Homeless Exec Living Off Reward Points

One good thing (I think) about a severe recession is that people gets really creative and entrepreneurial.

Homeless Executive Lives Off of Rewards Points
(3/12/2010 CNBC via Yahoo Finance)

"Here's proof that all those frequent-flier miles and rewards points you've racked up are good for more than a subscription to Golf Digest.

"Jim Kennedy, a 46-year-old executive in Southern California, went from six figures to homeless in less than two years after he lost his job as a corporate-development manager, had to file for bankruptcy and then lost his Newport Beach condo to foreclosure, the OC Register reports.

"Now, he's using the more than one million frequent-flier miles and rewards points he accrued in his career to survive and help stretch the few dollars he has.

"He's not your typical homeless guy: He drives around in a leased BMW, but hops from hotel to hotel, including a stay at the Motel 6, and tries to keep his food budget to $5 a day. He looks for places with free Internet to to facilitate his job search.

"He's found that mixing cash and points gives you the best value. This week, he's at a Holiday Inn in San Clemente Calif., paying $25 a night, after cashing in 5,000 United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA) miles. Bonus: Free breakfast!" [The article continues.]

One million frequent-flier miles should keep him on his feet and roof over his head for about 5 months, he estimates.

His Twitter shows he's now getting a lot of publicity. Hats off to him, and best of luck.

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OT: Microsoft's Founding Members

I found this picture in the article by Times Online (U.K.). The article is about how Bill Gate's Gates Foundation is funding "think-outside-the-box" projects by young researchers.

But the picture... "Would you have invested?" Good question.

Someone did, and many others invested in countless other start-ups cropping up in the late 1970s. Apple started back then. I personally know people who started their PC and/or software businesses around that same time period in Silicon Valley and got their businesses funded by angel investors and venture capitals. Any of them could have been a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates, if things had turned out slightly differently.

Despite all the economic (political, social, you name it) doom and gloom, I'm hopeful, when I look at this picture, that somewhere some crazy people will start creating something new and disruptive. Just when everyone writes the U.S. off.

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