It’s a long road to recovery after you lose it all

What happens after a bushfire when the media moves on and the cameras stop rolling. A new documentary with the Barefoot Investor reveals the unglamorous reality of getting back on your feet.

Scott Pape sits with bushfire victims from the Upper Murray River, after giving them advice on financial recovery for new documentary Road To Recovery. Picture: Foxtel

My wife slammed the door and said: “You need to go and see someone.”

It was almost three months to the day after our house burned when things started to fall apart.

See, the world had moved on, but we hadn’t.

And I found the black landscape that surrounded me crept up on me and brought up black thoughts inside my head.

It was the darkest period of my life.

And it was that time that my wife booked us both in to see a counsellor who specialised in bushfire victims.

It really helped us.

So this year has been my time to take some of my hard-earned experience and give back: I’ve been working as a non-profit financial counsellor in bushfire-affected regions.

As part of that effort, I was summoned to Canberra for a roundtable on how best to help fire victims. I happened to sit next to Anna Bligh, former premier of Queensland, and now head of the banking lobby.

While the nation has moved on to a new crisis, there are plenty of people dealing with the aftermath of the bushfires. Picture: AAP

She told me that it was around the 12-week mark that depression started to set in after the Queensland floods, which matched perfectly with my own experience.

Well, we’re now approaching three months after the fires … the time when it all starts to fall apart. And, tragically, the community where I’m helping out has had its first suicide since the fires.

It’s a reminder that, while the nation has moved on to toilet paper hoarding, there are plenty of people still dealing with the aftermath.

My experience told me that the media would move on quickly.

But I wanted to tell the real story of recovery and what happens when the cameras stop rolling.

So I kept them rolling — I had a documentary crew follow me to show the real, unglamorous reality of getting back on your feet.

The Road to Recovery premieres this week on Foxtel.

I agreed to do the show for three reasons:

First, to raise awareness of the vital work that (underfunded) financial counsellors do.

Second, to raise money for the Financial Counselling Foundation (I donated 100 per cent of my time, and the network agreed to donate all advertising revenue).

And, finally, so that even when the media did move on, those affected by the fires wouldn’t feel like the world had forgotten them. I wanted to tell the story of what happens after a disaster … and what the road to recovery really looks like.

Tread Your Own Path!

Q&As

TINY HOUSE, BIG LOSS

JACK WRITES: I recently stumbled upon the YouTube phenomenon of “tiny houses”. Are these a great idea or a terrible one?

I understand that the value probably does not go up, but it provides an opportunity to get your own place — for cash!

BAREFOOT REPLIES: You’re right: tiny houses have terrible resale value.

I know this because I’m looking to buy one … second-hand.

I can only assume the people who are selling have experienced the downsides of living in a confined space …

When you take a dump, it stinks out your whole house (which is about as big as Daryl Somers’ dressing room’s dunny anyway).

And, to make matters worse, you don’t have any toilet paper because some coronavirus-prepper has already raided your local IGA. Am I right?

You don’t want to be turning around and booking a substantial loss on your tiny house.

So why am I buying one?

Actually I’m looking to buy a couple.

I’m going to dot them around the farm so me and the boys (OK, and the girl) can do mini-camping trips at a moment’s notice. It’s an investment in my kids, but it won’t make me any money.

Tiny houses won’t make you any money.

BEWARE THE KILLER CHIHUAHUA

BRUCE WRITES: My wife and I are both in our early seventies, retired, and have just been given another “pay cut” on our term deposits, courtesy of the Reserve Bank! I have two questions:

1) What are your thoughts on current interest rates?

2) I have half my money ($600,000) in term deposits paying a pitiful 1.5 per cent with Bendigo Bank. What are your thoughts on moving them over to Mayfair Platinum term deposits, which is offering 5.45 per cent?

BAREFOOT REPLIES: You’ve asked two fantastic questions that many people are asking themselves right now.

So let me answer with an admittedly weird analogy:

For me, the current level of interest rates (0.5 per cent — the lowest on record) is a bit like camping out in the bush.

You’ve spent the day shooting your rifle at random tin cans and the like, wasting your bullets.

Night falls and you hear something rustling in the bushes: what the hell is that? A killer bear?

But you only have three bullets left.

Scared witless, you fire one off into the darkness and hope you hit whatever is making the noise.

Now you have two bullets left.

Let me explain: the bullets are interest rate cuts, which are designed to stimulate the economy. And the latest cut the Reserve Bank fired off this week will, in my view, prove to be about as effective as shooting randomly into the darkness. If anything, it’ll just serve to scare your fellow campers.

What happens if there really is something bad in the (economic) bushes? Will we have enough bullets in the magazine to defend ourselves?

That’s my worry.

Now, to your second question: should you move your money over to Mayfair Platinum, which is offering 5.45 per cent on its term deposits?

I’ve written about Mayfair Platinum before.

It’s a heavy advertiser, and in the past has used a cute little chihuahua as its mascot. I explained how it snapped up some (in my view) very questionable offerings, including Dunk Island (an island south of Cairns that was wiped out by Cyclone Yasi in 2011), various cryptocurrency-related companies, a food app and a host of other investments around the world.

For my answer to your question, then, let’s keep going with my camping analogy.

You’re worried the noise in the bushes might be a killer bear. But it’s not. In fact the cutest little chihuahua comes trotting out. It cuddles up to you by the campfire and lovingly licks your face while you drift off to sleep, confident that everything is going to be A-OK. That’s Mayfair Platinum.

And then, in the middle of the night, it bites your face off.

Your Mojo account can turn out to be crucial for the big moments in life.

YOUR MOJO’S RISING TO THE OCCASION

BRENDA WRITES: I want to thank you for the concept of “Mojo”.

Mojo allowed me to fly immediately from Brisbane to Melbourne to be with my 95-year-old gramps when I was told he had only 24 hours left.

He held on for five days (he was always stoic and slightly stubborn!), then slipped away quickly, simply and peacefully.

I feel honoured to have been able to be right next to him as he passed — it is one of the best experiences of my life.

It is vital to NEVER underestimate the power of Mojo — it means so much more than just some dollars sitting in an account.

BAREFOOT REPLIES: Good on you, Brenda!

To be in the financial position to down tools and be with your family when they need it is what having Mojo is all about.

Those are the moments that really matter in life. Thanks for sharing your story — my hope is that it inspires others.

If you or someone you know needs help, call lifeline on 13 11 14 or go to lifeline.org.au

The Barefoot Investor for Families: The Only Kids’ Money Guide You’ll Ever Need (HarperCollins)RRP $29.99

If you have a money question, go to barefootinvestor.com and #askbarefoot

The Barefoot Investor holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (302081). This is general advice only. It should not replace individual, independent, personal financial advice.

Originally published as It’s a long road to recovery after you lose it all