October was mainly a forgetful month for many reasons this year 👎 with a few highlights sprinkled in.
Firstly, as you may have remembered from last months update, we went for a little holiday to Greece/Italy for 2 weeks in September. Now, you’d think that when someone is on holidays, work would either be covered by the rest of the team or the project would be put on hold, right?… LOL, not in London and especially not in the financial services industry.
I got back to 100+ Slack messages and Sprints/Epics coming out the wazoo. So the first two weeks of October were loooooooooong as I was chasing my tail a bit. The contractor lifestyle works really well when you start and stop contracts, but jetting off in the middle of one is a recipe for stress let me tell you that! Don’t get me wrong, the company gave me the time off and all that, it’s just that you basically have to deliver the same stuff just minus the time you took off lol. I did wonder if it was technically a holiday or I just used up all my free time in advance and then had to pull a few 14 hour days 😅
I had wrapped up my other contract last year when we did our big Euro summer trip which is the way to do it for any aspiring contractors reading this. When you have a gig, the day rates are so high because they expect you to deliver a lot of output. The beauty of this is that you can earn a tonne over a few months and then take a big break and explore/travel before jumping into the next contract. This lifestyle works perfectly for a young couple looking to see Europe but I couldn’t imagine doing it forever or even with a young family. It’s pretty demanding.
To make matter worse during this stressful time, Mrs FB ditched me to go on an all-girls trip to Cyprus for two weeks 😭
Haha, I actually encouraged her to go but basically, one of our flatmates recently quit her job and booked a little YOLO trip to grab some last-minute summer sun. She said she was going and our other flatmate said she might be able to get work off and before you know it, the entire flat except for me booked a spontaneous trip to sunny Cyprus within the week.
I probably could have gone if I really pushed it but I like to get back into a routine after time off plus I have a bonus tied to this contract which would have potentially been in jeopardy if I missed any more work.
I have to admit though, when you’re slugging away at 7 PM finishing something for work and you get photos like these from Cyprus, you do die a little inside.
Limassol, Cyprus
And to make matters even worse, the UK announced lockdown 2.0 for the month of November 🤪. So no more travelling until December and even that’s not guaranteed at all. We had originally planned to end this trip by going to Norway, Sweden and then a snow trip in Austria. But things have changed a lot and Sweden is the only country that doesn’t have a quarantine rule atm for people arriving from the UK. So if we can get to Sweden in December that’s a big win but there’s a chance that we won’t be able to visit any other countries and will just fly home at the start of January 👎.
But enough doom and gloom.
There were some great moments in October, with one of them being the magical colour all the leaves turn when Autumn hits the city 😍
Battersea Park
I may be biased… but I think London has the best parks of any major city in the world!
And the thing I do appreciate about living somewhere with seasons is how different the city feels every 3 months. Most people like the long warm nights of summer and the magical Christmas spirit of sipping on some mulled wine during winter, but the colours during Autumn can be just as mesmerising!
We did Richmond park last year around the same time and it is really a sight to behold when all the leaves are turning yellow/red and falling. Love it!
I also caught up with another AFB reader Ryan in October to kick around an Aussie rules Sherrin which is something I haven’t done in over two years 🏉
A bit of Aussie rules with Ryan
And lastly, the Aussie FIRE discussion Facebook group recently had it’s 1 year birthday. Unbelievably we’re closing in on nearly 8K members which is just insane. 
And as strange as it is to be talking about the Facebook group, I have actually decided to delete my personal Facebook after watching The Social Dilemma documentary. So if you are friends with me on Facebook, please don’t think I’m ignoring your messages 😅. Mrs. FB’s Facebook account has taken over the admin rights for the page and group.
Net Worth Update
A little bit of movement from the sharemarket/Super but the bulk of the gains once again came from the paycheck. Mrs. FB worked a few days here and there but was mainly living it up in the Mediterranean 🙄😜. One thing that did help a lot this month was the fact that we paid two months worth of rent in September due to some bills coming in for the flat. So the lack of monthly rent definitely inflated the savings for October.
So close to the $800K mark too. It’s funny to think about where I wanted to finish 2020 in terms of the net worth (closer to $900K lol) but who could have known about Covid 🤷♂️
Properties
No changes in the properties this month.
