Scott Pape, the barefoot investor, is the name on the lips of many people trying to manage their finances. Another name, ASIC’s Moneysmart is also a great resource for teaching both young and old about financial matters we all look back on and wish we’d either listened more or followed advice… Unfortunately when I was growing up there were no free webinars about financial management or barefoot investors to explain things in simple terms.
I did get two bits of advice about investing when I was a teenage adult which thankfully I listened to. As my own son is about to turn 18, I wonder what advice can I offer of financial importance which will set him on a path that allows him to enjoy life and yet not reach my age and have to worry if his investments and savings are enough to see him into retirement.
In fact, is that model of work, save, travel, buy house, save, retire, spend super as pension the model that my son’s generation will aspire to?
In schools, financial literacy is taught with various levels of success. I was heartened to hear that my son’s school, Melbourne High School uses Scott Pape’s “The Barefoot Investor” as the foundation for it’s Year 11 financial literacy class.
I don’t think I know anyone my age who doesn’t stray towards websites that offer the answer to “How much superannuation do I need to retire?” – Of course when I was much younger, it would have been… “Super? That’s just money locked away forever not doing anything…” Of course, now knowing it quietly compounds as you plan your next holiday to Kakadu (little plug for the Northern Territory here) is something worth sharing…
Well, I did stray there recently and I found some rather amazing and free resources you really should take a look at on the ASIC MoneySmart website…
ASIC’s MoneySmart has some very cool teaching resources – online courses in fact that you can do for free at home or at school. It even has teacher resources… and wait, there’s more! It also has a co-authored set of video lessons from none other than Scott Pape himself.
There are a bunch of cool calculators on this site as well so you can seek the answer to how much superannuation you need to retire… which I think is actually the wrong question… It should be around… “What is my next chapter?” because humans have an amazing knack to adjust to the challenges that surround them, and if you are on the slopes of Macchu Picchu and down to your last plate of Peruvian Ceviche and final sip of Panther’s Milk – you’ll find a way to get through…
By the way, in checking Scott’s site I see that he is also highlighting the need for financial literacy in our schools – check our his new initiative here…