Smart Tramp

[WhiteKnight]

This makes the mind boggle;

A tramp who lived on a pittance collecting tin cans and eating scraps from rubbish bins left a secret £1m fortune when he died.
Curt Degerman - nicknamed 'Tin-Can-Curt' - made shrewd stock market investments with the little money he made.

The financial genius could be seen cycling around the northern Swedish town of Skelleftea dressed in a dirty blue jacket and torn trousers.

He is said to have led a frugal lifestyle but in between collecting cans and bottles from the coastal city's rubbish bins he was to be found in the city library studying the stock market in the financial papers.

"He went to the library every day because he didn't buy newspapers. He knew stocks inside out," a cousin told reporters at the time of his death, from a heart attack, aged 60, in 2008.

It was then that relatives discovered he had a portfolio of stocks and shares worth more than £700,000.

In addition, he had purchased 124 gold bars worth £250,000, owned his own home and had more than £4,000 in a bank account. There was more than £270 in loose change inside his home.

He left the fortune to a cousin who had visited him regularly in the later part of his life.

But under Swedish law Mr Degerman's uncle was entitled to inherit the riches.

They became embroiled in a legal battle but the pair confirmed they have now reached agreement - though neither party is prepared to discuss the detail.

Tin Can Tramp Was Stocks Genius With Fortune - Yahoo! News UK

[Happyman]

Daily Telegraph article on the man

Family feud over fortune of Swedish tramp who made millions from tin cans

To the people of Skellefteå he was "Tin-Can-Curt", the tramp who scavenged drink containers for recycling.



By Fiona Govan and Allan Hall
Published: 7:00AM BST 31 Mar 2010

Curt Degerman, whose family are fighting over his million pound estate he created from collecting tin cans and scrap metal Photo: Tommy Schnstedt


He was a common sight on the streets of the Swedish coastal town where he was dismissed as little more than a bad-smelling eccentric.
But unbeknown to them, Curt Degerman was a financial genius who used the money he earned from collecting scrap metal from rubbish bins to trade on the international markets.



Now 18 months after his death, his relatives are fighting a legal battle over a secret £1 million estate he amassed by investing in stocks and shares.
For forty years he spent his days touring the bins on an old bicycle stuffing the containers he collected into bags tied between the handlebars.
But after he died of a heart attack aged 60, it emerged that through shrewd investment he had turned the modest deposits earned from returning the empty cans into a fortune estimated at more than £1.1 million.
Relatives discovered he had left behind a portfolio of stocks and shares worth at least £731,000 in a Swiss bank account and a safety deposit box containing 124 gold bars valued at £250,000.
He also had nearly £4,300 in a local current account and £275 of loose change at his home.
Mr Degerman, who never spent any money and ate leftovers from the bins of fast food restaurants, made his investments after a life time spent studying Swedish newspapers.
Clothed in torn trousers and a filthy blue anorak, he would pore over the financial pages of the dailies displayed in the town's public library.
"He went to the library every day because he didn't buy newspapers. There he read [Swedish business daily] Dagens Industri," his cousin told local media at the time of his death. "He knew the stock market inside out."
Relatives said Mr Degerman had been a very clever child with a bright future but had dropped out of school in his late teens after a personal crisis and had chosen an alternative way of life.
Mr Degerman made a will leaving his entire fortune to the cousin, who visited him regularly in the months before his death.
But when the full extent of the estate emerged the will was contested by another cousin who believed his father, Mr Degerman's uncle was entitled to it.
Under Swedish inheritance law the uncle, whose name has not been made public, held the legal right to inherit his nephew's riches.
A settlement between the two cousins was finally negotiated out of court this week. The pair have agreed to share the surprise fortune after being urged to make a private agreement by a magistrate at Skellefteå district court.
Neither would reveal the details of the settlement but both said they were "satisfied" with the outcome.

[nikko]

Was a similar story in the US (Oregon- I believe) several years back where a guy who cycled around town in tattered clothing collecting bottles left a $10 Mill fortune that he made in the financial markets.

[baldrick]

what is it about can/bottle collectors?

commodities trading

[malako]

There was a story about a guy in japan a few years back also. Had millions in the bank, but prefered to live in a cardboard box in the train station..

[slackula]

How can the law override what somebody writes in his will? That seems very wrong.

What is the point of writing a will in Sweden if it can be over ruled if you leave your stuff to the 'wrong' person?

[Panda]

A tramp who lived on a pittance collecting tin cans and eating scraps from rubbish bins


at the time of his death, from a heart attack, aged 60, in 2008.

Just goes to show that eating scraps from rubbish bins can be bad for your health.

He could have been planting vegetables on vacant land and fishing in the river for a healthy diet instead of wasting his time investing on the stock market.

[paranha]

Feel sorry about the lad (Kurt Degerman)

Before I moved here 2 yars ago, I lived in the city of Skellefteå.

I did see Kurt almost every day when he was picking his bottles and skraps in the waste bins around the city. I almost went over to him a couple of times to offer a him a free meal. I felt sorry for him especially in the wintertime.

Can't say much of the hereditary laws in sweden since I don't know much about them BUT his uncle is a giant ass. Seems to be proper to give some background info of Kurt and his family relations.

He has always had a brilliant mind and had all the possibilies in front of him but his family is the "big and ugly" in this story. They put so high demands and expectations on Kurt in his early days that he finally snapped and withdrew from society. The family wouldn't have anything more to do with him since he didn't live up to their high hopes. They wouldn't even speak or recognise him since He wasn't of their class anymore. Thus being forced to the life he lead.

The cousin was the only person that had any contact with him in all those years until he died. Think Kurt didn't want his family to get to his money and that's why the cousin inherited his fortune.

Fucking greedy family and the more I read, the more I understand why he lived the life he did

[Panda]

He was just an extreme example of how people in todays society will make themselves a slave to making money. So he died a millionaire after living a miserable life eating out of trash bins and living like a pauper. But he is still just as dead.

Alternatively, he almost certainly could have had a far more enjoyable life in his later years if he was to employ his wealth to enhance his quality of life. And may well be alive today if he was smart enough to use some of his wealth for medical advice and care. Instead he got stuck in a time warp rut of extreme frugality and self denial for the sole purpose of making money, -- untill he eventually died without experiencing the pleasures of life his money could bring.

This guy is the extreme opposite of a bloke who wins lotto and wastes it all on the high life in a couple of years. The very extreme opposite.

Yet I know people who are not so unlike this rich dead Mr Dergman. People who are wealthy but live a frugal life so that they may die rich. Got to ask yourself how smart they really are.

You only get one go at life, so make the most of it.