St George Bank Swanns Around

Hi Scott,

I am having all sorts of problems trying to cancel the credit card insurance that was added to my St George credit card when I first took it out. I was told that, as I was a single mum, I would not get the card without it. It is just under $90 per month! I cancelled it over a month ago and they are still debiting my card. St George say it’s not them and to call Swann Insurance, who say it’s not them. In the meantime it has overdrawn my account. Please help.

Louise

Hi Louise,

The St George Bank website says: “Please note Credit Card Protect is no longer sold.”Do you know why they’ve stopped selling it?

It’s not because for years it was known in the industry as ‘junk insurance’ and was hard-sold to unsuspecting customers. That’s exactly why they sold it in the first place ‒ they made a fortune out of it!

No, the reason the banks stopped flogging it is because it got the Royal Commission treatment, and, as a result, banks and insurance companies could be looking at stumping up more than $1 billion in refunds.

The Consumer Action Law Centre has set up a free website that makes it easy to claim: demandarefund.com

Yet you don’t have time to wait.

I can’t imagine how distressing this must be for you. You’re a struggling single parent, and you’ve done the right thing, but still had your account has been overdrawn over Easter ... and then probably been hit with more fees!

And it sounds like they’re giving you the run-around: I mean, who cares about a lowly single mother, right?

So let’s you and I take this to the top.

Ross Miller is the General Manager of St George Bank.

Here’s an old party trick: when you mention a bank executive’s name in print, it pops up in their media tracking service. Which means this column will soon land on his desk.

So, Ross Miller, I think you should refund this single mother all the outrageously expensive premiums she’s paid, plus any overdrawn fees or penalties.

Over to you, Ross Miller of St George Bank.

Scott

Filthy from Head to Toe

Hi Scott,

Thanks so much for your last column. My son and I went on our first camping trip these holidays and it was honestly the best holiday ever. I set a limit of $250 from my Smile account, which paid for food, petrol and admission to the Buchan Caves. He spent the whole time exploring, throwing the biggest stones he could find to make the biggest splash he could, and rolling down dirt piles. He was filthy from head to toe, asleep before his head hit the pillow every night, and already planning our next trip before we left the campground. It was amazing, and what’s more we were out of range so I had to turn my phone off -- and did not feel a twinge of guilt.

Thank you, Marie (mum to a little boy who got to be dirty for a few days and had a ball!)

Scott says ...250 bucks! That’s one night at the suburban Mantra, with food poisoning at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Give me damper on a stick and boiling billy any day. (And a few frothies around the campfire when the kids are gone to bed.)

Good on you, Marie.

And thank you for reading.

Scott

Does Jesus Despise the Barefoot Investor?

Hi Scott,

I’m a committed Christian, and I’m also a committed Barefooter, which is why I felt a bit conflicted recently when I saw a blog post by a pastor on the Gospel Coalition website entitled: “Does Jesus despise the Barefoot Investor?”

He writes that your book should be setting off alarm bells for Christians because it encourages people to look to money for their safety rather than the Lord. Have you read the article, and, if so, what are your thoughts?

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

No, Daniel, I had not.

I’m used to hearing from disgruntled AMP financial planners … but now God’s trolling me?

Good Lord!

So, what do I think?

Not much, to be honest. He says my book “should be setting off alarm bells for Christians”, and he thinks that the Mojo account is sacrilege, calling it “a modern day idol”.

I figured he was using my name for clickbait (okay, so we’re both sinners in that regard). Yet, just to be sure I wouldn’t be turned away at the Pearly Gates, I forwarded the article on to my mother, a deeply religious woman who not only goes to church on Sundays but backs up on Tuesday nights too.Here’s what she said:

“You don’t make a god out of money! And you help a lot of people that no one even knows about.”

God bless.

Scott

Where’s the Beef?

