My Bank Gave Me $25,000

Hi Scott,

I am 24 and started my first full-time job this year, as a graduate teacher. I am travelling soon and my parents recommended I get a credit card for emergencies. As a Barefooter, I have never had a credit card, only debit. But, as I am planning to have it for travel, not long term, I applied for a fee-free credit card through my bank, ANZ. I have no credit history, no loans (other than HECS), and no assets other than my savings. Lo and behold, ANZ gave me a $25,000 limit! I was stunned.

Penny

Hi Penny,

Sweet Mary Magdalene!

If you were normal, you might be tempted to max that sucker out.

And if you were normal enough to do that, you’d probably be normal enough to make only the minimum repayments, which (according to the ASIC calculator) would take you … 58 years to pay off, and close to $100,000.

So you’d be debt free when you were 82 years old!

However, I’ve got a feeling you’re anything but normal (the fact that you’re emailing me is a good sign). I’m sure you understand that the bank’s aim is to get you into as much debt as they can, for as long as they can.

If you want to cover yourself for emergencies while travelling, here’s what I’d do instead:First, make sure you have adequate travel insurance, and some cash set aside for travel emergencies.

Second, call the bank and make them lower your credit card limit to, say, $5,000 for your trip, and then close it immediately when you get home.

Don’t get sucked into the idea that a high credit card limit helps your credit score: if anything, these days a high credit card limit hurts your chances of being approved for a loan.

Happy travels!

Scott

Student Digs

Hi Scott,

You generally advise your readers to buy a house first and invest later, but I am wondering if this is always the best approach. I am currently trying to decide whether to invest in a student accommodation apartment. It costs only $150,000 and I have enough for a 20% deposit. I am thinking the rental income will pay itself off and I can make extra repayments as well. Meanwhile, I will continue to save up for my house deposit. What would be the risks?

Leonard, Your #1 Fan

Leonard,

Be honest: you don’t really want to buy a dog-box in the sky.

What you really want to do is speed up the time it takes to save a house deposit. Other people try doing it with shares, thinking it’s better to own shares in, say, a bank (and be paid a dividend) than to have money in their miserly savings accounts.

Compared to saving up money in the bank, you can currently earn a higher income from property or shares, but your capital will not be secure. And that’s the biggest risk you face: a few years down the track you may find a home you really want to buy ... but the banks will knock you back because you own a ‘same-same’ student apartment that’s worth less than you paid for it.

Scott

Big Brother Banking

Scott,

I recently read an article about what CommBank can do with people’s personal data, and I am deeply disturbed. I would be willing to pay a bank to manage my money and do absolutely nothing with my data just for the right to privacy, but that isn’t how the world rolls these days. Then again, I don’t like the idea of hiding my cash in a mattress — and my employer won’t pay me in cash. Do you have any thoughts on this topic? Do I just need to take the metal colander off my head and stop being so paranoid, or is Nineteen Eighty-Four happening already?

Deanna

Hi Deanna,

Commbank aren’t messing around. Earlier this year they announced they’ll invest $5 billion in an app that will give customers ‘nudges’. Do I trust Commbank to nudge me the right way, or will they nudge me from behind? Who knows? Judging by what was uncovered in the Royal Commission, I’m going to put on a tight pair of pants.

Now, to your question, has Nineteen Eighty-Four already happened?

Of course.Big tech hoovers up all our personal data … well almost all our personal data. The one thing they can’t track right now is what we spend our money on. Yet. But, Mark my Zuckerbergs, that’s the precious data they’ll all be gunning for in the not-too-distant future. The banks have finally worked out that they’re really in the technology business, and that they have a giant target on their backs.

Scott

Pass Me a Bucket

I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw that my six-year-old had crossed arms and a cross face.

“What’s wrong, cobber?”

He screwed up his little face and pointed his finger at a billboard that we were whizzing past.

“Banking Buckets!” the billboard said.

My son had cottoned on to the fact that BankWest has been ripping off the ‘Bucket Strategy’ from my book.

(My Bucket Strategy uses zero-fee transaction accounts and linked online savings accounts.)

He was not impressed.

“They should get their own ideas, Dad”, he said.

“Agreed!” I said proudly.

Then, not long after, ME Bank sent a marketing email showing people how to set up their ‘Splurge’ bucket.

I forwarded it to ME Bank’s head of marketing with the subject: “WTF?”

