The barefoot investor for families the only kids money guide youll ever need

Growing up Barefoot The day my life changed forever Our game plan Weekly Barefoot Money Meals PART I: First Steps Three Jam Jars Three Jobs Three Minutes The Barefoot Money Meal PART II:

No funny stuff, just money stuff

The Barefoot Investor holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL no 302081) This bookoutlines general advice only It should not replace individual, independent, personal financial advice.Neither Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor nor anyone associated with the making of this book hasreceived any kickbacks, commissions or fees—or even so much as an invite to a corporate box at thefooty—for recommending or mentioning anything contained herein We never have, and we neverwill

We are fiercely independent.

The bottom line: you’re reading the same advice that I’d give to my mum, God love her

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

For every person who read my last book and said

‘Why the hell wasn’t I taught this when I was a kid?’

‘Just make sure you don’t become a wanker look after the battlers, son.’

—Don Pape

The Barefoot Investor Pledge

For every ten copies of this book sold, one copy is donated to a parent in financial hardship

Who is this book for?

This book is written for parents (and grandparents, and anyone else who has kids in their lives)

It’ll give you a proven plan to teach kids of all ages

By the time you read the last page you’ll know you have a plan that will work with your family.

Whether your kid is currently listening to The Wiggles or Ed Sheeran, their life will never be thesame

Let’s ROCK!

Dedication

Epigraph

The Barefoot Investor Pledge

Who is this book for?

Picture this

Growing up Barefoot

The day my life changed forever

Our game plan

Weekly Barefoot Money Meals

PART I: First Steps

Three Jam Jars

Three Jobs

Three Minutes

The Barefoot Money Meal

PART II: The Barefoot Ten

Chapter 1: How to Protect Your Kids from Bank RobbersChapter 2: The Family Treasure Hunt

Chapter 3: The Grandparents’ Dinner Party

Chapter 4: Breaking the Brat

Chapter 5: The Lazy $100 Challenge

Chapter 6: Why Your Kids Need Plastic Surgery

Chapter 7: The Magic of Flipping Burgers

Chapter 8: Barefoot Betty

Chapter 9: Uncle Scott’s $453 329 Gift

Chapter 10: The Barefoot Ladder

PART III: Off and Running

The Victory Dinner

Your Legacy

The Final GoodbyeEpilogue

Will you help me?

Picture this

You’ve spent the entire weekend helping your 18-year-old pack up their bedroom and box up theirbelongings

Finally the moment has arrived to say goodbye

You walk them to the front door and give them a hug

You’ve known this was coming for weeks, but your stomach is still in knots

It’s a pivotal moment in your lives

They jump in their car, reverse out of the driveway, give you a toot, toot, a wave, and then they’re

Gone

You close the door, walk into your eerily quiet lounge room, sit down and think to yourself:

‘Did I do enough to prepare them?’

Sweet Child O’ Mine

Look, I don’t know you

And I don’t know how long it’ll be before you find yourself at your front door saying goodbye to yourkids

But what I do know is that it’ll happen a lot quicker than you think.

One moment you’re changing their nappies the next they’re changing yours

So, the ultimate question is this:

Will you do enough in the short time you have to prepare your kids?

And will your kids leave with the financial confidence and the street smarts to seize the opportunitiesthe world has to offer them?

Well, the reality is that young people aged between 18 and 24 have the lowest levels of financial

literacy of any age group, according to ASIC research

In other words—if your kid is normal, they are not prepared.

Normal is $4200 in credit card debt

Normal is making only the minimum repayments, which will take them 42 years to pay off, with awhopping $21 080 in interest

Normal is accepting the bank’s offer for an increased credit card limit Oh, okay, sure, and a loanfor a new car

Normal is working a job they’ve outgrown so they can continue making repayments on stuff they

regret buying.

The bottom line is this: as a parent, the days are long, but the years are quick

And you only have a very short time to influence your kids

Because once they turn 18, you have to share that influence—with their friends, with their bank, withtheir Instagram account, with their boss

And most of these people don’t have your kids’ best interests at heart but you do

What really makes the difference?

Have you ever wondered what really makes the difference—why some kids fly and others seem to

flail?

Is it having wealthy, educated, upper-middle-class parents?

Is it attending a $35 000-a-year private school you mortgaged your kidney to get them into?

Is it receiving a big-arse cheque at their 21st for a deposit on their first home?

Is it scoring top marks at school and getting into a trophy degree?

I’m here to tell you that it’s none of these things.

Besides, you and I both know people who’ve had all these blessings in life but have still turned outlike Paris Hilton

So, what does make the difference?

