yes ~


ziller can confirm this thred ~


ziller received $$$ & am off rails ~


(srs) ~


ziller con confirm ~

I know someone who broke wind and fell. I cannot tell a lie. It was I.

Pretty funny for me and those there.

Yes. A far too large percentage of people who (in retrospect) become One Hit Wonders, or are previously unknown stars of TV shows that become, for a moment in time, the talk of nation, or of the world.

This is especially true if the person has grown up in a family who has not dealt with the business/economic part of being a celebrity, or they grew up in an a non-show business environment (meaning: at school, or in their communities--somewhere where they have the opportunity to observe others in this position, before it happens to them personally).

The sensible people (Yale Summers at the top of the list; he inadvertently taught me a LOT) live "small" (comparatively speaking), get the best, most sensible, and most honest business/financial manager(s) they can afford, and begin immediately saving and investing wisely (particularly in real estate, and real estate-based business ventures like strip malls).

If necessary, they "borrow" upscale mansions for photo shoots (Judy Garland used to do this all the time), and the expensive automobiles you see them driving in photos are either leased for awhile, or are sensible investments in themselves. (Often, at least in some specific areas, a properly-chosen residence can be an extremely wise lifetime investment all by itself. For example: a house on a piece of property which sold for less than ten thousand dollars once upon a time, but is now worth somewhere around $10,000,000 [this is accurate: I just Googled the current, local, property quotes]. A married couple I know did exactly this over the course of my life from adolescence to now.)

Then there are the "others" ;) , who think the fame and the money and the adulation will never end, and they buy gee-gaws and junk for thousands of dollars, eat in the most expensive restaurants whether THEY are paying the bill or not (in other words: they are not being comped by the restaurant, and are not being paid for via someone else's expense account), and assume they are the reincarnation of Midas.

When I worked for the fan magazines, we worked on the assumption that our cover photo subjects would have an 18-month run, from beginning to end. Sometimes it turned out to be less, and sometimes it was a lot more (a few people stretched it to several years, some to literal decades, and the creative products of some of them are still making money today).

On average and in general though, 18 months was what MOST of them could realistically expect as the active period of their "show business career."

If they were second-tier wise, they at least invested in a house and a piece of property that would keep expanding in value for the rest of their lives--plus: in one way or another, a regular income from SOMETHING (in some cases royalties which could be depended on in the decades going forward, perhaps payments from guild pension plans, or monthly/annual rent receipts from real estate-based investments). [A few, Ron Howard as a shining example, were able to switch over to behind-the-cameras work, and continue to do brilliantly well in their creative accomplishments "forever."]

Most of them did not do this.

Some of the later coverage of people I used to write about is, and continues to be, very sad for me personally to read or to hear about. There are individual people I used to know fairly well (in a business sense) who I physically wince about when I read about them today, in some kind of retrospective article (or someone telling tales that would be much better if they were never told).

So yeah, I know of many people (people I once knew personally) who received "windfalls" of various kinds, and most of them went off the rails. The sensible ones are very much in a minority (and you can trace this back through Hollywood history to the silent era, and I think the same general stats would hold).

It is extremely hard to NOT get caught up in the overwhelming momentum of an "18-month wonder" experience (no matter how many years that particular situation may actually last before it does, eventually, fizzle out). How ANY of these celebrities keep their common sense perspective is amazing to me.

Everyone who makes it to the "stable side of the street" I respect tremendously (even if my respect to them goes out only on this particular level, because a few of them, as personal connections of one kind or another, are definitely not pleasant people for anyone to have in their lives ;) ).



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2018 04:57PM by Tevai.

Go check out "Broke", the ESPN documentary on the high rates of bankruptcy among pro athletes. I'm not even a big sports fan but I've watched it 4 or 5 times. fascinating to see how so many of those guys squander a fortune.

Hwint Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Go check out "Broke", the ESPN documentary on the
> high rates of bankruptcy among pro athletes. I'm
> not even a big sports fan but I've watched it 4 or
> 5 times. fascinating to see how so many of those
> guys squander a fortune.

[WARNING: one swear word.]

