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

washingtonpost.com

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

#191

Post by pmorici »

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.

He isn't living in poverty, not even close. His family's 2012 spending was just under 26k but that doesn't include income taxes, his mortgage is paid off, and he isn't saving in a retirement account any more. For any normal working person those thee things would likely account for nearly 60% of costs. His life style is probably equivalent to a still working person who is making 75k.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/01/21/exposed-the-mmm-fa...

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

#192

Post by driverdan »

jasonkester wrote: post #153
Swizec wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counterexample, here is a list of things you should do before you turn 30: http://www.policymic.com/articles/7704/29-amazing-things-you... While many of the examples are silly, I agree very much with all the advice to travel a lot . That takes money. Actually most of the things on that list go way beyond "live cheaply", and I agree with that. Anyway, as my economics professor said in college. There are those peo…

> travel a lot. That takes money. Not at all. If you talk to a few dozen people who "traveled a lot" before they turned 30 (including me, the person to whom you're replying), the single most common thread in all those stories will be how cheaply they did it. Life on the road costs ~$500/month. Life in an apartment costs ~$2000/month. One of the simplest ways to save money when you're not working is to ditch all your…

Your numbers are very skewed. Those are not average. Living on $500/m is going to significantly restrict the places you can go. "Apartment life" doesn't need to cost $2000/m unless you live in a very expensive city. Get roommates, eat at home, use public transportation / bicycle / motorcycle / scooter or an inexpensive car.

Traveling can cost significantly less than most people expect when you use points / miles and avoid hotels.

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

#193

Post by jgmjgm »

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'm sometimes surprised at comments like this that fail to appreciate that people can (and should!) have an opinion on things. People can be "judgmental" -- it's called having an opinion and it is not a bad thing.

Requiring everyone to water down their opinions in order not to offend anyone (usually code for people with mainstream views) is truly offensive. In civil society we can all hold opinions and are able to express them. This is why democracies work so well -- at least better than all the alternatives!

I'm a bit older than the average reader here, so perhaps I'm biased. It seems to me that many people raised in the toxic and simplistic battles between left and right in the US media don't seem to have much of an intuitive sense of civil debate. I think the lack of good examples may be one reason.

In short: People have different opinions. If you don't agree, feel free to speak, but be civil.

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

#194

Post by aragot »

newbie12 wrote: post #172
mike_esspe wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you travel on budget, you usually don't take trains, but hitchhike. And you can always get a bed with couchsurfing.org

Hitchhiking is pretty dangerous. Better to use a car-sharing board. I once took a long-distance Greyhound bus to Florida at Christmas, which was filled with homeless wanderers who had splurged for the bus ticket because they said hitchhiking was too dangerous. It isn't an option at all for women and most of the men had stories about being robbed, aggressively solicited for sex, or even having been shot at while walki…

Not completely true. I live in Sydney and my friend came from France hitchiking, except for boats between Malaysia and Perth. He did all the countries in *kstan.

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

#195

Post by guylhem »

reledi wrote: post #140
guylhem wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Turks and Caicos right now on a stretch of the most beautiful beach I've ever seen Hello my friend! Care to share where? I'd like to meet with fellow Caribbean entrepreneurs. I'm from Martinique, FWI. We do some good stuff too, yet I thought most of the scene was in T&T or Jamaica. T&C - why no!

How he worded it, I believe he's there on vacation. Nice to see some people from the Caribbean here though. I'm from St. Maarten but I currently live in Canada. Do you know of any places where I can read more about the tech scene in the Caribbean?

Right, vacations certainly. I overreacted :-/

Try linkedin - many groups are announced there. Most are "empty" (as in just full of spam), but some can provide you with links to an existing scene.

As usual, the odds are higher where you have a bigger population. From SXM I'd recommend you get in touch with groups in Guadeloupe. There's a good lug, and quite active wifi/HAM style project.

Get in touch by email (in my profile) if you want more details.

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

#196

Post by tych0 »

dmoy wrote: post #123
smm2000 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

And I think all you folks in a car are totally crazy :-) Riding is fun!

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

#199

Post by hemancuso »

anywhichway wrote: post #41
hemancuso wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having shopped it recently nothing like that can be had in Massachusetts for a family.

Check again in October when the health care exchanges go live. Maybe you will see some doesn't prices there.

We have had those for a while. Same prices on mass health connector.

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

#200

Post by b3b0p »

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.

I'm in Tulsa, OK. I choose to bike to work everyday also. Wind, rain, snow, temperature, I bike to work and back.

My car was stolen once and I went about 2 months without using it. I had insurance and they gave me a rental, but I ended up never going to pick it up. The police found my car eventually, undamaged.

The city has recently built an abundance of biking and walking trails for this reason and is very friendly to bikers, even on the main roads.

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