You Made Me Cry

You made me cry today. My 90-year-old mum had her purse stolen at the local shopping centre. When I told my seven-year-old, he immediately made her a card, put in all the money from his three jars, and gave it to his grandma. I am so proud of him. Thank you.

Melanie

Melanie,

What a great kid you have!

My biggest fear is that my kids will grow up to become entitled brats.

That’s why the ‘Money Movement’ program I’ve created for primary school kids is all about Jam Jars. The Jam Jars give the kids (and their parents) the behavioural building blocks that will shape the rest of their lives: to be hard workers, smart spenders, savvy savers, and generous givers.

The final lesson of the program has the kids brainstorming ideas of who they can help in their local community, and then donating the money in their class ‘Give’ jar.

A Cambridge University study found that adult money habits start to become fixed by age seven!

It makes sense when you think about it: as the Jesuits say, “Show me the boy at seven, and I’ll show you the man”.

Well done.

Scott

Would You Like a Credit Card With that?

Hi Scott,

My 19-year-old daughter just started a job at David Jones. To my horror, one of her KPIs is to sell the David Jones credit card to customers. In fact staff are incentivised $75 for every customer they sign up. There is a lot of pressure on her to meet this KPI, and we both feel very uncomfortable with this. I would be interested in your thoughts on this practice.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Would you like a credit card with that?!

Seems the beancounters at David Jones have worked out there’s potentially more money to be made flogging debt than designer duds:

The David Jones American Express Platinum Card has an interest rate of 20.74% on purchases, and a ‘competitive annual card fee of $295’.

(They seriously think that’s competitive? Who the hell are they competing with? Cash Converters?)

Anyway, this is exactly why I’m starting ‘Barefoot’s Money Movement’

Debt has been sold to us so relentlessly, so forcefully and so underhandedly that we’ve become desensitised to it.

Look, I’m not saying that DJs shouldn’t be allowed to sell debt, or that your daughter is wrong for following orders.

(That being said, if she feels uncomfortable about it, that’s a very, very good sign. Encourage her to trust her gut and her ethics. That’s a proud parent moment right there.)

What I am saying is that I’m sure as hell going to do everything I can to make sure kids coming out of school see the trap before they get upsold into the merry-go-round of misery. And in the next few weeks I’m back to my old school (in Ouyen, Victoria) to blend up some credit cards in the classroom!

True dinks!

Scott

The School Chaplain

Hi Scott,

I know you have already had lots of positive support, but I couldn’t agree more with the priest who sent you encouraging words last week. I am a School Chaplain. The other day, a few 16-year-old students were asking me about jobs they could make a lot of money from. I told them it was probably more important they learnt what to do with the money they did earn, and then recommended your book. I was amazed when one of them turned up the next day with the book. Coincidentally the department’s network went down that day and this boy was sitting in his IT class with a teacher who couldn’t really teach IT without a network connection. Out comes the Barefoot Investor book, and the young teacher (who loves your work too) starts taking the class through some of the principles. It got me thinking ‒ how do you think it best to bring your Barefoot principles into a classroom?

Glen

Thanks Glen,

I donated a copy of my book to every school library in the country, so I’m glad they’re being read!

As for getting these money principles into schools, I’d really encourage you, and anyone else reading this, to head over to barefootmoneymovement.org.au and apply for our pilot program!

Scott