As I see it (and I have been seriously thinking about this since I was in junior high school, though I realized there was a problem several years earlier, when I was in elementary school and a classmate, in MY class, went through this cycle), the underlying problems [plural] tend to come down to:

1) No role models (or, if there ARE available role models, the new person going through this situation has not noticed the practical information and wisdom available from the experiences of their personally "aware of" close role models).

2) No conscious awareness on the part of the newbie that they are, under the outer and appealing guise of a "windfall" of some sort, entering into an actual life crisis situation--which can evolve in either an ultimately successful, or (alternatively) in a "tragic" [in some way] direction, and that THEY, as the newbie, have a great deal of control over which of these potential future outcomes eventually occurs.

3) No awareness that there are people who have been through this process (both as principals and as observers) who now know things they did not know before, as well as designated, accepted, and often licensed advisor/mentor figures (entertainment law attorneys, agents, p.r. people, entertainment business managers, people who have grown-up in or near the industry, etc.) who can vastly assist the newbie in creating positive, rest-of-that-person's-life, "consequences" IF their advice is sought and at least reflected upon (even if not actually put into operation). Just the KNOWLEDGE will sometimes protect a person, even if that knowledge is ignored.

4) My own observation: Many people who become the recipient of "windfalls" of various kinds are often too limited in their cognitive abilities, or in their personalities, to realize that their lives have suddenly changed in a potentially DANGEROUS way, and they are--now, suddenly--in unexplored and extremely deep waters. They need to NOTICE what is going on around them, and also what has gone on before them, regarding those who trod this very similar course before the newbie arrived. In other words: they are just not smart or savvy enough to realize that they are, suddenly, in potentially very deep sh*t.

They don't know there is inherent personal danger.

They don't notice the sources of genuine and experienced wisdom which may already exist around them (and/or may actively disregard that wisdom).

They "don't know what they don't know."

Therefore: they do not seek out guidance from people who actually DO know (from experience and from observation) both "what" is going on, and also "how" to deal with it in the best and most optimum ways.

Rant over.

This is my take, based on my life experience as someone who "officially" entered the entertainment industry when I was three years old (my first, and lifetime SOLE, performance on the legitimate stage ;) ), had an uncle who was a very constantly working film director on financially-profitable films (mostly "B Westerns") for over three decades, grew up with kids who were often performers themselves (one of the original Mouseketeers among them), and who benefitted from the fact that even my non-performing childhood peers had parents and relatives (and neighbors!!!) who were employed (in all of the various capacities, both before AND behind the cameras) in the entertainment industry, from the time I was about four years old.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2018 03:50PM by Tevai.

Van Gogh received his windfall after falling off the rails of life.

Yes. Someone I can't name came into about ten thousand. He went right to hookers and crack. He had a couple sons he ignored, and he blew all the money very quickly.

Another guy, my deceased cousin Terry, was laid off from a job way back in the late eighties. For severance, they gave him four thousand dollars and a job interview with the phone company. He blew off the interview and the whole lump sum went right up his nose. He didn't answer his phone for a month.

My father got a windfall inheritance and hid it from me. He lied about it, moved out of state, and spent it on a couple of large buildings in a small town. Mr. big shot went through it in two years.

Reports are that it happens a lot to lottery winners.

I well remember when the steel plant in Utah County offered early retirement to some of the steel workers. Some took a lump sum distribution and on more than one occasion blew through the cash and one I know of who went bankrupt. Others had to get other jobs and be retrained as all they knew was working at the plant.

gemini Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I well remember when the steel plant in Utah
> County offered early retirement to some of the
> steel workers. Some took a lump sum distribution
> and on more than one occasion blew through the
> cash and one I know of who went bankrupt. Others
> had to get other jobs and be retrained as all they
> knew was working at the plant.

My dad worked out there. It happened even before they shut down for good.

