My ‘Fake Rich’ Life

Hi Scott,

I started reading your book when I was lying by a five-star pool in Dubai, which I had booked on my credit card. I was living a ‘fake rich’ life, holding down a high-paid job but living week to week. I had $23,500 in credit card debt, a loan for my Lexus, and no savings. You opened my eyes and forced me to stop kidding myself. I set up my buckets and started paying off the debts one by one. I sold my car and started cycling everywhere. A house is in touching distance and I cannot wait for everything else to come, because I am now READY!

Nate

Hey Nate,

Well done.

The hard thing about money is that it works the opposite of fitness:

If you’re unhealthy, your muffin-top is on show for everyone to see: there’s no hiding it.

Yet with money it’s often the financially fattest people who look the fittest!

And that explains why I don’t watch reality TV … though my wife loves trashy shows like The Bachelor.

The other night I was walking past her and I casually mentioned, “Hey, did you know one of those reality stars wrote to me asking for advice?”

It was the only time that evening she took her eyes off the TV.

“OH MY GOD, WHO WAS IT?!” she yelled.

“Huh? I don’t remember. As soon as they wrote that they were an Instagram influencer, I deleted it and moved on.”

She just stared at me for a second, then went back to watching her show.

(No rose for me.)

I’ve always said that the hard life is living week to week, desperately trying to keep up appearances.

Being broke drains you of your energy and self-confidence, and clouds your opportunities.

Gaining control of your money gives it back, and then some.

You Got This!

Help a Stripper Out!

Dear Scott,

Hoping you can help a stripper out! My name is Emmy (stage name Charlotte), I am a 25-year-old stripper from Byron Bay, and I have just read your highly entertaining book. I would love your advice on budgeting. In my line of work, I can never estimate how much money I am going to make each week — some weekends it’s $3,000+, some weekends it’s less than $500. How do I manage this?

Emmy

Hi Emmy

I know what you’re doing … trying to get my attention with that opening line.

And you know what?

It worked.

My first thought is that being a stripper would be the ultimate cash business.

I mean, your clients literally throw money at you!

Then again, you’ll still face the same financial issues as any self-employed person.

My book sets out how I personally manage my own money … I’m self-employed, and it works for me!

That said, you need to do three things:

First, set up a separate bank account and deposit all the cash you receive.

The ATO data-matches billions of transactions, and they target people working in professions where cash is received. Report your tips in your tax return (usually at Item 2: ‘Allowances, earnings, tips and director’s fees’) and claim any legitimate work-related deductions (lingerie and the like), as with any job.

Second, transfer 35% of whatever you earn into a separate tax account so you’ll never be caught out at tax time.

Finally, work out the absolute minimum you need in your ‘Daily Expenses’ bucket and set up your other buckets by following the plan in my book. Any extra you earn after that should be applied to working through the Barefoot Steps, which will keep you growing a little wealthier each day.

People keep telling me that my ‘three jam jars’ system for kids doesn’t work because nobody uses cash anymore … maybe they need to come and see you at work!

Scott

Pardon My French

Hello Scott,

I would like to know if a French version of your books exist please?

Genevieve

Bonjour mademoiselle,

Non!

Cordialement, Barefoot

Scott

My Son is a Thief

Hi Scott,

Today my 8-year-old son stole $40 from my 10-year-old daughter’s purse, and then shouted all his friends at the school canteen. I am not sure how to deal with this one correctly so that both of my kids learn a lesson. Any advice from one dad to another?

Ted

Hi Ted,

That’s a doozy, dude.

If it were me, I’d get my Judge Judy on, arrange a kitchen table court, and dole out some tough justice.

First, I’d give your daughter the $40 back — after all, she’s done nothing wrong.

But there may be a lesson for her: 40 bucks to a 10-year-old is like $500 to you and me, so ask her whether at least some of that money would be better off in a bank account. (If she says yes, all you need to do is create a separate online saver in your name, and nickname it after her.)

She gets a shiny new account. Win!

Then I’d tell your son that he needs to pay you back the $40 … plus interest. (Personally, I’d make him pay it back double … but my wife says I’m often too hard on my boys.)

