Fame & Fortune: Meg Cabot
'Princess Diaries' author won't take fliers |
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Bankrate: You had years of rejection before you broke
through. How did you keep yourself going? What was the turning point
for you when you realized you could actually make a living writing
fiction? Was there a big book contract? Film option check?
Meg Cabot: I worked in a freshman dormitory at New
York University for 10 years. Many of my adventures there are reflected
in my new adult series, "Size 12 Is Not Fat," about a
girl who works in a college dorm and solves mysteries there. For
about three of those years I was a published author but still not
making enough from my books to quit my "day job." That
didn't happen until Disney Studios paid me for the film rights to
"The Princess Diaries" about a year before the movie came
out.
Bankrate: Did you celebrate with a splurge?
Meg Cabot: Yes. I bought
a giant TV and a giant couch to go with it. And then an apartment
to put them in and finally a house, because one TV and couch were
not enough.
Bankrate: Were you prepared to handle your money when
it came in?
Meg Cabot: Yes, because
I am married to a man who worked as a financial writer at an investment
management firm (where I also once worked as a receptionist) and
so we had been actively investing, in a smaller way, prior to my
writing career taking off. Our investments consist of a conservative
and diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, as well as real estate.
Our best investment so far has been a portfolio of international
stocks that has shown consistently high returns. Our worst has been
the occasional "flier position" in some start-up firms
during the late 1990s. We would never invest in hedge funds.
Bankrate: What has your financial success allowed
you to indulge in that you would not have enjoyed otherwise?
Meg Cabot: Really the best thing my financial success
has brought -- besides peace of mind -- is the ability to help out
friends and relatives who are in financial distress, without having
the expectation of being paid back. Because we don't spend our money
unwisely -- such as on sports cars and "bling" -- our
income has provided us with financial security that allows us the
luxuries we do desire -- a house in Key West, Fla., an apartment
in New York -- while also allowing us to live comfortably for many
years to come, even if my career should take a downturn.
Bankrate: What are people most surprised to learn
about you?
Meg Cabot: Well, we try
to keep it on the down-low, but most people, when they meet me,
are shocked to find out that I am the author of "The Princess
Diaries." I really don't know who they THINK wrote it, but
obviously it isn't a 39-year-old-woman in flip-flops and shorts
with a pink streak in her hair.
Bankrate: What would you have done had you not become
an author?
Meg Cabot: I was seriously considering going back
to school to study art therapy. In fact, I had already applied when
I finally got "the call" from a literary agent asking
to represent me.
Bankrate: What was the best or worst financial advice
you ever received, and from whom?
Meg Cabot: "Accept
company stocks in lieu of cash. That company will be worth a fortune
someday" -- from a friend who ALSO lost a bundle in the dot-com
crash.
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