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Greg is a proud husband and father of two young women, all living in Victoria, Australia. He has a long history of playing local cricket (poorly) and being involved in the volunteer effort required to run several cricket clubs. He also heads up the local chapter of Tough Guy Book Club, a great global organisation that aims to get men to read more, talk more and have more friends. Formerly a mechanical engineer working in the industrial sector, he has more recently opted for a slightly slower pace of life, managing automotive and small engine workshops.
Comments
Thanks Mark. To each, their own. But personally, I would sell both stocks in a heartbeat. I just couldn't let my brain be consumed by something that won't actually have any material impact.
Post: A Very Sensible Conclusion
Link to comment from February 18, 2026
A perspective from outside the US. A lot of news from the US that I get talks about a housing affordability crisis. Yes, recent trends in the US have seen houses become less affordable. And I appreciate that shift in the market hurts. But housing in the US remains much affordable than in other developed nations. From https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/affordable-housing-by-country, some affordability index numbers for various countries: USA 3.3 Australia 8.1 New Zealand 7.3 United Kingdom 8.8 Japan 12.2 Canada 10.2 So in many other countries, homes are 2-3 times more expensive (relative to median income).
Post: Home Prices and Affordability
Link to comment from February 18, 2026
Thanks Mark for a moving reminder of how debt can you leave you "hung out to dry" when things go bad. When times are good, it certainly can be easy to dine out on cheap finance. Kudos to you for making it through.
Post: Financial Trauma
Link to comment from February 16, 2026
Thanks William. We probably sit more in the middle ground - we don't buy the very best available, but also don't buy bargain basement. We have found that by buying "mid-range" and using carefully, that we get very long and reliable life from cars, appliances furniture etc. By the way, the RX350 looks like a beautiful motor car.
Post: Choices, choices everywhere
Link to comment from February 14, 2026
*Deleted*
Post: Punched in the Mouth
Link to comment from February 13, 2026
Dan, thanks for yet another thoughtful piece. First thought.... With regards Tyson's quote "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth", it is pretty funny, but I think some use it to justify having no plan (not you Dan, other people!) When some disaster strikes, I would much rather have some plan in place, even if it has to be adapted or reworked significantly. To my mind, that is still better than no plan. Second thought..... To build a plan, we need to make sort of guess about what the future might look like. For instance, a financial plan might assume a 40% drawdown on the market, or a lost decade, or some other nasty event. Or our plan might assume average 7% returns (after inflation) over a long period, whilst still acknowledging that there will; be ups and downs. It seems to me that the least helpful plans will be those that make the most extreme guesses about the future. A wildly pessimistic guess about the future is likely to lead to such a conservative plan that in all likelihood it will leave us far worse off than we might have otherwise been. A magically optimistic guess is also likely a poor one, as it will fall over at the first hurdle.
Post: Punched in the Mouth
Link to comment from February 13, 2026
Thanks Dick. I think you make a good point that at different points in life, what you reject changes. When you have a young family and a mortgage, a large purchase will have a large impact on other parts of your life. Later in life, the things that you reject when making a large purchase may well be far less significant. Last night we ordered a new washing machine. There was a time when we would have agonised over this purchase a lot more than we do now. Simply because in the past the impact on our finances would have been more acutely felt. What we rejected would have meant more.
Post: Choices, choices everywhere
Link to comment from February 9, 2026
Thanks Mark. I would often consider a purchase in terms of "how many hours / days / weeks of work does this equate to?" Once considering a potential purchase in those terms, I usually walked away.
Post: Choices, choices everywhere
Link to comment from February 9, 2026
Agreed - this wasn't meant to be an article about motor cars, I just chose that as a "vehicle" to deliver my thoughts. Pun well and truly intended. It applies to every dollar we spend. I get this, but what did I give up?
Post: Choices, choices everywhere
Link to comment from February 9, 2026
I tend to agree that it would likely not change behaviours. But it would be an interesting experiment to challenge people with what they are giving up as a result of each purchase they make, to see what arises.
Post: Choices, choices everywhere
Link to comment from February 9, 2026