6 money lessons from “Black Widow.”

A few weeks back I checked out “Black Widow” with my great-nephew, a superhero nerd. Appropriately enough for a Marvel Comics Universe film, I wore my mask, at least until we sat down. Social distancing is in effect in terms of how many tickets the theater will sell, so I felt safe enough removing my mask to enjoy some kettle corn* and a soft drink.

We’d been waiting a long time for this pandemic-postponed female action movie to open, and I went in planning to love the film so much that I wanted to bear its children.

This was not to be. Although I liked a lot of things about it, it ultimately didn’t hang together as a super-epic. One thing I did love was Florence Pugh’s portrayal of Yelena Belova, a sardonic young badass and sister to Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov.

While I think Johansson’s a fine actress, and that the two of them played marvelously well against each other, Pugh walked off with the whole film tucked into one of her many pockets.** She lit up the screen and owned every scene in which she appeared.

So in-like, not in-love. Still a good day out – and I paid only $6 because it was cheap(ish) day. Even more luckily, I can call it a business expense if I write about it. So here we go.

Some people look for life lessons in movies. I look for financial ones, whether it’s in Metropolitan Opera HD Broadcast Series productions such as “Parsifal” and “Gotterdammerung,” or slam-bang action films like “Wrath of Man” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”

Did I find them in “Black Widow”?

Do you really have to ask?

1. Build an emergency fund.

Natasha’s emergency fund is quite literally life-saving. She’s being hunted by various law enforcement agencies and needs to disappear. Like any good superhero or spy, she has money salted away. That plus the fact that she Knows A Guy means she can fade away into Scandinavia to contemplate her next move.

In real life, shit inevitably hits fans. That’s just the way it goes. Often we can’t prevent unpleasant situations, but we can prepare for them. Having a reasonably liquid fund, set aside and untouchable, is a big part of that preparation.

Not sure how to start, or think you don’t earn enough money to be able to save? I’ve made a chapter of my book available as a free Google doc. “Challenge Yourself to Save” contains 30+ tactics for squeezing a few bucks out of even the tightest of financial situations.

Don’t push yourself to save a year’s worth of expenses all at once, because that can leave you too discouraged to keep going. Set a small goal, and then keep going. It doesn’t hurt to aim ultimately for that year’s worth of liquid cash. Just ask Natasha, who had to use her EF (and that  Guy She Knows) more than once during the film.

2. Always have a plan.

One reason that the Black Widow is so unstoppable is that she’s always thinking a little bit ahead. Having the right kind of tech on her phone so she can see her enemies coming. Memorizing the location of safe houses. And, of course, Knowing A Guy. She gets better results with a little notice, but the fact that she’s always thinking ahead means she can pivot on no notice at all.

As noted above, circumstances change. We need to be ready to change right back at them. This could mean things like having a backup child-care plan in case your kid gets the sniffles and can’t go to day care, or being aware of alternate ways to get to work (public transit, hooking a ride with a co-worker, installing rideshare apps on your phone) if your vehicle wound up in the shop.

It could also mean having some idea of what you’d do if your hours were cut at work or your job disappeared entirely. Part of the financial fire drill is listing your resources before you need to draw on them. How much could you expect from unemployment? Where are the food pantries in your area? What things do you own that you could sell for quick cash? Is there a side hustle you’d be particularly suited for until you got re-hired at a day job?

One reason the Black Widow hasn’t been crushed like a bug is that she keeps moving. Sometimes that’s laterally, and sometimes she loses ground. But resourcefulness is all about what you do with the hand you’re dealt, lousy though it may be. So have a plan. Have a whole bunch of them.

3. Beware of hidden agendas.

Other people have plans, too, and they aren’t always honest about them. Or so Natasha finds out when folks she thought she could trust had their own reasons for wanting her attention.

In the real world the stakes are a lot smaller than world domination. But if it’s you who’s being  played, the betrayal is still plenty fierce. Maybe it’s a co-worker who picks your brain and then presents your ideas as his own at the staff meeting. Or the friend or relative who regularly asks for favors or money, but ghosts you the rest of the time.

You want to believe these people are on your side. But sometimes you have to realize what associating with them is costing you, either literally or figuratively. As they say, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” And after that, be ready to protect your own interests.

4. “Family” isn’t always reliable.

Natasha gets reunited with her sister and parents (although it’s a bit more complex than that). Time and some very harsh circumstances left all of them fairly wounded. Is reconciliation possible? Everyone seems to hope so, despite the guarded behavior and the emotional outbursts. But how much should you trust?