Walking the dog, polishing shoes, taking out the garbage, whatever … until he pays off every single dollar.

The final lesson is for you: lock away the jam jars till payday!

Scott

Sounds ... Spriggy

Hi Scott,

I have just finished a call with a friend who was telling about a money app for kids called ‘Spriggy’. As far as I can tell, it pays no interest, has a yearly joining fee, and only allows access by a custom, kid-friendly Visa card (decorated with a cute cartoon pig). My friend has now been asked to send cash to it as a way of paying for a present for a friend’s child. Good thing or just a trap?

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

Spriggy is an app that lets parents pay their kids’ pocket money into a linked account with a prepaid card.

According to their website it’s “a tool to prepare your kids through practical experience”.

But there are a few reasons I’m not a fan:

First, it costs too much: $30 per child per year … so if you’ve got four kids it’s $120 a year.

Of course, eventually your tween will need a bank account. When that time comes, you should challenge them to choose a no-fee high interest rate account (rather than paying $30 a year for a glorified app).

Second, not everything needs to have an app (with a monthly fee).

Yes, money is fast becoming numbers on a screen, but kids are inherently visual creatures. The reason I champion three jam jars and a simple scoreboard on the fridge is so that kids see the coins hitting the jar and the money piling up.

Parents, put down your freaking phone and connect with your kids over the family dinner table. This is not about the money, it’s about developing strong behaviours. You are the killer app.

Scott

Pass me a bucket

I saw the door of my study creep open, ever so slightly.

I heard heavy breathing. Whispers. And then … fits of giggles.

It was the school holidays and my sons were bored, so they decided to spy on their old man ‘working’.

And fair enough too. When I was roughly their age, I’d do the same thing with my old man, and I’d watch him counting out great wads of cash (hey, it was the 80s).

My boys, however, saw me sitting on my office floor playing with three plastic buckets.

I may as well have been in a sandpit (hence the giggles).

Let me explain: this year I’ve been working in classrooms across the country teaching kids about money, as part of my not-for-profit the Barefoot Money Movement.

My Primary School program — called ‘The Jam Jar Project’ — is a rolled gold winner:

Last month I taught it at my old primary school, and the kids nearly wet themselves.

“This is the best class ever and I have a blood nose”, one seven year old excitedly told me.

My teenage program is … not going as well.

In fact, teaching this class has been giving me a blood nose. Repeatedly.

Honestly, engaging teenagers is easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career. I’m in awe of the amazing work teachers do. The volatility of the share market has nothing on the volatility of 25 teenagers. We go from boom to bust to depression … in a 60 minute class!

Yet I finally nailed it — with the help of three plastic buckets.

Here’s what I did:

I put a bucket on the table and explained to the class that this bucket represented a bank account.

Then I told them about Johnny Depp. He may be a movie star flying around in private jets, but Johnny has a hole in his bucket: money goes in, but it flows straight out the bottom. He (reportedly) doesn’t save. (Which explains why he has to keep making bad pirate movies.)

Then I picked up the other plastic buckets and put them on the table. The solution, I told the kids, is to have two other savings buckets that don’t have holes in them: one for emergencies (Mojo), and one for savings goals (Smile).

They got the concept straight away.

In the next lesson I plan to take the metaphor further, and explain that their job is to guard their buckets, and not let anyone drill a hole in them: like credit card companies, Harvey Norman interest-free deals, Nimble loans, car loans, even AfterPay. We go through their glossy marketing, and then read the fine print and show them just how big a hole these products can blow a hole in their buckets.

Here’s the deal: in a few short years these kids will be fresh meat for financial institutions, who employ some of the savviest and sophisticated marketers on the planet. While they’re still in school, they need to learn how the game works against them.

Case in point: we got the class to calculate that an average credit card would take 30 years to pay off.

The looks on their faces, as Mastercard would say, were ‘Priceless’.

Tread Your Own Path!

Dollarmites Out!

Yay! You made it into the Yarraville West Primary School newsletter:

“After consideration, school Council has decided that Yarraville West PS will no longer host the CBA Dollarmites banking program. Financial literacy is important, perhaps now more than ever. There are independent educational initiatives available for your family to investigate together, such as the federal government’s MoneySmart or books, and Scott Pape’s Barefoot Investor for Families.”