Property 1 was sold in August 2018
*DISCLAIMER*
The current value of our properties is a rough guesstimation based on similar surrounding properties. I only really update these when we get an official bank valuation
ETFs/LICs
The above graph is created by Sharesight
We didn’t actually manage to buy any shares in October because I forgot to send money back home to invest. We use Transferwise* to send GBP back home to AUD so we can continue to invest whilst being overseas. I know there are few of you guys out there that want to invest whilst travelling and living overseas and don’t worry, I have a big article coming that’s going to break down how we do this and what to consider plus a whole bunch of other stuff about living overseas.
* This link is an affiliate link and I may earn some commission from it. Please see my affiliate page for more info.
Really looking forward to reading the article on investing whilst travelling/living overseas. We just moved to France from Aus and are currently going through the process of getting all our finances in order.
Hope the lockdown doesn’t get you down. I haven’t had facebook for a few years now, the only down side is all the FI community groups seem to be on it. Now that your off it how do you plan to connect with the the Aussie FI community?
Maybe AFG could create a new Facebook profile purely for the forum?
Good idea
Lockdown is starting to get to me but what can you do? It’s just a shitty situation for everyone really 👎
My Mrs is still on it. I will jump on her account once a week to see what’s going on.
Another great update AFB. I definitely feel you when your talking about those 14 hour days, I’m no stranger to the work grind either. Interesting about the work/life balance as a contractor – sounds lucrative and a way to FIRE quicker, but not without its draw backs. Good to see another healthy monthly update – and Cyprus beaches certainly are wonderful, you’ll see them one day 😉
Cheers Cap.
I can’t WAIT to have a break over Christmas and new years 🙏
The blog and podcast (especially the podcast) are going to make a grand comeback in 2021 when I finally get set up and settled next year. Lot’s of stuff floating around in my head
Haha I hear you about the holiday thing! As a full time worker in finance though you just get calls and emails on your holiday that you have to deal with rather than it all being saved up for when you get back to work. I’ve spent a bunch of holidays dialled into conference calls or staring into a blackberry instead of relaxing or sightseeing. Oh well, that’s part of the deal.
Nice to see the net worth tracking up again! So close to $800k!
It’s been an experience to say the least. I’m almost thankful that I get to experience this type of pace at least once in my life. I’ve always heard about Londer bankers/the finance scene, in general, being hectic… All I can say is that thankfully I have been compensated pretty handsomely whilst I have been working which is unfortunately not every burnt-out finance worker can say.
$800K coming up 😀!
Shattered to hear how you guys are entering a lockdown 2.0 whilst AUS is getting out of lockdown.
A nice month in the green, whilst it’s a shame you’re (probably) not going to get to the $900k mark, still a huge effort – keen to read your year in review!
Ahh we’ll live mate. It sucks but it is what it is. Appreciate the thought though 👍
$900K will 100% not be making an appearance this year lol. Maybe next if we’re lucky 😉
Agree with you on the joys of 4 seasons. Living in QLD at the moment and miss proper seasons. The two seasons are hot and then slightly less hot – not ideal.
Interested to read your post on investing from and living overseas as at FI I intend to spend a significant portion overseas and wonder about the best way to maintain Aus residency to avoid paying foreign tax rates on Aus assets (ETF’s, etc). My assumption is owning a primary residence here and returning for a period of time each year is the easiest way to maintain the tax residency, but have been meaning to research it a bit more. Still 5-10 years off FI so plenty of time to optimise as required.
I love Queensland weather and always thought that endless sunshine would be the best… but now I’m not so sure. London’s winters are too long and the days too short. I’m starting to really appreciate Victoria’s weather now. I think NSW and Sydney have is bang on perfect though for nice hot summers but cold enough winters that you get seasons. And through in some snowy mountains and it’s a bloody great place to call home.
Great points. There’s a lot to cover in that post so keep an eye out 👀
Re: I have actually decided to delete my personal Facebook after watching The Social Dilemma documentary – do you have more details on the doco you are referring to & why did you close your personal Facebook account?
It’s on NetFlix and highly recommended. It opens your eyes as to why there are people like the flat-earth theorists or we-never-went-to-the-moon believers or anti-vaxers (sorry to offend) or Covid-19 is a hoax or scientologists or so many other people with beliefs that are not supported by fact or science.
FB, and so many other social media platforms curate what you see based on what they think you are interested in. But it’s so much more detailed than that but you will see from the documentary. If you question whether Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, then you will get information, both factual and fake, directed to you. The more you read the fake information, the more fake information is sent your way to reinforce your belief system.
what do u want to know mate?
https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0
As others have mentioned, it’s on Netflix. And I just wasn’t getting any value out of Facebook except for the Aussie Fire group. I don’t believe that social media platforms are bringing value to the world anymore. At one stage they did… but now… I think they are causing more harm than good, unfortunately.
