110. Lights, Camera, Cash: Money Films

The team at Women in Money Cafe discuss their favourite films that involve money and the lessons that can be gleaned from them. Some films highlighted include 'The Big Short', which helps demystify the 2008 financial crisis; 'Rogue Trader', a true story that illustrates the importance of proper financial compliance; and 'Confessions of a Shopaholic', a lighter-heartened film portraying the drawbacks of overspending. They also analyse general themes like rags-to-riches narratives, use of money in films to induce certain emotions and the potential educational value of these films for children or those unfamiliar with complex financial constructs.

00:00 Introduction 
00:38 Introducing the Team and Their Favorite Money Movies
01:34 Discussion on 'The Big Short'
06:50 Insights on 'Rogue Trader'
12:20 Exploring 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'
16:55 Reflecting on Money Themes in Movies
25:37 Recommendation of 'Margin Call' and Closing Thoughts

The Films:
Big Short - Netflix
Margin Call - Amazon
Rogue Trader - YouTube
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Disney
Up - Disney
Trading Places - Amazon

YOUR HOST

Julie Flynn is an experienced independent financial adviser and financial coach. Justice and equality drive Julie. Which is why she’s spent years studying and researching how stress affects our financial decision making.

Julie is best known for her work with women who have lost their partner and coaching financial services business who want to implement fair and transparent charges.
Ebb & Flow Financial Coaching | Bree Wealth & Tax | Instagram


CO-HOSTS
Emily Pool is a Financial Planner and Will Writer. She is passionate about empowering people to invest their wealth (pensions and savings) sustainably and in line with their personal values.


Michelle Lambell  started her career in financial services as a Stockbroker in 1999 undertaking both advisory and discretionary investment management. Today she is a Chartered Financial Planner, specialising in retirement planning advice, pensions and investments and a Certified Financial Coach. 

Sara Walker is a financial planner and financial coach with 33 years’ experience in financial services. She wants all women to feel financially confident and uses her professional and life experiences to support and educate women over 40 so they in turn feel able to support and be role models for the younger women in their lives. 

Transcript

Julie [00:00:37]:

Welcome back to this episode of the women and mone7 cafe. Right. So we are catching you in between Christmas and New Year, we hope you're having a lovely time. If like us, you're maybe sitting around and watching lots of films, and we thought, well, it would be a nice fun episode to do this time of year. So what we've done is we've all sat and had a little think about our favourite films that involve money In some way, shape, or form. And what we can learn from them or what we shouldn't be learning from them.

Julie [00:01:18]:

So it's the it's the whole team here today. We've all been racking our brains of what you might want to watch over this festive period. So on the sofa today, In no particular order, I've got Sara with me. Hi, Sara. How are you doing?

Sara [00:01:32]:

Hello. I'm very well. Thank you.

Julie [00:01:33]:

Alright. Have you got some cracking films for us?

Sara [00:01:37]:

Yep. Alright.

Julie [00:01:40]:

And then I've also got Michelle with me. Michelle?

Michelle [00:01:43]:

Hi, Julie.

Julie [00:01:44]:

You got good films for me?

Michelle [00:01:47]:

A couple.

Julie [00:01:48]:

A couple. Okay. And then at the other end of the sofa, we've got Emily, who I know has got some of my favourite films with her. How are you doing, Emily?

Emily [00:01:58]:

I'm good. Thank you. I've got some great films for you, and I get I really love some of the sort of boiler room type films. I'm really excited talk about

Julie [00:02:07]:

this. Alright. So let's see. What we're going to do over the next 30 minutes or so is just share with you some money movies that you might to be checking out while you've got some time off work. So, Emily, do you want to kick us off and tell us about some of the ones that you've picked out and why you picked them?

Emily [00:02:22]:

Yeah. So the first one I'll talk about, is called The Big Short. And the reason I'm picking this is because I actually just checked, and it is available on Netflix. So when you're bored with all those boring Christmas movies, go on to Netflix and get this one. It's brilliant. So just briefly, it's really about, What happened when the subprime crisis hit? And, obviously, just to remind you about what the sub prime crisis was. It was basically what triggered the 2007, 2008 financial crisis. And everybody likes to blame the Thanks.

Emily [00:03:00]:

And, of course, yeah, yes, they did have a very, very hard plot part to play in this. But it really what the reason I love this film is it goes into a lot of detail, to explain what happened and the different steps. And more than that is it's got these moments in the film Where they get a sort of commentator, if you like, to come in and actually give an explanation direct to camera as to what it what is going on and what they're talking about. So there's a lady in the bath.