So while I’m as dark as my son at banks shamelessly piggybacking off my book … there’s also a part of me that’s proud of having made saving something worth ripping off.

The bucket strategy -- which is so simple it can be scrawled on the back of a serviette -- has probably helped well over a million Aussies gain control of their money.

In fact, I’ve created an entire high school money program around them: it’s called ‘The Bucket List’.

I get the teachers to bring large plastic buckets into the classroom. I even had one in Perth who drilled a hole in a bucket in front of his class to illustrate the idea of credit cards putting ‘a hole in your bucket’.

Kids inherently ‘get’ something as visual as buckets. And in the program I tell them that I don’t care who they choose to bank with, so long as they go ahead and set their buckets up. The key is to create a lifelong habit of saving, which of course is the number one rule of creating wealth.

And if you, or your kids, have set up your buckets and started saving, well … as Holden says in their more recent television ads: ‘You Got This!’

Tread Your Own Path!

Barefoot Goes to Brazil

She leaned in and whispered, “If you want the good stuff … you really need to go to … Brazil.”

I was speaking to the ‘Queen’ of global financial education: Elaine Kempson, from Bristol University.

She was telling me about a groundbreaking school money program in Brazil that she urged me to see for myself.

“Not only is it the largest study of its kind in the world … but it’s absolutely world’s best practice” she said.

So, later that evening over dinner, I leaned in and whispered to Liz: “I need to go to Brazil”.

At the time, my four-year-old was necking the tomato sauce bottle and my two-year-old was flinging mashed potato.

I thought Liz was going to lean in and give me a Brazillian.

“So what makes Brazil so special?” she deadpanned.

I explained the painful truth: a lot of the money spent on financial education is wasted.

Yet what was different about Brazil is that their program focused on teaching the kids and their parents.

Guess what happened?

The school money program showed a ‘trickle up’ effect on the parents’ financial knowledge and behaviours.

I’ve always said that your money behaviours and values are learned around the dinner table from your parents. Yet it turns out that the skills of good money management can also come from the kids.

And that’s why my Barefoot Money Movement schools program is based on the following principle:

‘Teach the kids. Help the parents. Change the Nation.’

So I’m off to Brazil to see what I can glean and bring back here for our kids.

If what they did in Brazil really is world’s best practice, our kids deserve nothing less.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Tread Your Own Path!

The Generous Generation

Hi Scott

I just wanted to share with you a lovely story. I run a charity called Mums Supporting Families in Need. We provide material aid to vulnerable families in Victoria. Yesterday we had a young girl (grade 6) to come in and volunteer hours with her school. She handed me an envelope with a note that said.

"At home I have three jars: splurge, smile and give. Here is $25 from my giving jar for you to put towards something you are needing."

I love that your concept teaches even our young generation of giving.

Jodie

Hi Jodie,

Last week I hung out with a grade three primary school class in Hervey Bay.

As part of my primary school program, ‘The Jam Jar Project’, the kids sold some of their unwanted toys and books in a school ‘Toy Frenzy’, and ended up raising $31 in their class ‘give’ jam jar.

Then the kids debated the best place to give the money: the local animal shelter? The children’s hospital?

They ended up making a group decision to give it to a local homeless shelter.

On their final graduation celebration class, a representative from the shelter came in and was officially presented with the ‘give jar’ money from the kids.

She brought with her a bowl, cereal, and fresh fruit, and explained to the kids that because of their hard work and generosity, they would be able to feed 25 people in their local community breakfast the next morning.

I sat at the back of the class and saw the absolute pride in the kids eyes.It was one of my proudest moments too.

Thanks for sharing.

Scott

Don’t Go Changing

Hi Scott,

In last Sunday’s column there was a paragraph that read “Scarface Claw is in this instance OnePath/ANZ ... who have some of the worst performing Super Funds”. I have to say this scared the hell out of me as I have just done a transition to retirement with this specific fund you mentioned. I am 65 now and am topping up my Super with some of my pay other than the work contribution. Should I be concerned, or ride it out?

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Your email reminds me of a friend of mine who married an ocker knockabout Aussie bloke who spends his free time sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching sport. She’s still holding out that one day she’ll arrive home from work and he’ll be watching the Bachelor, and drinking a bottle of Kombucha. It ain’t going to happen.

