How to Get Ahead When Everything Costs More

By Derek Whitaker, Founder, Blu Sky Factory · Updated 28 October 2026

The short answer

Penny-pinching can get you through a hard month, but it won't get you ahead. Getting ahead when prices keep rising takes three shifts: understand the game you're actually in; find the small amount you wouldn't miss and put it to work in assets that can grow faster than inflation, instead of a savings account that can't; and treat money as a game you can learn, not a crisis you have to endure. The first step costs nothing: learning how the game is played.

Last week's episode was about Elon Musk's flying car. This week opened with a comment Derek had seen on social media: "I don't care about flying cars when I'm struggling right now with the cost of living." His response:

"I thought that's an interesting perspective. I know what it's like to be in that situation where all you can think about is the next bill… Will I keep the house over my head? Can I pay for fuel to get to work to be able to do the next thing, which will do the next thing? And the problem is that you can stay in that vacuum and not break through."

That vacuum is the real subject of this episode. Not how to survive the next bill, but how to get out of the place where the next bill is all you can see.

The Greater Wealth with Derek Whitaker and Travis Carter, Edge Radio Australia. Also on Rumble, Spotify and all podcast apps.

What the numbers say

Why penny-pinching won't get you out

Every December the same stories appear: how to put enough aside for Christmas, which food to buy first so it won't perish, a little set aside each week. Derek doesn't dismiss them:

"I get it. And that may be a temporary fix for some in some situations. And I don't, you know, I don't look down at it at all… But what I want to say again is we've got to break through that bubble."

Cutting back protects what you have. It doesn't grow it. When prices are rising faster than your pay, saving harder on its own is running up a down escalator. Getting ahead needs a second move: putting some of what you have to work.

Know the game you're in

Before strategy, Derek starts with the framework, the system most of us live in without ever naming it:

"I want to, first of all, recognise what is the game that you are in? And it's called, this is going to sound deep for some people, the Babylonian system… It is oppressive in the sense that it operates in fractions when really, when you look at the preferred economy, we should be operating in multiples."

It's the system of debt, where "who is in debt is slave to the lender. That's ancient wisdom from the scriptures. And it's so true." That's Proverbs 22:7: "the borrower is slave to the lender." Living in fractions means always being a little short, with every pay cheque spoken for before it lands. Living in multiples means what you own works and grows. Blu Sky Factory teaches its students how to make that move. As Derek put it: "You've got to step outside of that Babylonian system and into the preferred economy."

The dog on the nail: why people wait until it hurts

Why do so many people stay stuck, even when they can see it coming? Derek told a story he first heard at a seminar:

"There's a story of the old man sitting on a porch and he's got a dog next to him… the dog's sitting next to him, but he's howling. And a stranger comes up to him. He says, sir, why is your dog howling? The old man rocks back and he says, because he's sitting on a nail. And the stranger says to him, well, why doesn't he move off the nail? And he says, the old man says, because the pain is not enough."

"Often people don't move until the pain is big enough. And I think it's better to put those things in place when you're not in pain. Yes, it may not be convenient, but what do you want? What result do you want further down the road?"

It's Proverbs 22:3, which Derek paraphrased on air: "A wise man perceives danger ahead and… takes measures to avoid it." Travis put the same idea in a line he learned early in his own training: "do what's hard while it's easy."

The savings account game is over

For a generation, the advice was simple: put money in the bank and let the interest grow it. Derek was taught it too:

"The old game of putting money away in a savings account and being rewarded in interest, long gone, okay? That was one of the things I was taught, and this strategy, of course, became a losing one when interest rates stop exceeding inflation."

Here's why. If savings earn less than inflation, the balance goes up but what it buys goes down. An account paying 2% while prices rise 4% leaves the saver about 2% poorer in real terms at the end of the year, before tax on the interest. Hence Derek's rule:

"The way for the wealth to grow is to invest in assets that grow at a greater rate than inflation. That's the strategy."