You do

My promise to you

Being a parent is a tough and sometimes thankless job

It often feels like you’re making it up as you go along Like you should be doing more.

Well, here’s my promise to you:

By the end of this book you’ll have a simple, no fuss plan that will guarantee that your kids will be confident and smart with money in as little as three minutes a week.

Someday—many years from now, long after you’ve forgotten this book—my hope is your kids willcome to you

Maybe they’ll have kids of their own

Maybe they’ll finally understand some of what you’re going through now

Yet no matter where they are, or what life’s thrown at them, ultimately they’ll be doing okay

And they’ll thank you for what you did for them today.

Just like I did with my dad

It wasn’t big or flashy

There was no background music playing, no tears welling up

I simply sat down, looked him in the eye, and said:

‘Thanks mate.’

Growing up Barefoot

My father quit school when he was 16 and began working at a service station in Ouyen, a tiny belt town in the Mallee (Claim to fame? It’s the hottest place in Victoria And it has the best vanillaslices Think about that combo.)

wheat-One fateful day the bell on the servo door chimed, and in walked the most beautiful girl Dad had everseen

Her name was Joan

The way my father tells the story, he instantly knew she was ‘the one’

My mother, the more conservative of the two, was more circumspect, and with good reason Lookingback at the polaroids of my parents when they were dating, I see a young man with mutton-chopsideburns, flares and a look in his eyes that I know only too well It said: ‘I’m batting above myweight with this girl, so I need to give this everything I’ve got.’

And for the next 40 years, he did (and continues to)

He worked day and night at that servo In fact, he was there so much that he lived in the caravan outthe back for a while, saving his shekels And it worked Years later he bought that servo

When my parents got hitched they built our family home, a functional fibro joint located at the top ofwhat the locals called ‘Tickle Belly Hill’ True dinks, we’d actually have mail addressed anddelivered to ‘Tickle Belly Hill’

I came into the world at Ouyen Hospital, but, unfortunately for my mother, I was born dangerouslyclose to the VFL Grand Final So after she checked herself out of hospital(!), she arrived home andwas greeted by Dad and his mates—including the doctor who’d delivered me—downing frothies inthe living room, watching the footy

Yes, I grew up in another era An era before helicopter parenting, tiger mumming and free-rangefathering Flipping through our family photo albums one day, I found this gem:

Is this a potential petrohazard or a photo opportunity?

The author, aged 18 months, in Ouyen

Yes, I’m in a (red) jumpsuit

Yes, my itsy-bitsy fingers are poking around a live, hot, rusty old petrol pump

Yes, the barrels of petrol—stacked three high—appear to be held only by a single plank of wood

‘Say cheese, Scotty!’

(Contrast this to my kids, who aren’t allowed outside unless they’re wearing a wide-brimmed hat, along-sleeve shirt, protective sunglasses and SPF-100 lathered head to toe Because the sun isDANGEROUS.)

That’s basically the story of my childhood

When I was in primary school, Dad and I loved doing jobs in his old ute Every now and again, when

we were up a bush road, he’d pull over and let me sit on his lap and steer, while he simultaneouslycontrolled the pedals, changed the three-on-the-tree gears and smoked a ciggie

‘Just don’t tell your mother.’

(About the driving, not the smoking in a confined space with his young son.)

My parents haven’t changed

My old man affectionately teases my sons, calling them ‘fatty’ and ribbing them about liking thecolour pink, which is ‘for girls’

This is quite confronting for my wife, who grew up in hipsterville North Fitzroy with academicparents and who spends her spare time reading books on positive childhood psychology and gender-neutral parenting

Still, I turned out alright right?

See, for all the things my parents may have got wrong they got some big ones right, too

The day my life changed forever

I was 10 years old

It was the school holidays and, unlike my mates, who were probably kicking a footy or playing on theAtari 2600, I was working with my dad

At the end of the day he sat me down on his knee and made an announcement:

Dad: ‘Instead of giving you pocket money today, I’ve decided I’m going to give you one of my shares

in BHP.’

Me: Blink Blink

Dad: ‘That means you’re now a part-owner of one of the biggest companies in the world andthey’ll share their profits with you.’

I didn’t have a clue what he was on about

Yet this was my dad, and he was my hero, so if he was excited I figured I should be too

I’m guessing my old man didn’t have a grand plan when he gave me that share In fact, it may wellhave been something he did on the spur of the moment because he didn’t have any shrapnel in hispocket

But it doesn’t matter how it came about; what matters is that in one moment my life was changed.That day kicked off what has become a lifelong interest in money and here I am today, writing thisbook

That’s the power we have as parents

‘If I only knew then what I know now ’

How often do you hear people say:

‘If I only knew then what I know now my life would be so different today.’

