Search Results for: south africa

Do You Value Experiences Or Things?

Category : Personal Thoughts, Travel
Posted on April 4, 2010 by Nathan Lustig

I just booked my flight to South Africa for World Cup 2010. I’m going with my friends Andy and Katie and we have tickets for all three USA group stage games, plus a the Spain vs. Switzerland group stage match. Everyone I talk to says something along the lines of “oh wow, you must be rich to be able to go to the World Cup.” When I talk about some of the other places I’ve been, people are even more shocked.

Although I am very lucky that I do not have any student loan debt and had a business where I made some money, I am not rich. The reason I can afford to travel is that I value experiences over physical things. Let me explain.

I value experiences like traveling, going to sporting events, eating good food and learning new skills. I don’t value physical things like the latest tech gadgets, new cars, expensive houses, fashion and other material things. That’s why I’ve traveled to Europe multiple times and am going to South Africa this summer.

I’m able to travel because I drive a scratched and dented ’95 Toyota Carolla (link isn’t my car, its too clean). It is one of the cheapest cars to drive and maintain and my insurance is cheap because I don’t have comprehensive insurance, just collision. I get 30 MPG and live close to my office, so I rarely drive.

I could afford to upgrade to a “better” car, but what’s the use? I view a car as a way to get from point A to point B. As long as the car is safe and reliable, why change? I look at it this way: I could have a new car or a trip to Europe each year. The average US car payment is $400, or $4800 per year. I’ll choose driving a “crappy” car every single day of the week if it means I can go to Europe once per year.

I also don’t need luxury living. I pay $400/month to rent a room in a house that I share with 4 friends. We have an entire house here in Madison and have plenty of space. We have a great location, close to the Capitol, restaurants and bars. I could live on my own for $700 or live with a roommate in a nicer apartment for anywhere between 600-1200/month. That $200/month minimum difference in rent, or $2400, will more than pay for my flight to South Africa this summer. It could also pay for my groceries, since I cook most days of the week.

I also have had the same cell phone for the past 6 years. It’s functional, makes calls and I’ve had fewer than 10 dropped calls in that time period, unless I’m in an elevator. Since I’ve had the phone for so long, I don’t have a long term contract and my rates are low. I recently got an iPhone for business and the price difference is stunning. My old phone costs about $40/month. If this weren’t for business, a new iPhone can cost up to $100/month.

I don’t care about fashion. Obviously, I want to look good, just like everyone else, but I don’t need to be on the cutting edge. If I find something that fits and looks decent, I’ll wear it until its worn out. I own (and wear) shoes from 2004, 2008 and 2009 that still are comfortable and look decent. If you see me around Madison, you’ll probably see me in one of 5-6 different clothing combos. I spent under $200 on new clothes in 2009. I have friends who spend $200 on a single pair of jeans. That savings will pay for my match tickets to 4 world cup games and my food while I’m there.

I also try to pack a lunch instead of going out to lunch. A nice sandwich, salad and piece of fruit costs about $2 at most. The average lunch at a sandwich shop costs $7. That $5 per day difference goes toward eating dinners at interesting restaurants and trying new cuisines.

I don’t impulse buy. I never buy cheap, plastic things that will only be used once. I was talking with my friend Andy about buying things when we were on our way back from visiting our friends Mike and Pat in Chicago.

Andy said he remembered sitting in an intro Finance class sophomore year of college where the professor said “we all buy things everyday.” She was trying to give an introduction to finance, but Andy couldn’t stop thinking to himself “No, I don’t buy things everyday. Sometimes i even go 3-4 days without buying anything.” I’m in the same boat.

In the US, you can say “we buy things everyday” and for most people, it is true. I know when my parents were growing up, their families did not buy things everyday. They bought a weeks worth of groceries at the store and cooked meals at home. Eating at restaurants was rare and fast food places like Qdoba, Potbelly, Subway and others were nonexistent. Going out was considered a special treat. They wouldn’t buy candy from vending machines, cheap plastic junk from stores or close to 75% of the inventory in your typical Walmart. It’s amazing that there can be stores in the US that only sell cheap plastic junk that will only be used once. At least Walmart sells groceries and other necessities. People buy all sorts of things without even thinking about them and many times, rarely use them more than once, if at all.

