Noel Whittaker – What to give for Christmas?

Noel Whittaker writes exclusive weekly blog updates for the Ban Tacs Group, with IN8 Business Advisory, a member of that group.  Here, he talks about three great books perfect to give out as presents for Christmas. 

“It’s always a challenge to find a Christmas present that won’t break your budget, yet will add value to the recipient. This is why I love books.

My first choice is The Broken Ladder by psychologist Keith Payne. It is subtitled How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die, and it takes a thought-provoking look at the psychology behind status and inequality, but it’s far more than that. It’s chock-full of details of experiments that explain the reasons for our behaviour. Having read the book I now understand why a good golf shot, rare though that may be, triggers the same reaction in my brain as a glass of wine, or winning a game of penny poker.

If you are trying to encourage a young person to get a foothold on the road to financial freedom, the obvious choice is my just-released, totally revised Making Money Made Simple. It combines age-old wisdom with all the new products available today to make the savings journey easier. But is still based around the old principle: a part of all you earn is yours to keep. The earlier you start the easier it is, and what could be a better Christmas present than putting someone on track for financial independence for life?

The number of older people in our society is growing rapidly but far too often age is seen as a liability. Those who give in to ageing are the first to feel its effects. This is why Bolder: Making the Most of Our Longer Lives, by Canadian journalist Carl Honoré, is such an inspiring read. His premise is that we should embrace getting older. The book is full of examples, but the one I like particularly is about Robert Marsh, a retired French firefighter, who set a world record for the over-hundreds by cycling 14.2 miles in one hour. Two years later, at the age of one hundred and two, he set a new record by riding 16.7 miles in the same time. He gives a long list of things to keep us older folk happy and well, and extolls exercise as the closest thing there is to a magic bullet. Again, the concepts are age-old – way back in 400 BC Hippocrates said exercise is the best medicine there is – but Honoré’s application of the thinking to our modern lives is exciting.

So whatever ages your friends and families are, give them gifts that will last far, far longer than a single read.”

Noel Whittaker is the author of Making Money Made Simple and numerous other books on personal finance. noel@noelwhittaker.com.au

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