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Homeless man lives on rewards points
Jobless Californian lost his home to foreclosure. Now he lives in hotels, thanks to rewards from his frequent corporate travel.
A lingering benefit of his former well-paid and well-traveled corporate life is keeping a roof over the head of Jim Kennedy, who is now jobless, bankrupt and foreclosed on. He’s using his rewards from airline loyalty programs and hotel points to move from hotel to hotel.
And Kennedy knows how to work those points, says an amazing story in The Orange County Register.
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.
Big bonus for Kennedy, who budgets $5 a day for food: free breakfast at the hotel (plus a microwave and fridge in the room).
Life used to be pretty great for Kennedy, who worked in IT and finance for a corporation until 19 months ago. He had a condo in lovely Newport Beach. Now its contents, including golf clubs and a 375-bottle wine collection, sit in a self-storage unit. He gets around in a leased BMW. His unemployment checks go to a rented mailbox.
He’s among the multitudes looking for work in California, which, at 12.5% in January, had the fifth-highest rate of unemployment in the U.S. In eight California counties, the jobless rate exceeds 20%. The Register said:
Every day he visits the online job banks and tries to reach out to recruiters, but he finds himself one of several hundred folks who are all going for the same gig, and it’s a difficult slog. He’s taken his story to Twitter in hopes of setting himself apart from all the other job seekers. He writes under a pseudonym, @HomelessThomOC.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Kennedy, who is 46. "I should be in major-dollar earning years and I am losing major-dollar earning years, which I will not get back,” he told the Register. “That part is frustrating and a little scary."
Related reading:
I think you all are missing the point of this blog. We all need to look at what has become all important to us----Material things-- be it money, homes, cars, etc. I think the black man made a very true statement. In that he said, he or white folks aren't going to be working in the fields. That is a sad thing when most to the people in the United States will lose their homes, not feed their children ,etc, because the jobs that they could get are beneath them---Honest Work--- I believe the black man--quite amused ---called it. Also one more thing that really bothers me. Why do americans that just happen to be black want to be called african americans---if we are going to stand together as one nation==we don't need to be making groups of other americans---that's what happen doing slavery. We are all americans----you need to celebrate your heritage in another way---not try to segregate yourselves again. To finish up, we all need to get back to being human beings who care about each other and not how we can make more money, have a bigger house, etc.
That poor jerk only lived for today and never thought his bubble would burst .Some people who never had a job where they could earn the bonus points don't think he has it so bad. They don't have anything to fall back on.
Just a reply to Yeahandtherest, I do know how to read and I did NOT omit anything that his house was foreclosed on. I was just commenting on how much his property was worth sometime during his ownership/occupancy. I never said he made a dime on his foreclosure. Hmm. the meaning of foreclosure change to making a profit? And he probably used the bankruptcy so the lender could not come after him for the rest. And what lifestyle are you talking about? All it the article mentions is where he owned his condo, his leased BMW, his 375 wine bottle collection, foreclosure, bankruptcy and where he is living at the present.
If this man was so smart with such a high lifestyle, why didn't he save up and pay off his condo as fast and free up so much more of his income? His 6 figure income can't figure out what needs to be paid. He does! Being accustomed to a lifestyle? Come on. Get a grip. A lifestyle like he was living is/was a choice. No, I do not wish for anyone to lose their jobs or homes, but he could have saved his home if he used his degree/brain as opposed to spending it.
Earning your degree may make you more money. Earning your degree may put you in a position to run a company. But being fiscally responsible, well that is taught to everybody, but nobody listens to.
I live 45 minutes from where this guy is staying and had previously lived. I paid a lot less for my house because I don't live within a mile of the beach. I have other priorities than this upper living lifestyle. I am doing my own upgrades on my house as my time permits.
I wasn't the one who decided on buying that condo. I am not the one who needed to show off by leasing a BMW. I am not the one who has a 375 wine collection in storage. I am not the one who chose this man's lifestyle. HE DID!
Also, where ever are you coming up with this notion that I am in any type of dire position, please ask me BEFORE you mention it. I am not in any dire position at this time. Nor did I ever state that I was. I was merely commenting about this blog that was taken from the O.C. Register.
I am not hating on this man. I do not know this man. I do not know his intentions. I do understand his show off lifestyle, but at his age, he needed to grow up. I am 10 years younger with a job that pays about 1/2 what his probably did, or maybe even more. I am not "trying" to make myself stand out to get an interview or a new job. Maybe he need to get a little education on marketing himself instead of doing it over the computer and his phone twitter. Maybe he needs to go into these businesses with a suit and tie on. You know the "Wow" factor that makes so many Americans buy on impulse. Same goes for job searching. A paper and words will only go so far!
here's a link to a video about this guy:
I for one thinks this is great. Perhaps he could find someone he gets along well enough with, a former coworker perhaps who is in the same boat he is in to share the room to cover at least half of his out of pocket expense.