Thanks for educating our educators!

Susan

Hi Susan,

Thanks for sending this through!

Just to clear things up, my new school program isn’t about me selling books (I’ve sold enough already, and anyway, I’ve donated a copy to every school library in the country).

This is a not-for-profit program, and it’s funded from my own pocket (no funding from banks!). That way, I’m free to explain to the kids how much of a rip-off credit cards are, why Nimble loans suck, and the hidden cost of UberEats.

Now, since I launched the Barefoot Money Movement a few weeks ago, I’ve had thousands of teachers apply to pilot the program later in the year, from schools across the country and around the world.

My biggest discovery?

We are truly blessed to have so many hardworking teachers educating our kids.

Seriously, they’re passionate about their students and are determined to ensure they learn these lessons.

It’s been a very humbling experience.

Thank-you for reading,Scott

Scott

The Barefoot Kid

Hi Scott,

I am so proud of our three-year-old! Scarlett saved up her pocket money from doing her ‘jobs’. We took her to our local tip shop and she selected a second-hand bike for $5 (see picture). She’s a Barefoot Kid!

Emilie

Hi Emilie,

That’s awesome! As a fellow parent of a three-year-old, I can attest that there’s something amazing that happens when they work hard, save up and buy their own stuff. I love hearing stories from families who’ve read the book. Now it's time to hit the schools as well.

Thank-you for reading, and sharing.

Scott

Here's One For The Teachers

I looked at my bedside clock: 4:03 am.

It was Monday night (actually, Tuesday morning), and I hadn’t slept a wink.

Earlier in the week I’d launched the Barefoot Money Movement ‒ my free, independent, money school program.

I’d made my case that this country needs a financial revolution, and that it needs to start with our kids.

I pressed ‘Send’ on my column … and waited.

(I made a pact with myself that I wouldn’t check the results for 48 hours … a classic ego defence mechanism.)

Would anyone sign up to pilot my money-education-minus-the-bank-mascots school program?

A few hours later I rolled out of bed and nervously checked the stats on barefootmoneymovement.org.au

It turns out people did sign up.

By the thousands.

Teachers from every nook and cranny of this country have joined the Money Movement to ensure that their students learn the life changing lessons most of us didn’t.

Fair dinkum!

There were teachers from Melbourne. From the Cocos Islands. From America. From the UK. From Uganda. From … Russia?

Anyway, I’m absolutely blown away by the response from teachers.

So everything’s ready to go for my new program, right?

Wrong.

There's just one little problem … I’ve spent the past week talking to passionate, hard-working Aussie teachers. And the one thing I’ve heard over and over again is that it’s incredibly hard to teach kids this core life skill if you’ve never learnt it or lived it yourself.

Teachers have one of society’s most important jobs, yet they don’t get paid what they’re worth.

So, here’s my promise:

Teacher Professional Development

Next year, I’ll deliver some free online professional development for those teachers who join the Barefootmoneymovement.org.au

And I’m taking this Money Movement to the top. I caught up with Education Minister, Dan Tehan during the week ‒ who I have been pitching this idea to for a while ‒ and told him that the seeds of our grassroots movement are starting to sprout. And he’s on side, commenting that “Scott Pape’s campaign to teach young Australians the importance of managing money is highly commendable”.

Finally, a big thank-you to all the teachers and principals who’ve already signed up to the Barefoot Money Movement. And if you know of a teacher who could benefit from this, please do me a personal favour and forward this on to them.

Tread Your Own Path!

Barefoot’s Money Movement

Do you want me to come to your school … and teach your kids about money?

Well, if you’re a teacher, a parent or a principal, this may be the most important column of mine you’ve ever read.

For years I’ve been saying this country needs a financial revolution ... and that it needs to start with our kids.

Kids spend roughly 2,400 days in school, yet not one of them is mandatorily dedicated to learning the practical money skills they’ll be tested on every day of their lives.

Most of us didn’t get taught this stuff either, and instead we learned our lessons the hard way. (And many of us are still learning ... given Australian families are shouldering some of the highest rates of household debt in the world.)

