Discover Four Money Lessons I Actually Got From the Movie Pretty Woman

I recently re-watched the movie Pretty Woman. I remember the first time I saw the movie. I was probably 19 or 20 years old and a college student. I still lived at home with my family and commuted to school to save money. Granny came for a visit and brought the movie on VHS tape for us to watch.

This was one of my first exposures to an R rated movie. My mom was SUPER protective and even though I was an adult, I was still very much under her rules.

I remember feeling super excited. I was excited to watch a movie that got rave reviews while it was in the theatre, but also excited to watch something that was normally taboo, with Mom sitting right there.

The movie itself is a romantic comedy, but pushes the envelope into new territory. And one for sure that speaks to the desire we each have to not only find love, but to also have more money.

The lead male character, Edward, is a rich businessman. He has lots of money in his own right, but also has access to lots more.

On the other hand, the lead female character, Vivian, is dodging her landlord because she doesn’t have rent money. She grew up with no money, came to LA with a guy and when she found herself single and unable to pay the bills, so she turns to the streets.

As I was re-watching the movie, it struck me that the movie is full of financial dichotomy. You get a look into the lives of the wealthy as well as the lives of the poor.

At the same time, there are some major similarities in how the two characters relate to money.

· Money drives both of their worlds. For Vivian, it’s the constant worry and stress of not having enough for basic needs. For Edward it’s the desire to grow his wealth.

· They both state that they “never joke about money.” For Vivian, she can’t afford to joke about it because she literally is on the knife edge. For Edward, he is negotiating big deals and he wants to make as much as possible on each deal.

· Master negotiators. I see both of these characters as masters at getting what they want. Knowing what needs to be done to get the money they want/need.

There is one scene where Edward decides he wants to hire Vivian to stay with him for the whole week that he is in town. He tells her that he has a business proposition and explains what he wants. Vivian immediately starts her wheels turning about how much money she can get.

They settle on a sum of $3000 for the week. For Vivian, this is a literal life changing amount of money. For Edward, it literally is pocket change.

I think every single human being falls on this spectrum somewhere. There are amounts of money that would change our life and there are also amounts of money that fells like it has no pull of loss on our financial success.

Maybe because of what I do for a living, but this time watching I clearly saw some money lessons in the movie. Here are four that stand out to me.

1 — Keep your Eyes Open to Opportunity. Both of these characters have their eyes open to opportunity around them. And this is a skill that I think as a general rule gets lost to many of us in the shuffle of life. We get so bogged down in our day-to-day activities that we forget to keep our eyes open to all life’s opportunities for more money.

I always tell my clients that when we start looking for our money to come from one specific place, then we close ourselves off to the abundance of the universe. Being open to money coming from anywhere is one crucial step that can mean the difference of growing wealth, or staying stuck with just enough to cover the bills.

2 — Live in Possibility. This goes hand in hand with opportunity. But it is more nuanced and definitely worthy of its own bullet point. For me being open to possibility means that I can see things that I wouldn’t normally see. It allows me to get a new perspective. It keeps me in a positive frame of mind.

When it comes to money, all of those things are important. When we live in possibility with our money, we see ourselves in a different light. We see how our life will change when we have more money. And what that does is lets our powerful mind begin to figure out the problem and get us what we are envisioning.

On the other hand, if we stay closed off from what is possible for us, we stay stuck. We see only what is in our bank account right now and that can feel like it will never change or grow the way we want it to.

3 — Avoid Complacency. I think the movie starts out with Edward feeling a bit complacent. He bought companies and sold them off for parts. That’s just what he did. It took Vivian’s curiosity and questions to really jolt him out of that place and see that he wasn’t happy.

Complacency does that to us too. It is easy to get comfortable with how we do things. The amount we save, the amount we spend, the amount we make and we lose sight of our dreams.

On the other hand, if we can allow ourselves to get a little uncomfortable sometimes, we can come out of complacency and get back into dreaming about what we truly want for our lives and money.

4 — Don’t be Afraid to Ask. One of my favorite things about both characters is that they are absolutely going to ask for what they want. Vivian didn’t hesitate to ask for a large amount of money when negotiating with Edward for that week of her life. And for sure Edward never hesitated. He knew what he wanted and he asked for it.

In our culture, talking about money is often a taboo subject. So, we can feel intimidated, shamed or judged for even bringing up the topic, let alone asking for what we want. And that certainly doesn’t serve us.

We absolutely must verbalize what we want. In fact, we often need to specifically ask. This simple action can change the course of a life.

When I look at my own life and experiences with money, I see that all four of these come into play when I’ve made life-altering choices. Here’s one example.

After quitting my corporate career, I burned through my savings while I was trying to build my business. With very little coming in, the savings started disappearing quickly. I was approached to go back to corporate work. I needed the money, but I didn’t want to give up the freedom that I’d had for two years.

Instead of missing an opportunity, forgetting possibility and staying complacent, I asked myself what would make me excited to go work for someone else again. And then, you guessed it…. I asked for it.

Not only did I get everything that I wanted, but I also got to go back to work that I’m really good at and do enjoy. And since it was on my own terms, I get my freedom and joy for life.

When I sat down to re-watch Pretty Woman, I never expected to find money lessons. But I sure did and I think they are good ones and wanted to share. I’d love to hear what you think; comment below and tell me what money lessons you get from Pretty Woman or your favorite movie.

Sherry Parks, CPA, is a Money Mindset Coach who helps women escape feeling trapped by their finances. She is passionate about helping women change mindset, emotions and actions regarding money, so that they learn to keep what they have and generate more.

Check out her 5 Steps to a Better Money Story workbook or join her women-only Facebook group More Than Enough Money Sisterhood.