Anthony Bourdain Does Not Want to Owe Anybody Even a Single Dollar
Linc
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I don't want to sound like I’m bragging about this, but the sad fact is, until 44 years of age, I never had any kind of savings account. I’d always been under the gun. I’d always owed money. I'd always been selfish and completely irresponsible.
https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-us/magazine/money-diary-anthony-bourdain
While I don't have the hard-scrapes financial background he does, in his present regard for dealing with money he is my spirit animal:
If getting that extra money means a lot of phone calls and talking to financial analysts and lawyers, I don’t want it. I don’t want to have those conversations.
I find it very refreshing to hear about a celebrity doing just fine but not amazing because they're focused on living well and not obsessing over money.
via Daring Fireball via Kottke
Comments
I hate dealing with financial crap. My mother in law is an accountant, and my mom is huge no investments. I feel like I am getting lectured from every side about setting up all sorts of accounts to ensure I have at least a million dollars in retirement money. Blech. No thanks. I'd rather die, I think. The last thing I want to do is participate in the same system I despise for keeping income inequality as vast as it is. We have savings. We have retirement accounts via our work (I still have mine from when I worked and will resume when I return to work one day). That's enough. I'd rather like like a peasant. It drives my mom insane and we can't even talk about it. When I have extra money, I spread it around. I have no interest in hoarding it. It disturbs me.
I'd really love to see an economy based on trade of skills. There is an online marketplace that does this now (simbi) and I really would love to see things like that take off. That is a better way to manage society, IMO. I have a garden, I'll trade you garden goods if you can work on my car. That we've elevated some skills (that often aren't even skills but just collections of knowledge that were amassed with expensive educations) to the degree half of the people can't even afford them is insane to me.
A couple of years ago, the Powerball Lottery was at some ridiculous high number and I walked into a little corner store and allowed myself to imagine winning... all I had to do was imagine winning, and I instantly went into an anxiety attack. Like, full-on, fret faced and sweaty.
No thanks.... I don't need it. Lucky for me, having a lot of money isn't a problem. lol!
I always thought it would be nice to be able to work with our small community and send up funds to help people. Our school could use a pile of money. Our buildings are 80 years old and always need major updates that the budget doesn't allow for. Lots of our neighbors can't afford home maintenance, so I'd set up a fund they could use to fix their homes, but they'd have to use local labor to do so and the labor would be paid directly from the fund (not given to the home owner). It'd be nice if my kids didn't have to take out $60k in loans to go to college. I'd do some sort of scholarship fund for local kids too and help to fund some local initiatives that are trying to get going but again don't have the funds being in an economically depressed area.
Keanu Reeves isn't too hot on having a lot of money, either.....
"In 2003 Reeves was quoted in Hello! magazine with saying: “Money is the last thing I think about..” This may sound like a marketing ploy. A quote used to endear the audience to the actor. Nothing can further be sourced from the truth for Reeves, he is one of those rare individuals who practices what he preaches.
When cast in The Devil’s Advocate, Reeves took a several million dollar pay cut in order to get Al Pacino on board, he did the same for The Replacements where he took a 90% pay cut in order to get Gene Hackman on the cast. Additionally, he even refused an $11 million pay day for filming the sequel to Speed, and an opportunity to be in the film Heat with De Niro and Pacino, in order to play Hamlet. This was not for a world re-known theatre company, in which he was performing the play in a major city or in front of large audiences, but at the modest Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Canada.
These were personal refusals of money, but he has done more than just refuse money, he has shared the wealth with those who are often forgotten in the movie process. The most telling tale of this thoughtful use of movie salary money was taking close to $75 million of his well negotiated ticket sales based salary, for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and gave it to the special effects and costume design teams.
Citing that they were the true heroes of the movie franchise, this equated to over $1 million dollars per person, instantly making them all millionaires. He also gave every member of the stunt crew Harley Davidson motorcycles."
From Here.
Though, you'll notice the people who say money doesn't matter mostly never have to worry about money. It's different when you are digging in the couch cushions to find change for milk. Most people need money to achieve the stability that allows one to not have to worry about it. I know a guy who lives on $8,000 a year in Hawaii. But I wouldn't say he's typical.
We've researched a lot what it will take to move into a more sustainable home (off the grid with as close to full sustainability as possible) and it's a pretty expensive venture to even try to get started on. The more simple you want to go anymore, the more money you need unless you can do all the work yourself. They don't make it easy to get off relying on all the crap they (society/govt) provide and in some areas of the US are starting to fine people for making more environmentally friendly choices (such as charging fees and special taxes of those driving green cars because governments lose tax money when they don't buy gas). Areas have made it illegal to have a rain barrel on your own property because they believe the water falling from the sky belongs to them. Crazy stuff.
I am poor as the dervish, which means poor.
I am a beggar, like the Buddha.
I am Bankei.
Rich am I?
How right you are!
Yes, I second that..... But I honestly believe that if the two above were to lose their fortunes, they'd be more inclined to shrug than to panic. It seems they'd deal with it...Others I could bring to mind...? Not so much....
Having in the past been in both situations, I have to admit which one I prefer....
They may not panic but I'm sure it'd be a major adjustment to give up the huge multi-million dollar homes and all the cars and motorcycle toys that they love so much. Plus, unless we see the downfall of all of civilization, lol, they will both always have their names to fall back on. Anthony Bourdain is "only" worth about $6 million compared to Keanu Reeve's $350 million. That we consider making $6 million as "doing fine but not amazing" is curious to me. That's still more money than anyone needs to live a comfortable life.
That any human being is worth that much is just bizarre to me. What do they offer the world to be paid so much money? It's amazing the amount of our own money we give to people like them (no judgement on the content of their character) simply to be distracted from our own lives. They are both rich because the rest of us are uncomfortable in our lives. Not blaming them, it's just interesting to me to consider. Looking at the vast majority of rich people most of them don't add anything to the world or the betterment of humans, societies or the planet. They are simply paid based on what we value. It's too bad we don't value our social workers, foster parents, teachers as much as we value our distraction.