Leaving a Cult

Hi Scott,
 
I’ve known about the Barefoot Investor for years, but I couldn’t buy your book as I was being severely controlled physically and financially by my parents, who raised my siblings and me in a religious cult that considered living in poverty as absolute for being a devoted follower.
 
My parents literally took every cent I earned for over a decade and coerced us into paying off their five personal investment properties. Last year, after getting a good legal team and a Supreme Court hearing – and breaking free of the cult I was born into – I purchased your book as a birthday present to myself (celebrating birthdays was forbidden in the cult).
 
My husband and I are now working through the Barefoot Steps together and I have purchased your book for my siblings and their partners, as well as the few close friends who haven’t shunned me after I escaped the cult. I’m truly happy for the first time in my life and have control over my own finances. Thank you.
 
Rebecca

Hi Rebecca,
 
There are no winners in this situation … but a couple of sinners. 
 
Your parents applied a religious lens to justify their behaviour, but they were really motivated by greed, power and control. (Though you don’t need to be in a cult to practise monetary manipulation. I meet plenty of women in abusive relationships who have been forced to take out car loans … but don’t have a licence.) 
 
Standing on your own two feet financially will be part of your recovery, and it’ll help rebuild your self-confidence. Welcome to the … Barefoot ‘cult’!

Scott.