Hi Scott,

I am a proud and very passionate vegan who normally couldn’t give a stuff about investing. (Okay, so your book really helped me, but I have never get my head around investing in businesses that harm the planet for future generations). However, some of my vegan friends have been telling me about an amazing company called Beyond Meat that has perfected plant-based meat, which some food critics weren’t able to tell wasn’t meat. It’s backed by Bill Gates and a host of other smart people. Should I follow their lead, and if so how do I invest?

Bree

Hi Bree

As a farmer, I’ve been watching Beyond Meat for a while.

And I’ve been saving up your question until they had their IPO (initial public offering), so I could tuck into it like a juicy Sunday roast.

Grab your fork, Bree. Let’s chew some investment jerky!

Beyond Meat’s signature product is the Beyond Burger patty, which has 20 grams of protein, and by all accounts smells, tastes and even bleeds like a real burger (because of beetroot juice ... rather than blood). It’s a plant-based product, not meat grown in a lab. Coles actually stock their products at selected supermarkets, and in the US their burgers are sold in thousands of supermarkets and restaurants, like TGI Fridays.

It’s a massive market.

Aussies are some of the biggest meat-eaters in the world, consuming around 100kg per person per year!

(Think about your pipes, people!)

Globally, meat consumption has increased from 70 million tonnes in the 1960s to more than 330 million in 2017, according to the United Nations.

Why?

Because the world population is growing, and this is the wealthiest time in human history … and wealthier people eat more meat.

However, there are environmental impacts -- depending on who you believe, producing 1kg of beef requires somewhere between 550 litre of water (beef lobby group) or 100,000 litres (Greens Party). And then there’s the growing backlash from animal welfare and vegan groups.

So it’s not surprising that food conglomerates have been shovelling millions of dollars into producing a low-cost alternative. Beyond Meat debuted on the NASDAQ this week, and its share price rocketed 163% on the day.

In 2017, insiders were buying in at a reported valuation of million.Today, investors are buying in at a valuation of .6 billion!

Key point: insiders like Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio got in to Beyond Beef at very, very low prices.

Now they’re selling their shares to the general public (via the share market) at very, very high prices.

They’re all eating rib eye … but are investors getting the ‘mystery sausage’?After all, Beyond Beef is still very much in start-up phase and has yet to turn a profit (in fact, last year the company lost million).

So what’s my advice?

Call me old-fashioned, but I personally don’t invest in companies that don’t make money, regardless of how attractive the future looks (and the more attractive the future, the more competitors a company will have).

However, if I were in your shoes, I’d probably have a crack: it’s something you’re passionate about, and if you believe in the company and the change it makes, put your money where your tofu is. You can buy shares through your bank’s online international share broker. The ticker code is BYND.

Scott

Single Mum Slays a Dragon

Last weekend I ruined a man’s breakfast.

True dinks.

It all began when I answered a question from Louise in last week’s newspaper.

Here’s a recap:

Louise read my book, went on a Date Night (by herself!), and dutifully checked her bank statement. She found that she was being whacked $90 a month for credit card insurance.

She’d been told -- when she applied for a credit card -- that the only way the bank would give a single mum a card was if she got credit card insurance.

That was a lie.

For the uninitiated, credit card insurance is what Vanilla Ice is to hip hop: a total marketing conjob concocted to fleece unsuspecting people of their money. And that’s not just my view either -- the Royal Commission labelled credit card insurance ‘junk’ and called for it to be banned.

So, for the next month Louise tried to put her policy on ice, ice baby. Yet that was easier said than done -- her bank, St George, bounced her from one department to another, and all the while kept billing her.

Just before the school holidays the bank agreed to stop the payments.

A win!

And Louise could do with a win.

She’s a single mum.

She’d just been laid off from her full-time job.

And her little girl has a very serious illness.

But you know where this is going, don’t you?

Yes, during the school holidays, when money’s always tight, St George hit her account and swallowed up the little money she had. That left her account overdrawn (then again, on the upside, more fees for St George!).

So in my reply last week I went straight to the top: I googled “who the hell is the CEO of St George Bank?” and up popped the smiling face of Ross Miller, the General Manager. I gently suggested (to a few million readers) that he pull his finger out and do something.

