There's Frugal, and Then There's FRUGAL

On CNN.com today, there was a link to a very interesting clip about a 78-year-old man who has recently donated millions of dollars to schools in his community. The twist is that he never made more than $11 an hour (though he did get $22 an hour when he worked overtime). I personally think the video on CNN.com is much better; I got a real kick out of this guy, especially at the very end of the video (it's only a few minutes). But if you are lazy and don't want to click on the link above, here is another short clip I found on the same guy, when he was interviewed by Katie Couric.



Mr. Navone never married nor had kids, and seems to have an almost unnatural ability to never want anything or to go anywhere (he has only been outside of his region of the country twice in his life). I think there's probably a happy medium between this gentleman and people who spend like there's no tomorrow, but I found his story intriguing nonetheless. And I do think it's very cool that he is giving all of his saved millions back to his community. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his high level of frugality, you have to admit that for him, it worked--he is happy with his life, loved his job, has a cute dog and is proud of his enormous financial accomplishment--which is a lot more than most people can say. Plus, he has some sort of wicked accent that I dig! I nominate Paul Navone for Cool Person of the Week!

- e