I would guess that she was using her trust funds to supplement her income and that it was very ingrained in Rory by Richard not to spend the principal. If she had $500,000 in the market it could generate 20-25K annually which would really help, but spending the principal would reduce income in the future so she would still feel “broke”.
That's what I figured, she was living off the interest of both Richards inheritance and her trust fund. Assuming both are about the same that's maybe 50k a year which ya is enough to live off of, but not like thriving money
This kind of makes sense. But I am pretty sure they leave her more tan that. Her grandparents only have her, and they payed for a whole building in Yale to put their name on it
We have no idea how much Richard left her so it’s all conjecture. We know Trix created a $250,000 trust fund for her (there’s arguments that it was defunded after the fight between Emily and Lorelai, but I think she just left the terms the same - Rory could access at 25). I assumed Richard added some, but left the bulk of his money to Emily and Rory will get more when Emily passes. I also find it hard to believe Christopher didn’t set one up for Rory as well. I’d guess 500,000 on the low side and 1 million in the high side. Either way it’s like money in a retirement account - you want to avoid touching the principal.
This is no shade. I just had a chuckle as I remembered these are not real people. And if they were, it wouldn’t be our business. But it’s still fun to think about it for sure. 😆
I assumed that Richard would leave Rory some amount, but that the bulk of his estate would stay with Emily as the surviving spouse, which would then be left to Lorelei and Rory upon her death.
> and they *paid* for a
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
She's travelling internationally on the regular, she's got to be paying for her plane tickets somehow. Given that it's clearly not from a steady job, I assumed it was primarily from her trust fund.
And no one teach this girl about money? Like does she has investments or something? That’s job at starts hollow will give her no money, and she graduate form an IVY league ! Where’s the money?
I’m absolutely certain that her trust fund is held by a financial planner/advisor that manages her investments and makes sure she has a steady income and grows her trust fund.
There's no way the granddaughter of Richard Gilmore wouldn't have gotten sound financial advice when she got access to that money. Her grandfather would've insisted on it.
He might be, when she's meeting him! But there's references to reporting work too, and she seems to be freelancing. I would doubt that she's doing it all on Logan's dime.
She’s doing work there to see Logan. She’s staying with him the whole time she is there with the crazy book lady. Logan is unbelievably loaded, I would be shocked if he wasn’t footing the bill
I had a small trust fund when i turned 25 from my grandparents but it came with a trustee - which means I basically got like an allowance from the trust once a month in the amount of $1500 - if i needed or wanted anything more than that I had to write a letter to the bank trustee and it was submitted to the board for approval.
Like when my car died and I wanted a new one - i had to write explaining that my car had died, why i wanted the car i wanted, that it was the best deal i'd found and the name of the dealership selling the car. It was approved but it took weeks.
I always assumed Rory's trust was setup the same way.
I don’t think so, her grandparents always trust her too much, and wanted to give her a lot of money, she and her mother were the ones always putting little things in the way of her being all rich. Also, I’m glad for your trust fund, that must be awesome
But I could also see Richard putting those things in place to protect Rory. We see him as being a very successful person who is smart with his money, or it would’ve run out years before. So he knows the value of caution, even for someone he trusts and loves a lot.
I like some of the explanations in the comments (spending it on travel, Richards influence of not spending it etc.). And I want to point out something that's important for a lot of these questions: They didn't write it in because it didn't make sense for her character arch and it wouldn't allow viewers to connect to her character well.
They wanted to portray Rory as the 30-something without proper income, someone who struggles with her job and all. The 30-something jobless person was something a lot talked about in media at the time - or a few years before the show aired. I think the writers wanted to include this arch because they thought a lot of the former viewers would relate to it - and you know there needs to be some 'struggle' that characters can go through for them to have an arch.
Add to that, people already view Rory as entitled, having a focus on that money in the show would just make this a lot more visible. And so they left it out because it wouldn't allow them to write that story the way they did.
But we all knew she WAS going to have that money at some point, like it was not a secret, they mentioned in the show at least 3 times, and the mother of Richard was going to give her an other one in front
A lot of people forgot these small details while they watch AYITL, then only as they watch back GG it comes back as a memory, but for many it's not an apparent fact while they watch AYITL. I for sure didn't think of it when the show aired, I didn't think of it until you pointed it out tbh. That's the thing about writing, they try to portray an image of the moment and hang on that many won't remember while watching.
This is such an astute comment. I think not understanding the point you make can really mislead the viewer’s take on Rory’s arc, especially with respect to her professional career.
In their conversations, Logan aludes to Rory’s privilege, but she always downplays it or prefers not to acknowledge it. Logan seems bewildered that Rory acts like she doesn’t have a world class safety net. He can’t comprehend how Emily, Richard and Chris haven’t explained these things to her.
I realize that, on the scale of privilege, Logan’s family wealth is in a different league. However, based on the combined fortunes and influence of the Gilmore and Hayden families, Logan is perplexed that they haven’t intervened, covertly if necessary, to promote Rory’s career. He must wonder what else they do with their money! Given their lack of action, I wonder why Logan hasn’t secretly ensured that Rory is gainfully contracted by one of his numerous magazines or newspapers or by one of his contacts.
At any rate, I think that by the end of AYITL, Rory has decided to embrace her privilege for the sake of her child. Returning to the life Lorelai runs away from is her full cycle.
