I share these net worth updates to stay accountable, seek feedback on our strategy, and prove that achieving financial independence in Australia is feasible without relying on extraordinary luck or wealth. The table below tracks our journey from $36K in debt to reaching our goals. š„
Delayed gratification is a core principle of the FIRE movement, but Iād argue itās also a great philosophy for life in general.
Take a simple exampleāa beer after mowing the lawn always tastes better than one before any work has been done.
I’ve embraced delayed gratification for years, and my FIRE journey is one of the best examples. We choose to live in a way many wouldn’t so that we can enjoy a level of freedom most never will.
As much as I believe in delayed gratification, the key is that gratification does eventually comeāotherwise, whatās the point, right?
And let me tell you, January delivered the gratification in a big way…
That’s right!
I finally pulled the trigger on a new Tesla Model Y. Tesla cars have been a dream of mine since I drove the Model S back in 2012.
It’s an interesting time to buy anything from one of Musk’s companies. Anyone famous is going to have some haters, but the Elon hate train is just about at its peak right now. I’m honestly a bit nervous that someone is going to key this car in an act of rebellion against Musk. I think he’s an incredible entrepreneur, but I wish he’d tone it down on Twitter. Some of his comments and actions are hard to defend, and it’s frustrating because I genuinely think he’s changing the world for the better.
I might have to get one of those stickers like, “I bought this before Elon went crazy’ š.
We went with the RWD option, which had the following breakdown.
I know we can afford this car, but I still hesitated when I saw the price inching toward $70K on my screen.
Even with all the tax incentives and cost savings of owning an EV, itās still a staggering amount. Back when I was 23, I spent $21K on a 2011 Camry and thought that was crazy expensiveāhaha. 23-year-old me would have never imagined a world where weād drop $70K on a new car.
But like I said at the start. The beer tastes better after some hard work, and we’ve been working pretty hard during the last 13 years… time to enjoy the beer now š».
PS.Ā
I’m thinking about financing this car and was quoted 6.5%, which seemed pretty reasonable to me.
Iād love to hear how others purchased theirs and the pros and cons of each method.
For reference:
- I’m buying this car through my company
- The company has enough funds to buy it outright, but Iād rather spread the cost over a few yearsāunless the numbers show significant savings by paying in cash.
- This car qualifies for the FBT exemption
Net Worth Update
A monster month all around in January!
A $7K+ dividend was a nice little boost, adding to our cash reserves along with some company invoices being cashed.
Basically, every asset class had a stellar month, which resulted in an ATH for the net worth.
.
*Expenses include everything we spend money on to maintain our lifestyle. We do not include paying down our PPoR loan as an expense, only the interest
*Investment income is simply 4% of our FIRE portfolio divided by 12
Januaryās passive income came dangerously close to covering expenses. Iām confident the red will overtake the blue sometime this year unless a major market downturn hitsā¦ which isnāt entirely out of the realm of possibilities.
Shares
The above graph was created by Sharesight
We didn’t buy any shares this month.
Networth
Congratulations on the new car mate! They look pretty sweet!
Thanks mate!
I agree, Teslas are pretty cool looking cars, but I could not bring myself to buy one now given the sh*t that is going down with Musk and his bromance with Trump. The Canadian-Mexican tariffs being the latest. I’m instead liking the look of non-American EVs like Xpeng, Zeekr and BYD.
Anyway, enjoy the beers!
Now that’s funny. Not buying from Musk because of his bromance with Trump but instead willing to buy from Xi Jinping without any hesitation š
Congrats on the new car. You were very patient waiting for that update.
I would (and I did) go with finance, 6.5% is low enough that you can put your money to better use: growing your business, investing or whatever
Thanks mate. Yeah that was my thinking too.
Money is just so much more valuable to me in the business.
I would pay cash for the car or not buy it. Consider the emotions of having a car payment and the market turning down for 1 or 2 yearsā¦ you would rather spend that payment on buying more shares at a cheaper price.
I would also pay the house off š no payments feels amazing! Less payments means less needed in the FI account.
I get the psychological aspect of that, but Iāve always been comfortable with tax-deductible debt. As long as the numbers make sense, Iād rather keep the liquidity working for me elsewhere.
It’s funny that you’ve mentioned to pay off the house. My old man is always on my case about that lol
Who cares about the political side of things. if you bought a blue one half the people would say you should have bought silver. Can please everyone. You worked hard, saved hard and bought the best EV on the market after careful research. Less time on the computer defending your choices and more time driving your dream car in the future š.
