Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Father son acting .
Street fighting.
And ridiculous fur coats. There's one. There's another. And that's just crazy right there.
1:29:43
I'm Peter Bielagus and this, is Money In The Movies.
Hello and Welcome to Money In The Movies, a show where we review films based on their
financial accuracy. Today's movie is Rocky V directed by John Avildsen and starring Sylvester
Stallone, as the loveable lug Rocky Balboa.
ROCKY Yo Adrian
The film continues almost immediately after Soviet Celluloid Sensation Rocky IV where
the Italian Stallion battled the steroid saturated Stalinist Ivan Drago.
DRAGO I must break you.
But even though he won the fight, sadly Rocky has suffered from serious brain injury.
ROCKY I can't stop my hands from shaking.
Anyway brain injuries are the least of Rocky's worries, because uncle Paulie has magnified
the families problems once again.
ROCKY Oh come on what'd you do Paulie?
ADRIAN He gave power, power of attorney to our accountant.
PAULIE I need Rocky to sign a tax extension
ADRIAN tax extension! that was a power of attorney Paulie!
Sadly Uncle Paulie seems to have signed a legal document called a power of attorney
form, which gave Rocky's accountant complete control over the Italian Stallion's finances.
Once the accountant had that control he took their money.
ADRIAN: the money, everything it's all gone.
LAWYER: You lost millions
Power of attorney forms, or POAs are used quite frequently in the financial world and
they basically give someone else the authority over your financial affairs.
For example, when service members go off to battle, they often sign a POA giving a spouse
or a parent the right to sign checks, to pay bills, and make other financial decisions
while they are at war.
Or sometimes people sign these forms to allow their accountant to talk to the IRS on their
behalf.
However, most people sign what is known as a LIMITED power of attorney form. Which means
you give a specific person specific authority to do something in your financial life. An
example might be a service member gives his girlfriend permission to withdraw no more
than $1000 a month from his bank account. The power is limited.
In the film, Uncle Paulie apparently signed a durable power of attorney form, giving their
accountant unchecked control over Rocky's financial empire.
Theoretically this is possible that one document could give someone the legal power to control
everything. Now it would be difficult to do this so quickly but the truth is, it has happened.
Many athletes and celebrities who have come into quick money, have seen it just as quickly
disappear to financial scams. Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Art Monk, Torri Hunter, Corey Jenkins,
Mike Pelfry, Darren McCarty, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Mike Tyson, and John Elway are all
examples of athletes who became victims of financial fraud.
And forgetting about athletes for a moment, thousands of everyday Americans become victim
to financial scams. Federal courts determined that Madoff Investments LLC, just one company,
scammed it investors for over 18 billion dollars.
The lesson from Rocky V is that you can never completely leave your financial life in someone
else's hands and EVERYONE needs to have at least some financial knowledge and pay at
least SOME attention to what is going on. In the film, Paulie claims the accountant
told him:
PAULIE I need rocky to sign a tax extension
But it looks like Paulie, Rocky and even Adrian did not read the form they signed. Sadly people
do this all the time. When you rented your apartment did you read the whole lease? Have
you read your whole credit card statement. When you bought your house did you read all
the forms?
How else could Rocky have protected himself? How else can YOU protect yourself? Well we're
almost out of time here, but check out my Money In The Movies Second Reel episode of
Rocky V where I discuss the little known strategy of "Administrative Diversification." This
is one financial strategy that benefits you that most financial planners DON'T want you
to know.
So not only is it theoretically possible, the Italian Stallion could lose everything
to fraud, it has happened in real life. Therefore, I give Rocky V three out of three dollar signs.
I'm Peter Bielagus, and this, is Money In The Movies.