The New York Times reported in June 2016 that the 37-year-old creator of the hit Broadway musical 'Hamilton' was positioned to make more than $6 million that year alone, thanks to his multiple roles (author, actor, rights-holder) in the production.
But it wasn't always that way.
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While this Business Insider article is common in its message, that credit score is important, it's catchy title and and popular spin made it click bait gold. The message itself, build credit, is critical and bites you in the end if you're not prepared. While Lin-Manuel Miranda just happens to be one of the many people who don’t start credit early enough using his name in combination with big numbers like 6 million really draws attention to credit score. While the article itself is slightly deceptive the title, “The creator of Broadway hit 'Hamilton' shares the money advice he wishes he'd known in his 20s” suggests something more unique or unheard of instead of the everyday credit score. Not that it isn't important, good credit saves you money in the long run, but I feel cheated. I wanted something more exciting or more usefull for 6 million dollars of profit.
I was expecting this article to be about the phenomenon that after a certain level of material wealth, usually said to be around $50,000 a year, money does not increase your happiness. Although I don’t assume that Lin Manuel Miranda is a particularly material person, but there is still an underlying assumption in American culture that we have all internalized more money will make you happier and that personal revelation that that is not true must be a slightly unsettling experience. There is a difference between not believing something to be true and actually firsthand experiencing that it is not true. What this article actually offers is very practical advice for young professionals.The problem with finances is you assume you want to wait until you have a steady income to begin making “adult” financial decisions, but in reality, you want to begin as young as possible. In Cake Every Day we had a class where Michael Murphy came in and talked about managing your finances and I think that as students and artists this is not something we consciously think about enough. Either we assume we can just “get by” for now and we will be financially responsible later, or that we don’t live a life where those kinds of practices, like making invests, applies to us. Of course, the reality is that as freelancers, artists have to be perhaps even more conscientious about their finances than other people and keeping track of your credit report and credit scores as well as building good credit is a good place to begin.
The first thing that popped out when I was reading this was that Lin is expected to earn 6 million dollars this year just for Hamilton. He still will be earning money from Moana along with his upcoming movie of Mary Poppins along with royalties from theaters doing In The Heights. This man is going to have an excessive amount of money by the end of this year and he deserves it so much. I did not think that Lin would not have had a credit card before opening a show on Broadway but I guess I was wrong. This man waited years to open a credit card. I found it slightly funny that a working Broadway professional had to ask his father to co-sign his mortgage since he did not have any credit. This was surprising since he was a substitute teacher and had a steady flow of income even before his show opened off Broadway so I would have assumed he would have a credit card. Good for him for being overly responsible.
This article didn't have as much information as I was expecting/hoping for but it was still interesting to read. I thought the article was going to be more about how Lin Manuel Miranda handled the massive amounts of money he made from In The Heights, and how that in turn eventually prepared him for the monsoon of cash and awards from Hamilton, Moana, being revered as a god, etc. it is pretty crazy to think about the idea that one can get by in the world without using a credit card for that long. Admittedly, I don't entirely understand credit or a ton of financial things. I've had a debit card since I turned eighteen, and I've been perfectly content with that. I don't 100% get why it's necessary to switch to a credit card, or what the benefits of a credit card over a debit card would be. For me, debit cards are the easiest things ever. It just takes money right out of my account, and I don't have to worry about it. Credit cards require you to like pay your bill at the end of each period I think? Which is fine I guess it's just more things to worry about that I wouldn't have to care about if I was using a debit card. I guess I'll have to do more research about this, but it seems like credit cards are only useful for building a good credit score, which is importan yes but there must be more.
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