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TPC Gold | Why We Swear by the Seven-Day Float

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This snippet is from one of our previous episodes: Seven Tips to Trap Your Surplus Cash. 

In today’s TPC Gold soundbite, Bryce and Ben unpack one of the most powerful—and underrated—tools in the MoneySMARTS money management system: the seven-day float. 

Forget spreadsheets, complex budgeting, or tracking every dollar you spend.  

The seven-day float is all about simplicity and control. It’s a weekly spending system that helps you stay on top of your cash, ditch the guilt, and spend with purpose. 

As Bryce puts it:
“It’s a game changer. It might feel hard for the first couple of weeks, but once you find your rhythm, it can completely change your money habits.” 

What is the Seven-Day Float? 

It’s your weekly spending allowance—the money you’ve already set aside (based on your plan) to spend on things like food, petrol, and everyday expenses. You’re not budgeting in the traditional sense—you’re following a clear, rules-based system that helps you avoid tapping into savings or overspending. 

And the best part? It works whether you’re a uni student, a parent managing a household, or the CEO of a big company. 

Why It Works 

✔️ It replaces guesswork with clarity
✔️ It breaks the “tap-and-go” overspending habit
✔️ It gives every dollar a job
✔️ It builds financial confidence and discipline 

“The seven-day float makes you pause. It helps you ask: Do I really need this right now? Can it wait till next week? That’s the magic.” – Ben 

The banks don’t love this approach… because it’s not built to get you to spend more. It’s built to help you trap surplus, build wealth, and live with less stress. 

Want to Know How to Start with the Seven-Day Float?

Learn all about MoneySMARTS—including how the seven-day float fits into the broader plan—in our book, Make Money Simple Again.  

It’s helped thousands of Australians take control of their money without giving up the things they love. 

__________________

If You Enjoyed TPC Gold | Why We Swear by the Seven-Day Float, You Might Also Like:

Transcript

Bryce Holdaway
So number three is get money smart. That’s a surprise from us.  

Ben Kingsley
Yeah, well we’ve got to weave it in, don’t we? But the point here is…  

Bryce Holdaway
…we believe in it. 

Ben Kingsley
It’s a proven system, Bryce. So the reason why we believe in it is because a lot of people don’t like to have complex ways in which they’ve got to document every dollar they spend. So our top-down approach in terms of how we make money management easier is what it’s all about. And in terms of these top seven tips, the one we want to highlight the most is the seven-day float right, so the weekly allowance.  

Bryce Holdaway
It’s a game changer. 

Ben Kingsley
It’s a game changer because you take that mindset that we were talking about before about how much money have I got, so irrespective of whether it’s a cashless economy or you don’t care that it’s a tap and go then, because you will absolutely know that I have got $50 left so this is a decent purchasing decision. Whereas if you know that there’s $60,000 in your offset account…  

Bryce Holdaway
Absolutely. 

Ben Kingsley
So boom, boom, you’ll just keep doing it, right? So we’ve gotta change that habit. It’s like, no, no, I’ve gotta get to my next seven-day allowance, you know, that weekly flow.  

Bryce Holdaway
So I’ve been doing the seven-day float for years now. Thanks to you and Popey introducing that. I can say to the people, and I don’t know if you can remember far back when you started it, I say to the people, when you implement it, you will probably stumble. Keep going. Because it’s usually week two, you’ve made less, week three, maybe even week four, Ben, but you’ll eventually get into the cadence, you’ll eventually get into that rhythm, and it’s really, really important. Because if you’re trying to undo a lot of habits of keeping up with the Joneses, tapping and going, not being accountable with your money, keep going back to the well. It’s actually a huge shift for you to go: Ooh, what do you mean I’ve got to reign in my spending? What do you mean I’ve got to actually identify how much is in my seven-day flow? What do you mean I’ve got to actually use Grade Five Maths just to keep up to date on how much money I’ve got left? It is an adjustment, it is a shift, but it’s one of those things if we go back (to) if you do what’s easy, your life will be hard. It’s actually gonna be hard in the very first couple of weeks as you’re trying to get two people on the same page if you’re sharing agenda with someone else, but once you’ve done it, it makes an enormous difference.  

