Summary
Today my guest is Liz Thames who is better known as Mrs Frugalwoods. Liz is a mother of two who lives with her husband Nate on a 66-acre homestead in rural central Vermont USA. She’s the author of the popular FIRE book called “Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living”.
Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:
- Liz’s motivation behind writing a memoir-styled book (00:02:44)
- How to transition from saving to living off your investments (00:07:39)
- What does FIRE mean to Liz? (00:11:36)
- How Liz and Nate achieved financial independence (00:15:37)
- What does the Frugalwoods investment portfolio look like? (00:31:03)
- Financial privilege. Can everyone achieve FIRE or is it only possible for a lucky few? (00:41:35)
- How FIRE helps when raising two young girls (00:47:19)
- Tips for buying a home (00:55:47)
Links
- Website – Frugalwoods
- Book – Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living
- Financial consultation services with Liz Thames
Hi AFB!
Not sure if you’re aware about the exemption of electric cars from FBT that was brought in by the new federal government in November. Basically if you novated lease a new electric (or plug-in hybrid for a limited period of time) you get to deduct the full novated lease amount from your pre-tax salary. Basically if you’re on a higher tax bracket, you get the car + running costs for a 39% or 47% discount – making it cost competitve with an ICE vehicle (which is still a big expense to be sure). Not sure if you can get a novated lease as an entrepreneur though – but might be worth looking into..
I found this tax break to be too good to resist (our previous car is 14 years old this year) so I took the plunge, but awareness of this option seems to be very limited. The big constraint now is very limited availability of models – but that should change over the next year or so!
P.S. I think it is a very poor way to incentivise the purchase of electric vehicles, because
1) you’re only incentivising the purchase of vehicles using a specific form of financing (why can’t I buy it outright and get the same discount – but then Australia is the land of ticket-clippers who must have a lot of lobby power)
2) You’re giving the biggest discount to people making the most money – not exactly equitable
Hi Szilveszter,
I was aware of that tac break but it’s still bloody expensive!
I’d love to see a bunch of EV hit the second-hand car market in 2-3 years’ time. They are coming down in price rapidly. It’s only a matter of time before they’re the same as their ICE equivalent.
Always been a fan of Ms Frugalwoods and her blog, thanks for taking the time to reach out to her and dig a little more into her story. Great pod, as always!
Thanks Chris 🙂