250 great reasons to celebrate

More than 20 years after its launch, Money is still fulfilling its core mission of providing readers with the latest information to make the best choices

Money celebrates its 250th issue this month! We’re proud to reach this milestone in 2021. And at a time when print sales are declining, we’ve increased our readership by 134.6% (online and in print). For that, we want to thank our staff, our contributors and, most of all you, our loyal readers.

The original inspiration for the magazine hasn’t changed since it was launched in 1999, following the TV program of the same name that had debuted 10 years earlier.

“If you’d told me I’d still be publishing hard copy for the 250th time I wouldn’t have believed that,” says Paul Clitheroe, founder and editorial adviser.

For me it’s about equity: ensuring financial information and advice are available to everyone who is interested in making the most of their finances. The lessons from Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which showed how the inequity in financial information can often be determined by socio-economic conditions, shaped my thinking about money, and I believe strongly in providing information to anyone who wants it.

“One thing the magazine has always retained is its commonsense – the old lessons of ‘spend less than you earn’ and ‘if it’s too good to be true it probably is’,” says Clitheroe.

He says the biggest change in the past 22 years has been that people’s knowledge about money has grown steadily. But the complexity of the money markets – trusts, ETFs, warrants, etc – has been unexpected.

“The world is at a level of financial sophistication I find extraordinary. I thought we’d be able to show people how to be their own money coach, but now when I’m thinking about my tax I call my tax adviser. For example, with the CBA buyback I understand how it works, but how exactly does the franked dividend apply to me? And with the rates of tax on my super fund I go to a superannuation adviser,” he says.

The Money program started on Channel 9 despite the boss, Kerry Packer, not seeing its value. “He hated the idea. He said if you have a six pack of beer in the fridge, what more could you want for?” recalls Clitheroe.

However, he pressed on and the show rated consistently in the top 10 TV programs.

“The Money show launched on the idea that you make a choice – it’s your money. No one will tell you what to do, but here’s some information,” says Clitheroe. Customers could leave their bank for a better deal. People hadn’t realised this. They then started looking for better deals on insurance and other products. Our Best of the Best issue (December-January) carries on this mission each year.

Clitheroe says Money’s fundamental premise is to provide decent commonsense advice. “No promises of getting rich quick, but how you can use your money better to make better returns and understand risk.”

The founding editor of Money and still a columnist, Pam Walkley, says readers have always seemed to have a big thirst for knowledge. “They like to know about new products – the upside and the downside. It was important for us to not just promote new products but to look at fees and risks and those types of things.”

There has been an explosion in products – retail investors now have access to corporate debt, fixed income and model portfolios. Exchange traded funds have been available for more than 20 years but in the early days there were only one or two. Now there is $125 billion invested in those products in Australia.

The other big change over time has been fintech, says Walkley.

New technology has enabled products to be offered much more cheaply and more widely, and made them much more accessible. “I think Money can enable people to make better decisions on their own or understand whether the decisions being made for them are good decisions.”

Former editor Effie Zahos, and Maria Bekiaris, former deputy editor, carried on the tradition until Rainmaker bought the publication in 2019, which brings us to where we are today – our 250th issue.

Chris Brycki, the CEO of the digital investment advice platform Stockspot, appeared in the first issue of Money as a 13-year-old, coming second in the ASX Share Investor Competition and turning his “virtual” $50,000 into $524,000. Asked what he’d like to be when he was older, he said he wanted to manage a large financial services business. Now, 22 years later, that’s exactly what he does. Stockspot has 10,000 clients, with portfolios ranging from $2000 to $2 million.

Congratulations to our Money family on being here to celebrate our 250th issue, and may you all be on your way to creating financial freedom for yourself and your families.

Julia Newbould is Money’s managing editor.