Is this guy crazy or what

[Big_Hitter]

He was not on the path for an easy, successful life. He was on the path of being overwhelmed every day of his life.

maybe he made the right decision for himself. Good for him then. I still don't get it and neither would the people who were raised during the great depression who brought me up. My parents sacrified, scrimped and were extremely frugal. We never went out to eat. That was unheard of. For me to throw away all that they did so that I could go to a good high school and on to college (my Dad had to drop out and my mom had to quit school in 8th grade to support herself) would literally kill them. I'll never be able to repay what they did for us.

 

[NW-Bound]

The one thing positive about managing to live simply on a low-paying job is that you never have to worry about losing your job. Low-paid workers move constantly from job to job, and with turnover so high employers are always looking for replacement.

It's not something I would be happy to see my children doing. I prefer to see them gainfully employed in a career that makes use of their education. But if this guy, the one working in a grocery store, wants to sustain himself with 3-day/week job and is happy with it, good for him.

 

[marko]

That actually happens. Some North Koreans who have defected to the South pine for their old days in the North. The stress of modern day life in South Korea was so much that they preferred the "simpler life" in the North. Sure, they were starving then, but you only had one goal - find enough to eat.

Keep it simple or die trying.
Now I'm wishing I could live in North Korea!!

 

[marko]

For me to throw away all that they did so that I could go to a good high school and on to college... would literally kill them. I'll never be able to repay what they did for us.

You make a good point.

You do without and put a kid through college only to have him leave a good paying, secure government job to work in a grocery store, 22 hours a week?

So that he has more time to...socialize? (OMG, I can hear my late Dad now!!)

Maybe this is an 'affluence' issue after all.
Maybe he knows he'll inherit a bundle someday, so...why sweat it out now? Pass the guacamole, bro.

 

[aja8888]

That actually happens. Some North Koreans who have defected to the South pine for their old days in the North. The stress of modern day life in South Korea was so much that they preferred the "simpler life" in the North. Sure, they were starving then, but you only had one goal - find enough to eat.

Any follow up stories of those folks going back to North Korea?

 

[Big_Hitter]

You make a good point.

You do without and put a kid through college only to have him leave a good paying, secure government job to work in a grocery store, 22 hours a week?

So that he has more time to...socialize? (OMG, I can hear my late Dad now!!)

Maybe this is an 'affluence' issue after all.
Maybe he knows he'll inherit a bundle someday, so...why sweat it out now? Pass the guacamole, bro.

they got mad enough when I quit playing piano in 8th grade so I could focus on my dungeons and dragons game.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

That's a false dichotomy. There's a middle ground. I work 40 hours a week with a moderate (25 minute) commute, at a low-stress job with high job security and a great pension (government). My wife and I are DINKs, so we have plenty of time for hobbies and each other, and no money worries. Why would I "simplify" to live on peanuts and worry about how I'm going to afford to eat 40 years from now?

I didn't say there wasn't a middle ground. Just that many here would not call the long hours, high stress person a loser. We have many threads here along the lines of people feeling sick to their stomachs on Sunday night because their jobs are so stressful but no one calls them losers because they work full time.

The video guy lives in Canada so healthcare is not a big expense. I have retired friends even in California and paying for Medicare who seem to live well and they have told me they have trouble spending $30K a year. One told me she spends the extra on spoiling the grandkids.

Forty hours plus even a short commute time is still a lot of hours in a week to be at work. I've done both full time and part-time and part-time is much better for me. Fuego has a cute chart on his blog showing his before and after weekly schedules:

http://rootofgood.com/early-retirement-schedule/

Which chart would you rather have your life to be like? As a society we've gotten used to 40+ hours a week as normal, but Juliet Schor, author of the Overworked Amarican, says we work more than medieval serfs did.

I didn't see anywhere where they guy in the video has to worry about living without food. If you look at the cost of living estimates for college kids, even in Los Angeles if you subtract out the college tuition and book expenses, living like a college kid can be pretty cheap and one would still have all the necessities of life.

