David Chau's mission to make finance news 'tolerable'

It has been almost a decade since I started covering finance for the ABC.

That first year was particularly exciting — with Donald Trump waging a tariff war against Australia's largest trading partner and causing huge market shocks nearly every day with his stream-of-consciousness tweeting.

In that regard, the situation has not really changed.

But in other ways, things have become worse, particularly when it comes to our living standards.

Buying a home is more unaffordable than ever, despite the recent "downturn", while Australian households are now carrying the second-highest amount of debt in the world after Switzerland.

Extremely high-risk and speculative investments have also exploded in popularity, particularly bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, and now pretty much anything to do with artificial intelligence.

It is no wonder the cost of living has become the most popular discussion topic in our nation, for all the wrong reasons.

That is why I am excited to be spending more time with you in the years ahead — demystifying finance on the 7pm News, making it more relatable (and even fun) for a wider audience.

Looking back, one of my favourite pieces of audience feedback over the years was:

If more viewers who were not interested in business news before start paying attention, then it's "mission accomplished".

A long and winding road

I must confess that I am just as surprised as you that I have landed this gig, taking over from the legendary Alan Kohler.

It is definitely one of those "pinch me" moments in life.

The other "pinch me" moment I had was more than 10 years ago, as I was poring through thousands of pages of evidence at a law firm, doing my best to stay awake.

Before starting at the ABC, I was a litigation lawyer. But I did not really enjoy suing people very much. As you can imagine, my career was off to a promising start!

After five years of sending threatening letters and trying to sound a like a legal 'tough guy', I decided it was time for a change.

I chose journalism because I wanted a career that was exciting, where I could meet all sorts of interesting people, and do work that serves the public interest.

And, if we go even further back in time to the 1980s, I was the son of a Vietnam War refugee who did not grow up with much money.

My dad was a judo instructor and goldsmith before the Fall of Saigon.

When he moved to Sydney, he did not speak English, nor did his qualifications transfer very easily. He was only able to find factory work.

That is why he regularly drilled into me the importance of education, finding a 'good job' and achieving financial security. He did not have most of those things.

So that is how I got into a regular news-viewing habit and started noticing Alan's finance reports.

That time I got GFC'd

My interest in finance and economics ramped up from 2009, when I found myself unemployed for several months.

I was sending hundreds of CVs and cover letters for any kind of work related to what I had just been studying at university for five years — and received a similar number of rejections.

From watching Alan's coverage, it did not take me long to realise that my job struggles were caused by some dreadful binge-borrowing overseas that led to this thing called the global financial crisis.

And I also learned firsthand that when Australia's unemployment rate quickly rises from about 4 per cent to 5.8 per cent, it is a particularly bad time for young job seekers with almost no experience whatsoever. Lucky me.

So I had to take radical steps to find decent work, like move to Perth for a couple of years. Thankfully, there was still a 'mining boom' happening there!

How did I get here?

A lot of people have asked me over the years: 'How did you end up switching careers from law to journalism?'

Well, fast forward to 2015. I reached the point where I was so jaded that I decided to quit the legal profession without a backup plan. (Older-and-wiser me would not recommend this unless you have your next job lined up.)

I did not know exactly what I wanted to do next. So 'trial and error' was the only option for me, and I tried all manner of random jobs. Nothing was beneath me!

That is how I ended up as that guy who greeted and seated customers at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant — but that was for one night only as I was quite terrible at it.

I also operated a phone hotline, answering calls from people who wanted to lodge complaints about their lawyers (oh, the irony).

And I was briefly a costumed superhero at kids' birthday parties (I had to pay bills somehow)!

One of the more sensible choices I made was to work at a small financial news publication and try my hand at business reporting.

It turned out I was quite good at it, surprisingly.

After trying financial journalism for a year, I decided it was time to advance my new career at a larger, more reputable organisation.

So I went on a relentless 'cold-calling' campaign and somehow managed to get the ABC's business editor at the time, Ian Verrender, on the phone.

Sometimes landing an opportunity involves being somewhere "at the right place, at the right time" — which is exactly what happened to me.

Ian decided to hire me as the team's most junior producer, and placed me on a three-month contract to see how I performed.

Lucky for me, I did not do too badly. So those temporary contracts kept getting extended, and eventually I was made permanent.

Nine years later, I'm still here — and have since written hundreds of articles for the ABC and presented hundreds more finance reports across TV and radio.

The road ahead

Now back to Alan; I still find it hard to believe that he is retiring. He has been in the role for so long that I seriously thought he was going to do it forever!

I have always been impressed with how easily he can break down the most complex ideas in a way that anybody could understand.

I recognise that is an important responsibility, and some big shoes to fill.

Though having lived through some cost-of-living crises myself — including now, as the Dad of a constantly hungry two-year-old boy — I can definitely relate to the pressures that many Australians are feeling.

So you can rest assured that I will be delivering finance updates that are relevant to you — hopefully in a way that is more "tolerable" than you expected.

I hope you come along with me on this journey, perhaps even for the next couple of decades if I am lucky and able to match Alan's record!

David Chau is a finance presenter on ABC News, including on the 7PM News — Monday to Friday, from tonight.