Being born in 1981, I am on the cusp of two generations, but as I googled the shows I grew up on—such as Friends, The Simpsons, In Living Color, Married with Children, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, etc.—it seems I would be classified as a Millennial. And boy, did we have great television!
They say too much TV will rot your brain, and I would say they are wrong. I spent many hours watching the boob tube, and here I am thousands of mispent hours later, a practicing neurologist. My expert neurological opinion: my brain is fine.
You can learn a lot from TV shows, and as I went through my financial literacy journey, many different financial lessons from these old shows popped into my mind. Morgan Housel once said, “Comedians can explain really important social concepts better than any academic.” And those include financial social concepts written by comedic screenwriters as well. The following are some clips from phenomenally funny TV shows and their associated money lessons from my Millennial TV-viewing experience.
DuckTales
OK, we are going way back to when I was a wee lad. If you're a child of the '80s, who doesn't remember DuckTales? What an awesome show! As I think about my finances, I can't help but think about Scrooge McDuck and the massive amount of wealth (gold) that he has accumulated with this clip:
Despite being somewhat of a miser, you learn more deeply that Scrooge loved having great adventures more than money. And those adventures involved and brought him closer to his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. He had all the money in the world, but episode after episode was another adventure—and the focus was the adventure, not the financial reward.
I even remember a few episodes where Scrooge chose to save his nephews in exchange for possibly losing his fortune. He would spend lavishly on things that matter to him, including having his McMansion and paying Launchpad McQuack to fly his private helicopter. But what really mattered to Uncle Scrooge was his family and the thrill of adventure. Money was truly secondary.
The Cosby Show
Nothing beats The Cosby Show in life lessons. Unfortunately, we know now that Bill Cosby did not live up to the endearing and wise persona of Cliff Huxtable that he portrayed, but that does not negate the lessons we can learn from the show. Let's separate the art from the artist.
Here's a classic clip from the show about family wealth and what it means to be rich:
A couple of important points I should mention. First, I love how Cliff Huxtable draws a line where he and Clair are rich, but not the kids. It was the parents who earned the money, and the kids will have to build their own wealth. In Stanley and Danko’s consummate financial masterpiece, The Millionaire Next Door, the authors warn that Economic Outpatient Care is highly detrimental to the financial development of children, where they grow up as adults dependent on perpetual monetary support from their parents. Cliff seems to recognize this and shuts the door on this potentially negative path with his comments to his daughter.
Another important financial topic, which is much more profoundly universal and existential, is what it means to be rich. I love Clair’s quote, “You are rich . . . not because of things but because you have a family who loves you.” We talk so much about money and finances at WCI, but we must remember that being rich is not a dollar value you see on a screen or the material things that you purchase with those Benjamins. Instead, it’s the time and experiences you can buy for yourself and your family to show that you love them.
More information here:
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The Simpsons
I am intrigued by financially savvy savers having the distressing problem in retirement of not spending. In episode 383 of the WCI Podcast, Dr. Jim Dahle mentioned a Bogleheads poster who retired at age 43 with $3 million and was NOT happy! The listener was obsessed with saving and not spending. I immediately thought about this Simpsons clip (warning, it's kind of bloody for a kids' cartoon):
For those who have a spending problem, maybe this clip could encourage them to spend. Not because I think they are going to get the axe from a criminal mastermind, but because you should balance all that future financial preparation with some spending for today. You need a balance of spending and saving.
I love when Ramit Sethi says, “Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t.” This is why the message from Bill Perkins’ book Die With Zero receives so much attention. For those of us who are obsessively financially responsible, we may have the opposite problem of FOMO, where we miss out on a season of life where we cannot experience something, no matter how much money we have, because that time has passed. The FIRE movement is always discussing how to get over the “one more year” syndrome, but it’s easier said than done. Even hitting your FI number may not feel like enough.
Truly, it is hard to spend since you might have defined your identity and purpose as an accumulator and not a spender. As financial podcaster and author Dr. Jordan Grumet says, “You can’t find purpose; you create it.” You have to create an identity and purpose—not as an accumulator when you retire but as a spender on things that bring you joy and happiness and that fulfill your purpose.
