A fool and his celebrity are soon parted

Actor Nicholas Cage.

Paul Holmes' facile take on the Hanover/Allied deal would've gladdened the hearts of shark advisers everywhere.

With his gleeful admission of financial ignorance, Holmes puts himself forward to join that well-established line of celebrities who have lost their fortunes to wily accountants/advisers.

Recent examples of note include actor Nicholas Cage and best-selling crime author Patricia Cornwall but it's a tradition that stretches back forever.

Holmes snootily announces in his column that he "was always more interested in what was going on in the world and why" rather than bothering with trivia like debentures and bonds.

Well, guess what has been going on in the world over the last two years while Holmes was off thinking about the important issues: thousands of non-celebrity New Zealanders have had their futures trashed because they also lacked any curiosity about these simple financial concepts.

As I recall, many of the now-defunct finance companies were, in fact, promoted by a range of 'celebrities' who, like Holmes, probably thought it was beneath them to understand the financial products of which they spoke so glowingly.

"I paid people to know about debentures," he gloats in his thoughtless piece.

"... that kind of stuff bores me witless," Holmes writes.

The 'stuff' is not supposed to be exciting but it certainly stirs passions when it stuffs up. In an age where greater financial responsibilities than ever are being dumped on citizens, it is dangerous not to have even a little knowledge of the language of money.

By promoting the virtues of financial dumbness Holmes is hardly serving the interests of who he once lovingly used to describe as 'our people'.

 

David Chaplin

 

 

Pictured: Actor Nicholas Cage.