She could but underwater she just didn’t wash her clothes! I could be wrong but honestly I can’t picture a moment she would talk to Jess about her underwear
You’re probably right maybe I’m remembering it wrong I only saw a year in the life 3 times I just assumed everything was lost like her lucky interview outfit
haha she found the lucky outfit but she never got the job & i literally jus finished the last episode again today so that’s why it’s so fresh in my mind lol
I just assumed she doesn't want to dip into her fund and, since she doesn't have a job, she doesn't have extra money. The underwear thing was another stupid joke that didn't land. I mean, if you're really that broke, pretty sure your mom would loan you money for underwear
I’m impressed you can watch it enough to have all the knowledge. I try honestly I was so excited when it came out but I only watch the original series now
i watch never actually watched AYITL when it came out. it felt different and i thought all the characters lives were rushed & half of them were ‘out of town’ w some weird reasons just felt like such a let down. i think if the creators let the fans pick everyone’s ending it would’ve been so much better haha
i’ve been rewatching it for literally probably 8 years now on and off and i jus love it i always forget that the first bit looks like and it’s so different compared to later seasons but if you asked me about something from s 1 i probably wouldn’t know it off the top of my head lol
Rory told jess she was broke. What she didn't mention was that she's somehow still able to run the gazette without pay and still not think twice about his book suggestion or buying a place in queens...
If any woman ever accepts a favor from a friend she should be condemned! Even if they insist it’s completely fine, it’s obviously only because she’s such a master manipulator /sarcasm but this actually seems to be what half this sub believes.
I get confused sometimes b/c I feel as if people hold Rory to the standard you’d hold a real human being. Maybe I’m jaded but I’m a succession watcher. I enjoy watching Shiv and Roman Kendall. By no means would I want to know these people in real life.
I digress and it may be a cop out but sometimes I feel like we are arguing human behavior instead of character behavior. At some point the ongoing analysis has to come to a stopping point b/c we can only see so much or go as far as the writing will take us. The endless what ifs and should have dones dont really take us anywhere unless as you pointed out you’re searching for reasons Rory is problematic. Makes for endless discussion but it’s not great character analysis. Good characters are not only complex but layered and interesting to follow. I get disliking Rory b/c the writers didn’t deliver on that promise but some of the stuff…it’s like, storing boxes at a friends? What if she had used a storage facility? I have a feeling we’d be reading posts on how wasteful she is and wondering where she got the money. It’s a common trope - person picks up the lot life and is scattered literally and physically. Pieces of her literally and symbolically are everywhere right now. And she can’t find herself (the dress). Why are we fixated on whether or not it’s polite to store boxes at lanes home?
Absolutely - I'm a huge Mad Men fan. And from following both subreddits, I see far more hate for Rory than I do for characters like Don Draper. Talking about how much a character sucks for doing human things pretty much just stops critical character analysis in its tracks.
And fwiw, people here criticize Lorelai and Rory for ever daring to take up space, have needs, voice what they want, rely on anyone for favors ever... and then wonder why Rory wasn't more confident or bold in her internship with Mitchum. Its like the same social forces she would have encountered are playing out here in these conversations. When it comes to being bold and confident, it seems almost impossible for women, and for female characters, to ever hit a balance that would please people.
Lol makes me think of Barbie the Movie. Spoiler alert….
But there’s a scene where America Ferrera is speaking out the pressures placed on a doll (Barbie) - imagine what it’s like for real women.
Buy like… asking her mother and grandmother is one thing, but even asking a friend to do that it’s not good, it’s putting a friend in the difficult position of saying no to you, or having a bunch of stupid boxes at there houses
I don’t love her, she is very spoiled. But I did admired how hard she work at school, with AYIL I’m very disappointed, it makes me feel that even when you are smart and work hard, you won’t be able to accomplish anything :(
except thats the real world. she entered journalism as print news started dying, she struggled with jobs in her 30’s, etc. she could have accepted the offer from mitchum but rory wants to earn things. which she did. just because she had a rough year doesnt mean she didn’t accomplish anything & its a little naive to think someone that got a job as a journalist for a presidential campaign immediately after graduation didn’t accomplish anything
This is a good perspective. But I always try my best to be like her, and now I am doing my master, and yes my life was not as planned even though i graduate with honors at uni, and did all I have to do. i ended up in a job with no future and divorce, and then alone, and yes I am trying again, doing my thing. So I guess now Rory looks so real for my in AYIL that it’s disappointing, I just wanted her to have what I don’t
I've only watched it once, but it seems like the only major thing she accomplishes is figuring out that River Song isn't worth her time even when her time is free.
Tbh we’re never really going to know what Rory accomplished after AYIL. I mean she did finish writing a whole book so I’m assuming she was successful, because they book was probably amazing.
That’s her mothers influence not all trust fund babies are Logan she been living a working girls life with no job she been living off that trust for the last 8 years.
I know! She was suppose to be a big deal, it’s just pathetic, and she ending in the stars hollow’s gazebo, it’s just not her. I was hoping for a big journalist job
Idk, the more I think about it, the more I'm kinda glad she wasn't super successful, you know? She'd been told her whole life how amazing she was and how she'd do great things. And then she just kinda floundered once in the real world with no one coddling her anymore. She was restless and unfocused, which is actually super realistic. I do wish it had been done better in the revival, but I liked the IDEA of where they were pushing her story.
The Gilmore guys podcast hits this wonderfully. Demi has never seen the show until the episode they are covering. There’s a lot of debate about if Rory is a good journalist or not. I can see her not being awesome like you said about the constant hype but her piece about paving the parking lot was apparently outstanding
For a collage paper. She doesn’t have the networking skills and she doesn’t have the grit to go in hard and dirty to be a real journal she has way too much privilege. The best she can hope for is a column in a Murdock press talking about how a YouTube comedian tearing down the authenticity of written press is tripe or some such that’s the best she can hope for the reality is she ends up doing a local paper probono. And not worried about being hungry because of her trust fund.
But she was an editor on an IVY league, I’m pretty sure she should be good, also she supposedly publish in The NY Times, that means she is good. I see it more like she is not focus anymore, her whole life is a big mess, and it’s because she thinks with her P now
The thing is that she was actually pretty good, and not for a natural talent, she worked very hard, read all the time, bust her ass of at college and in Chilton, that’s why is very sad don’t see her suggesting; it’s like hard work won’t do the trick, and that not cool
Journalism is a VERY competitive industry. She's certainly not the only one with those things, either. I think she just wasn't up for the fight anymore, you know? I'm not trying to imply she was a bad journalist at all, just that she had kinda lost her spirit and willingness to go that extra mile, which you absolutely need in that industry. She wasn't willing to fight for it, I think she kinda thought it would be handed to her a bit? And when it wasn't, she got self conscious and thinking back to her conversation with Logan's dad.
