Our travels continued in February stopping by Cambodia and spending the majority of our time in Vietnam.
I know I said this is not turning into a travel blog but some photos are too good not to share, so please bear with me 😅
Temple at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Paradise cave, Vietnam
Hải Vân Pass, Vietnam
It’s sometimes hard to truly appreciate how good we have it here in Australia until you spend some time in a third world country. Just little things that we all take for granted like clean drinking water, maintained roads, social safety nets etc. these are all little things that you don’t really ever marvel at back home. They are just there and for my lifetime anyway, have always been there.
I had a suit tailor made in Hội An which cost me $220 AUD. This was a little bit more pricey then I was expecting but after reading a lot of reviews it seems like there are a lot of dodgy tailors there and it’s better to get one made from a reputable tailor. I mainly needed it for job interviews in London but, like, where else would I have got a perfect fitting suit for $220 AUD. Crazy good value if you ask me!
One other thing I have to mention is our experience in a 5-star resort for two nights. It’s a funny thing to say on a blog like this, but yes, we booked a 5-star resort during our motorbike trip up the east coast of Vietnam.
Why?
Because it only cost us $45 AUD a night.
I mean… $45 AUD for 5-stars? C’mon now, we’re getting silly Vietnam. That’s too good to pass up!
The place was called the Vinpearl and we actually stayed one night at their hotel in Ha Tinh, and one night in Thanh Hoa.
These places are sort of in the middle of nowhere but we passed through them on our motorbike journey so it was perfect. Let me tell you, the included breakfast alone was worth the $45 bucks. They have a kick-ass infinity pool that overlooks the city and a spa that you’re allowed to use which includes jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. The rooms themselves are huge and it was just so nice to relax in a place like that for a few nights. Yes, we could have stayed in a hostel for like $7 bucks but it was well worth it IMO.
SE Asia has been a blast for the last month and a half and now it’s time to have a quick stopover in Dubai before we touch down in England.
I’ve been looking for jobs but haven’t had much luck yet. A lot of recruiters/companies want to meet me first, but being in SE Asia makes it impossible. Hopefully, once I land I’ll be able to have a few interviews and meetings and get my foot in the door.
Does anyone out there have any experience working in IT in London or have a contact? I’d love to hear from you if you do. Just drop a comment with your email and I’ll follow you up. Happy to chat about anything else while we’re at it too 🙂
Oh, and the Facebook page hit its 1000th like sometime over the last few days
There’s something really satisfying about that little 1K!
Net Worth Update
The sharemarket bounced back last month with Super and shares contributing to the $16K bump for Feb.
Our spendings and income pretty much cancelled each other out which was great. So while we weren’t able to add anything to the net worth in cash, we didn’t go down in that department either.
I’ve been really happy with our spendings over the last month. We’re down to one wage atm because Mrs. FB last paycheck was in January since she’s a teacher and even though we are travelling around and eating out every night. We actually spent less last month than we usually do when at home 😱
I know SE Asia is cheap, but with all the things we’ve been up to, eating out every night, drinks etc. not to mention booking in a few flights for later this year, I did wonder what it would come to for the month of Feb (since I’m not able to check pocketbook every few days like I’m used to).
And I say this with 100% honesty, we have not restricted ourselves in the slightest. If anything, we have been overly indulgent (it’s a holiday after all 😄🌴).
There have been a few activities we’ve seen others do that can blow out the budget which didn’t really appeal to us anyway. Stuff like parasailing, jet skis, theme parks etc. wasn’t the reason we travelled to SE Asia.
Properties
No changes in the properties this month.
Property 1 was sold in August 2018
*DISCLAIMER*
Various data sources (RP data, Domain.com etc.) are used in combination of what similar surrounding properties were sold for to calculate an estimate. This is an official Commonwealth bank estimate and one which they use to approve loans.
ETFs/LICs
We added around $15K to Milton last month as it was trading at the highest discount compared to AFI.
Everything was in the black except AFI which went down overall but had a very nice dividend payout, so thank you very much 🙌
Ended the month with around $1,300 in dividends which is really nice too.
Networth
$45 a night? I need to reevaluate my retirement plans to include Vietnam.
Great to hear from you in this transition phase. Looking forward to some photos from UK as well. Must be a wonderful feeling seeing your accounts withstand a holiday undamaged!
Haha yeah it’s an amazing country!
Mate, I can’t even begin to describe the satisfaction of not dipping into our spendings…but also the comforting feeling of dividends hitting our account last month. Even though we haven’t reached FIRE yet, we are reaping so many rewards from the seeds we planted years ago!
I’ve been following your journey with some interest for around 12 months now, but I can’t recall you sharing your philosophy about making extra contributions to Super, and in particular, why you didn’t (appear to) make a large non-concessional contribution after you sold the IP.
I’m guessing this is for me.
I answered this is one AFF episode but in a nutshell. Super is so far away for us because of the preservation age that it won’t allow us to retire early.
If we could access super before the preservation age it would be easy, everything would go into super as it’s the most tax efficient vechile there is!
We didn’t dump a lot into the market after the sale of IP1 because I was basically too scared. We are DCAing it over the next 16 months. It’s statically better to dump it all in at once but I just couldn’t bring myself around to it lol.
