The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape — book cover

The Barefoot Investor

Scott Pape · 2016

The Barefoot Investor (2016) is a book by Scott Pape on Personal finance system. Scott Pape's plain-talking 'serviette strategy' replaces budgeting guilt with a simple automated system of buckets and bank accounts that takes about ten minutes a week and walks you from drowning in debt to a fully funded, fee-light retirement.

8 min read · 9 chapters · Money

Why it’s on the shelf

Practical 'buckets' money plan that became one of the best-selling finance books ever.

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of The Barefoot Investor pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

  1. Split every pay automatically into three buckets - Blow (60-70% for living plus a guilt-free splurge), Grow (long-term investing and super), and Mojo (safety cash) - so your money is directed before you can blow it.
  2. Open separate fee-free accounts (Daily Expenses ~60%, Splurge 10%, Smile 10%, Fire Extinguisher 20%) and set the splits on autopilot; willpower is unreliable, plumbing is not.
  3. Schedule a monthly Barefoot Date Night - go somewhere nice with your partner and do the money admin together so finances become a shared ritual, not a fight.

The other 4 — and the full 8-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 9 chapters

The whole summary runs about 8 minutes, read or listened to.

  1. Stop Budgeting, Start Plumbing
  2. The Monthly Barefoot Date Night
  3. Set Up Your Buckets and Bank Accounts
  4. Domino Your Debts
  5. Buy Your Home Without Drowning
  6. Make Super Do the Heavy Lifting
  7. Invest Like Don Bradman
  8. Build Your Mojo Safety Net
  9. Nail Your Number and Leave a Legacy

Finish The Barefoot Investor tonight.

Read or listen to the full summary in about 8 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.