Similarly, ANZ/OnePath have consistently topped the FatCat Fund list of having the worst performing funds. Every year, for the last seven years! According to StockSpot, who compile the data on funds, they control almost a third of the worst 40 performing funds.

Faced with this dubious award, year after year, you’d think that ANZ would have woken up to themselves, and stopped picking the pockets of their customers with high fees. They haven’t.

Scott

A Hairy Problem

Hi Scott,

Your latest column about Hairy Maclary and expensive super funds really put the cat among the pigeons in our house. Our financial adviser (who we like) has us with AMP (among a slew of other retirement-related accounts), and we are finding it hard to see through all the smoke and mirrors to get to the fees so we can feel secure. Can you suggest a few questions that are polite but will still get us to the information we need?

Chris

Hi Chris,

Would you let your plumber charge you an extra $1,000 to fit a tap simply because he asked after your grandkids?

Of course you wouldn’t!

Yet the fact that you’re having to “see through all the smoke and mirrors to get to the fees” tells me that you need to get out the planner plunger … your thinking is blocked!If I were in your situation, I’d write him the following email:

Dear (advisor’s name)

I was reading the newspaper the other day and I was shocked to read that the majority of funds underperform the averages each year. That made me think that I should contact you and ask how all my funds are going. So can you please do the following three things for me:

1. Print us a statement that clearly shows my annual percentage return since we began, net of fees.

2. Benchmark our return against the relevant accumulation index for the same period.

3. Provide me with an itemised list of fees (expressed in both dollars and percentages). Include any and all ongoing fees, commissions and administrative costs that I’m charged.

After we have this information, it would be great to sit down and discuss it all.

Chris

I’m sure you’ll find his reply surprising, especially to question two. My view is that the best way to boost your investment returns is by lowering your costs. If your advisor is working in your best interests, he’ll agree with you. The only reason the conversation will be awkward is if he’s not!

Scott

Are Index Funds in a Bubble?

Hi Scott,

The financial guru from the movie The Big Short, Michael Burry, who made a fortune betting against the US housing collapse, is saying that the next big bubble is index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs), and that things will get really ugly should the share market crash. Aren’t index funds what Barefoot recommends? How do you respond?

Steve

Hi Steve,

After the 1987 crash, governments around the world held at least six inquiries to work out what caused it.

There was no conclusive answer.

My guess is that investors were driven by their emotions:

First, by greed as they watched stocks going up (buy, buy, buy!), and then quickly by fear (sell, sell, sell!).

And, given human emotions don’t change, this behaviour will be what causes the next crash.

Faced with all this erratic decision-making, wouldn’t it be good to have a mechanical, unemotional, by-the-numbers way of investing?

Enter index funds (and Exchange Traded (index) Funds (ETFs).

They are simple to understand: you own, for example, a share in the 300 largest businesses on the ASX.

They have transparent investing rules: twice a year they rebalance the portfolio so it matches with the index (the market).

And, as a result, they have low turnover, low taxes and low fees.

In other words, they are the exact opposite of those actively managed funds that try and pick market swings and roundabouts.

In fact, we know that, over the long term, investors in these actively managed funds will end up with less money than they would if they’d invested in a simple index fund. (And repeated studies show that even those actively managed funds that do well in the short term often do so by luck rather than skill.)

Now, to your question: will things get ugly for index funds if there’s a share market crash?

Yes.

Yet it will be ugly for every investor, whether they’re in index funds or not. However, I still can’t see how owning a collection of the largest stocks on the market would put you at a greater disadvantage than other investors.

Steve, if you’re lying awake at night worrying whether you’ll be able to sell your investments in the event of a once-in-a-lifetime crash — rather than, I don’t know, making love to your wife — you really need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Besides, history tells us is that the day a market crashes is the worst time to be selling.

Scott

The Best Present

Hi Scott,

Many years ago, when I was five, we lost my father to an accident, and my siblings and I always wish we had more memories of him. Just this year we lost our mother to cancer. Before she passed away I asked her your questions (from the Father’s Day column) and videoed it. The answers were surprising and showed a side of Mum I had not seen. When she passed, I shared it with my family as a parting gift from her. Out of all the money lessons I have learnt from you, this is by far the greatest. Thank you for sharing, it’s such a great idea.

Sarah

I’m sorry for your loss.