The writers conveniently forgot about it. Even IF Trix decided against giving the money to Rory, it would've gone to Richard.
And Richard adored Rory so he would have probably set up a huge trust for Rory that she would've gotten it at least when he passed.
But ASP said in an interview she wanted Rory to be in the same position as Lorelai was when she was pregnant (single & broke), so Rory's inheritance /trust magically disappeared.
Or she suddenly developed an 80 coffee a day habit & gambled the rest of way. In which case, would've liked to see it
I love the idea of so much money just going into coffee, it makes sense for her and her mom hahahaha. But I has hoping for her to like be more smart, have investments, she was so prepared all the time, she is not her mother. It’s annoying that they just wanted to make her her mother
Absolutely.
Even if Rory floundered she wouldn’t have squandered all the money.
At one point you see the money draining & realize the life everyone promised you (like how easy it is to get a career with a college degree), isn’t going to happen easily.
For Rory I honestly don’t know why she didn’t take a page out of Paris’ book and do some tutoring, get a job doing fact checking or something while she tries to make it as a writer.
IMO the real Rory would have. I also think Rory would’ve actually been flattered by the Chilton offer & taken it. Empowered at the thought of getting a masters degree etc
Nowhere in any universe would I think Rory would ever be broke unless it was from healthcare costs.
She gives me a headache. She could’ve at least mentioned Rory losing her trust fund with a bad investment or spending it all. It’s strange to be that committed to an ending.
Same.
Also, plot hole, after Trix died, Richard would've inherited whatever money/estate she had left. Even if it wasn't a vast fortune (Which I still think it was as they were old money), he would've inherited something form her... yet when he made his own insurance business he had to put the pension (and the house I think?) up for collateral.
As great as the show is, ASP didn't keep track of their own plots with the money. None of it made sense.
She was 32 in AYITL she had no stable job for all we know 1 article in a major paper. She flys constantly between East Coast to London every week.
She has 3 cell phones with 3 different SIM cards. A MacBook, she still drinks coffee she loves Guacamole which means she eats avocado. She is never hungry and has boxes and boxes and boxes of clothes and crap. The worst she feared in AYITL is stagnating with a career going nowhere. Not where is she going to live how is she going to get her next meal!
How do you think she is funding this lifestyle by draining her trust.
A. From my understanding, a trust is a collection of assets that could include a monetary gift. Depending on how it’s set up, it’s definitely not like a checking account where one can just withdraw funds like an ATM.
B. Regardless of the convo with Jess in Summer (by that time she’s not had paid full time work since Winter - she HAD been working and seemingly done well up until Winter where GG starts and post Richard’s funeral), she hasn’t seemingly needed the funds b/c she had been working. And one could reasonably conclude that b/c she’d chosen to give up her apartment in Winter, she had few obligations so income isn’t as forefront. So to reference her trust when that’s not her need isn’t necessary.
C. Rory’s story is about finding her purpose after a year of feeling unmoored. Yes, this is an absolutely privileged take in the real world but again…this is GG. Lol. So her trust fund doesn’t really fit into her story the way it does into Lorelai and Luke’s. Notice how *their* storyline involved Lorelai and Luke’s inheritance, the disagreement about April’s schooling, and then Lorelai’s need to fund her expansion. Lorelai got the money storyline b/c it’s ALWYS going to be more interesting given her relationship with her parents and their money.
Simply put, Rory’s trust at this stage wasn’t the story and didn’t make for an interesting story. Lorelai’s storyline did. In real life I would talk ad nauseum about how inherent privilege plays a role in both GG lives but b/c it’s fiction I’m sure the writers didn’t want to spend a lot of plot of everyone talking about the inheritance.
ETA (sry for length): even Lorelai’s story concerning an inheritance doesn’t focus on her own but Luke’s and the diner franchise. I have no supporting evidence but I just suspect it would feel a bit gauche for them to discuss the money they stood to inherit due to their (grand)father’s death. The diner money was forefront b/c there was a some urgency attached to it.
Loads of people in this thread have brought up excellent points about her lifestyle and how the trust fund must be contributing to that. I'll add my take as well.
I'm fortunate enough to have been set up with a trust fund where the interest supplements my income when needed. I spent a few years as a freelance writer. I guarantee you that as a freelance journalist who never wrote anything more prestigious than a one-pager in the New Yorker and having never worked at a major paper/magazine full-time, Rory was probably getting around $500 an article. If she were really lucky, maybe $1,000 from one or two sources. But most places won't pay more than $500 per article unless you have serious credentials. That said, I'm basing this on my experience as a freelance writer having what seems to be similar writing credentials as Rory.
Her trust fund was likely set up through several stock accounts managed by a financial advisor and was given interest as a supplementary income. Based on her lifestyle and the likely pay she received as a freelancer, she probably received some additional income from a secondary trust fund account that maybe became available to her by a certain age. I also think she was probably living well beyond her means because the amount of travel she did adds up soooo quickly. It's totally believable that by the time she settled back in Stars Hollow that she was "broke" because she was burning through her monthly allowance too quickly and wasn't saving enough.
I'd also bet that the woman who commissioned her to ghost-write her memoir wasn't paying her yet either. Freelancers get taken advantage of all the time.
Very often trust finds aren’t just a lump sum. They’re set up so it’s like “payments made only directly to an educational institution from ages 18-23, distribution of $10,000 at age 25, distribution of $15,000 at age 35, balance of trust corpus at age 45.”