Our kids deserve better.

So let me tell you about my latest project, which I’m kicking off today:

‘Barefoot’s Money Movement’

My motto is: ‘Teach the Kids. Help the Parents. Change the Nation.’

And that’s exactly what I’m setting out to do.

I’ve created a brand-new school money education program for kids of all ages, based on my bestselling books.

It’s totally practical for the kids. It’s ‘plug and play’ for the teachers. And it’s mapped to the curriculum.

Oh, and it’s free, independent (no Dollarmites in sight), and totally not-for-profit.

Now my long-term goal is to roll the program out to every school in Australia. Yet to prove it works ‒ and to make it even better ‒ I’m going to pilot my classes in a small number of primary schools and high schools this year. This is a really big deal for me, and I’m going to work closely with each school I select.  

So if you’re a teacher, I really need your help.

To join the movement, go here:

barefootmoneymovement.org.au

And if you know a passionate teacher, please forward this email to them.

This is a grassroots movement, and I can’t do it without you.

Tread Your Own Path!

Don’t Send Kids to the Coalmine, Barefoot

Hey Scott,

I just wanted to comment on your response last week to the letter from Alice the 15-year-old asking if she should get a part-time job. Could you please recommend that high school students work no more than 12 hours per week, unless they are happy to take a nose-dive in their education! Up to 12 hours per week can help them with time management and all your other points. But not more. And I know what I’m talking about: I am a teacher who sees the results of overworked students!

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

I agree with you ‒ a few shifts on the weekend is more than enough. Really, you just want to get kids off their phones and work for a boss who will knock the ‘special snowflake’ out of them.

And here’s a tip for all those tired parents, which I call the ‘taxi rank’: shortlist the youth-friendly employers that are close to your home or the school. Think shopping malls, supermarkets, fast food joints and small businesses that you’re happy to taxi them to and from. Because you will!

Scott

How a Financial Advisor Can Make You a Millionaire

Hi Scott,

My daughter is a hardworking 22-year-old who lives in a share house. She is struggling with her living expenses.

(I pay for her weekly grocery shop, and she feels bad about it). She earns $3,068.32 after tax each month.

Here are her monthly expenses:

Rent $760
Financial advisor $190
Savings $400
Share portfolio $250
Insurance $58
Super $100

She feels grateful that her financial advisor has enabled her to do all this. Is there anything she could be doing differently?

Maria

Hi Maria,

The monthly expenses you’ve listed come to $1,758, which means your daughter has $327 a week to spend on food, booze, bills and transport. That’s doable. (I lived on less when I was 22, though admittedly I drank a lot of homebrew, ate spag bol most nights, and drove a 1966 XP Falcon that mostly ran on potato skins.)

Having said that, she needs to eat without resorting to dumpster diving. I’d suggest she looks at scaling back her saving for the moment rather than relying on you (of course a ‘care package’ from Mum now and then never hurt anyone).

Other than that, your daughter is an absolute bloody legend.Let me paint you a picture:

Let’s say she invests that $250 a month into the share market, from age 20 to 30 (starting from zero and assuming an 8% return) could grow to $43,460.

Then, at age 30, she stops saving, leaves the investments to grow, and never puts in another dollar.By the time she’s 65, that $43,460 will have grown to $642,571.

Noice … but let’s not stop there ‒ let’s make her a millionaire!

I’d suggest your daughter meets with her financial advisor ‒ who has done a terrific job setting her up ‒ and get her to have an awkward conversation with the advisor.

Play him Bette Midler if you want, and assure him ‘you’ll always be the wind beneath my wings ... but I ain’t paying you a monthly retainer anymore’. Then, she adds the $190 a month she’s paying to the advisor, and add it to her low-cost index fund.

If she does, her end balance will be boosted to $1,001,130.

Scott

My experience with dumpster diving

There have been a couple of times in my career that I’ve come across a subculture.

The first was right back when I began: people who would write to me about my … feet. Yep, that’s a thing. Some people get their socks off looking at bare feet in the newspaper.

The other was a few weeks ago when I got a question from uni student Tim, who said he ‘dumpster dived’ for food.

