Don’t Raise a Tightarse

Hi Scott,

Loving your new book, but I have a question. If a child does not want to spend their accumulated ‘Splurge’ money, isn’t that effectively another form of savings? I am trying to identify the more important lesson. Is it the realisation through experience that splurging can result in the impulse buying of random, insignificant items or should it be rewarding the decision not to splurge at times and having that money to top up their savings?

Joanne

Hi Joanne,

Congratulations on doing the jam jars!

You’re well ahead of most parents, who do pocket money for a while and then let it fizzle out, and give up.

Getting your kids to dish their pocket money into three jars teaches fundamental life lessons:

The ‘Smile’ jar teaches them the power of saving up for something that makes them smile.

The ‘Give’ jar teaches them the joy of generosity, and breaks the entitled bratty mentality some kids have.

The ‘Splurge’ jar teaches them how to spend their money wisely and enjoy it.

(The biggest financial fear that I have for my kids — having the Barefoot Investor as their dad — is they’ll be so focused on money that they’ll become tightarses. I don’t want to raise stingy, money-hungry kids. There’s a fine line between “8-year-old Johnny’s such a good saver, he won’t spend a cent!” and “28-year-old John is such a tightarse, no wonder he doesn’t have a girlfriend”).

So, Joanne, I’d encourage your kids to splurge some of their money. Yes, they’ll make some mistakes, as we all do. But then again, that’s how we learn, right?

Scott

The Sunday Night Ritual

Hi Scott,

We are two weeks into our ‘Barefoot family experience’. The kids are excited to be doing chores (who would have thought?!), and doubly excited to be watching their money grow in their jars. They are even loving the cooking challenge, and I amazed myself by leaving meal preparation completely up to them.At age 42, this is the first time in my life I have had thousands of dollars in the bank, instead of living week to week. It’s a huge relief to know that “I’ve got this” and, even more importantly, to show my children how to be financially smart for life.

Ben

Hi Ben,

If you’re looking for a way to get a huge reward with very little effort, you’ve found it. You are changing your family tree every Sunday night, mate. That’s what it’s all about, right? Well done!

Scott

The Do-Gooder

Dear Mr Foot,

I do not know if you follow the Facebook groups formed around your books. But there has been a lot of pushback on your idea of the ‘Give Jar’ and kids giving a portion of their money to those in need. Some people cover it up by suggesting you meant the jar is for buying gifts for family or friends. Others reject the idea outright. Is this the state of our country?

Jen

Hi Jen,

People may say I’ve become a do-gooder by getting kids to put some of their pocket money into a Give Jar, but I can tell you it’s got nothing to do with raising a little Bono (who wears sunglasses to the dinner table and lectures everyone about starving kids in Africa).

Rather, it’s the only way I know that you can ‘break the brat’ in your kids. (Well, other than hard work.)

Look, our kids are living through the richest time in history, in one of the richest countries on earth. As a consequence, all the lecturing in the world can’t make them see how good they’ve got it.

But action can.

In fact, a researcher called Tim Kasser did a study called the ‘Materialism Intervention’. He picked a group of spoilt brats and got them to keep a ‘give jar’, donate to people who need it, and do some volunteer work. He also set up a control group of kids who did none of these things.

His research found that kids who had the intervention showed sustained increases in self-esteem over time, whereas their counterparts in the control group experienced decreases in self-esteem. And the best part is, it lasted: 10 months after the initial study, those same ex-brats reported that their wellbeing was still improving.

And it will work for your kids. As a bonus, if you do my ‘volunteer challenge’ as a family, it’ll create memories you’ll cherish in 20 years’ time.

Oh, and I take the Groucho Marx view of Facebook groups: I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.

Scott

Barefoot Money Meals

Hey Scott and family!

I know you are probably being inundated with emails and messages about your new book (which is just freaking amazing!) but I wanted to share our experience.

