Could you resist the celebrity lifestyle? Ed McMahon can't.
If i became a celebrity, i'd be an outcast. There's no way i could muster up enough balls to take on a multi-million dollar mansion out in The Hills...Even IF my man Beckham lived next door! Or even Britney Spears for that matter - and that's saying something ;)
Of course, money is crazy and it can steer the best of us down the wrong path at times. Just take a deeper look at the whole Ed McMahon debacle. The poor guy can't even pay his mortgage :( I swear, if you ever see or hear me getting like this, STOP ME in my tracks and call me out, okay? Good, good.
I know the whole Ed thing is old and played out (the news, not the guy...meanies) but I find the whole thing incredibly interesting. I guess cuz it just goes to show that no matter how rich you are, or think you are, you are SCREWED w/out good money management!
Here's a clip from Ed's interview w/ Larry King:
"King: And the payments, you can't make -- what's the problem?His wife also joins the convo and adds that they probably should have paid more attention to managing it all earlier, and that "Because you're a celebrity, people think you have a lot more than you have." Hmm...yeah okay i can see that. But, and i'm kinda being harsh here, if you KNOW you're not great at watching your financials, find someone who is! Or even hire a professional money manager. Doing any of that would save you a great deal of money in the long run, not to mention your sanity.
Ed McMahon: Well, if you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen. You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together."
Of course, this is all easier for me to say since a) i'm not in their situation, and b) i'm not dealing with millions and millions of dollars ;) Whatever happens with their situation though (the foreclosure process had already started as of June '08), I do hope that it all gets worked out. No one deserves to go through all that pain and suffering, no matter what the situation.
I'd also like to give them MAD credit for stepping up to the public platform and spilling all their details to the world!
It's hard to measure how helpful that could be to others, but i can tell you that it def. made ME stop and think twice about stuff. It's easy to get complacent and think you're on the right track all the time, but it's hard to know 100% until you're actually tested in battle. Or perhaps that's when you know you're okay - When you basically never get INTO battle?
Whatever the case, I'd like to think that when i become a celebrity (aww yeahhh) I'll have all my ish together and be ready to start saving that money! Now i just gotta figure out how to go about being one :)
Labels: celebrity finance, debt, foreclosure, money management
posted by J. Money at
11:41 AM
7 Comments:
Have you seen the documentary about the curse of the Lotto? It's fascinating to me. My dad is a CPA and he takes care of high profile earners...he says they all spend way more than they have. I'm sure one day, no thanks to financial planning, I will be comfortable financially (good job...i hope) and I plan to live like my dad, who is also pretty well off, very very very modestly. People get to wrapped up in creating a fake identity based on material things.
I am glad he is being honest about what's going on - it's refreshing to see that in famous people.
NO WAYYYY i wanna see that! I saw some like 45 min. special on E Holywood Story or something, but i'd looooove to see a whole documentary on it. do you know the name or director? Your dad (and you) are smart - fake identities only get you so far.
@Les - no doubt. imagine if it happened to you? man...spilling everything out for everyone to read? crazyyyy, i can't even fathom it. well, i can, like on this blog, but not if i were famous, ya know? very cool of him.
Oh, J Money, I'm outing you as an OPRAH FAN. A month or two ago, she did an episode on how normal people mess up windfalls, whether it's $50,000 or $50 million. I reckon that on a (much) smaller scale, that was the purpose behind the stimulus checks from the government: give the people $600 and they'll go out and spend at least twice that.
When you think the stream of incoming money is all powerful and never ending - it is hard to realize that there are actually limits. What I like about Ed is that he is kind of a regular guy, despite his celebrity status. I talk to friends and family all the time that are struggling - and they aren't dumb, and they aren't bad credit risks, like the media portrays. It is everyone who is hurting - even folks who never dreamed it could happen to them.
Oprah fan huh?! haha...you're funny. the only times i actually watch her is if the wifey has her playing in the background ;) or when she makes appearances on 30 Rock! woohoo!
@Dawn - well put. i agree, the media def. changes things up a bit, although i do believe there are a ton of idiots out there unfortunately :( if they could just quit grouping "everyone" together, we'd be better off. i guess they gotta find new ways to WOW us though, eh?
I think the more we hear about this, the more that the reality of debt in America will sink in. All these developments are good; on all levels, living within your means is becoming more and more important.
What ever happened to Screech's debt situation anyway?
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