How To Achieve Financial Independence

Achieving financial independence is a goal that many people strive for. It means being able to support yourself financially without having to rely on a job or other sources of income. While it may seem like a daunting task, there are steps you can take to achieve financial independence.

First, make a plan. Start by assessing your current financial situation. How much debt do you have? What are your monthly expenses? What are your income sources? This will help you understand where you are and where you want to be.

Next, set financial goals. What does financial independence mean to you? Do you want to retire early? Do you want to be able to travel the world? Whatever your goals, make sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Third, create a budget. A budget is a plan that outlines how you will spend and save your money. It will help you track your expenses and ensure that you are spending and saving wisely.

Fourth, increase your income. One of the best ways to achieve financial independence is to increase your income. This could mean taking on a higher paying job, starting a side hustle, or investing in assets that generate passive income.

Finally, be disciplined and consistent. Achieving financial independence takes time and effort. It’s important to stay committed to your plan and make smart financial decisions every day.

Achieving financial independence is possible. By making a plan, setting goals, creating a budget, increasing your income, and being disciplined, you can take control of your finances and achieve the financial independence you desire.

Watch this video for more information on side hustles: https://youtu.be/38tGlsUKmEs

How To Get Out Of Debt Fast!

If you’re struggling with debt, it can feel overwhelming and daunting to think about how to get out of it. But there are steps you can take to get out of debt quickly and effectively.

First, make a plan. Sit down and assess your situation. How much debt do you have? What are your monthly expenses? What are your income sources? This will help you understand your financial situation and determine a plan of action.

Next, prioritize your debts. Start by paying off your high-interest debts first, as these will cost you the most in the long run. This might mean making minimum payments on your other debts while putting as much as you can toward the high-interest ones.

Third, cut back on your expenses. Look for areas where you can save money, such as reducing your grocery bill, cutting out unnecessary expenses, or finding ways to reduce your monthly bills. Every little bit helps, and the money you save can be put toward paying off your debt.

Fourth, increase your income. Consider taking on a part-time job, selling items you no longer need, or finding other ways to bring in additional income. This can help you pay off your debts faster.

Finally, stay motivated and on track. It can be easy to lose steam when you’re trying to get out of debt, but it’s important to stay focused and committed to your plan. Consider enlisting the help of a financial advisor or debt counselor who can help you stay on track and provide support and guidance.

Getting out of debt isn’t easy, but it’s possible. By making a plan, prioritizing your debts, cutting back on expenses, increasing your income, and staying motivated, you can get out of debt fast and take control of your finances.

Watch this video for some practical tips which will help: https://youtu.be/zwSlGp6G6vg

Fixing Your Tin Roof: A DIY Guide to Keeping Your Home Watertight

If you have a tin roof that is in need of repair, there are a few steps you can take to fix it yourself. Before you start, make sure you have all the necessary tools and materials on hand, including a ladder, a hammer and nails, a tin snip, a soldering iron, and some roofing cement. You may also need to purchase some replacement tin panels if the damage is extensive.

To start, use the ladder to carefully climb up to the roof and assess the damage. If there are any loose or missing panels, use the hammer and nails to secure them back in place. If the damage is more extensive, use the tin snip to cut out the damaged panel and measure a new piece of tin to fit in its place. Use the soldering iron to seal the edges of the new panel to the old roof, and then apply a layer of roofing cement to ensure a watertight seal.

Once you have repaired any damaged areas, take the time to inspect the rest of the roof for potential problems. Look for any areas where the tin panels may be coming loose, or where there are gaps or holes that could allow water to leak through. If you find any issues, repair them in the same way you did for the initial damage.

It’s important to remember that a tin roof can be a bit delicate, so be careful not to damage the panels while you are working on it. Also, make sure you wear protective gear, including gloves, a hard hat, and safety glasses, to avoid any injuries.

Overall, fixing a tin roof can be a fairly straightforward DIY project, but it does require some care and attention to detail. By following these steps, you can help ensure that your tin roof remains in good condition and continues to protect your home from the elements.

Improving Market

We invest $1000 every 2 weeks into Denise’s stock market portfolio via Sharesies which is based in New Zealand. We can invest into NZ, Australian or US stocks, index funds or ETF’s but we choose to use this strictly for New Zealand shares.

We started doing this 31 fortnights ago (just over a year) so in theory it should have had a balance of at least $31k however due to market conditions this dropped substantially and we down $4k !

Thankfully all is not lost, and the market is rebounding and after a bit of time the portfolio is sitting at approximately $29800 – so a total loss of only $1.2K !

Given the way this year has gone it “should” be back to break even by the end of the year and we’ll be back to square one however the bonus will then be that the portfolio can actually earn real dividend income on the total balance. We will continue to invest into this portfolio at a rate of $1000 per fortnight ($500 per week) until it reaches $100k total balance.

