Tin Can Curt

I want to tell you about an amazing life that most people would have ignored.

It’s the story of a man known to the outside world, as “Tin Can Curt”. Curt Degerman was a poor tin can collector. But don’t feel sorry for him. He was living exactly as he wished. You see, for Curt, money wasn’t everything. Freedom was.

The aged Swede, most locals called simply “Tin Can Curt,” spent 30 years roaming the streets of Skelleftea in northern Sweden in his blue jacket and ragged pants, collecting tin cans and bottles for cash. He was, in the eyes of most people, an ordinary street bum.

Yet when he died he left more than $1.4 million to his cousin.

How did he do it? Thrift and smart investing.
It turns out that in between collecting cans, Mr. Degerman spent a lot of time in the local library reading business papers and studying the stock market.
“He knew stocks inside and out,” said his cousin.
He used his tin-can earnings to buy mutual funds.

He also bought 124 gold bars and also grew his cash with a savings account. (He rode a bicycle and didn’t have a mortgage on his house, which also made savings easier).
It is the classic fairy tale of thrift and shrewd – almost.

Mr. Degerman died of a heart attack in 2008. His will left his entire estate to a cousin who visited him regularly late in his life.
Yet soon after the fortune was revealed, an uncle claimed the cash under Sweden’s inheritance law. Lawyers got involved, and the two recently settled for undisclosed shares.

I find this story amazing because all the while people thought he was just “Tin Can Curt” no one cared. Yet, the second he was discovered to be the “Tin Can Millionaire” family members came out of the woodwork.

Even though his will was clear in his attentions to leave every penny to his cousin. All of which goes to show that no matter how careful someone is in making and saving money in their lifetime, they can’t control what happens afterward.

Do you think Mr. Degerman should have enjoyed his money more while he was alive?

Or is he the perfect model of wealth creation?