What $100k can buy
When you think about Taylor Swift’s bonus checks for her employees, it’s a lesson in leadership.
Every employee got $100k.
No matter what their role, she recognized they gave all they had to The Eras Tour.
And they all got the same reward.
That’s not even the mind-blowing part.
I’ve been reading up on estate planning. And why a gift at a milestone — graduation, opportunity to start a business, etc. — is more valuable than some check delivered after your death.
It’s more valuable to them because they don’t have to pay the death tax, which is 50%.
Moreover, they can do the thing when they’re young rather than not have that opportunity anymore.
We heard wonderful, heartwarming stories from Taylor’s truck drivers and dancers. They could pay their kids’ college. They could give their babies a good life. They can get a real apartment.
That’s the spirit of the gift. But I’d take it one step further.
They danced and worked their asses off for two years.
With $100k, you can live for a year without worrying about the next job.
You can really say, hey, let me devote myself to my craft and master it.
Or you can reinvent yourself without worrying where the next rent payment comes from.
If I’d been, say, 32 and gotten $100k — damn. I worked hard. I worked SO hard. But I was making $30k a year. And living in an expensive city (D.C.).
Now don’t get me wrong, I got a wonderful $10k gift from my great-Uncle Stan (and his late wife Josie) before I started college.
I spent that over time — on books, on rent, not on anything all at once.
My grandmother had said just buy a car with it. Which I thought was insane — why not let the money collect interest?
Hindsight, neither of us was right or wrong. What could I have done with the car, other than not afford school? Maybe moved, maybe went to NYC and starred on “The Real World” first season, who knows.
(I am dreaming, I know.)
In any event, Taylor said how she thinks of her dancers and singers as little kids, dreaming of a day like this.
And she thinks of them in their future careers as mentors or whatever they want to be.
I think of them a year after the tour. Rested, recharged, time to let the injuries heal, what their brain chemistry must look like.
I got a taste of that when my last job fired me and handed me two months’ pay.
Fortunately, I wasn’t unemployed for two months.
But I did take six weeks to myself.
To do nothing. Just hang out with mom and go to appointments and drink iced tea on the beach.
This is why I get Europeans now. Holidays are important. So is healthcare.
I used to respect the hustle culture here. But honestly, how many weekends and vacations are haunted by your job.
If not the work itself, by the fear they will live without you and fire you.
I mean, I’ve literally spent four hours blogging about work between Saturday and Sunday.
Maybe if I empty my damn head now, I can do the work itself.
In any event, yes I wish someone would hand me AND MY STAFF $100k each to do as we please.
I’d probably invest it. So would they.
But still. One year with nothing to worry about.
Wonder what kind of dividends that would pay — to the company, not just to us in solid stock picks.
I bet the company would benefit more than all our accounts combined.