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Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

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Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#121

Post by jamesaguilar »

PKop wrote: post #111
encoderer wrote: post #67

I don't like how judgmental he is about lifestyle choices alternative to the ones he's made. I, personally, enjoy going out to eat, I enjoy the "$100 happy hours," I'm in Turks and Caicos right now on a stretch of the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and I enjoy that, too. Oh, and I don't particularly dislike working. I'm a well paid highly skilled engineer building cool things for a fantastic .com that takes care…

But why? Seriously, why can't he come to his own conclusion about said lifestyle choices? You don't have to agree with him, but why can't he judge certain lifestyle choices as better or worse? Just as you have done for yourself. I think if he doesn't clearly define what he thinks is better and why, then what advice is he really providing? People can choose to agree or not, without taking it as a personal insult.

It's not really the same. If I pick a lifestyle for myself, that's not a judgment on other people's lifestyles. If I pick a lifestyle then start calling other people wasteful, that is a judgment on others. Be it true or not, that rubs some people the wrong way.

Personally I don't care if he judges me. He's living within a few tens of percent above the poverty line (based on his comments in this article). Of course the lifestyle of someone spending even $40k a year is going to seem wasteful to him.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#122

Post by incompatible »

Nice article, since it's very similar to what I did. However, I had to work 11 years longer for it. I guess I wasn't as well paid, or not as efficient. Also, after 6 years of retirement, I don't know yet if my situation is completely stable. Low interest rates and continuing inflation may take a toll. Real estate investment just isn't a sensible option where I live, so I rent.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#123

Post by dmoy »

smm2000 wrote: post #82
jonknee wrote: post #31

I have a hard time seeing the appeal of intentionally living long term with a near poverty level income. I could never be content watching my son bike to school in 20 degrees because I don't want to work. Let alone spend years bragging about it.

I biked to work in Seattle every day including freezing 35 degree rain in winter and enjoyed it. Half an hour biking in such a weather made me feel like I achieved something before work day starts. And biking was totally optional - I had a car. But people are different and I get what you want to say.

Yea, and some people are just crazy (not you, I mean the crazies in the midwest who bike to work when it's 0F outside).

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#124

Post by hkmurakami »

nlawalker wrote: post #65

I always recommend the following two posts to anyone who has discovered MMM, as I think they best sum up his context, history, mindset, goals and living situation - all of which are good to understand before you start taking what he writes as guidance: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of... http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/01/raising-a-family-o... It's important to keep in mind that his…

Iirc, MMM's savings were buoyed significantly by being a part of the boom years of both the stock market and real estate market. Whether his financial standing can be replicated by someone following his exact footsteps today remains to be seen.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#125

Post by ruswick »

dkrich wrote: post #99

Interesting read, but I have to disagree with one of the tenets of the article. At one point he suggests that people should almost inevitably relocate at some point to a less-expensive area of the country in order to save for retirement. Wealth is relative. You can increase your own in only one of two ways- either earn more or spend less. Obviously his advice is the latter, but if you fall into the former category (a…

The wages in DC, although higher than the national average, are not astronomically so. The Mean anual wage in DC is ~$60k, while the national average is roughly $45k. This likely doesn't equate to a distinctly higher quality of life. Moreover, poverty is far more pervasive in DC than in the rest of the country, and, crime rates in DC vary, depending on the type of crime, generally between two and five times the national average.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#126

Post by jckt »

encoderer wrote: post #67

I don't like how judgmental he is about lifestyle choices alternative to the ones he's made. I, personally, enjoy going out to eat, I enjoy the "$100 happy hours," I'm in Turks and Caicos right now on a stretch of the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and I enjoy that, too. Oh, and I don't particularly dislike working. I'm a well paid highly skilled engineer building cool things for a fantastic .com that takes care…

Say what you will, but being frugal isn't necessarily akin to having a bad lifestyle -- I think his lifestyle is one that you may enjoy, too: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/01/raising-a-family-o...

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#127

Post by avenger123 »

encoderer wrote: post #67

I don't like how judgmental he is about lifestyle choices alternative to the ones he's made. I, personally, enjoy going out to eat, I enjoy the "$100 happy hours," I'm in Turks and Caicos right now on a stretch of the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and I enjoy that, too. Oh, and I don't particularly dislike working. I'm a well paid highly skilled engineer building cool things for a fantastic .com that takes care…

I don't believe he is going out of his way to criticize.

First of all, the question of retiring is somewhat problematic. Ask the typical person if they could retire right now, what would they do? Doing leisure activities, going on trips, relaxing, etc. can only take one so far. As human beings we need to be productive (no matter how that is defined) for us to lead a healthy life.

I believe the bigger issue is freedom. MMM's approach is very extreme and works for him. I do believe he lives on much more than 25K and works very hard. To him, the work he does might not classify as work. This is freedom for him. He is building a brand and knows how to market his brand.

The big difference I would suggest is that he is absolutely debt-free. American consumerism and lifestyle, to some extent, is driven by credit. Getting a credit card has become a rite of passage.

I like to follow the Dave Ramsey (http://www.daveramsey.com) philosophy (I don't agree with all his advice but most of it is pretty sound). I've just come across Dave over the past year and I find his message and life story inspiring. His message is simple:

1) Get out of debt (goal is to be entirely out of debt - including house). Only acceptable debt is mortgage debt. 2) Cut-up your credit cards (I don't. Having self-control with this is a big part of it) 3) Save 3-6 months emergency fund 4) Invest 15% every year for retirement 5) Save a percentage for Kid's college 5) Buy a house that is within 25-30% of your monthly income 6) Buy cars, boats, etc (ie. toys) that is no more than half of your total income (at most) 7) Invest your money (He's a big believer in mutual funds which I believe ETFs are now a better choice) 8) Most importantly, stay out of debt.

In this way, if you are making 100K a year or more going out for a $200 dinner or a $10K trip is fine since you are out of debt and all the major priorities are covered.

In some sense, MMM's message is the same as Dave's but the difference is that Dave is a multi-millionaire and works just as hard as he did when he wasn't. He has no qualms about going out for dinner and spending $1000 as this puts no dent in his net worth.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#128

Post by grosskur »

For me, the most interesting part was: "Back in the day, I would just empty out my bank account after each paycheck and distribute it into my investments of choice: Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund, their small-cap value index fund, a bit went into paying off my mortgage early as well."

While he could have diversified further by including international stocks, this simple investment strategy was surprisingly sound. This is the real takeaway---not his philosophy of extreme frugality. If you follow a low-cost, diversified index investment strategy, you'll likely end up much further ahead than if you put it all in the bank.

And once you get past all the bad advice out there, sound investing is actually quite straightforward:

http://www.longtermreturns.com/2012/03/selecting-investment-...

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#129

Post by AlexDanger »

He gets a nod from me just because he isnt one of these financial self-help gurus who primarily makes his living by selling financial self-help products/services. I'm always staggered to see how blatantly chicken-egg some of these people talk about their financial freedom.

Re: Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30

#130

Post by Madrigal »

encoderer wrote: post #67

I don't like how judgmental he is about lifestyle choices alternative to the ones he's made. I, personally, enjoy going out to eat, I enjoy the "$100 happy hours," I'm in Turks and Caicos right now on a stretch of the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and I enjoy that, too. Oh, and I don't particularly dislike working. I'm a well paid highly skilled engineer building cool things for a fantastic .com that takes care…

I agree that he does not put us spenders in a very gracious light, but the main point he is making is that all those socially accepted (and desired) things have a cost, and if you sum them up you will see that you are spending more than you thought you were.
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