[{"content":"","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"FI Fiend","summary":"","title":"FI Fiend","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/net-worth/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Net Worth","type":"tags"},{"content":"You need to know where you\u0026rsquo;re starting from. Not the polished version. The real one.\nThis is the baseline. From here I\u0026rsquo;ll track net worth regularly so we can see compounding doing its thing, or occasionally watch the market remind us who\u0026rsquo;s boss.\nThe Numbers # Assets # Asset Value Family home (estimated) $1,000,000 ETF portfolio $90,000 Super (me) $110,000 Super (partner) $120,000 Cash (offset account) $220,000 Total assets $1,540,000 Liabilities # Liability Balance Home loan $550,000 Total liabilities $550,000 Net Worth # Total assets $1,540,000 Total liabilities $550,000 Net worth $990,000 Some Context # The home is owner-occupied, estimated at $1,000,000 based on recent comparable sales in South East Queensland. It\u0026rsquo;s part of the honest picture but doesn\u0026rsquo;t count toward the FI number. You can\u0026rsquo;t sell your house and live in it at the same time.\nThe ETF portfolio is held via CMC Markets in VGS and A200. $90,000 is a modest start. The compounding gets more interesting as the number grows.\nSuper is real wealth but locked away until preservation age (60 for most people our age). It\u0026rsquo;s on the sheet for completeness but doesn\u0026rsquo;t factor into the FI number.\nCash is sitting in the offset account, reducing the interest on the mortgage. Not exciting, but useful.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s Not Here # No cars. They depreciate. No furniture, no jewellery, no other assets. If I can\u0026rsquo;t easily value it and it\u0026rsquo;s not part of the investment plan, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t go on the sheet.\nNext update: May 2026\n","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/net-worth-starting-point/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Net Worth: Our Starting Point","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/numbers/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Numbers","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"23 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"Before you can chase a number, you need to know what it is.\n\u0026ldquo;Enough to retire\u0026rdquo; is not a number. Neither is \u0026ldquo;a lot\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;comfortable.\u0026rdquo; The whole point of FI is turning a vague feeling into a concrete target and then building a plan to hit it.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s how I worked out ours.\nStart With Spending # The 4% rule is the bedrock of most FI calculations. It says a portfolio of 25x your annual expenses should sustain indefinite withdrawals at a 4% rate. It\u0026rsquo;s based on the Trinity Study and decades of market data. Not perfect, but a solid starting point.\nThe first question isn\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ldquo;how much do I need?\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;how much do I spend?\u0026rdquo;\nBy the time we hit FI, the plan is to have the mortgage paid off. So the number that matters is what we spend on everything except the mortgage. That averages around $4,000/month, or $48,000/year.\nThe Calculation # Annual spend x 25 = FI number\n$48,000 x 25 = $1,200,000\nAn ETF portfolio of $1,200,000 drawing down at 4% per year should cover living expenses with the mortgage already gone and the house owned outright.\nWhat Counts, and What Doesn\u0026rsquo;t # The FI number is ETF portfolio only. Here\u0026rsquo;s what we\u0026rsquo;re leaving out and why.\nThe house. It\u0026rsquo;s our home. We live in it. You can\u0026rsquo;t sell your house and live in it at the same time, so it doesn\u0026rsquo;t go in the number even though it sits on the net worth sheet.\nSuper. It\u0026rsquo;s real money, but it\u0026rsquo;s locked away until we\u0026rsquo;re 60. The FI plan doesn\u0026rsquo;t depend on accessing it early. Super becomes a bonus that makes the back half of life more comfortable, but we\u0026rsquo;re not building the whole plan around accessing it.\nSo the target is straightforward: pay off the mortgage and build the ETF portfolio to $1,200,000.\nWhat FI Actually Means for Us # This isn\u0026rsquo;t about retiring at 35 and never working again. It\u0026rsquo;s about having enough that work becomes optional. Walking away from a job that isn\u0026rsquo;t working. Taking time off when a kid is sick without running the numbers first. Doing things because they\u0026rsquo;re worth doing, not because the mortgage says so.\nA paid-off home in South East Queensland, $1,200,000 in ETFs, and two kids who\u0026rsquo;ve hopefully stopped being quite so expensive. That\u0026rsquo;s the picture.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll update the number as things change. Kids grow up, the mortgage shrinks, expenses shift. It\u0026rsquo;s a target, not a contract.\n","date":"22 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/our-fi-number/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Our FI Number","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"22 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/strategy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Strategy","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"17 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/personal/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Personal","type":"tags"},{"content":"There\u0026rsquo;s a specific kind of Sunday dread that corporate workers know well. It hits around 4pm. The weekend isn\u0026rsquo;t over yet, but your brain has already started the slow slide back into Monday.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve been feeling that for a few years now. Long enough that it stopped feeling like a rough patch and started feeling like just\u0026hellip; life. That\u0026rsquo;s when I knew something had to change.\nI\u0026rsquo;m Billbo, 32, married, dad to a one year old with another on the way, and currently paying off a mortgage on a house we bought right before everything got even more expensive. By most measures, I\u0026rsquo;m doing fine. Good job, decent income, family I love. But I\u0026rsquo;ve spent the last few years in a corporate environment where the weekly highlight is \u0026ldquo;thank god it\u0026rsquo;s Friyay\u0026rdquo; and the career ladder feels more like a treadmill.