I think there are three subsets of people. People who value experiences over things, people who value experiences over things, but get sucked into buying lots of material things and people who value things over experiences. I don’t think there is a “right” way to live, although I personally can’t imagine being happy based on purchasing electronics, cars and clothes; everyone can be happy in any of the three categories. The point of this post is not to chastise people who value things over experiences, but to point out that people in the middle group can get out of the “things” trap. Instead of spending money on things to “keep up with the Joneses” they could save the money and actually do the things they’ve always wanted to.

What do you think? Which category to you fit into? What experiences would you like to be able to do in your life?

A Look Back at 2009 and A Look Ahead to 2010

Category : Personal Thoughts
Posted on January 4, 2010 by Nathan Lustig

I know it’s a little late for a year end review, but I thought I finally have time to finish this post. I wanted to take a look at some of my favorite things from 2009 and take a look ahead to some interesting thing for 2010.

2009 was a fun year. I graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, made great progress on Entrustet, made some good friends and traveled to Europe with one of my best friends to visit another. I was in another great friend’s wedding, got my consulting company off the ground, saw some amazing sporting events and got more involved in Madison. I even stuck with my blog.

My Best Posts (in no order)

The Business School Way of Life

Is the Dollar America’s Achilles Heel?

America Doesn’t Plan for the Future

The Entrepreneurial Push

Every Startup Needs a Mentor Team

My Decade in Review

My Favorite Books (read, not written in 2009)

I’m looking forward to going to South Africa for the World Cup this summer, attending South By Southwest and continuing to work on Entrustet. I think 2010 will be another fun and interesting year for me. I hope your 2010 is too!

Predictions for 2010s

I know it’s just about impossible to look forward a few months, much less a year or even a decade, but here’s some guesses as to where we are headed.

2010

Gold will continue its rise in response to more US government debt creation
Developing countries continue to grow more quickly than developed countries.
Unemployment will become the biggest political problem next year, but entrepreneurs will be somewhat sheltered

Longer Term

The Reserve Status of US dollar will be called into question. Look for China and the rest of the world to continue to diversify away from US government debt. I don’t know when this will happen, but I can’t see any other solution to the US’s massive debt and unfunded liabilities.
At some point, bubbles in China, US debt and others may pop. This could lead to lower stock values and a resumption of the bear market.
China will move from manufacturer to the world toward one of the leading innovators. China will continue to assert itself on the political and economic stages. Look for their dominance in rare earth metals.
Entrepreneurs around the world will be successful, as large companies do not want to invest in new technologies and talent is cheap.

My Decade in Review

Category : Personal Thoughts
Posted on December 14, 2009 by Nathan Lustig

I started the decade as the class of 2000, about to finish up 8th grade. I was 14 years old and remember going to y2k party at a friends house, wondering if the lights were going to shut off because of y2k. I thought 24 was really old and couldn’t imagine being that old. It seemed so far away. I can remember the city of Milwaukee’s city hall bells ringing the new year in a few minutes early, thinking it was funny, but also being a bit disappointed that y2k was a bust. After watching far too many episodes of Jerry Springer, Maury and countless 24 hour news channel interviews of crackpots who were preparing for society to break down, it was a little underwhelming to my 14 year old self that the lights didn’t so much as flicker.

The defining event of the 2000s was 9/11. I still remember being in geometry class my sophomore year when someone told me “planes had hit the Twin Towers in New York.” We were scheduled to take a test that day and our teacher was one of the only in the school who didn’t want to get off track. Instead of allowing us to watch the news, she told us “it was only a small private plane, like a Cessna, don’t worry, it’s not a big deal, let’s take the test.” We took the test and by the end of class, we rushed out to the library as the first tower crumbled. I remember watching as the 2nd tower fell and not really believing it was happening. It looked like something out of a movie. After school, it became real as I went to get a splint for my recently and unrelated broken wrist. I remember the real fear the next time I heard a plane fly overhead a few days later.

So much changed after 9/11. America went to war, we had to take our shoes off to fly on airplanes, cable news stations adopted scrolling bars along the bottom of the screen permanently and the media began its full descent into the all out 24 hour news cycle. Americans had to think about terrorism and our role in the world.

The Internet matured and became a part of everyone’s daily lives. After the tech bubble of the late 90s, Americas really started using the internet for everyday tasks. Now, 95% of Americans use email at least once per week. Throughout the decade, Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, Last.fm and tons of other online services changed the way we live, learn, work and play.

