Jan Jourge looked at the papers as her aunt laid out them out on the table. The twenty-six year old woman’s investments were just under seven million dollars before 911, just over a third in stocks and two thirds in T-bills. The week after they were at just over six million, the loss of nearly a million dollars. Now three years later with the investment of about six million more of her salary the investment topped eighteen, over half in stocks and half in T-bills. During the weeks after 911 her aunt sold over half of the T-bills and bought good stocks that were depressed. As the market recovered these stocks appreciated, she sold enough of the stocks to cover what had been taken out of T-bills and moved that of the money back to T-bills. The aunt reminded Jan that preserving the principal was a wise move. At twenty-six she could retire on about two million a year without another penny coming in from work. And there were royalties from School Days that would continue to come in. Last year she took out a quarter of a million and set up a fund for her parents that would pay them just over $2,500 a month for life. She did the same for each of her three siblings. She wanted the amount to be greater but she felt that to do too much too fast may not be good for them. She was shooting for each of them to have over $10,000 a month over the next five years. They had all helped her. This was the pay back. A million and a quarter dollars were earmarked for her aunt for an annuity, the first quarter was pulled out a year ago and she was getting that money already. When she told her aunt to make the first withdraw she protested. Jan was adamant. She wanted her aunt to be independent if something were to happen to her.

School Days and the long contracts ended two years ago. Jan learned something from that. During the next year she got a hundred thousand here, a hundred fifty there, seventy-five in another appearance. At first it worried her not having the security of the long solid contract. By the time six months had gone by she lamented this lack of security and income to her aunt. She laughed. “Jan. You have made over three million already this year. Just take the parts you want. If you don’t like a part, don’t take it.  You will have enough.” After a particularly tough month that brought in over a million dollars, with three hard months ahead she tried to beg off a part that would shoot in three months. The studio made a concession, pushing back the start date a week to give her some time off. They made the offer. She had a busy day and did not answer immediately. They sent an amended offer. The original monitory of offer was six hundred thousand. The new offer was a full million. She vacillated for another day, they offered a million point two. She signed. This was for a part in a full length film, not as a headliner but as a important part.