Cash still has a job: Derek is clear that "cash needs to be set aside for those little surprises", the bill nobody saw coming. But a buffer is protection. It isn't a plan for getting ahead.

You don't need thousands to start anymore

The good news, and the reason this episode is hopeful, is that the door has never been lower:

"It's getting easier and easier to invest with less than it was 20 years ago. You don't necessarily need thousands and thousands of dollars to begin with. And that is a game changer because traditionally it was always about I've got to have a pool of money to either get into property or to start a share portfolio or trading account and that sort of stuff."

Crypto platforms have long let people start with a few dollars, and, in Derek's words, "now traditional finance is catching up, where some brokers will offer you fractional shares… where people can get access for less than actually buying the whole share." (Worth knowing: fractional shares are usually held by the provider, a "custodial" arrangement, rather than registered in the investor's own name.)

Your discretionary number

This is the most practical idea in the episode. Everyone has an amount they spend without thinking: for some it's $5, for others $20 or $50. Derek asked Travis about his coffee budget (he wouldn't say, except that it's "more than my fuel budget"), then made the point:

"What is the discretionary spending number that could actually go towards an investment?… If somebody's spending $20 a week and they don't care where that goes, right? Do you care if you were spending $20 on investment and the investment went to zero? Would you care? Not really. Because you wouldn't have that money anyway."

Travis: "Because I invest in coffee daily and it goes to zero every time."

Derek: "Exactly. That's what my point is. But what if it didn't? What if it actually went up over time?"

The arithmetic is simple. $20 a week is $1,040 a year, and $3,120 over three years before it earns anything. What it becomes depends on what it's invested in and the risk taken, and any investment can fall. But money nobody missed, working instead of evaporating, is the first step out of survival mode. As Derek said: "If someone does this over two, three years, and I'm testimony to this, right? You can be amazed when you look back."

Assets growing faster than debt

The goal isn't only to pay debt down. It's to reach the point where what you own outgrows what you owe:

"What if over time your assets are growing greater than your debt level?… Having that habitual habit of investing, investing, investing over time can really make a difference."

Not all debt is equal, either. Borrowing for something that can grow in value is a different decision from borrowing for something that's gone once it's used, like a holiday or shopping on a credit card. The second kind is what makes the borrower "slave to the lender".

The first step: learn the rules of the game

So how does someone get from struggling to pay the power bill to looking at what's next? Derek's answer:

"I think the first step is they need to invest in themselves at some point in their own financial education. If you don't know how the game's playing, you basically don't know how to get around the game or get ahead in the game. It's like going up to a game of basketball and not knowing the rules of the game. You're not going to win that game against a team that does know the rules."

Treat it as a game

Derek's final thoughts were the most important line in the episode:

"Don't be overwhelmed by your circumstances. If you can put the mindset in this as a game, how can I navigate around this?… If you look at that, usually with a game, you're having fun. And if you can take that mindset into the finance thing, it takes a lot of the emotion out of the equation and go, all right, how do we solve these issues?"

Your questions, answered

Getting ahead

How do I get ahead financially in Australia?

Many financial educators say it starts with separating survival from progress. It's been recommended by some professionals that a cash buffer be kept for surprises, that debt which buys nothing (credit cards, buy-now-pay-later for everyday spending) be cleared first, and that a small, regular amount you won't miss go into assets that can grow faster than inflation. It's widely held that learning how money, debt and markets work matters most, because the rules keep changing and the people who understand them adapt first.

Why can't I get ahead financially, even on a decent wage?

It's well known in the industry that two things get in the way: every dollar is already spoken for, and what's left sits in cash that loses ground to inflation. With prices up 4.3% in the year to September 2026 and fuel up 23.6%, a pay rise can disappear before it lands. Earning more helps, but a common view is that getting ahead comes from what you own growing, not just from what you earn.

How do I get ahead when I'm behind, or have no money to invest?

