Halfway through Dumb and Dumber, the story transitions from a road trip to a wish-fulfillment fantasy. The titular dumb and dumber friends Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne take a briefcase across the country to try to return it to a beautiful young woman who left it at an airport. Once they arrive in her hometown of Aspen, Colorado, they finally manage to get it open, and they’re shocked to find that it’s full of money.

They literally become millionaires overnight. They promise to be responsible with the money, but temptation gets the better of them almost immediately. This scene showcases the danger of getting rich through winning the lottery or receiving an unexpected inheritance. And I think it’s worth examining to ensure we don’t fall down a similar path of self-ruin.

Suddenly Wealthy

Lloyd and Harry are not rich men. In fact, they have been poor their whole lives. They spent every last penny they had to complete their road trip, and now they are in real danger of freezing to death in the Rocky Mountains. As soon as they realize that there’s no need to suffer any longer because they are in possession of a fortune, they could easily find a modest hotel to stay the night in and consider their options.

Instead, they seek out the most lavish place imaginable. And then they go shopping for unnecessary items in a newly bought Lamborghini, which is far above what they could ever need.

Of course, Dumb and Dumber is a comedy, not a tragedy, so it’s highlighting the absurdity of this moment rather than the jaw-dropping injustice of it. But it’s also teaching a critical lesson. It is easy to squander money. High-priced luxury items are sold to us as status symbols.

If we possess a Lamborghini, it must mean we have money, or so we’re told. But it’s actually quite untrue. If we have an expensive vehicle, it means one of two things: either we had the money and gave it to the seller, or we didn’t have the money and we financed the purchase to appear wealthier than we are. In both cases, we don’t have the money that went toward that vehicle.

The Value of Money

Notice the utter disregard that Lloyd and Harry have for the fabulous gift of wealth. They literally blow their noses with it like it was tissue paper. Laying the actual value of fiat currency aside, this demonstrates what happens when we don’t earn what we have. I’ve spent my whole life dreading debt and seeking to get out of it as quickly as possible when it was for an important purchase like a home. And this has taught me to value every dollar I’m able to save.

I’m now learning the value of investing, and I plan to get more into that to allow me to make money outside of my day job and be better prepared for hard times. Money (or the lack thereof) is a source of great suffering, and I would like to avoid many of the pitfalls I see in the world by not letting it be a source of stress in my life.

It’s a miracle that I bought my house at the bottom of the housing market in 2013, and I paid it off in 2022. This frees me to save all my money and grow it wisely. I’m not going to become a millionaire overnight like Lloyd and Harry, but that’s what I’m building up to.

I wish everyone could follow in my footsteps. It’s terrible what I keep hearing about housing being too expensive for everyone nowadays in Canada and many parts of the United States, not to mention other parts of the world.

What If

Imagine if Lloyd and Harry had put their newfound money into several high-yield CDs, mutual funds, and other means of making more money. Then they wouldn’t have been stuck with a briefcase full of worthless IOUs at the end. Maybe when they saved Mary and her husband, she would have been generous and let them keep the money. They would have been set up for life. Alas, this is a comedy, and so that wouldn’t have been as funny as them spending all the money on frivolous nonsense and then winding up with nothing but the shirts on their backs.

Too many times this same story plays out in real life. People win the lottery and have less within a few years than they had before they hit the jackpot. That’s because they weren’t ready for wealth. They thought that wealth was ownership of expensive items, but it’s the opposite. To have wealth, one must refrain from buying things that make life more expensive.

Did Lloyd and Harry think about how much insurance they would have to pay for their Lamborghini, how much gas it takes, or what it costs to do an oil change or other maintenance on it? Doubtful. But all those expenses add up fast. Spending money is more attractive than saving it, though it’s certainly less profitable.

A Proposal

I propose not being like Lloyd and Harry. They demonstrate most explicitly why the adage that a fool and his money are soon parted is true. Nothing in life prepared them to be wealthy, so they retained their old foolish habits and quickly returned to the status quo of having nothing. If that is what we are used to, we will feel right at home when we return to it.

Let us not be dumb and dumber when it comes to money, but humble and modest. Those don’t seem to be words that would ever be attached to wealth, but I believe they should be. After all, the accumulation of wealth implies that it is kept and spent wisely, not spent with abandon like it’s Christmas until it runs out and we’re Dunne.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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