In this episode, Chris Kohler joins Professor Sally Gainsbury to discuss how financial information cuts through in a noisy digital world. Chris is Finance Editor at 9News, author of How They Get You, and host of the podcast How We Got Here. He has also built one of Australia’s largest independent finance audiences, with more than 750,000 followers on Instagram, by explaining complex financial systems clearly and accessibly.

The conversation explores why clear communication matters, especially when products and platforms are deliberately designed to influence consumer behaviour. Chris and Sally discuss how short-form videos can reveal the mechanisms behind pokies, lotteries, sports betting, prediction markets, loyalty schemes, buy-now-pay-later products, and other systems that often work against consumers’ interests.

They also consider the limits of communication. If people understand that a product is designed to influence them, does that knowledge actually change behaviour? What can public-facing communication do that official warnings, academic research, or government messaging often cannot? And where does responsibility sit when legal products are built around psychological pressure, persuasive design, and information imbalance?

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Show notes and links:

Chris Kohler on Instagram: @chriskohlernews

Chris Kohler on YouTube: @ChrisKohlerNews

Chris Kohler on TikTok: @chriskohlernews

Books:

How They Get You by Chris Kohler: Available through Penguin Random House Australia and all good booksellers.

How We Got Here podcast: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Acast.

Australian Government Response: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlinegamblingimpacts/Government_Response

Note: Correction - The Government Response was released over the Easter long weekend, not the Anzac Day weekend.

Some of our favourites from Chris Kohler:

Pokies: instagram.com/reel/DCQbGEzgvXZ/

Lotteries: youtube.com/shorts/XrENnU5l3hw

Sports betting: instagram.com/reel/DQlN9aoEuqE/

Prediction markets: youtube.com/shorts/HBiWxEPCiWk

In this episode, Dr Tracey West joins Professor Sally Gainsbury to discuss what actually works in financial education, and how we know.

Tracey is a financial capability researcher and practitioner whose work spans financial education, behavioural change, consumer wellbeing, and large-scale program evaluation. Drawing on her experience with initiatives such as Talk Money with Ecstra Foundation, the conversation explores what financial education programs can achieve, what their evaluation data can and cannot tell us, and why the gap between knowledge, intention, and behaviour matters.

The episode considers how financial capability should be understood in practice, especially for young people navigating digital environments shaped by gambling, buy now pay later products, investing apps, scams, and online spending. It also examines where responsibility sits with individuals, educators, regulators, governments, or commercial platforms.

Visit BetWell: Bet with more clarity, insight and intention
https://betwell.org.au/

Show notes and links:

Books:

• Akerlof & Shiller, Phishing for Phools

• Robert Shiller, Finance and the Good Society

• Dan Ariely, Dollars and Sense

• Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk

• Richard Thaler, Misbehaving

Podcast:

• Tim Harford, Cautionary Tales

Academic article:

• Netemeyer, R. G., Lynch, J. G., Lichtenstein, D. R., & Dobolyi, D. (2024). Financial Education Effects on Financial Behavior and Well-Being: The Mediating Roles of Improved Objective and Subjective Financial Knowledge and Parallels in Physical Health. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 43(4), 254–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156241228197

In this episode, Professor Annamaria Lusardi, Professor of Finance at Stanford University and founder of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, joins Professor Sally Gainsbury to discuss financial literacy, financial decision-making, and what gambling can reveal about the limits of financial capability. Their conversation explores why basic financial knowledge matters, including compound interest, inflation, risk, and diversification, while also considering the role knowledge plays in behavioural change.

Visit BetWell: Bet with more clarity, insight and intention
https://betwell.org.au/

Show notes and links:

• Professor Annamaria Lusardi: https://annamarialusardi.com/

• Lusardi & Mitchell’s “Big Three” financial literacy measure: Lusardi, Annamaria, and Olivia S. Mitchell. 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence." Journal of Economic Literature 52 (1): 5–44.DOI: 10.1257/jel.52.1.5

• Stanford Initiative for Financial Decision-Making: https://ifdm.stanford.edu/

• IFDM Big Three Financial Literacy Questions: https://ifdm.stanford.edu/the-big-three/quiz

• IFDM financial calculators and educational resources: https://ifdm.stanford.edu/resourcehub

• Book: Mellody Hobson, Priceless Facts about Money