 

[GravitySucks]

Keep it simple or die trying.

Now I'm wishing I could live in North Korea!!

Kept threatening to ship Girlfriend to North Korea every time she would complain of to many choices at the grocery store....

 

[redduck]

Kept threatening to ship Girlfriend to North Korea every time she would complain of to many choices at the grocery store....

The guy in the video might very happy to help her make an informed decision (assuming she's shopping in the store on one of the three days he's working).

 

[Totoro]

So that he has more time to...socialize? (OMG, I can hear my late Dad now!!)

If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad

 

[daylatedollarshort]

So that he has more time to...socialize? (OMG, I can hear my late Dad now!!)

I get a newsletter from the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center and this is one of their articles:

Happiness is Being Socially Connected

"The upshot of 50 years of happiness research is that the quantity and quality of a person's social connections—friendships, relationships with family members, closeness to neighbors, etc.—is so closely related to well-being and personal happiness the two can practically be equated. People with many friendships are less likely to experience sadness, loneliness, low self-esteem, and problems with eating and sleeping."

 

[AnonEMouse]

Keep it simple or die trying.
Now I'm wishing I could live in North Korea!!

Well, maybe if you were an elite [even those get purged from time to time though]. Otherwise it's starvation and torture for the masses.

Any follow up stories of those folks going back to North Korea?

A few stories here:
Some North Korean defectors wish they hadn't left in the first place
The North Korean defectors who want to return home - BBC News
After escaping to South Korea, some defectors now want to return north | Public Radio International

 

[haha]

Well, maybe if you were an elite [even those get purged from time to time though]. Otherwise it's starvation and torture for the masses.



A few stories here:
Some North Korean defectors wish they hadn't left in the first place
The North Korean defectors who want to return home - BBC News
After escaping to South Korea, some defectors now want to return north | Public Radio International

Many people had similar feeling when Germany was unified and the DDR ceased to be. Sure, Stasi had a microphone in your apartment, and schnitzels were a very occasional menu item. But at least your job in the steel mill was not going to Korea, and your inadequate apartment was not going to disappear in favor of an al fresco existence. And you could still take comfort in your superiority to those greedy capitalists in the West.

Ha

 

[aja8888]

Well, maybe if you were an elite [even those get purged from time to time though]. Otherwise it's starvation and torture for the masses.



A few stories here:
Some North Korean defectors wish they hadn't left in the first place
The North Korean defectors who want to return home - BBC News
After escaping to South Korea, some defectors now want to return north | Public Radio International

Looks like those who try to go back are finding less than a rosy welcome. Sure it's tough for some going to the south, but 20,000 or so have done it. No one is selling those stories.

 

[redduck]

He must have some mental health issues or something. That's all I can glean from that video. He threw away a perfectly good job and a great pension to live in a squalid garret and bike to work in the snow at a grocery store? I don't' get it.

I think I saw the same video as you. He has a bachelor apartment. And, it looked clean. It's not a squalid garret (I know that for a fact, because I went to high school with a guy named "Squalid" Garret and he didn't look anything like that apartment).

And, if all you can glean from the video is that he mental health problems, well, that's fine and you may be correct. But, if you do believe that, it seems like maybe he should be cut some slack for taking care of himself, working a job that he can handle, having friends and working on his emotional self. He problem is, if he stayed with the old job, there might have eventually been the problem of self-medication (drugs/alcohol)to ease the distress he felt revolving around that government job.

 

[Big_Hitter]

meh, he's a quitter - he should have manned up and stuck with it (that's my Dad talking)

 

[aja8888]

meh, he's a quitter - he should have manned up and stuck with it (that's my Dad talking)

My thoughts are he opted to get into the private sector where he contributed to productivity instead of staying at a job where he was a cost to society.

