The best question this year
How cool is this?
On Tuesday an eight-year-old named Molly filled out the “Ask Barefoot” form on my website:
“My parents won’t allow me to buy shares, and it makes me feel so sad. Please help me! Molly”
Molly could’ve been on Roblox. Or Netflix. Instead she’s on my website, asking about money.
(Under annual income she wrote: $100.)
Well Molly, you’ve shot to the top of my pile. By the end of this not only will you own your first shares… you and I will have taught your parents a lesson that changes their lives.
Here’s the thing about Mum and Dad. They’re probably a bit scared of the share market. Most adults are. Nobody taught them this at school, so it feels risky and confusing.
Your mission is to teach them… tonight, over dinner.
First, print off the 2026 Vanguard Index Chart. Google it. It’s free, and it’s the ‘Mona Lisa’ of money.
While you eat your broccoli, ask your parents:
“How old were you two 30 years ago?”
Chances are they were about your age.
Now show them the chart. It tracks what $10,000 in 1996 would be worth today if you’d invested it in different things.
Left in cash it becomes $32,459.
Put into Aussie shares, it becomes $132,931.
The difference? A hundred grand!
“But what if we invest and it crashes like your uncle Derrick is always warning about?” they’ll ask.
Great question. Let’s play a game.
Imagine you’re the unluckiest investor in the country. Vanguard actually ran the numbers on this.
You invest $10,000 into a mix of local and global index funds … right before the dot-com crash.
Another $10,000 … right before the Global Financial Crisis.
And the last $10,000 … right before Covid hits.
Every time, you buy at the absolute peak. Thirty grand at the three worst moments in a generation.
So how did you do?
Today it’s worth $117,000.
Yet if you kept it in cash it would only be worth $54,000.
(And let’s be honest, most of that cash would have disappeared on holidays, renovations, and “just this once” spending.)
The worst-timed investor in Australia still doubled the one who “played it safe”.
Yes, things went wrong. Covid. Dot-com. The GFC. Uncle Derrick will keep warning you about the next disaster until the day he dies. The trick is to look at what quietly went right.
You’ve done three things. You taught your parents something. You learned the best way to learn anything… by teaching it. And you flicked on the most powerful force in the universe: compound interest.
Google “Aussie investing apps for kids”, then get your parents to download one and buy some shares (called index funds) for you. You can start with as little as $5. And remind your parents they can invest some of their money too! Why should you have all the fun?
Before you ask to leave the table, ask one last question to make your parents squirm.
“How old will you be in 30 years?”
You’ll be 38, Molly. Wealthy. And only just getting started.
Your parents?
They’ll be pushing 70… still wondering if they should have started earlier.
The truth?
This was never a column about an eight-year-old.
It’s about you.
The one reading this on your phone, or in the paper, or while you’re meant to be doing something else. You’ve got the chart. You’ve got the proof. You’ve got an eight-year-old who’s already braver than most adults.
So what the hell are you waiting for?
Tread Your Own Path!
Your Questions & Answers
Paralysed with Fear
The $5 Million Accountant
Paralysed with Fear
Hi Scott,
I’m 42 years old. Two years ago my husband left, giving me 100% care of our two kids. We're immigrants with no family here. I was never allowed to handle our finances. Any question made him angry, as if I were attacking him. He earned $300k a year but still ran up $53k in credit card debt.
After the settlement I received around $400k. I stared at that number for months, paralysed. Then I read your book and put it into high-yield accounts. I now work part-time on a low wage, with single-parent tax benefits. My super is only $13k. His child support covers the rent on our one-bedroom unit. It's getting small as the kids grow, but they're in a great school and we've finally found community and belonging. I won't pull them out to save money.
I sit on the cash, because if the child support stops we have no way to survive. My only plan B is to buy a studio, so we have a roof. That means nothing for super, nothing for shares. Am I okay or am I crazy to just sit on it until the kids are old enough to be financially independent adults? It is about 25 years left for my 3 years old to be able to take care of himself.
Indra
Hi Indra,
You are not crazy.
You’re a single mum in a foreign land with no family and no backstop. You’ve suffered financial abuse and betrayal. So you chose safety for you and your kids. That makes complete sense to me.
Yet here’s the thing I want you to see. He’s still controlling you. You’re squeezing your family into a one-bedroom unit and sitting on $400,000 of your own money because you’re scared of what he might do.
Screw him.
That money is yours. Spend some of it on renting a place that actually fits your family. It doesn’t need to be flash, but it does need to be big enough that you live comfortably.
If you were my sister, here’s what I’d tell you.
Get yourself so damned secure you’re bulletproof.
You don’t have to solve the next 25 years today. Just take the next step.
For the next few years, your best return will come from investing in yourself. Get a qualification or training that moves you into higher-paid work.
I know what you’re thinking. As a single working parent there aren’t enough hours in the day. So use some of the money to buy time. A babysitter or a cleaner. Free yourself up to focus on building your career.
While you’re at it, sort out your super and make sure you have income protection, disability and life cover through the fund. Your super is the one thing that’s just for you. And you don’t have to carry the kids until they’re 28. Eighteen is enough.
Do this and in a few years your income will be growing. You’ll be able to buy a home of your own. And you’ll have the financial safety you need.
Indra, you may doubt that you can do this.
I have no doubts whatsoever.
You know why?
Because I see a woman with grit whose kids are in a great school, in a community where they belong. You did that.
Your kids are watching. They’re getting a masterclass in grit from the strongest person they know.
That’s the real inheritance.
You’ve got this.
The $5 Million Accountant
Scott,
My dad spent a lifetime building an accountancy practice and delivering sage, safe advice. When he sold his practice he was going through the emotional upheaval of retirement, but he didn't talk it out with a counsellor. Instead he got hooked by a highly sophisticated crypto scam, with a legit-appearing front.
He has handed over in excess of $5 million to them (details are not clear, he is very unwilling to divulge). This would be the proceeds from selling his business, and devastatingly, his house.
We thought he was out of it. He told us that he had received a sum back, and that he would secure his accommodation, but he's just started (again) asking for money. He thinks that a few thousandthousands would get him his money back. The whole family has urged him to report to the authorities and file for bankruptcy. I think he is too deeply in denial, as he's continuing to insist that he is not bankrupt.
Kate
Hi Kate,
That is absolutely horrific.
I’m so sorry this happened to your dad.
You said that your dad received a “sum back”. That’s the equivalent of a $1 pokie machine ‘winning’ 10 cents: they’ve already stolen $5 million from him. They won’t stop until he goes bankrupt. Even then they’ll keep going trying to squeeze the last few bucks out of him. I’ve seen them steal the insurance payout from a terminal brain cancer patient.
These people are evil.
More than 80% of Australians received at least one scam attempt in the last year, according to the ABS.
They’re so prevalent that we all know someone who’s lost money. Yet it’s not just the money that gets lost. People get robbed of their sense of self worth … and they often lose their will to live.
Your father needs proper support and counselling right now, and more than ever. The money is gone. What matters is that he’s still here. That’s the one thing left to protect.
The only way you can defeat evil is with unconditional love.
Thanks for reading,
Scott.