Wisdom for Life

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my all-time favorite movies, and even though it is intended to be a fun, light-hearted comedy, there are several poignant lessons to be learned from it.

The one I want to highlight today is: you can’t turn back the odometer (of life).

​In the film, Ferris (Matthew Broderick) convinces his friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) to borrow Cameron’s father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder.​

Ferris (working to convince Cameron to let them take the car out for the day, against his father’s rules):

Obviously this is a comical plan, but Ferris gets his way. In the end, driving the car in reverse does not take miles off the car, and the vehicle ends up destroyed in the woods behind Cameron’s home.

What’s the lesson here?

Just like Ferris couldn’t ultimately reverse the miles he put on the Ferrari, you can’t rewind life. If you choose not to spend time with friends or family this summer, you don’t get that time back. If you choose not to use your time at work in a productive manner, you don’t get that time back. If you choose not to save for long-term goals, you can’t go back and fix that.

There’s clearly an applicable lesson here for how you steward your finances, but also for many other walks of life.

My simple encouragement today is: use your day today. You’re not getting it back.

Fun Fact

The “Ferrari” shown in the film was not a real Ferrari. It was a replica built on a Ford Mustang chassis. Even though Hollywood can make a Ford look like a Ferrari, they sure are different from an investment standpoint.

Ferrari became a publicly traded company in 2015, and since then, Ferrari stock is up 632%, compared to Ford’s 47% return.

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Thanks for reading,

Jack O'Connor, CFP®