‘Happy to admit I was wrong’: Barefoot backflips on driverless cars but still won’t invest in Tesla

Scott Pape admits he was wrong for being sceptical about driverless cars but that doesn’t mean he expects Tesla shares to soar 1000 per cent, as some analysts have tipped.

Scott Pape is the Barefoot Investor. Picture: Jason Edwards

“Hands up if you want to come on a trip with Dad to the … GOLD COAST?” I yelled.

All hands shot up around the family dinner table (apart from Liz, whose arms were firmly folded).

“And what about if we went to … Hawaii? Who’d want to come along with good old Dad?” I roared.

“Oh me! Me! Me! Pick me, Dad!” shrieked my eight-year-old, pushing his hand higher than his three siblings and almost dislocating his shoulder in the process.

“Well, I’ve just signed with a speaking agency and they’re putting me forward for corporate keynotes”, I told the kids.

Blank stares.

Then again, I haven’t done a paid gig since I became a dad – by choice – so my kids have no concept of me being a public speaker (or having a career away from the farm, to be honest). So I explained that we’d be heading to some pretty fancy places. Sometimes on a plane. And we’d stay in fancy hotels. And have a fancy buffet breakfast. And after the speech we’d go somewhere awesome … like Wet’n’Wild!

“I’m doing 10 speeches a year”, I announced, like I was Willy Wonka.

(Yes, my decision to do corporate speaking is largely motivated by the opportunity to peel off one of my kids and spend some rare one-on-one time with them – Disneyland-dad style.)

So I’ve spent a hundred hours or so creating a speech for big corporates, but I’ll give you the guts of it:

Barefoot hopes his speaking gig will take him to exciting places like the Gold Coast, which will appeal to his kids who are keen to go to Wet n Wild. Picture Glenn Hampson

Basically, since writing the best-selling book in Australian history, I’ve had thousands of people write to me and tell me what they got out of it. Patterns emerge. Here are the three things that people say really moved the dial for them.

First, it was the buckets (of course).

Second, it was the clarity of the Barefoot Steps to instantly know what to do next.

Finally, it was doing the Barefoot Date Nights, where people actually changed their financial lives.

(Okay, so there’s a little more than that, of course, but that’s the gist of it.)

The really cool thing about doing this speech is that it inspires people to start doing them again … and, at times like this, that’s a bloody good thing!

The only problem?

Thus far, it’s really only mining companies that have shown the most interest in booking me.

“So, kids, who wants to go to the middle of nowhere and sleep in a donga with Daddy?” quipped Liz.

No hands went up.

Tread Your Own Path!

P.S. I actually love talking to miners (even if my minors don’t want to come). In fact, on my last speaking trip I ended up on the front page of the Kalgoorlie Miner after landing in the local jail (speaking to the soon-to-be-released prisoners)!

Guru Predicts Tesla Shares Will Go UP 1000 per cent

Hi Scott,

I’m wondering if you have changed your tune on investing in Tesla? Ark Invest guru Cathie Wood has just added to her stake in the company in anticipation of the robot taxi revolution. She forecasts it will be a $10 trillion global market, says Tesla will capture the bulk of that, and predicts it will boost Tesla’s share price tenfold. Elon is obviously a genius and he has said that robot taxis are the future for Tesla. So, given the share price has been whacked recently, is now the time to buy some shares?

Trevor

Some investors rank Telsa CEO Elon Musk as a ‘genius’.

Hi Trevor

Well, paint me red and call me Randy, but I’m shocked.

For years I’ve been highly sceptical that fully autonomous driving would happen.

Yet I’m happy to admit I was wrong.

Waymo, Google’s robotaxi company, has not only got driverless taxicabs, they’re now taking 100,000 paid rides each week in the US (up from 50,000 a few months ago).

Even better, they’re safer than us humanoids. Well, at least the company claims that their robots are much safer: they’ve recorded just 0.4 injury-causing collisions per million miles driven, whereas humans are involved in 2.78 per million miles.

So, in major cities at least, it looks like robotaxis really are the next big thing.

Yet it’s here that guru stock picker Cathie Wood and I conk out.

I wouldn’t want Cathie in the cockpit of my portfolio: her Ark Invest has destroyed $US14bn ($20.8bn) in wealth over the past decade, according to Morningstar, which tracks her funds.

And, looking over her Tesla research, I can understand why. It’s pure spin from a fund manager who is trying to boost the stock price of a company she already owns.

How did she come up with the ‘1000 per cent’ return assessment?

Well, Cathie is predicting that, in less than five years, an unbelievable 90 per cent of Tesla’s future earnings will come from something that doesn’t exist yet:

Robotaxis.

To be fair, Elon Musk announced that Tesla was on track to have 1 million robot taxis on the road … by 2020.

Today?

Tesla has zero robotaxis. In fact, the fine print on their website says that Tesla’s Autopilot feature “does not make the vehicle autonomous”.

Now I don’t doubt that Tesla will move into robotaxis … but this brings us to the crucial point:

Will these robots make investors rich?

On this point, I’m still very sceptical. After all, in China, the main selling point of robotaxis is that they’re cheap as chips. According to a report in the Global Times, base fares start as low as 4 yuan (83c), compared with 18 yuan ($3.73) for a taxi driven by a smelly human.

That sounds like a driverless race to the bottom to me.

Barefoot Book Week!

Hi Scott,

Book Week time again and Barefoot was the only person Hamish wanted to dress as! He has read Barefoot Kids and is now nearly finished your original Barefoot Investor book. He has all his buckets and a great plan. Keep inspiring my kids, please!

Nicky

Hamish dressed up as Barefoot Investor for Book Week.

Hey Nicky,

I absolutely love Book Week (and Father’s Day).

Every year I get kids who dress up as me (well, except for my kids, who think I’m super embarrassing).

Please thank Hamish for reading both books, and let him know that I think he’s a legend.

(And a shout-out to all the other kids who had a Barefoot Book Week too.)

Blowing Smoke Up Your Backside

Hi Scott,

Your financial advice, as always, is second to none … but this short email is to confirm you also scored a bullseye with your suggestion a few weeks ago to Bella to buy Allen Carr’s book to help her husband give up smoking. Years ago, I was so addicted to cigarettes that, even after watching BOTH my mum and brother die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, I STILL wasn’t able to quit.

But then I bought a copy of that book – and quit immediately after reading the last page. This was after smoking a pack a day for about 20 years and genuinely believing that life wasn’t worth living if I couldn’t smoke. Not to mention the fact that I had tried EVERY SINGLE other method in an attempt to quit.

Keep up the good work, and never stop recommending Allen Carr’s book to smokers. As a former confirmed smoker, I can only describe the feeling of genuinely never wanting another cigarette again after finishing the book as magic. I hope Bella and her husband take your advice and I wish them the same success.

Andy

Thanks, Andy!

I aim to be helpful in these pages. If this helps people escape the prison of addiction, it’s a good day for me. Well done for giving up the darts.

DISCLAIMER: Information and opinions provided in this column are general in nature and have been prepared for educational purposes only. Always seek personal financial advice tailored to your specific needs before making financial and investment decisions.

Originally published as ‘Happy to admit I was wrong’: Barefoot backflips on driverless cars but still won’t invest in Tesla