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Chapter 1: What motivated Matt to pursue financial independence?
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Chapter 2: How did Matt's upbringing shape his financial mindset?
Hey there, here's a quick note. This podcast contains general financial advice only. That means it's not specific to you, your needs, goals or objectives, so don't act on the information until you've spoken with your financial advisor. You'll find our full disclosure, disclaimer and link to our financial services guide in the show notes. Kate Campbell, it's always a pleasure to be with you.
How are you going?
Great to be back, Owen. Very well on this lovely sunny morning, thankfully. It's been a bit of a crazy week in terms of weather here in Melbourne.
Yeah, it is. We're recording this on the 6th of October and it is sun out today. So that just makes us all 20 or 30% happier at least, I'm sure. Today, we're joined by Matt from Aussie Firebug. Mate, how are you going? I'm very good.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of the 4% rule in financial independence?
Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, it's our pleasure indeed, mate. You've really just done some wonderful things with Aussie Firebug and the community that you've fostered. I'm hoping that for an introduction to you, I was going to do an introduction, but then I was reading your About Me page. And there's a story on there about your old man and him thinking
You and him going to the store and getting some soccer boots, I believe it was, or footy boots or something. Maybe you can just relive that kind of story for us and tell us a bit about how you got involved in thinking about financial independence in the first place.
Yeah, I love that story. It's basically...
from from when i was you know as early as i can remember my old man he's a notorious uh tight ass and um whenever we used to go shopping as a child uh i always wanted as as you do like this is the marketing machine at work here you know they market to kids and they do a bloody good job at doing that i wanted the best you know the nike the adidas boots the top of the range and
you know, he would always get me the sort of the middle tier, not the worst ones, but the middle to the lower tier because, and I appreciate this now that I'm older, kids just grow out of clothes and shoes and everything so quick. It really is insane to spend, you know, $150, $200 back then on a pair of footy boots or whatever. But yeah,
Yeah, he would always get me sort of the middle tier or the lower middle tier shoe. And I always used to think like, when I make my own money, I'm going to spend it on the best brand shoes and clothes and everything like that.
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Chapter 4: How has Matt's investment strategy evolved over time?
And yeah, and I think the story that you're referring to, he would always, whenever I wanted like something really good, he'd tell me I'm dreaming. Sort of like Daryl Kerrigan out of the... What's it called? The famous movie there.
The Castle.
The Castle. That's it. Tell him he's dreaming. Tell him he's dreaming. And that sort of instilled good money management into my mindset as a child because you would always say to me, Matt, smart people save their money.
stupid people maybe not stupid but other people spend their money and they waste their money don't be wasteful with your money you want to save it give you options later in life i didn't really know exactly what that meant when i was a kid i just wanted the coolest stuff possible um but you know looking back now that was actually
set the foundations for my money management skills and me inherently being a tight ass with money later on in life. And it's funny because when I got my part-time job as a kid and I got it at 14 and 10 months, which was, I think, one month after the legal age limit that you could possibly get a job in Victoria at the time, I remember saving up.
I was on $5 an hour at Hungry Jack's, believe it or not, $5 an hour. And when I got enough money, the $200 to buy, I think at that point I was like, yeah, I was 14, nearly 15.
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Chapter 5: What common myths about the FIRE movement does Matt address?
I was into skateboarding back then. And I always wanted the globe shoes. That was the hot shoe back then. And it was, I think it was about 200, 220. And I saved up enough money working at my part-time job to get those shoes because that was the goal. I'm going to work hard, save, and then get the latest globe shoe every single year. I'm going to have the best ones.
And then when I got the money, I didn't end up buying the shoe because there was a connection I sort of made that I was like, I spent so much hours in the kitchen, the back of Hungry Jacks, which was actually really fun. I really liked that job, but it was hard. I smelt disgusting after a shift and I'm like,
I don't think the shoe is worth it now after I've spent all the hard work and energy getting the money. I don't think it's worth it. And I just sort of rolled with my, you know, whatever skate shoe I had back then. And I just always liked the idea of saving my money.
Chapter 6: How does combining incomes with a partner impact financial goals?
And I wasn't quite sure what exactly I was saving for at such a young age, but I was always sort of built like that, I guess. And I think a lot of it had to do with my old man and sort of the money habits he instilled on me at a young age.
