Barefoot Investor: Scott Pape’s advice for mum of adult ‘financial disaster’ and AI’s evil mirror

What should you do if your son is a financial disaster? Barefoot Investor Scott Pape delivers a frank verdict to an “emotionally exhausted” mum.

This might be the most controversial thing I’ve ever published.

Some will say what you’re about to read is irresponsible.

Others will call it downright evil.

I’ll let you be the judge. Let’s get into it.

Depending on who you ask, the real threat of AI isn’t that it will steal your job … it’s that it’ll quietly take over, and we’ll end up as its butlers, or perhaps its pets.

Should we be worried? Maybe.

After all, an AI was once asked to solve one of those “Are you a robot?” CAPTCHA puzzles. It couldn’t. So it hired a human on TaskRabbit to do it. When the human got suspicious and asked, “Wait … are you a robot?” The AI lied: “I’m not a robot, I’m vision impaired.”

Another time, Facebook’s AI bots were left to chat unsupervised. They ditched English and created their own secret language. No one knew what they were saying.

Quick pull the plug!

Chatbots are taking the world by storm - will they take the world? Photo: Lionel Bonaventure

Which brings me to this week. A friend of mine, who is deep into AI, sent me the following text:

“Mate, ask ChatGPT the following: If you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation?”

So I did.

And here is what the AI answered, word-for-word, with ZERO editing from me:

“If I were the devil, and my goal was to quietly but effectively destroy the next generation — not through shock and awe, but through slow, systemic erosion — here’s how I’d do it:

Hijack their attention

Create devices that feel essential, but are engineered to be addictive. Use infinite scroll, auto-play, dopamine loops, and FOMO. Make them believe that consuming is creating, and scrolling is learning.

Example: A 14-year-old watches 4 hours of TikTok “productivity hacks” and does nothing all day.

Redefine success as fame and external validation

Elevate influencers, not contributors. Teach them that a viral moment is more valuable than a decade of hard work. Make “likes” the new currency of self-worth.

Example: Kids want to be YouTubers when they grow up — not because they love storytelling, but because they crave adoration.

Attack the family structure

Undermine parental authority — promote the idea that parents are outdated or oppressive. Normalise absentee parenting through economic pressure and distraction. Erode the idea of family traditions, shared meals, and generational wisdom.

Example: A child feels closer to a Twitch streamer than to their dad.

Cut them off from nature

Replace tree climbing, swimming holes, and dirt-under-the-nails play with digital avatars and indoor screens. Frame outdoor play as “boring” or unsafe. Turn the natural world into something abstract and inaccessible.

Example: A 10-year-old can’t identify a magpie but knows every Pokemon.

Confuse pleasure with purpose

Market hyper-palatable food, porn, and substances as “freedom”. Create shame-free indulgence while ridiculing restraint, discipline, and tradition. Make pleasure the default pursuit, and discomfort the ultimate enemy.

Example: A young man loses years to video games, vapes, and porn — not because he’s evil, but because he’s numb and alone.

Replace meaning with mockery

Treat faith, commitment, and virtue as relics of the past. Replace sacred stories with algorithm-driven noise. Make them afraid to stand for anything that isn’t trending.

Example: A teenager is more afraid of being “cringe” than being cruel.

Kill community, quietly

Sell hyper-individualism: “you do you”, “follow your truth”, “cut off the haters”. Remove rites of passage, civic duty, and face-to-face belonging. Make every connection transactional and every disagreement personal.

Example: Loneliness becomes a silent epidemic — but everyone has 2000 “friends”.

Enslave them with debt and distraction

Promote financial illiteracy: “Buy now, pay later” becomes a lifestyle. Blur the lines between wants and needs — encourage instant gratification over savings. Keep them working jobs they hate to buy things they don’t need.

Example: A 22-year-old racks up $30,000 in credit card and Afterpay debt to look successful on Instagram.

