Page-turners are Scott Papes best present ideas for this Christmas

Barefoot Investor Scott Pape says the best Christmas gifts tell people that they’re smart. Here’s what he recommends this year.

Scott Pape is the Barefoot Investor. Picture: Jason Edwards

Many years ago, I solved the Christmas gift-giving game: I buy people books.

A book says, “I think you’re the sort of person who has an attention span longer than 30 seconds and enjoys learning about something. In other words, I think you’re smart.”

Here are the books I’ll be putting in my Santa sack this year:

Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance

By Nathaniel Eliason

This was hands-down my favourite book of the year. Nat Eliason was in a jam: he was unemployed, and his wife was pregnant. He had just six months to turn things around, so he decided to roll the dice and attempt to get as rich as quickly as he could in crypto.

And … it worked! At one point his crypto holdings were valued at over $US10 million.

However, the trouble was always just around the corner, where Nat came up against scammers and sleazebags of the highest order. This isn’t just a cautionary tale – it’s totally ‘bonkerballs’, as my eight-year-old would say.

Given Bitcoin is booming on the back of the incoming ‘Crypto-Prez’, I’d strongly advise reading this book before you dabble. You’ll learn a lot about coins, monkey pics and blockchain. You’ll also laugh out loud a lot.

It’s the perfect beach read … or a great gift for your idiot brother-in-law.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By Jonathan Haidt

This is the book that helped kick off a revolution.

Not only are today’s kids more anxious, depressed and suicidal than in previous generations, they’re also dumber (Aussie students are among the world’s biggest users of digital devices at school, yet their academic results have fallen a full academic year behind those who went to school in the 2000s).

Haidt lays the blame squarely at the feet of the always-on dopamine syringes in everyone’s pockets, and calls for an end to the great experiment of ‘phone-based childhood’. The Anxious Generation will give you an understanding of what drove our government to create the world-first social media ban for teens.

A perfect gift for every parent.

Gifts that tell people they’re smart – like books – are great, says Scott Pape. Picture: iStock

Storyworth: give them the gift of telling their story

This isn’t a book … it’s a sneaky way to get your parents to write their own book.

Here’s the deal: once a week, Storyworth zaps them an email with a question like:

“What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever done?”

“What was your most embarrassing fashion choice?”

“Where were you when Neil Armstrong made his giant leap?”

They simply reply to each email and, by year’s end, voila – a printed book of their life stories to keep forever (or so the sales pitch goes).

I bought this for Christmas for my mum a few years ago. She loved it. In fact her Storyworth ended up rivalling The Lord of the Rings in length.

Let’s face it – Storyworth is just a clever way to help the older people in your life crank out their memoirs, one email nudge at a time. Genius, really.

Tread Your Own Path!

A Knife to the Throat

Hi Barefoot,

My dad, who’s 60 and nearing retirement, got a call from an Aussie company pitching an SMSF to trade daily using AI (red flag – he didn’t contact them first). They claim to use only 2 per cent of your super per day to avoid “losing everything”. He’s already invested $500 and says he’s made $25 but is being hounded by daily calls. When I asked “what would the Barefoot Investor say?” he admitted it’s probably a bad idea, but he seems hooked by the promises. Please give him a call to help me convince him – his number is (deleted).

Kate

Hi Kate

Well, I called your Dad, and he’s a ripper of a bloke!

Now, I didn’t have a lot of time, so here’s what I said:

“I’ve never heard of these guys, but they sound like a bunch of crooks. And if you transfer your super they’re probably going to steal it.”

Unfortunately your father was a little unsure about what specific forms he’d signed to set up his SMSF, so I advised him to call his existing fund and make sure they would not allow the transfer out.

He agreed.

Then I hung up and called the Assistant Federal Treasurer.

Yet he was too important to take my call, so I spoke to one of his underlings.

Now, I didn’t have a lot of time, so here’s what I said:

“Let’s say you and I are having a coffee down the street when a bloke in a balaclava walks into the cafe and yells ‘give me all the money in your till!’. What would we do?”

“We’d call the cops!” I said, answering my own question. “And they’d be there in a flash. And they’d arrest him and throw him in jail.”

“However, when a decent, hardworking bloke is about to get robbed of his entire life savings with a pen rather than a gun, the only thing the authorities can offer is the wet-lettuce-leaf response of ‘Report it to Scamwatch’.”

Silence.

“Well”, said the political minion, without a lot of conviction, “you could ring ASIC and report it, and also … ummm, maybe … the Federal Police?”

So I did that as well. Still, there weren’t sirens, stun-guns and handcuffs on offer … it had more of a cat-stuck-up-a-tree feel to it.

Thankfully, your father is okay. He dodged a bullet that is currently being aimed at thousands of naive investors.

My Greedy Obnoxious Brother

Hi Scott,

In 2022, my stepdad passed away and shocked us all when he left all his $6.5 million in assets to my half-brother (his biological son), leaving my sister and me with nothing. To make things fair, our mum (divorced from him 10 years ago) updated her will to split her assets 50/50 between my sister and me.

When Mum passed recently, she left us about $3 million each. Now, our greedy, obnoxious half-brother is contesting her will. We expected this, of course. Yet our mum’s lawyer said her updated will was “bulletproof”. Yet now our trust lawyer says our brother can tie it up in court for years, and we might have to settle for $1 million. Any advice?

Brenda

Hi Brenda,

I’m really sorry to hear about your mum (and your half-brother).

The truth is that no will is bulletproof – nothing can stop an ‘eligible’ person from challenging a will.

However, that’s the million-dollar question:

Does your half-brother even have standing to challenge your Mum’s will? In most Australian states, unless they can prove financial dependence on the deceased at the time of death, stepchildren aren’t ‘eligible persons’ under family provision laws.

I spoke to my lawyer, Dr Brett Davies, and he says you should chat with a litigation lawyer to see if old greedy guts is just bluffing or if he actually has a leg to stand on to challenge your mum’s estate.

If his case is weak, he could walk away with nothing – and he might even have to cough up for your legal costs, and the estate’s!

Regardless, tread carefully and get expert advice. In deceased estate disputes, the only guaranteed winners are the lawyers (something Brett didn’t mention!).

In family fights over inheritances, lawyers are the big winners. Picture: iStock

No Batteries Required

Hi Scott,

We got both my boys the Barefoot Kids book for Christmas over a year ago. In the last four months, Charlie has made over $100 from recycling cans and bottles. Charlie and our eldest son, Patrick, who’s 11, have also begun buying and selling Pokemon cards on eBay! Understanding how to make money, appreciating it, showing gratitude for their situation, sharing and being kind are ongoing lessons. Thanks for writing and sharing your books!

Peter

Hi Peter

Please pass on the following message to Charlie and Patrick:

Boys, good work on the little business you’ve got going. I’m really proud of you!

Now, there are still a couple of weeks before Christmas, and I’ve got another challenge for you:

I want you to take some of that money you’ve earned and buy some nice presents.

First, for your mum and dad, and brothers and sisters.

Then I want you to go to Kmart and buy a gift for a little kid your age – it could be a book (Barefoot Kids?!), stickers or something else awesome – and then place it under the tree in the store.

You’ll be a Secret Santa for someone who really needs it.

Merry Christmas!

Peter, thanks so much for giving me the perfect opportunity to plug Barefoot Kids for Christmas. There’s something really quite magical about that book. Kids devour it and then go off and do awesome things that make their parents (and grandparents) proud.

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.