Before I continue with the specifics of the Whitney Houston situation, I want to comment on some of the financial shortcomings of those in show business.
I used to work as a financial advisor for a company that served a lot of people in the entertainment industry. We had a large book that dealt with some of those that had passed away and the financial implications of their deaths and their family's inheritance of their estate. Some of the biggest names in recent history, and I mean literally some of the biggest names, had terrible or no plans whatsoever for when they died. The shrinkage in many cases was up to 70 to 80 percent of their estates.
To go along with that many wouldn't invest for their future saying that they had to had their "toys" and "stuff" to enhance their image. These people lived, literally from paycheck to paycheck. Maybe their paycheck was bigger than most, but they still were one bad break from losing everything, and many did.
This brings us to the financials of Whitney Houston.
She has taken out millions in loans against property she's owned and used them like many do today as a bank to borrow against when they wanted money.
While this may not seem to be a big problem to some, in Whitney's case it is huge. Here's the reason why:
Whitney Houston is a singer and not a songwriter. What that means is that she has no residual income. Others like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion who have written their own material and as a result have their names connected to their hits and get a cut out of every song that is sold and played.
It is really a little puzzling when you look at the whole picture because her cousin Dionne Warwick and mother Cissy Houston went through the same thing, and had to go out on tour year after year to support their lifestyles and pay their expenses.
What has brought Houston to this place is that she has continued her lavish lifestyle but has no means of income to pay for it, and now - her downward spiral into drugs.
She has made the mistake that many people make, and that is to rely upon only one source of income. Her record sales, though huge in the past, don't bring anything in for her today. That along with living life on the edge and putting absolutely nothing away for the future, has brought this former superstar to a place where she could be about to lose everything.
At a time when she could have been considered the greatest singer of this generation and a very wealthy women, she is in the place where she may not be able to keep her homes and is in danger of losing her daughter based upon the stories being told by those once close to her.
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