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What Star Trek Taught me About Personal Finance.

Posted on | May 7, 2009 |

May 7th, 2009 marks the release of the latest Star Trek motion picture. I want to be honest with you right up front: I’m not going to see this movie. See, I’m an original trekkie. I grew up on the Original Series - (TOS) from the 1960’s, and there’s just too much at odds in this remake with the series I grew up on. Call me an old, curmudgeon. I don’t care.

Even so, this new movie stirred some old memories for me. These memories merged with one of my newer passions, that of personal finance. The result is shared with you here. I hope you enjoy it.

“Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing.”

So spoke Spock to Dr. McCoy in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

The heart of the original Star Trek series was the constant struggle of man’s intellect over his emotions. This isn’t just a timeless source of inspiration or a simple plot device. This holds true in Investing and Spending as well. Numerous studies have been done that illustrate the many ways the lack of emotional restraint costs individual investors. This usually comes in the form of fear and greed and greed has certainly led to the financial undoing of many investors in the most recent market crash. I think most people are aware at how emotions affect their spending. We humans should take a lesson from Mr. Spock and learn to govern our emotions.

Learn how to spot your emotional triggers when spending.

Learn how to take the emotion out of investing.

Don’t be an extra in a red shirt.

It’s almost an unstated requirement of the original series: The extra in the red shirt always dies first. Anytime you see Spock, McCoy and Kirk beam down to an alien planet with some schlub in a red shirt, you know one of them isn’t coming back.

This has meaning in our professional lives - employment. The lesson is to be indispensable at work or risk being the guy in the red shirt who gets laid off at the first sign of trouble.

Learn how to Keep your Job Amidst Layoffs.

Live long, and Prosper.

Long term goals and discipline may not lead to long life, but they should lead to prosperity. Plan for the long haul, set your sights on the goal and work toward it.

It’s all about the Camaraderie.

Besides the conflict of emotion vs. intellect, the core of the original Star Trek was about 3 friends: Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Don’t believe me? Watch Star Trek - The Motion Picture (TMP) and The Wrath of Khan back to back sometime and tell me if you don’t see the difference. TMP is an excellent Sci-fi movie, but a lousy Star Trek movie. Kirk, Spock and McCoy are little more than scenery. Contrast that to The Wrath of Khan, in which the friends are practically tripping over one another to lay down their lives for the other. The message here is simple - There’s more to life than money, work and your career.

“There are always Possibilities”

At the end of The Wrath of Khan, Spock sacrifices himself so that his friends can escape certain death. As the sun comes over the planetary horizon of Genesis, Kirk says to himself:

All is well. And yet I can’t help wondering about the friend I leave behind. “There are always possibilities,” Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again

Of course, Spock miraculously come back from the dead in Star Trek III. Don’t you love Hollywood? The lesson here is inspirational, but real: Often times when things seem their bleakest, it is the source of great opportunity. But to seize such opportunity, you must be prepared and ready when it appears.

Learn how to Brighten the Path to Prosperity Even in a Dark Tunnel.

Great things can be achieved with the right balance.

Matter and Anti-matter, when mixed properly, can propel a star ship faster than the speed of light. If you maintain the proper balance between work and family, then what you achieve can sometimes seem impossible and just as rewarding.

Don’t make personal enemies.

In the original story titled “The Space Seed”, James T. Kirk meets and later maroons Khan Noonien Singh (after he attempts to take over the Enterprise) on an isolated planet. Flash forward 20 some years later, and Khan is a bitter twisted man who’s only motivation in life is to see James Kirk split into his constituent particles and scattered across the known universe.

I know, you can’t please all the people all of the time, but be careful who you piss off and how you handle it or they may come back to haunt you.

I’m a Doctor, not a scriptwriter!

One of the often parodied parts of the original Star Trek series was the many utterances of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. One of his favorites was “Damnit Jim, I’m a Dr. not a ___” fill in the blank with the appropriate task at hand.

The message here is a timeless one: Focus on your strengths. History is replete with examples of talented, often gifted people who never succeed simply because they didn’t play to their strengths. We can’t all be great public speakers, or have a natural aptitude in mathematics. Know your strengths and weaknesses, avoid the latter and favor the former.

Jim Kirk doesn’t believe in the no-win scenario, and neither do I.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is all about the no-win scenario. In The Wrath of Khan, this scenario is a battle simulation called The Kobayashi Maru. Do what James T. Kirk does - change the rules, be creative and improvise. Maybe your personal Kobayashi Maru is being laid off from work. Often times, when full time employment is difficult to find, part time jobs abound. Take a part time job, and supplement your income with other sources - freelance, turn a hobby into a side job, sell things on eBay. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination, but you’ll never know unless you believe in yourself enough to try.

Live long, and prosper.

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Comments

2 Responses to “What Star Trek Taught me About Personal Finance.”

  1. Tommy
    May 8th, 2009 @ 4:42 pm

    We can learn many valuable things from movies.

  2. Jake @ Dollar Commentary
    December 3rd, 2009 @ 3:47 am

    It’s funny that I come across this post because I just finished writing my own article about Star Trek and finances here at http://www.dollarcommentary.com. The post here includes several points that I hadn’t thought about.

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