Lots of readers wrote to me this week telling me they followed my advice last week and did the Father’s Day video with their dad. It’s funny how something that costs nothing but time, and the courage to ask the questions, can be worth so much — arguably as personally valuable as anything worldly they could have left behind.

Scott

Is This a Scam?

Dear Scott,

Your Bitcoin scam article prevented me from losing $5,000. Thank you! However, it raises another question: Where can I find out categorically if Oasis Trade is a scam company?

Tegan

Hi Tegan

Yes it is.

Scott

Tuck Shop Attack

Hi Scott,

You have talked about in-school marketing programs (like ‘Dollarmites’) and how they hook kids into using the big banks. Well, I have a concern that we are doing the same now with the ‘Qkr!’ program that is run in schools so kids can pay for stuff at the tuckshop. To sign up, parents have to provide their bank details, and their kids’ details as well. The fact is that Qkr! is owned and run by Mastercard. Isn’t this just another way of gaining access to information about our kids’ buying habits?

Troy

Hi Troy,

Yes, of course it is.I had a look through Qkr’s terms and conditions:

Mastercard collects your kid’s photograph, and tracks your location, preferences, interests and behaviours, so they can ”send you marketing materials and personalised content”.

On my evil-banker-meter, that’s fairly standard practice.

(It’s not like they’re Commbank, who pay schools kickbacks to sign kids up to their credit card marketing funnel.)

And it’s no worse than what’s going on in your kid’s bedrooms, where every click and swipe they make is tracked.

Big tech is collecting kids’ data at an alarming rate — as much as 72 million data points before they turn 13 — according to ad platform SuperAwesome.

And even vigilant parents can be caught out: this week Google’s YouTube got caught collecting children’s personal data without their parents’ consent, and was fined million (mere pocket change!).

Thankfully, former Google boss Eric Schmidt has kindly offered us parents a simple solution to all this digital creepiness: we should simply let young people change their names when they turn 18 so they can escape their digital past.

See, billionaire tech leaders have all the answers!

Scott

My Girlfriend Was Hiding a Secret from Me

Hello Mr Barefoot,

Just finished your book and it has completely changed my perspective on money — I finally believe I will be able to buy my future home in Sydney. That was until my girlfriend of one year surprised me with her $30,000 debt (credit cards, personal loan and education fees). I had a grand plan of saving together and buying a home, but now I feel like someone has stolen my mojo. How do I attack this problem?

Chris

Hi Chris,

She deserves your respect: it would have taken a lot of courage for her to lay bare her true financial state.

Honestly, the number of people who don’t do this till after they’re engaged — or married — is astounding.

Explain to her how you feel, and that you’ll work together to help her get on top of her finances.

You won’t do this by giving her money — this isn’t your problem — rather, you’ll support her by loaning her a copy of my book, and reinforcing good money behaviours by going on lots of saucy Barefoot date nights.

By the end of the year you’ll have a good idea of how committed she is to fixing her finances. If she sorts herself out, it’ll be a source of strength in your relationship. If she can’t, well, at least you know what you’re in for.

Scott

I Vowed to Write to You Once We Were Debt Free

Dear Scott,

Ten years ago, my wife and I were drowning in debt, with a big mortgage and maxed-out credit cards. I came across a copy of your (first) Barefoot Investor book and vowed to change our circumstances and write to you once we were debt free. Well, this week, 10 years on, in our early 40s, we paid the final instalment on our home loan. We have also built a healthy share portfolio and have not used a credit card in 10 years. It is the most amazing feeling to get there. We are debt free, and we sincerely thank you.

Dom

That has made my week.

But let me tell you: it has nothing to do with me (well, apart from a little at the start).

It’s you who did it, internalised it, lived it. You are freaking amazing.

Most people don’t stick to anything, ever. The fact that you were able to do this for 10 years … that’s incredible.

You pulled yourself out of a pit for 10 years!

Now, here is my prediction: if you can stick to something for 10 long years, the next 10 years are going to be really exciting for you. Because, if you continue doing what you’re doing, you’re going to build serious wealth for yourselves (rather than the bank).

With the dedication you’ve shown, I want you to email me in another 10 years’ time and tell me you’re millionaires. You deserve all the success in the world. I’m really proud of you.

