Let This Star Tudor You In Investing

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a historical king on television, he is also old school when it comes to investing his money.

“How do I invest my money? Well, I don’t invest it in Bear Stearns (BSC)!” the 30-year-old star of Showtime’s (CBS) The Tudors told MainStreet at the world premiere of his series’ second season. "I’m Irish. I keep it in mattress.”

But this King Henry VIII actor's hesitation to bank his money isn’t a very smart financial plan, no matter how bad the economy. “Putting your money in a mattress is the surest way to lose money,” says David Gardner a financial advisor in Boulder, Colo. “Why wouldn’t you at least put it into an FDIC account or CD where you have those interest guarantees?” (The FDIC insures bank deposits up to $100,000.) Still, there is something to Meyer’s admission that resonates with Gardner. “It speaks volumes to how people’s national identity can sometimes be formed from events that happened many years ago,” says Gardner, referencing the Irish Potato Famine and the country's past economic strains. Gardner says he sees this behavior all the time. “You still see people now who have the same concern their grandparents had if say, they went through the Holocaust and had to leave Europe quickly,” says Gardner. “They kept gold around because it’s a very transportable. That way you can actually bring something that is of value from country to country.”

Maybe that explains why Meyer’s girlfriend, Reena Hammer, the English heiress who stands to inherit her mother's Ruby & Millie cosmetics line and her father's Urban Retreat Spa at Harrods, added her own two cents to our investment questions. “He invests in me,” Hammer said, pointing at her gold earrings with semi-precious stones and her large flashy ring. This is an investment we're sure King Henry VIII would approve. (Until she loses her head, of course...)