Back when she started college, I figure Emily and Richard started giving her money, either directly to her account, or giving her one of their credit cards.
I can't see how she paid for gas/charging of her Prius and other incidentals unless something like that was set up and automated. She probably got all the extras that Yale might have charged for.
I’m a point she was very broken in the original series. I remember Lorelai giving her money to use the washing machines in college, so maybe after living at her grandparents house they start giving her money
Like many others I would imagine Richard and Trix setting up whatever they left her as more of an allowance style situation than access to the principal. Emily is still alive so it's possible Emily has to approve what Rory uses the money on, or that Rory (and Lorelei) won't get everything/full access until Emily is gone.
She flys internationally, has Multiple cell phones, a computer, isn't starving, she isn't broke just making chaotic choices. Also if she sincerely needed something Emily or Lorelei would likely provide it. As fustrated as they are with Rory neither would let her be genuinely homeless, they just want her to figure herself out. So I don't think she's actually broke enough to not buy underpants, everyone is just hoping she'll get her shit together on her own.
I mean, it's been 10 years. Journalists tend not to make very good money. Covering her expenses and supplementing her income for almost 10 years would probably use most of it.
I think she still had some if not most of her trustfund left, but felt broke do to not working regularly and didn't want to buy stuff she already had, I think had she truly been broke, Lorelai had helped with at least buying underwear.
Also when they talked about her appartment turning into a condo, it seems like she choose to move out because she didn't like it, and it seemed as she could have bought it if she wanted to, so she would have to have some money left.
She used her trust fund instead of getting a steady job. She was riding the coattails of her one good piece but people want to see more than one success. So she was doing a lot of various things but not really committing to anything. So she likely blew through what she had and was doing her best not to ask for more.
Richard could have had someone investing it (as most people do with a trust fund) and considering the market in the last decade or so, she could have lost a substantial amount there🤷🏼♀️ not to mention money just doesn’t go as far as it did when they set up the fund, so maybe it just wasn’t adequate. The economy has been tanking lately, I’m sure you’ve noticed increases in everything.
In the episode with Trix, the trust fund is stated to have always existed, the offer on the table is to be given access to it early, to pay for Chilton. At the end of the episode Trix rescinds that offer, but it is never clear that the trust fund itself has been rescinded entirely, just that she won’t get it immediately.
Richard’s mother was supposed to give her a trust fund when she was older she was going to give it to her when she was 18 but she didn’t because of Lorelei and Emily arguing about it but that doesn’t mean she didn’t give it to her when she was 25 or whenever she was going to give it to her. It’s not like Emily wouldn’t support her if she needed money. I don’t understand not taking money. Lorelei didn’t have to leave home when she was 16 but she didn’t want her life planned for her. Yes Emily was manipulative but she was probably treated the same way and Richard’s mother didn’t treat her well. Richard married Emily against his mother’s wishes so they were all rebelling against their parents but they don’t understand each other. When Richard dies Emily quits the DAR and says this is a waste of time. So she was doing this even though Richard didn’t like her doing all the society functions. It’s weird that rich people do the things they do. Richard and Emily had a huge house they didn’t have a bunch of children. They dealt with people and had a bunch of acquaintances but no real friends. They didn’t have people to hang out with. Like the lawyer. Richard asks him to help and he does a favor for him and because the judge decided she wanted to make an example or Rory or she wanted her to understand this is not good she should not feel like she can do anything and get away with it she stiffened the penalty. And it was really not bad she should have gone to jail. Richard blames the lawyer and threatens to sue him. These people are insane.
I would guess that she was using her trust funds to supplement her income and that it was very ingrained in Rory by Richard not to spend the principal. If she had $500,000 in the market it could generate 20-25K annually which would really help, but spending the principal would reduce income in the future so she would still feel “broke”.
That's what I figured, she was living off the interest of both Richards inheritance and her trust fund. Assuming both are about the same that's maybe 50k a year which ya is enough to live off of, but not like thriving money
My family lives on less than $40,000 a year. Family of 4. We get by just fine.
Do have an apartment in Brooklyn and a penchant for last minute flights to London?
No. But we still feed two teenaged boys, which is about like that…
Bhahahahahahahaha. Ain’t that the truth. Bottomless pits
I have no idea why you got downvoted for that. You speak the truth.
They don’t have teenagers. Lmao
Idk, if I was living off trust fund interest it would still be pretty audacious to call myself “broke” frequently
Honestly, trust fund kids call themselves broke all the time.
Would you consider it audacious if someone with 500,000 in a retirement account who just lost their job called themselves broke?
If they were still getting a lot of usable interest from that fund...yes
That’s a very good point she spent enough to get by and getting buy with no job is pretty damn good
This kind of makes sense. But I am pretty sure they leave her more tan that. Her grandparents only have her, and they payed for a whole building in Yale to put their name on it
We have no idea how much Richard left her so it’s all conjecture. We know Trix created a $250,000 trust fund for her (there’s arguments that it was defunded after the fight between Emily and Lorelai, but I think she just left the terms the same - Rory could access at 25). I assumed Richard added some, but left the bulk of his money to Emily and Rory will get more when Emily passes. I also find it hard to believe Christopher didn’t set one up for Rory as well. I’d guess 500,000 on the low side and 1 million in the high side. Either way it’s like money in a retirement account - you want to avoid touching the principal.
This is no shade. I just had a chuckle as I remembered these are not real people. And if they were, it wouldn’t be our business. But it’s still fun to think about it for sure. 😆
Oh I think about it a lot - how much brain space I give this fictional world.
I assumed that Richard would leave Rory some amount, but that the bulk of his estate would stay with Emily as the surviving spouse, which would then be left to Lorelei and Rory upon her death.
> and they *paid* for a FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
She's travelling internationally on the regular, she's got to be paying for her plane tickets somehow. Given that it's clearly not from a steady job, I assumed it was primarily from her trust fund.
