Had To Have Been A Member Here

[BrotherBart]

"A Vermont man known for frugally foraging for firewood has bequeathed millions of dollars to his local library and hospital."

www.newser.com/story/202223/frugal-man-leaves-surprise-48m-to-hospital-library.html

 

[muncybob]

Cool! I also forage for firewood but the stock picking is the reason why our hosptial and library are not counting on getting any $$ from me

 

[adrpga498]

"A Vermont man known for frugally foraging for firewood has bequeathed millions of dollars to his local library and hospital."

www.newser.com/story/202223/frugal-man-leaves-surprise-48m-to-hospital-library.html

Cool guy. Surprised he played the stock market though.

 

[Oldman47]

I definitely need to improve my stock picking.
I am not frugal. Given my income and resources I am cheap. I only spend money that I must, but I also believe in getting quality when I spend my money so I seldom buy a cheaply made product. Balancing cost and value is something I do automatically with any new purchase. It is why I spent so much time choosing the stove for the home I am building for myself. It is why I have a total of 10 inch thick walls in that home with Roxul in both outer walls and why I have an R-60 ceiling in that place. It is also why I spent way too much on the Water Furnace for my new home to end up with 2 stage heating and cooling and vertical wells that are really not affected by the weather like a 6 foot deep horizontal run would be. Yes it cost me a few extra bucks to go vertical but I should recoup it by never running the strip heater emergency backup duct heaters.
Firewood is another story. Call me opportunistic. When you have a geothermal heater you really only need the wood for ambiance or for power outages. Since I have a 40 acre wooded lot I have plenty of dead falls to choose from but I also know an arborist who did some work for me and is allowed to dump trimmings on the lot next to mine. He and I will talk and I may see wood cheaper than running a chain saw on my own property. He is already hauling to my location so we shall see.

 

[BrotherBart]

but the stock picking is the reason why our hosptial and library are not counting on getting any $$ from me

Like me and poker. Playing poker I have put several kids through college. Unfortunately, they weren't my kids.

 

[Hogwildz]

Twasn't me, I would have spent it all before I left, or taken it with me as a blanket in my coffin

 

[Beer Belly]

What happened to all his firewood ??

 

[Hickorynut]

Twasn't me, I would have spent it all before I left, or taken it with me as a blanket in my coffin

Great story, as I agree materialism is not were its' at. And I also agree with hogs, piss me off and I "will" take it with me in the coffin or burnt with my ashes in the urn......

 

[ironpony]

I heard this, this morning and it made me think of what happened shopping one day with my Dad. We were in the supermarket and checking out, Dad is 88 and moves a little slow some days, he was fumbling in his wallet to get the exact change as he always does. The younger lady behind him, running out of patience, must of thought he is an old man on a fixed income, does not have enough money, let me help him out. She paid his bill so she could get thru the line faster. Now Dad is not a multi millionaire, but he will never run out of money. He was shocked the lady did that, and I just chuckled.

Never judge a book by its cover.

 

[Bobbin]

I always get a kick out of stories like this. Keeping your head down, pulling into the collar on a daily basis, and knowing the difference between "want" and "need" can achieve not only comfort, but sometimes riches, too!

My mother would be 88 now. Having cared for her for 4 yrs. I know well that the elderly move more slowly but no less deliberately. And I recall being stunned by how impatient and condescending people could be with her. Sadly, too many continue to be so with older people. Do they not understand that so much of what they presently enjoy is because someone like Mr. Read (or their grandparents?) lived thoughtfully and frugally? The young woman mentioned above was not only shockingly selfish and rude but foolish, as well.

One of the great benefits of coming of age in a very small town (although I didn't even consider it at the time) was that the most senior members of the community were well known to me. I watched them age and returning the small kindnesses and patience they showed me in my childhood/adolescence was natural for me (and many other kids in town, too) because it was the "right thing to do". It was important to be considerate and polite, even when you desperately wished they'd, "hurry up". Good life lesson.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I always get a kick out of stories like this. Keeping your head down, pulling into the collar on a daily basis, and knowing the difference between "want" and "need" can achieve not only comfort, but sometimes riches, too!

My mother would be 88 now. Having cared for her for 4 yrs. I know well that the elderly move more slowly but no less deliberately. And I recall being stunned by how impatient and condescending people could be with her. Sadly, too many continue to be so with older people. Do they not understand that so much of what they presently enjoy is because someone like Mr. Read (or their grandparents?) lived thoughtfully and frugally? The young woman mentioned above was not only shockingly selfish and rude but foolish, as well.

