Table of Contents
THERE is no such thing as independence, only interdependence. This book is dedicated to my late father, author Albert Lee, from whom I stole that line. To my brother and unofficial research assistant, Dr. Christopher (Cal) Lee. To my mother, Carol Lee, for providing a home and safe haven during my financially insecure times. To Valery Lantratov for inspiration and international perspective. To my life-long friend Jennifer Hunter for on-going moral support in richer and poorer times. To my wonderful new agent Laura Ross (Lauras rule!) for believing a book with a target audience of broke people could sell.
Thank you to editor Jennifer Kasius for making me sound more articulate than I do in normal life. Thanks to copyeditor Erin Slonaker and designer Jason Kayser.
A Big Thanks to the Social Network Team, the folks who offered me tips and suggestions during the writing of this book: Richard Allman, Ken Boullt, Lisa Bruno, Lisa Crawford, Jodi Connors-Bergman, Jacqueline Clapper, Sandra Deering, Daniel Gill, Kristin Hertz, Valorie Howard, Shane Hunter, Dianne Ilkka, Nancy Jones, John Longo, Marlin McCoy, Gary McKeever, Larry Mein, Thane Norton, Jodi Prahler, Lynda Pringle, Bonnie Ray, Tanya Roycraft, Pat Salzer, Sue Schier, Helen Stewart, Sarah Stewart
And praise be to librarians everywhere! I bow down at your feet.
Introduction: I Was Broke Before It Was Cool!
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 TIMOTHY 6:10
For years Ive been jealous of the folks who lived during the Great Depression. Sure there were bread lines and people were out of work, but they had those great union songs to make the poor folk feel powerful: You cant scare me, Im sticking with the union! They had sad songs to make the poor folk feel sympathy: Once I built a railroad, made it run, made it race against time. They even had escapist songs so that poor folk could fantasize: Were in the money, were in the money. The poor were the subject of art and literature, from the portraits of Dorothea Lange to the novels of John Steinbeck.
You may have been broke, and life may have been hard, but you got a lot of sympathy. You and your modest means were part of the culture. There was a sense that people were all in it together.
I came of age in the Reagan era, watching videos of the Duran boys swanning around on boats in exotic locations and Madonna singing Material Girl. We watched Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. The grubby rustic hippies were so last decade. They started trusting people over thirty, put on suits, and became Yuppies. They wanted everyone to know about their new-found hobby of building up wealth.
Shows began to pop up on television that equated poor fashion sense with moral failing. We drooled at Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Our culture focused on flipping houses, redecorating their interiors, and watching Silicon Valley tech geeks become millionaires. Sure, there were lots of people building up crushing debt, but it wasnt something we talked aboutor even thought about if we didnt have to. (Heck, those debts hadnt crushed anybody yet.) We had easy credit. Our home values were going up and up, so wed have more tomorrow than today. Spend nowor the terrorists win!
Dale Wasserman, the playwright who created Man of La Mancha, described himself as a showbiz hobo. I am a literary and theatrical hobo. I have pieced together a living writing books, organizing ballet tours, and taking odd jobs like shopping mall Easter Bunny and clerk at The Arlozone, a combination Arlo Guthrie merchandise store and coffee shop in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. (I was as shocked as anyone when the place went out of business.)
My economic station has seen me rolling quarters to make my rent and looking up dandelion recipes on the Internet to make use of a free crop that appeared in the lawn. Nevertheless, I kept having to buy foodit threw off my whole budget. I was completely out of style.
Nowadays, I feel like the ugly duckling who has grown into a swan. I see that I was a trendsetter, ahead of the curve. Now everybody is talking about what they cant afford. Theyre discussing gas prices, mortgage payments, and their grocery bills. Doing more with less is the new black. I can stand up and say, I was broke before it was cooland broke can be beautiful!
So welcome, wealthless, and congratulations on coming out of the closet. Never has there been a better time to hold your head high as a cash-strapped person. When once you were on your own, being told to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, today youre part of a movement!
President John F. Kennedy said that a rising tide raises all boats. It is also true that a lowering tide brings the boat back down to the folks who have been treading water. Since Ive been here for a while, I want you to know that the water here is fine. I feel that I am more than qualified to guide all of you who have suddenly realized your fortune was part of a bubble on the joys of being broke. Yes, I said the joys of being broke. It helps if you can look on your poverty as a way to lighten your load and a chance to test your creativity and resourcefulness. You might as well look at it that way anyhow, because youre still going to be broke either way.
The premise of this book is simple: Being broke is not abnormal. Being rich, on the other hand, is freakish. This will not be a how-to guide on dealing with a tight budget or simple living, although some of those types of tips will slip in here and there. It is a mental guide for keeping your sanity in troubled times by seeing your poverty from different perspectiveseconomic, historic, and cultural.
Not everyone sees money the way were accustomed to in our culture. Seeing yourself as an irresponsible lazy bum is only one option, and if youre suffering financial reverses, its probably not the best one for your well-being. Try one of these alternatives on for size: Consider yourself an eco-savvy member of the green movement, a spiritually evolved person who has given up materialism, or a resourceful artist of life. Remember that the word wealth comes from the Old English weal, which means well-being. Being wealthy simply means youre doing well, so you dont need money to pull it off.
If youre contemplating being flat-out busted for the first time after a period of prosperity, chances are youre only thinking about the negatives. Daniel Gilbert, a noted happiness researcher (one of those job titles you never knew existed), points out that things that we anticipate will give us joy make us less happy than we think, and things that fill us with dread will make us less unhappy, for less long, than we think.
Just as buying that dream house didnt make you as happy as youd imagined, having it foreclosed for non-payment wont make you feel as bad as you imagine. Im not saying it wont be embarrassing and that you wont feel bad about it. But that shame wont be the only thing in your life; youll still have your friends and your thoughts and your talents, and youll still have happy days. Whats more, when something you thought would ruin you happens and youre still standing, you tend to feel a lot more resilient and strong. I know, Ive had lots of time to think about this stuff. I was broke before it was cool.