That’s probably true for you

And if you don’t have a plan, it’ll end up being true for your kids too

See, as you read this, Grade 3 children across Australia are being taught about credit cards by theCommonwealth Bank Facebook is studying your kids’ every like, share and photo, and selling toadvertisers who, in turn, sell them to someone else Google is covertly building up a highly detailedprofile of what your kids are searching for, to use later

These companies have a plan for your kids

It’s time you do too

You need to fight for their future

And yet when I say this to parents, they often reply with things like:

‘But I can’t teach my kids about money—I don’t know anything about it myself!’

Look, you don’t need any special financial knowledge to raise financially fit kids; that’s what I’mhere for

Besides, my parents didn’t have any knowledge

My father quit school when he was 16

However, for the first decade of my life I sat around the family dinner table each night and listened toMum and Dad talk about their ‘dream home’ a brick veneer four-bedder in Bendigo

For years my sister and I watched them scrimp and save and strategise And when we finally movedinto that home (with sheets for curtains), to us it may as well have been the Taj Mahal!

My parents showed us what patience, persistence and acting like grown-ups looked like

Hopefully you’ve been helped along by my last book, but maybe not

Regardless, this book has been written with the assumption that you have zero financial knowledge

‘But I’m a single parent.’

I’ve written this book with single parents in mind

My sister is a single parent, and I know how many balls you have in the air In fact, I’ve not only hadsingle parents review the book, they’ve helped me develop the plan (hence being able to do it in justthree minutes a week!)

I’m going to show you how powerful you really are

‘But I’m a grandparent Can I use this book to help influence my grandkids?’

Yes, you can

I actually see it all the time: a wise grandparent takes on the duty of teaching their grandkids the value

of a buck

It’s a very special role a bond something that connects them at a deeper level to theirgrandkids And it often becomes the grandparents’ legacy, the thing the kids remember well intoadulthood

If that sounds like you, well, think of this as your road map to teaching your grandkids the fashioned values of hard work, and saving

old-‘But I don’t want my kids to become obsessed with money.’

Having a plan for teaching your kids about money isn’t about corrupting them, or making themobsessed with money, or turning them into snooty, spoilt money-grubbers

It’s the opposite

For me, money is about values:

It taught me about working hard and doing a good job

It taught me about setting a goal, saving for it, and spending wisely

It taught me about the life-changing power of giving the amazing buzz I get from helping people.And it’ll do the same for your kids, too

‘But I’ve left it too late.’

It’s never too late

Look, the entire thesis of this book can be boiled down to one line:

‘As parents it’s okay if we get most things wrong as long as we get a few big things right.’

And in this book, I’m going to show you exactly what you need to get right

Together, we’re going to put in place a plan that makes sure your kids don’t have any financialregrets

I’m going to lay out an incredibly simple plan that will allow your kids to thrive

Regardless of their current age.

Regardless of your current income.

And regardless of your current knowledge of money

If you’ve always wanted to prepare your child for whatever life throws at them—crazy high houseprices, an increasingly automated workforce, or any other financial landmine that might be lying inwait for them—then this book is for you

No overwhelm, no guilt and no homework

And this is where we do a u-bolt from every other finance or parenting book you’ve ever read

I’m going to make a promise to you right now: in the pages that follow, there will be no overwhelm,

no guilt and definitely no homework

As a parent myself, I know that each of us (to varying degrees) lives with the guilt that we’re not

doing enough to prepare our kids—and I sure as hell am not going to add to it.

Let’s face it parenting is hard enough

Let me give you an example: one morning I was walking along Collins Street, Melbourne, with mythen two-year-old, who was, as always, straggling behind

‘Hurry up!’ I yelled over my shoulder

No response

My eyes darted around trying to find him

He was gone

Then a guy walked past, smiled, and nodded to a point 10 metres up the footpath

Through a crowd of people I spotted my son with his pants around his ankles, peeing on a tree

In the middle of Melbourne’s financial mecca At 8.45 am on a Wednesday On a crowded footpath

‘What the hell are you doing?’ I screamed, rushing towards him

‘Bush wee,’ he replied matter-of-factly

‘Look, we aren’t on the farm today You can’t just down your dacks and wee on a tree in the middle

of the city!’