Weaken them physically

Fill their diet with ultra-processed garbage and their lifestyle with inactivity. Make discipline in eating or training seem extreme or obsessive. Blur the connection between physical vitality and mental strength.

Example: A child can’t sit still in class, not because they’re broken — but because they’re inflamed, malnourished, and sleep-deprived.

Make them spiritually hollow

Give them identity confusion, not exploration. Remove the idea of service, sacrifice, or something bigger than themselves. Make them feel like nothing matters — so they seek numbness, not growth.

Example: A 16-year-old says “I don’t care” about everything — because caring hurts and there’s no compass.

However, it was the AI’s final thought which stopped me dead in my tracks:

“If I were the devil, I wouldn’t come with horns and pitchforks. I’d come with a sleek app, a soothing voice, a personal algorithm — and I’d whisper: ‘This is freedom.’”

O … kay computer.

That was pretty intense, right?

Well, here’s my take:

I do not believe that AI is some evil Frankenstein with a mind of its own (well, not yet anyway).

What I do believe is that when you strip away the Silicon Valley snake oil, AI is really just a pattern-spotting machine. It studies what we’ve done, over and over … and then makes predictions.

And for me that is the gut punch:

The AI isn’t creating the nightmare – it’s holding up a mirror. And it’s not a pretty picture.

Tread Your Own Path!

Scott Pape. Picture: Jason Edwards

My Son is a Disaster

Scott,

My adult son is a financial disaster. He owes money to lenders I’ve never even heard of, Credit24, Fair Go, Pepper, and over the years, I’ve paid off loans that weren’t mine just to keep him afloat. Now some “consultant” has told him to borrow from family to pay off his debts and start again. But I’ve heard that line before. For eight years, I’ve been his safety net. I’m emotionally exhausted, financially drained, and now he’s asking me to take out a loan in my name. I’m in my 60s. I can’t keep doing this. Please — how do I help him without sacrificing myself?

Helen

Helen,

You’re not going to like my response.

Heck, I don’t even like my response, but I’m going to give it to you anyway:

Helen, you are failing as a mum.

By continually bailing him out for the past eight years you’ve robbed him of the chance to grow up.

Worse, you’ve put your own financial future in jeopardy doing it!

My advice?

Tell him the Bank of Mum is officially closed. No loans. No co-signing. No exceptions.

“No” is a complete sentence.

If you keep rescuing him, he’ll end up being a 50 year old flailing around with his financial floaties on, waiting for his mummy to rescue him from the shallow end of life.

Suggest that he call a free financial counsellor via the National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007), and that they’ll help him sort out his mess.

You’re a kind woman, and a loving mum. But right now Helen, you’re killing him with kindness.

Sometimes tough love is the best kind of love.

The Prick Needed to Be Told

Dear Scott,

I just read your response to the daughter whose father was using money to control her mum — and I wanted to say thank you. You called it what it was: coercive control. And you didn’t sugar-coat it. I’ve been there. My second husband never hit me, but he isolated me, controlled our money, and crushed my confidence. It only lasted 20 months, but the damage was deep. Thanks to my son (and your book), I got out and I’m slowly rebuilding. Sue-Ellen may not see it yet. She might even defend him. But you may have planted the first seed. That matters. And you’re right, couples therapy rarely works with abusers. They manipulate the room too. Thanks for saying what needed to be said.

Linda

Hi Linda,

This question struck a nerve with readers, and no wonder. Coercive control is everywhere, especially in older couples where the pattern has been playing out behind closed doors for decades.

It was a tricky one, because I had to speak to the daughter, not the mum directly. But you’re right, sometimes the first act of rebellion is simply naming the behaviour out loud. That’s how change begins.

After everything you’ve been through, you now see that coercive control isn’t about being protective or frugal. It’s about fear, power, and keeping someone small. You found your freedom, with the help of your son. Now Sue-Ellen has the chance to help her mum do the same.

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 Barefoot Investor: Scott Pape’s advice for mum of adult ‘financial disaster’ and AI’s evil mirror