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The Barefoot Investor has warned Australians about Afterpay debts this Christmas

As Scott Pape films his new TV series to help kids with money and runs his financial counselling training, he has a message for everyday Australians using buy-now, pay later this Christmas.

Shoppers embrace buy now, pay later schemes

Pester power will hit its peak in the next 10 days with parents under substantial pressure to overspend on Christmas presents.

And the seasonal advertising blitz is working with research from Roy Morgan and the Australian Retailers Association finding Australians are likely to spend almost $53 billion throughout December.

Part of the problem is that it is already too late to start negotiating as children have been sold the idea of Christmas as a time of presents but Barefoot Investor Scott Pape says it’s never too late to teach your kids the value of a buck.

Mr Pape has been busy filming his new Foxtel TV series dubbed, Scott Pape’s Money Movement.

He has gone into both primary and secondary schools across Australia to pilot a money education program he has created to help teach students basic money skills.

Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor, who is making a new TV show for Foxtel. Picture: Graeme Taylor/Foxtel
Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor, who is making a new TV show for Foxtel. Picture: Graeme Taylor/Foxtel

Mr Pape says “money is the one thing that we’ll be tested on every day of their lives regardless of whether they become a hairdresser lawyer or doctor. So it’s really important that they learn about it at school.”

As we head into one of the most expensive times of year, Mr Pape also said Australians were laden with far too much debt and buy-now, pay later phenomenon was crippling Australians at the hip pocket.

Latest Reserve Bank of Australia figures showed in October more than $43 billion debt was owing on personal credit cards and $27.5 billion was accruing interest.

Mr Pape said despite Australia being “one of the wealthier countries on earth but we have got a huge problem with debt in this country”.

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Scott Pape has been going into schools to teach kids about money. Picture: Graeme Taylor/ Foxtel
Scott Pape has been going into schools to teach kids about money. Picture: Graeme Taylor/ Foxtel

He said working on schools money movement campaign, and heading into schools, was essentially “putting my money where my mouth is”.

Mr Pape said the tag line for the money movement is “Teach the Kids, help the parents, change the nation ... and hopefully you’ll see me do all three”.

His books continue to sell thousands of copies – The Barefoot Investor has sold more than 1.75 million copies.

His latest book, The Barefoot Investor for Families, has sold more than 267,000 copies.

Pape’s four-part Foxtel TV series will premiere in February, 2020 on the Lifestyle Channel.

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/barefoot-investor/the-barefoot-investor-has-warned-australians-about-afterpay-debts-this-christmas/news-story/6e02d54d5001286ed08f9bb62cf7a081