Aussie Firebug

Today on the podcast, we’re joined by Andrew Page - founder and Managing Director of Strawman.com. With over 20 years’ experience as an analyst, commentator, and private investor, Andrew is a well-known voice in the Australian investing community. Before launching Strawman, he worked at The Motley Fool and Team Invest, and now focuses on helping everyday investors cut through the noise and build better portfolios.

In this episode, w...

Today on the podcast, we’re joined by Evan Lucas - behavioural economist, financial commentator, author of Mind Over Money, and former Head of Strategy at InvestSMART.

Some of the topics we dive into are:

• How the increase in dual income households is reshaping family dynamics. (00:16:03)
• How we can rewire our brains to spend less and live more freely. (00:34:06)
• The link between identity, emotion and financial behaviour. (00:47:19)
• ...

Today on the podcast, we’re joined by Pete Wargent—investor, author, market analyst, and one of Australia’s earliest FIRE pioneers. Originally from the UK, Pete reached financial independence by age 33 after building a portfolio of shares and property across both Australia and the UK.

Since then, he’s written multiple best-selling books, launched a property buying business, and become a trusted voice on investing, markets, and wealt...

Today on the podcast, we have Andy Darroch, an Independent Financial Adviser and Director of Independent Wealth Advice.

Andy is one of the very few truly independent advisers in Australia—less than 1% fall into that category. After time at Macquarie, Wilson HTM, and Deloitte, he started his own firm to offer advice free from commissions, kickbacks, and product pushing. He charges a flat fee, publishes his prices online, and believes...

Today on the podcast, we have Mark LaMonica, CFA, a Director at Morningstar and co-host of the Investing Compass podcast.

Mark brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, having spent time in both the US and Australia, which gives him a unique perspective on their financial systems and retirement landscapes.

In today’s episode, we dive into:

• The current state of financial planning in Australia (00:09:18)
• Mark’s thoughts on his rec...

It’s been a decade since I started down the FIRE path, and life looks very different these days - especially since becoming a dad. In this episode, I reflect on how early retirement gave me something more valuable than money: time.

But it also left me unexpectedly restless. I talk about mini-retirement, purpose, starting two businesses, and how becoming a parent reshaped my perspective on work, freedom, and what really matters.

Wheth...

Welcome back to the Aussie Firebug Podcast, the financial independence podcast for Australians, where I interview interesting people on topics relating to financial independence.

Today on the podcast we have Amy and her partner Matt from FI Freedom Retreats, a five-day financial independence retreat in Bali.

This was a passion project born out of Amy’s love and gratitude for the F.I.R.E movement and community.

Heads up, I recorded thi...

Today we're joined by Ana Kresina, Head of Product and Community at Pearler and the Co-host of the 'Get Rich Slow Club' and 'ETFs for Beginners,' podcasts.

She’s also just become a published author with the book “Kids Ain't Cheap”.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Ana’s FIRE journey (00:03:37)
• Hitchhiking through Europe (00:07:09)
• Why Ana wrote a money book around ...

Today's episode is something a bit different.

Terry, the host of the Wealth Time Freedom (WTF) podcast interviewed me a few months ago. The response was so positive from that episode that I decided to repost it on my show.

In this episode, Terry asks me about becoming a dad, my recent pivot with work and my new perspective on FIRE.

I found it to be a great conversation, and I hope you'll enjoy i...

Today, my guest is fellow FIRE enthusiast/podcaster/blogger, Captain FI!

He’s actually been on the podcast before but I had to take that episode down due to ASIC’s 2022 guidelines.

Cap came and stayed at the Firebug household after attending the Rask event in my hometown. It was a lot of fun meeting and greeting others from the FIRE community and it was extra special to do so in my own backyard.

This was ...

Today, my guest is none other than my accountant, Clayton!

Clayton and I have talked about doing this podcast for a while. I pay him thousands of dollars each year to help with tax planning, structuring our investments and businesses and other strategic decisions that ultimately help me reach FIRE sooner.

I thought it would be interesting to chat to him about what role an accountant can play when someone is trying to reach ...

Today my guest is Carl Jensen who is better known in the FIRE community as Mr. 1500.

He’s a family guy living in Colorado with his wife and two young children and managed to retire at the ripe old age of 43.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• The story behind the name "Mr. 1500" (00:02:06)
• Investment philosophy and strategies (00:07:25)
• Carl’s interest in Tesla and EVs in general (00:18:44)
• Balanc...

Today’s episode is very special to me personally.

I’m speaking with my dad about how he grew up and what money and life lessons he learnt along the way. He’s probably had the biggest impact on how I view the world (along with my mum) and set the foundations early on for me to be in the position I’m in today.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• What life was like growing up in Melbourne with immigrant pare...

I’m excited today to be having a conversation with Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley who co-host the very popular podcast called The Property Couch.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• How Ben and Bryce originally made a connection (00:02:00)
• Property investing guidelines and regulations (00:12:37)
• Their investing strategy/philosophy (00:23:25)
• The Australian housing and rental crisis (00:48:56)
• Active property investin...

My guest today is Dr Toni Lindsay. Toni is a clinical psychologist who works primarily with people who are at the end of their life or have a severe illness (usually young people!).

In her own words: “My work has shaped how I think about all this FIRE stuff!”.

Toni is also the author of multiple books but the one which probably has the most application with FIRE would be “The Certainty Myth: How to be resilient when the world keeps c...

Following on from the previous episode, this is part 2 of the debate.

There’s been a few potential Super changes put forth by the Albanese government lately and I wanted to get two different viewpoints on the podcast to debate the pros and cons of the changes. I also wanted to talk about Super as a high-level concept. What exactly is Super? What’s the purpose of Super? Is Super fulfilling its job? etc. We have two returnin...

I’m so excited for this one today. There’s been a few potential Super changes put forth by the Albanese government lately and I wanted to get two different viewpoints on the podcast to debate the pros and cons of the changes. I also wanted to talk about Super as a high-level concept. What exactly is Super? What’s the purpose of Super? Is Super fulfilling its job? etc. We have two returning guests joining in today’s discussion. CIO ...

Today my guest is Queenie Tan. She’s a 26-year-old Sydneysider who has amassed over 350K followers on various social media platforms. Raised by a single dad in Sydney, Queenie was earning $400 a week after she moved out of home at just 19. A few years later she was able to save a $100,000 property deposit and now at age 26, has a net worth of half a million dollars.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• Queenie&apos...