FAT FIRE Conference 2024 – Brisbane (Sat 26th Oct)

Description

This year, we’re taking our FIRE conference to the next level by turning it into a multi-city roadshow across  Sydney (Oct 12), Brisbane (Oct 26), Adelaide (Nov 16), and Melbourne (Nov 30). Join us for a full day of engaging and informative panel discussions featuring four experts who have successfully achieved Financial Independence and Retired Early (FIREd). Each city will have a different host and panelists, so be sure to attend as many events as your heart desires.

You’ll hear their inspiring stories, gain insights from their experiences, and receive actionable advice to help you reach your own FIRE goals. Our panelists come from diverse backgrounds and will share the strategies that propelled them to success, whether through real estate, business ventures, or equity markets.

Discover the mindset and secrets that enabled them to retire at least a decade ahead of the standard retirement age. After the panel, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session to deepen your understanding and watch them debate controversial topics, followed by networking with like-minded FIRE enthusiasts. The event is fully catered, including lunch, snacks, coffee/tea, and non-alcoholic beverages. We are most likely be having post-event casual dinner for those who wants to socalise more (own-expense). You never know—you might even meet your next accountability partner or mentor to accelerate your FIRE journey.

All profits from the event will be donated to a charity chosen by our panelists, which will be announced on the day.

Brisbane Details:
Venue – Eatons Hill Hotel
Address – 646 South Pine Road, Eatons Hill, Qld 4037
Date – Saturday 26th October
Time – 10am ~ 5pm
Cost – $120/pp ($100 early bird)

 

Discussion Topics:

• Forewords & housekeeping
• Why FIRE conference?
• Introduction to the Panelists
• Definition of FIRE(s)
• Reflect panelist’s PAST journey:
  • Why FIRE?
  • When did you achieve FI and RE?
  • What was your primary vehicle to achieve FI?
  • Who/what was the most influential to your journey?
  • What habit(s) would you say made the most difference?
  • Do you have any philosophy/framework you live by?
  • Was there anything that held you back?
• Visit panelist’s current situation:
  • What’s your current investment portfolio?
  • What/when is enough?
  • Where do you your efforts & attention on now?
  • How would you have done it differently if given another chance?
  • If you can go back to yourself 10 years ago, what advice would you give yourself?
  • What are some of the common myth about FIRE?
  • What are some of the pitfalls of FIRE?
  • How do you secure/protect your assets?
  • How many income stream do you need to secure FIRE status?
• Discuss future outcome:
  • What’s your opinion of the Australian & Internationally economics in the next year, 5 years and 20 years?
  • What’s your thoughts on each of the different industries and markets?
  • What are some investment opportunities & methodologies
  • What’s on your bucket list?
  • What you thought about your legacy?
  • Would you mentor someone who have the drive to FIRE?
• Direct Q&A with participants
• Panel Discussion Game (Agree or Disagree)
  • Superannuation is key to FIRE
  • Best asset class to invest in during early FIRE journey
  • Cryptocurrency is the future of finance
  • We are about to hit the biggest financial crisis in history
  • I plan to leave all my inherence to my kids
  • Money is the root of all evil
  • Having a mentor is critical for FIRE
• Networking opportunity

 

Panelists:

Marisa Wiman

Born in Switzerland and moved to Australia 32 years ago.

Marisa grew up in a farm and landed in Australia where through lots of education, mistakes and lessons managed to retire at age 42 (FIRED) BUT chose to continue to invest time in learning and creating systems in the outsourcing business that allowed her full FAT FIRED at age 50.

She is passionate about creating passive income (predominantly from properties) and living a sustainable life at what she calls ‘the farm’ in Kingaroy Queensland.

She also spends time helping businesses as a volunteer, mentoring, guiding and sharing how to create a Freedom Business.  Her motto is:  “if a man can do it, I can do it too”

 

 

Kel Davis

Kel is a serial entrepreneur and property investor that reached financial freedom at the age of 50. He then continued to invest until FAT FIRED at 57.