More personally, I got to travel all over the United States and the world. Between 8th grade and my freshman year of high school, I took at trip with my Aunt and camped on the beach along the pacific in Olympic National Park. The next summer, I went to Rocky Mountain National Park and camped for a few days. I got my first taste of Europe just before I turned 16, when my Aunt and I walked across Northern Spain and went to Paris. I got to see the running of the bulls in Pamplona and walked from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela. I loved it and I knew I had been bitten by the travel bug. I knew I would go back to Europe and see the world.

Back in the states, I learned how to drive and got my license. I played a ton of soccer and still have friends and great memories from my soccer teams from the 2000s. I also continued reffing soccer, a job that I had started when I was 12 in 1997 and continue to this day. I even got to play high school football for a year. I made some great friends in high school and had a ton of fun, learning along the way how to get things done. I think my biggest lesson learned in high school is that authority figures do not know everything. I think that this realization helped me get to where I am today.

I also continued to travel. Our next door neighbors moved to Belgium to teach in an international school and we visited them twice. By 2004, I was able to travel to Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany. I biked around the Netherlands with my Dad, went to the 2003 Confederations Cup in Lyon, France (where the French booed our national anthem) and went to the top of an alpine mountain in Switzerland (and the site of a Bond movie). I traveled around Spain with my class senior year and stayed with a great family in Segovia, Spain for a week. I knew that I wanted to travel around the world.

In 2004 I applied to colleges, knowing that I really wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin. At first, I was waitlisted. After a few weeks, I finally persuaded admissions that I should be let in and was accepted to Wisconsin. I remember being utterly shocked when I was waitlisted and even more angry when I lost the lottery for football tickets. Little did I know that losing the football lottery would be one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

I got to college in 2004 and loved every minute. I made some amazing friends, learned a ton and attended hundreds (yes hundreds) of Badger football, hockey and basketball games. I went to the Wisconsin vs. Purdue game where Scott Starks returned a fumble for a touchdown. I remember the crushing defeat at Mighigan State and then traveling to Iowa to visit a friend and go to the Wisconsin football game. If the Badgers won, they would go to the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, they lost and it was a long drive back to Madison. I was in Milwaukee with one of my best friends, sitting on the glass, when Wisconsin won its 6th hockey national title. I rushed the court when Wisconsin won the Big Ten title and was there when Wisconsin had a #1 ranking in basketball. I loved all of our road trips that my friends and I took as well as the fun times we had doing all sorts of things throughout college. I entered college being able to cook a few things, but not that well. I left loving to cook and being able to make a whole bunch of things.

I ended up buying football tickets on ExchangeHut my freshman year. I was the 1117th registered user. After freshman year, I ended up buying the site with one of my best friends from high school. I learned a ton and met some amazing people and realized that I was an entrepreneur and didn’t ever want to have a boss again. Besides my friends, this realization was the most important part of my college experience.

I was lucky enough that I got to testify before a Congressional Committee, compete in a business plan competition, travel to Facebook for their platform launch and pitch ideas to angel investors. By the end of my first senior year, ExchangeHut had been acquired. I took a second senior year and graduated with a degree in Political Science. By 2009, I started my blog, a consulting company and another startup. I started Capital Entrepreneuers and have started to become part of the Madison community.

I also was able to check a few things off the bucket list. In 2006, I went to the World Cup in Germany and saw the US in action. After the US was eliminated, my friend and I traveled all over Europe, trying to be in countries when the teams were playing. I’ll never forget being in Paris when France beat Spain in the Round of 16, being in an Italian bar in Barcelona during the semi-finals and being in Dublin for the final. It was a great trip and I decided that I would do everything in my power to never miss another World Cup in my lifetime. I was lucky enough to get to live in downtown Chicago for a few months, attend the Superbowl and go to the Final Four. This past summer, I was able to visit my friend Beata in London and travel with one of my best friends in Ireland, England and the Netherlands and went to my first two weddings of friends from college. I also got to do the punt pass and kick competition at halftime of the Wisconsin vs. Michigan game and succeeded.

