What TV and Movies Get Dead Wrong About Debt (and Why It Matters)

We’ve all learned lessons from the movies and TV shows we’ve watched, like not sharing food from Joey on FRIENDS or the power of friendship from the recent Thunderbolts movie. While TV and movies get a lot of things right about relationships, there is one area that they fumble in the interest of creative license. It’s better to show a character shove bills into a drawer instead of doing the right thing and paying them off immediately. 

They also love to highlight a pay raise with a montage of shopping sprees and an immediate lifestyle upgrade. Sadly, real life doesn’t work that way, and there is a true cost behind every purchase you make, even if you’re using a credit card. In real life, you cannot escape through the fire exit when landlords or loan collectors come to visit you. Many people can distinguish between the fiction on the shows and the realities of being in debt. For those who think that they’ve learned borrowing hacks from the shows, we want to bust some myths for you.

1. It’s Okay to Pay Bills After the Due Date

We’ve seen dramatic scenes of Phoebe tossing her bills aside, or of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, who would always live in the hope of becoming a millionaire in the future and hence be okay with letting bills pile up today. TV and Movie shows love to depict hustlers or dreamers who wear multiple hats and don’t believe they need a stable income because ‘You only live once.’ 

If these characters lived in our world, they wouldn’t have an opportunity to be so carefree. Your unpaid bills and late fees can affect your credit score, and the stress of living paycheck to paycheck can be expensive if there’s an unexpected emergency. If your bills are piling up and there’s an emergency. You’ll find yourself in a position where you have no other option but to get an online loan.

While loans can be a lifesaver during difficult times, finding yourself in a situation where you’re overly reliant on loans is not at all sustainable in the long run. As a result, it’s very important to pay your bills on time, save your money and if you do end up having to get a loan, only do that from reliable, FCA-approved lenders.

2. When You Spend Big, You’re Successful

We’d all love to have a closet like Carrie Bradshaw, who once said, “I like my money where I can see it, hanging in the closet.” Don’t get us wrong, we are not saying you can’t treat yourself a little after working hard and getting that well-deserved raise. 

However, the signs of your success are not the multiple luxury items you’d buy on your Credit Card or decide to pay off in instalments. There’s a high interest attached to credit cards that no one in the fiction world talks about. You could either spend today like there’s no tomorrow, or you could prepare for a future where you would be more successful because you have a healthy emergency fund or a diverse financial portfolio.

3. You’re Just a Lucky Break Away from Success

This is probably one of the most frustrating myths shown on TV. Whenever the main character is going through a tough time and all seems lost, a windfall or a solution suddenly solves everything. We all cheer when Charlie Bucket gets his Golden Ticket and eventually becomes the Chocolate Factory owner.

In real life, we’re not a windfall away from solving all our problems. We are in charge of creating our financial miracles, and we can do so by being more mindful of our expenses and sticking to our budgets. Every pound you save today is an investment in your future.

4. It’s Not Cool to be Smart with Money

We’ve all seen people in movies and TV shows dissing characters who are better at managing money. They’re called nerds, uptight or sometimes even boring. We’d love to be like Donna and Tom from Parks and Recreation and have ‘Treat Yo’Self’ day, where no expense is too big. 

The reality is that a day like that will likely put us in debt that we’ll be paying off for years to come. We’re not saying that you should never treat yourself. You could save up and go on a trip of your dreams next year, borrow and go on that trip today, but pay off that money for years. There is a healthy balance where you can allow yourself the occasional treat while having a healthy savings account.

Final Thoughts

It’s not a bad thing to learn life lessons from our favourite shows, they help us set goals, like maybe visiting the resort from the latest season of The White Lotus. However, we should not consider their financial habits aspirational. They live in a different world where their landlord will let them miss their rent for months and only evict them if the plot demands it. 

In reality, many of our lives would be better if we had better saving habits than spending lists. We will invest in the latest phone and gaming console, but we’ll just get them next year instead of immediately. Your financial habits today should support a financially secure future for you.