Check out our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/ProjectFrugal) for the “Road To 100k” series to see how it continues to perform (or not perform as the case may be!) …

Patience is required. Investing is a marathon and not a sprint! 🙂

Stolen Car

So Denise was up in Whangarei and had been staying for a week and a half and was about to load up the car on last Wednesday morning to come back home and disaster! The car was not there and had simply vanished!

Not ideal in any circumstance. There were no rental cars available from Whangarei and flights were expensive and not convenient so a phone call to the police was still the first option.

The good news was the Police called within a couple of hours and had located the car which was stuck in mud next to a lake in a small town called Hikurangi which was 17 kms north of Whangarei. It appears the thieves had broken one of the small back windows, got into the car, smashed the ignition and nicked off with it.

The good news is there wasn’t too much damage and the car was still in a drive-able condition albeit with the assistance of a common kitchen knife to turn the car off and on. Other damage was mud left inside the vehicle, a dent and various scratches on the boot and obviously damage to the key ignition system.

We only had 3rd party insurance on the car, so it might cost $200-$300 for repairs to get it back up to scratch. Still an inconvenience either way …

Clearly the criminals involved had no sense of style as this was not the sort of car anyone would want to be seen in! Thank goodness for mud eh?

New Zealand is supposed to be the 2nd safest country in the world – this doesn’t say much for the rest of the countries on the planet 🙁

Preparing …

So as the market continues to move in a downwards direction I felt it was high time to get in a few extra supplies “just in case”. This is what I purchased from our usual shopping haunts (Prices are in NZD):

Countdown

5 * Essentials Straight Cut Frozen Chips (1kg) @ $2 each

9 * 1.5L Sugar Free (Ninety Nine Brand) Lemonade @ $1 each

8 * 5 Packs Choice Beef Or Oriental Noodles @ $2 each (Used to be $1.60 not so long back)

36 * Tinned Countdown/Woolworths Brand Baked Beans @ 0.90c each (Used to be 0.80c not so long back)

Pack N Save

24 * Tinned chopped tomatoes (Value brand) @ 0.69c each

3 * Penne Pasta (500g) @ 0.99c each (We also have another 20 or packets in rotating storage)

Summary: These are things we normally buy and are at a great price. Apart from the frozen chips, the rest of the food will last 2+ years. I also purchased some other bargains and filled up the petrol tank as well. If everything shut down tomorrow this would feed a family of four for about a month. Admittedly it’s not the greatest food in the world, but we normally combine these ingredients with other items to produce tasty meals that have a reasonable nutritional content and is not hard on the wallet.

Meatless no-frills tomato pasta or baked beans with noodles anyone? 🙂

The Joys Of Spam

As this blog is fairly new, new content is required in order to keep it going so it was time to write a new article. At the point of logging in I wasn’t sure what to write about and then it was staring me right in the face … 261 items of spam attempted as comments onto the site … Grrrr!

Although the internet is a fantastic tool, junk mail is not and dodgy marketers have literally a free reign at attempting to market anything and everything simply by the press of a button to unsuspecting sites. Gone are the good old days of junk mail filling up your letterbox …

Fortunately I can’t read Russian or Chinese – I’m not in the need of a “sexy” time, the latest 100x your money through Crypto scheme or assistance with expressing myself through the English language – so at this stage I’ll pass on all the wonderful offers available.

Thanks to the way the open source community have evolved and improved wordpress – 100% of these comments were stopped from going through automatically and were easily removed with the simple press of a button … Poof! Gone!

The goal of this site is to assist people with saving money, getting more for less and learning how to improve peoples lives through better money management. We will achieve that goal no matter how small the impact we make!

Goodbye spam. We briefly enjoyed your comments but our relationship has come to a quick end 😉

And The Market Gets Worse …

So after another poor week in investing it feels like a downward spiral. Every day seems to lose hundreds of dollars from our portfolio but rest assured – if it’s impacting us, then it’s probably impacting you as well. Cold comfort, but there are opportunities to invest more money now. Eventually the market will recover but nobody knows when that may occur – and when it does I’ll know I’ve done everything I can to bolster our investments. The rich have an advantage during downturns – they hold their money and when the time is right they swoop in, buying low.

Once the market recovers, they’re the ones who make the biggest profits. Unfortunately unless you’ve got the capital and you’re a retail investor like us, then you’re totally at the mercy of the markets.

Hold your nerve, keep investing, because one of these days the sun is going to shine again! 🙂

Buying In Bulk

Any time we go to the supermarket we always try and buy any specials if we see them. Like most budget conscience shoppers we have a list of things we want to purchase but on some occasions extra special bargains appear on the scene. These MUST be taken advantage of!