I can only imagine poor old Roscoe choking on his morning cornflakes as he read the paper and saw his name in print!

In any event, he got straight on to it. And I mean straight on it -- on a Sunday no less, when banks are all closed, and counting their billions.

The result? Louise not only got her junk insurance cancelled, she got a full backdated refund, paid into her account first thing Monday morning.

Alright, stop, collaborate and listen.

After Grandmaster Hayne recommended that government and regulators act to stop the selling of junk insurance, consumers could be up for up to $1 billion in refunds. So if you’ve been sold junk add-on insurance, head over to demandarefund.com and get your money back.

Rock on, Roscoe!

Tread Your Own Path!

ING Is Not Ethical

Hi Scott,

Love your work. However, I was disappointed to see a news piece in the weekend paper about super funds being less than transparent about their ethics. I was also disappointed to discover that ING invests in coal. Saving money is important to me, but so is using my money ethically. So my question is: can you recommend a truly ethical super fund and bank? And could you consider taking ethics into account when you make recommendations?

Janice

Hi Janice,

Can I recommend an ethical super fund and bank?

No, I can’t.

It would be unethical of me to presuppose other people’s ethics.Some people are like you – they really care about the environment. Others couldn’t give a Clive Palmer.

My job is to educate, empower, and find the best deals without fear or favour.

Then you – the end user – should apply your own criteria.And that’s why I don’t rate ‘ethical’ or ‘socially responsible’ investments.

The article you mentioned cited research from an environmental group called Market Forces which found that some ethical super fund options, from the likes of Hostplus, CareSuper and AMP, don’t disclose the companies they invest in. For example, AMP’s ethical fund holds fossil fuel mining companies.

Then again, AMP argued that it ‘only represents 2% of the portfolio’.

Interesting rebuttal.

That’s like dating what you think is a straight-laced marrying type, only to find he’s just gone on a week-long crystal meth bender. “But I only get on the gear when my bro Tino is in town! It’s, like, 2% of my year. I’m totally legit 98% of the time, babe.”

Right.

My main tofu with ethical funds is not about what they invest in, but that the majority are ‘free range’ in how they charge. “A sizeable number of ‘sustainable’ funds produce sub-optimal returns at relatively high fee levels”, according to SuperRatings.

Personally, I’d rather invest in a low-cost fund and be tens of thousands of dollars better off. Then I can choose to donate the difference to causes that I care about.

Then again, they’re my ethics, not yours!

Scott

Reminder: I first wrote about this years ago and highlighted the low fees. Today there are cheaper index super funds on offer. How do I know? Because my readers constantly email me about them! So before you do anything, go to YourSuper.gov.au and compare super funds first.

My dirty boys weekend

I’m back!

I spent the school holidays roughing it.

(No, really.)

I went on a father and sons trip, camped out in a national park and let the kids range free.

The boys climbed trees, fell out of trees, and ate damper on sticks that weren’t first thoroughly disinfected with wipes.

It was sensational ... and also a bit loose.

One morning I sent Liz a picture of the boys warming themselves around the morning campfire:

“Put their jackets on and get them each a beanie or they’ll catch a cold!” screamed the reply text.

(Terri Irwin she ain’t.)

As we made our way home, the boys were clearly impressed with squeezing into a tent, doing their business behind a tree, and not showering.

“This was the best holiday ever”, announced my six-year-old.

“The best EVER”, parroted his three-year-old brother.

“The best ever?! But what about the time we went to Fiji and I chartered that boat with the marine biologist (which cost me four hundred bucks)? Or when we hired that villa in Bali and went to the water park?”

Blank stares in the back seat.

“Can we go through McDonald’s drive-through on the way home?”

“Yes … but don’t tell your mother.”

As parents we can get stuck on the idea that we need to spend a lot of money – especially in the school holidays – to create memories with our kids. Yet what they really want hasn’t changed that much in generations: outdoor fun, and uninterrupted time with their parents.