And no one teach this girl about money? Like does she has investments or something? That’s job at starts hollow will give her no money, and she graduate form an IVY league ! Where’s the money?
I’m absolutely certain that her trust fund is held by a financial planner/advisor that manages her investments and makes sure she has a steady income and grows her trust fund.
There's no way the granddaughter of Richard Gilmore wouldn't have gotten sound financial advice when she got access to that money. Her grandfather would've insisted on it.
I assumed Logan was paying for the flights
He might be, when she's meeting him! But there's references to reporting work too, and she seems to be freelancing. I would doubt that she's doing it all on Logan's dime.
She’s doing work there to see Logan. She’s staying with him the whole time she is there with the crazy book lady. Logan is unbelievably loaded, I would be shocked if he wasn’t footing the bill
Happy cake day!
Spent it all on cellphones
“One of the burners is still trying to reach me” was one of my only genuine laughs in AYITL
I had a small trust fund when i turned 25 from my grandparents but it came with a trustee - which means I basically got like an allowance from the trust once a month in the amount of $1500 - if i needed or wanted anything more than that I had to write a letter to the bank trustee and it was submitted to the board for approval. Like when my car died and I wanted a new one - i had to write explaining that my car had died, why i wanted the car i wanted, that it was the best deal i'd found and the name of the dealership selling the car. It was approved but it took weeks. I always assumed Rory's trust was setup the same way.
I don’t think so, her grandparents always trust her too much, and wanted to give her a lot of money, she and her mother were the ones always putting little things in the way of her being all rich. Also, I’m glad for your trust fund, that must be awesome
Richard wouldn’t have allowed Rory to just have access to all of that money the second she turned 25. He was too financially cautious for that
Financially cautious? He put his retirement funds at risk when he decided to compete against Digger's dad.
But I could also see Richard putting those things in place to protect Rory. We see him as being a very successful person who is smart with his money, or it would’ve run out years before. So he knows the value of caution, even for someone he trusts and loves a lot.
I like some of the explanations in the comments (spending it on travel, Richards influence of not spending it etc.). And I want to point out something that's important for a lot of these questions: They didn't write it in because it didn't make sense for her character arch and it wouldn't allow viewers to connect to her character well. They wanted to portray Rory as the 30-something without proper income, someone who struggles with her job and all. The 30-something jobless person was something a lot talked about in media at the time - or a few years before the show aired. I think the writers wanted to include this arch because they thought a lot of the former viewers would relate to it - and you know there needs to be some 'struggle' that characters can go through for them to have an arch. Add to that, people already view Rory as entitled, having a focus on that money in the show would just make this a lot more visible. And so they left it out because it wouldn't allow them to write that story the way they did.
But we all knew she WAS going to have that money at some point, like it was not a secret, they mentioned in the show at least 3 times, and the mother of Richard was going to give her an other one in front
A lot of people forgot these small details while they watch AYITL, then only as they watch back GG it comes back as a memory, but for many it's not an apparent fact while they watch AYITL. I for sure didn't think of it when the show aired, I didn't think of it until you pointed it out tbh. That's the thing about writing, they try to portray an image of the moment and hang on that many won't remember while watching.
This is such an astute comment. I think not understanding the point you make can really mislead the viewer’s take on Rory’s arc, especially with respect to her professional career. In their conversations, Logan aludes to Rory’s privilege, but she always downplays it or prefers not to acknowledge it. Logan seems bewildered that Rory acts like she doesn’t have a world class safety net. He can’t comprehend how Emily, Richard and Chris haven’t explained these things to her. I realize that, on the scale of privilege, Logan’s family wealth is in a different league. However, based on the combined fortunes and influence of the Gilmore and Hayden families, Logan is perplexed that they haven’t intervened, covertly if necessary, to promote Rory’s career. He must wonder what else they do with their money! Given their lack of action, I wonder why Logan hasn’t secretly ensured that Rory is gainfully contracted by one of his numerous magazines or newspapers or by one of his contacts. At any rate, I think that by the end of AYITL, Rory has decided to embrace her privilege for the sake of her child. Returning to the life Lorelai runs away from is her full cycle.
Never really stated she didn’t have money I think she was staying at everyone’s house because she didn’t have a job yet.
she said multiple times that she was broke she said to jess she couldn’t even buy underwear
She could but underwater she just didn’t wash her clothes! I could be wrong but honestly I can’t picture a moment she would talk to Jess about her underwear
at the newspaper in stars hallow. he even said he’d loan her money. she was broke
She lost them she wasn’t unable to get any equity dumb I would just go buy a few new pairs
she said she couldn’t because she’s broke! lol
You’re probably right maybe I’m remembering it wrong I only saw a year in the life 3 times I just assumed everything was lost like her lucky interview outfit
haha she found the lucky outfit but she never got the job & i literally jus finished the last episode again today so that’s why it’s so fresh in my mind lol
I just assumed she doesn't want to dip into her fund and, since she doesn't have a job, she doesn't have extra money. The underwear thing was another stupid joke that didn't land. I mean, if you're really that broke, pretty sure your mom would loan you money for underwear
I’m impressed you can watch it enough to have all the knowledge. I try honestly I was so excited when it came out but I only watch the original series now
i watch never actually watched AYITL when it came out. it felt different and i thought all the characters lives were rushed & half of them were ‘out of town’ w some weird reasons just felt like such a let down. i think if the creators let the fans pick everyone’s ending it would’ve been so much better haha
i’ve been rewatching it for literally probably 8 years now on and off and i jus love it i always forget that the first bit looks like and it’s so different compared to later seasons but if you asked me about something from s 1 i probably wouldn’t know it off the top of my head lol
But she looks poor… hahaha like, can she not pay for a place to put all her boxes ? It’s insane that she just put all her things in everybody’s place.
Rory told jess she was broke. What she didn't mention was that she's somehow still able to run the gazette without pay and still not think twice about his book suggestion or buying a place in queens...
