After high school, I had $2,000 saved, and I packed everything I could into my '95 Nissan Sentra with no air-conditioning, and I drove out to L.A.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There was a time in L.A. when I drove to 7-Eleven to go grocery shopping, and I locked my keys in my car, which wasn't insured. My wallet was in there, and I couldn't call AAA, because I only had $7 in my bank account. It was one of those moments where I was like, 'O.K., I literally have nothing right now.'
My parents moved out to California in 1968 from Ohio in a VW station wagon pulling a little trailer. I was 4 months old. They were following the energy out here.
When my car broke down in L.A., nobody stopped. They just kept whizzing by.
Eventually I did that, but it took a lot of twists and turns, and there were a year or two there where I was living with no money at all - no home, no car, no nothing. I was living in somebody's garage in Los Angeles at that point - for a year.
After I saved some money, I quit work and went to a local college.
I lost all my investments after everything crashed in 2001. Prior to that, I'd been living off the interest on my investments, which was very healthy because it allowed frequent travel, and I had a lovely apartment.
By 1990 I went back to no gasoline; I was just riding around on my bike, taking the bus. I had a tiny little electric car that didn't go very far or very fast. People thought I'd lost my mind. Even my own family thought I'd lost my mind.
I took a Ferrari under the 405 freeway. We took rent-a-cars through the desert. That was fun.
I showed up in L.A. with $500 and a backpack and I stayed at a shelter, so nobody handed me anything. I worked for every single thing that I have.
In college, my big money memory was saving up to buy a car with my boyfriend, whom I lived with.