Julie [00:03:32]:

Oh, is that Margot Robbie? Yeah. So she's

Emily [00:03:35]:

in the bath.

Julie [00:03:36]:

I remember that.

Emily [00:03:37]:

And it's a really good bit, and she explains credit default swaps. I mean, it's a bizarre moment, in the film, but it just these little Snippets throughout the film really do make it. And it's like it's acknowledging that the not every viewer is going to stand all of these terms, but it's explaining it in a way that's really accessible, so that's great. And there's a There's a few strands to the story. There's a couple of, there's probably about 3 different story lines, going on, all at the same time. And it builds throughout the film, and you find out how each of these characters play their part in in what happened. And they really do explain in detail as to how it all started. I mean, just briefly, basically, some Clever, greedy person thought it would be a very good idea to package up mortgages because Somebody thought, oh, you know, what could be, like, a really safe, investment? Oh, mortgages.

Emily [00:04:41]:

Nobody ever doesn't pay their mortgage is one of the lines in this film. And there's this assumption that, you know, if you package up lots and lots of different mortgages, then the chances are because there's so many of them all packaged up That, you know, you'll get paid, on these on these financial instruments. And then, of course, there was a clever guy Somewhere, he was crunching numbers and very curious and realized that there was an awful lot of people who were on, fixed rate mortgage deals. And then when they came off those deals and rates started to move, there was going to be a big crash in the housing market. And lots of people in America thought, you know, property is great. Property is amazing. It's not a bubble. It's not going to burst.

Emily [00:05:27]:

But, of course, because banks have been giving out mortgages at such low rates, when those rates did end, of course, It happened. There was a crash. And so the film is all about some clever people deciding that they were going to Take an op make an opportunity out of this. And, basically, they bet against the property market. And that's why it's called the big Short because, shorting a market is betting against something. It's selling something, and then making a bet that the value is going to fall in the market. So when it comes to deliver on the thing that you've just sold, that you can buy at a cheaper rate, and therefore, the difference between what you sold for and what you're able to buy for is then your profit. But it's all very exciting.

Emily [00:06:14]:

I definitely recommend the listeners watch it on the next page.

Julie [00:06:17]:

A fun fact about The Big Short?

Emily [00:06:19]:

Yeah. Go

Julie [00:06:19]:

on. Right. Fun fact about The Big It was written by one of my favourite authors, Michael Lewis.

Emily [00:06:24]:

Yeah. Okay.

Julie [00:06:25]:

And if you go back to Michael Lewis's first book, Elias's Poker, It talks about his time working for Solomon Brothers. And that was when someone first had the bright idea, Let's package up and collateralize some of this stuff. Guess who it was? It was Michael Lewis. Oh. Uh-huh. Fun fact there for you. Uh-huh. So the film is actually a lot more interesting and exciting Tightening than you would imagine.

Julie [00:06:53]:

Because I've just remembered the 2 mortgage broker characters. Yeah. So if you're wanting to understand how the hell the world went to set up in 2007, 2008, This film explains it to you, and go and check out Michael Lewis's book. So that is a cracking. That's one of my favourites, certainly. Thank you

Michelle [00:07:07]:

for that.

Emily [00:07:08]:

It's got 2 of my favourite actors in it as well. Christian Bale, who I had a crush on from when I was about 11 when I saw him in that, Vietnam War type film. And, of course, cameo role by mister Brad Pitt. Well, you know, he doesn't actually look as and gorgeous as he normally does, but he plays a very believable character, which is quite pivotal in the movie, actually. So, yeah, definitely recommend.

Julie [00:07:33]:

And we've got Margot Robbie in the bath. I'm there.

Emily [00:07:36]:

Margot Robbie. Yeah. There's quite a few other quite famous actor. Oh, Kevin's Kevin no. Kevin Space is in the other film I was going to talk about, but I'll talk about that one later.

Julie [00:07:46]:

Alright. Okay. Thank you for that one. Next up, Michelle. What have you got for us, Michelle?

Michelle [00:07:54]:

So I've got 2, but the one I'll start with is a film that probably got me really interested in investments. So I think before I even sort of came down this path of the career I was going on, I'd watched This is film, and it really got me interested. So it's rogue trader.

Julie [00:08:12]:

Is this before you went to the dark side and went all pensions?