I purchased a Mustang MachE base model at the similar price to the model Y in July for through my business. I love the car. My accountant did cash, feed back was rates would need to be around 2-3% to consider lease worthwhile. It is more complex with EV depreciation.
The risk with an ev lease is unknown end value and this is hard price vs say a hybrid camry. Plan B many lease companies can buy back your car and then lease to you. This is a sale and leaseback. This is something we may consider if rates fall.
Interesting. Thanks for the feedback Nat
I would pay cash, and based on last month’s performance you could have paid for it outright. No need to go into debt for a car, even for a company.
Good work AFB!
To purchase Tesla at this point in time is to actively support the spread of fascism in the West.
Jesus Christ š
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This comment is amazing.
OzzyMan sold his tesla bc of Musk’s nazi salute…
There are moments in history when we remain complicit to peopleās actions and in hindsight we see how wrong we are. I find it difficult to see how you can think musk is āchanging the world for the betterā when thereās a live stream just a week ago where he talks about how migration is ādilutingā the population of Germany. You can google and watch it with your own eyes.
For context, I was the biggest musk fan and am not saying you shouldnāt buy a Tesla car, but you should be more informed because itās not just unwarranted hate. This man spews very dangerous ideology.
Genuine questionāwhat ideology do you think he promotes?
Do you see him being remembered 1,000 years from now as a force for good or evil?
Long time AFB reader, first time commenter. Samās comment is on the mark. AFB, I know you think youāre trying to āpromote healthy discussionā but the kind of deflection you pulled here just points to your ignorance. And is eerily akin to tactics deployed by Trumpists in public forums.
Silly comment that makes no sense.
I have German friends that are saying the exact same thing. It’s literal reality.
“you have german friends saying the same thing”… This commet is absurd. Look at the Germans who allowed Hitler to say those things in the 1930s..
I canāt help but agree with Elise
Ignorance stems from not asking questions, not spelling out reasons for opinions in clear factual ways, and shutting down discussion by lazy name calling or feigned outrage.
It’s just a question Elise… š¤·āāļø
I agree with Elise. It may seem like just a question to you but you are trying to deflect rather than engage in discussion. It’s a form of gaslighting to make a person deliberately question their perception and blame them for their belief rather than to actually engage in discussion
Amazing how no one is able to point to anything specific that Musk has done that is wrong, it’s all just speech they don’t like or bad vibes, some random accusations of fascism, or saying that he didn’t actually found any of the companies he’s associated with.
And presumably all the companies he was a part of but didn’t found like PayPal or Tesla or SpaceX or Grok or OpenAI and all the rest of them would have just happened anyway and maybe been more successful without him, it’s not as though he has added anything special or kept them going through the tough times etc.
And then when you ask for examples there aren’t any forthcoming, and somehow it’s gaslighting just to ask.
šÆ… A completely unhinged & emotion-driven herd mentality narrative… š¤·āāļø
Agree with Elise 100%. This blog update is dejecting.
I 100% agree with Sam.
His ideology for a long time is libertarian and now increasingly fascist.
I would bet he’ll be looked back as mostly a force for evil, at least on his current trajectory.
My own view, he’s a terrible human being. Most of the things people associate with him were not even invented by him (Tesla actually is a great example of this). The guy is literally going around doing Nazi salutes.
Look at his background, it makes some sense – he grew up as the son of a rich white man in post apartheid South Africa. I’m actually not surprised that many of his views have veered towards the extreme right.
Aussie Firebug – each to their own, buy a tesla, it doesn’t really matter to me. You seem like a good guy, but I pray you do a little more factual research on the toxic influence of Musk, particularly in the US currently.
100% agreed.
If you genuinely think Musk is āchanging the world for the betterā then you are either grossly underinformed, or so far away from my values that I will be challenged to continue reading (although Iāve admired your content for many years!)
He is a privileged man from a privileged family who has used that privilege to profit (mostly on the inventions of others). His views are fascist, racist and misogynistic and right now he is essentially committing criminal acts in the US by interfering in public institutions without having been endorsed by their governing system or being held accountable in any way.
This is one of those times where Iām sure people will look back and wonder how they didnāt foresee what is coming.
Thatās not even true. Musk got bullied a lot and treated poorly, hardly āprivileged.ā
So if the Queen got bullied at school, she’s no longer privileged.
Likewise, Musk son of an emerald mine owner is not privileged because he was bullied.
I think we’re mixing up two different things here. He grew up rich and white in apartheid South Africa. Old mate is privileged.
Oh Lordy lord give me a break Australia had no issues with race, really? Talk about people in glass houses throwing stones.