Ben Kingsley
It does. I mean we’re seeing some of these money apps from the banks and so forth. I mean they want you turning money over, right? It’s in their best interest, commerce, the whole thing works for them, right? So if their app tells you, I can’t go and buy a dress now because it’s not payday, but if you’ve just been paid, you can go out and buy a dress or you can go out and buy something material, that’s probably not still the best money management system. What you should have is a classification for clothing and footwear, and you should provision for that, and you should know basically how much you’re going to spend on that over the year. Whether you go and buy that dress tomorrow, that’s fine. Just don’t go and buy three or four more dresses or five pair of shoes or in the guy’s case, don’t go and overspend on business shirts or whatever it is you’re going to spend on. That’s the point in terms of once you’ve provisioned for it, you’re able to spend it, but just don’t spend any more than that. So there’s a combination of ideas that meshes together to build the money management system in terms of MoneySMARTS. That’s the way in which to use that.  

Bryce Holdaway
So couple of things for MoneySMARTS… It’s not a budget; it’s a money management system.  

Ben Kingsley
Correct. 

Bryce Holdaway
It’s the money that you said you’d spend each week; we call it the seven-day float, and it just means that you don’t unconsciously overspend again, Ben. And the rest is just a simple rules-based system thereafter. So the fundamental principle behind it is that every dollar has a job to do, every dollar is allocated somewhere, and it’s just based on how our grandparents used to use money BC (before credit cards), and it’s evergreen, Ben. It works at every stage of your life.  

Ben Kingsley
Every stage.  

Bryce Holdaway
If you’re a university student on casual income, no problem. If you are CEO of a Fortune 500 company, it works. It doesn’t discriminate; works for everyone. So if you wanna check that out, clearly we’ve written a book on it, but it’s something that we think is imperative to trapping surplus cash. 

 

TPC Gold | How We Teach Our Kids About Money—Saving, Spending & More!

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This snippet is from one of our previous episodes: Money Lessons for Kids. 

Teaching kids about money can feel overwhelming, but the key is starting early, keeping it simple, and making it part of everyday life. 

In this TPC Gold soundbite, we’re sharing how we teach our own kids about money—from saving and spending to understanding opportunity cost and financial priorities. 

Here’s what we cover: 

👶 Teaching Preschoolers – How to introduce the idea that money doesn’t just “appear” and why role-playing with play money (or even Monopoly!) can be a fun way to start.
🏫 Primary School & Opportunity Cost – When kids start understanding numbers, it’s time to introduce trade-offs: “Do you want to spend $25 at the cinema or go kick the footy for free?”
🛍 Comparing Prices & Making Choices – Real-life exercises like shopping around for gifts or choosing between streaming subscriptions can help kids make smarter money decisions.
💰 Aligning as Parents – Why consistency between partners is crucial when setting money rules and expectations for kids. 

Money habits start young, and the best way to set your kids up for success is to lead by example and have open conversations about money.  

Want More Resources to Help Teach Your Kids About Money?

📖 Read Make Money Simple Again – Our step-by-step guide helps parents manage their own money better, so they can pass down smart financial habits to their kids. 

💡 Explore ASIC’s MoneySmart Resources – The MoneySmart website has great tools and tips for teaching kids about money at every age.  

__________________

If You Enjoyed TPC Gold | How We Teach Our Kids About Money—Saving, Spending & More! You Might Also Like:

Transcript

Bryce Holdaway
Yeah, so I’m sure we’ve got many, many parents listening to this and some will agree with what we just said and some will disagree…which is fine. The idea here is just to stimulate some discussion and hopefully give you guys some ideas. But number one, start young. Number two, talk about invisible money. And then number three, look for opportunities where you can have conversations around money, where (even if) you just don’t even think that now is a good time, but they’re watching and they’re absorbing, and it might be a good opportunity.  

So Ben, I guess the way that ASIC was suggesting that you introduce this is to do it by age group, right? So what do you talk about when kids are at preschool age? What do you talk (about) when kids are at school age? And then how do you sort of advance them along at high school? And I thought that breaking that up was pretty good. So, because I’ve got one at preschool, one at school. I certainly don’t have any in high school yet; that’ll come at some stage.  

Ben Kingsley
Yes, it will.  

