Odd Mom Out is back and more screwed up than ever

Season 3 of the Bravo Series Odd Mom Out opens with a tsunami of financial catastrophes. While the Von Webers aren’t exactly everyday people, we can learn from their financial strife, and, more importantly, have a little laugh along the way.

The cast of Bravo’s Odd Mom Out faces three distinct financial challenges in the first episode of Season 3 of this hilarious scripted comedy.

-Caring for an aging parent- and having them move in with you

-Change in financial circumstance

-Keeping up with the Joneses

Keep in mind these problems are told in the world of the super-rich (Von Webers) and merely really rich  (Webers) from the Upper East Side of Manhattan. There are funny family drama and shenanigans galore and spoiler alert, we will be discussing things that happened on the show. Relax. It isn’t like this is Game of Thrones!

Odd Mom Out Sandwich Generation: Caring for parents while caring for children

Jill Weber (Jill Kargman) finds herself caring for her children at the same time as her mother-in-law, Candace Von Weber (Joanna Cassidy), who moves in with them.  This isn’t so much caring for an aging parent as it is harboring a teenager trapped in the body of a, dare I say it, grandmother.  The Weber clan are forced to take in grandma after it appeared she lost her fortune in a Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme.

Lesson learned

Life always throws you a curve ball when you least expect it, no matter how organized or well-prepared you think you are.  Even if your parents are rich, you may end up needing to help them out later in life.

Odd Mom Out Coping with Financial Loss

Brooke Von Weber (Abby Elliot) and Lex Von Weber (Sean Kleier) were also victims of the Ponzi scheme. Luckily, they didn’t have all their eggs in one basket so the effects weren’t as devastating compared to others in their social circles.  That being said, you would think their lives were over by the way they carried on throughout the first episode of Season 3.  Forced to make cuts to their budget, Brooke and Lex sadly were forced to reduce the number of days they had a staff to take care of their home and look after their children.  This meant they had no one on the weekend!  No one to watch the kids, no one to cook and no one to answer the door. If you asked them they were basically living in a third world country like the Midwest. Postnatural disaster. As the episode progresses, it quickly becomes clear that Brooke doesn’t know how to boil water, or that Ketchup is not soup.

Lesson learned

Most of us don’t have full-time staff to cut back.  But all the same, we could face challenges to our income or standard of living.  Make sure you only work with a fiduciary financial planner and reputable firms.  Oh yeah, and diversity is a good thing when investing.

Odd Mom Out Keeping up with the Joneses

The show lead, Jill Weber, is the Odd Mom Out and sadly is just merely rich.  Often times in the show, her shtick is to not try and keep up with the Joneses.  Sometimes that is easier said than done.  In this episode we see Jill visit her daughter at camp, and she has her nose up at a seemingly Jersey Shore-esque family.  As it turns out, they flew in on their private jet with their daughter’s favorite foods. Whatever Jill brought for her daughter isn’t memorable enough to mention.

Lesson learned

There is always someone richer than you.  Who cares?  Live your best life and do what makes you happy.

Don’t worry.  This show is really about personal financial lessons with the topics of money and wealth driving some of the humor.  Check it out on this summer on Bravo.  I know I will.

Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow.

DAVID RAE, CFP®, AIF® is a Los Angeles-based retirement planner with DRM Wealth Management. He has been helping friends of the LGBT community reach their financial goals for over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the Advocate Magazine, Investopedia and Huffington Post as well as the author of the Financial Planner Los Angeles Blog. A resident of West Hollywood where he lives with his husband and two Chihuahuas. David loves many Bravo TV shows and has even appeared on The Newlyweds and My Life on the D-List with Kathy Griffin. For more information check out his Fiduciary Financial Planning Website www.davidraefp.com

The opinions voiced in this article are for general information only.

Tax Deductions + Other Fun with Schitt’s Creek on Pop