Money Lessons from the Avengers

Y’all. I AM SO EXCITED FOR TODAY. If you don’t know why based on this title and the date, you probably won’t enjoy today’s blog post very much. In honor of the premiere of Avengers: Endgame, in which ALL CHARACTERS HAD BETTER LIVE, DAMN IT, I decided to distill all of the films in the franchise to their money lessons. Which, I’ll be honest, was quite the stretch in some places. And I couldn’t have done it alone; my BFF Lyra valiantly assisted to save the day with a number of these. Thanks, boo!

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Some Caveats

As always, this blog is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used for personal finance advice. Talk to a financial planner about your individual situation. This is especially true for today’s post…

A second caveat: Look, people, I know that not all of these movies are strictly part of the Avengers team. Like Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange and Black Panther. But because those characters show up in Avengers: Infinity War (and presumably Endgame), they get featured here. If you’re going to @ me about this, you need a little more joy in your life.

And a third caveat, which shouldn’t even need to be written: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ALL OF THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE MOVIES. Except for the one coming out tonight. That I’m going to see and cannot wait for. So if you aren’t caught up with everything before Endgame, maybe don’t keep reading? Oh, and I’m not counting the sub-par 2008 Hulk movie. For the purposes of this post, we’re starting with Iron Man. The OG Avengers star.

Ok, without further ado:

Iron Man

• That DIY life is where it’s at. You know how you always feel super accomplished when you do something for yourself? It’s even better when that action saves you money in the doing! My mom forced me to help her replace one of our toilets when I was in high school. I’m not going to say it was a fun experience, but it feels pretty great knowing I won’t have to pay someone $200 to do it down the road. Circling back to Iron Man, if Tony Stark can build his Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps, you can damn well replace your toilet.

• Homemade gifts are meaningful AND budget friendly! Pepper’s gift to Tony was so sweet because it showed that she cared about him – she put effort into showing that rather than just buying something. Bonus points? That homemade gift saved his life! Don’t risk friends’ lives. Give them homemade gifts.

Iron Man 2

• Spend money on experiences, not things. When Tony thought he was dying of palladium poisoning, he didn’t spend more money on things! Instead, he decides to compete in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. Learn from his wisdom (except the reckless life-endangering bits). Money spent on experiences trumps money spent on things.

Iron Man 3

• Nothing happens in a vacuum. Money is personal. In this film, Tony is dealing with PTSD from the final battle of New York, where he almost died ensuring that a nuclear bomb didn’t blow up Manhattan. That mental weight affects his other actions and decisions. This is important because money is personal. We can talk about the right decisions for investments and savings rates all day long, but each person is unique and has unique circumstances that require individual responses. I’ve talked quite a bit about my mental health journey (here. And here. And here, here, here), so this point is especially important to me.

Captain America: The First Avenger

• There’s value in being underestimated. True badasses stay under the radar. Peggy Carter is a badass. Like, I want to be her when I grow up. And obviously, Steve Rogers knows she’s amazing. But she’s not the one in a star-spangled suit. She stays under the radar. She’s understated and underestimated. And that can come in handy. The same holds with your finances. It’s way cooler to be financially secure but living well within your means than it is to try and constantly keep up with the Joneses. Especially as companies continue to create more and more expensive things that we “need” to own. Be like Peggy Carter. Don’t be flashy. You’ll be better off that way.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

• Umm, basically the whole point of this movie is don’t trust Nazis. Tying it back to money…Maybe consider building yourself a bunker and not trusting the government? Hey, I never said this post was all good advice…
• Also, Hydra hides in unlikely places. In this case, Hydra=consumerism. It’s everywhere, but you need to be strong. Resist. Remember what your goals are, and only spend on what’s important to you.
• Continuing that line of thought: Mind control is bad. So is mindless spending. Be Bucky circa Captain America 1, not Bucky the Winter Soldier…

Captain America: Civil War

• Don’t be afraid to go against what everyone else thinks is right. Cap knows that despite everyone hunting Bucky down as the presumed bomber that killed King T’Chaka, Bucky is worth protecting. And he goes to the ends of the earth to do that. Sometimes, going against the grain (in this case, Iron Man pushing for cooperation with the UN) is the right thing to do.

Thor

• Self-control in your spending is a very good thing to have. When Thor gets to Earth, he tries coffee for the first time, giving us one of the best moments of this movie. He demands more, maybe not realizing that too much coffee can be…dangerous. For his sake, I hope he eventually learned self-control with his caffeine intake; I assume so since he isn’t jittery in subsequent films. Either way, you should definitely practice self-control when it comes to your spending.

Thor: Dark World

• You should have a will. You never know when the return of Dark Elves will lead to your untimely death. Just saying.