Today we did the Grandparents’ Dinner Party from Chapter 3. Our eldest, 11-year-old Zeek, invited his grandparents for dinner. I showed Zeek the Barefoot Burgers recipe and he was super keen, so he wrote his list and off we went to Coles. He got his own trolley, and had his list and $30 to feed seven people. Not only did he clearly see where the cheapest items in store were ‒ he came in nearly $6 UNDER budget!

That night he turned the burgers into rissoles with a pasta side dish, steamed veg, plus the most divine chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted! Zeek then brought the cake to the table and said, “I have an announcement: tonight’s dinner was bought, prepped, cooked and served all by me!”The grandparents gasped ‒ then he showed them his receipt, and how he’d successfully made seven meals (with some leftovers for dads lunch) for $24.25. We all cheered while he cut and proudly dished his cake to us all.Without your book I don’t think I’d ever have given Zeek the opportunity to do what he just did at his age. This has totally changed my view! He has requested that he cook dinner every Wednesday (‘Money Meal’ night). And we are all for it.I cannot thank you enough for the head-start our boys are getting. We are proud ‘cult’ members for life!P.S. Your mum’s rissole recipe is just wicked!

Georgine

Hi Georgine,

This is totally awesome.

Parenting is a tough and mostly thankless job. Yet what you’re doing is not only building up Zeek’s financial confidence, but creating memories that you’ll have long after he (successfully) moves out. So please keep taking pics!

Zeek, good on you mate. Keep working your way through the entire Barefoot 10 checklist, and keep me updated on how it all goes. Catch you round like a rissole (and I’ll pass on your mum’s kind words to my mum.)

Thank-you for reading.

Scott

One Star Amazon Reviews

After 18 months of tapping and toiling away, I finally pushed my new literary baby into the big wide world.

And the very first review on Amazon?

One star.

(Amazon is being generous here, because you can’t click zero stars.)

Yet I actually punched the air when I saw it … true dinks!

I took it as a good omen, given my last book’s first review was also ‘one star’.

(An employee from my old publisher thought he’d try and generate some buzz, so he wrote my very first review -- “great read!” -- but then ballsed it up by clicking one star instead of five  … and it’s still there today.)

What am I getting at?

We’re living in a hyper-connected, hyper-critical digital age, and you can’t control what people say about you.

Case in point, this week a bloke wrote that he’d seen through my covert operation of writing a book for kids and had unpicked the darker side of what I’m plotting: “He’s just hating on Commbank because they are in the same space he wants to be in ... schools.”

Boom!

So, while revelations this week showed that Australia’s largest issuer of credit cards paid Queensland state schools almost $400,000 for the right to sign up school kids, apparently I’m trying to compete with them to sign up kids to … jam jars?  And I’m apparently trying to flog their parents my book … that they can borrow from their school library? (I have donated 10,000 books ‒ one to every school in the country, so parents don't have to go out and buy it).

Bottom line?

Make peace with the fact that if you’re doing brave things (working hard, starting something, backing yourself), you’re going to make some people uncomfortable. And when it comes, don’t be surprised by criticism. Embrace it. It’s a sign that you’re treading your own path.

Tread Your Own Path!

P.S Can you please do me a favor?

I’d really appreciate it if you leave a quick honest review here.

(Good, bad, or otherwise).

Can Grandparents Do This?

Hi Scott,

I ordered three copies of your book, one for each of my adult children, but I am worried they will be too busy to get time to read it. For my grandkids’ sake I really want them to actually do it! So my question is, is this something we should do as grandparents, or do you have another idea?

Barbara

Hi Barbara,

I’d say you have three options:

First, you can do it with your grandkids. Why not? It may well grow into a special bond that you create with them.

Second, you can read the book and break it down for your time-poor adult kids so that it’s really easy (all they need to get started is three jam jars and a scoreboard (you can print from my website ‒ www.barefootinvestor.com/resources ‒ for free). Then you can casually skip to Chapter 3: The Grandparents’ Dinner Party and introduce them to the concept of the Barefoot Money Meals while you’re enjoying your grandkids’ cooking!

Third, you can get them (your adult children, I mean) the audiobook and ask them to play it when they’re in the car.

