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Celebrities and Money, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Saving, Self-Made Millionaires, Video Games Reviews, Wealth

5 Money Lessons From Maniac Mansion

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For those of you out there that grew up in the in the 90’s, then you may remember a video game by the name of Maniac Mansion.

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It was released on October 5, 1987 on multiple platforms such as Apple II, Atari and Nintendo to much fanfare and critical acclaim and was developed by the man who created Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas, through Lucasfilm Games.

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This was long before the iphone was released to worldwide sensation back in 2007, which was developed by another pioneer, Steve Jobs of Apple.

See my post How Being An Outlier Can Make You Rich

What I absolutely loved about this game was the character development. They were so much fun. Interacting with Weird Ed and Edna and the tentacles was a riot!

Even how the characters spoke to each other was hilarious. Let me provide you with this example.

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However, as with anything, you have to look below the surface and take a deeper look. Therefore, I wrote this post focusing on the financial aspects of this game in regards to how you can relate money to the world around you. Even a video game.

And do not even get me started on the price of games today! Growing up we thought $60 a pop for one game was outrageous! Boy, were we wrong.

Today, you can spend $80 or more for a subscription to play your Playstation or Xbox console. Another subscription! Come off it marketing departments across America! You know people can’t afford to barely buy toilet paper out here, let alone video game subscriptions!

Don’t believe me?

When the longest government shutdown in United Sates history, it lasted 35 days, happened people were in line at soup kitchens!

Missing one check caused people absolute panic. And I don’t mean at the disco! One lady said that she was down to $1.26 in her checking account; that was all the money she had and she didn’t know what she was going to do.

You see back in the good old days, you would go to the store, buy an item, do the transaction one time, and like Cinderella’s fairy Godmother’s would say, “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” and you owed the thing free and clear as the transaction was done, over, finito. 

See my post America Is The Land Of Subscriptions

This post will show you how to save money, get rich, and maybe decide to put a down payment on some property, but it doesn’t have to be a mansion. So here we go.

5 Money and Life Lessons from Maniac Mansion

But first… What is Maniac Mansion?

Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games.

It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist, whose mind has been enslaved by a sentient meteor. The player uses a point-and-click interface to guide Dave and two of his six playable friends through the scientist’s mansion while solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. Gameplay is non-linear, and the game must be completed in different ways based on the player’s choice of characters.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON ONE: MANSIONS COST MONEY

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It has been over twenty years since a mysterious purple meteor came hurtling out of the sky and made a large crater in the front lawn of a large Victorian mansion belonging to the Edison family. Dr. Fred, his wife Nurse Edna, and their son Weird Ed were reclusive people who left the house very rarely, but the meteor’s arrival brought about a strange change in Dr. Fred. Now, a local cheerleader has vanished without a trace. Dave, her boyfriend, has gathered a few of his close comrades on a mission to invade the mansion and save Sandy!

However, if we just focus on the part about the mansion…basically, big homes costs big bucks! For fun, I looked up the cost of Victorian homes.

The Main House at Skywalker Ranch inspired the design of Maniac Mansion‘s setting, which is reported to have cost self-made millionaire George Lucas around $100 million dollars.

A large white house with black roofing in front of green hills and forests.
The Skywalker Ranch
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So unless you are onstage with your two friends Kelly and Michelle or creating the next new franchise, you may want to stick with buying a home you can afford.

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Let’s not forget that property taxes are forever! If you can’t pay your taxes, you can still lose your home, even if you own it free and clear.

Taxes are an ongoing expense to owning a home.

Let us not forget that even celebrities have to sell homes for unforeseen reasons and sometimes at a loss.

It was reported that Johnny Depp was suing his management company for $25 million and in the court filing it detailed his spending at at $2 million- a-month! He had considerable property holdings and it was also reported that he was advised to sell a family home located in Paris, France or something along those lines and possibly at a loss at that!

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was also recently in the news as his Connecticut manse was costing him $70,000-a-month to maintain. That basically is the cost of running a small boutique hotel or miniature bed-and-breakfast. He ended up selling the property at a loss, he paid $4.1 million and sold at $2.3 million, to stop paying the exorbitant cost of owning the place.

Lastly, Mary J. Blige was reported to own a couple mansion-style properties in New Jersey that were unable to be rented. You read that right. She is paying for properties that are uninhabitable, costing her money every single month night and day, and collecting no rent on the properties. In her divorce filing, she was reported to make over $300,000 a month so it is unclear why exactly these properties are unable to be renovated and sold without a closer look at her financial records and proper accounting.

