Financial Autonomy

If you're to achieve financial independence and gain the choice in life that is our goal here at Financial Autonomy, then it's very helpful if some or perhaps all of your living costs can be met without you needing to put a finger to a keyboard, smile at a customer, or drill a hole to install something or other. Passive Income sources are the key to arriving at this outcome. It's important to reco...

This week's guest went from high school science teacher to being self-employed providing digital marketing services. In the space of 12 months she has grown her business income to over $100,000, and now has 2 staff helping her out. In this episode Brittany shares what sparked her change of career, her use of side hustles through her journey to self-employment, how she built the skills she needed f...

This week's guest rose to become the medical director - head of department as an anaesthesiologist at a large trauma hospital, within 10 years of graduation. He was working really hard, and getting the success that hard work brings. But then: "I remember one night in the middle of a horrible, horrible case. It was a level one trauma. I'm covered in blood. And all of a sudden I realised that I don'...

Between 1870 and 1970 our lifesplans more than doubled globally. For the thousands of years of human history prior to this massive leap forward in longevity, most humans did well to make it into their 40's. We lived long enough to reproduce, protect our children until they could fend for themselves, and then we were gone.  Yet today in Australia we have a life expectancy of 82.5 years. In wealthy...

Early retirement via property investment is a key theme of this week's episode. Brad Dantonio, host of the Man Overseas podcast   and I, met in Washington earlier in the year and sat down to record this collaboration episode. Brad shares how he's been able to use property investment to retire early. He now lives in a different city around the world every 30 days. We also discuss shares, happiness,...

I'm hugely excited to share with you my interview with Nick Loper from the Side Hustle Show podcast. In our chat Nick shares: How a house painting gig over the summer holidays helped set him on a path to entrepreneurship. His first side hustle. How he transitioned from full-time employee to full-time self-employment and some the challenges he faced along the way, not least of which was a huge Goog...

February 12, 1999. That was the date something never before seen, happened. The Central Bank of Japan, battling persistent recession, cut official interest rates to zero. At the time other central bankers around the world criticised the move. Savers must be rewarded for savings. Borrowers must have to pay something to borrow. Without these basic financial assumptions, does the money world still ma...

You've probably stumbled across the FIRE acronym before – it stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. It came out of the US and has spawned countless books, podcasts, conferences, and even a movie. Reddit has huge discussion threads devoted to the idea, with the primary thrust seeming to be how young you can achieve early retirement. Now I'm well on board with the first part of FIRE – Finan...

What are the secrets to a fun and interesting working life? Nepal, teaching, and pursuing your passion. That's what we discuss this week with Jim Smith who shares how he's been able to achieve this much-desired outcome. These days Jim's focus is on building a tourism business that helps Australian's and especially students, experience life in Nepal, whilst also helping the local Nepalese people th...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   How many thousands of dollars do you have parked on the street or in the garage losing money every day?    It's a question I've been focused on for our household recently. My wife and I each have a car, plus there is a 12 seater minibus for my wife's tourism business that we could use for a personal trip...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   We speak Vanessa Wiltshire, a Gen-X/Y 'tree changer', living in Heathcote, Victoria.  Three years ago, she and her husband made the leap from suburban Melbourne to Heathcote in rural Victoria. In our chat Vanessa explains:   - How to know if a "tree change" is right for you. - Escaping a career that make...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Welcome back to another episode in our financial history series. We started with Tulip Mania and the madness of crowds. Then we reviewed the Great Depression and how the lessons learnt continue to have impacts today. One thread of the Great Depression story was the Gold Standard , which we explored in ep...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Peter Stanhope, co-founder of Gig Super shares some of the challenges faced by self-employed people in our financial system. If you are self-employed, or planning on making a move to self-employment – this one's for you.  

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Welcome back to the third episode in our financial history series. Last episode we looked at the Great Depression and why it still matters today. Before that we visited Amsterdam in the 1630's to learn about Tulip Mania. Today we're going to be exploring the Gold Standard, something that cropped up durin...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Today we're continuing to explore significant moments in financial history. In particular I'm aiming to arm you with a basic understanding of what the event was all about, and then importantly, why it's of relevance today.   Last week we looked at Tulip Mania in the Netherlands in the 1600's. Today we sk...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   You know how sometimes in the media or perhaps in a social setting, a self-declared expert will make reference to some historical event that they know full well most of us know little about, but they say it in such a way as to imply you'd be an imbecile if you weren't aware of this world altering event....

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   It's so easy to just float along. If it ain't broke don't fix it is not just a good approach to raising toddlers, it can be a whole of life game plan. But there will come a day when you're sick of going sideways. When rinse and repeat just won't cut it anymore. Whether it be career progress, building wea...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Not your usual Financial Autonomy podcast.  I was recently invited to co-host the Wheel of Sport podcast when they were working on the theme of Money in Sport. I had a ton of fun with this one – I hope you enjoy it too.    

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY     In this week's episode I speak with author Annie Raser-Rowland about her book The Art of Frugal Hedonism.    Annie shares her tips on living a life of maximum happiness and fulfilment, whilst side-stepping some of the limiting societal expectations that we all face.    Annie certainly embodies our them...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY The great Australian dream of owning a home once drove a fairly predictable housing pattern -  Aussies would rent for a little while, save for a deposit then dive into home ownership at the first opportunity. Housing status spoke volumes. Homeowners were successful while renters were either young or couldn...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY Online freelancing platforms can help you obtain freelancing work, or hire people to do tasks where you either lack the expertise or the time. In this interview, Sarah Tang from Freelancer.com shares the inside tips on how to get the most out of these hugely powerful tools.  

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY     With technology changing our world so rapidly, the chances of us entering the paid workforce in one role, and that role then seeing us through until retirement 40+ years latter would seem quite remote. And even if this were possible, is it what you would really want? In this post we're going to explore...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   EPISODE 100!!!! Thanks for joining us for another Financial Autonomy episode. We've got a bit of a change in the normal routine today, because today is Episode 100 and I don't want to pass through that milestone without doing something a little bit special. I've asked our Gaining Choice subscribers for t...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY   Throughout most of human history, the only time you retired was when you died. Retirement as we now experience it is a reasonably recent phenomenon. It's an invention of the 20th century and it's worthwhile questioning whether it will continue through the 21st century, at least in the format we currently...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY EMAIL "GAINING CHOICE" TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS FINANCIAL AUTONOMY     In this episode, we explore how the fantastic journey of Kim from being an employee to a self business starter The experiences and knowledge Kim shares in this episode: How he turned a small side business into his full-time gig. Planning and Preparedness is important in transitioning from employee to s...