Those of us who lived part of our childhood or adolescence between the 80s and 90s, but also those who were or are passionate about those decades, saw the films of Rocky. And we probably not only saw them: we enjoyed them, we suffered them, we made them our own. We play to be Rocky Balboa punching a pillow, we repeat famous phrases from the saga, we debate about which of the rivals of Rocky it was more difficult and we even played jumping stairs to reach the top with our arms raised, jumping, humming or shouting the music from the movie.
We all know what happens in these kinds of movies: the beggar beats the millionaire, goodness over evil. It does not disappoint in that, nor in the romanticism (Rocky gets engaged to the neighborhood neighbor, an employee of a pet store), nor in the intensity of the boxing match. And a first success leads to a saga: in Rocky III fight again apollo creed, the revenge between champions; in Rocky III an evil character appears, Clubber Lang, played by a famous of the time: Mr T, protagonist of the series Brigade A; in Rocky IVthe scenery moves to the Soviet Unionwhere the American boxer not only faces Ivan Drago, but also to communism; in Rocky Valready retired, reappears Balboa to train a young man; then there is another film, Rocky Balboawhere he fights for pride against the young man of the moment.
What does not appear in this list is side B. An edge that we have internalized, that we see as part of everyday life, that we accept as something normal. As the slogan of a cable channel says: “It happens in the movies, it happens in life, it happens in TNT“
Let’s review:
- After the success in the first combat, in the second film Rocky he fights again because he needs money. Everything she earned, millions of dollars, he spent on luxuries. The waste left him bankrupt. Ignorance, lack of education (in general, financial included) and advice played against him. He did not know how to manage his arrival at the top.
- In the third, money is no longer a problem, but it is present as rarely. Rocky lives in a mansion, has plenty of money, sponsors, is famous and a millionaire, holds exhibition fights to earn more money, without any risk of losing what he has achieved (until the aforementioned Clubber Lang and the story focuses on boxing).
- In the fourth, money is central in another way: Rocky leaves his luxuries and comforts to go to train in a Soviet town where there is no gym or machines or electricity: he walks on mountains of snow, lifts logs, hangs from wooden beams while his rival takes advantage of the advanced technology obtained by the privileged of the communist system. It is a delivery that, on the other hand, perfectly describes the final times of the Cold War that characterized the post-war world. Unfortunately, Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, which we took advantage of to repudiate in the strongest possible terms from this space, shows us – once again – the tendency that human beings have to repeat the mistakes of the past. But let’s continue with Rocky…
- In the fifth worldly problems return: Rocky discovers that he was cheated by an advisor and is, again, without money. He needs money, he wants to box again, but his health does not allow it. He ends up meeting a young man and sets out to train him. He does it out of pride, but mostly out of necessity. Finally, fight him.
- In the sixth, retired and several years old, back in the neighborhood of his childhood, he manages an Italian restaurant that sums up an economic situation that is infinitely less comfortable than it could have been. He wants to be something. Someone. He thinks about opening a training center, although he finally fights against the young boxer of the moment. For pride, since a large part of the profits will be donated.
At first glance, we have a common problem: hasty fame, lack of advice, lack of planning for an estate achieved without even dreaming of it. A reality all too common in soccer players, basketball players, athletes in general, and also in artists. That’s what I talk about in my latest book, Estate Planning for Celebrities, but that’s rarely talked about in life. Because that is, for us, life. What we see and go through.
We live with famous people in ruins; with family members who do bad business and lose what they have achieved; with children who have to take care of family debts; with fights between brothers for the goods of the companies of the parents. It is so common that later, when these stories reach the big screen, they are a success (the last case, perhaps, is Succession, the series in which four brothers fight to be the heirs of their father, a successful businessman). Because they are our stories. Our history.
That’s why I wanted to talk about Rocky this time. To remember it and remember with it what we experience daily without paying so much attention to it, or without looking for realistic solutions, generally – with good advice – within reach. No, we do not have to see it as something normal that someone earns a lot of money and loses it right away. We do not have to see it as something normal that family businesses end up generating problems among successors. We do not have to see as normal that when our parents die we have to see what we do with family assets. No. There are many tools to avoid it. To organize. To foresee. To plan. That should be normal. And it is a battle that, like the one we face against tax hells, in favor of tax competition and freedom, we have to win.
* Martin A. Litwak (@MartinLitwak), author of the book Estate Planning for Celebrities, founder and CEO of Untitled SLC.
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Let’s talk about Rocky Balboa
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