From giving tips to working for tips
Donna Hunter and Gail Deutsch report for ABC News that the economic recession has made a pizza delivery man out of an equity sales trader.
Ken Karpman, 45, currently earns $7.29 per hour delivering pizzas. It’s a job and he does it well. However, he can’t help but wonder when things began to go sour. As a corporate trader, the UCLA M.B.A. had what many would consider the perfect life. Family, $750,000 salary, big house, vacations – he had the world on a string.
“Life was good.”
Hunter and Deutsch write that Karpman was so confident with his place in the strong economy that he left his job in 2005 to start his own hedge fund. To pay for it, he ate through the family’s savings ($500,000) and took out a line of credit against his house. Unfortunately, Karpman ended up having to dissolve his hedge fund due to a lack of investors. The economy was down and he was without a job.
He hunted but came up empty. The Karpmans were in a terrible position, with no savings, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and a home in foreclosure.
Enter the pizza job
Desperate for quick payday loans, Karpman took a job at Mike’s Pizza & Deli Station in Clearwater, Florida. He is now earning $7.29 an hour plus tips. He’s grateful to have work, even if it sometimes takes him to the doors of neighbors to his old office building.
There has been stress in the Karpman marriage. But when it comes to who is most at fault for the collapse, Ken Karpman points at himself. “If we didn’t have to worry about the lights getting turned off, we can spend more time talking about us.”
Adjusting to a new life
Food stamps and air-tight budgeting aren’t nearly enough to support their children’s $30,000 private school tuition. But thanks to an anonymous donor, the kids are covered through next year. For now, they won’t have to pay for their parents’ mistakes.
Ken Karpman holds out hope that he can make a comeback and reclaim his family’s old lifestyle that, like many in the Land of Opportunity, he never thought he could lose.
Hunter and Deutsch conclude Ken Karpman’s story with a telling quote. Telling, because it reflects the gambler’s mentality that afflicts millions in this country. “I need a couple of wins,” he said, “and I think that, hopefully, it’ll mushroom up like it caved in.”
Related Video:
Ken Karpman: From CEO to Pizza Man
My husband and I have been almost in your shoes. We NEVER USED CREDIT CARDS. If we could not afford a vacation ,we didn’t go.(it is just that simple)We are not rich,we live very comfortable in a simple lifestyle.Now we can vacation once a year for one week.What young people should do is listen to the elders. They went through a depression. Take that knowledge and LEARN. We retired at 55 on a modest pension and we are just fine. Our three children went to collage and it was paid for in cash. Both of us working many hours of overtime and swing shifts.Now we can reap our rewards.
If he had residual income, this would have never happend!
You are great……….
ken call me lets get back on top,
Anyone that wants to help Ken Karpman out, please help someone that makes 7/hour and HASN’T racked up 100k in credit card debt, or defaulted on his mortgage for 2 years, and continues to drive a Mercedes. This guy should have 3 jobs and his wife should be working too. That 30k that someone is paying for his kids tuition just enables this family to continue leading this farcical life of privilege.
it’s gotta take a truckload of humility for Ken Karpman to take on that pizza delivery gig; well done i’d say
A really unfortunate event for him and indeed a sad news to the stock market field. Wishing him all the best for his future life !
It’s a sad story. What’s more heartrending is that there are thousands of people out there undergoing similar situations. It’s a horrible feeling when you’re stuck in a ditch and have no idea where to go or what to do – especially when you have kids to think about. My heart goes out to the Karpman family.
A real man (or woman) does what needs to be done to provide for a family. There is never any shame in an honest living. I say, ‘Right On’ for doing what needs to be done for the time being. It’s a shame to have lost so much, but at least he didn’t give up and the couple are sticking out the hard times together.
I agree Fiscally Responsible. BOTH people should be working. There are THOUSANDS of children that are sleeping on the streets because their parents have lost their jobs and homes. Why wouldn’t an anonomous donor assist even ONE of those families and keep even ONE child in a warm bed. It’s sad that Ken lost his CEO position, but at least he HAS a job and can provide food for his family.
I have to give this guy credit. He certainly shows that he wants to work to provide for his family, which is admirable. Granted, its a shame his hedge fund fell through. Still though, he DOES show a commitment to working, which is a positive attitude. Granted, that is about as far as you can fall from being a senior trader at a hedge fund, but he’s still willing to earn an honest living. And who doesn’t love pizza?
I have no sympathy for this man or his family. With that type of income ($750k/year) he should have saved enough money to weather any storm. Instead he got greedy and put his family’s well-being at risk. He appears to be a selfish narcissist. My guess is that that the reason he is only making $7/hour is that he does not really have any marketable skills. It is easy to make a double-digit return in a bull market. How much can he make in a down-market. This guy has always been a pizza-delivery man but instead of facing reality he lived a debt-filled life. Go get an apartment and a chevy.
My heart goes out to Ken and his family but I think the recession is a great lesson for this money hungry nation. So many luxuries are not needed to live a happy, normal life. Everyone should be thankful everyday for their health, their families, food on the table and having a place to sleep at night. Everything else is secondary. The article mentions that he hopes to attain the lifestlye his family once had. He should aim to live with no debt, less struggle and a decent lifestyle. This should be a lesson not to aim for the luxury lifestyle once again unless he is fortunate enough to get there but it should not be his goal. And even then, he should never forget his pizza delivery days and choose his way of life wisely.
Well Ken we will miss you as our pizza guy. Mike’s without a doubt has THE best pizza around here AND I admire you for going public. We didn’t know about Ken for the longest time that he delivered to us. The people that are criticizing him never had the drive to risk what he did to make it big! He now is doing what it takes to survive. THIS my friends is the AMERICAN way. We strive for the best and make it through the worst. OF course there are whatif’s….if he saved, if he had done this or that. Isn’t that easy for you to type on here. This is a huge lesson and he is by far the only one working at a pizza joint making ends meet. He delivers to me in “NOT my real job” because of the economy. Look around, be nice, you never know who is giving you your burger at the window or waiting on your table!! Good luck to you Ken and everyone else living through this!
Ken Karpman should call up Bill Gates and ask them to give him a few million bucks. I heard Mr. Gates is very generous and that will solve the Karpmans’ dilemma in no time.