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Financial Lessons from the Departed

One of my favorite movies is The Departed which is a very violent story about Police and the Mob in Boston, and there is one very good line (delivered by Jack Nicholson) where the mob leader (Frank Costello) states (not exactly and it is actually prefaced by some fairly nasty racist commentary):

“No one gives it to you. You have to take it.”

Which is actually a very true statement about wealth, and most financial opportunities that arise  in your life, you will rarely (if ever) have it handed to you, but I am also not espousing that you should act like Frank Costello either. I like to think Frank is metaphorically speaking of seizing financial opportunities when they arise (although I am pretty sure Frank was talking about taking money by force).

The Departed

In the movie itself (which I highly recommend) there are many twists and changes and such, but the point that nothing is given to you is driven home many times, and I wish to make that point with you good reader as well.

How do you know when financial opportunity is knocking on your door (so you can know to open it), first financial opportunity rarely if ever knocks on your front door. The things that knock on your front door are the opposite of financial opportunity, they are financial burdens looking for somewhere to land.

Opportunity sometimes appears at the oddest of times (it has in my life), but don’t worry about where opportunity arose from, worry about whether it is a financial opportunity you feel comfortable trying to capitalize on. You may have to think about it, you may have to walk away from it, but just work on identifying opportunities when you see them, and you might surprise yourself (by being able to capitalize on one of them).

Opportunity does not knock on the door, but it might knock on your window, or maybe even your forehead, learn to recognize financial opportunities and you’ll be able to take advantage.  If it doesn’t feel comfortable or it just doesn’t feel right, walk away, you’ll sleep better (and you will most likely be right too).

Feel Free to Comment

  1. Recognizing opportunities is not easy! It takes experience and skills that are honed over time. Nothing is handed to you, you have to make it happen.

  2. T3’s? 😉 Knock on the forehead?

    Regardless, I agree on two fronts. First, great movie. I enjoyed it and have watched it a few times. Second, you do need to assess opportunity carefully. Dig deep to truly understand whether you are getting yourself into a true opportunity or one that looks good on the surface but smells rotten when you peel back the layers.

    1. Glad you could make sense of it, I’m still scratching my head on that one. I read over all the great quotes on imdb , that was a great movie for quotes that I can’t use on this site.

  3. Wow, I should really stop writing posts when I have a migraine, not sure really what I was writing about on this one, feel free to interpret and add your own version of this.

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