I thought he was joking … yet little did I know that I was myself about to get binned like a bent banana.

The email responses came in like two-day-old loaves of bread:

“Dude, you don’t know what dumpster diving is? I earn $180,000 a year, and yet on my days off I go to the local Woolies bin around midnight for all the eggs, bread, pink milk (not expired), and slightly spoiled but still good fruit and veges.” (This person signed off as ‘Dumpster Diving Till I Die’, which may be tempting fate.)

As I dived into the subject, I discovered that the devotees of this movement even have a name: ‘freegans’.

Yet my favourite freegan was Benjamin, aka ‘Binjamin the Raccoon’, who wrote: “I live almost entirely out of rescued food from the bin (plus some home-grown veg). Every day, I systematically take all the food from two dumpsters and distribute it out to feed probably 20 struggling families per week, as well as bread for farmers’ livestock.”

Okay, so that’s actually pretty cool.

So this week I grabbed my five-year-old son and we went dumpster diving at the back of an inner city KFC — “It’s finger-lickin’ good, mate!”

Okay, so we didn’t do that. (My wife doesn’t allow us to eat KFC, let alone from a dumpster.)

Yet we did go on a father-son trip to Australia’s largest hunger relief not-for-profit, Foodbank, who each month help feed over 700,000 Aussies.

The reason I had my son come along was twofold: first, he loves factories, forklifts and donning high-vis vests. Yet, more importantly, it was also my first step in a long journey to making sure he doesn’t become an entitled brat.

And Foodbank is an awesome way to teach kids one of the fundamental keys to happiness: generosity.

See, the hidden crisis in this country is that one in five kids live in ‘food insecure’ households.

No, it’s true.That explains why in Victoria they are expanding the ‘Breakfast Club’ program to be in 1,000 schools.On our way to the factory I asked my son if he remembered what it feels like to be hungry.

“Yes, it’s hard to think, and I get angry because I have a sore tummy”, he said.

“Well chances are that some of your classmates arrive at school with those tummy rumbles. You can’t see it, of course, and your mates may be too embarrassed to talk about it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening”, I said.

Then I explained that he could help these kids by buying food, and having Foodbank deliver it.

It was like seeing a lightbulb go off in his little head: he got it.

Even better, he’d brought along his Give jar and proudly gave some of his pocket money.

Now that’s a subculture I’m proud to be part of.

Tread Your Own Path!

Fearless Despite the Floods

Hi Scott,

It is 3am and I am wide awake checking the river levels from a mate’s house to see if our house has gone under yet — a bloody stressful time for our town (Townsville). Yet one thing I do not have to worry about is my important documents and my most cherished items. My ‘Fearless Folder’ and valuable are with me in my waterproof safe.

Once this mess is all over my kids have already decided that their Give jar will be going towards the recovery of Townsville for as long as it is needed. That makes my heart smile as they themselves may end up losing their possessions. These two things are giving me hope in a pretty crappy time. I thank you for that, and have no doubt there are many in Townsville doing the same.

Andrea

Hey Andrea,

Your joint’s flooding and you’re emailing me?

Seriously, I love the fact that you’re so calm in the face of a disaster: that’s what happens when you’ve got your money sorted, and your plan in place. Even better, you’re turning this into a powerful life lesson that you’re kids will remember.

You Got This!

Scott

Top of the Class

Hey Scott,

I was indoctrinated into the ‘Barefoot cult’ around Easter this year, and it has changed my life. I am a business studies teacher in a low socio-economic high school in Brisbane’s south and, since reading your book, have been going on about it to my class. I kept on answering the students’ questions … until I decided to purchase a copy for each of them. When I gave them the books, they high-fived each other and said “This is going to change our lives!” I have cleaned out one Big W store and am making my way round the others. Thank you!

Kim

Hi Kim,

Teenagers? High fiving each other, about something other than a student free day?

You’re using the force, sister!

Without knowing it, you’ve just completed the money class I’m trialling in schools:

Step 1: Is to teach the teachers, so they can lift their own financial confidence. (It’d be pretty hard to talk to a bunch of kids about the dangers of credit cards when you have credit card debt yourself!)

Step 2: Is to teach the kids.