Also South Africans were the very first recorded people to be rounded up and put into concentration camps by, guess who… Australian soldiers! Thats right Aussie soldiers roamed around burning family farms and whisked tens of thousands of woman and children off to concentration camps where they were killed like animals much the same way the Jews were.
So please, get off your high horse the man is talking about finances lets keep it that way.
I leased my model y through work 2 years ago and don’t regret it for a second. Agree Musk makes it hard for us but they are still the best EV on the market.
My only suggestion is get the white seats. I have two kids under 8 and they are really easy to clean, and just look so much better than the black ones.
You literally bought this AFTER Musk went crazy. What are you talking about. Ignorance is crazy
Little extreme
John, it’s a joke lol.
We pulled the trigger on a model Y in early November. They offered a finance deal of 3.99% which was too good to miss out on, even with the new model coming. So far we are saving approximately $300 a month on fuel, no interstate travel yet, that will add to costs depending on how many free chargers we can find. We associate lease the car which has always worked well for me. No need to deal with inflated novated lease fees. With the reduced tax and fuel savings, minus the FiT we sacrifice the car is costing me approximately $150 p/m
I think you should print and frame those words that Elon is changing the world for the better and come back to it in 5 years.
The man is literally doing Nazi salutes and staging a techno-feudalist coup of the US Government while running one of the biggest financial frauds in history but FIRE and Crypto bros are like “yeah he’s soooo smart”.
It’s such a window into someone’s true intellect.
Time will tell, musk will go down as the greatest entrepreneur of our times. Open your blinkered eyes, read his books, watch the actual video of the so called salute and stop listening to mainstream FUD.
Exactly, I see most people here get their information from main stream media. I feel sorry for them as they are brain washed as they only get one side of the story. Us humans love the tall poppy syndrome, while I also donāt agree with everything his does I do think the world is a better place with him.
Do you think heās never done anything good? Ever?
AFB, I’m not convinced he has. In reality he doesn’t create anything himself, he just buys other companies that were already doing good things and rides their coat tails. He’s like a boy with a new toy each time.
My primary concern with Tesla is that Musk is so capricious and volatile he may end up trashing the company, and where does that leave people when it comes to ongoing servicing and support?
Musk is misunderstood by the majority of people and with no help from the hate stream media. He actually loves humanity, most people wonāt understand this. (Read his books).
What appeared like a Nazi salute was him saying from my heart to yours with a gesture, plus typical Elon idioms. But donāt let a good story get in the way of the truth.
And how are you explaining away his commentary on migration, on women, and his support of extremist far right (essentially fascist) political parties in several countries?
If he loves humanity, why doesn’t he love or care for his own children?
Well done mate on another good FIREd Up month! Honestly, it’s your hard-earned, work your ass off, legally obtained money and you can do anything you want with it which strongly resonates with your core. Keep the FIRE burning mate!
Congratulations on the new car AFB, well deserved mate!
I am trying to convince my boss to upgrade my DMAX to a BYD Shark, PHEV ute haha.
Do insurance companies treat the Ev the same as a petrol/diesel or are you charged more because of what It is?
When you claim the GST back on your bas
It will make the figure a bit more respectable
Not to mention the depreciation over a few years!!
They charge more (and it makes sense as repair can be costly), but it’s offset by your savings on petrol, so it’s still worthwhile
Insurance companies treat them the same but generally insurance is a bit higher due to the cars not being as common and some of the repairs costing more
Have you looked at an associate lease for the car?
Congratulations on the the order on the new model Y, it looks amazing. I myself have also put on order in for the new MY.
I work for Tesla and I’m based in Sydney and look after businesses that like to use Tesla’s for business in Australia and New Zealand.
If you like more information on what the best option is for your business please reach out and more then happy to answer all your questions.
Cheers,
Tom
[email protected]
Alexandria, Sydney NSW
https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/fleet
Congrats mate, Teslas rule. Musk rules. In a world full of stupid people not accomplishing anything they seem to pick on musk that’s doing incredible things. Weird.
He’s doing incredible things, but he’s perhaps not socially aware. He hurts people, feelings, as much as anything. And really, we’re a species that craves human connection and praise – Elon especially – but he’s not mastering how to do that…
Musk might be a good entrepreneur (debatable), but he is a terrible human not to he idolised. He is a pathetic husband and father. He stirs up hate whenever he gets a chance. Brave choice buying one of his cars now, I think thereāll be a lot going secondhand soon
Demand is already evaporating for teslas worldwide, so I can only see their price coming down.
I know I wouldn’t touch one any time soon.
If it a car for work you should be novating the lease and getting 100% discount on the GST.