Bryce Holdaway
So in terms of preschool, it was about introducing them that you need money to buy things. It doesn’t just turn up. There is some form of exchange happening, and largely an invisible exchange. But you know there’s Monopoly. The kids have got play money. You can actually role play and teach them as early as you can. And as Paul Clitheroe said last week, if you’re at school, if you’re counting anyway, why don’t you talk about dollars and cents rather than just numbers. So bring it in where you can.  

Ben Kingsley
The dollars and cents, you trade time for money. They start to understand, okay, I’m going off to preschool and I trade my time for learning. Mum and Dad go off to work to trade time for money. If they can understand that concept, then the flow on of that is, well, what’s the value of that time? And the fact that certain people trade their time for higher or lower levels of money. So don’t try and introduce that too youn;, they won’t get it. If they can’t understand the different values of amounts of counting, then start simple. You just wanna say: Mummy and Daddy go off and they spend time there to make money and that money allows us to buy things.  

Bryce Holdaway
And spend on things that we choose to. I think you just hit the nail on the head. Don’t make it too complex. Make it simple. But understand there’s a flow, there’s an exchange, there is a trade of time for money in return for something that then the parents have an opportunity to decide where they want to prioritise their money going.  

Ben Kingsley
And that’s a good segue into obviously the primary school age, where they’re developing their skill sets around multiplication and division, then you can start to sort of talk more complex. And that’s probably the opportunity cost conversation. So, Harry, if I’ve got $100 and your new basketball runners are gonna cost me $120, how much more do we need to find for us to be able to buy your runners for you? Those types of things are going to be part of that story. And then, Harry this weekend we’ve got free, I’m gonna spend an afternoon with you, where do you wanna go? Do you wanna go to the cinema? Okay, so the cinema’s your choice. Do you wanna go there?  

That’s gonna cost us probably about $25 for you to go to the cinema. Do you wanna use that money or do you wanna just go and kick the footy down the park or shoot some hoops down at the basketball stadium or something along those lines, which doesn’t have a cost, and then you can start to sort of see what that story lives.  

Bryce Holdaway
Comparing and shopping around, we’ve actually done this exercise with Jack where we said what do want for Christmas and they gave us a list. And then it was a PlayStation versus a Nintendo Switch. So we asked him to go and get on the iPad and compare prices and compare features and then do a pros and cons for each. So he actually enjoyed it.  

Ben Kingsley
And this is the time when husband and wife need to be aligned.  

Bryce Holdaway
Or partner and partner.  

Ben Kingsley
Or partner and partner, good point. Because this is where money conversations go awry and we’re seeing a bit of that in terms of some of the feedback we’re getting from the people using the platform, because we ask them a little questionnaire when they come onto the Facebook group as well and we’re noticing the trend of disalignment through partner and partner. And that happens in our household too with the living and lifestyle budget.  

Bryce Holdaway
My hand’s up too. 

Ben Kingsley
It’s like okay, so what’s a perfect example right now? So I thought we had enough lights and I thought we had enough Christmas decorations. I think 20 or 30 items is enough, that gets stored into a couple of boxes, but because we’ve now got an upstairs and a downstairs, apparently we needed some lights upstairs. So that’s a good example of, right, okay, we’ve got some lights upstairs now. Now where does that come out of the budget? 

Bryce Holdaway
That’s the hidden cost of renovating Ben…Christmas lights. 

Ben Kingsley
And that wasn’t out of my provisional jar. You can’t sort of move a little bit of money. But coming back to the kids’ story, is if you don’t have alignment between the parents in terms of the rules that we’re setting up, then this is gonna be difficult, right? Because as parents, we want to see the joy in our children’s face. But in some cases, some of that joy is short-lived in the sense of buying them things as opposed to giving them experiences. And I for one, that is a pain point for me in the household.  

Bryce Holdaway
I can see it in your face as you’re talking about it.  

Ben Kingsley
I’m just being careful in terms of how I talk about it because I get it, right? I mean, I’m someone who’s not at home as much as other people are. I run a business; I work probably eight to late most days. On the weekends, I’m there, but it’s just important. So I’m guilty of that time work balance in terms of what I’m doing, but I love what I do, so that’s the trade-off for me. Everyone says, you work a lot. You think this is work, but this is my passion, it’s my purpose, it’s what I wanna do, so I work. My life and my children work around that, and I make sure I have enough time for them.

