Finances can be a bit of a struggle.  

Costs are constantly rising, and in an era of auto-payments and forgotten subscriptions, it can sometimes be difficult to keep on top of everything, or even know that you’re getting the best deal. 

9News Finance Editor Chris Kohler is becoming increasingly popular on social media for incorporating dry wit into usually boring economic news and has written a book called ‘How They Get You’. 

‘How They Get You’ covers “sneaky” everyday economics and what you can do to outsmart the systems and save your money. 

Kohler told Mike Hosking the intent of the book is to take a good thorough look at something that tends to be boring and is often pushed to the side. 

“I think people are really smart actually, I think that they just are presented with information in a way that makes them feel like it’s nebulous, or it’s above their heads, or they don’t have the right education.” 

“For most people, they’re, their radar of when something isn’t fair, and when something is a bit off is really good, but I think that they’re not given the tools to argue with financial institutions in a way that might help them.”  

Kohler very much subscribes to the mentality that if you look after the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves, though he says it’s more than pennies at the moment. 

“The difference between the best and the worst mortgage rate out there at the moment is a couple hundred a month for people.” 

“I think it’s very important to, to have a good hard look at the money that we’re spending and whether or not we can be spending less.” 

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