\nFinancial independence isn\u0026rsquo;t a new concept to me. I\u0026rsquo;d been vaguely aware of it for a while, in the way you\u0026rsquo;re vaguely aware that you should probably floss more. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I actually sat down and ran the numbers that it clicked. This was achievable. Not in five years, not by living on rice and beans, but with a real plan and some discipline, it was genuinely within reach.\nSo why the blog?\nAccountability. Putting the numbers online keeps me honest. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to drift when no one\u0026rsquo;s watching.\nThe record. I want to look back at this in ten years and see exactly how it went. The decisions, the setbacks, the compounding quietly doing its thing in the background.\nThe community. The Australian FI community is small but good. The Aussie Firebug, passive investing forums, the subreddits. There are real people doing this, and reading their journeys helped me believe mine was possible. Maybe this does the same for someone else.\nWriting forces clarity. If I can\u0026rsquo;t explain a financial decision in plain English, I probably don\u0026rsquo;t understand it well enough yet.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t a blog about retiring at 35 or extreme frugality. It\u0026rsquo;s about a pretty normal Australian family, mortgage, kids, a career that pays well but costs more than just money, trying to build enough freedom to make different choices. No fluff. Just the numbers and the reasoning behind them.\nIf that sounds like your situation, stick around.\n","date":"17 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/why-i-started-this-blog/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Why I Started This Blog","type":"posts"},{"content":"Hi, I\u0026rsquo;m Billbo — a 32 year old on a mission to escape corporate drudgery by achieving financial independence.\nThis blog is where I document the journey: the wins, the setbacks, the strategies, and everything in between. Come along for the ride and let\u0026rsquo;s see where we end up.\nFollow along on Instagram at @realFIFiend.\n","date":"16 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/about/","section":"FI Fiend","summary":"","title":"About Me","type":"page"},{"content":"Everything here is stuff I actually use or have read. No affiliate links, no sponsored recommendations — just the things that have been genuinely useful.\nTools # MoneySmart Compound Interest Calculator — ASIC\u0026rsquo;s calculator. Boring, reliable, and a great reality check on what consistent investing actually does over time.\nMoneySmart Budget Planner — Good starting point if you\u0026rsquo;ve never tracked spending properly. Forces you to think in annual terms, not just monthly.\nPassive Investing Australia ETF Comparison Tool — Excellent resource for comparing Australian ETFs, including MERs, distributions, and tax treatment.\nA spreadsheet — Seriously. For net worth tracking, a simple spreadsheet beats any app. Full visibility, no subscription, no lock-in. [I\u0026rsquo;ll share mine here once it\u0026rsquo;s cleaned up.]\nBooks # The Barefoot Investor — Scott Pape — The Australian personal finance entry point for a reason. Not deeply FI-focused, but the bucket system and debt elimination approach is solid groundwork.\nThe Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel — Less about tactics, more about how people actually think about and relate to money. One of the most useful books I\u0026rsquo;ve read on the topic.\nYour Money or Your Life — Vicki Robin — The original FI text. A bit dated but the core concept — converting money into life energy — reframes how you think about spending entirely.\nDie With Zero — Bill Perkins — A useful counter-argument to extreme frugality. The point isn\u0026rsquo;t to die rich, it\u0026rsquo;s to live well. Good balance to the more austere FI philosophy.\nQuit Like a Millionaire — Kristy Shen \u0026amp; Bryce Leung — Canadian couple who hit FI in their early 30s. Practical and specific, with good coverage of the maths.\nPodcasts # Aussie Firebug — The Australian FIRE podcast. Interviews with people who\u0026rsquo;ve done it in an Australian context, which matters — tax, super, and franking credits are different here.\nEquity Mates — Broad investing content, good for keeping across what\u0026rsquo;s happening in Australian markets.\nShe\u0026rsquo;s on the Money — Good entry-level personal finance content, particularly strong on budgeting and mindset.\nPlatforms # Brokerage — I use [BROKERAGE] for ETF purchases. Low brokerage fees matter more than they seem when you\u0026rsquo;re investing regularly. Worth comparing SelfWealth, CMC Markets, and Stake.\nSuper — We\u0026rsquo;re with [SUPER_FUND]. Key things I looked for: low fees, a high-growth or indexed investment option, and a fund that\u0026rsquo;s not ripping members off with insurance premiums.\nUseful Australian Links # ATO — Shares and investments — Capital gains, dividends, and what you actually owe. MoneySmart — ASIC\u0026rsquo;s financial guidance site. Trustworthy, unbiased. Passive Investing Australia — The best Australian resource for index investing specifically. Bogleheads Wiki — US-focused but the investing philosophy translates. Ignore the tax sections. Last updated: March 2026\n","date":"16 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/resources/","section":"FI Fiend","summary":"","title":"Resources","type":"page"},{"content":"Welcome to FI Fiend. If you\u0026rsquo;re new here, this is the place to start.\nI\u0026rsquo;m Billbo, 32, mortgaged to the hilt, father to a one year old with another on the way, and still dragging myself into a corporate job where people unironically say \u0026ldquo;thank god it\u0026rsquo;s Friyay.\u0026rdquo;\nFI isn\u0026rsquo;t about sitting on a beach doing nothing. It\u0026rsquo;s about having the freedom to spend time on what actually matters: family, friends, and the stuff that makes life worth living. Less grinding for the weekend, more actually being present for it.\nAm I starting late? A bit. Am I making up for lost time? Fiendishly.\nThis blog documents the journey. The numbers, the strategies, the wins, the setbacks. No fluff, no get-rich-quick rubbish. Just honest tracking of what it takes to get to financial independence from a pretty normal starting point.\nIf that sounds like your situation too, stick around.\n","date":"16 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/start-here/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Start Here","type":"posts"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"}]