The following article contains Game of Thrones spoilers.
Those of us who grew up watching different TV shows and reading about hobbits, magical creatures and dragons are more than delighted that the HBO hit TV show Game of Thrones is back and in full force for its fifth season.
Even though the show's creators and the series' author George R. R. Martin have killed off many of the books' beloved characters, we are masochists and persist on watching the series (it was recently revealed that the later seasons of the TV show will be completely different from the books…phew.) Last year, amidst the buzz from the fourth season, which in my book is tied for "best so far" with the first season, I drew a few lessons on financial planning and the show's characters that you can read here.
As this new season kicks off, i would like to add another BIG, HUGE lesson learned from the show, namely the importance of life insurance and financial planning. Let's just imagine for a minute that the patriarch of the Stark family, Lord Stark, had proper life insurance and proper financial and estate plans in place. Had he left that to his children, maybe, just maybe, they would not have been held hostage by the Lannisters in King's Landing, or at least Arya and Sansa Stark, one a kid, the other a teenager, might have had some money to bribe their way out of that horrible place.
And the other four Stark boys wouldn't have scattered, either because one was planning a war (Rob Stark, the eldest) for his land and to set his father free, one was "exiled" (Jon Snow) and the other "little lords" were left to fend for themselves, surrounded by power-and-land-hungry human-vultures.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg that bothers me. The TV show basically states that the Lannisters, who during the whole show have a grip on the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, have always had immense riches that can buy off anyone or anything. They even have their own unofficial motto that every single person in that world knows by heart: "A Lannister always pays his debts."
So, recapping, the Lannisters have the financial freedom (read: power) to do as they please and basically, it means that they can get away with everything, unopposed, unless something stronger than money comes along. Enter the dragons.
