I’d like to see Chow Yun-fat team up with Keanu Reeves for a documentary about “keeping your shit together”. It would be nice to see some celebrities not in melt down.
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That was the first thing that popped in to my cynical old brain when I read this.
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Not to criticize you in any way, but the article is not about a rich person shopping at thrift stores and not at upmarket stores. The article is about a person not buying stuff beyond the bare essentials. Quite a different thing.
I can actually relate to that. I am neither as rich as he is nor as frugal, but I don’t enjoy shopping and I tend to save a bit of my salary every month, simply because there is nothing I want to buy. I don’t relate to the experience of “finding a scarf at 1/10th the Nordstrom price”, because I simply don’t need a scarf and would not consider buying one. I routinely leave coupons at checkout because there is nothing there that tempts me, ever, at any price. I rarely go to thrift stores or boutique stores as I don’t want any of what they sell (I sometimes buy lighters at thrift stores, when the old one is empty).
Being frugal is not buying cheaper stuff, it is buying less stuff.
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It’s a long shirt. It’s fine.
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At least publicly he better claim he does, or the Chinese government might pull him off his busy schedule and take him tax-camping for a month or three like they did with Fan Bingbing.
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That would not happen in Hong Kong, at least not yet.If Chow were evading taxes, that would be a matter for the Hong Kong SAR government, not the Chinese central government, The Hong Kong government still has enough autonomy and enough respect for individual rights not to regard kidnapping as a legitimate law enforcement practice. The Hong Kong legal system is entirely separate and still based on English common law.
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But he also seems to buy cheaper stuff, according to the prices in the article.
Even buying stuff at thrift stores that I don’t necessarily need is a form of frugality because I know I can sell it on ebay, or give to a friend who needs it. I think my point was that being raised in a family with a limited income (like him) I find the idea of “thinking cheap” stayed with me as an adult.
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I applaud his low impact lifestyle but I can help but wonder why he’s hoarding that money?
Indulging in luxury makes a lot of people who come into money uncomfortable, especially if they’re grateful for what they already have. Look at his photos in the article: that is a man who’s both happy and content with his life.
The article doesn’t discuss it, but I doubt he’s keeping it in an Uncle Scrooge money in or, like many banks these days, as pallets of Benjamins. If it’s invested (and most of the appreciation is re-invested) even very conservatively it’s working for the companies and nation-states using it, all the while ensuring he can live in a modest style that makes him comfortable.
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I’m pretty sure Chow’s nearly $1 billion can cover a place on the peak and the other luxuries. Your point seemed to be that it was not unusual for him to use public transportation instead, when in fact it’s quite unusual for a fabulously wealthy Hong Konger. You don’t see Andy Lau on the Star Ferry every day.
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Because some of us really like our phones to just be phones. I’ll keep my flip until it stops working, and will probably replace it with another one. 
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Previously:
Really admire Chow Yun-fat for so many things, including his acting work.
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To be clear, Altucher is a charlatan (now selling get-rich-quick cryptocurrency schemes). Chow Yun-fat is honest about how much money he has, where Altucher left out one small item he carries with him as part of his “minimalist” lifestyle (along with the designer clothes he lugs in his designer bag from fancy hotels to rich friends’ condos to rented villas): a bank card backed by tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Aha.
Thanks for clarifying.
I am grateful for your attention to detail. I hadn’t the foggiest idea that Altucher was on to that next gig. I have a similar queasy feeling whenever people bring up Tim Ferriss and his “4-hour” approach to things, and his minimalism. Sorry, I just can’t bring myself to believe in the long-term workability for his way. (Imagine being a parent for just 4 hours a week. I wonder how that works. Or being a caregiver to an elderly family member or spouse for just 4 hours a week and then, sorry hey I’m off now!))
I find serious-minded discussions of minimalism on bOINGbOING and elsewhere to be fraught at best, for the very reason you have described here.
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For all that they claim “anyone can do it”, it takes a lot of work and self-discipline to accomplish that, and a lot of privilege (including money in the bank and no kids or parents to care for) to have the choice to try it at all as a deliberate lifestyle.
The most concise and entertaining explanation was put forth by Terry Pratchett. He prefaces the famous Vimes “Boots” Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness by noting:
The very very rich could afford to be poor. Sybil Ramkin lived in the kind of poverty that was only available to the very rich, a poverty approached from the other side. Women who were merely well-off saved up and bought dresses made of silk edged with lace and pearls, but Lady Ramkin was so rich she could afford to stomp around the place in rubber boots and a tweed skirt that had belonged to her mother. She was so rich she could afford to live on biscuits and cheese sandwiches.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
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Yup, the fact that rent isn’t mentioned says to me he owns his home. Which means he probably has other investments, and quite possibly a reliable investment manager. Given his lifestyle, I’m guessing nice stable conservative (in the original sense) investments.
Yup again. There’s a reason unsecured debt used to be called usury. That said, and I know you weren’t saying this, but Chow Yun-fat doesn’t appear to be a poverty tourist, just a genuinely humble and frugal person.
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I have absolutely no doubt he has all of those things. He doesn’t seem to have the background to manage hundreds of millions in assets, nor does he seem to want to spend his time doing that.
Absolutely agree. He’s content and grateful for what he has and values the small things in life. It’s a really nice way to live, but not having to worry about paying the rent or medical expenses or saving up for retirement allows for that sort of thing.
Also, your choice of cover version for “Common People” is a fine one. Fun fact about the song’s inspiration:
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Had to watch this again
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It did? That’s news to me. 
Unsecured debt was just fine. Usury=interest.
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My mistake.
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