Mr. Money Mustache started me down the path of exploring my own personal philosophy. I now worship MMM as a diety (MMM !== Pete Adeney in my religion). Thanks for the teachings Pete.
[deleted]
Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
21–30 of 297 posts
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#22Oh god. I'm horrified by this. > People think of a cult as a bad thing [...] really, it’s just a social organization structure which is a basic built-in thing to human beings This is the naturalistic fallacy, or the is-ought fallacy. Other basic built-in things to human beings include ignorance, rage, greed, abuse, exploitation, and violence. A core part of civilization is deciding which of our basic built-in things…
I'm going to use your comment to go on a bit of a rant. What is the purpose of your comment? Like, really. What are you trying to attain by stating what you did? Your comment is pedantic and completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. Derisive thing to say, perhaps, but this is classic HN. Miss the big picture for a useless little nugget that is of zero consequence. For the current case, for example, a certain amount…
> Cult involving biking to work, good.
Just to be clear, in case you;re confused. Biking to work doesn't involve you being forced to cut off ties and communication with family and friends who don't bike. Neither does it require you to hand over a large proportion of your income to a church.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#23Oh god. I'm horrified by this. > People think of a cult as a bad thing [...] really, it’s just a social organization structure which is a basic built-in thing to human beings This is the naturalistic fallacy, or the is-ought fallacy. Other basic built-in things to human beings include ignorance, rage, greed, abuse, exploitation, and violence. A core part of civilization is deciding which of our basic built-in things…
Don't read too much into it. He's only using "cult" as a provocative term to describe a tribe of fans who passionately like a particular brand. Nobody's going to be committing human sacrifices or burning heretics on behalf of Mr Money Mustache any time soon.
In all fairness, I do think it's a bit more than that although I think it's mostly harmless if not positive in this particular case. A fair number of people do feel the need to jump into systems/philosophies/brands with both feet whether it's MMM or GTD. Personally, I am more the pick and choose useful ideas from here and there sort, but if committing wholeheartedly is what someone has to do develop better spending habits I have trouble finding a lot of fault with that.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#24Oh god. I'm horrified by this. > People think of a cult as a bad thing [...] really, it’s just a social organization structure which is a basic built-in thing to human beings This is the naturalistic fallacy, or the is-ought fallacy. Other basic built-in things to human beings include ignorance, rage, greed, abuse, exploitation, and violence. A core part of civilization is deciding which of our basic built-in things…
I've been re-evaluating the reflexive "cults are bad" instinct that Americans like myself seem to have.
Your implication is that 'cult' and 'ignorance, rage, greed...' are the same levels of undesirable. And like this guy said, when we think of cults we think of Kool-Aid and Waco.
But "cult" is a little word that covers a lot of territory:
- a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object
- a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister
- a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing
- a person or thing that is popular or fashionable, especially among a particular section of society
(Oxford)
The first one would be analogous to calling Christianity the Cult of Jesus, as a statement of fact. Neutral connotation, I think.
The second would include something along the lines of Jonestown, but really is just any cohesive group that believes something differently than you do. Really, that definition is so flexible and relativistic that it can be tagged to anything you disagree with. And it's possible that those beliefs and practices are edifying in nature, but you just get called a cult because your friends all do it together with you and everyone else just thinks it's weird.
The third would be something like Bieber fever or Beatlemania. Negative connotation.
The fourth would be something like iPhone/Android people, or a cult film. Neutral-ish connotation.
No definition truly captures what we think of as a cult: The charismatic leader that probably wants to have sex with all of his adherents, the coercion and conformity, the inability to leave.
I don't really know how he's using the word so I don't have a strong opinion about what kind of cult he's formed, but I wouldn't write him off instantly because he used the word.
At least I don't think so; I'm trying this argument out in public for the first time right now.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#25Does 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.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#26The 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 institutions though, far more actionable but a bit preachy and unaware of how complex other peoples lives are but such over simplification can help to make a point.
Also, he seems to pretend as if he is the first person ever to live like this but there are many others that simply never thought of themselves as special in any way. See also: the millionaire next door.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#27I'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…
Sadly, these days good luck trying to retire EVER making $50K.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#28I'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…
> but good luck trying to retire as a welder or car mechanic making $50k
Retiring at 30 while earning $50k would be difficult. But retiring at 40 or even 50 is still relatively easy on such a salary.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#29Something 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…
It depends on how you define retired. Most people define being retired as living a life without obligations required to bring home the bacon and by that definition MMM is now retired (at his expense levels), but when he made the claim at first I felt he was overselling it. But the blog ads bring in much more than he is spending + passive investments ditto so if he would stop working / bringing in other money besides those streams he would be able to do this forever.
Re: Interview with Mr. Money Mustache
#30Oh god. I'm horrified by this. > People think of a cult as a bad thing [...] really, it’s just a social organization structure which is a basic built-in thing to human beings This is the naturalistic fallacy, or the is-ought fallacy. Other basic built-in things to human beings include ignorance, rage, greed, abuse, exploitation, and violence. A core part of civilization is deciding which of our basic built-in things…
I've been re-evaluating the reflexive "cults are bad" instinct that Americans like myself seem to have. Your implication is that 'cult' and 'ignorance, rage, greed...' are the same levels of undesirable. And like this guy said, when we think of cults we think of Kool-Aid and Waco. But "cult" is a little word that covers a lot of territory: - a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular f…
Well on the whole people who sell sensible advice for free in the personal fincance sphere, though living off their blog income, are probably not the bad guys. Although you might have to exercise some independent thought to figure out what sensible advice means for you.