Hi Scott,   I’m 19, au pairing in the UK and preparing for a three-month backpacking trip around Europe. Living the dream, right! Except that by the time I get back to Australia I’ll have just about used up my savings. I have this little voice whispering in my ear that I should be working towards setting myself up for the future, and travelling definitely doesn’t feel like I’m doing that! I have an index fund and I save as much as possible, but I am having that classic existential crisis of what the bloody hell to do with my life now! And by ‘now’ I mean when I go back to Australia (and r ..read more

Hi Scott,   Last year I got caught in a romance scam and lost $240k. I was just so stupid to send money to the stranger, but I thought there were lots of signs to believe him. I haven’t told any of my family about this. I’m 56 years old, a single mother and working full time as a nurse. I didn’t have $240k, so I sold my house (making $100k profit) and then took out three loans for the rest. I also moved into my adult daughter's house, so my current expense is the bare minimum and I am so grateful. I would appreciate it if you could give me any advice on how to pay this off quickly.   ..read more

Last year, while I was fanging around France in an oversized motorhome with way too many kids, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) ran its first ever large-scale survey to test the general public’s understanding of economics, by way of six multiple choice questions.   The results will SHOCK you.   The RBA found that “being male, older, of higher income, having a degree, having studied economics or finance, or being engaged with economic news are associated with higher scores”.   Well, slap me with a seasonally adjusted wet lettuce leaf, Guv’nor!   Then again, my 10-year-old ..read more

Scott,   You stuffed up last week in your column on higher education. The big headline from that report was that banks should NOT be allowed to take your HECS debt into account when you’re applying for a home loan. The report blasted this practice as unfair (as a young couple with HECS debt ourselves, I’d say greedy). You should have done so too! Louise   Hi Louise,   Nah.   I read the recommendation and I thought it was … daft.   Look, I’m no friend of the banks, but I’m on their side on this one.     After all, who are a bunch of academics to dictate a ban ..read more

Hey Scott,   I love your column and read it every time! I do have a question though: you’re extremely quiet on the global situation that’s been happening since the plandemic. WHO, WEF, global elitist groups calling the shots over health, food, money, energy, climate scams, digital currency, cashless societies, global vaccine passports. You get my drift, I’m sure. I would LOVE to hear your opinion! Is that why you took your family around Oz and overseas?   Mandy   Hi Mandy   You are right, I am extremely quiet about these things … and there’s a very good reason for it. Look ..read more

Hi Scott,   I love teaching. I love the sparkle in a student’s eye when they ‘get it’. I love being a stable and consistent cheerleader in their lives. Yet things have changed in the past five years – the challenges that come with students who didn’t receive the support they needed during lockdown, and the challenges of the ‘screen kids’ – a generation with too much time on TikTok and not enough time socialising, imagining, reading or being outside. The role of teachers has never been more important, never harder and never less respected.   I am at the top of the classroom teacher pa ..read more

Hi Scott   You are a piece of work. The problems in the private health insurance industry have been ongoing for years, and Labor has been in power since the middle of 2022. That didn’t bother you! Instead you chose a cheap political hit-job on a very hardworking minister (Mark Butler). For all your spin, the facts are the facts: the more people we have in private health insurance, the less strain on the public system. In the future, keep your vulgar right-wing comments to yourself.   Linda   Hi Linda,   Given we’re talking about healthcare, I suggest you check your blood pr ..read more

The prisoner walked into the jail meeting room, sat down in front of me, and stared into my soul.   “Hello”, I said nervously.   Silence.   At the back of the meeting room there was a big clock on the wall that ticked loudly every second … perhaps a passive aggressive reminder that the prisoners were ‘doing time’.   A full 60 ticks later she opened her mouth.   “When I came in here …”, she whispered, softly enough that I had to lean forward (even though I knew I should not have been leaning forward), “I brought only the clothes on my back … and your book.”   “Okay ..read more

Hi Scott,   I have a dream. I want to start my own vineyard. I love wine! We live on 20 acres in Gippsland (Victoria) and I want to add 4 hectares of vines. I always thought it was a pipe dream but last year I got an inheritance of $250,000 from my grandmother. I want to use that money to create something. I want to bottle my own wine, it’s very profitable. My wife is not so sure, and wants to pay it off the mortgage. Is this a good idea? Craig   Hi Craig,   I know nothing about wine, so I asked the best winemaker I know, Ben Ranken.   Ben won the ‘Young Gun of Wine’ award ..read more

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler wants you to know that he has balls of steel.   You see, each year private health insurers must go cap in hand to him to increase their prices. And this year they wanted to deliver their biggest premium hike in six years – but he rejected it.   Bam!   Instead he’ll soon announce that he’s allowing a much smaller increase in your annual private health insurance premium.   Pow!   The truth?   The truth is the Minister doesn’t have the balls to tell you it’s a total farce.   But I do. So let me tell you how the game is really ..read more