'Now We're Totally Screwed!' NerdWallet Stages a Funny, Futuristic Musical

Beware the pitfalls of a misspent youth! And we do mean misspent. Because there’s no time like the present to make financial plans for the future.

In a spot that broke on Christmas Day, NerdWallet stages a time-trippy musical set in 2074. That’s a half-century hence, when millennials and Gen Z will account for most of the elderly population.

“Future You” finds seniors bemoaning their monetary regrets. They advise their younger selves to take nothing for granted—and use NerdWallet’s tools and services, of course.

“Hey, it’s me, your future you,
You made some bad money moves…
Now we’re totally screwed!
Didn’t fund your IRA,
Thought NFTs were a better play.
Now you still work at 103,
Your boss hasn’t hit puberty.”

Sondheim it ain’t. But, we can always count on NerdWallet for something different.

Here, the quirky approach from Deutsch L.A. helps the message resonate as Jim Jenkins, a master of commercial comedy, directs with appealingly angsty style. Jury Duty’s Susan Berger and Community’s Patricia Belcher appear among the cast.

The work began running across NFL and NBA coverage, with lots more TV, digital and social outings planned.

Now, take it home, septua- and octogenarians!

“Never got a credit card with rewards,
Now we’ll never see the fjords.
All these places we’ll never go—
Here ISN’T us in Mexico!
Our life could have been very different—
But, hey! Thanks to you it isn’t.
 —Don’t make your future you hate you!”