classic example, of which most of society is, of running the hedonic treadmill. Each increase in pay followed by […..]

When I first discovered that early retirement was even a thing, I was so excited. Here I was thinking that we have to work until our mid to late 60’s at soul crushing jobs. To find there was an ‘out’, was invigorating.

I was in my early 30’s at the time. Not married and no kids. This meant I could […..]

I was saddened last week to hear the news of Dave Cull passing away, age 71. Not because I knew him personally, but because I remember him making his resignation as Dunedin Mayor just two years ago. I studied in Dunedin for five years and have a soft spot for the area, so often follow the news down south.

In this article, Dave said […..]

Many people are obsessed with earning money.

For some it gives them status

For others it allows them to live an extravagant lifestyle

For others it is just to keep up with expenses

For others it is just for the […..]

The original appeal to the FIRE life when I first discovered it was the fact that I wouldn’t have to work anymore. Spending all day at the beach or watching sport sounding amazing. Not being answerable to a boss.

Over time though, I’ve discovered that it is essential to […..]

The key attraction of financial independence for me is that it creates more time to do the things you want to be doing.

Many of us are only doing certain jobs and spending our time in certain ways because it is what pays the bills and helps us to get ahead. Even if this is time that is not enjoyable. That is the story for […..]

When looking for ways to get ahead, reducing expenses is often the quickest, easiest, and most effective way of making large strides.

Quick because it is easy to make […..]

So, I just turned 40 on Friday. Everyone makes such a big deal about 40 so it’s hard to ignore this as just another birthday. According to the statistics, I am now officially entering mid life and with mid life, comes reflection for many people.

Many 40 year olds are […..]

Up until my late 20’s many of you know that I had a negative net worth. Spending all my income on useless things such as over eating, over drinking, over travelling, and over housing. I was buying the best of everything of too much of it. Mainly because I thought this was the path to living the good life.

All my mates were doing it and I just wanted to keep up. In fact, I more than wanted to keep up. I wanted the best. However, there was […..]

Early retirement means different things to different people. It invokes excitement in me not because I can retire, but because I can pursue my dreams and interests. Financial independence allows us to make bold and confident decisions that we could never make if were otherwise […..]

Every so often there will be an article released about how someone retired early, along with a multitude of public comments about why it can’t be done.

“Couple leave work to travel in RV full time”

“Man ditches the 9 to 5 to live […..]

I’ve previously talked about the importance of savings rates – the difference between what you earn and what you spend. It is the most important metric in determining how quickly you can achieve financial independence.

Last year, New Zealand’s household savings rate was an abysmal minus 0.2%. We are bad savers.

No one is achieving financial independence at that rate. In fact, no savings is the definition of the exact opposite. Financial dependence […..]

Planning to work until age 65 or even 70 is the riskiest retirement plan of all. As with most areas in life, there is often a discrepancy between expectations and reality. We may expect to work until 65, but the reality is […..]

I have never liked the retire early (RE) part of the FIRE equation. Yes, it makes for a catchy title, but it also attracts a lot of negative attention. The problems come from […..]

The best thing about financial independence that I can see is the fact that it provides you with options. You can work where you want and do what you want to do, within reason. You can live your life the way you want to live it. You aren’t forced to work in a job you don’t like. You aren’t forced to put up with a bad boss. Financial independence allows you to make much bolder decisions to move […..]

Life is far too short to be miserable. And that is what 40 years of work inflicts on many people. Misery that we learn to put up with. Sure, there are people that love their work, but they are few and far between.

Many people are ‘stuck’ in unfulfilling jobs because […..]

Freedom is such an attractive thought. Being able to do as you please, within reason. The last time I was truly free was when I was a kid. No job, very few responsibilities, and being able to do all of my favourite things for hours on end. Sure, I was [……]

When you have a lofty goal such as early retirement or early financial independence, it becomes easy for your mind to drift into the future to this magical place.

Focusing on how good things will be later, and how bad things are now. This is an extremely dangerous way of thinking that will lead to not living in the moment and not enjoying life.

Not a good place to be in.

I should know. I was there a few years ago […..]

This is something people that can’t afford to retire like to tell themselves to make them feel better about their situation.

There are some people that will never retire early even if they wanted. I truly believe that there are some people who are born into extremely bad situations. They will make good decisions with all the best intentions but may be dragged down by […..]

