Homeless Man Lives On Reward Points 4
Jim Kennedy lost his six-figure corporate development job 19 months ago, his house went into foreclosure, and his bankruptcy will be finalized in January. A story that is not uncommon these days. What is unusual about Kennedy is how he has been living since his financial meltdown. He has been supplementing his cost of living with reward points from hotel and airline loyalty programs. From the article: "This week, Kennedy is at the Holiday Inn Express in San Clemente, where he converted his United Airlines miles. He brought down the 7,000-points a night cost to 5,000 by adding $100 for his four-night stay, so it costs him $25 a night. But there’s an added benefit because he can expand his food budget with the free breakfast. It’s also convenient, as he can drive up the 5 Freeway to get his mail at the Mailboxes Plus in Irvine – he has a post office box because he has no address. It’s here he gets his unemployment checks, which he and 147,000 other jobless people in Orange County are using for survival."
Link is to autoprint version (Score:1)
The link provided tries to automatically print the article, which is kind of annoying. The original article [ocregister.com] is available and avoids that issue.
That said, it sounds like he may have been living beyond his means. Yes, Orange County is an expensive place to live, but it seems he was spending money willy-nilly. One of the first HDTVs released (when prices were above $5000)? A 375-bottle wine collection? A leased BMW? And all the spending he must have done to acquire these reward points? He may have been making
Re: (Score:2)
what i want to know is why is he not forced to sell off his BMW, hdv, wine collection etc as part of his bankruptcy?
overall, fair or not, the guy sounds like a moron. If you make 6 figures have the common sense to put some of it away in savings. Making that kind of money, he should be able to live for several years or more without working. I'm not saying he should be ready to retire today; but really you had no savings, investments, etc? You threw all of your money away on frivelous crap and are acting
how do you not find a job when you made 100k+ (Score:2)
Who pays that kind of salary to someone who isn't good enough to land another job? I'd like to go work there, because surely I could pull in 500k? I have recruiters badgering me three or four times a day to take interviews ... it is not hard to get a job right now if you are a decent developer.