Finally, I came to my senses and scooped him up around his waist

However, he responded like every two-year-old does when they’re in trouble:

He went limp

So, I’ve now got him under my arm—with his pants around his ankles—and he’s still weeing

Kind of like a pop-up sprinkler

There I stood—in the peak morning shuffle, with office workers awkwardly rushing past us, avoidingeye contact—negotiating with a tinkling two-year-old

Again parenting is hard enough, and I’m not going to ‘should’ all over you

Other finance books for kids might assign you huge lists of things to do: check off 91 chores eachweek Follow a nightly 11-step plan Have a detailed remuneration plan (pocket money) thatcalculates payments based on the square metres of bedroom vacuumed

Bugger that!

If it feels like homework, you’re not going to do it and your kids definitely won’t do it

Instead, I have a much simpler way for you

Our game plan

This book is in three parts, and each of them has some of the ‘big things’ that you should get right as aparent

Part I: First Steps

The first part is about the fundamentals getting your kids to take their first financial steps

I’ve boiled down the basics of teaching your kids about money to a dead-simple strategy:

Three jam jars to put their pocket money in.

Three jobs so they can earn that pocket money.

Three minutes a week where you’ll ‘lock in’ life-changing money lessons with a simple weekly

ritual over dinner

Part II: The Barefoot Ten

The second part of the book will arm your kids with the life-changing money skills that most peopledon’t learn till they’re in their 40s (if ever!)

Remember, as a parent you can afford to get a lot of things wrong, as long as you get a few big thingsright

Well, I’ve stepped out exactly what these big things are, and I’ve put them into a simple checklist thatyou’ll be able to go through with your kids

But let me be clear: this is NOT just a list of topics, or a table of contents, or a lesson plan

In their bestseller The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact,

authors Chip and Dan Heath researched the building blocks of life-changing moments:

‘We spend weekend after weekend together with our kids, but in our memories all those times blendtogether What’s needed is to rise above the routine A few minutes can change a life And themoments that stick with us years later are ones that involve praise, and create an emotionally elevatedexperience.’

That’s why for each of these ‘big things’, I’ve created custom-made, real-life experiences that youcan do together over the family dinner table.

If you check these experiences off with your kids before they leave home, they’re virtually guaranteed

to be financially safe and secure for the rest of their lives

I call them the Barefoot Ten

Hold your alpacas for a moment

Think about the headstart a kid would have if they’d checked off all these things at the start of theirlife

Think about the headstart you would have had if you’d checked them off when you were still in

That’s what the Barefoot Ten will give your kid.

Part III: Off and Running

By the time you get to this part, you’ll have already scored the big wins that will ensure your kidsnever have to worry about money That’s a feat worth celebrating, and that’s exactly what we’ll do—

in fact, I’ve organised a very unusual celebration for you Plus, I’ll show you how to keep your familysafe and secure, with a strategy I call the ‘Fearless Folder’

That’s the game plan

So how the hell are we actually going to achieve all this?

With food

Weekly Barefoot Money Meals

I based my book, The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You’ll Ever Need , around

the concept of ‘Barefoot Date Nights’—where couples (and singles) go out to dinner and sort theirmoney over garlic bread and wine

I came up with the idea years ago when I was trying to get my wife, Liz, interested in how we’dmanage our money as a couple At the time, the idea of sitting down and chatting about money was assexy to her as me breaking out a spreadsheet after dinner and saying, ‘Let’s you and I fill in somespending cells baby.’

Anyway, I saw how powerful these nights were for us, so I wrote about them

Turns out they were helpful to other people too That book went on to become one of the bestsellingAustralian books of all time, and a big reason for its success was the practicality of the Barefoot DateNights in getting ‘non-interested parties’ interested in money

This book follows the same approach, but this time over the family dinner table

Instead of Barefoot Date Nights, we’re going to have a weekly ‘Barefoot Money Meal’

And given we’re already in the business of feeding our kids each night, this is going to be simple.All you have to do is have dinner, once a week, and I’ll take care of the rest

Sound good? Good

Now, take a deep breath and kick off your shoes—we’re about to take our First Steps

‘I swore I’d make things different for my daughter ’

Amanda Screen, Ballina, NSW

I remember the exact moment I told my husband that our daughter had a brain tumour.

He was looking after our four-month-old son He just went into shock and couldn’t speak To betold your child is going to die is the worst thing imaginable

The doctors said she had 12 months to live She was only six at the time I thought that momentwas the lowest point in my life but that was to come

My husband just couldn’t cope, so he left

All of a sudden, I was a single mum caring for a baby and a sick child—and in debt over my head.Our local community helped us fundraise to cover the medical expenses, which totalled over

$100k But my personal debts were spinning completely out of control And I was at risk of losingour home

I borrowed The Barefoot Investor from the library and read it in one night It changed everything.

