Five Eye-Opening Finance Documentaries That Explain How Money Really Works

If you think you know everything there is to know about money, wealth, and financial systems, you’re probably wrong.

These classic finance documentaries are a great starting point for anyone who wants to lift the curtain and take a closer look at international finance systems, how money works in the real world, and what you can do to protect yourself in a world where an awful lot is out of your control.

The Warning

The Warning was released in 2009, just a year after the now infamous — and largely unforeseen — 2008 financial crash that left many ordinary Americans reeling.

At the time, economists were aware of the issues being created by the actions of financial institutions — and specifically by a boom in sub-prime mortgages — but the potential impacts were constantly ignored or downplayed.

This documentary looks back at the events that led up to the crash, with an emphasis on the warning signs that more of us — and certainly more financial experts — should have been paying attention to.

The film focuses on the story of the American attorney and former public official Brooksley Born. She was responsible for highlighting the risks inherent in the virtually unregulated markets that eventually caused a financial meltdown, but her warnings went mostly unheeded by those who could have stepped in to avert it.

97% Owned

This 2012 UK-made documentary seeks to answer fundamental questions about money, governments, central banks and worldwide economies. 97% Owned addresses how debt-based financial systems work, and the often devastating impact for ordinary citizens when they’re mismanaged.

The film asks the questions that seem so obvious that many of us never really think about them.

• Where does money come from?
• Who creates it?
• Who actually decides how it gets used?

While it’s made from a UK perspective, many would agree it’s a great overview of how money works around the world, and why there are so many problematic issues in our current financial systems.

The Corporation

You’ve likely already heard of this multi-award-winning documentary, released in 2003 and — many would say — more relevant than ever in today’s world. The film examines the nature of the modern business corporation and the huge role it plays in wealth creation, shaping society, and the choices individual citizens have in terms of how they live their everyday lives.

It’s been said that if a corporation was a person, it would be a psychopath: a saying often attributed to NYU professor, Alison Taylor. Professor Taylor argues that corporations — often focused solely on profit — exhibit behaviours that would undoubtedly be considered psychopathic in an individual. The Corporation dives into the sometimes shocking fine details of how these entities operate and why.

In Debt We Trust

The subtitle to this one sums it up: How money and credit control your life. In Debt We Trust builds on the themes of the The Corporation in that it unpacks how corporations really need consumers to be constantly making poor financial decisions in order to fully maximize profits.

In a world where getting credit is mind-blowingly easy, and paying off debt is back-breakingly hard, this documentary makes for hard but perhaps essential viewing. We are all culturally indoctrinated to worship at the altar of consumerism, and understanding the credit industry can be a key to making slightly better financial decisions.

Broke

Broke is both a fascinating look into the lives of the (temporarily) rich and famous, and a valuable lesson in what not to do when managing personal finances at any level. The film focuses on how elite athletes manage to blow their fortunes, often in a surprisingly short time frame, with 60 percent of NBA players ending up broke within five years of retirement, and 78% of NFL players managing it in two.

As IMBD puts it:

“Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical problems, and naturally prone to showing off, most pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life.”

While many of us don’t have quite the same problems as the average ex-pro athlete, there is some overlap, and a lot of lessons to be learned.

There are hundreds of documentaries on both personal finance and the big picture issues caused by our current finance systems. These are just a few that can give you an overview of some of the most important issues that we need to understand and navigate.

About the Author

Karen Banes is a freelance writer specializing in entrepreneurship, parenting and lifestyle. She writes articles, website content, ebooks and the occasional award winning short story. Her work has appeared in a range of publications both online and off, including The Washington Post, Life Info Magazine, Transitions Abroad, Brave New Traveler, Natural Parenting Group, and Copia Magazine. Learn More About Karen