Scott

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Hi Scott,

I am just about to finish my uni degree and have landed myself a full-time job at a small accounting firm. Before I plough into the life of debits and credits, I want to make sure I join the best super fund in the market. I have looked at various funds that use indexing and have low fees. However, I have read that they use ‘derivatives’ in their portfolio. Have you looked into the portfolio breakdown of these funds? Derivatives have resulted in a lot of mess in the past for a lot of people.

Skeptical Sam

Hey Sam,

You’re asking all the right questions.

Stockspot found that index super funds beat 90% of all other super funds — both retail and industry — over five years. However, not all index funds are created equal.

For example: REST super use Macquarie Bank’s True Index fund, which charges no fees.

What’s the catch?

Well, Macquarie True Index uses ‘derivatives’, which essentially means that it isn’t required to invest in the actual shares that make up the index, only to guarantee to provide the returns the index makes.

But what happens if Macquarie doesn’t come good on their promise?

Well, that is the risk you’re taking.

REST say they’ve done their due diligence and are comfortable with the risk.

I agree with them. However, personally, I want my index funds to actually own the underlying shares.

Scott

Hairy Maclary and the Fat Cat Funds

I copped an elbow to the head.

“Your turn”, grumbled my sleep-deprived wife.

I stumbled into the nursery, where our daughter was wailing.

Cutting teeth is a tough game, and we’re right in the middle of it.

Still, it allows me to catch up on my 3am iPhone reading. Last night I read the Stockspot Fat Cat Funds Report, which names and shames the worst-performing super funds in Australia.

Now, I may be a little delirious as I type this, but this report reminded me of a book I was reading to our daughter earlier in the evening: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy.

It’s a super-simple set-up: Hairy Maclary and his doggy mates (all with cute rhyming names) are on the hunt for a bone (a high-returning super fund), while at the same time trying to avoid their arch-nemesis Scarface Claw — ‘the toughest tom in town!’ (the Fat Cat super funds).

Scarface Claw is, in this instance, OnePath/ANZ (now IOOF), AMP, Perpetual, MLC and Zurich.

These five financial outfits have 30 of the 40 worst-performing super funds.

What does that mean?

Well, according to Stockspot, the average young worker who has their super with one of these funds could find themselves $200,000 worse off when they retire, compared to choosing a low-cost fund. Hercules Morse, as big as a horse!

Yet, with the greatest of respect to Stockspot, this ain’t groundbreaking research:

This is not a test of investment skill, but of investment costs.

These Fat Cat funds all have one thing in common: they charge way too much (average 2% per annum).

Now, if this was a children’s book, old Scarface Claw would understand the gig was up and scamper away.

Yet this ain’t no fairytale.

The 40 Fat Cat funds have been licking the cream off investors’ returns for years. Collectively, they are siphoning off $150 million a year in fees, according to Stockspot.

In other words, they’re making out like Muffin McLay — like a bundle of hay!

Tread Your Own Path!

The next big thing

I like to think of myself as a ‘young mover and shaker’.

Truthfully, though, the only thing about me that still moves and shakes these days is my belly (damn you ‘dad bod’!).

In the same way, Nimble likes to refer to itself as a ‘fintech disruptor’.

It gives Nimble a sort of … mover and shaker air … financial technology, man! We’re changing the world!

Actually, no.

The closest Nimble comes to being ‘fin’ tech is that it’s a loan shark that preys on young people.

Nimble slugs millennials the maximum rate the payday laws allow: 20% of the principal, plus 4% per month.

Yet their marketing is truly masterful: their ironic hipster-cool advertising encourages young people who are short on cash to just ‘Nimble it’.

Make no mistake: the combination of charging insanely high interest rates and uneducated young customers means that Nimble is making a lot of money.

And now, for the next line, I’d like you to quietly hum the Jaws theme song to yourself.

(Dernum … dernum … dernum.)

Nimble has just revealed it has huge expansion plans: it’s applied for a fully fledged banking licence.

This is very bad news for young consumers … they’re effectively shark bait.

Yet wouldn’t it be good to teach teenagers just how dangerous this mob is, before they fall for their advertising?

Well, that’s exactly what my high school money class teaches.

Here’s how it goes:

First, we play a Nimble ad (which is actually pretty funny).

Many of the kids laugh as they watch it, and probably think to themselves “that’s a cool company”.

Then I get them to go to the Nimble website, which shows an attractive young couple fist-pumping the air, presumably after scoring what Nimble calls a ‘smart little loan’. And then I get the class to calculate the total cost.