The 2000s were amazing. I can honestly say that each year has gotten better than the one before it. I can only hope that my next 10 years are as much fun as these past 10. At the end of the next decade, I will 34. That seems old, but not as old as 24 seemed when I was 14. I hope to travel to South Africa this summer to see the World Cup and be able to visit Australia, China and the rest of Asia sometime in the next decade. I would love to go to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and tour South America. I know I want to live in a foreign country for at least a year at some point and become fluent in Spanish again. I want to continue working for myself and continue to create successful startups. I hope to be reading at least two books per month and continuing to write my blog. Maybe even write a book. Who really knows. I hope that I am healthy, happy and continue to have the good fortune to live like I have in the past ten years.

What are your best memories of the 2000s? What do you think was the defining event for the world and for you personally? What are your goals for 2010s?

Travelogue: London

Category : Travel
Posted on August 17, 2009 by Nathan Lustig

Note: I took a two week trip to Ireland, the Netherlands and England. This is the third and final post in a short series about where I went, along with observations about how Europe and the UK compare to the US. The first post is here and the second is here.

One of the main purposes of my trip was to visit my friend Beata who I met in the dorms my freshman year at Wisconsin. After she graduated, she decided she wanted to see the world. Instead of doing what most people would do, taking a trip for a few weeks or a month, Beata decided to live different places around the world, while getting jobs in each country. Her first stop was London, where she got a flat and found two jobs, one as a tour guide and one as bartender at her local pub. It takes guts to leave your friends and family behind and move to a new country where you do not know anyone. I can’t put into words how much I admire her for deciding to make the move (and giving me a free place to stay when I want to travel!) and gives me inspiration to have the guts to try something similar some day.

Pat and I took the train from Amsterdam to London, traveling through The Hauge, Brussels, Lille and Calais before taking the chunnel to England. It was amazing how quickly we were through the chunnel. All of the sudden it got dark and then it seemed like 10 minutes later, it was light again and we were on the other side, off the continent. The entire ride took a little under four hours on the high speed train.

We met Beata at her pub, right down the street from her flat and got to meet some of her friends and a few of the regulars. Everyone was incredibly nice and we met people from South Africa, China, Ireland and of course England. The most interesting conversation was with a guy from China who was living in London working for a large investment bank. We talked about all sorts of things, but what struck me was how similar his attitudes were to my own, even on politics. He said that he hoped that China would have a democracy at some point, but he did not think he could change anything, so why fight the system. He also talked about the pressure that children in China face to be successful. Because of the one child policy, he said that only children are under intense pressure to succeed because the parents only have one chance to see a successful child. Obviously, since not every child can be successful, the kids that do not do as well have lots of problems adjusting to adulthood.

Over the next three days, Pat and I went on all of Beata’s walking tours of London and saw most of the touristy parts of the city. We got to meet all of Beata’s friends from all over the world and everyone was incredibly nice to us. We went to Abbey Road and took the obligatory picture walking across the crosswalk, Camden and walked all over north London. We saw Oliver the last night we were there and ate incredible Indian food. My favorite place was Brick Lane, an older area with lots of Indian restaurants, or curry shops to Londoners, pubs, bars and coffee shops. On Sunday, there was a market with every type of cuisine from around the world packed with locals. It turned out that it was Peruvian Independence Day, so there was a live Peruvian band playing outside of one bar. We spent the day wandering around and seeing the city. All in all, it was a relaxing end to a great trip.

The only part of London that I did not like was the ubiquitous use of CCTV, or Closed Circuit Television, that covers pretty much all of London. Before I had gone to London, I could not completely relate to books and movies like 1984, Brave New World, Children of Men and V for Vendetta because the US does not have much CCTV, traffic cameras or nearly as many do not enter signs. It was amazing to see how many places were “protected” by CCTV: the tube and tube stations, pubs, restaurants, sidewalks, roads and many other places. Apparently, the average Londoner is captured on CCTV over 300 times per day. While I never felt like I was any less free than in the US because of the use of CCTV, it was a little unsettling to have all of my movement recorded during my stay in London. I can see how authors (and British citizens) in the UK could relate to surveillance themes in their books and movies. I am happy that the US does not have as many cameras, but it seems that we are moving in that direction. Chicago and its suburbs have tons of red light cameras, as does Phoenix. These cameras record anyone who runs red lights and sends tickets in the mail. We are still a long way off from being recorded 300 times per day, but it could be a slippery slope. All in all, London was a fantastic end to a great trip to end the summer.