It's time to say goodbye folks The Nanny State of Australia has struck again. With ASIC's new rules going live regarding what is deemed advice-giving (in Australia) when it comes to talking about investing & money, means that I can no longer talk about money, investing and investing products the way I do or the way I want to.   In fact, many of my posts over the years use language in them that ASIC probably would decide is "advice giving" (despite me always clearly stating that I am not a financial adviser etc).  If my posts have had any probability of you going ..read more

Did you forget to pay a bill? If you are not sure, then quick .... grab a pencil and the back of an old envelope and then read on:- Pencil ready?  Good. 1. Jot down when you last paid the electricity bill 2. Jot down when you last paid your water bill 3. Jot down when you last paid your phone/cell bill 4. Jot down when you last paid for groceries 5. Jot down when you last paid for gas/petrol 6. Jot down when you last paid yourself Whoops. There it is. Did you pay yourself last? Maybe even never?  Don't worry, you're not alone as most people do not pay themselves first (if ev ..read more

  Income investing is where we buy assets that are specifically designed to pay out their earnings. Income investing is particularly useful when we need the cashflow to fund retirement or to augment other incomes So, I am not a financial advisor nor is this post to be considered as financial advice - absolutely do your own research. Many funds, ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) and stocks pay their dividends or distributions twice yearly or on occasion quarterly. However, there are an increasing amount of funds that pay their distributions monthly as their core investor base like the st ..read more

  Gosh! Inflation is beginning to be something we can really feel here in Australia. House prices soaring, petrol prices rising like bread dough and the grocery budget only filling half a supermarket trolley these days. Additionally, we see many items no longer available on supermarket shelves, small businesses closing, wages stagnant and mortgage interest rates quivering in anticipation of a rate rise (up was the only option hey) It's easy to throw our hands up in despair, or hunker down into extreme frugality and shrink our lives into an unhealthy smallness whilst occasionally&nb ..read more

  Hi folks Well, we have had our solar system operational for one year now - time for an update. All in all we have been very happy and the results have exceeded expectations. Here is a breakdown of the system basics 33 panels - half facing NE and the other half facing NW due to a quadruple gabled roofline 10.5kw potential output system System supplied and installed by Econnect  Current power plan through AGL Solar Savers How much money did it save in Bills? Normally, our electricity bill would about $300 per month  ($3600 per year) After one full year, we have pa ..read more

  Hi Folks I did a short video this morning of the work we have done down the side of the house, the back patio and the back yard. It used to be a weedy, stinking, muddy mess with rotting wooden fences and out-of-control ivy. I have posted this video on the House Of Simple Facebook page.   Simply go to FB and search for House of Simple and it will come up.  If you don't have a FB account, that's OK, you can still easily access the video - just copy & paste this link https://www.facebook.com/houseofsimple/ into your search bar and the FB page should come up, then ..read more

  Hi folks Sometimes we need to go back to the foundations, because money, investing and saving really are dead simple.  What makes it difficult is all the money "noise" we hear around us. 1. I nearly feel stupid having to say this, but the bedrock of all financial success is simply built on the following -  ALWAYS SPENDING LESS THAN WE EARN.  No amount of fancy math, investing expertise, fancy deals, business models or tertiary education can nullify this timeless principle 2. Building an independent stream of income from wisely executed investments is a ..read more

  Hi Folks Just a very quick post to let you know that you can follow along with House Of Simple in Instagram or Facebook. Instagram - just search for house.of.simple Facebook - just search for House of Simple On Instagram, I post quite regularly with lots of different pictures from around our home and garden and also lots of pictures and video clips of our home cooking and pets too.  You'll see the most about us and how we live on Instagram. The link to this blog is also in my Instagram bio. On Facebook, I repost links to all this blog's posts as I publish them, so if you ..read more

  Annuities are a very common way to fund or partially fund retirement in the UK and US – they are also gaining popularity in Australia too. But first – I am NOT a financial adviser and this post is not financial advice. I am sharing my personal thoughts and musing on the subject of retirement income streams. Always do your own research and seek professional advice if required. Also, none of the links in this posts are affiliate links, nor am I commercially connected in any way to these sites, resources or companies.  The links are purely to assist the reader with further r ..read more

  Hi folks Today will be a picture post of the mouth-watering food our Minny cooked up from scratch for Pesach/Passover recently. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Triple layer almond meringue torte Homemade macaroons on the top tray and Israeli chocolates underneath Classic dinnerware (decades old) with printed Passover serviettes from Golds at Bondi Sydney Australia  The Seder plate with all its symbolic  food ready to go. Table set with correct cutlery ready for all the different courses Israeli wine from Krinsk ..read more