Michelle [00:08:18]:

Yeah. Yeah. And to be fair, this is probably when I was right back at the beginning of doing my stock broking exams. So this was, You know, one of those things. But it is a true story, and it's probably downfall of Barings Bank, really, and a trader called Nick Leeson. And I think this really made me see that it's not all corrupt. There are some people in the industry who try to do right, but even if they did right, They did wrong because they did it they tried to do right in the wrong way. Does that make sense? And it all kind of backfired, really, and it didn't work.

Michelle [00:08:52]:

It wasn't a success story by any stretch of the imagination, but it kind of gave you a behind the scenes look at what happened. But no. I just find that I can still watch that now quite happily. I think it's Ewan McGregor who plays Gleeson. But, no, I just like that one because it gave you the insight, I will still go and buy. It's not on many streaming things now. And I think you do have to buy it if you want to watch it. But as you probably guess, I do have it because I like it.

Michelle [00:09:20]:

So that's

Julie [00:09:21]:

Right. Now I don't know if I've seen that one, but I did hear an interview with him on his one of the radio 4 Once you get it on BBC Sounds. I think it's called A Moment in History. So it was an interview with him. Like, we're like, what? We're 20, 30 years on since the collapse of Bearings. I don't know if this is reflected in the film, but what I was getting because there was they were interviewing him, Some of the high op people at Barings, and, it was an MP as well. And what I took from that was there was bugger all compliance and oversight and control going on at bearings. Mhmm.

Julie [00:10:03]:

Does that come across in the film?

Sara [00:10:05]:

Totally. Yeah.

Michelle [00:10:06]:

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I mean, you can see he does make a mistake. You know? He does do something wrong. He tries to correct it, but without the compliance and oversight people, it wasn't brought to anyone's attention. And when it was brought to their attention, they didn't act on it. So actually, what was a problem, it was a big problem, became an enormous problem That brought down Barings Bank because they didn't move quick enough.

Michelle [00:10:31]:

And I think it did change a lot of compliance procedures in this. And the way the film portrays it, and I've read interviews with Nick Leeson afterwards, he didn't make a penny Out of any of this, this was not fraudulent trading of him trying to make himself money. He was trying to correct a position that he got wrong, And he then did go to prison for it. But you do hear people saying, oh, you did it to make money. He didn't get, you know, get any money out of that. He wasn't trying to do anything fraudulent and take money. It just became a big and they didn't act quick enough. And when they did act, By the time the markets opened, it was it was too late, basically.

Michelle [00:11:15]:

And he did take the fall for it in that way.

Julie [00:11:18]:

Yeah. I think there is a lesson in there for us. It's like because what came across from me from the interviews that I've seen and heard is He was living with this knowledge that they are monumentally screwed, and he can't tell his wife. He can't tell anybody at work, and he's trying to put it right. And I thought there's going to be a lot of people that can resonate with that. You found yourself in financial strife, And you are keeping it all to yourself, and you're trying to fix it all yourself. Okay. Granted, we're unlikely to bring down, like, Britain's oldest bank.

Julie [00:11:53]:

But I think the message I would take away from that is like, it's so scary and lonely trying to fix things on your own when it comes to money. As just reach out to someone. And

Michelle [00:12:06]:

But that really did come across in the film. You really do feel for him,

Julie [00:12:10]:

in

Michelle [00:12:10]:

that he when he's trying to do the right thing. And, basically, that, you know, the markets work against him. It's not that he was having to take bets to try and recover money. And, again, he didn't feel he could talk to anybody. And when he did, you know, The ins and outs of it. You know? He was the scapegoat as such for things that did go wrong within the firm, and they didn't want responsibility for that.

Emily [00:12:35]:

From memory, I don't think it was even his it's a very original mistake. I don't think it was him, was it? Wasn't it?

Julie [00:12:41]:

Someone in his

Emily [00:12:42]:

was it was him?

Michelle [00:12:43]:

It was.

Julie [00:12:43]:

Was him. Okay. Thought it was

Emily [00:12:44]:

someone in his team. But I think somewhere along the line, somebody in his team made mistakes as well, and he used the same, You know, suspense account to hide their mistakes too, and then it just starts to get a

Julie [00:12:57]:

bit bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Slippery slope. Alright. So rogue trades is one of Michelle's shouts. Apparently, it's a little harder to track down, but well worth it. I know what's going on my to watch So if I figure out a way you can watch it, folks, I will drop something in the show notes for you.

