Greg Tomamichel

Comments

• Dan, thanks for a great little read. I really enjoyed your article about the vinyl record's adventure. I always think that if someone else's job look easy from the outside, it probably isn't.

  Post: An Idea Every Week

  Link to comment from September 7, 2025

• And they are great reading!

  Post: How to win at FIRE from the Wall Street Journal

  Link to comment from September 3, 2025

• I think the key difference is that superannuation accounts are held by superannuation funds. These are private funds, not run by government, but highly regulated. Each superannuation account is in the name of an individual. If someone does not have sufficient in their superannauation account by age 67, there is an aged pension scheme, all run by government.

  Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.

  Link to comment from September 3, 2025

• There isn't really a discussion anymore in Australia as to whether it is the employer or employee that's making the contribution. For example, if someone's salary is $100,000, then their total package would be considered $112,000, and $12,000 goes to the employee's superannuation account. That's just the situation that everyone is used to, so there is no need to debate "who" is contributing the $12,000, it's part of normal remuneration structuring.

  Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.

  Link to comment from September 3, 2025

• Thanks for an interesting post Mr. Quinn. This made me think of Barry Schwartz talking about the "Paradox of Choice" in the context of 401K plans. From this article (https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/economics/the-paradox-of-choice) Analyzing data from nearly 800,000 employee records, Iyengar and colleagues found that the likelihood of employee participation decreased when 401(k) plans offered more funds. In fact, every additional 10 funds reduced participation by up to 2%. Plans that offered only two funds had a peak participation rate of 75%, but plans with 59 funds had participation rates as low as 60%. Out of all the plans examined in the study, those offering less than 10 funds had significantly higher participation rates than those offering between more than 10 options.  From an Australian perspective, we are pretty fortunate that our superannuation funds typically have a small number of diversified portfolios that participants can choose. As an example, one our largest superannuation providers has 6 "pre-mixed" options to choose from: https://www.australiansuper.com/investments/your-investment-options/pre-mixed-investment-choice Also, given that our superannuation system has a compulsory requirement for 12% of base wage (excluding overtime) to be invested into super, we don't have to constantly be encouraging people to save. However I recognise that this works in Australia only because we are a very compliant culture.

  Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.

  Link to comment from September 3, 2025

• Sorry - duplicate comment!

  Post: This post contains a secret and words I used in a few forum posts ago. Why is it not encouraging.

  Link to comment from September 2, 2025

• Agreed. There is no switch that can be flicked so that mental and physical return magically. And what amount of money is worth destroying yourself for?

  Post: How to win at FIRE from the Wall Street Journal

  Link to comment from September 2, 2025

• Firstly, thanks for gifting the article. An interesting read. The comments are also amazing and quite humourous. Now Mr. Barr is free to live his life the way he chooses and set his priorities the way he likes. But I found his views on life quite weird and, quite frankly, scary. His views were so far away from what I would consider a good life, that it felt like satire. It was clear from the comments that many others felt the same. One comment stood out. It asked "Would I drink two beers with this individual, or let him watch my dog for the weekend?". I think I might drink 2 beers with Mr. Barr, maybe just to see if I can get some insight into what might drive him to be like this. (On second thoughts, I'll skip the 2 beers - I've got better things to do than have Mr. Barr lecture me on how to be "successful"). But I would definitely not leave my dog with him. I don't think Mr. Barr has ever had the joy of patting a dog and asking "Who's a good dog?".

  Post: How to win at FIRE from the Wall Street Journal

  Link to comment from September 2, 2025

• Agreed - I hadn't really thought about it, but opportunity cost is a big part of this. The time spent agonising over all these decisions could have been spent on more fulfilling and valuable tasks.

  Post: The Main Thing … and the scourge of complexity

  Link to comment from August 31, 2025

• tshort, these are exactly the things where I have chosen to do without complexity. I'm sure that someone could demonstrate to me the monetary gains that I could make by switching accounts or collecting credit card points. But I would rather spend the time and energy on things that I consider more worthwhile. And I suspect that investing that effort into my career and small business (rather than into financial minutia) has paid far higher dividends.

  Post: The Main Thing … and the scourge of complexity

  Link to comment from August 31, 2025