Step 3: Is to encourage the kids go home and share what they’ve learnt with their parents.

My motto is: if you help the kids, you help the parents. And if you help the parents, you change the nation.

Thanks for your support!

Scott

25 days of disappointment

Let me tell you about how, a few years ago, I created a family Christmas tradition …

… which has caused me nothing but stress, and given my kids 25 days of disappointment.

It began one day in Aldi, as disappointment often does.

I had the choice between buying an advent calendar for $12, or 25 small ‘stockings on a string’ for $5.

Guess which one the Barefoot Investor chose?

Now, given stockings on a string aren’t as intuitive as opening a calendar each day, I concocted a complicated backstory that involved elves coming to the farm each night and leaving a gift in a little numbered stocking to help the kids count down to Christmas.

Father of the year, right?

Wrong.

There’s always at least one night I forget, meaning I have to explain to our lip-quivering kids the next morning why the elves didn’t come. Slightly better, one morning I bolted upright in bed as I heard the kids stirring, raced down the hall, and stuffed something in the stocking:

“Dad, the elves gave us … a AAA battery?”

“They’re smart, those elves. You never know when you’ll need a battery … like for the TV remote”, said the worst father in the world.

Ho! Ho! D’Oh!

Christmas may be known as the time for ‘giving’, but to most school-aged kids it’s really a time for ‘getting’:

A survey by News Limited earlier this month found that an overwhelming majority of parents (76%) say their kids have higher expectations of what Christmas presents they’ll receive compared to when they were kids.

Yet expectation is one reindeer down from entitlement.

So while ‘25 days of disappointment’ is a family Christmas tradition I’ve created, it’s not the only one.

Throughout the year my kids follow the Barefoot ‘3, 3, 3’ rule of pocket money. (Three weekly jobs, dished into three jam jars marked ‘Splurge’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Give’, checked off each Sunday night in three minutes.)

And the most important money jar at this time of the year — when we’re being undermined by fat men in red suits, and bombarded with advertising — is the Give Jar.

This simple little pocket money system has helped us create a new family legend: our family helps people in our community who are doing it tough at Christmas. That’s what we do … that’s who we are. We’re givers and it feels great.

Now that is a Christmas family tradition that will breed happiness and kindness.

Tread Your Own Path!

The Most Moving Message I Received in 2018

Throughout the year, I’ve received thousands of messages from Barefooters.

This is the one that moved me the most:

Dear Scott,

Five years ago our middle child was diagnosed with brain cancer, at five years old. We had to move to the city for his treatment, and my husband had to commute for work as much as our situation allowed. This meant we had to find funds for rent as well as mortgage and bills, all while living off a very limited wage. We didn’t even qualify for a credit card, though after reading your book I’m so glad we didn’t get one.

After our son passed away, we spent years trying to claw our way back from financial ruin, and it was near on impossible — until I was told about your book eight months ago. I thought I would struggle to read it (that the financial terms would go over my head), but you had me laughing, crying and captivated to the end.We honestly thought we were in for a lifetime of debt, but thanks to you we are already breathing easier. We are in a far better position than we were, and the improvements we’re making are noticeable. And with your new ‘Families’ book our children are learning to be smart with their money too. We’ve started the jam jars with our little ones, and our teens have both got jobs and set up their bank accounts to include savings. I am so proud of them and completely loving that I have been able to give them the headstart I never had.

I can honestly say that if not for your advice we would never have reached a position of financial freedom. So from the bottom of my broken heart, thank you.

Jennie

Thank you for writing, Jennie.

I’ve chosen your letter to end my column on for 2018 because you epitomise what Barefooters around the country are doggedly working towards: looking after their family, and gaining financial control.

That you’ve soldiered on through your heartbreak is a testament to your strength.

You Got This.

And to you ‒ the person reading this ‒ thank you for helping me spread my message to people like Jennie.

This wraps up my columns for the year. I’m taking the school holidays off to hang out with the family, and will be back ready and raring to go in 2019.

Tread Your Own Path!