The reason I refuse to buy a big home is because they along with cars can be wealth suckers.

Doing the math, if you buy a $350,000 at a 5% interest rate and take 30 years to pay it off it will cost you around $700,000! Or a $500,000 home could cost you $1,000,000. Yes, twice what you bought the home for.

And most people are working to pay for this behemoth, fancy vacations, and expensive nights on the town with bottle service meaning they are not even home enough to enjoy paying double the cost of it!

See my post American Homes Are $1,100 Per Month Storage Units

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON TWO: PATIENCE

All good things come in time. Building wealth is no exception to the rule.

I started out with a toothbrush, a bag of clothes, and some books.

Now I have a home, paid off vehicle, stocks, investments, and even more books. The point I’m trying to make here is that you accumulate money and things over time. You may not have everything you want right now, but keep working.

Never let yesterday use up too much of today. – Will Rogers

If you are working towards something, the don’t stop or quit for anything. I turned a $450 car payment into $100,000. It took like a decade.

Come to think of it, it usually takes people 10 years or more to perfect whatever it is their doing so you may as well chill out.

The humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) once told a young John Wayne some sound and simple advice. I will share it with you here.

After John Wayne (1907-1979) complained for a full 10-15 minutes of why he wasn’t being paid more to act on film, he asked Will Rogers what he should do? Will Rogers replied, “Well kid, are you working?” To which, John Wayne replied, “yes.” Then Will Rogers says, “keep working.” And then proceeds to walk away.

So my reply to anyone who wants something NOW, “have patience.” This is me NOW moving on to the next paragraph and lesson in this post, which is my equivalent to Will Rogers walking away. I have given you all the advice you need on that topic. Moving on.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON THREE: MAKE FRIENDS NOT ENEMIES

One of the best things about the game are the characters. Each have different looks, mannerisms, ways of speaking, talents and abilities. This is part of what makes the game so much fun.

Dave is on a mission. To save his girlfriend Sandy. But he can’t do it alone. He brings along his friends to help him out and watch his back.

This is also sound advice if you want to build a fortune and an empire. Nobody does it alone. Eventually you will need to work with bankers, lawyers, businesses, investment professional, and tax attorneys.

It is always best to make friends than enemies as you never know when it is the next time you will see someone again.

When you are climbing that corporate ladder, those same people you tried to step on on the way up, you may see them again on the way down.

Hopefully, you offered them a piece of the pie instead of one to the face.

Mark Cuban said some great business advice in that if you start a company, then make sure your employees have some stock options invested in it as part of their compensation. That way if the company is successful and gets sold then the employees make money too.

This does two things: 1) eliminates wealth inequality (many of Mark Cuban’s former employees, 300 out of 330, became millions); and 2) encourages people to pay it forward through philanthropy and spend money that gets circulated back into the economy.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FOUR: RESCUE THE GIRL OR GUY FROM FINANCIAL DUNGEONS

In the game, if you get caught snooping around the mansion, then you are sen t to the dungeon.

The game is notorious for constantly getting you thrown in the dungeon by almost every member of the household if you are seen.

Fortunately, the game has a cheat in which you can get the dungeon key and let yourself and others that have been captured out of the dungeon. Without this trick in the game, you are toast.

Speaking of toast, avocado toast is not causing millennial’s to be broke. It is the ever escalating cost of education, housing, and healthcare that makes it harder to save.

All wealth building starts with saving. Period. A good cash reserves is a must. Here is a tip for you. Pros have cash. Amateurs do not. Pros are not under any kind of financial pressure. They remove the pressure and make rational decisions because they have money in the bank. Only amateurs allow pressure to get to them. Remove much of the pressure in your life by having cash reserves.

I recommend that being $10,000 or more in savings. That is how you are able to rescue yourself from being trapped in a financial dungeon. Just have cash.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FIVE: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN

The video game Maniac Mansion has 5 possible endings. Depending on what players you chose to play and what actions you take.

The game allows you to have 3 characters for game play out of about 6. These are the people that have your back in case things should go wrong.

In addition, their different talents and unique abilities allow each kid to be an asset to the team. You must too do this in life. You must have back up…plans that is.

For example, I try to keep a minimum of 2-3 months or more of savings in the bank at ALL TIMES! Then I ramped it up to a goal of $10,000.

