Financial Lessons From The Game Of Thrones Season Finale
June 19, 2015My apologies if you haven’t watched the Game of Thrones season finale yet. But if you haven’t and you’re a fan, exactly what are you waiting for??? I’ll take a few liberties with the show’s broader themes and hopefully won’t spoil anything that you haven’t already heard or watched.
“Winter is coming” is one phrase that kept coming up in this season and a Game of Thrones winter is LONG! People need to be prepared. Stannis (after what happened with his daughter, I wasn’t sad to see Brienne find him in the woods) needed troops, horses, food, etc. to reach Winterfell before winter came. There were a lot of conversations about being prepared for winter’s impending doom.
What can we learn from that? What happens when our “financial winter” comes? It could be an injury or illness that prevents you from working for an extended period of time. It could be a job loss or reduction in hours that makes getting by month to month just a little bit harder. It could be kids or education costs or really, anything.
Financially, winter is coming! This is why one of the most important but overlooked things that everyone can do to improve their ability to reach long term financial goals is to have a solid emergency fund in place. Knowing that you have the wherewithal to handle a financial emergency will allow you to be more proactive and less reactive in other areas of your financial life.
If you have no savings, work your way to a $1,000 or $2,500 “starter emergency fund” to prepare for basic household emergencies. Then build up to 3-6 months of expenses and eventually to 9-12 months of expenses. You can set up a very small direct deposit (start with $5/pay and work your way up as it feels more comfortable)to a bank that ISN’T where your primary checking account is housed (to avoid the easy transfer back to checking) and that will get the activity started. From there, it’s all about allowing time to work its magic.
Jon Snow is dead as were many other characters from this season. Did Jon Snow (or Stannis or Myrcella or….) have a will? Trust documents? A power of attorney to allow Sam to talk with a doctor, maester or perhaps even a red witch to figure out how to deal with what looked like 2 or 3 body’s worth of blood pooling around him at the closing credits? Even if he isn’t “really dead” (I guess we will find out in the Season 6 opener), he probably could have used advance health care directives.
So could you! Estate planning is something that we all (including most financial planners I know) put off. You don’t have to, nor should you. Many large employers have resources that allow you to draft basic estate planning documents at no cost or at a reduced rate or an arrangement with an EAP to provide discounted legal costs. If your situation requires an attorney rather than do-it-yourself documents (either because it’s complex or because you prefer to let a professional handle it), you can use this article on choosing an estate planning attorney to help you secure legal representation.
Cersei’s wealth didn’t matter in prison or during her walk of shame! If you make bad choices, there are consequences. Cersei had a very long walk with a very annoying “shame” bell ringer following her but not getting any muck splattered on her (interesting given how close she was). I have seen clients back in my prior career who won multimillion dollar lotteries who made bad choices financially, and they paid the price of having nothing left to show for the lottery winnings within 3-5 years. I have seen people forced to declare bankruptcy because they made the questionable choice to spend 110% of their income (or more). I have seen people choose to buy a house that cost more per month than is reasonable (I suggest no more than 25% of net pay, which is a bit lower than most financial professionals suggest) and because of the cost of keeping that particular roof over their head, they can’t contribute to their 401k or they can only contribute a negligible amount.
Ideally, you’d be able to contribute the $18,000/year maximum to your 401k.If that isn’t possible, getting to a 15-20% contribution level is a healthy plan for retirement. While you won’t have muck thrown at you while you walk through the streets unclothed, “iffy” financial decisions can be harmful to your future.
I can’t wait for the next season of Game of Thrones to start so that I can see what happens. Is Jon Snow coming back? Does someone on the boat have an antidote for Myrcella? What happens with Drogon and The Khaleesi?
These questions and more will hopefully be answered. There is one question that I hope will have a “YES” answer. Can you take these financial lessons and improve your financial life between now and the season opener?