Money Lessons From The Tinder Swindler Netflix Documentary
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The Tinder Swinder is completely wild!
It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and one that’ll reveal many things.
When we watched it we couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
A true story that left women with six-figure debts because of romance scam.
The Tinder Swindler is a source of many life and relationship lessons.
But it also has some great money lessons we can learn from this story.
So, today we’re sharing with you 5 money lessons from the Tinder Swindler documentary.
Table of Contents
The Tinder Swindler Netflix Documentary
If you haven’t seen The Tinder Swindler yet it’s a must-see!
It’s a documentary about a guy (Simon) who meets women on Tinder with one sole purpose.
To scam them of their money.
He pretends to be the son of a billionaire who lives a lavish lifestyle.
His game is to build a false relationship until the women believe they’re in love.
Then he tells an elaborate lie and story to get them to help him financially.
It is believed he conned these women around $10 million over the years.
This doesn’t even begin to truly explain the story, you should watch it.
As we were watching it we started to think about some key money lessons from this documentary.
Romance scam is real but so is one partner taking advantage of the other with money.
Let’s look into the 5 key money lessons that we took from watching The Tinder Swindler.
Until There’s a Commitment – Don’t Mix Money
Simon made so many promises but never delivered.
He spoke about moving in together, having a family and getting married to these women.
But, he never actually made any steps towards doing so.
Their pretend relationship didn’t lead to them actually living together or being engaged.
He simply made empty promises.
We believe if you’re in a relationship there should be clear boundaries set.
For instance, you won’t have joint accounts until you live together.
Or, you won’t talk about your investments or debts until you’ve crossed a certain point in your relationship.
The lessons is to be clear with each other about what commitment means to you.
And at which stages of your relationship, you’ll start involving money.
Don’t Make Major Financial Decisions Under Peer Pressure
Simon would pressure these women to give him money to help him.
Once their savings were depleted he would pressure them to take debts in their name for him.
He would make up an elaborate story that he needed the money for various things.
The truth is, he was using their money to fund his fake lavish lifestyle.
The lesson is to never make big financial decisions under pressure.
Especially if it’s peer pressure from your partner or your family.
This includes taking out debt, or credit or giving them money.
We usually don’t make wise decisions about money under peer pressure.
Managing money as a couple can be tricky and scary but it doesn’t have to be.
We’ve put together a Free Guide for you and your partner to really figure out the best way to successfully budget together.
Click here to download your FREE guide today!
Money Is Very Emotional!
Most of the time when we think about money we want to talk about the numbers.
The budget, savings rate, compounding interest and building our net worth.
But money is also very emotional.
Think about it, we save money because we don’t want to worry about money when we need it.
We’re aiming to be financially independent so we can have more time to do what really matters to us.
All very emotionally driven decisions.
On the surface, Simon financially conned these women but really they were emotionally blackmailed.
He was telling them I love you, I miss you, I want to be with you to pull the right emotional strings.
This way when he brings money to the discussion they weren’t thinking rationally but emotionally.
And that’s the real con!
The lesson is to understand that at times we make emotional decisions with money.
Talk To Someone For An Outsider’s Opinion
One thing that stood out to us is that these women weren’t aware of the scam.
In fact, one lady realised it after she spoke to someone else about it.
This is a big lesson in pretty much any financial decision you make.
Seek counsel and input from others.
Sometimes the victims of financial abuse don’t realise it until it’s too deep.
The problem with financial abuse and financial infidelity is it’s not easy to identify.
If you suspect something or feel something is off, speak to someone.
Getting an outsider’s opinion can help you see things as they are.
And for these women, it was a financial scam.
Take Responsibility For Your Financial Situation
One of the women in the Tinder Swindler documentary did something radically different.
She acknowledged she’d been scammed more than $100,000 but she had a different reaction.
Instead of simply being a victim and passing blame to Simon, she asked herself a big question.
What can I do to get myself out of the situation?
Long story short she stole Simon’s high end branded clothes to resale online.
The lesson is to always take responsibility for your financial situation.
It’s easy to blame the government, employer, inflation, family and everyone else but yourself.
Despite the fact that all the above can impact your money you still have some power.
The power to make certain decisions with your money or build certain money habits.
Taking responsibility is what empowered us to make better financial decisions.
Take Action
Download our FREE Couples Budgeting Guide today and start budgeting with your partner the right way!
Share this post with others so they can also learn about money too.
Let us know how you’re getting along by getting in touch with us, we’d love to hear from you.
Knowledge is powerless without action.
So take action, and take care.
Thando & Lindie