Great read mate! Pitty COVID has hit hard in the UK. Out of interest where do you want to go in Norway? It’s a bucket list item for me!
Love the page, podcasts and everything else. Gives me inspiration
Cheers Sam, thanks for the kind words 🙂
I want to go to Oslo, Tromsø and Trolltunga mainly… but the whole country just looks epic! Wouldn’t mind seeing the northern lights too if I could.
Thanks for the update mate, very interesting read as always.
That doesn’t look like a proper Sherrin though, more like one of the synthetic ones I played with in under 10s haha…you will need to get the real deal (leather) to get the proper experience I think!
I was wondering, do you have any thoughts on the big picture of the state of financial markets and the economy right now? You are pretty exposed to the sharemarket and real estate, are you just going to keep ploughing money in over the next few years regardless of the ups and downs and look at the long term (10+ years)?
I was talking about this with my housemate this morning, it seems like the central banks have really painted themselves into a corner and have left themselves with nowhere to go. Interest rates are at 0%, they are printing money like it’s going out of fashion and they (RBA) have given forward guidance that interest rates will remain at 0% for the next 3 years at least.
It just seems like a giant game of pass the parcel, as long as the share market doesn’t tank while the current government/central bank is in power then their legacy won’t be tarnished. To me it appears that risk is just getting passed forward into the future for the next central bank governor/government to worry about.
It seems that this will increase the size and magnitude of the next financial downturn; if bad businesses aren’t allowed to fail then it is not good for the economy – Schumpeter’s gale is not being permitted to blow right now and the forces of creative destruction are laying dormant.
It has been a theme of the last few years in financial markets that good news is good news and bad news is good news too. By that I mean any positive financial data coming out has seen shares increase, and any bad news (20% unemployment) has been treated as good news by the market because it means the central banks will print more money in response.
Anyway I was wondering if you have considered this and have taken the attitude to ‘keep dancing while the music is playing’?
Cheers
Dave
By the way, I totally agree with you on social media. I deleted Facebook a few years ago and Twitter just recently.
They are not providing a net benefit to society in my opinion, just fomenting rage and division. I think Twitter has become a giant toilet wall where people scrawl abuse at each other.
If anyone is interested there is a great podcast by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin called ‘Your Undivided Attention’ that covers this stuff in detail.
Nice. I’m still on Twitter actually but I don’t spend too much time on there atm.
Hey Dave,
I’m glad you enjoyed this update and yes, it wasn’t the full-fledge leather experience but it did the trick!
I’m no economist mate but I’ve read enough books to form the opinion that in the long run (10+ years), the trajectory of the market (real estate and shares) will always be up! And any short term fluctuations actually help me during the accumulation phase.
Having said all that… I have been reading an interesting book called The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton. It basically tries to explain that any country with its own central bank can never run out of money to pay off their debts because they control how much is printed. And the real danger is actually keeping inflation under control.
I’m purely guessing here, but my take on all this insane amount of debt is that maybe, just maybe, the governments around the world are actually looking to inflate the debt away rather than trying to pay it back. This will mean that anyone holding cash is going to get screwed. All these asset prices around the globe may be artificially inflating due to all the money being pumped into the system. This might mean that the real value of the asset hasn’t gone up substantially, but the value of money is going down due to excessive printing.
Again, don’t take my word for it (I’m an amateur at best) but it’s a counterpoint that I thought might be interesting to discuss.
So close to $800k!! Hoping the lockdown ends in time for you to fit in some more travelling.
PS – great to see you fitting in some Aussie rules too.
Yeah buddy!
We’re checking the updates every day in hopes that we can still do Sweden in December. 🙏 for us haha
Hi Aussie Firebug,
I remember that you said you switched to a new broker. Have you shared the new broker somewhere?
Recently, I learned from SelfWealth Support that they will close people’s account if they are not no longer an Australian resident for tax purpose or also a tax resident of another country.
I’m just asking because I thought you might be in those situation so am curious about which Australian broker supports those situations.
Please bear with me if I missed it or you don’t plan to share it. 😄
Thanks,
Hey Domon,
Our circumstances are a bit unique because we invest through trust that has a corporate trustee. My mum is currently controlling all of our wealth atm. I will become the director for the company when I get back home and resume control.
I’m writing up an article that will cover all this in detail mate