And Just Like That...

Dec 09, 2021
 

This week... And Just like That.

This week is a lighter Mel's Money Musings where I talk through the financial state of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte & Miranda and ask the question - is it time for a financial revolution?

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Transcript

Hey, and welcome to Mel's Money Musings.  

Now, I don't know about you, but I know a lot of people are feeling really fatigued. So I thought with today's Musings I'm gonna talk about something a little bit lighter and tonight, or when you're watching this, last night, it was the launch of 'Just Like That', which is the next chapter of Sex In The City.  

So I thought we'd have a chat about the financial revolution that I think needs to happen as opposed to the sexual revolution that happened in Sex In The City. Because I loved Sex In The City. It was a fashion escape. I loved how they dealt with sex, but I was disappointed in hindsight with how they dealt with finances.  

And if we look at each character, you know, Carrie was the carefree person who if you added up her wardrobe could not afford that on a writer's salary. But she kind of did the cute girl where 'I don't wanna deal with my finances'. 

And I don't know about you, but what's cute in teenagers isn't cute as adults. And the thing that I'm super disappointed looking back with Carrie is that really the 'man plan' was her plan ultimately. Yes, she was able to buy her apartment with help from a friend.  

But ultimately, do we really believe that Carrie could afford the life that she had with the job that she had? I'm gonna say no. So what I wanna say is if you are having that carefree, you know, carefree time, we wanna still be able to have that, but not at the risk of being homeless in our forties, not at the risk of being homeless in our fifties. And certainly in Australia, there are 450,000 women at the moment in their forties at risk of being homeless. Women over 55 are most at risk of being homeless. 

And I look at Carrie and I think, hey, that could be you. Um, certainly she was the woman who had, uh, $40,000 worth of shoes and no house deposit. 

 If we look at Charlotte, she was the 'man plan'. That was her only plan. And when she got married, she quit her job. And because she had bagged the 'man plan', probably the only thing that I liked about Charlotte is she clearly invested in shares when, uh, when New York Post or New York Star listed, she said to, uh, Carrie, oh, I've invested in you. You are cheap. So there was like these snippets of financial conversations through there, but I wished that they'd carried on that conversation about shares. Wouldn't that be an interesting one to be privy to?

Miranda meanwhile was the worker. She worked hard, she owned her own apartment and I loved how they handled that conversation when she's going for a loan about, oh, you are single. 

No, no, man, I'm single. Um, but my question for her is what else did she own? Because what we don't wanna have is the house, the job, and that's it. Because then I have to have personal exertion forever. Uh, I would've loved to have seen Miranda talk about investing and for her to look at doing other things rather than just working herself to the bone and owning her own home.  

Whereas finally, Samantha it’s the business. For her, yes, she also owned her apartment and she had a business, but wouldn't you love to hear Miranda and Samantha talk about shares. Wouldn't you love to be privy to them having conversation about investing more? And that's why I love the show for the sexual revolution that it was, I'm disappointed that there if there was a new iteration today, I'd love to hear them talk about money. 

And I'm gonna be really curious if Just Like That talks about it. Cause I believe finance is a feminist issue and same way that our sexual enjoyment is a feminist issue. And just as we've realized that it's okay to not just want sex, but enjoy it and want more of it, it's the same for money. I would love women to go, you know what? I actually enjoy money. I value it and I want more of it and not to feel like they're dirty.  

So wherever you think you fit on that compendium of, uh, whether you think you're a Charlotte or a Carrie or whatever, I want you to think about your finances and think about: am I actually making the same mistakes as those characters and Sex In The City did?. And do I need to do something different as well?  

Look, I'm expecting the reboot to be really bad. If it's gonna be any, any different, then I'm gonna be delighted, but I'm gonna be watching it for the fashion fantasy that I know it will be. 

Next week we are coming up to the last week of my Mel's Musings for the year. So maybe there'll be a Santa hat or something a little bit different. If there's a topic you particularly want covered, let me know. Until then have a great weekend. 

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