Is Agoraphobia Good for the Budget?
Fictional Finances: Alexandra Rover from “Nim’s Island”
In the movie Nim’s Island, Jodie Foster plays Alexandra Rover. This agoraphobic author spends her life in a townhome writing best-selling novels. She never leaves her home and has only the company of the Internet and her fictional alter ego, Alex, the main character from her books. In the midst of her Internet life, Alexandra is contacted by a girl named Nim, who lives on an island with her father. This girl is expecting her hero, Alex Rover, to come to her rescue because it seems her father is lost at sea.
Is Agoraphobia Good for the Budget?
According to SimplyHired.com, a typical best-selling author makes an average of $49,000 per year. Since Alexandra lives in a townhome, she most likely pays less per month for rent or a mortgage than if she owned a home. Monthly heating and lighting costs will also be lower. Since she doesn’t go anywhere, Alexandra has no gas or other transportation expenses. However, her household supplies and food may be slightly more expensive than the average person because everything has to be delivered.
Credit Cards and the Internet
Living Online
Since Alexandra buys everything online, she would be best served having a cash back credit card card. The Discover More card is one of the few remaining cards that offers 5% cash back. For bulk delivery of common items, the TrueEarnings card from Costco is a wise choice. At the very least, a prepaid debit card can be used anywhere credit cards are accepted, and most can be reloaded online or through direct deposit.
Because Alexandra is agoraphobic, she must rely on the Internet for her needs. If she hasn’t come out of her house in years, she must have credit cards to pay for all her supplies. Factor in the costs of shipping and doorstep deliveries and she may have some hefty balances on those cards. She might actually do all right, considering she only has to support herself. She’d be wise to have a savings account handy for emergencies.
Daring Budgeting Moves?
Spoiler Alert: Alexandra makes the daring move to leave her home and dash off to Nim’s Island to rescue the girl. This decision made in haste implies that she’s either got some cash to spare or she’s running on credit. By the end of the movie, Alexandra makes an even bolder decision than her first and ends up staying on the island with Nim and her father, with whom she has fallen in love. Nim’s father is a research scientist.
SimplyHired.com figures that a research scientist makes an average yearly salary of $76,000. Combine the two incomes and that would be a decent annual salary for a family of three. Living the island life can be cheaper than the city life, as food could be gathered from the island. There already is a nice solar-powered home that Nim’s father has built himself, so there are virtually no heating and electrical costs. Some things would still need to be ordered from the Internet or picked up in a nearby town, but for the most part, the family could live pretty comfortably and have money left over to send Nim off to college and still allow the adults a comfortable retirement.