In the movie? Not too much.

In real life? Trust, but verify. Family dynamics rarely change, even when all of us are adults and theoretically peers. Moms nag, fathers lecture, siblings complain that they always got the short end of the stick. And adulthood can amplify toxic behavior, as well as give it new and even more toxic forms.

The kid brother who read your diary might now break into your file cabinet to get info for identity theft. An aging parent might announce they’re bankrupt and demand to move in: “I raised you and now you owe me!” That shirt-tail cousin who mooched off you in elementary school reaches out to wheedle money for new shoes for her kid – except that she then posts social media pictures of herself at a casino.

Not everyone who shares your blood has your best interests at heart. Developing a finely calibrated BS detector is a huge help. So is keeping vital documents in a safe deposit box.

 

5. You need a crew.

People who do have your best interests at heart. People you can call on at any time. People who can get you a helicopter and some shoulder-fired missiles.

Natasha has that. Although her former crew (the Avengers) is scattered, she Knows A Guy – and he’s darned good at what he does. (Even if he does have a 12-year-old boy’s mentality when it comes to choosing the name of her new identity.) She also has her sister, despite their squabbles. No doubt she has other operatives in other parts of the world, but for this movie she does okay with just a couple of people on her side.

That might be all that you need, too. Of course, a bigger squad means a wider network. The more people you know, the more you can learn what you need to know to succeed, both professionally and personally. The new friend could turn out to be someone who has a profound impact on your finances; for example, as a roommate whose rent contribution lets you save for retirement. Or maybe the person you meet at Tuesday trivia will introduce you to a certified financial planner who helps you keep improving your life.

On the other hand, they could just be a great friend who always has your back and improves your life. I think we all do better when we have a crew. In return, be a good posse member yourself, i.e., one who offers as much as she asks. Do not be the one who always asks takes and never gives. Nobody likes that jerk.

6. Change is tough.

Without giving away too much of a crucial plot point, there’s a character who uses mad-scientist stuff plus the power of conditioning to get what they want. No matter how smart and brave certain other characters are, they literally cannot resist what they know to be wrong. That’s how conditioning works.  

Maybe you’ve been conditioned, too: to be taken advantage of at work, to pick up the shitload at home, to lend money you’ll never get back, to put up with financial infidelity because you don’t have the power to stop it.

Thing is, you probably do have the power to stop it, and to stop other bad stuff as well. It’s just damned hard to shake loose old habits. It probably requires therapy, and it definitely requires risk. But unless you do something, then nothing will change. Your life will get harder and more painful, as will the lives of any kids you have.

If you’ve been programmed to freeze, fight. Create a new vision of what life might be if you could change things. Tell yourself that you deserve better (even if you don’t quite believe that yet). Maybe some self-help books/podcasts plus the aforementioned crew will be enough to help you change. If not, look for some of that therapy.

Rocking the boat is always hard. In many cases, the risk is strictly emotional: No one will love me if I stand up for myself. I’ll be all alone! Let me say this: The times in my life when I felt most alone were when I was in the same room with my now-ex. For far too long I let fear of abandonment plus lifelong conditioning keep me stuck where I was. No more.

Sometimes the risk will be physical, which means making very careful plans with help from professionals. Being afraid someone will hurt you if you ask for change can be very real. However, not asking for change is no guarantee of safety. They’re likely to think up some other reason to hurt you. Mean people are like that.

Finding a new way to live in the world isn’t easy. At one point, Natasha takes a very dangerous, very calculated risk to free herself from the puppetmaster who’s controlling her every move. With luck you won’t have to go to such extreme lengths. And, of course, it helps if you Know A Guy.

*Kettle corn is a plague upon the moviegoing public. By which I mean that I love it and I do wish to bear its children. I know it’s bad for me, but I’ve been eating really well lately (lots of homegrown produce, relatively little meat) and I figure it’s all about balance. Specifically, I eat raspberries and oatmeal and beans and cukes and tomatoes and lettuce just about every day, whereas I eat kettle corn a couple of times a month.

Oh, and I figured out why it’s so damned tasty. That’s not sugar they’re using – it’s crack.

**There’s a minor but funny bit about pockets in a piece of clothing Belova buys – the first she’s ever bought for herself, what with her background as a mind-controlled killing machine who does (and wears) what she’s told. I think a lot of women found that scene amusing due to the paucity of pockets in real-life apparel.