Thor: Ragnarok

• Beware of crazy relatives coming to steal your shit. You know what I mean! You always read about lottery winners who are suddenly beset with mysterious distant relatives hard up for cash! Don’t let that be you. Guard your shit. Have insurance in case your castle is destroyed in the end of the world, and keep your money safe. On the cyber side, consider using a password manager for important login info. I’m a big fan of 1Password. Don’t give hackers what they want…

Marvel’s The Avengers

• Look a gift horse in the mouth! Loki is so keen to take over Earth that he unquestioningly accepts help from THE ULTIMATE BAD GUY THANOS. In exchange for a monster army, all he has to do is give Thanos the Tesseract. Hmm, I wonder what he wants with that? Don’t worry about it; probably something benign. Either way, Loki definitely should have questioned a deal that seemed too good to be true. On the finance side, this is also important when it comes to your life! MLMs, get-rich-quick schemes, etc. all sell instant wealth and happiness, and instead, you end up a failure, locked up in Asgard. Ask those hard questions, like “What do you want to do with the Tesseract?” upfront.
• Shwarma is amazing. Enough said.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

• Maybe don’t automate everything…Seriously. Half of science fiction* books are based on the premise of robots taking over the world (*not a real stat). So do we really need to experiment with creating a sentient robot that then evolves and decides to destroy humanity? On the finance side, all of humanity isn’t at risk, but it can be a bad idea to automate too much. If you automate credit card payments, bills, etc., it’s easier to miss mistakes, price increases, or fraudulent purchases. Just the other day, Comcast tried to slip a $3 fee increase past me! And they are going to be getting a call about that, believe me.

Avengers: Infinity War

• Don’t blindly go after glittery things. Thanos, don’t you know that jewels don’t buy happiness? Especially when you have to sacrifice your own (weirdly adopted) daughter to get them?? Yeah. Guys, don’t rely on material things to make you happy/fulfill your life’s purpose. Also, in case it needs to be said, maybe don’t kill a bunch of people in order to achieve that life’s purpose. I know that’s slightly moving away from only *money* advice, but I feel pretty comfortable with that tangent.

Spiderman: Homecoming

• Nerds Rule the World. I mean, that was the main take away from this film. Which was amazing. So be smart! Embrace your nerdiness and don’t make stupid money decisions! Also, don’t steal and sell alien tech on the black market to support your family. It’s a bad idea.

Captain Marvel

• Even “sure bets” can become obsolete. Diversify your assets! We all laughed in the theater when Carol Danvers crashes through the roof of a Blockbuster, a storefront ubiquitous in the 90s. But now, Blockbuster and its rivals are relics of the past. And it seemed like a pretty strong business back in the day! Buying stocks can seem exciting, but I’m a huge fan of diversifying my assets to the max. You might buy the next Apple, but then again, it could be the next Blockbuster…

• Also, cats (and their alien equivalents) make the best sidekicks.

Black Panther

• If you have wealth, use it to help others. The main conflict in this movie is about whether or not Wakanda should remain insular or help others around the world. Killmonger thinks that “helping” means overthrowing colonizers. T’Challa, originally believing what his father taught him, believes that they should stay hidden and protected. But by the end of the movie, he acknowledges that this decision also has its own costs. He decides to open Wakanda and share their knowledge with the world. Having money is great, but it’s even better to share what you have. To donate to charities you believe in, to help improve your community, and to pay it forward. I will never sacrifice charity donations in my budget–I want to make sure that that line item grows together with my overall wealth.

Doctor Strange

• You need to roll with the punches. After his accident, Steven Strange becomes obsessed with healing his hands. So obsessed that he pursues that goal at the expense of everything else. He loses everything he has – his friends, his sort-of girlfriend, and all of his wealth. Bad things happen to us. It’s important to keep moving forward and to adapt to new situations, whether they be financial or otherwise.

Ant-Man

• We focus a lot of growing our money, but shrinking it is just as powerful! Get it? Shrinking? Ant-Man? In the personal finance community, we spend a lot of time talking about growing our money – increasing our wealth. And a lot of times, that means investing more, saving more, earning more. But the other side of that coin? It’s just as important to shrink the red on your ledger! Paying off debt can have awesome benefits for your net worth and your monthly cash flow. For one, you’re no longer paying interest on something you already own or experienced. And, in my book even more powerful, you free up those debt payments in your budget to do other things and pursue other goals. And that’s awesome.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

• Sometimes the small things count the most. And by small, I mean Quantum Realm when it comes to this movie. And this message applies to finance in two ways. 1) Small purchases add up. Impulse buys in the cart at checkout, eating out just because you’re too lazy to cook one night, and of course, we’ve all heard about the evils of lattes and avocado toast. These small things aren’t necessarily bad, but make sure they’re something you value rather than a knee-jerk purchase. And 2) small things count in a good way too. Appreciate the small moments of your life that make you happy. The time with friends and family, spontaneous activities and small surprises. I think when we actively strive for happiness, especially in the form of what money can buy, we overlook these small things.

Guardians of the Galaxy

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Rocket’s obsession with prosthetics is a running joke in these movies. But it was pretty impressive how he reused and recycled things in the prison to orchestrate their escape! We all know that we only wish we were as cool as an alien raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper. One way we can get infinitesimally closer to his level is by being just as clever with reusing and recycling things. It saves money while also reducing waste. The planet and your wallet will thank you!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

• Grow your seedlings into a big money tree. Of course this one has to be about baby Groot. Rocket could have simply mourned after Groot sacrificed himself to save his friends, but instead, Rocket (that magnificent raccoon) replanted one of Groot’s twigs. Giving us the wonderful baby Groot, who helps Rocket and Yondu escape from Taserface. And baby Groot then turns into teenage Groot, who saves Thor’s life by providing a handle for his new ax in Avengers: Infinity War. That’s a pretty awesome return on that investment! Grow your savings. Think of Groot.

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This post is definitely one of the least serious I’ve written, which seems appropriate given some of my heavier topics lately. I hope it made you laugh, and if you think of any other great, tangential money lessons from these movies, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!