In addition, if you can save $233,000 in your 401(k), then you do not have to add another cent! After 20 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,857.35 in your retirement account. That’s Plan A. Cant’t envision making that happen? Then go to plan B. Save $168,000 in your 401(k), then do not add another penny. After 25 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,358.03 in your retirement account.

Are you starting to get the idea?

You can move the finish line and change your actions according to what is happening in your life, but keep the goal. If necessary, you can have a Plan A, B, C, D, etc. The point is to make it so that you are always moving forward by planning ahead.

Just like you have to do when playing Maniac Mansion.

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So let’s get out there, have some fun, and start saving!

Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Saving, Wealth

America is the land of subscriptions

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I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Dr. Maya Angelou

TO SUBSCRIBE OR NOT SUBSCRIBE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

America used to be known as the land of opportunity and dreams. And for some and in many ways it still is. However, things have changed dramatically over the last two to three decades.

One of the biggest changes I have noticed can be described in one word: subscriptions.

When I was growing up, you bought the thing one time and you were done. Transaction over.

Today, many places want you to subscribe to their services and pay them every month. I am not on board with this.

Even Jay Leno agrees with me. He told CNBC, “Here is the money, give me the thing, transaction over.”

He told CNBC Make It: “When you own something and you don’t have to write checks every month, you’re just better off.”

I couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand installments for anything. It means you earn money and then have to give it away. Period.

I learned that if I could cut down or out the installment payments in my life that I would be better off and would get to keep my money.

Sure you will have bills like utilities – gas, water, electric and insurance, food, etc.

Those are not the bills I am talking about.

I mean the ones that are not necessities.

In a Washington Post interview from 2016, Sociologist Joseph Cohen of Queens University is fond of saying that “America is a place where luxuries are cheap and necessities costly.”

Exactly, the luxury items have stayed the same: high-priced. However, the cost of college, daycare, education, and the mortgage have all gone up.

Even rent can be insane. There is no cap on rent. So, it can go up every year with inflation. Unfortunately, that is just a cost of life. You need a place to lay your head. You need shelter.

But I urge people to consider carefully what type and how much home they buy.

A HOME IS YOUR CASTLE BUT DOESN’T HAVE TO ACTUALLY BE ONE

I am all for the Huey P. Long saying that Every Man a King, but I think a woman is also the queen of her castle.

I prefer to be able to clean my own home. To be able to sweat over lonely labor, have sense of pride in a job that is well done is what I need. And just FYI, for those who like to stay in shape and are into physical fitness, cleaning is also a workout.

After reading the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, in where she worked undercover with a big house-cleaning chain in her book, I feel I am better off doing the work myself.

Barbara Ehrenreich said, “I had been taught by my mother, a compulsive housekeeper who employed water so hot you needed rubber gloves to get into it,” to basically clean her own home.

Paying a service is another bill. I say if you can afford it and it will free up time you want for yourself, then do it.

However, I also have learned the bigger the home, the more help you need to clean it.

It gets tougher to clean a home yourself once it is more than 3,500 square feet. That’s when you usually have to hire help.

Paying the gardener, maid, chef, and chauffeur all adds up.

Why not purchase a home that is 3,000 square feet or less? Not only are they cheaper, but also easier to maintain.

That’s just my $0.02.

SUBSCRIBERS BEWARE

I have seen countless companies start subscription services. Some are pretty cheap and then others are downright outrageous.

I just started noticing this new way of the subscription life myself fairly recently.

I first started noticing it in high school. I wanted to buy Harlequin romance books, because I mean come on, who doesn’t like Happy Ever After’s (HEAs)?

And to my delight, in each book was a subscription notice. They offered 2 free books as a bonus! I was like sign me up. Then things started to go downhill for me from there.

Let me just start by saying, I am a huge Harlequin romance fan. It was not that they did not provide quality service or great reads. Quite the opposite. It was the quantity and price of the service that caused my woes.

I started getting books like every 3 or 4 weeks. It was expensive too, at least to a teenager, it cost about $15 a month. Some books I didn’t even want, but they shipped them in packs of four, which were chosen for you.

As much as I loved Harlequin, I had to cancel my subscription. They sent books faster than I could read and bills faster than I could pay.

That was my first taste of the subscription life. It left a bad taste in my mouth. One that, like Maya Angelou said, I never forgot how it made me feel. And all these years later, that one event was the catalyst for me not ever wanting to have subscription anything.

