My first viewing of The Godfather
I was eight years old, playing in the yard when my father arrived. It was always a pleasant surprise to see him because he was rarely around. Oftentimes, when he came back home, he would bring gifts. This time, he didn’t bring anything, but he played with me for a few minutes. I don’t remember exactly how long, he was not the type to spend a lot of time with me.
After dinner, he put a VHS tape in the machine and started playing a movie. VHS tapes were the latest technology at that time, at least in my neighborhood, so it was the new gadget of the moment. Although no one else was watching, he played The Godfather, by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Somehow, I was the only one paying attention to the film, since my father and mother were talking among themselves.
Although the theme of the movie was a bit too complex for me to fully understand, I grasped that it was about a crime family, involving a lot of money, power, and complex social dynamics. It would be about ten years before I watched the movie again.
Aspiration of wealth and power
Although the theme of the movie was a bit too complex for me to fully understand, I grasped that it was about a crime family, involving a lot of money, power, and complex social dynamics. It would be about ten years before I watched the movie again.
As a teenager, I was interested in cars, drugs, and girls and I was happy to see the movie again because it spoke to me. It spoke to my desire to be rich and powerful one day.
Later on, when I came to Canada and became a financial advisor, I became obsessed with the idea of playing in the stock market or becoming an entrepreneur. My favorite topic of conversation was, and still is, money.
Now, in my late fifties, while watching some YouTube videos, I stumbled upon some clips of The Godfather, and it rekindled some of my memories and desires from the past. One clip that captured my interest was when Michael Corleone tells his prospective nephew-in-law,
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed by your wealth. This contempt for money is just another trick of the rich to keep the poor without it.”
We don’t talk about money
It made me realize that we, as a society, don’t talk much about money. People like to show subtle signals about their wealth, such as wearing a particular brand of clothing, driving a particular car, or living in a particular neighborhood, but they don’t engage directly on the topic of money.
People, in general, don’t like to disclose how much they earn and how they invest their money.
Recently I was having dinner with a friend, and she shared with the other members of the table details about her romantic relationships. Somehow, I turned the conversation to investments and asked her what kind of investments she had in her portfolio. Her answer was that she didn’t like to share that kind of personal information. I was dumbfounded.
Other friends tell me:
“I don’t know how my money is invested, I leave all those decisions to my banker.”
And they ignore the fact that the banker’s job is to sell them financial products that produce high service fees, i.e. the products that will most benefit the bank and the employees.
Others talk about inflation and the price of everything going up and the unexpected expenses they often face but never discuss how they too can benefit from inflation. Inflation is a two sided phenomenon: everything costs more, but you can also earn more.
Me, all I want to talk about is money. I want to know how people make money, how much they earn, and how they invest it. I like to talk about business opportunities, tax strategies, and how to spend money. So far, I only have one friend who shares similar interests. Moise. We have lunch about once a month and I relish those conversations.
Money is a tool that everyone in our present society has to use. Like everything in our society, the more we learn how to use that tool, the better we become at using it. If people become more open to the idea of talking about money, at least we would be able to know the basics, and all of us could be in a better financial situation.
Other Personal Development Posts