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  • Published: 11 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761356438
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $36.99

How They Get You

Sneaky Everyday Economics and Smart Ways to Hold on to Your Money





Have you ever felt like your wallet has a slow leak you can’t find?

In this sharp, funny and empowering guide, journalist Chris Kohler takes you through the rigged carnival of modern life, where the games are broken, the prizes are fake and somehow you’re paying $28 to park near the entrance.

From loyalty schemes to late fees, gift cards to sneaky supermarkets, How They Get You pulls back the curtain on how the systems work and how to outsmart them. Written for anyone who has ever looked at their bank account and thought, I swear I didn’t buy anything, this is the ultimate handbook to understanding how the game is played – and how you don’t have to lose every single time.

You’ll laugh, you’ll groan and you’ll probably cancel a few subscriptions. But most of all, you’ll walk away with the clarity and confidence to make better choices about how to spend and save your hard-earned money.

  • Published: 11 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761356438
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $36.99

About the author

Chris Kohler

Chris Kohler is Finance Editor across the 9News network. You'll see Chris nightly in all states and territories covering financial markets, interest rates, property markets and household finance issues. Before joining Nine, Chris was a reporter and presenter for Sky News Business and Your Money, and has extensive experience as a property and financial markets journalist with The Australian, and with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers via Domain. He also has a large following on social media @chriskohlernews.

Praise for How They Get You

Chris Kohler’s How They Get You is the most readable, interesting, insightful - and highly amusing - book that has ever been written about contemporary consumer experiences.

Professor Allan Fels AO, Former Chair Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

A hilarious handbook for the modern consumer.

The Betoota Advocate