This is a very sad story. Even more sadly, it reflects many similar stories.
All this calamity for this family of 10 came from bad planning. This guy had a career that would have likely lasted until retirement, but he took a risk and quit it. That was a smallish risk, not nearly the risk he took while in his next job.
He admits that writers careers don't usually don't last into their 50s. Why did he not save more money so he could retire early? Why did he choose to have more and more children? Why did he not position himself for transition into another job as his writing career progressed? Why did he just quit without having another (less demanding) job lined up?
He was making upwards of a million dollars a year at one point. I had some neighbors while growing up in the 90s, they had 8 kids too and their father probably make 2-3 million dollars over his entire life. They were never homeless (in fact they had a pretty nice 5bd house), never hungry, cold, had decently new cars and clothes, ETC. This guy blew his wad all at once like a pro athlete.
All bad choices.
After his job, why did they not cut back on their spending? They should have downsized and cut back dramatically rather than continuing their expensive lifestyle.
At the time he quit, he was probably worth over 2 million dollars Add half a million that they borrowed after that and you still can't make that last more than 6 years?
I know someone who did something similar. The person that I know took a couple of years off like this. He got so used to it that when he started looking for a job again - it was half-assed (he was spoiled with still living lavish on savings and not having to work). He sabotaged many interviews, turned down some for bogus reasons and when he got jobs, he could not keep them for long (self sabotage again). It was like he was mentally ready for retirement already, but he was only 40.
It is a sad story, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who has grossed over 10 million dollars over his lifetime but squandered it.
Well he admits that he made bad choices. Obviously quitting his job was a bad choice - though I have spent several years around Hollywood folks and social norms regarding work amongst entertainment industry people in LA are a little different from the rest of us. There is a lot of pressure to show off your success - not always with flashy things but for the older guys, with freedom. Giving off the illusion of an early retirement is a status symbol with these guys. I'd say that factored into his thinking quite a bit - he wanted to show off that he could take a break like the other guys but ignored the fact that he had 8 children to feed. If he didn't have 8 kids he probably could have pulled it off even if he never found a job again.
And I've been in the situation where I had a comfy lifestyle and the income source to support it drops off. Its hard to let go of these things, your emotions get in the way. Scaling back is admitting failure, its damaging to the ego. So you ignore the warning signs and keep on living at the same standards - you keep the house, the car, go out for fancy meals with your friends etc like always. Meanwhile the debt racks up and up, but hey you have the credit to cover it. And you'll get the money back again soon, so don't worry. Until you don't, and shit hits the fan and one day you're packing up the house and living out of your car. Its of course his fault, but people don't always operate on logic
> All this calamity for this family of 10 came from bad planning. This guy had a career that would have likely lasted until retirement, but he took a risk and quit it. That was a smallish risk, not nearly the risk he took while in his next job.
To be fair his career would have quit him shortly after he quit it. The industry changed.
True but remember being in the game makes a whole lot difference, than entering it after a break. To add to that you are old so you are facing age discrimination issues.
If he had stuck to his job, he would atleast noticed the change in trends so could have changed to something better.
All this calamity for this family of 10 came from bad planning. This guy had a career that would have likely lasted until retirement, but he took a risk and quit it. That was a smallish risk, not nearly the risk he took while in his next job.
He admits that writers careers don't usually don't last into their 50s. Why did he not save more money so he could retire early? Why did he choose to have more and more children? Why did he not position himself for transition into another job as his writing career progressed? Why did he just quit without having another (less demanding) job lined up?
He was making upwards of a million dollars a year at one point. I had some neighbors while growing up in the 90s, they had 8 kids too and their father probably make 2-3 million dollars over his entire life. They were never homeless (in fact they had a pretty nice 5bd house), never hungry, cold, had decently new cars and clothes, ETC. This guy blew his wad all at once like a pro athlete.
All bad choices.
After his job, why did they not cut back on their spending? They should have downsized and cut back dramatically rather than continuing their expensive lifestyle.
At the time he quit, he was probably worth over 2 million dollars Add half a million that they borrowed after that and you still can't make that last more than 6 years?
I know someone who did something similar. The person that I know took a couple of years off like this. He got so used to it that when he started looking for a job again - it was half-assed (he was spoiled with still living lavish on savings and not having to work). He sabotaged many interviews, turned down some for bogus reasons and when he got jobs, he could not keep them for long (self sabotage again). It was like he was mentally ready for retirement already, but he was only 40.
It is a sad story, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who has grossed over 10 million dollars over his lifetime but squandered it.