Revenge of the Maths Nerd

Hi Barefoot,

Following the steps of the Barefoot Investor, I have turned a crippling financial anxiety into a point of personal strength. I was a pure mathematics undergraduate who could integrate the most obscure of orthogonal projections, but I seemingly couldn’t change the trajectory of a $12,000 credit card debt. You made me realise that CommBank’s ‘present’ of a credit card on my 18th birthday was the worst thing I could have received. It’s now blended! In all seriousness, thank you.

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Often when I’m talking to educators about getting money taught in schools, I get cornered by the ‘Maths Mafia’ who assure me that financial literacy is their bag.

And when they do, my heart sinks a little.

That’s because I firmly believe that managing your money successfully is more about literacy than it is about numeracy. Money is a language, and if you don’t know how to speak it you won’t understand it … and you’ll be manipulated by fast-talking behavioural marketers who do.

Your story proves it.

Scott.