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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

#111

Post by PKop »

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.

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

#112

Post by ernestipark »

millstone wrote: post #78
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…

Good posts. But for the other side, read these posts: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/07/27/youll-never-be-nor... http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/07/22/protecting-your-mo... It seems as if the lifestyle has colored their ability to enjoy things like going out for ice cream, or dinner with friends.

I can see where you're coming from - but I think they would say they don't need to be spending money to enjoy the company of their friends or family. The end goal should be to spend quality time with people you care about, and unfortunately in our culture, that almost always revolves around spending lots of money and doing wasteful things. They acknowledge that they don't mind going out and spending money once in a while for a good night out, but overall, they've developed a sort of gag reflex to it since it's not necessary for them to be happy.

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

#113

Post by tunesmith »

rscale wrote: post #109
tunesmith wrote: post #107

I think his formulas are based off of assumptions that don't fit reality for people. A good example is lifetime stock market average. I did a study recently where I tracked the date and cash amount of every retirement contribution I've ever made, and pretended I simply bought an S&P-500 index fund on each of those dates. I then calculated my lifetime APY, and it was nowhere near the averages that the magazines claim.…

The standard figures are definitely optimistic, but when you check your returns make sure to include dividends reinvested. In recent years, they're good for about 2%/yr if you buy something like the S&P 500. I find it somewhat baffling how many financial tools ignore the effects of dividends when calculating returns.

It is a good point - first time I ran the numbers I realized I was missing them, but now my numbers use the "adjusted close" from yahoo which take dividends into account. As of today, my all-time APY would be 6.02% - lower if you take inflation into account. And it's worth noting that almost all of the time before now would have had a lower APY than that.

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

#114

Post by PKop »

palebluedot wrote: post #15

Interesting article, and it would do well for most people to consider increasing wealth through investments. From the article: Our bread-and-butter living expenses are paid for by a single rental house we own, which generates about $25,000 per year after expenses. One nit, perhaps, on that - is the rental house completely managed by someone else? If not, I assume there is at least some minimal amount of work associat…

I think if economic activity was reorganized around fundamental necessities (to a higher degree, I don't mean to a strict 100% extent) in aggregate this country would benefit by having investment and resources directed towards more productive ends. Certainly there would be short term friction associated with any type of restructuring like that, but better in the long run. Related to that he mentions the idea of income taxes replaced with sales taxes which I think is a great idea, incentivizing investment and savings over consumption.

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

#115

Post by sebastianavina »

citricsquid wrote: post #20
sebastianavina wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets be fair, I'm 28 y/o, and fairly rich, I love to work, and I live to work, and maybe it's the only thing I may do ever in my life. I could sell all of my bussiness, I could lease the buildings, and retire. But doing nothing is the hardest work I've ever do. I took a sabatic year after I graduated from college, traveled around the world, fucked some really beautiful girls, and after livining a dream-life, my life…

1. He said that he doesn't consider retirement to mean no longer working, he considers retirement to be a lack of reliance on work to live. He has the option to never work again. 2. He (MMM) is 39 now, he's been retired for almost a decade. The article addresses "doing nothing", he does lots of things.

I born on a middle class family. From the day I born, I already had a pretty decent way of life.

Started developing web pages just for fun, took control of the family bussiness at a very early age, and today I'm what most people could call a rich guy, way more up on the social ladder than 10 years ago.

Retiring as this guy has been an option since the day I born, I just born in a "goldend cradle".

When I graduated from College / Grad School (I'm from Mexico, things work somewhat different here), I had been developing web pages and software for about 9 years, and I was tired of dealing with customers, providers, and programming at all.

I tried very hard to retire. I traveled around the world, meet some wonderful people, then I returned to my home town, played tennis, frontenis, golf, I went party all night every day I could. And it was one of the most tedious works I've ever done.

After about 15 months, I was tired of my "great life", and I started working on the family bussiness.

It's been the best thing on my life.

I'm still single (almost 29 right now), I've already purchased my own house, the company is growing every day more, I feel so happy I can't even explain it.

I could sell all the machinery, lease the buildings, and go back to doing nothing, but, really, working, is one of the biggest pleasures of life.

EDIT: On your definition "retirement to be a lack of reliance on work to live." I've been retired since the day I born.

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

#116

Post by wildgift »

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…

Well, it's an article, and it's not like he's berating you personally. A less judgmental person would have made a less interesting subject. Besides, your lifestyle is promoted by the press 10x more than the frugal lifestyle is.

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

#117

Post by jethro_tell »

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.

While I agree with you, it sounds like he doesn't pay a mortgage any longer which makes that poverty level income go much further. For most of us that would be the biggest single expense. I'm not sure how that figures into the income calculation but it probably counts for something.

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

#118

Post by chadcf »

firefoxman1 wrote: post #76
jonknee wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's questionable what knowing what a dollar is worth if you orient your life in a way to make as little of them as possible. I think you should value a dollar, but also work hard and apply yourself. It's a strange combination... He got the investment income is the secret part, but then seemingly stopped at the earliest opportunity. It just seems lazy. I agree with him that spending more than you make is irre…

I completely agree with this. My grandfather is a millionaire...apparantly. I never would have guessed it. He drives a near-broken-down 1980-something honda. He takes frugality to the extreme. I love talking to him and hearing his investing advice, but it gets irritating hearing about how he saved $0.50 on a book or hitch-hiked to Colorado for a family event. I don't see him much, but I've hardly ever seen him smile.…

I think being extremely frugal is about as bad as frivolous spending (the frugal folks will hate me for this...). They're just two sides of the same coin, and the really frugal people tend to be VERY obsessive about it and stressed out from trying to not spend money. Case in point, this blog post:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/07/27/youll-never-be-nor...

Does being stressed out and anxious over driving a few miles and spending some money on ice cream really sound like a happy life? If you take spending to the extreme and don't live within your means, you'll be stressed about how to make ends meet and pay your bills. But at the same time, if you take frugality to the extreme, you're just trading that for being stressed over spending too much money.

Life is short. Be smart, keep a good balance and enjoy yourself.

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

#119

Post by sanderjd »

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.

Your parent is judging that his lifestyle choices are better for him while the subject of the interview is judging that his lifestyle choices are better for everyone. I'm not saying who is right or wrong, but let's not conflate the two different points being made.

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

#120

Post by tterrace »

jonknee wrote: post #54
firefoxman1 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bike to school and work in 20 degrees because my dad wants me to learn the value of a dollar before I'm in the "real world" (he also started me investing pretty early). I have 0 resentment and complete respect for him because of it.

I think it's questionable what knowing what a dollar is worth if you orient your life in a way to make as little of them as possible. I think you should value a dollar, but also work hard and apply yourself. It's a strange combination... He got the investment income is the secret part, but then seemingly stopped at the earliest opportunity. It just seems lazy. I agree with him that spending more than you make is irre…

Do you mean "do as little with them as possible"? It sounded to me as if you're saying he's trying to make the least amount of dollars he can.
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