Personally I dont feel like my novated lease saved me any money, mostly it was just a massive PITA when having to shift companies, I would opt to buy cash next time but negotiate heavy on price with a strong willingness to walk away from the deal.
For my two bobs’ worth. A while ago decided anything I was paying off, would be paid off as much as I could and as fast as possible. When that was achieved, I have maxed out my salary sacrificing and non-concessional super contributions a 285k share portfolio (well it was before this morning’s hammering), bought a ford ranger cash and have cash put aside for the off-road caravan that’s being custom built atm.
Yes Mark, I agree with novated leasing. It worked for me.
As for Musk, a very clever man but a dick head IMO.
As for delayed gratification. Totally agree.
We liked the Tesla’s, but loved the Polestar, so are going to P*4. It’s more expensive, but when someone said ‘Tesla is a software company in a car, and Polestar is a car company with software’, it resonated. I think we also didn’t love Elon, and whilst the price is attractive, it wasn’t enough… They are extremely sleek in design, I will say that!
Thanks AFB,
Weāre looking at the Volvo EX30 – small urban car. I think it would be good for Tesla sales for Musk to take a backseat for a while.
Also, youāve been a great motivator and resource for me over the past few years, and I am stoked to say that last Friday I FIREād. I gotta say itās a bit of an eerie and surreal feeling and one thatās hard to celebrate with people. But thanks so much for your blogs, NW updates and podcasts.
Congrats on FIREing! You must be stoked
Congrats on the new car!! Must be a trend as Dave from Strong Money also has a Tesla as you’d probably know.
I’ve just signed up for an Xpeng G6, the Tesla haters got to me and I didn’t want to have the anxiety of parking it and hoping no one would key it.
Great incentives on the FBT via a lease for me and the extra rebates depending on state gov.
Haters are going to hate. Enjoy your car.
See where all the anger and hateful comments to you buying a car come from. Yes these are the people I would rather not hang around. They can crawl back into the hole they came out of.
Congrats on the car!
No one is hating on him for buying a car – theyāre challenging his statement that musk is on balance good for the world, which is a totally different thing.
If youād rather not hang around people with critical thinking skills, thatās your loss I guess
Congratulations!
Well earned. The Tesla vehicles are the most advance vehicles on the road today & more importantly the safest. You made a smart decision which has zero to do with who owns the company that manufactures them. People buy millions of vehicles from VW & BMW every year & they don’t seem to care that these VW was founded by Hitler & BMW founders were part of the Nazi Party.
Musk is nothing like these people & has done an amazing job with all his companies & is truly changing the world for the better. I disagree with some of your negative comments about Musk but judging by some of the ill informed comments here & the fact that you are Victorian (which is basically as damaged by woke ideology as California is) I can see why you felt the need to explain away your decision.
But you shouldn’t have to. You worked hard, made your money & now you bought the best car on the road from one of the most humanitarian entrepreneurs in history. Most of the Musk hate comes from people that either believe misinformation from less than reliable news sources, don’t actually understand what he is saying or trying to achieve or has been corrupted by woke ideology. Musk has upset a lot of high ranking people because he is exposing huge amounts of corruption around the world so it’s no wonder people are trying to discredit him. All his companies are also best in class & are disrupting car manufacturers, energy companies, media companies, communication companies which are among the biggest & most powerful companies in the world who have enjoyed decades of corruption & like to use their money to influence the government however they can & further line their pockets.
Congrats again on the car. Well deserved! Your company & portfolio are still kicking ass too so well done.
šÆ 100% Agree with everything you say here Ben, literally shocked reading some of the comments. Great point about BMW & VW hahah
Very well said. Enzo built airplanes for Mussolini but most folks wouldnt complain if an Italian pony graced their garage (for maintenance and reliability issues maybe but definitely not for this reason). Ford built trucks for the Nazi’s and helped develop the V2 rocket, Henry Ford was a big Nazi sympathizer and that doesnt seem to stop anyone buying a Ranger, or drinking a Coke or refusing medicine from Bayer or in particular folks on this forum buying ETFs from Vanguard or Blackrock (two of the most dubious companies to ever grace our planet) but will blindly hate on Musk because the media tells them to.
Electric cars aren’t my particular cup of tea but if the man wants a Tesla let the man buy his Tesla and don’t allow anyone to try and guilt trip you for it its what he wants and he’s earned it. There are far far worse people around than Musk, heck he wouldn’t even make the list.
You can’t protest against Hitler or anyone else’s actions in the 1930s. You can protest against fascism now and probably have some responsibility to do so. Thus the Musk/Tesla hate. Someone who promotes racism directly (look up the AFD) and yields so much powerful influence in vey dangerous.
