Although this high-end PBS costume drama is spins stories from about a century ago, many of the issues are relevant to families today. Look closely and see if Downton can impart valuable financial lessons to you.
It can be difficult to explain to clients the ramifications of putting off their estate planning. Sometimes people have to “see it to believe it,” so to speak. Enter PBS hit series, Downton Abbey.
Downton Abbey follows the lives of the fictitious Crawley family who live in a grand English country house in the early 1900s. Downton’s characters can teach some valuable financial lessons, according to AccountingWEB’s recent post titled, “8 Lessons You and Your Clients Learn by Watching Downton Abbey.
The Crawley family on the award-winning PBS series are stewards of a large estate—over 1,000 acres of agricultural land with a village of tenant farmers and so on. They must keep the estate going and pass it on to the next generation. The big issue on the show lately is finding a suitable husband for Mary, so the estate remains in her family. Take a look at a few of the articles eight lessons:
Being Rich Doesn’t Make You Smart. Now the Granthams on the show may be friends with the Astors in New York and the aristocracy in England, but they’re extremely poor financial managers. Doing things the way we always have isn’t a business plan. Pay attention and make the necessary moves to be viable.
It’s Never Too Early for Estate Planning. In season three of the popular series, Matthew Crawley revives the massive estate by injecting a large amount of cash he received as an inheritance from his deceased fiancé’s family. The estate was afloat again, and Robert made Matthew a joint owner. However, he’s killed in a car crash. That’s another problem.
One more lesson—Respect the Value of Advice. Lord Grantham got into a pickle financially by investing in a Canadian railway. But the founder died, and the railroad was on the verge of bankruptcy. LG either didn’t ask his broker’s advice or just ignored it. So if you’re paying an expert for advice, you should follow it.
Read some of the other lessons from this article and talk over a strategy for you and your loved ones and then visit us for one of our free estate planning Workshops. Please contact us at 360-975-7770 or at nicolle@nwlegacylaw.com to sign up and learn more!
Reference: AccountingWEB (March 10, 2015) “8 Lessons You and Your Clients Learn by Watching Downton Abbey
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