"Stuntin like my daddy" was the first song on the album, "Like Father, Like Son," issued by Lil Wayne and Birdman in 2006. "Stuntin" is a hip hop term synonymous with "flossing," blinging," and "balling." It means that you've engaged in excessive spending to ensure that you have the finest of everything and are even willing to live at the edge of your means in order to present appropriate status symbols to the world. Anyone who follows hip hop knows that you should never take financial advice from a rapper. In light of the recent passing of their father, I sincerely hope that the children of Michael Jackson didn't hear the Lil Wayne song, since their daddy's financial "stuntin" before his death has left the children with a conflicted economic legacy.
On one hand, we shouldn't feel sorry for Michael Jackson's kids, at least not financially. Their father's amazing talent gives them a brand that is literally worth well over a billion dollars in future royalties and licensing fees. Michael Jackson may have died physically. But financially, he is still a viable and overwhelmingly powerful corporate entity.
One the other hand, Michael's financial excess is the stuff of legend. On his Neverland Estate, Jackson had a 50 seat cinema, a personal fairground and a zoo. He lived like royalty, for he and his entourage truly considered him to be a King. In some ways Jackson was a more socially commanding figure than a monarch, but spending $20 million per year more than you earn is a great way to end up in bankruptcy court.
The first call the Jackson family should make is to Yolanda, the wife of Muhammad Ali, and here's the reason why:
Yolanda, unlike Muhammad Ali's other wives, didn't marry the boxer when he was still young enough to jump into the ring and make money. She married him when he was 45 years old, nearly broke and falling ill to brain damage resulting from years of being pounded in the skull. As a fighter, the Muhammad Ali we knew was gone. But Yolanda had something that neither Don King, nor anyone else seemed to possess: a genuine concern for Muhammad and the ability to help him manage and liquidate his financial brand.
Since his marriage to Yolanda in 1986, Muhammad Ali has gained wealth and universal admiration that he never possessed as a young, lightning quick fighter. Yolanda put her MBA to use and negotiated deals that were sound and fair for her husband. She made sure that money was not spent with extravagance. Thanks to her being able to make something out of what appeared to be nothing, the Ali family now has major dough in the bank, all of which was created without her husband laying out a single punch.
Any financial advisor for Michael Jackson's children must possess qualities similar to Yolanda Ali: The advisors must be savvy, prudent, stern and must genuinely care about Jackson's kids. Most importantly, this person has the great challenge of learning how to make money from the Michael Jackson brand without doing a single moonwalk or concert. That's going to take some hard work, planning and intense discipline.
The bottom line is this: I sincerely hope that the Jackson kids don't grow up "stuntin like their daddy." Instead, they should be "SCRUPULOUSLY stuntin BECAUSE of their daddy": Their advisors should be trustworthy individuals who can delicately realize the value of Michael Jackson's legacy and grow it into the financial empire it was meant to become. They also need to tell some of their original financial managers to "Beat it" (sorry, I just had to say that). Yes, the Jackson children have certainly been left with a challenging situation (half a billion dollars in debt is no joke), but the truth is that their father left them quite a bit to work with.
Without question, Michael Jackson has had a very interesting life. But in some ways, the most interesting part of Michael Jackson's existence has actually just begun.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of "Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets With Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good." For more information, please visit www.DrBoyceMoney.com. To get Dr. Boyce commentary delivered directly to your email box, please click here.
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