But on the other hand, Jane’s passion and purpose is making sure those kids are wonderfully organised and good mannered and have morals and are adding to society. So there’s a combination there. But I get it, she’s had a tough day or they’re not going well or you know, there’s an ice cream after school or so forth. I don’t want that ice cream after school to be a norm. I want it to be, well, you were great at school today. That was great. I was really proud with what the teacher told me about, so let’s go and get an ice cream. But it is that challenge of, okay we’re out, the kids are screaming, I needed to occupy them whilst I could go and do some shopping or whatever. So you know, there’s a quick little gift, and that for me is like, it’s a quick win. I’m just putting it out there. I’m not telling you how to…I’m certainly no sort of behavioural expert around raising children. My God, I’d be getting an F probably for that myself. But I would say that that’s where the friction in our household was when I was growing up and it didn’t stop right through.

So if you can get on the same page in terms of teaching each other about where you’re coming from with your money plans and what it means for you in the future, that’s the big story here. Because I think if my dad was better at telling my mum: this is what our life is gonna look like into the future, if we do this better here now and make some sacrifice and delay gratification, mum might go: oh I get it. Whereas dad just probably passed on by saying, yeah, look, it’s for our future, we’re gonna retire early. And in some cases, a lot of people can’t see that future.  

Bryce Holdaway
That’s a good message about buy-in. There’s gotta be buy-in by all parties.  

Ben Kingsley
Yeah, absolutely. 

Bryce Holdaway
Hey, a couple of things around comparing prices. I use an opportunity since we have Netflix, Ben. So when the boys can’t find a movie on Netflix and they want to do it on Apple TV, that’s an opportunity that I use: where Netflix, anything you want to watch on that comes all-encompassing, whereas if I have to go on Apple TV, I have to pay more to do that. And that’s actually been something that’s landed for them. And I’ve noticed their behaviour is changing where they request less. Now, don’t get me wrong. We still watch movies from Apple TV and we pay for them, but the frequency has been diminished now that they know that the value that we provide is in that monthly package.  

Ben Kingsley
Does that money come out of their pocket money or does that come out of the family budget for you?  

Bryce Holdaway
It comes out of the family budget.  

Ben Kingsley
Oh, okay. Whereas I would probably say: you want that and that’s your choice. I’d take it out of their pocket money. 

Bryce Holdaway
Oh you mean paying for the movie for the kids? No, I haven’t actually done that. That’s a nice thing that you do. Well done.  

 

530 | From Flipping the Local “Drug Dealers” House to Five Properties! – Chat with Catherine

By in Podcast, Property Investment, Summer Series

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Catherine grew up in a household where money was scarce, and financial stress was the norm. As the daughter of a seasonal worker, she experienced the instability of transient living first-hand, moving between 13 schools growing up. 😮  

This would deeply influence her later financial decisions… 

Determined to break the cycle of financial hardship, Catherine and her husband, Jeff, took action in their late 30s and 40s.  

Despite only having a $10,000 deposit and facing Jeff’s pre-existing financial hurdles, they rolled up their sleeves and began renovating their way to financial peace.

So how did they make the big leap onto the property ladder and overcome Jeff’s financial difficulties, which opened their eyes to lending limitations?!   

If you want a masterclass on how to apartment shop in Sydney and how this power couple has built a successful five-property portfolio after only starting later, listen to this episode now!!  

Free Stuff  

  • FREE WEBINAR REPLAY
    New Year, More Money: Habits to Master Your Finances with Moorr!
    Did you miss our latest webinar? Discover practical steps to turn your goals into results in 2025! Watch it now >>
  • How did Catherine and Jeff build a 5-property portfolio despite starting later in life?
    Discover how they leveraged Moorr and tapped into expert professional services to make it happen.