A consideration that Derek made was what if someone were to take their discretionary number, the $5, $10 or $20 a week they already spend without noticing, and redirect it. Consistently, that's $260 to $1,040 a year. These days thousands aren't always needed to start, as fractional shares and low minimums mean small amounts can be invested. And learning costs nothing: Blu Sky Factory's masterclasses are free.

How many Australians live pay to pay?

About half of Australian workers (50%) said they live pay to pay in ADP's People at Work 2025 survey, reported in June 2025.

How do I stop living pay to pay?

A common recommendation is that a small buffer comes first, so a surprise bill doesn't go on a credit card. Financial counsellors often talk about finding the leaks: reviewing the bills that have jumped (electricity and gas are often worth shopping around) and separating needs from wants, or as Derek put it, "Is it a necessity or is it a want?" Others favour making investing automatic, even in small amounts, so it happens before the money is spent.

Saving and inflation

Is a savings account still worth it?

Conventional wisdom is that a savings account suits an emergency buffer: it's safe and you can reach it quickly. As a way to grow wealth, it struggles whenever the interest rate is below inflation, because the balance grows while what it buys shrinks. A comparison commonly made in the industry is the rate, after tax, against the latest inflation figure.

What does inflation do to my savings?

It reduces what your money buys. Economists describe the "real" return as roughly the interest rate minus inflation. At 2% interest and 4% inflation, savings fall about 2% behind each year.

How do I beat inflation in Australia?

The view widely shared in the industry is that it means owning assets that can grow faster than prices rise, rather than holding only cash. Growth assets such as shares and property have the potential to do that, with more risk: their prices can fall as well as rise, and nothing is guaranteed to beat inflation every year.

Starting small

Can you start investing with $20 a week?

Many platforms now accept small amounts, and some offer fractional shares, so $20 a week ($1,040 a year) can be invested. It's often pointed out that fees matter more on small amounts: a flat fee on a $20 purchase is a large percentage of it.

What are fractional shares, and can you buy them in Australia?

A fractional share is a part of one share, bought by dollar amount instead of by whole share. Some Australian providers offer them, most often on US-listed shares. They are usually held by the provider on the investor's behalf (custodial) rather than registered in the investor's own name, something commentators often say is worth understanding first.

Debt

What's the difference between good debt and bad debt?

Broadly, "good" debt is commonly described as debt that pays for something that can grow in value or produce income, and "bad" debt as debt that pays for something that's gone once it's used, often at high interest, like credit-card spending or a holiday on credit. Many also consider bad debt to be debt you can't get a tax deduction on. All debt carries risk; the question many people ask is whether it's building something.

What does "the borrower is slave to the lender" mean?

It's from Proverbs 22:7: "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." Debt gives the lender a claim on future income, and so on future choices. Derek calls this the Babylonian system: living in fractions, always a little short, instead of in multiples.

Learning

Why isn't financial literacy taught in Australian schools?

It is in the curriculum, but not as a subject of its own. ACARA maps "consumer and financial literacy" across Foundation to Year 10, developed with ASIC and the ATO, but it lives inside other subjects such as maths and economics. So many people leave school without a working grasp of debt, inflation or investing, and the rules change faster than any syllabus anyway.

Where can Australians learn about money and investing?

Blu Sky Factory, an Australian education company based in Perth and founded by Derek Whitaker, teaches how money and investing actually work. It offers free online masterclasses (including the wealth masterclass at bluskyfactory.com/wealth-training), a weekly podcast, The Greater Wealth, on YouTube, Rumble and Spotify, and programmes such as Prepare to Prosper for people ready to go further. It's education, not financial advice.

Three questions to ask this week

What's my discretionary number? The amount I spend each week without noticing.
What is my savings account earning, compared with inflation? If it's less, it's a buffer, not a plan.
What's my nail? What am I waiting to hurt enough before I move?

Sources

Education only. Nothing here is personal financial, tax or legal advice.