It's amazing. We've had quite a few listener stories now and depending on how people talk to their parents about and how their parents sort of talk to them about money when they're a kid, so many of those things stay with you, good or bad, for your life unless you actually sort of do something to change them. And, yeah, it's always really interesting to hear.
And I wanted to know a little bit about... So you were working and saving from the age of sort of 15. When did you stumble across the idea of financial independence?
Yeah, it's a good question. Um, because financial independence, like I was lucky. One of the biggest advantages I ever had in my life was having parents having loving and supporting parents.
That's a huge, huge advantage just in the first place, but around the dinner table, there was active talk of investment investing and it was property investing because anyone knows, you know, two major religions in Australia, Christianity and property investing, of course. And my parents being boomers, um, A lot of people out there could probably relate.
Property investing is just a big thing with your parents and boomers in general because they've done so well.
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Chapter 7: What resources does Matt recommend for those interested in FIRE?
So I totally get it. So the talks around the dinner table was about property. It wasn't about shares because my parents actually got burnt with shares, which is a whole nother story. But it was about property and sort of the mindset of smart people invest and it gives you options later in life. Like I remember that vividly being around the dinner table. So I didn't quite...
Get it or financial independence wasn't really spoken about per se, but that idea of saving money and investing definitely was. So the huge, like you spoke about there, Kate, like the mindset and the psychology of that, like I grew up in that environment, which is one of the biggest advantages I had. So the concept of financial independence, I didn't stumble across until...
Later in life, I think it was around about 2012 or something, I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, very famous book. And there was a line in there, a sentence that just resonated with me so much. It was something like, assets make you money. All you need to do is get enough assets until eventually the money that they make eclipses your expenses or something along that line.
And my head just exploded when I, I must've read that sentence like 10 times because it was so simple. I was like, this can't,
Chapter 8: What is the future outlook for Matt's financial independence journey?
It can't just be this simple, can it? And I kept reading like, yeah, it makes just get assets. They make money. He wasn't speaking about what assets. He was just get assets. They make money. Eventually, you will become financially independent. And I was like, oh my goodness. Now I sort of have a...
a goal to work towards because I was always a pretty good saver, but it was, I didn't have a long overarching strategy or goal to work towards because it was always like a few thousand dollars and then I go spend it, you know, in Chadston or something like that. I could never sort of get past a few thousand dollars. And so I had financial independence was the thing that really blew my mind.
But a lot of people and financial independence isn't a new concept. It's been around since probably the dawn of the creation of money. But a lot of financial independence strategies and advice and everything like that is geared towards people reaching it in their 60s or if they're lucky in their 50s. A lot of literature is written about that.
Later in life, you'll get to be able to retire later on. So that's when I come across financial independence and I can go on to FIRE if you like, because it sort of rolls into this story. So yeah, so financial independence, I was, you know, that's a good, that's cool, but it's so many, it's still four decades away. I just started working, just started full-time work.
And then I come across this blog and I'm sure a lot of people in the FIRE community out there listening can relate, Mr. Money Moustache. Now, he's probably the leader of the modern day fire movement, I would say. And there was Vicky Robbins in the 90s who wrote a little bit about it. And there was blogs before Mr. Money Moustache. There was Early Retirement Extreme, JL Collins, a few other ones.
And I actually come across those blogs back in the day. But I remember reading early retirement extreme, for example, which was essentially the same thing that Pete at Mr. Money Moustache was writing about, but he was very extreme and true to his name. And I could never relate to it. And he never... he wrote about things and it just seems, seemed so abstract.
And that was a life that I would never want to live. So I'm just sort of going to can, it's very interesting blog, you know, whatever, but Pete wrote a few articles and probably the one that sort of, you know, exploded my mind again was the simple, the shockingly simple math to early retirement.
And he sort of unveiled the math and the investing behind how he was able to reach financial independence at 30. Realistically, without inheritance, without an extremely high-paying job, although he did have a very good-paying job. But it was so – it blew my mind so much. I remember reading it, and that's such a great blog article.
I'd encourage anyone that wants to look into FIRE and how it works to read that article. That completely changed my trajectory of life pretty much because I had a new goal to work towards because I just started full-time work at the end of 2011. And I think I stumbled across Pete and what he was writing about in like 2013. And up until then, like I invested in an investment property.
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