 

Timestamps  

  • 0:00 – From Flipping the Local Drug Dealers’ House to Five Properties! – Chat with Catherine   
  • 1:28 – Welcome Catherine! 
  • 2:14 – Money Story: Seasonal work, struggling with money and 13 different schools?!  
  • 6:54 – Earning first income and the first big purchase  
  • 10:55 – Living in Sydney and no role models 
  • 11:59 – Flipping the local drug dealer’s house?!  
  • 16:13 – Doubling in price just two streets away  
  • 18:35 – The Motivator to Act: Childcare commitments and tax debt  
  • 22:59 – There is always opportunity: Starting with just $10G  
  • 24:25 – Property #2: Your masterclass on how to buy in Sydney 😉  
  • 30:01 – Zero valuation and blood stains on the walls?!  
  • 32:17 – Property #3: Buying a block of land?!  
  • 35:59 – The results from hands-on vs. hands-off 
  • 40:19 – Starting late: “It’s not about being the richest person in the street.”  
  • 41:22 – Property #4: A regional crab shack  
  • 44:49 – Property #5: Ugly Ducklings are reliable and durable!  
  • 49:10 – Why Sydneysiders have an appetite for high-density 
  • 51:37 – The renovations she did in her last property  
  • 54:05 – How they afforded their dream lifestyle: A caravan in the middle of winter?!  
  • 56:20 – Catherine’s North Star + what’s next?  
  • 1:01:11 – “You can choose your own path…”  
  • 1:06:08 – Ben’s #1 simple question: Am I going to be ok?  
  • 1:09:26 – Catherine’s secret sauce for success  

 

529 | Feeling Financially Secure for the First Time at 49: The Game-Changing Reset That Changed Everything – Chat with Jason

By in Podcast, Property Investment, Summer Series

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Today’s Summer Series guest is the true definition of a transformation story. 🌟 

From growing up with immigrant grandparents who valued frugality and “mortgage-first” thinking to racking up debt and making costly property mistakes, Jason’s story is one of hard-won financial security.  

He told us, “At 49 years old, it’s the first time I’m feeling financially secure.”   

Folks, you have to listen to this inspirational story that sees Jason and his family hit the financial reset button, thanks to MoneySMARTS…  

And it transformed everything. 💪  

Listen now to hear how he’s turned his financial situation around within a decade, is teaching his children healthy money habits and feels financially free.  

It’s an episode that brought us to tears. Give it a listen now!   

Free Stuff  

  • FREE WEBINAR: How to Set Up MoneySMARTS for Your Success in 2025! 
    7:30 pm (AEDT), Tues, 21 Jan  
    Are you new to trapping surplus – on autopilot? Come along to our exciting webinar, which explores how Moorr makes this easy for you – just as that New Year’s motivation starts to wane. Reserve your seat now >>   
  • Watch all our webinar replays in Moorr’s Learning Centre
    From all the exciting features launched as part of MoneySMARTS 2.0 to the best tools in Moorr for the job, check out our library now >>  

Timestamps  

  • 0:00 – Feeling Financially Secure for the First Time at 49: The Game-Changing Reset That Changed Everything – Chat with Jason   
  • 1:28 – Welcome, Jason!   
  • 2:27 – With grandparents who owned property, why didn’t Jason act sooner?  
  • 3:48 – Money Story: No drinks at McDonald’s and focused on the mortgage  
  • 7:42 – The big move that was a “slap in the face”  
  • 9:46 – Grappling with brand envy 
  • 13:25 – What was the mindset and financial outlook as the son of immigrants?  
  • 15:50 – The New Year’s resolution that transformed his future  
  • 17:15 – Folks, beware these types of calls!  
  • 19:08 – Property #1 and piling debt  
  • 20:52 – Jason’s checklist for buying Property #2  
  • 25:06 – Why did they make the game-changing financial reset?  
  • 27:28 – Why 12-month goals and 7-day floats are critical for money management  
  • 32:17 – Credit card debt: How it gets away from you 
  • 36:46 – Teaching healthy money habits to the kids: Budgeting & buying shares  
  • 42:25 – How does Jason navigate surplus or less income?  
  • 44:43 – Why it’s not an issue to NOT see a property before buying it!  
  • 48:37 – “For the first time I’m not worried.”  
  • 52:36 – Everyone forgets THIS city was the best performing at one time… 
  • 55:35 –  The message Jason wants to get out to our community 
  • 56:51 – Why did he choose property over shares?  
  • 57:56 – Would Jason change his past?  

And… 

  • 1:01:34 – Thank you, Jason! It’s a true testament to discipline and trapping surplus  
  • 1:06:12 – New to trapping surplus? Free Moorr webinar incoming!  
  • 1:06:48 – Watch all our webinar replays in Moorr’s Learning Centre – this may be your best decision in 2025! 

 

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