I beloved the primary season of The White Lotus.
It was the proper pandemic present on the excellent time, permitting us to flee to an unique locale and benefit from the quirks of some splendidly written characters.
Season two simply wrapped on HBO and I loved it much more than the primary one.
The homicide thriller facet of the present was super however my finance mind couldn’t assist however discover quite a few cash and behavioral psychology classes from this season’s forged.
I do know what you’re pondering: Ben, these are TV characters. Are you actually going to do that?
You’re rattling proper I’m going to do that.
And creator Mike White even mentioned in an interview all of those characters are based mostly on folks he is aware of or has interacted with within the leisure business. The present was satirical however nailed a number of tried and true cash truths.
Listed below are a few of my favorites from The White Lotus resort in Sicily:
[WARNING: SPOILERS GALORE TO FOLLOW]
Maintaining with the Joneses can get you into bother in a number of alternative ways. My favourite dynamic on the present was the interaction between two {couples} touring to Sicily collectively — Ethan & Harper and Cameron & Daphne.
Every married couple was sad in their very own approach.
Ethan and Cameron had been outdated faculty roommates however Cameron hit it huge first, making some dough as a finance bro.
Simply earlier than their getaway, Ethan and Harper earned untold thousands and thousands promoting his tech agency. They informed themselves the cash wasn’t going to alter them however incomes a giant payday does change how different folks understand you.
Cameron informed Ethan when you develop into fabulously rich, it’s OK to cheat in your spouse:
Cameron: Now, that you simply’re a giant shot, folks should be slipping into your DMs left and proper.
Ethan: No. What good wouldn’t it do me in the event that they had been? I imply, I’m married.
Cameron: Dude, everybody cheats, E.
Ethan: No, they don’t. Come on! They do?
Cameron: Yeah!
And although his huge payday gave Ethan extra money, he was in fixed competitors together with his outdated roommate.
Newfound wealth led to jealousy, resentment, belief points, dishonest and extra baggage than Tanya introduced along with her to the resort.
Lots of people assume maintaining with the Joneses is all about spending extra money to maintain up. That’s a part of it however it could actually additionally change your habits in methods you may not recognize.
Extra money may not change who you might be nevertheless it modifications who you suppose you need to be and the way different folks suppose it is best to act.
And more often than not getting precisely what you thought you needed in life (like much more cash), doesn’t essentially make you any happier. Generally it even makes you extra depressing since you don’t have something to attempt for anymore.
Even wealthy folks might be broke. Quentin exhibits up just a few episodes into the season and is available in scorching. He’s eccentric, enjoyable, throws nice events and tells implausible tales.
Quentin has an opulent villa in Palermo and an ostentatious yacht.
The one drawback is Quentin’s life-style of the wealthy and well-known was too costly for him. He was successfully broke as a result of the maintenance of the villa and life-style price a lot cash.
It jogs my memory of the second and third-generation Vanderbilt youngsters who blew via their father’s fortune on mansions, yachts and lavish events in the course of the Gilded Age. The Vanderbilts went from the richest household within the nation to kind of broke inside three generations of profligate spending.
When you develop into accustomed to a sure life-style, it’s troublesome to return to the best way issues was. This led Quentin down a darkish path that didn’t finish effectively for him, his buddies or his mark, Tanya.
It doesn’t matter how wealthy you might be in case your way of life outpaces your financial savings.
Wealthy persons are extra prone to be scammed out of their cash. Poor Albie. His father and grandfather set a horrible instance for learn how to have a wholesome relationship. Each had been philanderers.
Albie was all the time the good man who completed final when it got here to the women. He simply needed to search out somebody real to spend his time with.
Enter Lucia, the native name woman:
Regardless of her career, it appeared like Lucia truly appreciated him. Albie talked his father into giving him €50,000 to assist Lucia out of a bind that she concocted to make it seem like she was in peril from an indignant pimp.
Alas, it was all a con.
His father Dominic even tried to warn him when he requested, “How are you gonna make it in life in the event you’re this huge a mark?”
Albie claimed he wasn’t a mark however when you have got some huge cash you develop into a mark whether or not you admit it or not.
The identical was true of Tanya and her tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. Tanya was needy, neurotic, trusting and the proper mark for Greg, Quentin and crew.
Ethan additionally grew to become a goal as soon as he got here into cash as Cameron couldn’t wait to hit him as much as develop into one among his wealth administration purchasers.
One would assume naive folks with out some huge cash could be those who get duped however the reverse is true. It’s usually folks with extra money and extra data about finance who get taken.
In a examine on persuasion, researchers gave a monetary literacy take a look at to a gaggle of people that had been victims of economic fraud and one other group who had not been conned. Surprisingly, the individuals who had been scammed out of their cash earned a lot greater scores, on common, than the non-victims.
It was essentially the most profitable and complex of buyers who had been taken essentially the most.
Why?
Folks with cash have a goal on their backs and simply sufficient overconfidence to get them into bother.
Cash should buy consolation however not happiness. One in every of my favourite characters on the present wasn’t an individual, it was a spot. The surroundings on this present was breathtaking:
Each shot of the resort, the mountains, the countryside and the ocean made me need to go to Sicily.
And essentially the most ironic theme of the present was regardless of being on this stunning place most individuals might solely dream of going, all of those wealthy guests had been sad.
They might purchase the consolation of a five-star resort however not contentment of their lives.
Relationships matter greater than cash. Clearly, not all wealthy persons are sad. But it surely takes greater than cash to carry you pleasure in life.
Most research present relationships have a optimistic impression on satisfaction, lifespan and your normal outlook on life.
For this reason I beloved Lucia and Mia as the ultimate shot within the finale strolling down the plaza arm-in-arm:
Certain, they each obtained what they needed — Lucia some cash and Mia a singing gig.
However they obtained what they needed collectively as buddies. They didn’t backstab one different. They labored as a workforce. They supported one another.
It’s your relationships that matter greater than cash.
Michael and I mentioned the season finale of The White Lotus and far more on this week’s Animal Spirits video:
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