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Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

blog.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 297 posts

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#41
'Life is a balancing act.'

I do also use to read his blog but I don't follow 'frugalism' as a cult. I cherrypick what I consider that adds significant value to my life. The same with other "isms" like Agnosticism, Centrism, Minimalism and Intellectualism..

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#42
post #40

The MMM way is more about locking in your luck than anything else. Be frugal, when lady luck smiles and you have a lot of income make sure you do not waste the proceeds and avoid living above your means at all costs. Having skills is a plus and in his particular case it helps if you are good at building a personal brand so you can ride the self help bandwagon. Very useful information compared to most other self help…

I find his schtick over the top. On the other hand, some people really do need to learn that they'd have an easier time saving money if they didn't lease a BMW, go out eating and drinking every other night, and vacation at expensive resorts.

He has a pretty healthy attitude to debt and in plenty of countries that are less consumption oriented he would be pretty normal. I know lots of mustachians here in Europe who most likely have never ever heard of him.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#43
post #19

I've been reading his blog for a few years, and he does some have some insightful advice on shedding unnecessary expenses and living on a frugal spending diet. I've been able to get down to one car that is almost paid off, and double my savings and investment portfolio. My favorite article from him is living close enough to work to bike (although working from home is most ideal). However, his blog comes with a bit of…

The difficulty with the bike thing, is that the closer you are to cities the more housing costs.

The housing expense often costs more than owning a cheap car.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#44
post #19

I've been reading his blog for a few years, and he does some have some insightful advice on shedding unnecessary expenses and living on a frugal spending diet. I've been able to get down to one car that is almost paid off, and double my savings and investment portfolio. My favorite article from him is living close enough to work to bike (although working from home is most ideal). However, his blog comes with a bit of…

MMM is too smug and pushy for a good portion of the general public. His writing can awfully hostile, it could be toned down a bit and his message would get further - some of his advice is very sensible.

The problem with frugal blogs (in general) is they do one or more of the following; push penny pinching 24/7, "if you aren't eating lentils everyday and living in a cardboard box you're fucking up," they are too condescending, or they are only applicable to the already rich/privileged, like Mitt Romney's "just borrow 10s of thousands of dollars from your parents to start a business, easy!," and are out of touch with they "everyday man," or fail to recognize that people are different than them.

I think I could write a blog that is more accessible, I have experience being both very high income and very low income. It's such a saturated market though I doubt I'd get any readers. Maybe I'll do it just for myself some day to formulate some of the thoughts I have on the topic.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#45
post #4

Something I’m curious about regarding Mr. Money Mustache - is he actually retired, in the sense that he doesn’t do anything to bring in income (except through passive index investing)? It seems like he has a brand that is pretty lucrative, so it’s unclear to me if he: 1. has enough money to be functionally retired at his current lifestyle, but chooses to continue his brand anyway, 2. has enough money to be functional…

I don't think you know what retired actual means here. It doesn't mean never working again, it more refers to being financially independent.

If he wanted to stop all those projects and never do anything again, he could. But that would probably be boring, so he pursues things that interest him, some of which net him income.

He's gone over his family's spending before, if you want to read more - http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/16/exposed-the-mmm-fa...

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#46
post #19

I've been reading his blog for a few years, and he does some have some insightful advice on shedding unnecessary expenses and living on a frugal spending diet. I've been able to get down to one car that is almost paid off, and double my savings and investment portfolio. My favorite article from him is living close enough to work to bike (although working from home is most ideal). However, his blog comes with a bit of…

To apply MMM's ideas, on a 50K salary assuming monthly expenses of 1,250 (that's the hard part), if you put away 50% every year you can retire on a 375K nest egg (4% safe annual draw) after 15 years, or age 37. Roughly.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#47
post #43
post #19

I've been reading his blog for a few years, and he does some have some insightful advice on shedding unnecessary expenses and living on a frugal spending diet. I've been able to get down to one car that is almost paid off, and double my savings and investment portfolio. My favorite article from him is living close enough to work to bike (although working from home is most ideal). However, his blog comes with a bit of…

The difficulty with the bike thing, is that the closer you are to cities the more housing costs. The housing expense often costs more than owning a cheap car.

He touches on that in this post (with numbers): https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/07/27/rent-vs-buy/

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#48
post #45
post #4

Something I’m curious about regarding Mr. Money Mustache - is he actually retired, in the sense that he doesn’t do anything to bring in income (except through passive index investing)? It seems like he has a brand that is pretty lucrative, so it’s unclear to me if he: 1. has enough money to be functionally retired at his current lifestyle, but chooses to continue his brand anyway, 2. has enough money to be functional…

I don't think you know what retired actual means here. It doesn't mean never working again, it more refers to being financially independent. If he wanted to stop all those projects and never do anything again, he could. But that would probably be boring, so he pursues things that interest him, some of which net him income. He's gone over his family's spending before, if you want to read more - http://www.mrmoneymusta…

Beautiful. Since we get to make up our own definition of what retired means, I guess I am also retired.

re·tired rəˈtī(ə)rd/Submit adjective 1. having left one's job and ceased to work.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#49
The biggest question I face regarding early retirement in the USA is how to handle health care expenses, because the situation is so messed up. There is huge uncertainty around the future of healthcare, especially regarding coverage and quality.

So far, all the early retired people I have seen have either a working spouse or have retired abroad. It would be great to know if people here, especially those who retired early, have solved the problem of healthcare coverage.

Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache

#50
post #19

I've been reading his blog for a few years, and he does some have some insightful advice on shedding unnecessary expenses and living on a frugal spending diet. I've been able to get down to one car that is almost paid off, and double my savings and investment portfolio. My favorite article from him is living close enough to work to bike (although working from home is most ideal). However, his blog comes with a bit of…

I'm going to extend my comment. I've been reading James Altucher's books like "Choose Yourself" and his blog. Altucher's philosophy is somewhat similar, except he focuses on tapping into your creative mind and finding unique ways to supplement your income to the point that you're not necessarily retired, but doing what you love.

The goal then is not necessarily to retire, but to just get to a point where you are working for yourself and supplementing that with existing savings + a frugal lifestyle. That's basically what MMM/Pete is doing now with his blog. That is, I believe, how a welder/car mechanic/McDonald's employee can retire early.

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