The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need

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Personally for me there was too much self-help happy motivational jargon throughout the book, and some pretty unhelpful advice. I don't have the book in front of me now but recall that he talks about just working more if you need more money. A great help to the thousands of under-employed people across the country, no doubt. It is an inspiring book, well-written with a wonderful sense of purpose, and most importantly imparts practical and easy-to-implement advice, which is what we are after in the first place. Call your bank and tell them about an 18-month zero interest offer from [insert competitor bank.] You might not have that, but you don’t need to. As long as it gets them to reduce your interest and fees on your current credit card debt, that’s fine. With the best conditions set, you can start using the money from your fire extinguisher account to slowly pay down your debt and get the ball rolling. Lesson 3: Use index funds for long-term, automated growth. These super funds invest based on your age. In simple terms, they automatically reduce the amount of riskier assets, like shares, in your portfolio as you get older and closer to retirement. I say ‘almost’ because most of the current funds have their target date set at age 65, when you retire. (If I was a cynic I’d say it’s set at that age so you go see a financial planner.)

The financial advice is basically common sense. There is nothing in it that is particularly groundbreaking or revolutionary. It's essentially reduce debt, save your money and invest in your future. Case in point, I spoke to a retiree this week who admitted he’d spent the best years of his life working in a job he hated so that he had ‘enough’ money to retire. Now, five years into retirement, he told me the things that really made him happy are: catching up with his daughter, watching the footy with his son, walking along the beach at low tide, and sitting on the porch in the afternoon sun. And none of them cost him a cent. The Barefoot Investor has a weekly spot on the Triple M Melbourne's The Hot Breakfast. [7] He also appears on ABC Radio's Nightlife program, [8] and appears on SYN Radio from time to time.I’m sure your mum must feel like she’s being unfairly targeted … and her only ‘crime’ was that she worked hard, saved harder, and made savvy financial decisions! After all, she could have just peed all her money against the wall and retired on the full pension, right? Pape has also hosted and produced the shows Money School and Money Movement for Foxtel. [6] Newspaper column [ edit ]

Wally leaned in … and it went on … and on, and on, and then took some weird tangents about Bill Gates. (Why is it always about Bill Gates?) Scott is a straight shooter and will give it to you bluntly, but his writing is also full of compassion and understanding. Chapters and paragraphs are dedicated to the positive effect controlling your finances gives to your life, and how these bad habits are not attached to us forever. For a finance book, his message is refreshingly anti-materialistic: do you need a BMW when a Holden will do? Why are you wasting your money on a business-class flight when you could build a buffer for old age? But also: don’t be a tight-arse. You should still go to the pub, take holidays and give to charity. This is, admittedly, a little higher than my Don Bradman figure, but that’s mainly because I encourage retirees to keep working at least a day a fortnight to supplement their income.)In 2016, Scott released a new book, The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need, which has become the best selling finance book in Australia. [ citation needed]

Some of his advice is a bit questionable. Does one really need 6 bank accounts? probably not. Is it wise to put all your money in joint bank accounts with your partner? Definitely not. Private health insurance is a rip off, I’d rather pay the Medicare levy surcharge because putting my money into the public health system is a better investment than private health funds which are profit based and further fleece me when I try to use them.

Pape tries to get his readers into the position of the secure middle class, which in these days of insecure, short-term contract work and bloated house prices can be a lot more difficult than it looks. How can ordinary Australians buy a house, take an annual holiday, enjoy treats like going out for dinner, save some super for their (increasingly) old age, have a buffer for tough times and invest when they have some leftover cash? When you see all your worldly possessions burn in front of you, it changes your perspective on ‘stuff’ Scott Pape Last month they received regulatory approval to launch a super fund. They're still fine tuning things, but later in the year they expect to launch a target date index super fund that will automatically adjust your portfolio all the way through to your 85th birthday. So now is a very good time to talk about what’s going on with your super fund. And a word of warning: it’s not good news if you’re in one of the large, top-performing funds …