The further along I get on our savings journey, the more I realise the importance of designing your life to suit your passions as soon as you can.

At the beginning of the journey I was more than willing to stay at an unfulfilling job for 10 to 15 years. It’s not a bad job, but it also doesn’t spark joy at the risk of sounding like a 4 ft 7 in Japanese woman.

It seemed doable. At the financial independence discovery stage, I was […..]

When I first discovered financial independence, I made a plan to save up 25 x annual expenses and then retire, never to earn a dollar again. This would have taken approximately another 8 years.

I have since changed my tune for a few reasons […..]

The pursuit of financial independence is not dead. Far from it. In fact, if you are pursuing financial independence, then the current market downturn is great for you while you are still earning money and employable. This downturn would be much worse if you […..]

The first couple of years of discovery of the concept of financial independence is exciting. There are constant changes being made to speed up the journey. Reduction in expenses here, an increase in income there.

You can reduce your potential age of retirement from age 70 to age 50 or even younger, depending on when you start. The huge cut in time required to work is exciting and motivational in itself.

There comes a time though, that once you make all the changes you can possibly make that you start running on auto pilot. The excitement of financial independence, although still there, starts to wane significantly […..]

How often have you heard that or even said it yourself? I know I used to say it ALL THE TIME.

I have always worked in the Operations field. Operations is often a fast paced environment with a lot of preventing, or putting out of fires. It can be stressful at times, and one thing for sure is, it is always busy.

At the end of each working day I would feel like I had worked extremely hard. There was rarely any down time, and I would think to myself “I deserve a treat.” We can’t let all that hard work go to waste can we? […..]

The conventional advice is to buy a home and raise a family. This is the path that many of us take in life, and for good reason. A home and family can provide shelter, security and fulfillment.

Have you noticed though how these things are […..]

My money blueprint has me on track to have enough money saved to be able to retire before I turn 50. I assume the retirement age will be at least 67 by the time I get there, so let’s see how much time I am able to buy back if I can retire at 50 […..]

All through my 20’s I was an avid gym goer. I would visit the gym about 4-5 times a week and went from a skinny 65 kg 20-year-old to a much bigger and stronger person.

Funny enough though, the attraction of weight training for me was never about a certain look […..]

Here are two cars - can you guess which one is owned by a millionaire?

There are many roads to Rome, and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to pursuing financial independence […..]

When I was growing up I used to love computer games. My favourites were the strategy role playing games, where you had to make strategic decisions as a main character. Each decision lead you down a path to a new bunch of challenges. Some paths would lead to […..]

The title may sound a bit strange if you have been following my blog for some time. I am forever singing the praises of saving and investing your money so that you can gain financial freedom and free up your time to do what you want. Time on earth is finite and the more of it we can use on our own terms, the better. In fact, the whole reason I am […..]

There is a common tendency in life to say yes to too many things. We are getting busier and busier, not getting to spend time on the things we really enjoy.

Think about what you are saying yes to. Is it […..]

I woke up on New Years day to find my ugly mug splashed across the NZ Herald webpage. I was one of the subjects on an article about kiwis planning to achieve financial independence at a young age […..]

In a recent blog article I shared my financial story to this point. I went through a plenty of ups and downs and was by no means an early starter. My goal is to make financial freedom more relatable and feel more achievable through sharing my experiences. Well today we continue the voyeurism theme. I will be exposing myself financially for you all to see […..]

Just a short story today that inspires me to live life more simply, only worrying about the things that matter the most to me now. Not waiting until later. Life is too short. Enjoy

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the small boat were [….]

In a world full of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and reality TV, we all love a bit of voyeurism. Looking at other people's lives from the outside seems to interest us. Maybe because we like to learn from other people - what we want to do., what we don’t want to do. Maybe we just want a bit of excitement and feel like we are living vicariously through them. Either way, it is a bit of pastime.

So today is a special day my little voyeurs. I am going to open up on a step by step level, how I got to where I am today […..]

2015 started like any other year for me […..]

Over recent years, there has been an explosion (excuse the pun) of internet bloggers retiring early and writing about the world of FIRE. It means Financial Independence Retire Early, or FI for short. The RE part is really optional. 

So, what is FI? My interpretation of Financial Independence is […..]