Within a day I had our family’s first financial plan And within 12 months, I had paid off my debtsand had Mojo in the bank—I was in control!

I want the same for my kids My daughter Talaya beat the odds—she is now 15 and tumour-free,but has an acquired brain injury that affects her vision and other areas of her life Sometimes shegets worried and anxious about her future

And that’s why the Money Meals have been a godsend; it’s a really simple way for me to teachher all the financial knowledge I wish I’d known when I was her age With the Barefoot Ten, Inow have a simple plan to teach her, so she’ll always be able to feel in control

In fact, as we’ve worked through them together, amazing things have started to happen

with our kids’, and their efforts just fizzled out.

Even then, most parents who pay their kids pocket money are only doing it half right

Getting them to do a few chores and paying them a few bucks is only the first step The main moneylesson comes in what they do with their pocket money: the spending the saving and the giving.That’s where the life-changing lessons really happen You want to take that pocket money and use it

to teach your kids things like goal-setting, delayed gratification, kindness and empathy

That’s why we’re going to sort it out first, in Part I: First Steps—and then the rest of this book (andthe Barefoot Ten) will build upon those foundations

Thankfully, I’ve made it unbelievably easy for you Because what I’m about to lay out for you is thesimplest (yet most powerful) pocket money plan you’ve ever seen:

Three jars.

Three jobs.

Done and dusted in three minutes a week.

Honestly, if this plan is all you take away from this book, your kids will be so far ahead of everyoneelse it’s scary

Let’s begin

Three Jam Jars

Roughly once a week, a marketing guru contacts me with their ideas on how I can make a lot ofcashola

Their pitch is almost always the same:

I should ‘capitalise on the success of the Barefoot Investor book by diversifying the product offering’.And their solution is almost always the same:

I should create an app that I can charge people $2.50 a month for

Or sell Barefoot-branded piggy banks

Or do a deal with a bank on a Barefoot-approved account

And my answer is always the same:

No No And are you freaking kidding me? No!

I much prefer a no-technology method that I call ‘three jam jars’

So, please put this book down right now, head to the pantry, and get some Tim Tams While you’rethere, check and see if you have three jam jars

(Actually, any three glass jars will do We had the same big-arse jar of pickled onions in our pantryfor my entire childhood I guess Mum bought them thinking she’d try that fancy Peter Russell-Clarkerecipe, but never got around to it.)

Also check and see if you have stickers to get your kids to label their jars—the more sparkly thebetter If you don’t, make a note to buy some jam and stickers next time you’re doing the shopping

Go on, do it

Done? Good

Okay, now as you munch on Tim Tams, let’s jam jars (and that is my first, and last, dad joke of

the book)

Jam jars are the new buckets

If the whole idea of dividing your money into three sounds familiar, you’d be right

If you read The Barefoot Investor, you’ll know that I have the simplest money management system

going round In fact, it’s so simple I sketched it out on a serviette on my very first Date Night with mywife Which is why I call it the ‘Serviette Strategy’

As part of that strategy, I recommended dividing your money into ‘buckets’, and setting up severalbank accounts: ‘Daily Expenses’, ‘Smile’, ‘Splurge’, ‘Fire Extinguisher’ and ‘Mojo’.

It caught on so well that some in the media even referred to it as ‘the biggest finance cult inAustralia’

Why thousands of Australians have the same bank card, labelled “Splurge”.

Right now, thousands of Australians are flashing orange bankcards with mantras penned with sharpies and stickers “Splurge”, they read “Daily expenses” read others And they all signal one thing: that you are following the biggest financial cult in Australia.

Well, for this book, jam jars are the new buckets for kids

It’s standard practice to use three containers to teach kids: there are fancy options like MoonjarAustralia’s three-part Save, Spend and Share money box and US-based financial guru Dave Ramsey’sSmart Saver Bank, which does the same thing

In fact, in my last book, I even recommended the concept of jam jars for little kids However, I’mnow convinced that kids all the way up to 15 or so should have them (with a few age-appropriatevariations which I’ll explain in good time)

After all, the point is they will transition from the jars to bank accounts when they’re older.

And there’s power in kids being able to see they’re using the same kinds of accounts their parentshave

So let me introduce you to the three jam jars your kids (under the age of 15) will be using

The Splurge Jar

Okay, it’s time to walk off those Tim Tams

Get up! Stretch!

