Back when I wrote the Kids And Money chapter, I searched high and low to find an appropriate book to have as a resource for readers to get further information from. I quickly discovered there is bugger all around written to show Aussie parents how to raise financially smart kids. Sure, there is unspecific crap written by ordinary authors like Robert Kiyosaki (the guy who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and plenty of material aimed at adults who want to know how to handle their own money. But as far as stuff written for mums and dads go it’s pretty thin on the ground.

This was all before I had heard of Victorian dad Robert Bihar. I’ve just read Bihar’s book Don’t Eat the Marshmallow which contains gems like “Don’t complain about your job in front of your kids” (Bihar argues that parents who pass on the message of not liking their job inadvertently also pass on a negative message about money to their kids if the children understand that money comes from work), “Do not teach that your kids that money is the only way to measure success – teach them that what they do with their money is more important”, and a tip that could be straight out of a Captain Financior video – “If your kids saw you pack a healthy lunch to take to work every day they might do the same. You could even make the sandwiches together and get them to choose what goes in them. In modelling your behaviour, your kids would spend less at the school canteen, but more importantly they will learn the value of healthy eating.”

If you thought Bihar and I were singing from the same song sheet, you’d be spot on.

Despite what my wife may sarcastically say to me, I don’t have all the answers (for the record, I don’t pretend to and I also accept that Claudia is right more often than I am, even when she’s not), but I do have a good idea where to find them. Don’t Eat The Marshmallow is another place to find more of those answers.

Bihar has self-published his book so you may struggle to find it in a library, but if you have $20 you can buy one via his website.

Ps As with every book, website or business I recommend, there is no kickback of any kind that Claudia or myself receive from recommending this book.

Just about every piece of software you download these days requires you to click on the “I agree” button before you can access it. Those guys have really got the public over a barrel – if you don’t click, you don’t receive.

Being asked to sign paperwork can be similar but with one big difference: you can choose to cross words out. Before you sign a contract to buy a house it’s a really smart idea to employ a professional to look over the documentation for you first. It’s the job of a solicitor or conveyancer to read the contract and let you know if it contains anything dodgy. Sure, you can do this yourself but of you miss something you’re on your own. It’s quite common for a contract to be sent back from the buyer’s solicitor to the vendor (house seller) with a paragraph or two crossed out. As everybody knows, buying a house is a big financial decision and you want to make sure that everything in that contract is exactly as it should be.

But what about all the other things you sign. Do you read every word in a credit card contract, your employment contract, your electricity supply contract and everything else you are asked to sign before you scribble your John Doe? You should.

This week I was asked to sign a form before I went to do a job for work *Spoiler alert! If you don’t know what sort of work I do, read the Introduction to the Financial Freedom For Gens X and Y course first.* The job was covering a visit by the Attorney General to an event where the Department of Defence was carrying out explosions. The paperwork that had to be signed before we were allowed access to the site read as follows:

            I………….(insert full name) HEREBY UNDERTAKE that I will at all times hereafter will and sufficiently indemnify the Department and the Commonwealth and keep them indemnified against all actions, suits, proceedings, claims and demands which may be brought, made or prosecuted against the Department or the Commonwealth arising out of death or injury caused to me in any circumstances whatsoever or any claim made against the Department or the Commonwealth in respect of my attendance to the said demonstration.

Then there was a space to sign as well as a space for it to be witnessed.

I’m no lawyer, but to me that may as well have read:

            If we stuff up and you are injured or killed in one of our explosions, neither you nor your family can sue us. In fact, if you are injured or killed on our plot due to any stuff up of ours (including stepping on a live electrical wire or being run over by us) you still can’t sue.

I refused to sign and the Attorney General’s visit wasn’t covered. However, I did wonder if Australia’s top legal bloke was asked to sign the same document.

It’s New Year’s Eve and time to pop the champers! Ok, so it might not be the NYE you would usually celebrate and I doubt crowds are gathering in Times Square, but it’s the day before the new financial year and there is a bit to get happy about.

As of tomorrow, the superannuation for all employees earning more than $450 a month will go up a bit. Today you get 9% of your pay going into super, tomorrow it rises to 9.25%. Doesn’t seem like much, but it will mean a difference of several thousand dollars by the time you get to spend it. The plan is for your super to go up to 12% by mid 2019, so you can expect at least an extra $100,000 more in your nest egg than what it would’ve been before the increase starts.

Tomorrow also sees the introduction of laws governing payments to financial planners. If you make an appointment with a planner from Monday, they can no longer accept payment in the form of commissions from investments that they recommend to you. For decades there has been a big conflict of interest for a financial planner who takes commissions from fund managers. Why would they recommend you put your dosh in an investment that they wouldn’t receive money from? Well, the simple answer is that they should have been advising what you do based on what is in your best interests, not based on what is best to line their pockets. Now financial planners are much more conflict-free (but not entirely as the system still isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better).

As with everything related to money, there’s a catch. Both these news changes depend on the Rudd government being re-elected. Tony Abbott has been saying for years that he will overturn the laws that see financial planners being made more accountable. And recently he announced that super payments made on behalf of millions of Aussies will be frozen at 9.25% for two years. Given that he has said in parliament that he believes superannuation to be a con job, my fear is that he would freeze contributions at that level indefinitely, as John Howard did when he became Prime Minister.

So you’d better get blotto while you can as the hangover may be a doozy.

You might have noticed the topic of gambling in the news lately (it’s pretty hard not to see Tom Waterhouse’s face fake-smiling like a campaigning politician on your telly at the moment). Most of the coverage of the live betting stuff has been filled with people united on their annoyance/disgust at seeing a footy game plastered with the latest match odds. There’s certainly been an explosion over the last couple of years in the amount of gambling advertising we see, and you could be forgiven for thinking that online and live sports betting was the biggest chunk of gambling problems in Australia. But you’d be wrong.

The amount lost on the pokies in Australia makes online gambling look tiny. The main reason so much goes into the one arm bandits is because of the way they rope people in and get them hooked. Addiction to the poker machines is as real as an addiction to a drug, and many pokies addicts describe “the zone” that people go into when they play them. It’s like a focus on the machine that’s so strong that players are only semi-aware of what’s going on around them. A mate of mine experienced the apathy of players who were in “the zone” on the weekend.

Adam and a few mates had just arrived at a club and were in the pokies area when he saw a middle aged woman start to stumble. She then fell, arms by her side, hitting her head hard on the ground as nothing cushioned the blow.

Being first aid trained, Adam immediately went to her assistance and talked to her to see if would respond. She didn’t and was frothing at the mouth and shaking, suffering an epileptic fit. As Adam and his mates cleared the area of stools so the patient wouldn’t hurt herself, they were stunned that nobody else helped. Nobody playing a poker machine stopped playing to render assistance, a few turned their heads briefly to take a look.

But the really ugly part of this experience was when the club employee called an ambulance only to have the woman’s mother say “Don’t worry, this happens every time we come here.” The mother stopped playing the pokies long enough to address the gathered first aiders and to retrieve her daughter’s handbag, before trying for the next jackpot.

I’m no medical expert but I imagine that the flashing lights of the machines may be a trigger for the woman’s fits, and that it would probably be a good idea for her to stay away. The fact that this lady’s mother didn’t seem to give a rat’s about the size of the egg that had appeared on her daughter’s face has all the hallmarks of an addiction being a greater pull on her than the concern for her own flesh and blood.