First Post

Hey! 👋 Welcome to Bougie on Broke Budget. A little introduction.. I am a millennial who have reached financial independence in her mid 30s and is now work-optional. It's weird saying that out loud. I feel like I've joined a cult and I am going to regret it later when I am old! lol!

Gah! I think if all hell breaks loose, I can always go back to work/ downsize/ sell down my portfolio until I reach my pension age. But at the moment, the number feels right, the math is mathing, and I am ready to travel the world!

Unlike other FI bloggers out there, I don't really feel comfortable publishing the details of my finances out in the open. But let's just say that I have about $850k net worth, diversified across property, shares (index & individual), super and cash. Based on the 4% rule, I think this is enough to cover my annual expenses (Read - Why Cash Flow is King When Planning for Retirement!).

At the moment, I am in between jobs. I have resigned from my last one and I am experiencing the one more year syndrome! And prior to my last job, we have taken a one year career sabbatical to travel the world. We didn't make it to all the countries we want to visit in our list but we had a lot of fun travelling Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Maldives, South Korea and Yogyakarta. We even walked the Camino de Portuguese (from Lisbon to Santiago)!

Camino de Portuguese have really changed my perception on life and how little we need to be happy (Read How Camino de Portuguese and Travelling The World Turn Me Into a Minimalist!).

Throughout our career break, I think we ended up only spending around AUD$15K-20k each and in that one year, the value of my investment properties, super, rentals and shares have probably 6-7x the amount I spent travelling the world. It is insane!

Now, I know it will not be rosy all the time (and it hasn't been. It fluctuates!) but I feel confident in my ability to pull this FIRE off as I believe I have added sufficient buffers and my asset is diversified enough to weather through the peak and troughs.

Anyway, back to the one year syndrome ~ I've applied and went for an interview for several jobs. One has even offered me a FT role but I am having a second thought (Read - Shocking Interview Questions I Received When Applying For a FT Role: Do You Have Any Children? Will You Be Applying for Flexible Working Arrangement?).

And back to this blog, I don't know how I will be structuring my writings in future posts but I'm sure it will reveal itself as I try to post consistently.

Till next post x