Late 1970s and early '80s were a boom time for the industry. Lots of workers earned more from overtime and profit sharing than from their base salary. And the unions milked it for every last drop, eventually killing the goose that laid the golden eggs (to mix my metaphors). They got _triple-time_ pay when holidays fell on a weekend. When a weekend holiday was coming, the union would deliberately slow production to take advantage of the overtime pay. Remember facts like this when you hear someone blathering about how "Reagan Killed the unions!" The unions killed themselves. between exploiting loopholes like I describe to line their pockets, and the Teamsters lending money to the mob at below-market rates, the unions needed no help to ruin themselves.

my dad used the overtime to pay off a 30 year mortgage in 20 years (paid it off 1985 or '86 when I was a kid). he didn't buy motorcycles, RVs, cars, swimming pools, etc. and when the place shut down in 1986, he had a mortgage free home for his family. lots of his co-workers went bankrupt, had divorces, etc. they thought the gravy train would never end. it opened under new management a year or two later, and when they finally shut down for good (2002?) it was the same thing all over again. blow through the money, buy a new d@nm truck.

I was the ooposite.

My first time getting big money (slightly over 500k) I became so protective of it that i became cheap to the point of scrooge like.

The difference is my windfall was earned with a lot of hard work.

What did you do the second time?

My father received several windfalls in his life with he proceeded to spend on his business which is now no longer.

Sounds very familiar to me Elder Berry. I saw my father do the same thing. He never had enough to share. Only for sycophants and the church.

I'll volunteer to be a test case.

My mother’s next door neighbor won half a million in the lottery. He was a retired widower who had been an hourly worker in a factory his whole life. He thought he had so much money it would never run out. Well, a year later it was all gone. The high school girlfriend who had dumped him reappeared in his life and told him she never forgot about him. She helped him spend that money and dumped him again.

No fool like an old fool.

My brother's 2nd wife's son did that. He inherited house, land and plenty of $ from his great aunt and uncle. 3 months, it was all gone,he had no place to stay and was hitting up his mom for money. The whole 17 years I knew him, he never held down any job for more than a couple months.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2018 04:35PM by Aquarius123.

Most lotto winners go broke within a few years. IIRC, the rate of bankruptcy is higher for lotto winners than among the general public. And higher among the _neighbors_ of lotto winners. John Doe wins $1million, goes on spending spree. New car, new truck, new trailer for new ATVs, new built-in pool, etc. John's neighbors try to keep up with the spending out of competition and jealousy. Everyone goes bankrupt in a few years.

Most inheritance is squandered within a few years, as well. WSJ article regarding the trend said about 70% of those who get an inheritance have nothing to show for it after 3 years. Most common indulgence is cars cars cars. And cars depreciate in value like clockwork. How do you turn $50,000 into $500? Buy a Mercedes, ha ha ha.

I have a co-worker who's house has almost doubled in value in the last 5 years. He's gone nuts at the prospect of selling and cashing out $200k. Completely crazy-eyed, illogical, out of control. He's already mentally spending the cash.

Psychologically, there's a tendency to treat windfalls as "free money" -- emotionally, it feels different from regular income. It takes a certain level of maturity and fortitude to understand that money is a _responsibility_, especially a large amount of money. Most people never learn that skill. Most people are impulsive as children. No planning. No restraint. No perspective. No long-term thinking. I want it I want it I want it and I want it NOW.

I received my inheritance (cash) 28 years ago. I transformed it
into a house (which I still own) and mutual funds which form the
core of my retirement savings. Last year, for the first time in
my life, I bought a new car--under $20,000.

I think I could survive winning a million in the lottery. But I
never play the lottery. Maybe the problem is that people who win
the lottery are type of people who buy lottery tickets. The
lottery is a tax on people who have bad financial judgment.

The real trick is to go completely off the rails, but have $32 billion worth of stock and billions in real estate, then convince people you're "not wealthy", so they continue to give 10% of their gross to you.

That's some kind of crazy train.


P.S. I got a decent windfall and paid off a lot of bills, spent a good chunk on my daughter's college...and spent almost 10 grand on my hobby--whoops!

My great uncle got a large inheritance in land. He proceeded to sell off all the best pieces for real cheap and buying new cars over the years. He loved to go around town and brag to strangers especially pretty young girls about his wealth. It was the 80s and old old men use to do that kind of thing and there was no "Me Too" thing going on yet. He loved to impress strangers and hand over his best stuff.

(Selling off $80,000 lots and getting $15,000 cars, ya real smart!)

Any football, baseball and basketball player. Happens 'll the time. It's the rare one who escaped and builds on the fortune.