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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'I Took It Out Like Very Judiciously,' Sarah Jessica Parker Reflects On Stretching $40 For 3 Days Early In Her Career
Small withdrawals, big dreams: Before "Sex and the City," 18-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker lived on royalty checks from CBS's 1982–83 sitcom "Square Pegs." She deposited the earnings into a checking account and, facing unpredictable audition work, made small withdrawals to pay rent, buy rice, and cover subway fare. Parker told host Alexandra Cooper on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast recently that she knew exactly how much money she had in the bank and tried to "get by on $40 for three days," calling the routine "security in being able to pay your bills." Don't Miss: The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can The discipline still shows. Parker told Vogue in 2021 that she has kept "every single solitary thing" worn by Carrie Bradshaw—her fashion-obsessed columnist alter ego—across all six seasons of the HBO series, its two movies and the revival, "And Just Like That..." Early Hustle On $40 "By the time I moved out on my own at 18, I had a little money in the bank ... and I took it out like very judiciously," Parker recalled. She described how she managed her limited resources early on—tracking every coin and prioritizing rent over instant gratification. "There's security in financial gain, security in being able to pay your bills," she said during the same interview. After renting a walk-up near Manhattan's garment district, she tracked every coin in a pencil ledger. That habit made her prioritize rent over instant gratification. It also shaped how she negotiates streaming-era contracts. Trending: Accredited Investors: Grab Pre-IPO Shares of the AI Company Powering Hasbro, Sephora & MGM— Inflation Hits Harder Today The Bureau of Labor Statistics' data shows $40 in 1983 is worth approximately $129 today—a near threefold increase. In June 2022, inflation surged 9.1%, the largest jump since 1981. As of June, overall inflation has cooled to approximately 2.7%, with food-at-home prices rising 2.4% year-over-year. Meanwhile, grocery prices—tracked under "food at home"—have increased about 24% since January 2020. Those figures explain why a $40‑a‑week rule barely covers transit and lunch today—and why freelancers, with incomes that often lag inflation, can feel financially squeezed. Buckets Beat Envelopes Freelancers often face irregular income, so organizing funds by purpose — a strategy many call the "bucket approach" — can improve financial clarity and prevent overspending. Fidelity recommends setting up separate accounts for each savings goal, which simplifies tracking and helps avoid accidental firm also advises keeping short-term goal funds separate from daily spending or emergency reserves. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority encourages dividing objectives into short-, medium- and long-term horizons, and allocating funds accordingly for clearer goal visibility. Building A Safety Net A simple three-account structure supports financial stability: one for recurring expenses such as bills, a second for savings goals like emergency or retirement funds, and a third for discretionary spending. Fidelity supports tracking savings by goal through separate accounts, while FINRA recommends aligning account types with timeframes — for example, using high-yield savings for near-term needs and investment accounts for long-term goals. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau emphasizes maintaining a dedicated emergency fund, which is crucial for freelancers facing income volatility. Read Next: Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'I Took It Out Like Very Judiciously,' Sarah Jessica Parker Reflects On Stretching $40 For 3 Days Early In Her Career originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
CNBC
25-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Sarah Jessica Parker used to get by on $40 for 3 days—it taught her there's 'security in being able to pay your bills'
Before the fame, fashion or multi-million dollar deals, "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker used to make $40 stretch for three days, she told podcast host Alex Cooper on a recent episode of "Call Her Daddy." When Parker moved out on her own at 18, she only had "a little money in the bank" from her role on the 1980s CBS sitcom "Square Pegs," she said. So, as she went out for auditions, uncertain of when the next big job would come, she would withdraw her money "very judiciously," she said — only allowing herself $40 around twice a week for her day-to-day expenses. Adjusting for inflation, $40 in 1983, when Parker was 18, would be around $132 today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI inflation calculator. Although Parker said she was more driven in her early career by her desire to perform than by fame or money, she also acknowledged that financial stability mattered: "There's security in financial gain" and "security in being able to pay your bills," she said. While Parker's restrictive budgeting may have worked for her short-term, focusing on day-to-day spending isn't the most effective way to strategize and save as a freelancer, gig worker or artist today, says Christopher Haigh, CEO of Icono Capital, a financial advisory firm. "Budgeting for freelancers and gig workers shouldn't be about rationing pennies or envelope systems, it should be about building a system that absorbs volatility," Haigh