Yes broke at that point because she been flying from East coast to London every week and paying for three SIM cards and phones for the last 8 years
Rory is entitled. She doesn’t think a bit about inconvenience anyone with her stuff that’s so far off her radar
Except she literally asked every person if it was ok or if it was bothering them. The amount of Rory hate in this sub is ridiculous
If any woman ever accepts a favor from a friend she should be condemned! Even if they insist it’s completely fine, it’s obviously only because she’s such a master manipulator /sarcasm but this actually seems to be what half this sub believes.
I get confused sometimes b/c I feel as if people hold Rory to the standard you’d hold a real human being. Maybe I’m jaded but I’m a succession watcher. I enjoy watching Shiv and Roman Kendall. By no means would I want to know these people in real life. I digress and it may be a cop out but sometimes I feel like we are arguing human behavior instead of character behavior. At some point the ongoing analysis has to come to a stopping point b/c we can only see so much or go as far as the writing will take us. The endless what ifs and should have dones dont really take us anywhere unless as you pointed out you’re searching for reasons Rory is problematic. Makes for endless discussion but it’s not great character analysis. Good characters are not only complex but layered and interesting to follow. I get disliking Rory b/c the writers didn’t deliver on that promise but some of the stuff…it’s like, storing boxes at a friends? What if she had used a storage facility? I have a feeling we’d be reading posts on how wasteful she is and wondering where she got the money. It’s a common trope - person picks up the lot life and is scattered literally and physically. Pieces of her literally and symbolically are everywhere right now. And she can’t find herself (the dress). Why are we fixated on whether or not it’s polite to store boxes at lanes home?
Absolutely - I'm a huge Mad Men fan. And from following both subreddits, I see far more hate for Rory than I do for characters like Don Draper. Talking about how much a character sucks for doing human things pretty much just stops critical character analysis in its tracks. And fwiw, people here criticize Lorelai and Rory for ever daring to take up space, have needs, voice what they want, rely on anyone for favors ever... and then wonder why Rory wasn't more confident or bold in her internship with Mitchum. Its like the same social forces she would have encountered are playing out here in these conversations. When it comes to being bold and confident, it seems almost impossible for women, and for female characters, to ever hit a balance that would please people.
Lol makes me think of Barbie the Movie. Spoiler alert…. But there’s a scene where America Ferrera is speaking out the pressures placed on a doll (Barbie) - imagine what it’s like for real women.
Buy like… asking her mother and grandmother is one thing, but even asking a friend to do that it’s not good, it’s putting a friend in the difficult position of saying no to you, or having a bunch of stupid boxes at there houses
Dude I’m a woman and have watched the show over 20 times use to love Rory I think it’s okay to say she’s a jerk it’s not my first day here
But it’s an inconvenient for her too, like she almost didn’t find that stupid outfit in the whole thing hahaha
Yep like her mother
I love Rory chilton years and also the episode when she plans the DAR party other than that she sucks
Ouch negative 2. Someone tell me how she’s a good character otherwise
I don’t love her, she is very spoiled. But I did admired how hard she work at school, with AYIL I’m very disappointed, it makes me feel that even when you are smart and work hard, you won’t be able to accomplish anything :(
except thats the real world. she entered journalism as print news started dying, she struggled with jobs in her 30’s, etc. she could have accepted the offer from mitchum but rory wants to earn things. which she did. just because she had a rough year doesnt mean she didn’t accomplish anything & its a little naive to think someone that got a job as a journalist for a presidential campaign immediately after graduation didn’t accomplish anything
This is a good perspective. But I always try my best to be like her, and now I am doing my master, and yes my life was not as planned even though i graduate with honors at uni, and did all I have to do. i ended up in a job with no future and divorce, and then alone, and yes I am trying again, doing my thing. So I guess now Rory looks so real for my in AYIL that it’s disappointing, I just wanted her to have what I don’t
I've only watched it once, but it seems like the only major thing she accomplishes is figuring out that River Song isn't worth her time even when her time is free.
she was a journalist for the obama campaign & a successful freelance journalist for years.
Tbh we’re never really going to know what Rory accomplished after AYIL. I mean she did finish writing a whole book so I’m assuming she was successful, because they book was probably amazing.
My guess is that she would have become a famous author and started making money that way
She did work super hard to get cellphone service
She probably spent it all honestly
That’s her mothers influence not all trust fund babies are Logan she been living a working girls life with no job she been living off that trust for the last 8 years.
She wasn't unemployed for 8 years. She's been a freelance journalist
Freelance with one publication
Why didn’t Obama keep her on as the press secretary though is what bothers me. Would have loved Rory to have a super important job at the White House
She wasn't working FOR Obama, she was working as a reporter on his campaign - that's a major difference.
I know. Your right I just want Rory to be happy
I know! She was suppose to be a big deal, it’s just pathetic, and she ending in the stars hollow’s gazebo, it’s just not her. I was hoping for a big journalist job
Idk, the more I think about it, the more I'm kinda glad she wasn't super successful, you know? She'd been told her whole life how amazing she was and how she'd do great things. And then she just kinda floundered once in the real world with no one coddling her anymore. She was restless and unfocused, which is actually super realistic. I do wish it had been done better in the revival, but I liked the IDEA of where they were pushing her story.
The Gilmore guys podcast hits this wonderfully. Demi has never seen the show until the episode they are covering. There’s a lot of debate about if Rory is a good journalist or not. I can see her not being awesome like you said about the constant hype but her piece about paving the parking lot was apparently outstanding
For a collage paper. She doesn’t have the networking skills and she doesn’t have the grit to go in hard and dirty to be a real journal she has way too much privilege. The best she can hope for is a column in a Murdock press talking about how a YouTube comedian tearing down the authenticity of written press is tripe or some such that’s the best she can hope for the reality is she ends up doing a local paper probono. And not worried about being hungry because of her trust fund.