How the hell do these posters drag Musk into a comment about buying a car! let alone facism and nazism and even immigration.
This car will be owned by a company so if the company has the money it could pay cash or it could borrow money from a lender or a related party to buy it. The interest may or may not be deductible depending on the circumstances.
If the company financed it and then invested the $70k cash it has instead, assuming it has that, then the return could go large way to paying for the financing costs. might even cover it all.
No FBT but still need to lodge an FBT return and it may affect repayments of HECS and family benefits too.
Commenters didnāt drag him in at all, AFB did if you read the whole post.
Firebug talks extensively about Musk in the post, hence the connection.
Congrats on the purchase man š I remember you talking about this on your blog posts years ago!
Honestly can not believe some of the unhinged comments above, wow! Nazi salutes, seriously guys? š People need to stop watching the news.
Anyway how do you find the Tesla post purchase?
Personally I find them really boring haha! I am looking at pulling the trigger on a 2023 F-150 Ford Raptor, its a 6.2L V8 with a supercharger (but you can upgrade the supercharger so it produces 1000hp…). Petrol head unfortunately š
Is your bitcoin taking a bit of a hit?
Cheers!
Hey congrats on becoming a zero emission EV owner (other comments missing the point really). We’ve had our Leaf and solar panels for 4 years now and we just marvel at never having to visit the service station for petrol and next to no maintenance – other than tyres. Enjoy!
You might want to watch this one if you think EVs are zero-emission Ellen š
Still great cars though! BYD’s are awesome š
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkIh2PcSYE
Always enjoy the updates. It’s hard to believe just how much assets have appreciated. I haven’t had net worth go backwards for any month since April 2024 but I think with all this tariff uncertainty, Feb 2025 will catch me out.
I’m tempted to get a new car as well but part of me thinks my current car drives fine. If I was to get a new car I’d probably get a Haval H6 Hybrid. Not quite willing to jump on the electric car for now as I enjoy country drives and not having to worry about charging.
Thanks for the updates. One thing I would be interested to know is how you keep your monthly expenses so low. Most months according to your chart is $4-5k, including living expenses and interest expense. I live in Melbourne, married with one child, fully paid house, and my expenses are about $8-9k. I am also very careful with our spending.
Ozzy Man Reviews (a fellow West Aussie) literally sold his Tesla 3 due to Musk’s latest efforts: https://www.ozzymanreviews.com/p/i-sold-my-tesla-model-3-because-of
Fortunately he is in a position to take a sttance – but it is a pretty crazy world when I’m getting political editorials from a guy that provides HG and Roy style video commentary.
Congrats on the new car, my wife and I have just purchased two new BYD’s. I have used a novated lease (through our company) for my BYD Shark 6 (ute), and we purchased the BYD Sealion 6 (SUV) with cash for my wife (outside of the company). So no FBT on the Shark 6 (it is a PHEV and before 31 Mar 2025) and no payments on the wife’s car, which is also a PHEV. We are 25 years older than you and your wife, so for our chapter of life it works. Have a good one !
Firstly congrats, regardless of the financial logic of your approach splurging on the things you want to within reason is important.
I recently bought a model 3 highland and canāt speak highly enough of Teslas.
Secondly, imagine coming to a thread like this, unable to resist divulging your political and social views on Musk, Trump and or America and only demonstrating the shallowness and lack of originality in your thoughts.
To those in the comments guilty of the above, no one asked for your opinion on any of these topics and remember where you are lol.
Correct me if I’m wrong but the blog post talks about Musk and his politics, so the comments are in reply to that. Ie the discussion is directly related to the content of the blog.
Itās such a pity that in your attempt to be open and helpful (when you could have closed this site down ages ago), people are jumping on anything you say they donāt approve of. I personally donāt drive but if you want a Tesla, then go for it. I wonder how many are also car-owners (āplanet pollutersā) who are calling you out but not looking in the mirror.
Weāre def not a country that respects different choices, esp in Melbourne. Maybe itās better in Australia, i hope so, but not in Victoria during these Labor years.
ps i lived in the EU, often in the city centre, and so just used public transport or walked, so havenāt really ever wanted a car
Congrats on the car. I also own a Tesla model 3 and I like the car, itās fun to drive and I love not having to fuel up anymore. Not thrilled to be helping to support Elon but my little car purchase is just a drop in his ocean of wealth. And besides I guarantee all of us here are already invested in Tesla, even if itās only through superannuation, but almost certainly also invested through ETF holdings too.
You literally bought it after Elon showed his crazy so you donāt really have a leg to stand on with that bumper sticker though š