Daniel James Shellabarger (known asDaniel Suelo, or simplySuelo, andThe Man Who Quit Money, born 1961) is an Americansimple living adherent who stopped usingmoney in the autumn of 2000.[1] He was born inArvada, Colorado, a suburb ofDenver, and lives part-time in a cave nearMoab, Utah when he is not wandering the country.[1]
Suelo gained fame in October 2009 when his profile appeared in the US men's style print magazineDetails.[2] This story was picked up by websites such asThe Guardian in the UK,[3]The Huffington Post,[4] andMatador Change.[5] He was also interviewed for the BBC in September 2009,[6] byThe Denver Post[7] in November 2009, and the Brazilian INFO[8] in November 2009. His story has since been repeated by many websites and news agencies around the world. Suelo was the subject of a 2006 video profile entitledMoneyless in Moab (2006), by Gordon Stevenson[9] and a 2009 video profile entitledZero Currency (2009), by Brad Barber[10] as well as being featured on KBYU'sBeehive Stories (2010), also by Brad Barber.[11]
Penguin approached Suelo about writing an autobiography, but he said that he would not accept payment for telling his story and he would be interested to do so only if the book was given away for free. Penguin was not interested in this approach, but asked a friend of his,Mark Sundeen, about writing a biography. Sundeen wroteThe Man Who Quit Money, which was published by Riverhead/Penguin in 2012, and Suelo did not accept any money from his book but requested that the publishers give away a number of copies to people for free, which they did at promotional book tours.[12] A short film about Suelo, narrated by Mark Sundeen, is onBBC News Online.[13]
In 2016 Suelo moved back to his hometown to care for his aging parents,[14] and has been using money in this capacity while still caring for his mother, who is in her nineties as of 2017.
Suelo is one of a number of individuals who voluntarily live without money. These includeMark Boyle,Tomi Astikainen [fi], the lateHeidemarie Schwermer [de] (1942–2016) and Jo Nemeth.[15][16][17][18][19] Suelo appeared as a guest writer on Mark Boyle's blog in January 2011.[20]
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