11/7/2023 0 Comments Rita rudner nowI did a lot of TV commercials when I was a dancer in New York: I announced I had bad breath, dandruff and problem perspiration. It took us four years to complete, and we have no intention of ever selling it. We bought it, demolished it and built the house we now live in. We went to view it and I ran out because it smelled of cats. Martin spotted a very strange, large home overlooking the ocean that was about to be foreclosed on. Our biggest financial risk was building our house. What is the biggest financial risk you’ve taken? My worst financial decision was investing some money with a neighbour who was later found by the FBI hiding underneath his car. I offered to pay more, but the man refused because it was already listed in the computer as a penny. I took it to the register and a man scanned it and it came up a penny. The joke about “marrying someone who knows how to do this” came true.Īlso, I’m very proud that I recently bought a dress that cost a penny. My best financial decision was marrying Martin 35 years ago. What have been your best and worst financial decisions? Time is a much more important commodity than money. Money offers security and choice, but my family is what makes me happy. However, I’ve never had trouble paying bills on time. Early years in Manhattan were tricky – furniture was found on the streets and my first apartment that I shared was featured in an article called Where Not to Live in New York. I’ve been wholly supporting myself since I was 16, and got a part in the chorus of the musical Zorba for a national tour. Have you ever had trouble paying your bills? That made me nervous, but as Martin had predicted, we paid the mortgage off a year later as my career in comedy blossomed. I sold it for $330,000 a year after I bought it (not bad, huh?) and we moved to Beverly Hills by borrowing a lot of money from a bank. My husband, Martin, made me sell it because the bedroom was so small – his feet hung off the end of the bed and out into the hallway. The first house I bought in Los Angeles on Laurel Canyon cost $230,000. We recently sold our penthouse in Las Vegas above the Strip because I only perform in Las Vegas now sporadically. We have a main house on the coast, a house on a golf course in Palm Springs, and an apartment in Los Angeles overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Our retirement account is our only account heavily invested in stocks. Most of our money is tied up in property, bonds and CDs. Have you invested in property or the stock market? I don’t have one of those fancy-schmansy black cards: just a run-of-the-mill credit card which I use for everything. I use a credit card linked to my bank’s rewards programme. Arithmetic is not my strong suit, which featured in early jokes I wrote: “When faced with a maths test, I used to write on it, ‘I’m going to marry someone who knows how to do this.’” Or: “I used to sign my cheques ‘Love, Rita.’” And: “My credit card bill was so big this month, before I opened it, I actually heard a drum roll.” Do you use cash, debit cards or credit cards? After a year, I found out performers could receive a hamburger or spinach salad in lieu of payment. When I started performing at the Catch a Rising Star comedy club in Manhattan I got paid nothing. My father told my school that I was sick, and I travelled on two buses to perform each night for three weeks for $100 a week. My first ever paid job was dancing in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off on Miami Beach when I was 14. Luckily, my father continued to pay for my ballet classes, which paid off when I moved from Miami to New York at 15 to dance on Broadway. He refused to purchase insurance, and when my mom became sick when I was seven, our lack of family health insurance affected us heavily.Įverything except our house and car got sold during her six-year illness. My father, who became a lawyer courtesy of the GI Bill (US law that provided benefits for Second World War veterans) was not good with money. How did your childhood influence your attitude to money? Today she lives in southern California with her husband Martin, daughter Molly and dog Betsy. Her memoir, My Life in Dog Years, was published last year. Since 2001, she has had the longest-running solo comedy show in Las Vegas. Rita Rudner, 69, is an American comedian who found fame in the late 1970s and has appeared frequently since on US and UK TV shows.
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