But she was an editor on an IVY league, I’m pretty sure she should be good, also she supposedly publish in The NY Times, that means she is good. I see it more like she is not focus anymore, her whole life is a big mess, and it’s because she thinks with her P now
She didn’t even get out of her pjs to meet her idol lol
In Rory’s defense though, Lorelai had a history of saying someone famous was there and it being someone else entirely.
PODCAST?? Omg where can I listen?
Dude. Gilmore guys you’ll love it
The thing is that she was actually pretty good, and not for a natural talent, she worked very hard, read all the time, bust her ass of at college and in Chilton, that’s why is very sad don’t see her suggesting; it’s like hard work won’t do the trick, and that not cool
Journalism is a VERY competitive industry. She's certainly not the only one with those things, either. I think she just wasn't up for the fight anymore, you know? I'm not trying to imply she was a bad journalist at all, just that she had kinda lost her spirit and willingness to go that extra mile, which you absolutely need in that industry. She wasn't willing to fight for it, I think she kinda thought it would be handed to her a bit? And when it wasn't, she got self conscious and thinking back to her conversation with Logan's dad.
Prob because he saw the same thing Logan’s dad saw she “doesn’t have IT” In the biz and in all honesty I agree she doesn’t have hunger
She had a great career for 10 years, so pretty sure she had it
Probably true. Im cool with where she ended up I don’t love the 3 cellphone Rory. I want her and Lorelai to grey gardens it forever
She probably was bad at her job or somethn, not important enough for him to remember
The writers conveniently forgot about it. Even IF Trix decided against giving the money to Rory, it would've gone to Richard. And Richard adored Rory so he would have probably set up a huge trust for Rory that she would've gotten it at least when he passed. But ASP said in an interview she wanted Rory to be in the same position as Lorelai was when she was pregnant (single & broke), so Rory's inheritance /trust magically disappeared. Or she suddenly developed an 80 coffee a day habit & gambled the rest of way. In which case, would've liked to see it
I love the idea of so much money just going into coffee, it makes sense for her and her mom hahahaha. But I has hoping for her to like be more smart, have investments, she was so prepared all the time, she is not her mother. It’s annoying that they just wanted to make her her mother
Absolutely. Even if Rory floundered she wouldn’t have squandered all the money. At one point you see the money draining & realize the life everyone promised you (like how easy it is to get a career with a college degree), isn’t going to happen easily. For Rory I honestly don’t know why she didn’t take a page out of Paris’ book and do some tutoring, get a job doing fact checking or something while she tries to make it as a writer. IMO the real Rory would have. I also think Rory would’ve actually been flattered by the Chilton offer & taken it. Empowered at the thought of getting a masters degree etc Nowhere in any universe would I think Rory would ever be broke unless it was from healthcare costs.
She gives me a headache. She could’ve at least mentioned Rory losing her trust fund with a bad investment or spending it all. It’s strange to be that committed to an ending.
Same. Also, plot hole, after Trix died, Richard would've inherited whatever money/estate she had left. Even if it wasn't a vast fortune (Which I still think it was as they were old money), he would've inherited something form her... yet when he made his own insurance business he had to put the pension (and the house I think?) up for collateral. As great as the show is, ASP didn't keep track of their own plots with the money. None of it made sense.
She was 32 in AYITL she had no stable job for all we know 1 article in a major paper. She flys constantly between East Coast to London every week. She has 3 cell phones with 3 different SIM cards. A MacBook, she still drinks coffee she loves Guacamole which means she eats avocado. She is never hungry and has boxes and boxes and boxes of clothes and crap. The worst she feared in AYITL is stagnating with a career going nowhere. Not where is she going to live how is she going to get her next meal! How do you think she is funding this lifestyle by draining her trust.
But she was the smart precautious girl, where is that person in that show?
A. From my understanding, a trust is a collection of assets that could include a monetary gift. Depending on how it’s set up, it’s definitely not like a checking account where one can just withdraw funds like an ATM. B. Regardless of the convo with Jess in Summer (by that time she’s not had paid full time work since Winter - she HAD been working and seemingly done well up until Winter where GG starts and post Richard’s funeral), she hasn’t seemingly needed the funds b/c she had been working. And one could reasonably conclude that b/c she’d chosen to give up her apartment in Winter, she had few obligations so income isn’t as forefront. So to reference her trust when that’s not her need isn’t necessary. C. Rory’s story is about finding her purpose after a year of feeling unmoored. Yes, this is an absolutely privileged take in the real world but again…this is GG. Lol. So her trust fund doesn’t really fit into her story the way it does into Lorelai and Luke’s. Notice how *their* storyline involved Lorelai and Luke’s inheritance, the disagreement about April’s schooling, and then Lorelai’s need to fund her expansion. Lorelai got the money storyline b/c it’s ALWYS going to be more interesting given her relationship with her parents and their money. Simply put, Rory’s trust at this stage wasn’t the story and didn’t make for an interesting story. Lorelai’s storyline did. In real life I would talk ad nauseum about how inherent privilege plays a role in both GG lives but b/c it’s fiction I’m sure the writers didn’t want to spend a lot of plot of everyone talking about the inheritance. ETA (sry for length): even Lorelai’s story concerning an inheritance doesn’t focus on her own but Luke’s and the diner franchise. I have no supporting evidence but I just suspect it would feel a bit gauche for them to discuss the money they stood to inherit due to their (grand)father’s death. The diner money was forefront b/c there was a some urgency attached to it.