Emily [00:13:13]:

No. Do you

Julie [00:13:14]:

I was

Emily [00:13:14]:

just going to say, Julie, if you can't find the film and you're interested, the book is good to read, and it's written by, Nick Leeson himself.

Julie [00:13:22]:

Yeah. Very fantastic. Thanks for that, Emily. Michelle, did you have another film for us, I think?

Michelle [00:13:27]:

So I did on a slightly different this is much more sort of light-hearted. It is based on a fictional book, but it's called Confessions of a Shopaholic. Now I read all the books. There is a whole series of them. But really, what it basically comes down to is that money can't buy you happiness, particularly if you can't afford to be buying the things that you think are going to make you happy. It is it's a it's a comedy. It's funny, but it really does show you The opposite of I can buy everything I want, and I have can have an amazing life because it all kind of backfires. She's a financial well, she ends up in a job for a financial Publication writing about money, but she has debts.

Michelle [00:14:08]:

She just keeps buying things. She's got debt collectors chasing her. Is a sort of a love story that kind of goes along with it, but ultimately, she ends up selling everything she has to clear her debts. And it's this whole comedy story that goes with it. She walks past shop windows in New York and the mannequins talk to her and to tell her to come in and buy things. And So she has to. And it it's just really funny. It's very light hearted, but there is quite a good sentiment behind it, and it really does make you think, actually, I can still have the life I want if I don't have all those things.

Julie [00:14:44]:

Right. See, I I'm not a shopaholic, and I've not seen or read confessions of a shopaholic. So I wonder what it is that drives that. Is it is it that we're trying to fill some other gap?

Michelle [00:14:59]:

She just feels she has a need To want you know, to have new things, shiny things.

Emily [00:15:04]:

Right. I

Michelle [00:15:04]:

mean, there's one scene where she's told her flatmate who's trying to head off all these people chasing her for money That she's got rid of all this stuff and she sold it. What she actually did was put it all in vacuum packed bags and shoved it all into her wardrobe. And it part the way through the film when the flatmate think, actually, she's done really well and got rid of all this stuff. All the vacuum pack bags explode and everything sort of comes out, and it's all just in a pile on the floor. You know? And she actually is going to be a bridesmaid for her best friend. She gets bought a dress, but she ends up Taking the dress to a charity shop by mistake. Then she has to go and try and buy the dress back. So there's lots of very, you know, comedy moments in it.

Michelle [00:15:48]:

And it's just it's just funny. It's really light-hearted. It's not serious. But Right.

Julie [00:15:51]:

So that was the first in the

Michelle [00:15:54]:

Yeah. There was a first in the series, and actually, there is a whole series of books where she goes on to actually get married and have children, and then her daughter becomes a bit like her. And she has to then buy things for her daughter. So it's a it's a common theme, but, yeah, I think it's just showing that overspending isn't A good thing. And that there are implications to it.

Julie [00:16:13]:

And we inherit money beliefs. Yeah. Okay. So that sounds like a slightly more light-hearted approach. Thanks for that. Emily, have you got you got a question for us? No.

Emily [00:16:24]:

I was just going to say that, listening to a very good Audible book the other day. It's called the new retirementality, I think it's called. Anyway,

Julie [00:16:33]:

one of

Emily [00:16:33]:

the quotes he says I said, I like that. I'm going to use that somewhere, and here's my opportunity. And he said, The definition of happy happiness is to want the stuff that you've already got. Because I think, you know, especially at Christmas, we are marketeers' dreams, aren't we? We, we see all these adverts. We, you know, we get sucked in thinking we want all this stuff. And, actually, if we could just want the stuff that we've already got, I think we could be a lot happier.

Julie [00:17:04]:

See, that's an interesting point because I don't watch regular TV. I only watch streaming services. So there are no adverts in my life, Which you know, when I do accidentally put on real TV and then the bloody perfume and the aftershave adverts at this time of year. Yeah. They drive me up the wall. Like, what the hell is that all about? So streaming services could curtail your shopping habits. That's top tip from the women of Money Cafe.

Sara [00:17:32]:

If you can afford the streaming services in the 1st place.

Julie [00:17:35]:

Lucky. That's absurd. Don't go and brush my bubble.

Emily [00:17:38]:

Right? I'm I would say I would say streaming services like Netflix are definitely not a want. I would say they're a need. There you go.

