I find it interesting that both he and his wife were high income earner earners. That makes it easier to save appropriately and get to financial freedom sooner. I think he even notes this in some of his blog posts that the opportunity to become financially free is limited. A lot of people don't have a 3 month or 6 month reserve which I think is the first goal. Get there first.
Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
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Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#112Hey! Thanks to many of you for suggesting Pete as a guest on the podcast. Let me know if you have ideas for other folks. You can comment here or email me - craig@ycombinator.com
Is there a way to see all the guests you've had on the podcast -- just a simple list without having to scroll through all the pages?
Hm. The iTunes feed might be easiest - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/y-combinator/id123690742...
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#113I'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…
What avenue is there to retire at 30 if you make 200k by 25? I must be missing something massive.
Depends on what you mean by "retire." Having complete financial independence is unlikely.
However a person with no debts or children can live a nice middle-class life as a single person or partner/spouse even in the Bay Area and still save $50k/year or more. With conservative investments that $250k in savings over five years can easily be used to have a few thousand a month in income. It won't replace a $200k per year salary, but it'd be enough to live very frugally in an inexpensive place. It's much riskier than having a salary, health insurance, etc. and I wouldn't advise it.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#114I'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 conde…
I think MMM knows his audience, it isn't for me but I can imagine many people do get something out of it.
Really the main problem is there just isn't much to say, spend less than you earn, invest the difference, develop some self-sufficiency.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#115I'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…
He has good ideas but I agree with your arguments.
Also, is he retired? How much time does the blog consume? How much income does it generate?
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being frugal is the biggest baloney to wealth. People like you and I obsess over it because $COST_OF_LIVING is the one variable of the Income Wealth Equation we can control. You want to become wealthy? Affect millions.
Well, change frugal to 'don't be wasteful' then if that makes more sense to you. A friend of mine has four holidays per year, lives in an 800K euro house, has a whole pile of other interesting expenses and wonders out loud to me why he has no money left over. And that's with both him and his wife pulling in six figure salaries...
Sounds like your friend sacrificed the future for the today. But far, far too many of us are guilty of sacrificing today for a tomorrow 40 years from now.
Get rich slow when you're 70, or get rich fast by working your ass off and being accountable for your wealth.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's a New Yorker article about him: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/mr-money-musta... I believe he has some rental income from properties he owns and he claims to only spend $25K or so per year, so the answer is probably closest to 1. His brand/blog does seem to be quite lucrative though. At this point, it would probably make more sense to limit the effort rather than shut anything down.
There should probably be another word for it? I'm financially secure and will be for the rest of my life. But, I still generate an income, mostly by ownership but I still do physical labor. I do quite a bit of my own labor, as well. I can easily pay someone to do it for me, but I like it. I just helped harvest the blueberries. Next, I'll be filling my own freezers during hunting season and I'll be guiding others to h…
Financially independent is the phrase I'd use.
Enough money so you don't 'have' to work to survive
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#118Does anyone else think it's a bit funny to see an MMM interview on YC? Through their investments, YC seems quite pro-consumerism. Consumerism is the antithesis of being mustachian. It's always kind of bothered me that HN (and YC) seems to encourage conspicuous consumption.
I don't see that much of consumerism advocacy here. Quite the contrary - being frugal to extend runway, achieving ramen profitability etc. Also with rampant ageism in tech you do need to retire before 40 /s
A good example of what I'm talking about can be found in the thread here about Citibikes in NYC: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15338098
A lot of people seem to have an incredible resistance to the idea of riding a bike in NYC based on pure nonsense. Biking is safe, fast, and cheap. We don't need self-driving cars, we need investment in walking, biking, and public transit infrastructure.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
>when he made the claim at first I felt he was overselling it. In what way? His passive investments were bringing in far more than his spending, so in what sense was he "overselling" it?
He had to go on the 'carpentour' to not eat into his savings. Retirement means not having to work, period.
Where did you get that from? There wasn't any market crash when he stopped working, therefore his passive income would have been far in excess of his spending.
Where did you hear he had to work?
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's a New Yorker article about him: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/mr-money-musta... I believe he has some rental income from properties he owns and he claims to only spend $25K or so per year, so the answer is probably closest to 1. His brand/blog does seem to be quite lucrative though. At this point, it would probably make more sense to limit the effort rather than shut anything down.
There should probably be another word for it? I'm financially secure and will be for the rest of my life. But, I still generate an income, mostly by ownership but I still do physical labor. I do quite a bit of my own labor, as well. I can easily pay someone to do it for me, but I like it. I just helped harvest the blueberries. Next, I'll be filling my own freezers during hunting season and I'll be guiding others to h…
I don't know. "Financially independent" strikes me more along the lines of being able to walk out the door tomorrow and only doing a job because I want to. Not because I need the money.
I think "retired" is OK. A lot (most?) retired people who are healthy do something whether it's just some DIY around the house or volunteering. Of course, these days there are opportunities to pick up some dollars through various gig economy things though I would definitely have to need the money.
The lines are more blurred than they used to be though. I've known quite a few consultants who basically wound things down over time--not actively pursuing work as much but happy to spend some time and cash some checks with existing clients.