💰 What Rihanna taught us about saving money: The 60-20-Double-10 Rule
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How did Rihanna go from near‑bankruptcy to billionaire status?
When Grammy winning icon Rihanna walks into the club, she gets a table. When she walks into the RMA store, she gets the bag. But in 2009, Rihanna almost walked into bankruptcy court because 80% of her money had disappeared. Financial disturbance. It
was a real estate trauma, a scandal with sticky-handed accountants, and one shockingly bad world tour.
But then there was one saving strategy that saved bad girl Riri. And now she's a billionaire.
It's called the 50-30-20 rule. And we tweaked that rule for the post-pandemic reality of our inflation situation. Because even when it's raining money, you need a savings umbrella. Ella, Ella.
Hey, hey, hey. A savings umbrella. Okay,
no more singing or Rihanna's gonna stop watching. Don't do that,
Rihanna.
Because the new secret strategy for savings is the 60-20-10-10 rule.
This
is the best
J-Ging yet, where we reveal the money secrets of the world's most famous stars.
Smash that button. Done. Better have my money? Yes, we have your money.
What caused Rihanna’s 2009 financial collapse and how did she respond?
Stick with us for the next nine minutes.
Robin Fenty of Barbados. If singer-songwriter Rihanna had a LinkedIn page, then that's the official name that would be on it. And yes, in Barbados, it's pronounced Rihanna,
not Rihanna.
And back in 2009, at just twenty-one years old, Rihanna's LinkedIn resume was shining brighter than a diamond. Jackie, sprinkle on some context, please. Four
studio albums, a Grammy, and a hot one hundred number one song with Jay-Z and a World Tour.
Yeah, she can legally drink for the first time, and her bank account just passed eight digits with two commas. And now with that eleven million dollars in the bank, she's reliant on the accounting team that has guided her since she launched her music career at just sixteen years old. Burden LLP. That's the
firm. And we're shocked Riri hasn't written a breakup song about that. Oh
wait.
Jack, she did write a diss track on those guys. More about that in a minute, because by the end of that year, court documents show that Rihanna had lost 80% of her cash on hand, and she blamed it all on the accountants in a lawsuit.
She alleged that the accounting firm took a 22% management fee, despite being um accountants. Gross mismanagement is what she called it. You see, 22%, that's over double a manager's fee. And they were accountants, not managers.
She alleged that her last girl on Earth tour was actually losing her money.
But her accountants were still getting rich on her tour.
What is the classic 50‑30‑20 budgeting rule and how does it work?
And she pointed out that she bought a seven and a half million dollar home in Beverly Hills that her accountants encouraged her to scoop up.
But she didn't have the cash flow to cover all the costs.
So by Christmas of her twenty-first year, Rihanna's situation was so bad she couldn't even send wires over the holidays.
And while the IRS was probably fangirling over her outside of work, the tax agency did toss an audit on her too, even though she'd been paying twenty two percent of her revenue to an accountant to avoid exactly that.
But Rihanna did find love in this hopeless place. Yeah, she did. In a form of a lawsuit. She sued Burden and reportedly settled for ten million dollars.
Oh, no joke. Fans believe bitch better have my money was written about that accounting program. It was a hit album
and it was NAFTA.
Ri-Rey, she went on to win eight more Grammys, launch a $1 billion Fenty beauty brand, and perform for the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show. While pregnant. Yeah.
And the core reason Rihanna went from basically broke to big-time billionaire, it isn't just that she broke up with that deadbeat accountant. It's also that she pivoted from splurging to saving and investing too.
With a formula that you can use too. Here it comes. Now yeti's the most emotional Rihanna song that gets us every time. It's I Want You to Stay. Bro, we'd actually remix that song to I Want You to Save.
Why did the hosts remix the rule into a 60‑20‑10‑10 formula for today’s economy?
And there's one classic savings rule 50, 30, 20. Yep. If you've never heard of it, we're about to explain it. If you have heard of it, we bet you forgot to practice it.
It was actually popularized back in 2005 by then professor Elizabeth Warren.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Rihanna go from near‑bankruptcy to billionaire status?
0:00–0:52
2
What caused Rihanna’s 2009 financial collapse and how did she respond?
0:52–2:03
3
What is the classic 50‑30‑20 budgeting rule and how does it work?
2:03–3:12
4
Why did the hosts remix the rule into a 60‑20‑10‑10 formula for today’s economy?
3:12–4:05
5
Why should the ‘needs’ portion of your budget increase to 60% in 2024?
4:05–5:00
6
How can you split the 20% savings bucket between debt payoff and market investing?
5:00–6:10
7
What long‑term wealth can you build by investing the 10% market portion?
6:10–7:19
8
What practical steps can listeners take right now to apply the 60‑20‑10‑10 rule?
7:19–8:28
Speakers
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