South Park
South Park is tops in terms of phenomenally hilarious and inappropriate humor with the insight to put a penetrating lens on various societal topics, including finance. Check out this clip regarding the dangers of investing:
Ha! This episode was written during the Great Financial Crisis, highlighting how society was perceiving investment banks and investing in general during that time. Thankfully, I believe times have changed over the almost two decades since the GFC, where index fund investing is now the norm, reflected by the fact that VTSAX/VTI is now the world’s largest fund with over $2 trillion in it.
If you listen to the clip carefully (and I know a lot of you financially savvy readers caught on to this), Stan’s money was in a money market fund. Only the earnings were invested quickly into foreign currency, so there's no way that the principal in the money market fund would suddenly be gone. Someone tell Trey Parker and Matt Stone!
Friends
Unfortunately, Joey, like many Americans, has a credit card problem:
Joey’s face when seeing the total amount, not just the minimum due, is classic. Unfortunately, credit card debt is a pervasive problem, as evidenced by the popularity of Dave Ramsey. Yes, watching this episode taught me very quickly how credit cards can drive spending out of control on things you cannot afford.
But did you also notice in this clip that Joey saw the minimum payment first? Yes, credit card companies turn your attention to only making the minimum payment, trying to divert attention from the much more painful reality of how much total is actually owed. Those people are sneaky!
More information here:
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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Ahh, the show that made Will Smith famous. Will goes from the ghetto of West Philadelphia (born and raised) to sit on his throne as the prince of Bel-Air, and he learns plenty of money lessons. Here is one clip I think of when I hear of people winning the lotto or receiving a large windfall.
Based on this clip, I can see why most lotto winners end up unhappy and broke. Geoffrey immediately starts spending the winnings (by breaking open a $500 bottle of champagne and physically breaking a $1,000 vase) before he actually has the money (which he doesn’t; Will and Carlton were playing a joke on him). He spent $1,500 in less than a minute! The next minute, he promises Ashley a Mercedes (actually two). Not only that, he quits the job that has been part of his identity for years and leaves the only family he has ever known.
Geoffrey’s hysterical reaction, though, reflects how lotto wins and large windfalls can blind a person to the finite amount of money they actually receive (I bet taxes didn’t cross into Geoffrey’s mind!) while also forgetting the non-monetary value that work and family truly represent.
I didn’t realize this until watching this clip again for this column, but notice what Philip Banks—the uber-wealthy patron of the show—was doing while Geoffrey was racking up debts. Philip was trying to limit Geoffrey’s carnage, pointing out the value of the items he was opening/breaking. Despite being a multi-millionaire, Philip knew the value of his things and did not want his valuables subjected to wanton destruction. This likely reflects that Philip amassed his wealth by being careful with his valuables and knowing the price of his purchases and not recklessly wasting money to retain his wealth.
More information here:
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Family Matters
The former jewel in the ABC’s TGIF crown, this show with the iconic Steve Urkel brought me so many laughs every Friday night. One financial lesson the show delved into was in this clip:
OK, it's not the funniest of scenes from this famous sitcom, but it's poignant regarding the value of an exceedingly expensive college education—Ivy League or otherwise. We have tons of questions with no real solid answers for this one. Was it actually good that the Winslows didn’t qualify for a loan for college, given they obviously can’t afford the Harvard price tag in the first place? Will not getting a high-priced college education affect Laura’s future earning potential and success in life, or is her decision to settle for a cheaper education a sign of maturity that will result in life success, no matter the name on her degree?
One thing is for sure: this episode reflects a societal fear of parents of not having the ability to send their child to their dream school. This fear likely resulted in more and more support for easier student loan lending, feeding into the high student loan burden we see today.
I can’t say that watching these clips made me more financially literate at the time, but the principles I learned from WCI are now reinforced through the memories of these shows. They also highlight some financial topics that not only live in the Millennial TV show world, but touch us universally, no matter the generation.
Do you have any past TV shows that teach financial lessons? Any shows that teach money outside the Millennial generation? Do you think that the lessons in these shows help or hurt financial literacy?