Julie [00:17:47]:

All controversial. Controversial point of view.

Emily [00:17:50]:

Warm. How else do you do your ironing? Oh.

Sara [00:17:53]:

Pardon? Sorry. What was that? Oh,

Julie [00:17:56]:

here we go. Right now, this is one for 2024, folks. Put it on the back burner. We'll come back to this one. Alright. So, so far, we've had, The Big Short from Emily. We've had Road Trader and Confessions of a Shopaholic from Michelle. Miss Sid, I think you were going to pick an entire kind of genre for us.

Sara [00:18:16]:

Well, it's interesting, isn't it? But the my first My earliest memory of a financial movie that had a big impact on me was the original Wall Street. Oh. Because That at that point, I just thought oh, basically, I thought big money people are just assholes because they all just seem to be, You know, overgreedy rich man who wanted lots of sex, cocaine, and everything else and all the rest of it. And I just and I just remember thinking The only people that that again, it to cut a very long story short, the ultimate thing was The this guy thought he wanted to be happy and rich and successful, and that was the way to do it. And then ultimately, actually, he ended up Doing the dirty on those who meant most of him. And then right at the end, he had to pay the dues for it, but, of course, it was again trying to teach us a lesson. But did it really? Did it really? Because a lot of people would still look at it and think, oh, I quite like the, The drugs, the rock you know, the fast cars and, dare I say it, other things that went on. But I just remember at the time, it was quoted for ages as anybody who was being slightly greedy or a bit flash with money.

Sara [00:19:34]:

You got references back to that Wall Street movie, and I think that was the first time. I just kind of associated being greedy in Stocks. Your first thing about stocks and shares and the buying and selling, it just felt really dirty. Really, really dirty. So that was the 1st movie I would have seen that I thought. And then afterwards but I was going to go to the Rags to Ritchie's movies, so your Cinderella's or Pretty Woman, All of those because they're all trying to tell us certain things. You know, everybody that that we aspire to be, The one you can have the nice dress, the rich man who's going to come rescue us on the white horse or the white chauffeur driven limo, whatever it is. And I always think You kind of grow up with that.

Sara [00:20:24]:

It's the ultimate fairy tale. Cinderella's the ultimate fairy tale. You know, the she gets to be a princess and live in the palace. She doesn't have to wear rags and sweep the floors anymore. There's a slight difference with that one in that it's taking her from an area of cruelty Away from that where she can be happy. But there's a lot of movies around that. There's I mean, I made my husband watch Santa Claus the movie, the original one, 1985 showing my age, the other day. And again, it I mean, crikey, it shows how dated it is.

Sara [00:20:58]:

You know? But, again, there's the little poor kid who's looking in the window of the girl who's got who's rich. It's American. You know? And it's, again, it's assuming that that Christmas and happiness is all about stuff and things and having things. And I just wonder because even I find even the movies that try and tell us that actually happiness isn't driven by money, I don't think they really drive the message across very well. And I just, you know, I just find it interesting that there's movies you watch as A kid, as a teenager growing up. There's the adult movies. That those with all that type of genre, what are they actually teaching us? What are they actually helping us with their money beliefs or not? So, yeah, I've gone a bit off piece there.

Emily [00:21:46]:

One of my favourite sort Christmas moments in a film is, Little Women. You know, when they when they take their presents and their Christmas lunch and everything over the poor family who have got, you know, illness and, you know, and are very needy at that time. A lot happens afterwards. Yeah. She goes and marries a rich neighbour, doesn't she? It well, it depends which version you read,

Sara [00:22:09]:

but the latest movie that was made, then the wealthy man then comes over, and they get an even better lunch provided for them.

Emily [00:22:16]:

Yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah.

Michelle [00:22:19]:

So yeah.

Julie [00:22:20]:

I'm getting the vibe, Sara, that what you want to do is sit Cinderella down and set her up with a pension and some financial independence.

Michelle [00:22:30]:

Knocked the ox up. Yeah. And a stash fund.

Sara [00:22:34]:

It's yeah. It's also the money doesn't buy happiness thing, isn't it?

Julie [00:22:40]:

No. I think that's true.

Emily [00:22:42]:

I think what young women need now is a massive dose of working girl, don't they? Do you like working girl?

Michelle [00:22:49]:

I used to love that film.

Emily [00:22:51]:

That's brilliant. That's a role model type film. Happy for my daughter to watch that, not Cinderella. Alright.