Here’s to changing your family tree!

Scott

The Second Chance

Hi Scott,

I was so excited when I read last week that you donated some of your books to a father doing time in Bathurst Correctional Complex. I just wanted to say thank you. Having someone in your position say “everyone deserves a second chance … and many people inside are parents” means a lot.I work for a non-profit volunteer group called Second Chances SA. We work with prisoners, their children and their families to help them create a better future for themselves. It’s not easy, but it’s just so important for the kids. They’re the innocent victims of their parents’ crimes. It’s not their fault!

Helen

G’day Helen,

You’re in luck.At the beginning of my new book I make what I call ‘The Barefoot Pledge’.

It was inspired by my old man. When I told him I was writing another book he said: “Just make sure you don’t become a wanker. Look after the battlers, son.”

So for every 10 copies of the book that I sell, I’m pledging to donate one copy to a parent in hardship.

And having a parent in the clink would certainly be bloody hard, so I’m going to send you through some books.

Thanks for the hard work you do.

Scott

My Proudest Dad Moment

I am not like most fathers.

See, most kids grow up watching their dad get into his work clobber and head off to work each day.

I, on the other hand, spend months at a time in my tracky dacks, heading upstairs now and then to tap away at a computer.

The very same computer my kids watch The Wiggles on. For all they know, I could be spending my day with Dorothy the Dinosaur.

Yet every father longs to be a hero to their kids.

So last year I decided to take my four-year-old son to a bookstore to show him my bestselling book.

The only problem?

I couldn’t find a single copy. It wasn’t on the shelves. I looked everywhere. Desperately. Not even one.

“Your book. It isn’t here, is it Daddy?” he said, squeezing my hand.

As luck would have it, a shop assistant walked past, recognised me and said “follow me”.

She took us out to the storeroom and showed us a sign pinned to the staff noticeboard that read: “Barefoot Investor … Because of theft, NO copies will be kept on the floor.”

True story.

Daddy’s book was popular … with thieves.

Recently, for the launch of my new book, my publisher asked if I could go to the printers’ and sign some copies.

I didn’t have to be asked twice. See, my son (now five) is obsessed with machinery. This was my chance to show him plenty of big machines … and plenty of copies of my new book.

The day turned out to be one of the highlights of my career:

Not just because of the sight of a hundred thousand copies of my book rolling off the presses.

But because I’m incredibly proud my book was printed in Australia — and, as luck would have it, only an hour from our family farm, at McPherson’s Printing in Maryborough, country Victoria.

The workers really turned it on for my son and me (and my dad, who tagged along too — they got three generations of Papes who are fond of a good conveyer belt!).

When we returned home from our adventure, I seriously felt like Gary Ablett (Junior or Senior, take your pick).

“It was the best day of my life, better than Christmas!”, my son announced to his mother.

“So, I guess you want to be an author like your dad when you grow up, hey?”

“No, I want to be a printer!”

Tread Your Own Path!

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

Why are you wearing Mummy’s makeup?

Writing a book is a weird experience.

I’ve spent months holed up on the farm, tapping away on my lonesome.

Yet this week couldn’t have been more different … ‘Lights! Camera! Action!’

Yes, I’ve been on the dog and pony show promoting my new book, The Barefoot Investor For Families.

I’ve spent the week spruiking my book on radio and television … generally being interviewed by people who hadn’t read it, weren’t likely to, and often asked the exact same questions.

Then last night I came home to an awkward question from my son:

“Dad ... are you wearing Mummy’s makeup?”, asked my five-year-old.

“It’s for the TV, cobber.”

(Some fathers wear hi-vis and steel-capped boots to work … I wear powder and lip balm.)

Yet what got me through the week was the Barefoot community.

You guys have been sending me awesome pictures of your kids, bringing the book to life and creating new family rituals. Please keep sending them through (scott@barefootinvestor.com) ‒ they absolutely make my day.

So it’s only right that I answer your questions about the new book in my column this week.

Now let’s get into it (after I powder my nose).

Tread Your Own Path!