I hope he is keeping a diary about this, or a blog, maybe he can profit from this "ordeal"
For all the nasty commenters. ANY ONE of us are only one misfortune away from being homeless, broke or sick etc. I for one will give thanks for the blessings of my circumstances.
Just an examples of a few headlines from MSNBC.....
- Mortgage aid helps few homeowners
- Strapped homeowners take ‘cash for keys’
- US sales tax rates hit record high
- Homeless man lives on rewards points
- Bundle: Uh-oh, I never saved for retirement
We will be lucky if anyone hasn't either lost a house, vehicle or declared bankruptcy by 2012!
I don't understand why some people have an issue with this man keeping his leased BMW. We don't know what his lease terms were on the car, he may be 36-48 months into it. So why let it go if he can afford the payments or to refinance for lower payments given his situation. I think everyone is bothered because it's a BMW, if he had said he still leases his Honda or Toyota, it wouldn't be an issue. Haters.
No one wants to lose their job or home, in his case, both. He isn't the only one that has taken a loss in this economy. He apparently is a single man with no family to take care of, imagine if he had children. So what he does with his unemployment check is really his business and no ones concern... he isn't getting welfare. Regardless if he pays storage fees, hotel nights, etc. He worked a job that made him eligible for unemployment and until he finds another job or his reward points run out, let the man be.
I'm sure he's seeking employment, nobody wants to be living in hotels and have their possessions in storage. Get real people...
Kudos to him for maintaing his sanity and not breaking down like some people and blowing his brains because he lost his job and home. Very creative and resourceful, so God bless him, he can only go up from where he is now.
LOL! Abelam is correct about Americans not even looking at doing field work. As "Americans", we're too spoiled and proud to accept a job in the fields picking fruits and vegetables. I'm African-American and you're NOT going to find any of us in any field PICKING nothing! LOL! And you definitely won't see any White people out there picking anything either.
So if there's work to be done in that department, let the willing immigrants do it and leave them alone. It's honest hard work.
Wow, I am amazed at the hostility here. I am impressed that the guy held onto his house as long as he did after losing his job. I honestly don't know very many people who could make their house payments for a year without a job. It seems financially savvy to me that he doesn't let his car lease go into default too. Why have more negative on the credit report than you need to. As for the wine collection, he didn't run out and buy it all the day he stopped paying his mortgage. The article said he spent more than a decade collecting wine. Sounds to me like the guy was living within his means while he was working and now that he is not he is using the resources he has available to him to keep him going so he can hopefully have the life he wants again.
I don't get the feeling he wants pity, I think it is a good article of someone being resourceful.
...woo~there are so many sour grape comments here~~ but i think this is a very smart man; when you are in hard financial condition, you want to max out your possible cash flow for the future~
1st: if he can still live in the hotel by using points, why would he want to go pay actual cash to rent a cheap apt?!
2nd: I agree with the image idea~Leased BMW is not cheap, but factoring the cost of early termination, implict benefit of mobility and increasing chance getting a new (high) paid job, then, who would say it probably it's cheaper for him to continued the lease than say, geting a VW ?
3rd: Cash devalues each day~so until all the options are ran out, why wouldn't you want to keep your valuable goods as long as you can? not to mention the sentimenal value that
are attached to it~. you can always trade them when things really gets desperate~(assuming they do not devalue faster than cash)
Though this is not the brightest story someone can report , but at least this story shows "hard trying". it's resourcesful in helping us to think outside the box. (if this person can get away in this way, maybe, for others, there are other ways to get around? positve living and thinking is always better than negativity and self-pitying.)
We are all in a hard time here. Those who still have should at least help and encourage towards those who have less; those who are less fortunate should try to keep up fighting and a postive heart~
This is quite clever of him. He's lucky he didn't cash in those points earlier.
I'm baffled by some of the comments here. First of all, Holiday Inn Express certainly isn't a top of the line hotel. It is clean and has basic amenities. He's lucky they serve a free breakfast.
While I disagree with car leases, BMW has been pushing leases for years to get their product on the road. He's probably paying less for his lease than I did for my (former) car payment.
Jim should consider relocating if he can scrape up the miles. At least we're hiring people in Texas.
I encourage you all to report SPAM and anything that is of poor taste or offensive to others. MSN will investigate any complaint and if they find it violates their T.O.S., it will be removed. If your profile (as was in its name) is just as offensive, you will be removed. Of course you can always get another profile with a different email address and fake name but that will be found out and removed as well. How do I know all this? Because the racist is off MSN and his comments and profile are gone.
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