Financial Lessons from Darth Vader

So we all know the infamous Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. He is arguably one of the best villains of all time. But love him or hate him, he made a few critical errors that so many people make. Let’s learn from the mishaps of the great Darth Vader.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

So if you remember the basic story behind the Star Wars Trilogy… oh and I should clarify that I’m primarily talking about the original trilogy and not those horrible movies about Anakin… but anyways, the basic story is about the Rebel Alliance trying to destroy the Death Star. That’s the crux of the overall conflict.

Now what’s wrong with this? The thing that is wrong is that the Empire decided to put all of their eggs in one basket. They put so much focus on the Death Star that destroying it would be a huge victory for the Rebel Alliance. And as we all know, it eventually was a big victory.

The same happens in our own lives. We think we have the winning stock or the perfect business plan or the key customer, but the problem is that if we put all of our resources into a single thing, we usually end up losing everything when that single source of income gets eliminated. When the Rebel Alliance destroyed the first Death Star, it left the Empire in a vulnerable state. When you lose everything in an all out effort to get rich quick, you will definitely be in a vulnerable state.

Be wary of involving family

Mixing family and business or money is a dangerous place to be. When Darth Vader brought Luke Skywalker into the family business of the Dark Side, it caused some definite conflicts. Luke wanted his dad to come back to the Light Side but Vader wanted Luke to join the Dark Side and all hell broke loose. In fact, it made Vader make a tough decision between watching his son die or killing his boss. Not a good place to be in.

When you let family get involved in financial matters, things can get ugly. Loaning money to family is almost always a recipe for disaster. If the family member can’t pay back the money it can strain the relationship. It’s hard to take a family member to court to get the money back but it’s also money that came out of your pocket.

Bringing family members into the family business is also hard. Often times the family member doesn’t perform up to expectations and you are faced with the tough choice of whether to fire them or not. If you do fire them, your relationship can become strained. If you don’t fire them, your business suffers. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place.

Don’t be like Darth Vader

Seriously. The weird breathing suit. The short temper. It just doesn’t work.

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