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Each month in Kiplinger's Personal Finance, we interview ordinary people with extraordinary stories to share. Below, you'll find a compilation from 2007:
The Case of the
$65-Million Pants
Dry cleaners Soo Chung and Jin Nam were sued by a lawyer over a pair of suit pants.
Financial Adviser
Writes a New Script
Mark Motley, co-founder of a Cincinnati investment advisory firm, has spent part of his time the past two and a half years producing an independent film backed by his clients' money and his own.
Saving Energy
From the Ground Up
Seeking a greener lifestyle, Bruce and Brenda Thompson moved with sons Cameron and Max from Washington, D.C., to Grand Rapids, Mich., and built an ultramodern, energy-efficient house.
Investing With Nickels
and Dimes
Earl Crawley, 69, earns $20,000 a year as a parking-lot attendant. But he has amassed a stock portfolio worth more than $500,000.
This Man Stole My Identity
David Dahlstrom, 44, of Salt Lake City endured 17 years of personal-finance hell while an impersonator in California bounced bad checks, ran up credit-card bills, and, starting in 1990, racked up a string of felony convictions in his name.
From Engineering Geek
to Dating Coach
Niels Hoven, 26, was a PhD student at UC-Berkeley in electrical engineering, but a stint on the reality TV show "Beauty and the Geek" led him in a new direction.
Terror and Tedium
for $500 a Day
James Yeager, 36, teaches firearms, self-defense and bodyguard skills at his security company, in western Tennessee. He was a bodyguard in Iraq for ten months.
Meet the Real Golden Girls
Joan Forrester, her sister, Lois McManus, and friends Joanne Murphy and Nancy Rogers share homes in Florida and Massachusetts, which lets them enjoy a more comfortable retirement than they could afford on their own.
Turning a Lottery Win Into $2 Billion
Brad Duke, 34, of Star, Idaho, wants to make his $125-million Powerball winnings grow to $2 billion.
The Beginning of the End of Tax Hell
Six years ago, June and Ron Speltz got caught by the alternative minimum tax, which triggered a tax bill of more than $260,000 on income they'd never see. Their fight to change the law finally paid off.
For Sale: Castle, Nearly Finished
Brian Colella is selling the castle he built himself, complete with moat, in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Asking price: $3.4 million.
College in Four Years? What Took You So Long?
David Banh, 19, earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in one year.
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