How Do You Get Paid, Barefoot?

Hi Scott,

I may well be the only person who had never heard of the Barefoot Investor, until this week! I heard you on ABC Radio’s Nightlife and bought your book the next morning. I’ve now finished it and can’t wait to get my investments going for my daughter (four years old). Yet the one thing that makes me a little unsure is that you have these product recommendations in there (zero-fee bank accounts, investment bonds, various super funds). What do you get out of mentioning them?

Steve

Hi Steve,

Awesome question.

Everyone should ask questions like this, because you need to know how people earn their money ‒ and if they’re getting any kickbacks.

So, how do I get paid?

Well, these days I move a lot of books, and I also have an investment newsletter, that’s how I get paid.

In the past I have done paid speaking gigs (for companies, for AFL and NRL clubs, for government departments like ASIC and the ATO, and for banks and super funds), though I haven’t been on the speaking circuit for years.

Yet given you’re new to Barefoot, Steve, let me get one thing very clear: I don’t get paid to recommend any products. Rest assured that anything I write about in my books ‒ the bank accounts, the super funds, the investment bonds, whatever ‒ are simply the lowest-cost, best-value products on the market, and I don’t receive even one cent for any recommendation. And I never will. That’s how I roll.

Having said that, I’d encourage you to do your own research, and, if you can find a better bank account or a cheaper index fund, go with it. Then let me know ‒ because one of the reasons I update my books every year is to keep hunting down the best deals.

When there’s a better deal in the market place, I’m all over it. No fear, no favour.

Scott