Scooting Away

Hi Scott

I would like to thank you for your Barefoot Investor for Families guide. I have two girls — almost four and almost six — and we have implemented your ‘3 jam jars, 3 jobs, 3 minutes’ regime. It is amazing how much can be achieved with a spray bottle and cloth. My eldest daughter just bought her first scooter with her saved money. Her pride in her achievement is priceless.

Regards, Maxine

Hi Maxine,

You nailed it:

It’s amazing how much can be achieved with a spray bottle and cloth.

Here’s the thing: every parent tries pocket money at least once, and it generally fizzles out after a while.

Yet if you’re reading this, just have a look at Maxine’s daughter’s eyes … and tell me it’s not worth an hour of your time on a Sunday to wrangle your kids to get them to do their jobs.

Something amazing happens to a kid when they work hard, save up, and buy something on their own.

Congratulations, and tell your daughter that’s the coolest scooter I’ve seen in a long while!

Scott.

Barefoot Valentine’s Day

Hello Scott,

Our relationship began in an online Barefoot group about two years ago — and we just got married last month! We are hard-working teachers who enjoy being thrifty. We have an ETF share portfolio and an investment property, and we are enjoying the financial freedom of following the Barefoot Steps.

To be together we have had to contend with personal tragedy, extended border restrictions that separated us for months, and a two-week quarantine. We have also had some unexpected medical expenses in this bizarre year. But the whole time we repeated “We’ve got this!” Our wedding was small, uncomplicated and focused, with the same happiness observed as at weddings that cost 10 times what we spent.

Thanks again, Simon and Michelle

Hi guys,

You made my day.

When I started writing this column, I had no idea it would turn into a community.

Yet, over the past 17 years, thousands of Barefooters from all around the country have read along with the questions in these pages each week. Sometimes they thump the table … shake their head … and ask “how the hell did they get themselves into this mess?”

But every now and again a question pops up that has everybody cheering. And, today, yours is it.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Scott.

Break Neck Barefoot

Hi Scott,

Just over three years ago I read your book, and took action. As my husband runs his own company, the first thing we did (after setting up our buckets) was to put aside three months of Mojo. To celebrate our daughter turning four we visited a water park, but it ended in tragedy with my husband breaking his neck. This resulted in a week in the spinal unit and three months in a neck brace, unable to work. The only thing that got us through was having our Mojo to fall back on. Since then he has also been attacked by a dog at work and suffered from a case of the shingles, and each time our Mojo got us through. Who would have known that a $25 book would have helped and saved us so much!

Yours in health, Wendy

Hey Wendy,

Fair dinkum, I thought I’d had it rough in 2020, but your husband wins the COVID cup!

What I took out of last year was an appreciation of just how risky the world really is.

My advice?

Keep your Mojo close (and don’t pat a growling dog).

Scott.

From Average to Awesome

Hi Scott,

I wanted to share a story with you. Two years ago our young family of five employed a money method that many other families use: everything on the credit card, big limit, and spend, spend, spend! Then pay the bill, except not in full every month, with the snowball effect equaling a biggish ($30k) bill every few years that then has to be paid by rolling it into a larger debt like the mortgage. It was not a good picture.

Then we read your book, and implemented it.

In June my husband was made redundant, with no payout and no jobkeeper! Yet we were fine. And why was that? Because of you. Because we thought to buy a book for $25 and read it and learnt. My parents taught me nothing about money other than spending it, my husband didn’t learn much either. Yet we had our mojo ready to go, and in the end, we haven’t touched it because the husband got a new job and started today.

Five months of no employment, and now it’s over. It was awful and stressful but not nearly as bad as it would have been if we had gone into it with our old plan of big, rolling credit card debt. So Scott, I salute you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing us the right way to manage money and saving us from what could have been a lot worse.

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

Congratulations, you win the award for the longest question I think I’ve ever published!

Your story gives everyone a great insight into how many families with huge mortgages get by: living day-to-day on credit, and then burying the big bill in their mortgage every couple of years. They go to bed each night worrying ... hoping that life could be different. Then they repent and repeat.

Yet it doesn’t have to be that way.

If there’s one gift you could give your family this Christmas, it would be to finally be in total financial control.

Most families that are conditioned to live on credit would scoff at such a suggestion.

Yet you and I know that the feeling of financial control comes before you’ve paid off even a cent of debt.

Rather, it happens when you have a proven plan – a series of steps – that you know will work.

You faced your financial fire and you were able to say “I’ve got this”.

Congratulations, and have a Merry Christmas!

Scott

Safe as Houses

Hi Scott,

I followed your advice and bought the Bunnings portable safe that you wrote about in your column a couple of weeks ago. However, when we were faced with our fire I was so panicked I forgot to grab it… however it was the only thing that survived in that room! And because it survived I now have everything I have been asked to produce for insurance, quotes, and house plans. Thankyou for your old-fashioned good advice to this generation.

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Still, having all your docs will make the often painful insurance process that much easier (and if you have ‘before’ pics on your phone of your house, that’ll help too).

And, while you’re the perfect case study for the importance of having a safe, I view our safe just as much as a communication device: if something should happen to me, my wife knows that the keys to our financial life (or at least the copies of our keys) are all set out in one place.

Truth be told, I got a huge reaction to my column (especially from the mysterious safe-cracker, who didn’t like me joking that he could come back and open my safe). In fact, many parents wrote to me saying that they plan to buy a cheap, fireproof safe for a Christmas present for their adult kids (though it appears Bunnings has now sold out of the $69 version!). Now that is a practical present … you could even put some gold chocolate coins in them … and a copy of my books.

Scott

The Name of Your Book Is Wrong!

Hi Scott,

I came to Australia four years ago with hopes of a better life for my family. We knew no one and had just $8,000 dollars -- that was a stressful time. Then I stumbled across your audio-book. Fast forward four years: I have three months of Mojo and we recently bought our home with a 20% deposit. I have increased my income by 33% and am due for another promotion. I have even started volunteering, following your advice -- we do laundry for homeless people. I live a much happier life thanks to your book. You call it a money guide -- wrong! It is a happiness guide.

Mayanka

Hey Mayanka,

Thank you so much for writing.

I get thousands of people who write to me all jazzed up straight after they’ve finished the book. Yet what’s cool is that now, four years since the book came out, I’ve been getting emails from people like you who’ve used it to make some amazing gains.

Congratulations on making your way in the best country on earth. You got this!

A Mother with a Message

Hi Scott,

A year ago I was a fit and healthy 42-year-old single mum with two boys aged 10 and seven. Your book has helped me get on top of my finances, and every year I re-read it (well, listen to it on my commute). When I read it in October 2019, I realised my death and TPD  insurance wasn’t anywhere near the 10 times annual salary you recommend, so I bumped it right up. 

And I am so glad I did. Last December I was diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer, and my insurer has now paid out nearly $1 million. I have been able to pay for specialist treatment not covered by Medicare, see off the mortgage, and set up a trust to support my boys when I am not here. So much of how well I am doing is because I have the financial freedom to just live. Everyone should have this freedom. So thank you, Scott, for the work you do — you are saving lives.

Emma 

Hi Emma,

Just wow.

The greatest respect I can give you is to put this in front of my community of Barefooters.

If you’re a parent, you need to follow Emma’s lead and act on this.

The ‘10 times your salary’ figure is a very rough guide of course — you should speak to your super fund’s financial advisor (in the first instance) about what’s right for their family.

Do it for Emma. Do it for your kids. Do it TODAY.

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!