So, when something doesn’t feel right, listen to yourself. Trust your gut and make some changes.

I can walk away from anything. Relationships, bad jobs, roommates, you name it. Even if I am comfortable, I have still walked away from people, places or things that were not in my best interest.

Chris Rock said, “comfort is the poison.”

I have learned to hold on loosely to everything so you are not so rattled when change comes.

YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE

There are lots of companies that offer subscriptions.

I pretty much avoid them all.

Everyone is out there trying to take the money out of your pocket and put it into theirs. Everyone is trying to separate you from your money. Don’t let them.

Expenses would occur once or infrequently when I was growing up. Now everything is a monthly subscription. Even toothbrushes are turning into a subscription service!

I buy products and stick with them until I get my monies worth. I bought a car for $30k, 15 years and six months ago. My payment was $448.65. So, $30,000/186 = the equivalent of paying $161 per month on this vehicle or $2,000 per year not including gas and maintenance.

It’s American made so I have not ever had to pay $3,000 or more in a single visit. My last oil change cost me less than $50!

I have more than got my money’s worth out of this car. I paid this car off in 2009. That money has been going to my retirement account ever since.

Companies now try to offer you the world and all this personalized attention and concierge service, until you stop paying. Whether or not it is by choice or you cannot afford to pay anymore.

It’s like trickery. Or in some cases like the old bait and switch. They promise you the world on the way in and engrave your initials on everything and then can’t remember your name on the way out.

What’s that Lucy? Another football for me to kick. No thank you.


Just say no to subscriptions. It will save you a fortune.

Here are some places that offer subscriptions – gym memberships, clothing stores, book publishers, magazines, and newspapers.

List of well-known companies that offer subscriptions and the cost of some pricing plans:

  • Apple iTunes $9.99 monthly
  • Under Armour (ArmourBox) 4-6 items of gear pay only for kept items) $80+ per box
  • The Wall Street Journal $100-$400 annually
  • Kiplinger Magazine $6.99+ annually
  • Forbes Magazine $20 annually
  • The New York Times $14.99 monthly
  • Deer Park Water $12.99 monthly (minimum)
  • Spotify $9.99 monthly
  • Hulu $7.99 monthly
  • Netflix $9.99 monthly
  • Amazon Prime $99 annually (from $79)

List of less well-known companies that offer subscription and the cost of some pricing plans:

  • Quip oral care tooth brush delivery $10 per user per month! For a toothbrush!
  • Stitch Fix $20 style fee
  • Le Tote $59 a month
  • Rent the Runway $139 a month!
  • Shoedazzle $39.95 a month
  • Gwynnie Bee $49 a month
  • Fabletics $25 per month or box
  • Her Fashion Box $59.95 a quarter! So, its really $239.80 annually

Oh and by the way, subscriptions are the bait to get you on the hook. After, they reel you in, over time they will start slowly increasing the cost. Again, this is just business and the cost of things, as there is this pesky little thing called inflation that just make goods and services costlier over time.

Let me tell you how my life has changed as I cancelled and avoided subscription services like the plague.

CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME

Money is like air, try and live without it. – Motivational Speaker

Some of you out there may remember the group the Wu-Tang Clan. They had a song called C.R.E.A.M and that pretty much summed up that you need money to sustain your life and that of your family.

You need shelter, food, water, transportation, insurance, internet, and phone.

Everything else is pretty much optional.

I have Netflix, Hulu, World Gym Express, AAA, insurance (life, auto, health, dental), and that’s about it.

I got a term life policy for pretty cheap through AAA.

I got some of the lowest prices available that would sustain my household. Things mean nothing to me. I don’t care about clothes or shopping. I prefer experiences. Me and the girls would have wine, pizza, and game night at each other’s houses.

Music videos were also a shopping trigger. Everyone from Ja Rule to Lil Wayne talked about being cash money millionaires. A rapper even made it his moniker: Chamillionaire!

Everyone in music videos had private planes, diamonds, champagne, mansions, and beamers, Benz and Bentleys!

Who thought of this thing called shoe game. I have never cared about shoes. I just wear them out until they are no longer useful and then repair or replace and toss the ones that are useless. I would wear shoes until I had holes in them. I don’t care. I’m fine. Grateful to have shoes on my feet.

However, when I was around 15, those videos started making me feel bad. So, at age 16, I decided to stop watching them. My self-esteem went through the roof!

