Learn about Finance from the Movie "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" (2024)

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This film not only invites us to be more attentive to our parents, but also teaches many financial planning lessons.

The family drama film from Thailand, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, which is currently showing in Indonesia, has succeeded in inviting people to come to the cinema in droves to watch it. Not only did it succeed in inviting sympathy and tears, this film also contains many lessons about financial planning so that our lives and families can be happier and more prosperous.

Quoting data from Klikfilm, the party that brought this film to Indonesia, as of Saturday (25/5/2024), this film has been watched 1.35 million times since its premiere on 15 May 2024 in cinemas throughout Indonesia. This record made the film the best-selling Thai film ever shown on the Indonesian big screen.

Also read: The Elderly and the Importance of Comprehensive Social Care Services

Due to the high demand and virality of this film on social media, Falcon Pictures even brought the film's director, Pat Boonnitipa, to hold a press conference in Jakarta last Saturday. The number of viewers is still potential to increase as this film is still being shown in several cinemas at the time of writing.

The film How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies tells the story of an unemployed young man and a school dropout who every day hopes for his luck from game content creators. One day, M, the young man, suddenly had to "swerve" to care for his grandmother who was sick with cancer.

Hoping for an inheritance

Behind his good attitude, M actually wants to be his grandmother's favorite grandchild. With the hope of receiving an inheritance without having to work hard.

Aside from its heartwarming story and the film's success in Indonesian theaters, there is another aspect that can serve as a lesson for the community, namely financial planning. Through more thoughtful financial planning, families can live happily and prosperously.

Also read: Creating Quality and Happy Seniors

In this film, Amah, the elderly grandmother, lives a simple life amidst economic limitations. Every day, she still has to sell cakes in the market to make ends meet. Even when she finds out that she has advanced stage cancer, Amah still routinely wakes up early in the morning to prepare her cakes for sale.

The late husband of Amah did not leave enough money for her. Meanwhile, Amah's three children are also preoccupied with their own financial affairs. When Amah was diagnosed with cancer, her children had to take turns to finance her chemotherapy treatment.

From this story, we can learn the importance of planning financial preparations for old age. In her article in Kompas (18/5/2024), financial planner Prita Hapsari Ghozie said that old age has actually entered the retirement period or is already the post-productive period. Therefore, ideally, someone should prepare funds for old age from their productive period.

At the age of 20, someone should ideally start saving and investing. As for the age of 30, it is ideal for someone to continue developing their abilities and skills to have added value. Then at the age of 40, they should have a wider network. All of these serve as capital for entering the retirement age of the following decade.

Also read: The Importance of Securing Old Age

In addition, referring to Prita's article, in general, every employee is highly recommended to participate in the program provided by BP Jamsostek. In this way, at least 5.7 percent of the income is guaranteed to go into the Retirement Benefits savings account.

Employees can also voluntarily participate in the Financial Institutions Pension Fund (DPLK) program. Moreover, contributions, investment returns, and future pension benefits payments also receive tax incentives from the government. Another recommended alternative is building a self-managed pension fund that is carried out until retirement.

Not only preparing for funds in old age, but it is also equally important to prepare insurance. By becoming an insurance customer, the cost of treatment for various diseases can be covered by the insurance company.

The Chairman of the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI), Budi Tampubolon, often reminds us that as we age, the risks increase, especially in terms of health. As we get older, we become more susceptible to illness and complications. Insurance preparation will make us feel more at ease if we become ill and not burden our families.

Assets and debts

Another financial lesson that can be taken from this film is about assets and debts. In the film, M explicitly regarded her grandmother as an investment asset in a conversation with her cousin.

M hopes that when Amah passes away, the inheritance of the house, even though it is not much, can become his property. Because he has been a good grandson who has taken care of his grandmother. Like an investment asset, when it reaches maturity, it will provide returns.

Nevertheless, reality differs from expectation. Instead, Amah bequeathed the house to her youngest child or M's uncle. M eventually realized the importance of taking care of his grandmother selflessly.

He was still disappointed because Amah gave the inherited house to his Uncle instead. Despite the fact that his Uncle has a gambling hobby and is currently buried under a mountain of debt from loan sharks.

Family relationships are indeed not the same as the logic of financial investment instruments. Amah's decision is based on her love and responsibility as a mother to continue to help her adult child, even though they are full of mistakes.

Also read: Productive Generation Planning for Old Age

Immediately after inheriting the heritage house, Uncle sold it to pay off his debts. This action by Uncle is in line with the concept of accounting.

In the field of accounting, we know that assets are the combination of capital or equity plus debt. However, when the equity is nil while debts are piling up, asset sales are necessary to cover the debt.