Put a sticker on one of the jars, grab a texta, and write ‘Splurge’

This jar is for your kids’ day-to-day spending

Hang on, am I saying that I want your kids to splurge part of their money?

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying

The truth is that sometimes pocket money works a little too well: kids can get so addicted to watchingthe coins pile up in their jars that they don’t want to spend it:

‘Little Mickey is such a good little saver; he won’t spend his money on anything!’ brag his proudparents

Twenty years later

‘Michael is such a miserable tightarse! He won’t spend money on anything or anyone No wonder hecan’t get a girlfriend,’ snivels his frustrated friend

You don’t want your kids to grow up with an unhealthy obsession with money Neither do you wantyour kids to grow up like one of those twatty teenagers on Instagram who posts a selfie with their

$900 handbag (#myparentsfailed)

This jar will help turn your kids into well-adjusted, savvy spenders

There’s just one caveat with this jar for older kids:

No self-respecting 12-year-old is going to the mall with a jam jar tucked under their arm

‘Hey Todd! Check out my jam jar, man.’ Not going to happen

So, in addition to their jam jars, I’d suggest you get them a wallet or purse that they can transfer theirSplurge money to

The Smile Jar

Grab the second jar, with sticker, and label it ‘Smile’

Like the ‘Smile’ account in my Serviette Strategy, the Smile Jar is for saving up for things that will

make your kids smile.

The golden rule of wealth is to spend less than you earn

(A long-term study by researchers from the UK, Canada and the US—the Dunedin Study—startingway back in 1975, followed the development of over 1000 kids It showed that lack of self-control inchildhood was the number one predictor of financial problems—more so than social class or evenIQ!)

Here’s the deal: the art of saving is as much a financial technique as it is a character trait

And that is what this jar is all about.

When you ingrain the act of regular, systematic saving, you’re not only creating money ‘musclememory’—you’re giving your kid a way of looking at the world that will keep them safe, long afteryou’re gone

The Give Jar

What do you think we’re going to name the next jar?

If you thought anything other than ‘Give’, you need to tone down the Tim Tams (Sugar is the newheroin, right?)

This jar is what I refer to as ‘the brat buster’ (we’re going to go deep with this in Part II).

Not only do studies repeatedly show that we get more pleasure from spending money on other peoplethan on ourselves, it has even been shown to change the mindset of bratty, self-centred teenagers.Being kind is a big deal in my family—it’s much more important than money That’s because if mykids are kind, they’ll be happier, have more meaningful relationships and be decent human beings.Okay, here’s a quick recap

Everything you wanted to know about jam jars in two pages

If Grandma gives my child some birthday or Christmas money, does it go in the jam jars?

No You should put any ‘non-pocket money’ into a high-interest online saver account Which one?I’ll tell you the exact accounts I use in the next chapter Stay tuned!

My kids will just splurge everything!

Probably Which is why you’ll have one rule for the jam jars: each jar gets some money eachpayday (We’ll talk about payday more soon.)

Beyond that, though, let your kids decide how to divvy up their pay into the jars If you’rehelicoptering over them, making their decisions, they’ll never get to stuff up And we learn bymaking mistakes It’s better for them to learn their lesson when they blow their $6 pocket moneythan when they blow their $60 000 annual wage

Jam jars for teenagers? Seriously?

Teenagers are going to graduate from the jam jars to bank accounts However, all pocket money ispaid and divvied up via the jam jars I’m not trying to be cute—research suggests it’s the best way

to teach your kids about money Again, we’ll be covering that more in the next chapter

How do my kids pay for bigger purchases or even online purchases?

You can pay for big-ticket items out of the savings account I mentioned above, and older teenswill be opening their own accounts I’ll go into all this in more detail in Chapter 1 (Part II).

I’m worried my kids will steal money from each other’s jam jars.

My five-year-old was onto this much earlier than I was—he put his jam jars on top of hisbookshelf, out of reach of his little brother But if you’re worried about pilfering pinkies, you canalways lock the jam jars away for the week and bring them out on payday

If the coins pile up in the jam jars you can exchange them for notes (use the coins for parking!), oryou can use the account we’ll set up in the next chapter

But with jam jars they’re not earning interest

You can always deposit some of their money into the online account you’re about to set up.However, a much better payoff is letting your kids see the money building up in front of them

I want to teach them how the world really works, and everyone uses ATM cards these days.

However, for little kids and tweens we’re going to try to lay the foundations, and the best way to

do that is the old-fashioned way, by seeing the money

What about this new online app I’ve just heard about

You are the killer app.