 

[Milton]

Does anyone follow the "Financial Independence" Reddit subforum? I have been for awhile, but get more and more convinced the average age there has to be in the low 20's and probably 99% nowhere near FIRE.

What is Reddit? Never heard of it.

Another gem from that guy: "The only other thing I left off is a minor position in a cricket flour/cricket protein bar company. I don't count it in my assets because it's so speculative, but it seems they are the market leader in what I think is going to become a huge market in the next 10 to 20 years."

I guess only time will tell, but I don't see it myself. While cricket has a huge following within Great Britain and most of the Empire's former colonies, it has almost no appeal elsewhere. And how does a sport tie into baking or snacks?

 

[Big_Hitter]

My thoughts are he opted to get into the private sector where he contributed to productivity instead of staying at a job where he was a cost to society.

that's hilarious

 

[UpAnchor]

...problem is, if he stayed with the old job, there might have eventually been the problem of self-medication (drugs/alcohol)to ease the distress he felt revolving around that government job.

I'm sure curious as to the nature of his old job. Without replaying the video I think he referred to "staring into a screen all day" or something along that line. I have to wonder was it the sort of work that others would find interesting and challenging or was it so tedious, repetitive or otherwise mind-numbing that it would drive most anyone nuts after awhile. At $80k I would think the former but who could say. And I'd be the first to admit having once or twice found myself numbed by work that others found interesting. But man am I glad I stayed the course.

 

[redduck]

meh, he's a quitter - he should have manned up and stuck with it (that's my Dad talking)

You make a good point.

So that he has more time to...socialize? (OMG, I can hear my late Dad now!!)

Pass the guacamole, bro.

I just figured something out, both you (Big_Hitter) and marko have the SAME dad and you can both hear him talking to you. (He seems have the same message for both you boys).

chorus: remarkable.
redduck: thanks
chorus: you thought we were complimenting you?
redduck: can I have some of that guacamole?

 

[NW-Bound]

I think I saw the same video as you. He has a bachelor apartment. And, it looked clean. It's not a squalid garret (I know that for a fact, because I went to high school with a guy named "Squalid" Garret and he didn't look anything like that apartment).

And, if all you can glean from the video is that he mental health problems, well, that's fine and you may be correct. But, if you do believe that, it seems like maybe he should be cut some slack for taking care of himself, working a job that he can handle, having friends and working on his emotional self. He problem is, if he stayed with the old job, there might have eventually been the problem of self-medication (drugs/alcohol)to ease the distress he felt revolving around that government job.

+1 on the guy's apartment.

+1 too on the guy's quitting, instead of going "postal" as some others did.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

+2 on the apartment. There are many people who live in studio apartments. Besides college kids everywhere, many adults in cities like Paris and New York live in studios where housing costs are high. They aren't all mentally ill.

The U.S. has large home sizes compared to many other developed countries. Home sizes around the world:

Average Home Sizes Around the World | Apartment Therapy

In the U.S. in the 1950s, people had 276 sq ft of living space per person on average. Today it is 961.

 

[Big_Hitter]

+2 on the apartment. There are many people who live in studio apartments. Besides college kids everywhere, many adults in cities like Paris and New York live in studios where housing costs are high. They aren't all mentally ill.

The U.S. has large home sizes compared to many other developed countries. Home sizes around the world:

Average Home Sizes Around the World | Apartment Therapy

In the U.S. in the 1950s, people had 276 sq ft of living space per person on average. Today it is 961.

that was then, this is now

I wouldn't mind living in that garret if I was in college or just out of school.

I've studied and worked too hard to live like a pauper.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I just figured something out, both you (Big_Hitter) and marko have the SAME dad and you can both hear him talking to you. (He seems have the same message for both you boys).

chorus: remarkable.
redduck: thanks
chorus: you thought we were complimenting you?
redduck: can I have some of that guacamole?

it's a great message - kids nowadays should hear it, all day every day, then maybe we would have some real growth in this country instead of turning into a nation of slackers