says. "If you're relying on extreme budgeting methods to stay afloat, that's a sign your financial foundation is cracked." Even with unpredictable income, you can still develop sustainable budgeting strategies, Haigh says. Here's how to juggle those ups and downs and start shifting out of scarcity mode, according to a financial pro. The first step to building a budget is understanding what you're actually spending, Haigh says. In order to evaluate that amount, he says, take a close look at your last three months of expenses. Once you have a good idea of where your money is going on a consistent basis, you can stop guessing and start planning with real numbers, Haigh says. That's when you can start utilizing his "bucketing strategy," where you allocate percentages of your income into different "buckets" every time you earn money. As opposed to tiered budgeting, where you assign fixed dollar amounts to spending categories for every month, a bucket strategy divvies up your expenses by percentage of your income. That can provide flexibility for the fluctuations in income that freelancers, gig workers and artists often need to navigate, Haigh says. "Every time you make a dollar, it should be allocated to particular buckets no matter what," he says. The buckets for a freelancer or gig worker with minimal income should start out fairly basic, he says: Even if the amount you're putting into savings doesn't feel like much, developing good habits early can help you reach your goals later on, Haigh says. Using a budgeting app like Tiller, Monarch Money or Copilot can also help you automate those habits and take part of the load off your plate, he adds. And although it can be difficult to put money aside with inconsistent income, maintaining an emergency fund is especially important if you're likely to encounter weeks or months without work, Haigh says. He recommends freelancers or gig workers put away at least six months of basic living expenses, if possible, which is more than the three months he typically recommends for W-2 workers, he says. If putting away several months of savings isn't feasible for you, which is often the case for people with unstable income, the next step should be to open up options for growing your income, Haigh says. After all, he says, you can't budget your way out of scarcity. To help reduce financial stress, Haigh often advises his clients to take up part-time jobs or diversify the gigs they're pursuing, he says. While it's important to build muscle memory with directing income into your "savings bucket," your priority may need to be figuring out how to expand that income first, Haigh says.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sarah Jessica Parker says she panicked when 'Sex and the City' was picked up by HBO: 'I didn't want to do a TV show!'
Sex and the City sans Sarah Jessica Parker?! Well, it almost happened! On the latest episode of the Are You a Charlotte? podcast, host Kristin Davis welcomed none other than her SATC costar, who revealed that, yes, there actually was a moment when Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), and Charlotte (Davis) could have been without SJP as their fearless fashionista friend Carrie Bradshaw. Parker recalled that months after shooting the pilot in New York City back in 1997, she had essentially forgotten about the project until she was approached on the streets of the Big Apple by a well-known female producer, who told the actress that she had seen the pilot and thought it was "really good." Parker said she didn't think much of it and "went on with my day." Soon after, though, HBO picked up the show — much to Parker's dismay. "I panicked," she told Davis about learning that the cable network wanted to move forward with the series. "When the show was picked up, I was like, 'I can't be on a TV show! I don't think I'm suited for that life.'" While Parker acknowledged with fondness the fact that she had done TV before — including the shows Equal Justice, A Year in the Life, and the underrated early '80s high school comedy Square Pegs — the experience "also kind of depressed me," so she was reluctant to return to the small screen. "I think that it was the idea of doing the same thing over and over and over again," she clarified about her hesitation regarding SATC. "I think I'd always been lucky that I got to be on a television series and then it was over. Like, I met great people, had a great experience, worked with great actors, great directors, thought the stories were interesting, wanted to do the shows, and they had shorter lives, maybe one or two seasons," Parker said of her past TV projects. "And then I moved on and I would do a play or I'd do some readings, and then I'd do a part in a movie, and then I'd do, you know, a movie of the week. And I just kind of bounced around and I really thought, 'That is the goal. The journeyman is the goal. You want to be moving.'" She continued, "So the idea of a television series meant that I couldn't do all those things," before admitting that she was wrong for thinking that way because actors "can still do [other] things on their hiatuses." But, without the benefit of the hindsight she has now, Parker recalled anxiously asking her agent, 'Can you get me out of this?' and even offered to do anything else for HBO if it meant not having to commit to SATC. "I said, 'I will give my services to HBO to fulfill my contract. So, any movies, I'll do for X number of years." However, Parker noted that her agent tried to get her to view the series commitment a little differently. "He said, 'It can be wonderful. It