“Let’s say you get hit with an unexpected $1,000 car repair bill, and you decide to ‘Nimble it’. How much will it cost you after nine months?”

After a little bit of maths, the kids work out that the answer is a whopping $1,560.

You should see their faces when they work out how much it costs. They literally can’t believe it.

That is the power of teaching independent financial education in schools.

From that point on, every dollar that Nimble spends on its highly targeted youth-based advertising is wasted on these kids. The game is up. They’ve jumped the shark

Tread Your Own Path!

The Ultimate Father’s Day Present

Every Mother’s Day, my wife and her girlfriends have a tradition:

They book a fancy restaurant and get all dressed up, looking a million bucks …

And then?

They offload the kids onto their husbands and spend the rest of the day drinking champers together!

So for Father’s Day this year, I figured “if it’s good for the ewes, it’s good for the rams”.

I started a brand-new tradition: me and the other husbands decided that for Father’s Day we’d put on our cleanest jeans, offload the kids, and head to a local joint for a brew or two (or three).

Nice one.

Yet there’s another Father’s Day tradition that I’ve been doing with my readers for years, and I’d like to share it with you.

See, it’s a bit of a cliche that every dad gets a mug … or a keyring … or a block of chocolate … or a tie.

But what I want to share with you today is a present that you and your dad will treasure.

And even better?

It won’t cost you a thing.

Let me explain …

You see, my wife’s father died a few years before I met her.

When our house burned to the ground, in 2014, we lost some of the last remaining photos of him, the letters he’d written, and the paintings he cherished.

How does my wife explain to me who her father was?

How does she explain to our sons who Grandpa was?

Her physical reminders are now lost in the ashes.

So, I made a pact with her that each year I’d share with you, my readers, the ultimate Father’s Day present.

The Ultimate Father’s Day Present

If you’re lucky enough to have your father still with you, here’s how you can give him the ultimate Father’s Day present. Go and see him, whip out your phone, hit ‘record’, and ask him the following questions:

1. How did you meet Mum?

2. What advice can you share with me about money, life and happiness?

3. What does being a dad mean to you?

4. What are you most proud of?

5. How would you like to be remembered?

This is not for Facebook. It’s for you and your family’s legacy. One day, it’s all you’ll have left of him.

And you’ll treasure it.

Happy Father’s Day!

RIP Tim Fischer

Hi Scott,

Thank you for sharing your memories last week about Tim Fischer. That can’t have been an easy thing for you to do. I grew up in the bush myself and have a very strong appreciation for Tim. I am also the daughter of a farmer who was incensed with the change in gun laws after the Port Arthur Massacre. But after seeing Tim speak at a community function Dad came home and packed up the gun shed: “It’s just not necessary”, he said. Then I was in the USA for university just after the Columbine shootings ‒ I could not have been more proud to be Australian. Tim was a giant.

Cass

Hi Cass,

Thanks for sharing your story.I received hundreds of emails from readers about Tim, and it made a tough week a little brighter reading through the stories of people just like you.

This week I spoke at Tim’s funeral, and it was one of the greatest honours of my life. He was a decent man who left Australia a better place. That’s all you can ask for at the end of your life, right?

Scott

My Baby Sent Me Broke

Hi Scott,

Over the last two-and-a-half years we have had two babies and a wedding. Our first baby came earlier than planned so it wasn’t covered by private health, and we made the silly choice to pay for it out of pocket. Then, over a couple of years on one income ($240,000), we have accumulated two credit card bills totalling a hefty $60,000. We have now read your book and managed to pay off two large loans using your method, but we do not know how to get these credit cards paid off. Please help!

Katie

Katie,

Look, I’m all for blaming my kids for everything (especially on a Sunday morning), but $60,000?

Seriously?

The cost of having a kid in a private hospital, assuming no complications, is about $10k.

Other parents have weddings and babies, but they don’t have $60k on the never-never.

You’re earning $13k a month in the hand, but you’re broke.

Why?

Because you’re spending too much.

If you’re looking for a magic wand, you can go to MyBudget (see above).

But if you ask me, you’ve already proved to yourself twice that you can pay down debt, so three times is a charm.

Besides, you guys are high income earners ‒ you could have this debt paid off within the year.

Even better, you’ll set a great example for your kids.

Scott