You’re going to create experiences and memories and family traditions that your kids willremember for the rest of their lives You’re teaching your kids values There’s no app that you canoutsource this to You just need to put down your phone and connect with them

Now let’s talk about where your kids are going to get the money to put into those jars

Three Jobs

The lesson we want to teach our kids can be summed up in four words:

‘Money comes from working.’

Sounds straightforward, right?

And that’s why the foundation of almost every book about kids and money is to track chores and paymoney

There’s only one, teeny, weeny problem

If you’ve ever googled ways to teach your kid about pocket money, you’ll have run into a ‘chorechart’ that looks something like this:

If you’re not feeling heart palpitations looking at this chart, you’re not a parent

It has 91 chores to mark off during the week (13 every day for seven days)

Ninety One Separate Things

The mind boggles

How are those 91 chores going?

Look, you want your kids to work and earn money, absolutely But you don’t want to set the bar sohigh that they have to complete 91 things in a week to get a passing grade

It’s more likely you’ll grind it out for a few weeks and then wave the white flag, or your kids will

wear you down (or both), and you’ll never do it again.

So what’s the solution?

Keep it simple—real simple

I’m a money man, and I can tell you there is absolutely NO WAY my family would last a week on a91-chore plan I wouldn’t even attempt it: I’d be setting up myself—and my kids—to fail

So I have a ridiculously simple strategy for handling my kids’ chores

To be honest, though, I hate the word ‘chores’, because it makes them sound like, well, chores So inthis book I’m going to call them ‘jobs’, which is exactly how it works for adults—you get paid for thejobs you do

And here’s the best part

Your entire strategy is boiled down to one simple line:

Kids have three jobs to do each week—and they only get paid if they do them.

It’s up to you what jobs you want your kids to do, and the payment for each

But to help you out, here are some examples for how it might play out in your household:

Little kids (up to age 7)

With little kids, you’re basically just trying to get through the day without them flushing the TV remotedown the toilet In other words, you need to keep things easy Something like:

1 Clean your room on a Sunday so you can start the week afresh.

2 Put the recycling out (Mummy sure drinks a lot of wine!).

3 Help put the groceries away (Daddy sure eats a lot of chocolate!).

Now, understand you’ll probably end up doing these jobs with your kid—and that’s okay!

It’s not about the job; it’s about the physical act of doing the job (Besides, you’re going to clean up

their mess regardless, aren’t you?)

Tweens and younger teens (age 8 to 14)

We live on a farm, so there’s always plenty to do: rounding up sheep, feeding the chooks, collectingfirewood (I make no apologies for being the Steve Irwin of pocket money)

Your kids may not live on the land, but they do have a home So put them to work!

Something like:

1 Clean out the car once a week (family cars are a cesspool of half-eaten Cruskits, old coffee

cups and festy coins)

2 Put the bins out each week, and bring them back in.

3 Do basic yardwork, sweeping, or feeding pets.

Older teens (age 15 and over)

When your kid turns 15, they’ll often scream at you: ‘You treat me like a child!’

(Maybe you do, maybe you don’t I’m staying out of it.)

And they are technically correct—they are on the cusp of adulthood So they deserve a promotion

to their very own part-time job

Let them know that they’ve now reached an age where they can legally work Explain that you’llcontinue paying them pocket money for household jobs while they apply for their first real job.

But if they’re not willing to apply for part-time jobs, you’ll cut off their pocket money

And once they get a part-time job, they won’t need the pocket money (and you won’t be giving it tothem anyway) After all, they can earn far more in just a few hours of work than they ever got inpocket money

Hang on, how will they get a job?

Tell them they’re going to be the mascot for the local footy team (the Bendigo Badger!)

Actually, that’s a joke Later on, in Chapters 7 and 8 (Part II), I’m going to give you the inside running

on how your teen can land a part-time job—even with zero experience I’ve spoken to some heavyhitters and got it all sorted for your teen

No badgering required

Now, understand the secret sauce of this simple three-job plan:

Ideally, you want your kids to be able to do these three jobs quickly on a Sunday afternoon (even withgastro) and still earn their pocket money

Yet of course, you’re the parent, so you know your kids better than anyone (well, apart from MarkZuckerberg) So you should definitely take my suggestions as just that—suggestions And soon you’regoing to get the opportunity to tailor these jobs to your kids, your family and your situation

For now, let me show you how to tie it all together and ‘lock in’ the link between working, earning,giving, saving and splurging in your kids’ minds in just three minutes a week

Three Minutes

I promised that the cornerstone of this book would be a plan so easy you could do it in under threeminutes a week

Well, here it is: a simple ritual that’s lazy parenting at its best

You want easy?