One of the great benefits of coming of age in a very small town (although I didn't even consider it at the time) was that the most senior members of the community were well known to me. I watched them age and returning the small kindnesses and patience they showed me in my childhood/adolescence was natural for me (and many other kids in town, too) because it was the "right thing to do". It was important to be considerate and polite, even when you desperately wished they'd, "hurry up". Good life lesson.

That's true. The elderly are just in the way in bigger towns...not known as persons. I think the same is true in all large areas.

Giving to a library? Could have made a better choice there. No one uses them enough to justify the cost anymore. They will disappear with my generation.

 

[Bobbin]

I had to laugh aloud, sport.. Mum was a librarian for over 30 yrs. in our small town. She was more than willing to adjust the limited hours of operation in a very small town to accommodate tardy students with their "last minute" reports. I see nothing to justify your prediction in my own town, mercifully. Methinks your own lack of use will not foretell the slow death of libraries. Esp. since not everyone is able to afford access to the internet... it's available for "free" at the public library system! Hats off to Andrew Carnegie!

 

[ChrisNJ]

First thing I thought of when I read that story

 

[firefighterjake]

Libraries . . . if anything more people are using them now than ever before.

Granted I may only step foot in the Bangor Library a few times each year . . . but I download a ton of free books every year . . . well, maybe not a literal ton . . . but I almost always have a book on my tablet that I am reading . . . sometimes two or three.

Stopping by our local library will also show you a large number of folks checking out books . . . and for better or for worse . . . a sizable group of what could best be described as down and out folks warming up and using the internet.

 

[TreePointer]

The man seemingly could read well and was good at math. You sure he was one of us??

 

[sportbikerider78]

Libraries . . . if anything more people are using them now than ever before..

Look at the demographic. It's almost all older people. Younger have phones and tablets they use for everything.

 

[Coach B]

Look at the demographic. It's almost all older people. Younger have phones and tablets they use for everything.

You may be right, but my wife has my four kids in the library nearly every week. She must be trying to buck the trend and is admittedly quite old fashioned. They are all voracious readers and doing very well in school so I don't argue with her.

 

[WiscWoody]

Great story, as I agree materialism is not were its' at. And I also agree with hogs, piss me off and I "will" take it with me in the coffin or burnt with my ashes in the urn......

But I won't part with my material ported 390XP and a ported 562XP either! Who needs a relationship when I have those?

 

[tigger]

I own a financial planning firm. I imagine the he was more of a tremendous saver rather than a good stock picker. I also imagine that he kept his portfolio very aggressive as he aged rather than making it more conservative. He invested for 60ish years. It time, not skill. Good for him. I spend a lot of time in southern VT. I think it's great that he left it to the hospital and the library.

 

[BrotherBart]

I imagine the he was more of a tremendous saver rather than a good stock picker.

Lot of saving for a guy that worked at a service station for 25 years.

 

[tigger]

Yea, I've seen it before. Someone makes 25 or 30 k per year and is living off his social security to live. They are saving 20k per year......for decades......he had time on his side.... Time always wins. Wanna make your kids rich. Open a Roth IRA for them when they are teens.

 

[BrotherBart]

In the seventies I worked for a grocery chain. Out in the main warehouse we had a quiet guy that worked pulling orders and loading trucks for 28 years. When he retired they had a little catered lunch for him in the warehouse and somebody asked if he was going to be OK seeing as we didn't have a retirement plan.

Bill said "Don't worry about me. For 20 years I have been buying and selling just one stock. This company's. Based on what I saw shipping or not shipping out of this warehouse. I'll be just fine."

 

[Mag Craft]

I did a little bit of investing in the market while I was working. When I retired I sold all my stocks and paid everything I owned off. It does not take much money to live on when you do not owe anything.

 

[Ashful]

Yea, I've seen it before. Someone makes 25 or 30 k per year and is living off his social security to live. They are saving 20k per year......for decades......he had time on his side.... Time always wins. Wanna make your kids rich. Open a Roth IRA for them when they are teens.

Good advice. Mom forced each of us to open an IRA when we were 18, and when the Roth conversions first became available, to convert them to Roth. Only difference was, she was telling us we'd better do it with our own summer job money, not always easy during college years.

Someday we'll forgive her.

 

[Oldman47]

I have been saving the legal maximum in my 401K since I was about 50 and I retired at 63. Savings alone will not get you to the multi-million number in that story but it will get you a respectable amount by the time you retire. I still believe I need to get far better at picking investments to ever come close to that number.