There are financial lessons to be learned from a single mom on food stamps who finagles Caribbean vacations, an Oscar-winning actor who is too cheap to play golf at private clubs, and a man who tricked himself into saving money by pretending he was going to be a father.
WHO: A freelance writer/blogger who tried to get his spending under control by pretending he was having a baby: Over the course of nine months, he saved more than half of his income and put it in untouchable accounts because that money was “for the baby.”
LESSON LEARNED: When the goal is important enough, and you basically give yourself no choice but to rein in your spending, it is possible to save far more than thought imaginable.
WHO: Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent, who in a recent interview, spoke of his practice of playing golf only at “cheap public courses” that charge roughly $16 for nine holes.
LESSON LEARNED: Public golf courses aren’t only a means to save money compared to playing at an exclusive, expensive club. They’re also a means to minimize one’s embarrassment over being a sub-par duffer. Broadbent says: “I’m a very bad golfer and the guys I play with are really bad and we like to be able to play badly without disapproval of the members.”
WHO: Marci Reisman, a real estate developer and writer from San Francisco who wrote at Salon about her experiences raising chickens—specifically, about feeling ridiculous while spending $300 to bring a chicken to the vet, and then feeling relieved when the chicken had to be euthanized.
LESSON LEARNED: Before you welcome chickens into your home or backyard, it’s wise to do some soul searching to figure out if the birds will be pets or livestock, and if you’re raising them to save money and eat well, or to welcome in new members of the family.
WHO: Josh Kaufman, an “independent business educator” profiled by Fortune who says that business school is a waste of time and money because everything you learn there you can learn on your own by reading—and perhaps with the help of his PersonalMBA.com program.
LESSON LEARNED: Like Frank Zappa said, “If you want an education, go to the library.” On the other hand, he also said, “If you want to get laid, go to college.”
WHO: Steve Fortin, a farmer in California who spent $3,000 this year in advertising trying to attract unemployed American citizens to work on his strawberry plants for $10.25 an hour. He was featured in a USA Today story revealing that almost all seasonal farm work continues to be taken up by foreigners, even with unemployment rates among Americans nearing 10%.
LESSON LEARNED: Immigrants are often the only workers willing to take on tough farm labor gigs, which are “just not something that most Americans are going to pack up their bags and move here to do,” says Fortin.
WHO: A single mother who makes $16K a year and who still manages to pay for vacations at Caribbean resorts, interviewed by NPR.
LESSON LEARNED: By utilizing food stamps and subsidized housing, and by carefully playing offers from credit-card issuers—signing up for 0% interest promos, transferring balances at optimal times—you can live a pretty good life. Well, at least until too many credit card balances catch up with her.
WHO: Former baseball star and bankrupt “investment guru” Lenny Dykstra, who tells the LA Times he is plotting a financial comeback, possibly by giving money advice to professional athletes.
LESSON LEARNED: ?