Julie [00:22:59]:

Alright. Thank you for that, Sara. It's funny. You say in Wall Street I I've actually picked another film I'm going to talk about, but a quick, quick one is I must have been very, very young. I saw trading places. Uh-huh. And the only reason I understand how derivatives work is because of trading places. As a grown up financial adviser.

Julie [00:23:20]:

Many, many experts have tried to explain futures and options and derivatives to me. And I always have to bring the conversation back to trading places. Like, so it's orange juice future futures. Yeah? You're selling stuff you don't own yet. Yeah. And I don't know why, but maybe it's because of the film. Even now, I have a deep seated dislike of derivatives, and it's really quite strong. Part of me feels it's an immoral way to try and make money, and that's all because of Eddie Murphy.

Sara [00:23:50]:

Interesting.

Julie [00:23:53]:

Just saying. But that is not the film that I'm sharing for this episode. I've gone slightly left field, And I've picked the Pixar movie up. So if you've not seen the movie, it starts off, it's got a little boy, And he's running round having adventures. And there's an explorer that he's always following the explorer's adventures. And one, You know, the phrases that come up in the opening scenes of the film is, you know, adventure is out there. And then he's off Exploring around the neighbourhood and he goes into a rundown house. And then he meets another a little girl who's also into having loads of adventures.

Julie [00:24:33]:

And so what happens is that they fall in love, and they grow up, and they get married. And they've got all these goals, these goals of going to South America. It's got the kraken line, but she's like, let's go to South America. It's like America, but south. And they want to go to Paradise Falls. So they've got all these hopes and dreams. But what they do is they get married, And they've got a little jar, and they keep putting money in the jar for their adventures. But then the house needs repairing, The car needs repairing.

Julie [00:25:07]:

1 of them gets sick, and they have to keep dipping into the money. And it just It's quite depressing at the start actually because in the 1st 15 minutes, you have the they've gone from little kids to know the old folk, And sadly, she dies. And so we've gone in a short space of time from having all these hopes and dreams To know being really old and on her own. And just watching it, what it's like for I think it's Carl being somebody old and living on their own. And I think he into a bit of trouble with the police. That's all the fear and shame that he's experienced. So we've gone from a short space of time to adventures out there To know, like, shit. This is really boring and depressing.

Julie [00:25:51]:

The film does pick up after that. Carl does get his adventures. But for me, it's like it's a metaphor for my financial planning. You know, we all have these hopes and dreams at the start, But unless we're intentional and we have a plan about it, we could accidentally end up being old and on our own and not having Gone out there and found the adventure that's there. So I in its way, I think it's quite an inspirational film to make sure that you focus on what your dreams are and your hopes Your adventures. And what steps are you going to take to move you closer to? Don't

Sara [00:26:28]:

waste a minute.

Julie [00:26:30]:

Yeah. As somebody keeps saying to me, tomorrow is not guaranteed. No. So go out there and make it go find your adventures.

Sara [00:26:38]:

I love that film. I absolutely love that film. That's when I have to watch

Emily [00:26:42]:

that film. I've never seen it, I don't think. But I love the idea that children are getting a sort of good grounding in financial planning, although they don't obviously know that they're doing that. But yeah. Yeah.

Julie [00:26:53]:

Uh-huh. So Up is available on Disney for streaming. So uh-huh. So that's my slightly feel good film apart from trading places, which taught me about derivatives.

Emily [00:27:07]:

I did have another film, which is kind of similar ish to The Big Shore, But I really like it as a film. I mean, great actors, and just, very the heightened stress. Like, you can feel the stress of the characters is amazing. And it's called Margin Call. Or tend

Julie [00:27:25]:

to wear Margin Call, Emily.

Emily [00:27:26]:

Well, it's got Demi Moore in it And Kevin Spacey and a few other well known actors. But it's so, basically, A quick summary is that when traders trade, when they buy shares, They don't always have to, pay well, they pay for the shares, but what they have to do is they have to placed in a sort of deposit account, if you like, to be a trader. They have to place this amount that will cover their position If their trade moves away from them. So if the market moves and so for example, we've just talked about selling shares that you don't own. So if you've just done a short and you've bought shares that you don't own, Your position towards the market might get very difficult if the market moves in the way that you weren't expecting. And all of a sudden, you're going to have to buy those shares because you made the contract to sell the shares. So you've got to buy the shares no matter What the price is. So you put your money in a deposit account that allows you to honour that trade.