Scott

Spreading the Love

Dear Scott,

I am the Team Manager for Domestic and Family Violence Programs for Mercy Community. I am not asking for anything ‒ I just wanted to let you know that I am applying for a grant as part of Queensland Women’s Week to put together financial packs for women in refuges to help them with their financial literacy post-separation. The grant is for $3,000 and I am aiming to buy 100 of your Barefoot Investor for Families book for the packs, along with supporting information. If you object to this, please get in touch.

Carmel

Hi Carmel,

I object! You shouldn’t have to pay a cent for those books!

Supporting some of the most vulnerable people in society — abused women and their kids — is critically important work. So I’ll send you 100 copies of my old book, The Barefoot Investor, and 100 copies of my new book, The Barefoot Investor for Families. Thanks for what you do.

Scott

The 3 books I’m giving for Christmas this year

Christmas shopping sucks, right?

Not for me.

Years ago, I cracked the Christmas shopping code: I buy people books.

Although I must confess, last year it didn’t work out so well.

I bought my mother-in-law Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

She opened the present, scanned the title, and the look on her face said it all.

“Oh, I’m not saying you’re a hoarder … it’s just … a really good book. Merry … Christmas”, I added.

Silence.

Anyway, you’re not going to be that stupid, so here are the books I’ve got in my Santa sack this year:

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Bill Gates says this is one of the most important books he’s ever read.

Author Hans Rosling systematically unpacks fake news, sensationalist clickbait, and doom-and-gloom headlines with cold hard facts: actually, in almost every way, the world is getting much better.

While the media reports obsessively on the latest drama of the moment, the upward movement of human progress marches on with little fanfare. This book shows you how to look at the world in a rational, fact-based way.

A perfect gift for your manic-depressive, we’re-going-to-hell-in-a handbasket, MAGA-hat-wearing brother-in-law.

Where Are The Customers’ Yachts?

This year we’ve watched — gobs agape — at the sheer rat cunning of financial institutions: charging dead people for advice, ripping off the mentally disabled, and billing for advice they never gave.

Has it always been this bad?

Hell, yes!

Almost 80 years ago Fred Schwed wrote the book Where Are The Customers’ Yachts?

The title of the book comes from a legendary story about a visitor to New York who stands admiring the expensive yachts of the Wall Street brokers. He naively asks, “Where are all the customers yachts?”

Of course, there were none. As every bank CEO knows intuitively, the really big money is made in providing financial advice, rather than receiving it. This book will make you laugh and cry.

A great book for anyone who is reviewing their super fund fees over the holidays.

How to Break Up with Your Phone

Our phones (and the apps on them) are designed to be highly addictive. They manipulate our brains, suck up ever increasing amounts of our attention, and capture the one true resource we can never replace: our precious time.

Author Catherine Price explains how phones are changing our brains, and provides a four-week program that shows you how to break up with your phone and form a healthier relationship with your screen.
A great gift for … me.

And yes, you guessed it, I’ll also be gifting my book, The Barefoot Investor for Families.

I’ll confess: while I originally wrote the book for parents and grandparents, a huge surprise for me has been how successful the book has been with kids. I’m pitching it as a perfect stocking-filler. After all, the skills the book teaches will set their kids up for life. And that’s a pretty cool Christmas present to give, right?

Tread Your Own Path!

19-Year-Old Girl Wins the Lottery

Hi Scott,

I am 19 and was given your book last Christmas. I am not the greatest saver — I like to splurge a little too often. Yet a year after reading the book I have over $16,000 in savings, $4,000 of which is in shares. Recently I did my tax return and the accountant was asking how a 19-year-old girl seems to have it so together. I explained that she could buy your book for $29.95 (or less at Big W), and while she was doing my tax return I drew your ‘serviette strategy’ on the back of an invoice sheet. She looked at me in amazement the entire time, even though I was basically regurgitating everything you had explained. It was an awesome feeling. So I wanted to say thank you — you have given me a $29.95 lottery ticket that has earned me thousands!

Zoe

Hi Zoe,

I’m punching the air as I’m reading this.

Most people leave school believing they have no idea about money, and then they prove it to themselves.

Not you!

I guarantee your accountant was thinking, “Why wasn’t I this sorted out when I was 19?”

(As are everyone reading this right now.)

Well done. You got this!

Scott