Introduction
My mission is to help you FIRE faster by sharing stories and strategies from people within the FI community worldwide so I am delighted to have up next Frenk who accepted this unique FIRE interview request. What can I say about Frenk well first and foremost Frenk is an active and invaluable addition to the FI Meetup groups in Ireland and regularly shares information freely to help others. Frenk is extremely responsive and a fountain of knowledge when it comes to topics that stretch the mind and help challenge our existing belief systems.
I was struck by the detail that went into Frenks’ presentation to the Limerick Financial Independence group which I am lucky enough to co host with Michael Houghton on
‘Property Investing as a route to FI’.
We all stayed active and connected on zoom during covid and Frenk’s slides proved very informative and well constructed!
If your mad enough you can find us all here 😉
Financial Independence Ireland – Limerick (Limerick, Ireland) | Meetup
The usual Q&A follows, enjoy:
Who are you, and how did you discover fire?
My name is Frenk and I am 45 years old civil servant ,working in the Banking sector.
I have discovered fire in 2019, through the blog Mr Money Moustache and then looked for local groups and joined the Dublin meetup group and in 2020 the Limerick’s one.
I always worked towards building wealth but I was not structured as efficiently, as recommended in the Fire community so I learned a lot and worked towards improving my strategy.
What is the backbone of your fire strategy
My current strategy is to maximize my pension contributions to a self managed PRSA and invest for the long term in ETFs .If I have more savings left, I would put them in a brokerage account and buy shares of investment trusts which are more tax efficient in Ireland. At the moment I am also holding a bit of cash so I can take advantage of opportunities that may come up in the next two years.
I own two rentals and I am considering buying another couple before retiring, all going well.
I have always been frugal and I am currently saving 30% of my income without having to compromise on entertainment and travel. Working remotely, I reduced my travel expenses and eating at home is so much cheaper. No more expensive coffees!
My salary is higher than the average wage in Ireland and my job will allow me to get a good occupational pension once I decide to retire. I try to do as much overtime as possible, which usually adds a few thousands a year that are all going into investments. My current savings rate will likely decrease after Covid when, hopefully, I will travel and go out more.
My partner works for one of the biggest department stores and with vouchers and discounts my grocery bills are 40% cheaper.
Every year I get deals, switching to different providers for phone, broadband, electricity and gas.
I started investing with leverage in the stock market during the .com bubble and those earnings allowed me to get enough funds to put down a deposit for my first property. At the bottom of the recession, I bought a second one which I managed to recently flip and those earnings were enough to buy two more .I have not actively invested in the stock market until recently but now I am trying to get more diversification from Property which remains the core of my strategy.
The current rentals are not cash flow positive so my plan is to try to pay down as much as possible with the pension lump sum and some of the pension pot so they will become a reliable income for retirement.
My goal is to FIRE in 10 years time and either move or live part of the year in a cheaper country.
It is very tax efficient to rent one or more rooms in your primary residence so that could allow you to partly finance a few months in another country, without changing your tax residency.
Once retired my income will be lower and I will save in taxes which are now eating most of my rental profits. It is probably not the most efficient strategy but it fits my needs.
What do you plan to do once you reach Financial Independence (FI)?
I’d like to travel before I get too old, make memories and spend more time with family.
If I get bored I may blog..
or create a youtube channel!
Contact info:
If you want to get in touch with me you can easily find me in the Dublin and Limerick meetup groups chat (as above)
What are some books, podcasts or YouTube channels you recommend?
The books I recommend are Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad Poor Dad” ,
Dave Ramsey ‘s ”Total money makeover.”
On Youtube I follow Alessio Rastani
I listen to the European Fire podcast, www.firepodcast.ie and occasionally many others.
“Thank you Frenk :)”