In 1937, an independent repertory theatre company called “Mercury Theatre” emerged from the creative minds of two future Hollywood legends and onto the Broadway stage. The next year, CBS radio hired its twenty-two year-old prodigy cofounder to produce a series of radio broadcasts.

On July 11, 1938, First Person Singular aired its first broadcast, a dramatic reenactment of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” Shortly before Halloween that year, it became The Mercury Theatre on the Air. On the evening of October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and his cast produced a modernized--and Americanized--version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, simultaneously spooking hundreds of thousands (some say millions) of Americans and forever imprinting the “genius” status on Welles.

Three years after making radio history, Welles made motion picture industry with the film Citizen Kane. Its innovations have become so copied by movies since then that modern viewers merely shrug when exposed to its creative cinematography, storytelling techniques, and its realistic make-up that allowed, among others, Welles to play the same character from vibrant young adult to stodgy old man.

Read: Help savers put a spring in their step

Lost in the drama of its epic tale, though, are revealing lessons of the level of fiduciary literacy at the time.

We would do well to require all financial service providers (and their clients) to watch this movie with the following lesson plan in their hand.

Think of this checklist of 12 important scenes, feelings, and emotions conveyed by Citizen Kane as requisite rules of money and money management we should all embrace.

Money allows you to lift your condition. When the young Charles Foster Kane’s mother finds she has inherited the deed to a profitable mine, she sees it as a way for her only child to escape the wilderness that imprisons her family. Needless to say, it worked.
A good fiduciary knows when to say “no.” To many in the world of trust banking, Walter Parks Thatcher, Kane’s legal guardian, is both the hero of the movie and the ultimate role model. He comes across as the stern father figure, repeatedly using his role as trustee to admonish the young--and at times reckless--Kane.
A good fiduciary manages the affairs of the beneficiary in a dignified and conservative manner. As Kane’s foil--and in so many words of Kane--Thatcher represents everything Kane hates. Kane is a flamboyant, spoiled, rich kid--and he knows it. So does Thatcher, but Thatcher sees more.
Money is there to be spent, not just earned. When Thatcher questions the sustainability of Kane’s finances, Kane agrees he’s lost a million dollars and says he expects to lose another million dollars net year. At this rest, says Kane, he’ll have to close his business… in sixty years. This is the ultimate expression of “you can’t take it with you.” Too many people forget that.
A good fiduciary stays loyal but knows when to say step out of the way. Mr. Bernstein, Kane’s faithful employee, minds his business in two ways, both from a business standpoint and from a personal standpoint.
Money can buy expertise. One week, all the top editors work for your rival. The next week, they work for you.
Money allows you to broaden your interests. Look at the massive collection of “stuff” in and about the ground of Xanadu, Kane’s stately mansion and inspiration for “Burn’s Manor” on The Simpsons.
Money allows you to explore strange new worlds. Wherever you go, there you are (can you name that movie reference), and Kane certainly had no compunction against travel.
Money allows you to ignore convention. This is what best defines Kane, who, even as he runs for office, defiantly rejects society’s rules--and pays for it dearly in the polls. Does he care? Does Trump?
A good fiduciary continues to look out for the best interests of the beneficiary even when he’s no longer obligated to. Kane, with his tail between his legs, eventually returns to Thatcher, who provides one last act of good will.
Money buys opportunity, not happiness. Along the way, every character is consumed by Kane’s millions, each thinking it will buy them happiness. It doesn’t, but it does give them plenty of (mostly squandered) opportunities and a heck of a lot of memories.
Money cannot replace your one true love. The movie opens with Kane’s last breath, as he utters his realization of all that really mattered to him--and it was there long before the money was there.

If you’d like to see how other movies (perhaps a bit more recent than Citizen Kane) impact our understanding of financial literacy, read “Summer Blockbusters: Movies that Teach Rights and Wrongs of Financial Literacy,” (FiduciaryNews.com, August 11, 2015).

Instant Insights /

12 lessons for fiduciaries from The Greatest Movie of All Time

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You