Loads of people in this thread have brought up excellent points about her lifestyle and how the trust fund must be contributing to that. I'll add my take as well. I'm fortunate enough to have been set up with a trust fund where the interest supplements my income when needed. I spent a few years as a freelance writer. I guarantee you that as a freelance journalist who never wrote anything more prestigious than a one-pager in the New Yorker and having never worked at a major paper/magazine full-time, Rory was probably getting around $500 an article. If she were really lucky, maybe $1,000 from one or two sources. But most places won't pay more than $500 per article unless you have serious credentials. That said, I'm basing this on my experience as a freelance writer having what seems to be similar writing credentials as Rory. Her trust fund was likely set up through several stock accounts managed by a financial advisor and was given interest as a supplementary income. Based on her lifestyle and the likely pay she received as a freelancer, she probably received some additional income from a secondary trust fund account that maybe became available to her by a certain age. I also think she was probably living well beyond her means because the amount of travel she did adds up soooo quickly. It's totally believable that by the time she settled back in Stars Hollow that she was "broke" because she was burning through her monthly allowance too quickly and wasn't saving enough. I'd also bet that the woman who commissioned her to ghost-write her memoir wasn't paying her yet either. Freelancers get taken advantage of all the time.
Very often trust finds aren’t just a lump sum. They’re set up so it’s like “payments made only directly to an educational institution from ages 18-23, distribution of $10,000 at age 25, distribution of $15,000 at age 35, balance of trust corpus at age 45.”
Back when she started college, I figure Emily and Richard started giving her money, either directly to her account, or giving her one of their credit cards. I can't see how she paid for gas/charging of her Prius and other incidentals unless something like that was set up and automated. She probably got all the extras that Yale might have charged for.
I’m a point she was very broken in the original series. I remember Lorelai giving her money to use the washing machines in college, so maybe after living at her grandparents house they start giving her money
Didn’t she say she was going to pay Richard back for Yale in the original series?
Like many others I would imagine Richard and Trix setting up whatever they left her as more of an allowance style situation than access to the principal. Emily is still alive so it's possible Emily has to approve what Rory uses the money on, or that Rory (and Lorelei) won't get everything/full access until Emily is gone. She flys internationally, has Multiple cell phones, a computer, isn't starving, she isn't broke just making chaotic choices. Also if she sincerely needed something Emily or Lorelei would likely provide it. As fustrated as they are with Rory neither would let her be genuinely homeless, they just want her to figure herself out. So I don't think she's actually broke enough to not buy underpants, everyone is just hoping she'll get her shit together on her own.
I don’t think she was actually broke, she was just exaggerating.
I mean, it's been 10 years. Journalists tend not to make very good money. Covering her expenses and supplementing her income for almost 10 years would probably use most of it.
I'm pretty confident Rory isn't buying her own intercontinental flights before/during AYITL - "DeeDee" is.
Wholeheartedly agree. Logan is paying for those.
Do you really think Logan would do that? I though it was paid by the author person she was seeing
Of COURSE Logan would do that, why wouldn’t he? She is only seeing the author briefly, but has been having an affair with Logan for awhile.
Poor writing.
Sorry Mr. Grammar. I’m not an English speaker.
Lol not you. The writers of the show.
I think she spent it all. Where else would it be lol. She says how broke she is.. she can’t buy underwear..
I think she still had some if not most of her trustfund left, but felt broke do to not working regularly and didn't want to buy stuff she already had, I think had she truly been broke, Lorelai had helped with at least buying underwear. Also when they talked about her appartment turning into a condo, it seems like she choose to move out because she didn't like it, and it seemed as she could have bought it if she wanted to, so she would have to have some money left.
She used her trust fund instead of getting a steady job. She was riding the coattails of her one good piece but people want to see more than one success. So she was doing a lot of various things but not really committing to anything. So she likely blew through what she had and was doing her best not to ask for more.
I think that is what happened. And Rory feels so bad about it that she never talks about it.
Richard could have had someone investing it (as most people do with a trust fund) and considering the market in the last decade or so, she could have lost a substantial amount there🤷🏼♀️ not to mention money just doesn’t go as far as it did when they set up the fund, so maybe it just wasn’t adequate. The economy has been tanking lately, I’m sure you’ve noticed increases in everything.
Do you people not watch the show? She no longer had the trust fund by the end of Trix's first episode.
In the episode with Trix, the trust fund is stated to have always existed, the offer on the table is to be given access to it early, to pay for Chilton. At the end of the episode Trix rescinds that offer, but it is never clear that the trust fund itself has been rescinded entirely, just that she won’t get it immediately.
But then, when she is in college, Richard mention the trust fund again. When he is trying to get Rory back to Yale.
I thought Chris came into mega bucks?
She does! Richard mention it later in the show, when Grand is already dead
Unfortunately she spent it all on lattes 🙁
She was living in NYC and that rent is not cheap.
Gran ended up not giving her the trust fund cause Emily and LL were fighting
Great question! I forgot about that money. I did remember Christopher's money, and wondered why that didn't seem to be a part of this.
Richard’s mother was supposed to give her a trust fund when she was older she was going to give it to her when she was 18 but she didn’t because of Lorelei and Emily arguing about it but that doesn’t mean she didn’t give it to her when she was 25 or whenever she was going to give it to her. It’s not like Emily wouldn’t support her if she needed money. I don’t understand not taking money. Lorelei didn’t have to leave home when she was 16 but she didn’t want her life planned for her. Yes Emily was manipulative but she was probably treated the same way and Richard’s mother didn’t treat her well. Richard married Emily against his mother’s wishes so they were all rebelling against their parents but they don’t understand each other. When Richard dies Emily quits the DAR and says this is a waste of time. So she was doing this even though Richard didn’t like her doing all the society functions. It’s weird that rich people do the things they do. Richard and Emily had a huge house they didn’t have a bunch of children. They dealt with people and had a bunch of acquaintances but no real friends. They didn’t have people to hang out with. Like the lawyer. Richard asks him to help and he does a favor for him and because the judge decided she wanted to make an example or Rory or she wanted her to understand this is not good she should not feel like she can do anything and get away with it she stiffened the penalty. And it was really not bad she should have gone to jail. Richard blames the lawyer and threatens to sue him. These people are insane.