can be great.' And the beauty of HBO [at the time] was that it was kind of an unknown species ... and [former HBO chairman] Chris Albrecht said, 'Do it for a year, and if you don't want to do it anymore, we don't do it,'" she shared. It was in that moment that Parker had a change of heart. "It went from being this kind of oppressive idea to this one with endless possibilities. And the first day we started shooting as a series, the location was up the street from my house. I remember thinking, 'I can walk to work. I'm not driving on to a lot. I'm not getting on a freeway and hoping I get myself there.' And I walked up to the location and I never looked back." Never looked back indeed. As a result, Sex and the City ran for six seasons, earned seven Emmy Awards, including two Best Actress wins for Parker, saw the release of two theatrical films, and spawned the revival series And Just Like That, which returns for its third season May 29 on Max. You can hear Parker's full conversation on Are You a Charlotte? below. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Sky News AU
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Move over Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston: Jami Gertz tops the 2025 rich list as the world's wealthiest actress - here's why
Jami Gertz has officially been named the world's richest actress, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The 59-year-old actress, best known for her roles in Square Pegs, The Lost Boys, Crossroads and Twister, has amassed an estimated USD$8 billion (AUD$12.5 billion fortune), putting her ahead of Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, and even Steven Spielberg. Gertz was raised in Glenview, Chicago, alongside her two brothers. Jami Gertz has officially been named the world's richest actress, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Picture:Her father, Walter, was a builder and contractor, and her mother, Sharyn, a homemaker. But her life changed dramatically after a chance introduction to businessman Tony Ressler by her publicist in 1987. At the time, Ressler was working at investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert, the now-defunct firm that famously collapsed over the junk bond scandal involving financier Michael Milken. The pair quickly fell in love and married two years later. "Everyone thinks I married a rich guy," Gertz told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. "But I made more money- way more money- than Tony when I met him. I paid for our first house. I paid for our first vacation. I married him because I fell in love with him." (L-R) Tony Ressler and Jami Gertz attend the 10th Annual LACMA ART+FILM GALA honoring Amy Sherald, Kehinde Wiley, and Steven Spielberg presented by Gucci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 6, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. Picture:for LACMA Things shifted in 1990 when Ressler co-founded Apollo Global Management, now worth close to USD$80 billion (about AUD$125 billion). Seven years later, he launched a second firm, Ares Management, which also skyrocketed in success. Together, Gertz and Ressler quietly built a vast empire. They collaborated on multiple business ventures, including Gertz's own production company, Lime Orchard Productions, which has collaborated on projects like The Monkey, Heretic, Dune: Prophecy and One Piece. In 2015, they bought the NBA team the Atlanta Hawks for a reported USD$720 million. Owner Tony Ressler (C) of the Atlanta Hawks his wife Jami Gertz and actor Will Ferrell attend the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks basketball game at Arena on January 3, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Picture:Their four children, Abigail, Oliver, Nicholas and Theo, were all part of the decision-making process. "When Mum married my dad, she realised how much he loved the sport and slowly started to gain an appreciation for the game," middle son Nick told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. "Before long, the idea of owning a team became a frequent topic for dinner-table conversation. 'Wouldn't it be cool? Wouldn't that be fun?' Eventually, it became a reality." The couple later purchased a minority stake in the Milwaukee Brewers MLB team. Jami Gertz in1996 film Twister. Picture: NCA Today, Gertz's net worth is estimated to be around USD$8 billion (AUD$12.5 billion), making her wealthier than not only Cruise (with an estimated net worth of USD$600 million) and Pitt (USD$595 million), but also Taylor Swift (USD$1.7 billion), Michael Jordan (USD$3.5 billion) and even Steven Spielberg (USD$5.3 billion). But Gertz has seemingly taken it all in her stride. "I get it," she said. "It's not your everyday Hollywood actress tale." Jami Gertz at the 'Magic City: An American Fantasy' premiere as part of SXSW 2024 Conference and Festivals held at the ZACH Theatre on March 11, 2024 in Austin, Texas. Picture: Hubert Vestil/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images The family have also poured millions into philanthropy. In 1999, they co-founded the Painted Turtle Camp with actor Paul Newman, offering life-changing camp experiences to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Their Ressler Gertz Family Foundation has supported institutions like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs. Most recently, in February this year, the Atlanta Hawks Foundation and the Ressler Gertz Family Foundation donated USD$150,000 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation to raise awareness and support research efforts.
