Barefoot Investor reveals what he really thinks about the ominous prediction that Australia is headed for the 'biggest crash of our lifetimes'

The Barefoot Investor has spoken out about a US economist's grim prediction that 2024 will bring the 'biggest economic crash of our lifetimes'.

Scott Pape was asked by a concerned reader for his thoughts on the scary prediction shared by Harry Dent on Channel Nine's Today show in January.

Dent, who specializes in studying markets and generational consumer spending, warned that more than a decade of gains in Aussie real estate could be wiped out and the Australian Stock Exchange would experience a “50 per cent crash”.

'Is there any truth to economist Harry Dent's latest dire warning of doom for shares and real estate in Australia?' concerned reader Jenny wrote to Pape on Monday.

The Barefoot Investor branded the forecast 'weird' before reassuring that Australia was better off than would have been expected.

Mr Dent, who specializes in studying markets and generational consumer spending, warned that more than a decade of gains in Aussie real estate could be wiped out and the Australian Stock Exchange could see a '50 per cent' crash (stock image)

'So I watched Harry on the Today show. He predicted that '2024 will bring the biggest crash of our lifetimes', and suggested the value of both Australian shares and real estate could more than halve this year,” Pape said.

“It was honestly… weird.”

Pape pointed out that “the people on Today are supposed to be journalists, but the hardest question they asked wasn't even a question.”

“All the interviewer said (giggling) was, 'Gosh, that's a bit depressing,'” he said.

Pape said if he had been on the show he would have laughed at Mr Dent and asked: “Harry, you have been wrongly predicting for years that Australian property prices will crash.

“You said they would drop 55 percent in 2009, 65 percent in 2011, 55 percent in 2014, 50 percent in 2016, 40 percent in 2018 and 40 percent in 2020.

“You've been terribly wrong for so long, why should we believe you today?”

The Barefoot Investor thought that Mr. Dent would “undoubtedly have a well-rehearsed rebuttal that would plant enough doubt in the minds of viewers eating their cereal to get him out of that question.”

“So then I'd follow it up with my final question: 'Harry, if you have all the answers, why don't you set up an investment fund and make billions in profit from your predictions?'

Pape answered this question himself and said that 'once upon a time' had an investment fund.

“Except it was a dud, reportedly losing 80 percent of its assets before it was merged and closed,” he said.

Mr Dent warned that by 2024 the good economic times would come to a standstill.

“My biggest concern, and I've been warning Australians about this for years, is that you have one of the biggest property bubbles after China,” he told Today.

'And so I would be most concerned about real estate and I would as an Australian look at my real estate and say, look, if I go back to about 2012… what would my house or office building or whatever I'm worth ? .

Pape was asked: 'Is there any truth in economist Harry Dent's latest dire warning about the demise of shares and property in Australia?' The photo shows Mr. Dent

“And that's probably the best sign of how much you could lose.” And unfortunately, I think it will be more than most people think.”

Mr Dent said a massive crash was inevitable because 'no one has seen the markets this well. I have studied them since the stock markets began in the late 1700s.”

Mr Dent said Australians must “protect themselves over the next two years”.

“We started having this crash in 2022 that was the first wave down but again with all this stimulus we tried to ramp it up and hit new highs in the stocks I think that's kind of over and that we're going back down again.'

But he did give assurances that Australia would emerge from the massive downturn better than most other countries.

'I think the real danger here is mainly in 2024 and probably not until 2025. Then we have the next boom, led by Asia, and in the developed world by Australia.

“I don't think the United States will ever see real estate or equities at this level again. Australia will see a much better recovery from this.”