Emily [00:28:41]:

But if the market moves very quickly against you, you might not have enough money to cover that position. And it's really all about that, about people being caught the wrong side of a deal, shall we say, and the stress they have to go through, and it's all about how they rectify that position. It's a it's a really good film.

Julie [00:29:04]:

Alright. Okay.

Michelle [00:29:05]:

That's

Emily [00:29:05]:

fine. That was a bit waffly Yeah.

Julie [00:29:07]:

No. It's alright. It's reminding me of there's a series on Netflix, which is I think it's called The Exchange. I think it's Iranian, And it's about 2 women that work in the stock exchange in in Iran. And they you know, obviously, they're there to do admin things, but what they want to do is trades. And so you've got women in the Middle East rocking the stock exchange. What's not to like? Yeah. Elizabeth, you know, it's pushing it's pushing the boundaries out a little bit, so I watched that.

Julie [00:29:39]:

That was quite good. Alright. Wow. We've covered a lot of ground there, haven't we?

Sara [00:29:43]:

Mhmm.

Julie [00:29:44]:

Okay. What are your closing thoughts for me, Michelle?

Michelle [00:29:49]:

I just think we can get a lot from film. Sometimes they're not about money, But you get the gist of how it makes you feel about monies. You know, Sara was saying the rags to riches or, you know, the feel good factor. You know, you might really like the stock exchange and the trader field. You know, we obviously all do enjoy those probably because of our background as to what we do, But they are good. They're quite tense and then they're quite fun. But also, they can be funny ones. And I think we pick up a lot from film.

Michelle [00:30:19]:

So it's just, you know, subconscious way of taking those in. And if there's any that we feel are good to for children, you know, the one I talked about, confessions of a shopaholic. I actually wanted my daughters to watch that go look. You can want all this stuff, but you don't need to have it. And if I find your cupboard full of vacuum packed bags, we've got a problem. But, yeah, I just think we can get a lot from it, and it's not always a conscious thing. We can have fun watching it, but also get messages. And it is good for children sometimes.

Julie [00:30:47]:

Alright. Thank you, Michelle. Emily, what are your closing thoughts for me?

Emily [00:30:55]:

I would I don't know. I think that I would just reiterate what it says at the beginning. I just love these films. And I think, yeah, even if you're not Financially minded. They can be great films, and, also, they teach you a lot about what's happened in history. And I think History is really important to remember because, you know, this what happened in The Big Short in terms of the subprime, In terms of lots of people all of a sudden not being able to afford their mortgages, I think all too easily, we can forget that this happened. And I think the position that we've been in fairly recently with, interest rates going up, up, up, up, up, and people coming off fixed rates, you know, it's The same. It's the same thing.

Emily [00:31:43]:

And I think that we need to be reminded of these things through these films to have a bit of caution, really, to sort of say, you know, it's happened in the past. It can happen again, and we need to be careful.

Julie [00:31:56]:

Alright. I think well, I like about the 2 films that you've picked as they take what are quite complex situations, and they explain them in an entertaining way so people can actually understand. Alright. That's what went wrong there. So I think that's what I like about your choices. So, Sara, what are your closing thoughts for me?

Sara [00:32:15]:

Well, I was going to say the same thing that sometimes these financial forms can help reach people who might not otherwise have a grasp of what the heck goes on. But, otherwise, I think it's how they make you feel, and, also, they can really show the impact of some of the decisions, financial or otherwise, that we make as well. And we can use them to help our children, as Michelle said. Yeah. Anything that gets you thinking or feeling a bit differently, and if it helps you with your some of your financial thoughts, particularly When you're doing your reviews and things of your money, I think it's good. I like all films. I like films that are about very obvious about money, But all the rags to riches and does money buy your happiness, there's always some little takeaway you can take from it. Definitely.

Sara [00:33:06]:

And your suggestion of Up, it reminded me I really need to watch that film again. I loved it.

Julie [00:33:11]:

I loved it. Alright. Look. Thank you very much for all that. Okay. Listen. So that that I think you may have probably picked up now that we are junkies for money movies. So if there's a money movie that you particularly like that we've not covered, Do drop us a message so that we can get around to watching it because we love this stuff.

Julie [00:33:29]:

But for now, I'm just going to say thank you to Emily, Michelle, and Sara for helping me out in this episode and to you for listening. And until next time, please do take care of yourselves.