He doesn’t say that in this article, does he say it somewhere else? I mean, he doesn’t list it among his possessions, but I’m taking for granted that he has a wallet.
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I don’t have a credit card either.
I DO have a debit card. A couple month’s saved income in the bank is all I’ve needed to go without a credit card. And without the interest payments that come with them. Real poverty is expensive.
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Thank you @gracchus. As you put it, I can see why people reacted as they did. Reading with my own personal issues and biases he was talking about things that are very important to me now. So I didn’t care what his circumstances are, just how I can maybe apply some of those ideas as I figure out wtf I’m doing next.
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There’s a follow-on article here that talks about him and credit cards. Doesn’t mention a debit card.
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One time, I had lost all of my money for maybe the third time in a row. I asked myself, “What am I doing wrong ALL of the time? And what am I doing right when things are going well??”
And then I cried and pretended to be a psychic on Craigslist to meet women.
Such a charmer.
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You seem like a smart person. You should email James and tell him how you think he should live his life, and how he should write about it.
Why, when he is doing such a fine job of being a shining beacon AND writing about it without my help?
Edited to add: I’ve had a look at his website since responding to you. Nice! Sleek, branded, and no doubt optimally SEO optimized and all. My website, on the other hand, only contains angry letters I’ve written to my local small town paper. (true story). No, I wouldn’t dream of telling James how to promote himself or his so-deliberately chosen lifestyle when he does it so damned well already.
If, on the other hand, he ever wants to take lessons in how to be a resentful asshole living under the poverty line but with a shitload of stuff, he’ll find my rates quite reasonable. Offer’s open to you too Mark, if you ever want to step it up from the tepid passive aggressiveness you’re throwing my way.
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I know where you’re coming from. I’m around your age and in the process of making my own lifestyle shift toward what he calls “minimalism” (though not to the same degree he does). Without going into details, I have the privilege of making that choice and if you’re even considering it then you likely have it, too. As your friend demonstrates, you don’t have to be wealthy but a lot of factors do already have to be arrayed in your favour before you can even start budgeting and planning and looking at the trade-offs. I wish you the best on your own path to freedom and joy.
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Reminds me of Paul Erdős, only with less maths.
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Do a lot of rich people become possession-free travel bloggers?
Allow me to answer your question with another question: Do any poor ones?
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Poverty tourists. Reminds me of a speaker for a Soc class I had where they described their status as a street kid but knew that at any point of they got bored they could work at daddy’s firm.
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Mentioning literal “independent” wealth would tear holes in his carefully constructed narrative.
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I can think of someone on the BBS who considers homelessness and home-posession not even a logically consistent idea. But that one’s an odd duck.
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Reading this brought Thoreau’s Walden to mind, but I’ve always thought of him as a bit of a disingenuous self-promoter - YMMV. As for Altucher himself, more power to him if he’s found something that works for him.
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Yep. You don’t need a kitchen (or cooking implements) if you don’t do any cooking (because you eat in a restaurant every single meal), you don’t need furniture or a home (nor the tools to maintain and repair that home) if you know you can afford to stay in a hotel every night, you don’t need clothes if you can afford to throw them out and replace them on a whim. This isn’t the only person I’ve read about living a super-minimalist lifestyle, and the one thing they share in common is a whole lot of money. It’s interesting to read about in part because it’s a lifestyle choice that isn’t a choice for most of us.
I kind of do. Because for one, there is an implied “And you can, too!” with these kinds of narratives about how “X made me happy.” Or at least a desire by readers to live like this, in some ways. But they can’t, because one has to be rich to comfortably live like this. (Trying to live like this without being rich means you’re a homeless person, and that’s not a lifestyle of freedom and joy.) So this is, in some ways, identical to an article talking about how luxury resorts and designer clothing made someone happy (except without the acknowledgement that wealth is a necessary requirement). I’m reminded of a vaguely remembered comedy skit with someone detailing their lavish, comfortable lifestyle in the style of an infomercial, ending by asking, “Would you like to live this way, too? Well, you can’t.”
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Or they are just turned off by the massive amount of clueless privilege.
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Sounds like we are on a similar page. Yes, while he has very little money what he does have in spades both from his past career as well as well social media is the ability to connect online and make long lasting friends. Enough that a new editing job pops up just when the electric bill is due or someone in a sunny place needs a house sitter. All the stuff he used to anguish about just evaporated. And that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still work his ass off. It’s just now it’s his passion versus is assigned job duties.
Likewise for you @gracchus. While I don’t know your details but I think there is more shared biology at stake than we are allowed to admit and so we are each walking a similar path alone.
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From the follow-up article:
I have never owned a credit card. So when I had to find an apartment recently and potentially sign a lease, I had a problem. I had no credit history.
My accountant had to write a letter. My lawyer had to write a letter. I had to show my bank statements.
OMG, me too! . . .
Just kidding. 
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I think it’s only people with the privilege of significant money as a safety cushion who have the idea that living “minimally” has to include no home. I didn’t own a bed until my 30s (got it from a dead relative who no longer needed it) or a car until even later, but I did always have a place to sleep. It might only be a room with a shared bathroom down the hall or a one room apartment with a blanket on the floor and milk crates for shelves, but there was always a place I knew I could come back to every evening and close the door.
And yeah, it was a helluva lot easier in many ways. Except for the money part.
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What a doosh.
Apparently being a minimalist is like the opposite of being in Fight Club. “The first rule about being a minimalist is never shut the fuck up about being a minimalist.”
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Did your class take place in a 90s brit pop song? 
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