I was up late last night watching "Fun with Dick and Jane", I couldn't sleep and it was actually pretty funny.
If you haven't seen it, it's about a guy (Jim Carrey) who gets a big promotion, and asks his wife (Tea Leoni) to quit her job and spend more time with their son since his new position pays $150K + bonus. The company goes bankrupt and the funny, craziness begins. I wonder how many people learned from the mistakes of Dick Harper (Jim Carrey's character).
Once the company goes bankrupt, he tells his now unemployed wife that everything will be fine; they still have his pension, savings, and the house they live in is worth over $600K. Turns out the Harper's had all their eggs in one basket. The pension and savings they had amassed were all invested in the company stock. The collapse of the company lead to housing market crash and they are now upside down on their mortgage as they would owe the bank $20,000 if they tried selling the house. They took out a second mortgage a few months back to fix up their kitchen and install an in-ground pool.
Funny movie, serious lesson; whether is was intended to be or not. Diversify, watch where your money is going, and think before you act. Wait until you get a few paychecks before you go quitting jobs and pissing the wrong people off. Save up a little more and make sure you can afford those home improvements and are they really worth it, do you really need a gold plated banister; your not Master P. Don't count on money you don't have yet, home equity is nice but not always guaranteed. Also, don't just assume because you work for a big company that it will always be around; Enron and Worldcom should have taught everyone this lesson by now. Try to make sure you have at least some of your money in some FDIC insured savings account, preferably an online account so you can get a decent interest rate, so you don't lose everything if the stock market crashes and there is no time to rebuild your funds.
Another mistake he makes is looking for work and not accepting a lower position once the money really dries up. Don't let your ego get the best of you. If it is a choice between putting food on the table for your family, living in a small apartment on a Costco salary or living in big house on the verge of foreclosure, eating sunflower seeds because you have no money to even buy some chicken and holding onto you title as Former Vice President of Communications....the choice should not be too difficult.
Just wanted to share my little find. If you get a chance, check out the movie and let me know what you think. If you have any other strange places where you saw an underlying lesson, let me know.
Thanks for reading
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Labels: Personal Finance
Ahhh man, that movie was funny! I remember seeing it. The movie was a comedy. But I have to admit that's what happen when you live above your means/financing your lifestyle.
The funniest part when they repossessed the lawn, LOL
That was hilarious, "I didn't even know they could do that" lol
see, now i gotta see it!
Sadly, that scenario is played out countless times every year.
The most important thing is that just keep a check on your money that whereever the money is is it safe there does it will be like that one must assume about the future and then have to take care of all the aspects related to the hard earned money the most important thing is that think wisely before u act.