Ken Karpman has worked his way to the top by becoming a very successful CEO for a well established company. At his peak, Ken was making about $750,000 annually, an income that only small amount of people in the US population are capable of making. Ken lived the good life by buying the home of his dreams, traveling all over the world, and purchasing anything he wanted. He left his high paying job to start his own hedge fund company and take his career to the next level. Due to a series of unfortunate events, Ken wound up with over $500,000 in debt and is expected to be kicked out of his home within the next few months.
Since Ken has a wife and kids to support, he has resorted to being a pizza delivery guy making$7.29/hr plus tips. His family also receives about $500 in food stamps.
The economy has hit this man hard and stories like Ken have begun to appear more and more. I am not writing about Ken to give you information about how bad the economy is, I am telling you about Ken to show you that SHIT HAPPENS. You have a choice: you can either sulk in your losses and complain about how unfair your life is or you can get back to work (no matter how old you are) and make it happen!
There is no doubt in my mind that Ken will become successful again because a person like him knows how to keep his pride and ego in check and that the efforts of his hard work eventually paying off.
After watching this video about Ken, do you think you have it bad? Regardless of whether you do or not, tell me what your challenges are right now and how you plan on getting back on your feet.
You hear that this economy effects everyone but when seeing this video it becomes real.
What do I struggle with? Fear of what the future holds for my children and grandchildren.
I think we all have lessons to learn from this. I also believe we have the opportunity to become better people through it all.
I agree Tess and one of the most important things to learn from Ken is to SAVE for a rainy day!! It is because of his extensive spending habits his debt quickly jumped to 500k
Aj, you know what interesting – people might actually return to the old spending habbits once this economy rebounds. I certainly wont be involved in such profligate behaviour, but those who are currently saving a bundle now, might spend in bundles when things get better. WHat say you?
I agree Ace, people will continue to follow a long with bad habits, it’s second nature to many. Learning from mistakes, incidents, etc. that help you grow and mentally become stronger, which unfortunately only “click” as light bulb in a few people’s minds.
I agree that Ken’s spending habits contributed to his downfall. If multimillionaire sports stars go broke, then a guy making less than a million will definitely go broke.
I do admire Ken’s courage to do whatever it takes to feed his family though.
That’s right VJ, his spending habits were out of control. Really gives you a clear image on how important it is to “save for a rainy day”
Yeah! Sh*t happens; and the worse part of this is that you’re not even prepared for it. It just comes into your life and the “boom”, you’re in this SH*T right now and sometimes you never know what to do.
I admire Ken’s courage for keeping his pride in check and decided to be a Pizza Boy earning $7.29/hour from earning this huge $750,000-a-year amount of money.
it is like the old saying…you never know what’s going to happen, so be prepared for the worst.
This situation is also related to Murphy’s Law: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
This just totally sucks. But I admire this guy, if I were a CEO then I’d lose my job I’d probably sob to myself… I mean I’d take simple jobs like pizza delivery or maybe behind the counter at a grocery, but it would seriously hurt my ego. For him to openly talk about it is something I really look up to.
Yeah I agree, it is a big hit to the ego. It was actually VERY smart of him taking his story public. I heard he’s been offered countless jobs 🙂
Shocking….an eye opener for people who think that life is easy. A lesson to learn from Ken if you have money and are not froogle with it then you might loose it all.
Right. I’m all about living a great lifestyle with money (you only live once…), but they’re are definitely limitations to spending habits, budgeting, etc.
The more you earn,the more you spend your money every months.If you have a big income,of course you want to buy a Big house,nice car and travel anywhere.So,in this case,it is still the same with people who are have a low income.The difference is,their life is luxurious.Am I right?..
You are right, the more money you make, the more money you will spend (most of the time). Yet people with less incomes also spend money on what they can’t afford.
This story however was interesting because it was such a lucrative impact. The message someone should take is that one should learn about financial intelligence.
I’ve been referring to this case in other comments of mine here in persuasive.net as if the roots of the current situation for Ken Karpman is his incompetence, but the reader can quickly understand that this is just my speculation I’ve used to illustrate my point. Since I don’t know nothing about Mr. Karpman and it’s beyond my expertise to judge his skills I can’t really say.
I’m aware there are a lot of aspects in such cases – it is not just someone’s skill and competence. Shit happens all the time – that’s just it and we gotta keep on. But sometimes falling down is actually a liberation.
Check out this story– this had happened in a very similar crisis – the Great Depression almost a century ago.
Thanks Vladimir, I’ll check that story out.
Wow, this is shocking, frrom CEO to Pizza delivery guy! I think we can all learn from this.
I personally believe problem with many people is that they live way beyond their means, spending more than they actually make. I hope If we do get through this recession peoples spending habits change and become more careful with their spendings.
I do admire this man thou to do whatever it takes to feed his family.
True, even though he wasn’t as responsible as he he should have been, he still shows passion to do whatever it takes. That is the part people should focus on.
Good blog! I truly love how it’s effortless on my eyes as well as the data is well written. I am wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which should do the trick! Have a nice day!
Pingback: Should You Know Your Co-Workers’ Salaries? | StupidCents
Pingback: 10 Great Lessons from 10 Great Leaders | Neuro-Linguistic ProgrammingNeuro-Linguistic Programming