Case in point: this week the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that kids under age five should have no more than one hour of screen time per day.

(What that means for us adults, who spend eight hours a day glued to our screens at work, and then thumb through Instagram till our head hits the hay, is a class action suit for another day.)

Still, Silicon Valley tech millionaires – who got rich getting us all hooked on screens – worked this out long ago: Bill Gates didn’t let his kids get a mobile phone until they were 14, and Steve Jobs famously wouldn’t let his kids near an iPad. And in Silicon Valley some of the most popular schools are those that are ‘screen free’.

In a world of increasing distraction, technology and busyness … parents are still the killer app!

How to Prepare for the Coming Stock Market Crash

Hi Barefoot,

My husband and I are two to three years from retirement. Someone told him there will be a financial downturn this year in Australia and our superannuation will be hard hit. Should we move our super somewhere safer?

Clara

Hi Clara,

It sounds like your husband has been hanging out with a tarot card reader (or an economist).

(For my money, tea-leaf readers have slightly more accurate stock market forecasts, and a much better wardrobe.)

Okay, enough of the jokes!

The truth is that when you hit 60, you’re going to stress about money.

It’s unavoidable. Seriously, everyone over 60 I know stresses about the stock market.So let’s talk about how to prepare for it:

The first risk you’ll face is that a stock market crash happening just before, or shortly after, you retire.

(My old finance professor called this ‘sequencing risk’ — which is a fancy way of saying that a market crash in the years leading up to your retirement will have a significant impact on the future income you can generate from your nest-egg).

The second risk is that you’ll freak the hell out, sell at the bottom of the market, and go to the ‘safety’ of cash.

The third and final risk is that you’ll leave that money in cash, and get robbed by rising prices (inflation).

The best way to reduce all three risks is by doing the following:If you’re over 60, start aggressively building up three to five years of ‘Retirement Mojo’ — a cash buffer of living expenses. (If you think you’ll get a pension or part-pension, that’ll reduce the amount you’ll need to save to reach your buffer.)

Better yet, put it on autopilot — contact your ultra-low-cost super fund and request that all future super contributions go to a cash and fixed-interest investment option. However, you should keep the rest of your nest egg in growth assets (within your super fund) to keep your nest egg ahead of inflation.

That way, when the next crash does come -- and it will -- you’ll be able to say to yourself: “That’s Day 1 — it’s a good thing I have 1,095 days (three years) of living expenses set aside to ride this sucker out.”

Scott

A Burglar Stole My Daughter’s Jam Jars

Hi Scott

A burglar stole money from my daughter Linda’s jam jars and wallet! Since September 2018, 10-year-old Linda has been working hard and getting pocket money, which she’s divided into her three labelled jam jars. Yesterday a thief came into our house and stole the lot. Last week looked good: $8 in ‘Save’ (we’d banked most of, thank god!), $6 in ‘Give’, and $90 in ‘Splurge’ -- she was saving for a phone and her wallet contained $39. Now she has no money and is disappointed. We’ve reported it to the police. Should I replace the stolen money, because I can, and I empathise with her? Or do I put it down to life experience?

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

Please do me a favour and read this letter to your daughter:

Dear Linda,

It’s Scott Pape here, the bloke who wrote the book about Jam Jars.

Your mum told me about what happened with your money. I’m really sorry about that.

The person who took your money was probably very sad, and very frightened -- and I’m sure they feel really bad about doing the wrong thing. I’m also sure that the police will catch them.

What you need to know is that most people are good, and kind. Even people you’ve never met.

After reading your mum’s letter, I went to my own ‘Give’ jar and realised that I had enough money to replace all the coins that were in your jars. So I sent the money to your mum, and she will give it to you!

What’s cool about the ‘Give’ jar is that you get to be a hero by helping someone.

Yet the real secret is that you not only make someone else happy, you make yourself happy too!

You Got This!

Scott

How Much Will Really Make You Happy?

Before we got married, we signed up for pre-marriage counselling at the local country church.