If for example we went to the supermarket to buy bread and milk, then we would take advantage of the lower petrol price (with a 6 cent discount per litre) and fill up the car while we’re there. The supermarket we normally shop at is Lower Hutt Pak ‘n’ Save and the petrol is 99.9% of the time cheaper than what we could get from BP, Z, Caltex or any of the other New Zealand petrol retailers.

Depending on what we might need, on occasions we will shop at the local Countdown supermarket and they have some items there which are better than Pak ‘n’ Save however in terms of what we buy this only amounts to 5 or so items.

These items are:

Champagne Ham – $2.20 per 100 grams

Baked Beans (Woolworths brand) – 80c per tin

Essentials Oven Chips (Straight or Crinkle Cut) – $2.00 per 1kg bag

Soft Drink – 99 Brand – $1.00 per 1.25 litre bottle (Sugar free)

Choice Brand 2 minute noodles – $1.80 per 5 pack

99% of the other product range at Countdown is more expensive than Pak ‘n’ Save but these items are things we would normally buy and are cheaper at Countdown for similar quality products.

The other day we went to Pak ‘n’ Save and picked up some instant coffee which was “Pams Smooth Roast”. Not only is this one of the cheapest avaialble, it’s also our favourite and it was on special.l So what did we do? We purchased 13 packets. We love coffee, it’s going to get consumed in our household and at $1.88 per 100 gram packet it was an absolute bargain. In hindsight I should have brought another 20 packets:

And on the way home we stopped at the local countdown. We tested one particular brand of baked beans and found they were the equal to our normal “Oak” brand except instead of paying $1.50 a can, we ended up paying the regular price of 80 cents a can. Before inflation bit in the last 3 or 4 months the original Oak brand could be found for around 99 cents to $1.20 but at $1.50 a can we decided to look elsewhere. Not only are these good for long term storage, these will be useful for additional stock piling. It’s a matter of time living in the Wellington region before we have another earthquake or man made economic disaster. Better to be prepared that not! SO, 36 cans later:

We’ll make sure we rotate these before they expire and ensure we mark the expiry dates so we don’t end up wasting any of them. By buying items that we normally consume in bulk at discounted prices we not only save on additional shopping trips, time and petrol, but we end up saving a whole lot of extra money in the process as well.

Next time you go shopping, compare prices at your food suppliers and if it’s on special or just a great deal then make sure you take advantage of it!

Market Downturn?

We started investing seriously in April 2018 and literally started off with $20. As our finances slowly improved I was able to invest more and more as our debt decreased and while interest rates were low everything was coming up roses and looking positive and then …. Covid hit!

Markets dropped and recoiled which was quickly followed by a reasonably quick market recovery. Unfortunately production was limited due to various government policies and led to job losses and businesses having to close up or scale back. Examples in New Zealand are obviously retail, tourism and hospitality.

Governments around the world turned to printing money to keep their economies afloat which has now led to massive inflation and interest rates rises. House prices have now hit the wall and most people are going backwards financially. Bring in a war between Russia and Ukraine and all of a sudden you’ve got increased oil prices which increases the cost of most goods and services and businesses having to raise prices in order to survive.

In terms of investments? Well we had a good run from 2019 through to 2021 while interest rates were low but now the chickens have come home to roost so to speak. Here’s our current investment income gains/losses for each calendar year in the last 4 years since we started tracking this:

Obviously 2022 has been a bit of a shocker not for just ourselves but pretty much most people on the planet. Unfortunately no one can predict the market and in some years you will make less than you put in but history has proven that overall you should be receiving a return of between 8 – 10% over the long term (assuming you invest into the stock market).

Our goal is to build this amount up so it at the very least it covers our expenses. This is not a quick 5 minute solution however and requires commitment, time, sacrifice and hard work in order to achieve the goal. Once that goal has been reached we are then in a position to re-evaluate what we want to do next (i.e. work part time, quit working, do something else) or whatever that might look like. It may be very carry on working full time but we will have more options at that point. People generally are good at burying their heads in the sand when it comes to financial matters and worry about it later. The funny thing is eventually that later turns up and retirement stares them in the face.

We are still investing and will continue to invest in the meantime. Utilizing dollar cost averaging means even as the market is going down we are still able to buy stocks and investments at a lower price. With Covid restrictions starting to ease and an eventual end to the Russia/Ukraine conflict there will some kind of return to “normal”. They’ll call it a new normal but it reality life moves on regardless. Think of Germany back in 1939 and the impact of that on neighbouring countries at the time. Of course that dragged on for a number of years. Not ideal!

So here we are in 2022 with the markets looking unfavourable, rising interest rates, rising inflation, and investment balances crumbling. What to do?

Here’s what we’re going to do:

1). Not panic …

2). Get some more supplies (e.g. Canned food, dried food) that can be stored long term in case things get even worse – it’s better to be prepared that not be prepared …

3). Keep investing!

So, keep you head up, come up with a plan, live frugally and make smart financial and life decisions !