The TV show is Nashville. The character is the young, ambitious, super competitive and talented country music star Juliette Barnes. Juliette is scrambling to figure out how to come up with big bucks to pay a cheating, lying, and thieving former manager/boyfriend who is going to splash a sex tape of them all over the internet if she doesn’t pay up. First he wanted only $2 million which she must have had in her emergency fund and that wasn’t a big problem. Then he wanted an additional $8 million, bringing the price for keeping that tape private to $10 million. I told you he was a lying and thieving kind of guy. On top of that, voting for Country Music Awards is underway and for the first time Juliette has been nominated. So, she does what everyone else does when looking for ways to pay. She asks for advice.
Juliette’s personal assistant to Juliette. “ Your accountant said to come up with the $10 million in cash you would have to liquidate some of your securities; several stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.”
I just get excited with TV shows which bring up anything which remotely encourages viewers to learn and understand financial management. I am especially pleased at the mention of those words “securities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds”. I have visions of thousands of young viewers googling these words to learn what Juliette has that they need to learn about and “buy”. Awesome.
I am assuming that the accountant in this situation first talked to Juliette’s financial advisor(s) and collaborated with them on how to best offer Juliette a solution to her $8 million problem. Accountants understand where the money came from, how to keep track of it, and all the tax implications. They understand cash flow and lots of other important accounting things. Financial folks understand how to help clients create that pot of money, like the one Juliette is contemplating spending.
In the end Juliette became more attached to her integrity and her money than she was to her image. The money story ends there, but it is a TV show and the issue of the blackmail gets resolved in a high drama way.
Until next time.
Debra Hadsall
http://www.financialfreedomparty.com
Financial Freedom Party for Women (FFP)-Talk 
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