Then years later, I discovered that many episodes of MTV cribs were not the full truth. I was floored. I was like you made me believe that success was in what I drove and what home I lived in. All wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

MONEY IS JUST A TOOL

Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag its tail. -Kinky Friedman

If you read my last post, you know I was inspired to save more by the blogger who owns Millennial Money.

I backed off of doing and buying much of anything, so that I could be free. I wanted to be financially independent (FI). And that, my friends, requires discipline. FI requires sacrifice and saving.

Women tend to focus on saving.

Men tend to focus on earning.

I encourage you to do both. That is what I did.

Ask for a raise, if it will get you to your goals faster. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for anything, because all people can do is say yes or no. So, I ask for everything. I do not fear rejection. I have learned to fail better. You are rewarded for it.

I knew getting a good education or learning a skill (construction, HVAC, barber, hairstylist, IT, plumbing, electrician, or dental hygienist) that could be monetized was key.

I knew a guy many years ago that skipped college in favor of heating refrigeration and air conditioning training. Within like 6 months he was making $20 an hour! And that was right out of high school.

In the news, it was reported that construction is in dire need of those willing to learn the trade. Due to a lack of construction workers, homes being built now are higher priced and low-income homes are not being built.

All of the sudden people are too good for construction! I have always admired and liked a hardworking, driven person. Especially, a man who can work with his hands.

Remember that episode of Charmed, where their ancestor came back from the 1600’s. It’s okay if you don’t remember, I own the DVD and just so happen to have a clip of it. This part and another episode called Morality Bites are some of my favorites from the show.

What’s wrong with working with your hands? Like all of my uncles were mechanics. It was like Marissa Tomei in my cousin Vinny.

They always had grease under their fingernails and on their hands, but people depended on them. My Uncle Tommy helped everyone. He was kindhearted. He, like my father, never raised his voice because they didn’t have to. They were respected and loved. There was no need to yell.

I have always liked and been drawn to well-mannered, hardworking men.

My mom grew up on a farm and we would visit it every summer when I was little. My only memory of my grandfather was always of him dressed in overalls.

He was in excellent physical shape well into his 70’s. Farming is hard work. He was up by dawn and in bed by dusk.

There was always fresh fruit and vegetables because he grew it and sowed his crops himself.

I love the fact that you can take a blueprint, follow a plan, build a home, and have tangible proof of labor. But, you know, that’s just me.

I spent parts of my childhood holed up in my room or on the couch reading books. I would read the Sunday Comics (Peanuts were my favorites), Archie Comics, history books or anything lying around the house.

I put all my time and money into developing myself. It went to my health, family, education, and community. Those sacrifices of going to an in-state school and driving a beater have paid off in spades!

Let me show you how.

MONEY IS THE NAME AND SAVING AND INVESTING IS THE GAME

After being introduced to Millennial Money online, almost three years ago, I made some changes.

I started looking at money differently.

I started thinking of ways to save on a daily basis instead of just monthly or after I paid all my bills.

You have to have money left at the end of the month, if you want to build wealth.

I took a look at my bank and credit card statements to see what I was spending my money on. Was there anything I could cut out? Did I really need this?

I cut out nail salon visits, excess hair appointments, shopping sprees, vacations, car washes (another subscription, ugh), birthday parties (no gift to buy or buying the birthday girl a drink) and anything I could find.

I cut out miscellaneous expenses too. No stopping at Walgreen’s without a list. I only need one pen, not a pack. Is it on sale? I can’t afford full price to anyone whose name isn’t followed by M.D.

After trimming the fat, I started figuring out my savings rate.

I started out with this:

Year 1. Saving $50 per month. $600 a year. That’s $600/365 (days a year) = $1.64 a day savings rate.

Year 3. Saving $150 per month. $1,825 a year. That’s, $1,825/365 = $5 a day savings rate.

Year 6. Saving $1,111.04 per month. $13,333.06 a year. That’s, $13,333.06/365 = $36.53 a day savings rate.

I went from saving $1.64 a day to $36.53 a day! That’s a 22% increase in savings.

That’s progress. That is almost the equivalent of someone paying me $40 (two twenties a day) and I put aside $36.53 of it in savings.

If you notice, from the examples of what I did, it took 6 years to get here. I just started where I was at.

I just wanted to save $5 a day like Millennial Money talked about. I had no idea that I had done that and more. I was used to spending everything I had and being in debt.

To this day, I still try to find ways to increase my daily savings rate. Once I changed my money mindset, I changed my life. I got results. And you can too!