Always misquoted, the poet TS Eliot wasn’t complaining about April, but if you’re in the business of making money, happy new financial year! The poet was looking at the end of World War 1 and how it had ravaged Europe and how it was ‘The Waste Land’ really. But he was also saying this:
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
What does this have to do with money lessons, you ask?
Let’s look at the past to help us understand how we look at money today
Generation Wealth: Living the champagne life
You want to give loved ones all that they want and more. But when you’re born with a silver spoon in your mouth, then what is it that you yearn for? When you throw a party and the who’s who show up wearing designer outfits and jewellery that Harry Winston and his ilk created, have you ever wondered if the people who showed up are really your friends? Is the jewellery their own or rented for the evening? How many yachts are enough and how many mansions do you really need?
Have you alienated your children because you were off earning your millions, and they grew with nannies and caregivers? Have you ever wondered if your kids just see you as a stumbling block before they inherit your money, and really they are waiting for you to kick the proverbial platinum bucket? This documentary on Amazon Prime Video is an eye opener about everything green.
READ MORE: Aparshakti Khurana-starrer ‘Jubilee’: 4 money lessons investors can learn
Trust No One: The hunt for the crypto king
If you thought crypto currency was for the rich, think again. These were geeks who grew up wanting to change the world. You thought they would be in Silicon Valley or Tokyo at least, but these men who dealt with crypto currency live among us: Toronto and even Jaipur.
Wouldn’t you think twice before stealing someone else’s money even if they trusted you with their passwords? But imagine owning everyone’s passwords and having the power to vanish into the thin air with everyone’s money… This Netflix documentary is an eye opener for when you fall for the dazzle of becoming a miner.
Dirty Money: 2 seasons of needing money to make more money
What is about having pots of money that propels one to want more? Imelda Marcos bought shoes. Some banks accept cash from account holders blindly, never really asking where the money really came from. There are men who fall into the money trap because they were following a cause or a leader.
This show on Netflix is so riveting you will not realise how quickly you finished the two seasons. You will also realise that money can get dirty quickly no matter in which part of the world you are. Do the perpetrators pay the price? Or do they get away because they stashed their money in Mauritius or the Cayman Islands?
80s The Decade That Made Us: All about the money, honey!
The decade that gave us some of the world’s best sporting moments with Maradona, Martina Navratilova and Ayrton Senna meant that people connected to the sports industry made millions too. The world opened up because they broke down the wall in Germany.
This is the decade where we created products that revolutionised the way we live. Compact Discs were invented, Steve Jobs created the first home computer, and oh my lord, save us all: the mobile/cell phone was invented too! At first the products were clunky, huge even, but look at us now! You are reading this on an app!
But every decade has its dark side. We not only lost John Lennon to a mad man, but we lost our collective souls to consumerism. This was a decade that believed in the mantra of ‘Shop Till You Drop’. And that will make you sit up and examine why we did what we did. Watch this National Geographic series on Disney+Hotstar.
READ MORE: From Hell or High Water to The Eyes of Tammy Faye: These 5 movies teach us great money lessons
Billionaire Boys Club
Just because you talk smart and dress sharp, can you fool people into believing you? This ‘all hat and no cattle’ scheme is the brainchild of a young lad named Joe Hunt who persuades his school friends who join him in the venture called Billionaire Boys Club. But such sharp chaps meet a man who cons them. They look like they’ve made money, but it’s on paper!
There’s the social club of preppies, money to be made and yes, there’s murder too! The award winning two part miniseries that was aired on the American television station called NBC got into lots of controversies because Joe Hunt was facing a case in court and did not want this series aired.
The film version with Kevin Spacey and Judd Nelson, Taron Egerton and Ansel Elgort was panned by critics when it came out and people compared it with Kevin Spacey’s other film about a get rich quick by robbing a casino scheme film 21. Had the script of this film been smarter, this movie would have made millions at least.
Here’s hoping that you make lots of money - in the right way of course - this financial year!
Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.
