by Adam Preston | Sep 9, 2022 | Podcast
Summary
Today I’m chatting with chemical engineer/home energy advisor Tim Forcey. He’s probably known best in the FIRE community for creating the extremely popular Facebook group, My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) which currently has over 65,000 members.
One of the most common traits in FIRE community is hyper efficiency of everything we spend money on, so I was very excited personally to have Tim on the show, especially with energy prices creeping higher and higher.
Some of the topics we cover include:
- What made Tim become a home energy advisor? (00:02:25)
- What are the low hanging fruits to make our homes more energy efficient? (00:08:42)
- Is it true that electric air-conditioners are cheaper to run than gas systems for heating your home? (00:11:07)
- What is the “thermal envelope” and why is it important? (00:25:06)
- Building regulations in Australia and what Tim would mandate if he were in charge (00:37:46)
- What are heat pumps, how do they work and why has gas heating been so popular? (00:44:21)
- Tim’s thoughts on solar energy and home batteries (00:52:12)
- The story behind “My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH)” Facebook group (01:00:50)
Links
by Adam Preston | Sep 2, 2022 | Podcast
Summary
Today we’re talking about two popular career paths – starting out at one of the big four or going into a government role. The Big Four is the nickname used to refer collectively to the four largest professional services networks in the world. These include Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Joining me in this discussion is my old schoolmate Jeremy who did a cadetship at Deloitte where he worked for 6 years. Jeremy explains the interview process, culture, work-life balance and salary during his time at one of the big four.
I’m going to be representing starting out in government as I spent the first 8 years of my working life in the public sector.
Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:
- What is the process of landing a job and what were the interviews like? (00:05:18)
- How does a cadetship actually work? (00:14:51)
- First year experiences (00:18:44)
- Salary progression (00:21:36)
- Big Four workloads and expectations (00:24:25)
- Government experience, expectations & work culture (00:35:12)
- The pros and cons of both career paths (00:48:28)
- Dealing with burnout (00:56:49)
- Finding meaningful work that brings purpose (01:00:25)
Links
by Adam Preston | Aug 19, 2022 | Podcast
Summary
Today we’re talking about succession planning with the one and only Terry Waugh.
This is a pretty big topic but we’ll be focusing on areas such as:
- What is succession planning and why should we care? (02:22)
- What are some of the available options for succession planning? (04:19)
- Wills (07:06)
- Testamentary trusts (13:31)
- Succession planning within companies (20:52)
- Superannuation – who gets it when you die? (24:15)
- SMSF – what are the key differences? (28:42)
- Life insurance inside superannuation (39:30)
- How to protect your kids in case you die (31:01)
- How much do these structures cost? (33:27)
Links
by Adam Preston | Aug 12, 2022 | Podcast
Summary
Have you ever been ripped off by a financial advisor? Today’s podcast is all about identifying the tactics financial advisors use that put their interests ahead of yours. Joining me in this discussion is Phil Harvey. He’s an independent financial advisor and one of the founding members of PIFA which stands for the Profession of Independent Financial Advisers.
Some of the topics we cover are:
- Who is Phil Harvey? (05:41)
- Phil’s personal experience with financial advisors in 2010 before the royal commission (08:01)
- What motivated Phil to help start PIFA? (11:20)
- What is an independent financial adviser? (13:29)
- Fee structure differences between independent and non-independent advisors (15:25)
- What percentage of all financial advisors are independent? (22:09)
- Red flags when vetting financial advisors (36:15)
- Phil’s tips on avoiding being ripped off by a financial advisor (55:11)
Links
by Adam Preston | Aug 5, 2022 | Podcast
Summary
My guest today is Matt Ridley, a British science writer, journalist and businessman who holds a PhD from Oxford in Biology. He’s worked for many famous publications such as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and The Times (London).
Matt is probably best known within the FIRE community for his award-winning book, The Rational Optimist, published in 2010.
This is one of the best books I’ve ever read that offers a counterpoint to the prevailing pessimism of our age and proves, however much some people like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better.
Some of the topics we cover are:
- How did Matt come to be a writer? (08:18)
- As a scientist, what attracted Matt to economics, business and politics? (14:17)
- The relationship between evolution and human innovation (16:39)
- Why did Matt write The Rational Optimist? (20:25)
- Matt’s famous TED Talk – “When Ideas Have Sex” (24:56)
- How much better are we living in the 21st century compared to our ancestors? (30:03)
- Is the 24/7 continuous flow of information good or bad for humanity? (36:27)
- Matt talks about his new book – “Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19” (50:50)
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