Start the clock:

First minute (and I’m being generous here): Check your kid has done their three weekly jobs.

If they haven’t, yell ‘Do you want to get paid? Do your jobs!’

No need to get up holler from the kitchen

Second minute: Pay them Count out the coins like a croupier, straight into their hand.

Third minute: Watch them divvy it up into the three jars (The only rule? Every jar must get

something.)

And that’s it!

Seriously, pat yourself on the back: in just three minutes you’ve reinforced the link between

‘working’ and ‘earning’ in your kid’s mind

Hold your Bacardi, how do you know your kid isn’t pulling a Clive Palmer on you, and pretending

they’ve done their jobs?

I’m glad you ask Enter the Barefoot Scoreboard

The Barefoot Scoreboard

Money is fast becoming invisible (my kids think I’m a wizard with a magic leather pouch that allows

me to take stuff from shops with only a wave)

So as you lay the financial foundations for your children, you need to create a visual link betweenhard work and money You need to turn down the tech

This is where the Barefoot Scoreboard comes in You can download it from the Barefoot Investorwebsite (barefootinvestor.com/resources)

(Note: if you can’t be arsed photocopying this or printing it out simply write your own.)

Stick it on the fridge and tell your kids: to get paid, your jobs must be done—and crossed off on the

You want to give them the feeling of satisfaction that comes from achieving a win.

It’s the kid equivalent of clearing your email inbox

So give them that win!

Everything you wanted to know about jobs (and pocket money) in one page

How much should I pay?

A good rule of toe is to pay $1 per week, per year of age So a seven-year-old would get $7 aweek Or you can halve it to 50 cents per week, per year of age Heck, you can even do a tenth of

it for all I care

It’s simply a visual aid for teaching values And they get a pay rise each birthday! (But it’s yourjob to make them earn it—they should take on more responsibility in their jobs.)

Oh, and it shouldn’t need to be said, but it does need to be said: pay your daughters the same asyour sons

A 2018 survey of more than 10 000 schoolchildren by the University of Melbourne found that not

only are girls doing more housework than boys but they’re getting less pocket money than boys.

And we wonder why women still get paid less for doing the same job, and typically retire withless than half the super savings of men?!

No excuses

Should pocket money always be linked to jobs?

Abso-freakin-lutely The only way to truly teach your kids the value of a buck is to make themwork for it You want to show them the joy of hard work Now, if they miss a few jobs becausethey’re sick, that’s fine—just make a part payment for the week (And let them catch up nextweek.)

Parents, repeat after me: ‘If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.’

Hang on, shouldn’t kids help out around the house for free?

Hell yeah they should help out And that’s the next big topic we’re going to look at.

But first, I want you to do something important

It’s time for a very special Date Night

Congratulations! You now have a simple, powerful plan for paying pocket money the right way—in

just three minutes a week

Soon I’m going to show you how to roll it out to your kids with minimal fuss so you can officiallyget started on the Barefoot Ten, and the fun experiences awaiting you in this book

But before we do that, we’re going to take a leaf out of The Barefoot Investor and kick things off

with an extra-special Parents Only Date Night

There are two reasons I want you to do this:

Firstly, for most of us parenting is a team sport, so you’ll want to get your partner up to speed

While you could get them to read this book, it’s easier to take them to their favourite restaurant (no

kids!), ply them with booze, and cruise through the Parents Only Date Night ‘menu’ (see next page)

If you’re a single parent, bring along a friend or grandparent, or go by yourself (with me as company).Secondly, you’re going to tailor this book for your family I’ve tested the plan you’re going to readabout on lots of parents, so I know it works—but you know your family best

Your kids may be old, or young, or have special needs, or be unique in any number of ways If youflick through the book, you can take a sneak peek at the amazing moments and challenges we’re going

to create for your kids

Though I’m sure you’ll find some things where you’ll say, ‘That’s not going to work for us We’dactually do it this way.’

That’s okay!

On this Date Night you’re going to take the building blocks of this plan and tweak it to work long term

for your kids.

Don’t worry, I’ve got the entire evening sorted out for you All you need to do is book the restaurant

BAREFOOT DATE NIGHT

Order a beer or wine It’s time to see if you and your partner are on the same page when it comes

to teaching your kids about money You’ll work out whether you are by discussing thesequestions

• Did you get pocket money as a kid?

• What was your first part-time job?