The pastor asked about our thoughts on work, which was a sticking point: at the time I was working around the clock getting Barefoot up and running, appearing on television, and travelling the country most weeks doing paid speaking gigs.

I turned to Liz and said:

“If in a decade from now I’m still working my guts out, and travelling constantly around the country, the only reason will be because I’m status hungry, and that I value my work over my family. Whatever excuse I give you in the future … will be a lie.”

(Mic drop.)

Liz has not only remembered that conversation ... she has skillfully reminded me of it at opportune times.What the hell was I thinking?

Well, life is difficult to measure, which is why money is such a simple substitute for happiness:

Do I have a bigger house than I used to? A better car? A fancier title? Earning more money?

Even millionaires think they need more. A 2018 Harvard study asked 4,000 millionaires how happy they were, and how much money they’d need to be perfectly happy. The overwhelming answer? Two or three times more than they currently had.

However, I’ve also spent a lot of time around a lot of really old people (some of them fabulously wealthy). And the one regret that keeps coming up is:

“I wish I’d spent less time working, and more time with my family.”

Now I’m sure there are plenty of things pre-marriage counselling didn’t pick up on that I totally suck at.

However, I’m proud to say that I haven’t done a (paid) speaking gig since my kids were born.

And this year my oldest son started school, and he’s coming up for his first school holidays. He’s been excitedly telling me about all the things he wants to do with me … like going camping on the farm, and doing lots of secret boys’ stuff.

That’s why in my last negotiation with this newspaper I told them that from now on I wouldn’t work on school holidays.

There was no negotiation. Take it or leave it.

Now that’s real wealth to me.

See you in two weeks!

Tread Your Own Path!

Are We Stupid?

Hey Barefoot,

My wise old man got me and my boyfriend onto your book, and since September we've put $35,000 into an account for a house deposit! We have a combined annual income of $140,000 pre-tax. The problem is, we have our hearts set on an expensive suburb in Melbourne where prices currently range from $750,000 to $900,000. All our friends are saying we're stupid for spending so much on a first home. Are we stupid?

Nic and Pete

Hi guys,

Yes, you are.Just for kicks I went to a bunch of banks’ ‘how much can I borrow?’ calculators and put in your digits (as you have probably already done). And hot diggity dang, each one calculated that you could borrow $850,000 (or more!), despite the fact it would chew up over half of your combined income after tax.

Problem is, these are marketing tools designed to get you in the door, not lending approvals. On your current numbers, I think you have as much chance of getting a loan as I have of getting my kids to eat all their veggies tonight.

Scott

Use Your In-Tuition

Dear Scott

You believe in people following their intuition (‘in-tuition’ or ‘inner teacher’), right? Well, I made the move from charity work to psychic work in 2011, and I keep having the same dilemma. People think it is greedy (if not evil) to charge for what I do! This has made me terrified to become successful, as I feel like I am wearing a bullseye on my chest. I can hardly sleep. What advice do you have for those who want to be spiritually AND financially rich?

Mandy

Hi Mandy,

(I’m channelling my readers here and they’re like: “Bulldust, you made this up, Barefoot!” But, truthfully, there is no way I could concoct a question like this.)

All I can say, Mandy, is that you should be an Australian fund manager: they believe they are psychics (who can pick winning stocks and outperform the market, even though the evidence overwhelmingly suggests they cannot). Yet they have no problem charging people for their psychic stock-picking (even though their crystal balls are very cloudy).

All jokes aside, if you believe in your business, and people are prepared to pay you for your services, I don’t see a problem. Focus on the people who pay you, not the people who don’t. The idea that you have to choose between being spiritual and being rich is a concoction brought about by tightwads who just want something for nothing. It’s what you do with the money that counts.