He now manages the family office (groups investments) when he is not out on the sustainable lifestyle farm, surfing at the sunshine coast, motorcycle touring or simply living life.

Kel shared their journey in three self-published books, explaining how to reach financial freedom using the Australian rules. Sustainable experience includes going off the power grid, with EV’s for transport, plus food and own water supply.

As a volunteer Queensland government business mentor plus senior mentor for business training, Kel constantly gives back by sharing his macroeconomic updates and business opportunities.

 

Sally Milne

Sally was raised on a council estate in Scotland, with no financial role models. She has called Australia home for over 20 years.

Sally FIREd aged 44 from a corporate career as a Business Transformation Program Director and a side gig investing in residential real estate.

It wasn’t a straight line to get to RE. But tenacity and sheer determination overcame mistakes and setbacks.

Since retiring, Sally spends her time saving koalas with Koala Rescue QLD, assisting the Happily Heifer After Sanctuary, visiting cancer patients with her therapy dog and helping LEO Africa, a wildlife monitoring and conservation group in South Africa. Despite all this, she has more free time than before retirement.

Sally feels lucky to travel overseas a couple of times a year and within Australia every month, without the restriction of annual leave limitations.

FIRE is a balancing act. Time is more important than money. But money can buy time.

 

Luke O’Regan

Luke is one of 7 kids, raised in the Hunter Valley and then went to High School in Newcastle. Luke was the first of his family to go to uni, where he studied Chemical Engineering.

Now 44, Luke Fat Fire’d at 39 years old.

The outcome of Fat Fire was visualised at a young age, and the path to get there took many paths, as Luke and his family navigated many twists and turns, that northern star of Fat Fire was front and centre along the journey. Luke’s investment journey has changed a few times. Starting in property investment, then into running businesses, into options trading (mainly writing covered calls) and now exclusively into a range of ETFs where Luke has found the true meaning of passive investing.

Professionally, Luke always had jobs that required excessive plane travel, enabling him to easily separate life and work, which meant that escalating salaries (and later, business profits) didn’t result in lifestyle inflation trying to fit in with those around him. A long period of living abroad in low tax locations accelerated the final stage of the journey to Fat Fire, but one made possible with the hard work in the early years. Now calling Brisbane home, Luke has worked in 52 countries, and relocated with his family to Dubai, Munich and Cape Town along the way. This worldly experience gave Luke and his family a unique perspective along the journey to Fat Fire.

Being one of 7, with hard working government employee parents, Luke developed a sense of ‘enough’ at a young age. Things like hiking, mountain bike riding, basketball, surfing, etc. brought happiness, not possessions and fancy clothes. Luke never felt like he was missing out on anything, because all of the things that he and his friends enjoyed, didn’t cost much. Staying true to his roots kept lifestyle creep at bay even with the lighter salary years to come.

Luke now spends his time raising his family, coaching state league basketball teams, hiking nearby mountains, and always keeping up with world affairs and trends. He is first to admit that after a very active and fulfilling career, filling that void with hobbies and interest projects is a unique one to Far Fire. Although not there yet, he is enjoying the process of finding his ’second mountain’.

Host

Wally Chiang

Made in Taiwan, assembled in Australia, Wally fell into the common Asian misconception of equating good grades with success, resulting in him amassing more degrees than one cares to count. After gaining experience in the corporate IT sector, he embarked on an entrepreneurial journey by establishing his own digital marketing agency.

Having dedicated close to 10,000 hours to studying macroeconomics and geopolitics over the last six years or so, his current focus centres on wealth preservation and self-sufficiency. This involves diversifying into precious metals and cryptocurrency, alongside acquiring a 600+ acre hobby farm to learn new skills such as hunting, bushcraft, and permaculture.

With a disciplined approach to saving, investing in real estate during the booming years, and putting his business under management, Wally achieved FIRE at the age of 40. This grants him the freedom to devote his time to his family, particularly imparting his knowledge to his two young children. Moreover, Wally runs courses on his farm, catering to those embarking on their own journey towards self-sufficiency.