Hope that clears things up 😊
Getting wealthier while travelling. Nice job brother!
It’s a hard gig but someone has to do it right 😂
The compounding is incredible. From ~400k to circa ~600k in 12 months just makes my head spin
Mostly to do with the property we sold last year but you’re right. Some times I look back and see how much it has grown and just stare blankly for a while. It’s crazy how compounding works!
Hey bud – I’ve been working in IT for 15 years, and spent 2 years working in London from 2013 to 2015. Be happy to help – can at least offer some advice given how much you’ve helped me 🙂 drop me an email with exactly what kind of IT work you want to do (e.g. software development, BA, PM, testing) etc and I can try to give you some pointers
Email sent Sameer. TYSM
Fantastic work. Enjoy your break while you’re there. All the best in London!
Thanks BHL
Very jealous of your adventures! Thanks for sharing
No worries 🙂
Love the comment about things we take for granted like clean drinking water, government safety nets, maintained roads etc. meanwhile everyone in FI Australia is loosing their mind about labor’s proposed franking credits 😂
Lol
I live in Sydney now but from the UK and worked in London in various IT roles for about 6 years. Drop me a mail if you want any advice / info.
Email sent 🙂
Ok, you have to spill the details on how you got the rooms for $45. They look amazing.
From my quick check, booking through their website is like 6x that – so there must have been a good deal here.
I’m super jealous of the trip. Enjoy!
Hey,
I just checked on booking.com and found the price for tonight to be $43 for the Vinpearl Hotel Ha Tinh!
Did you make sure you searched for Ha Tinh or Thanh Hoa? Because they are the cheap ones. Their other resorts in popular areas are really expensive.
Some awesome photos there AFB, Angkor Wat is an amazing place to visit!
Great to see the net worth continuing to tick up, I guess you’re at the point now where market returns can matter a lot more than any additional investments.
I dropped you a line through your contact page about some of the stuff about living in the UK, hope it helps!
Thanks HIFIRE,
Did you use a different email address? Because I don’t think that email came through?
Hi mate, I sent it through your contact page, I’ve just sent it again directly so hopefully it comes through one way or another. If not just drop me a line and I can reply to that.
Got it mate.
Cheers
Great to see your progress.
I read your blog on “Our Investing Strategy Explained” and there you indicated an original split of 40% VAS, 30% VEU and 30% VTS…. So originally 40% Australian and 60%US and Worldwide…… Looking at your current portfolio you are now at 63% Australian (A200, AFI, MLT, VAS) and 37% US and Worldwide (VEU and VTS).
Any update on your investing strategy or are you planning on re-balancing?
One other question regarding A200 vs VAS….. While A200 has the lower MER of 0.07% its dividend yield is 1.91% (http://www.etfwatch.com.au/funds/A200/) vs VAS with a MER of 0.14% and a dividend yield of 4.45% (http://www.etfwatch.com.au/funds/VAS/)…. What are your thoughts on dividend yield vs MER?
Thanks again for the great inspiration!
Have a read of this Chet Strategy 3.
A200 has small dividends comparatively speaking to VAS because they are a new fund.
When a dividend is received by the fund at the start of the quarter they may then need to pay it to a much larger pool of investors at the end of the quarter, meaning the dividend yield for all investors becomes less. This is because the fund grows exponentially (percentage wise) in the first few years.
This was a really good example I found explaining it:
‘If CBA pay a dividend of 5% at the start of the quarter, and the fund holds $1,000 worth of CBA shares, they will receive a dividend of $50. If by the end of the quarter they hold $1,500 worth of CBA shares (as more investors have contributed to the fund), they will still pay out $50 worth of dividend, but the income yield to investors will be $50/$1,500 = 3.33%.
We don’t expect in reality to see examples so extreme, but investors relying on income distributions should be aware that yield may be slightly lower initially. This won’t affect overall performance (share price + dividends), just income yield.’
Hope that clears it up!
Man you really are living it up now!
I love the pictures, especially the nature ones, beautiful!
And also nice to see some cashflow rolling in while you’re away.
All the best with your interviews mate.
Cheers Dave,
Might have a few more coming up in the next few months 😁
Hi Aussie Firebug
Excited to read that you were touching down in London soon. Take a look at http://www.myoe.com and email me directly at [email protected] as I’ll be able to help you with entry into the IT market for contracting. Happy travels! Cheers Jill
Email sent! Thanks
Hi Mr Aussie Firebug, I hope you’re having the time of your life !
Unsual question here: do you use that monthly tracker you have for your net worth to track performance in other things in your life? E.g. Fitness goals, skills goals, career goals, relationship goals, etc
I’m curious as I’m trying to develop a method that works for me.
Thanks for your podcast and blog
Great question! The answer is unfortunately no I don’t.
I really should track those other important things in life but I don’t.
I should start 😅
Hey Aussie Firebug,
Just a quick question as I can’t seem to find information on it online. With VTS, are you able to elect DRP on it? I know VGS definitely allows it, but I can’t seem to find an answer for VTS. Seeing as you’re holding VTS, you should know.
Thanks for all the great blog posts, learnt heaps from you.
Hi Bryan,
No. VTS does not have DRP as an option.