Scott

Shaken, Not Stirred

Hi Barefoot,

I just wanted to drop you a line from the comfy living room of my first property. If you’d told me two-and-a-half years ago that I’d own this place today, I would have dropped the dirty martini in my hand! At $25 a pop, those drinks (which I had regularly) didn’t come cheap, but they sure numbed the fact that as a single, 35-year-old woman I would never own my own home! Or so I thought.My father got fed up with my bleak outlook, so he gifted me your book for Christmas 2016. To say it changed my life is an understatement. The best thing about the book is its foolproof nature ‒ no knowledge of money required. All I had to do was follow a few simple instructions, check in on my savings from time to time, and eventually I had a property deposit!Not only this, your book has taught me to be self-reliant, to take responsibility for my life, and has given me confidence about my future. I even gave up booze along the way ‒ a great move if you ever want to see money pile up at warp speed. If you’d met me in 2016, I’d have told you (probably slurring) that I was terrible with money. Your book has since taught me that ANYONE can be good with money.

Thank you.

Leah

Hi Leah,

Yes, I seem to have a booze theme this week. Well bugger it, let’s run with it:

In many parts of the country, property prices are staggering around like a drunk at closing time. However, the real opportunity for first home buyers will come in the next few years when the debt hangover really kicks in. Mark my words, this is a genuine opportunity for first home buyers ... but only those who have been soberly saving.

Congratulations on your success, Leah. You should feel proud. You Got This!

Scott

The Alcohol Experiment

Hi Scott,

Last week you answered a question from Jane (“I am NOT an Alcoholic”), who was clearly struggling with alcohol.For people who are after help with stopping/reducing alcohol intake (not physiological-addiction-level alcoholics), I strongly recommend the book The Alcohol Experiment by Annie Grace. It helps you to do 30 days alcohol free, to start.I drink a moderate amount, and after one or two always hanker for another, but after reading the first chapter of this book I found it easy to give myself a decent amount of time completely off booze. It changes your relationship with alcohol, including challenging why you drink, in much the same way that you ‒ as the Barefoot Investor ‒ change people’s relationship with money, including what they spend (on ‘postcode povvo’ houses and fancy cars!)

Simon

Hi Simon,

I LOVE my community.

They’re always sending me fascinating stuff that I’ve never heard of this before, like this book.

Now of course I don’t have a problem with alcohol.

Then again, on Tuesday night I caught up with an old mate (one beer), on Thursday I went to dinner with another mate (two beers), and on Friday around 20 of us went to the comedy festival to celebrate a friend’s opening night and, given we all had babysitters, we had (many) drinks afterwards.Hmmm.Anyway, I read the The Alcohol Experiment and it’s a cracking book that really opened my eyes (and I can understand why it’s getting so many rave reviews across the internet).And if you give up the grog, amazing things can happen, like Leah found out.

Scott

The fine print on Apple’s new credit card

Sir Richard Branson leaned across the table, smiled, and winked at me.

“It’s pretty sexy, right?”

In his hand was a credit card ‒ a Virgin credit card ‒ with an aesthetically revolutionary ‘clipped corner’.

That boozy night happened, from memory, about 16 years ago. At the time Branson was banging on about his card helping people, while simultaneously sticking it to the ‘fat cat banks’ (and making himself a boatload of cashola).

This week Apple announced it’s launching a credit card (only in the US to begin with), simply called ‘Apple Card’.

And it’s titanium, baby.

As in metal. Laser-etched. There are no numbers on the front ‒ which coincidentally makes it safe to show off on Instagram, if you’re so inclined (and the people who get this card most certainly will be).

And it’ll totally blow the mind of the 7-Eleven attendant when you plonk it down to buy some Cheezels:

Attendant looks down at shiny metal card … then looks up at you, slowly studying your face.

“Are you some kind of celebrity bigshot ... Mr Cheezel man?”

Yeah, no.

This week Apple CEO Tim Cook gushed about his new credit card: “While we all need them, there are some things about the experience that could be … so much better.”

Okay, so I’m going to pull you up on that one, Timbo. You actually don’t need a credit card. (Well, maybe if you’re spending $319 on wireless Airpods, which make you look like, to quote my old man, a “bloody drongo”.)

Strip out the metal and the marketing and this is just another ‘debt card’, and not a particularly revolutionary one: Apple’s fine print shows it charges up to 24.24% interest on the card. However, there are a couple of things they’re doing that are interesting:

The first is the tech: as you’d expect from Apple, they’ve got a great app for the card which allows you to easily categorise and track your spending, and ‘gamifies’ and personalises it to help you make better financial decisions. That being said, a lot of these features and tracking are already here in Australia with Up Bank. And within a couple of years, all banks will offer this.

The second is the card’s rewards system. They’re going with daily cashback instead of points. This makes total sense. Frequent Flyer points are s-o-o-o 2007. Banks and airlines have created their own confusing alternate currency for much the same reason that Zimbabwe issues trillion-dollar notes: to deliberately confuse the poor plebs who are forced to use it. Bottom line?

The Aussie banks will be disrupted over the next decade, make no mistake. However, I’m not sure it will be by Apple, who are just trying to fill another hole by building their ‘ecosystem’ as iPhone sales stagnate.

And remember: the Apple Card is still just a credit card. So while it’s a danger for our banks … it’s also a trap for iPhone users.

Tread Your Own Path!

Reminder: I first wrote about this years ago and highlighted the low costs. Today there are better deals on offer. How do I know? Because my readers constantly email me about them! So before you do anything, do a quick google.

Don’t Send Kids to the Coalmine, Barefoot

Hey Scott,

I just wanted to comment on your response last week to the letter from Alice the 15-year-old asking if she should get a part-time job. Could you please recommend that high school students work no more than 12 hours per week, unless they are happy to take a nose-dive in their education! Up to 12 hours per week can help them with time management and all your other points. But not more. And I know what I’m talking about: I am a teacher who sees the results of overworked students!

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

I agree with you ‒ a few shifts on the weekend is more than enough. Really, you just want to get kids off their phones and work for a boss who will knock the ‘special snowflake’ out of them.

And here’s a tip for all those tired parents, which I call the ‘taxi rank’: shortlist the youth-friendly employers that are close to your home or the school. Think shopping malls, supermarkets, fast food joints and small businesses that you’re happy to taxi them to and from. Because you will!

Scott

How a Financial Advisor Can Make You a Millionaire

Hi Scott,

My daughter is a hardworking 22-year-old who lives in a share house. She is struggling with her living expenses.

(I pay for her weekly grocery shop, and she feels bad about it). She earns $3,068.32 after tax each month.

Here are her monthly expenses:

Rent $760
Financial advisor $190
Savings $400
Share portfolio $250
Insurance $58
Super $100

She feels grateful that her financial advisor has enabled her to do all this. Is there anything she could be doing differently?

Maria

Hi Maria,

The monthly expenses you’ve listed come to $1,758, which means your daughter has $327 a week to spend on food, booze, bills and transport. That’s doable. (I lived on less when I was 22, though admittedly I drank a lot of homebrew, ate spag bol most nights, and drove a 1966 XP Falcon that mostly ran on potato skins.)

Having said that, she needs to eat without resorting to dumpster diving. I’d suggest she looks at scaling back her saving for the moment rather than relying on you (of course a ‘care package’ from Mum now and then never hurt anyone).

Other than that, your daughter is an absolute bloody legend.Let me paint you a picture:

Let’s say she invests that $250 a month into the share market, from age 20 to 30 (starting from zero and assuming an 8% return) could grow to $43,460.

Then, at age 30, she stops saving, leaves the investments to grow, and never puts in another dollar.By the time she’s 65, that $43,460 will have grown to $642,571.

Noice … but let’s not stop there ‒ let’s make her a millionaire!

I’d suggest your daughter meets with her financial advisor ‒ who has done a terrific job setting her up ‒ and get her to have an awkward conversation with the advisor.

Play him Bette Midler if you want, and assure him ‘you’ll always be the wind beneath my wings ... but I ain’t paying you a monthly retainer anymore’. Then, she adds the $190 a month she’s paying to the advisor, and add it to her low-cost index fund.

If she does, her end balance will be boosted to $1,001,130.

Scott

I am NOT an Alcoholic

Scott,

I currently spend about $100 a week on alcohol ‒ it is pure habit and l love the taste too. I am not an alcoholic, but I do need some incentive to drop the habit, like a financial goal! What else could I be doing with that $100 that will give me the kick l need to replace booze with something more intoxicating?

Jane

Hi Jane,

I’m good, but I’m not that good.

There is nothing I can do with my trusty old Casio calculator that will beat the buzz you’re currently getting from boozing it up. (Case in point: on the form you submitted to ask your question on the Barefoot Investor website, there’s a box that says ‘Summarise your financial situation in one word’. You answered: ‘Tipsy’.)

At Barefoot, we talk a lot about having an Alpaca Attitude. It’s named after my two headstrong alpacas ‒ Pedro and Alberto ‒ who will spit, kick and stomp on anyone who tries to mess with their flock. In that regard, getting on top of your money isn’t that dissimilar to losing weight (see, I’m still hanging on to the Barefoot Bikini Challenge):

We all know what to do, but you need to come up with the why for you.

Scott

How a Barefooter lost 97 kilos, and saved fifteen grand in 18 months

I’ve decided to make a move into a new industry: health and fitness.

(I’ve even come up with a catchy name for my program: ‘The Barefoot Bikini Challenge’.)

Why am I so excited?

Well, I just read the following email from Claire, who has given me one of my most inspirational book testimonials yet.

Here it is:

“Hi Scott,“My fiancé and I started ‘going Barefoot’ in November 2017.

“At the time, we were living paycheque to paycheque at my in-laws’ house. I was also battling some demons in regard to my physical health, being obese at 170kg.

“Fast forward to now ‒ 18 months later ‒ and we have achieved the following:

• Paid for gastric sleeve surgery out of our own pocket ($5,000)

• Gone to America for three weeks

• Paid off one of our credit card debts ($3,000)

• Moved into our own property and bought brand-new furniture and appliances

• Paid for multiple things for our wedding using savings and not credit

• And ... still managed to save $15,000.

“What’s more, I have lost 96kg, which has eradicated my physical health problems. I have included photos from before and after starting Barefoot, because without your advice I don’t think I would have been able to have this surgery and achieve so much in such a short period of time!

Thank you,Claire”

Holy Guacamole!

96 kilos?

So, how did Claire nail the two biggest goals most people have (fitness and finances) in one hit, and so quickly?Well, it had nothing to do with fad diets or get-rich-quick schemes … which never work out in the long run.

And she certainly wasn’t spurred into action by continually beating herself up about her situation.

This reminds me of a book that legendary financial columnist John Beveridge wrote called Invest or Die.

Full. On.

Truth be told, my book has roughly the same stuff in it (just with less death threats and more date nights).

And the Barefoot approach worked for Claire:

She created rituals, like going to the pub for Barefoot date night. And while she was there she automated her finances so she didn’t have to rely on her willpower … or even think about her finances after it was set up. And the process of continual wins built up her confidence, little by little.

The outcome is that she’s not only changed her life, she’s saved her life.

Tread Your Own Path!

You’ll Be Proud of Me, Barefoot

Dear Scott,

I wrote to you when I was on maternity leave in October 2017 to tell you I had racked up a $17,000 credit card debt (you published my response as ‘Zero Balance Is a Trap’). Well, since returning from maternity leave I am down to my last $1,000 payment, I am winning at work, and I even have a new role! I followed all your steps ‒ I paid off $25,000 in debt, negotiated a pay rise, and paid for a wedding, all while managing a two-year-old. Honestly, Scott, you have changed the game for me and my family!

Natalie

Hi Natalie,

I didn’t do any of this, you did. A lot of people reading this right now who are just like you were may say their situation is hopeless. But you are inspiring them to get up and do something about it. What you’ve done at the start of your child’s life is to change your family tree ‒ from debt and disappointment to cash and confidence. Don’t underestimate just how much influence that will have on your kids.

You Got This!

Scott