Mr. Money Moustache (pension, grandparents, blog, retired)

[Cabound1]

So I finally read up about this guy.

Seems like the way he made his, what, 800k stache, including home equity, was very achievable given he was in tech for the nine short years he was working. I was working in Silicon Valley during the years in question (1997-2005) and can tell you the numbers he talks about as far as income and returns on options,etc, are actually low. But for his young age, maybe not.....

Right place at the right time as far as employable skills are concerned.

Second observation is that he obviously lived well below his means, although not as a pauper, while he was working. He has carpentry skills and thus can maintain a home much cheaper than most of us.

The guy has common sense and obviously an eye toward the future, doesn't have a need to impress or keep up with the Jones. I saw pictures of his home. He did most of the work, and isn't living as a pauper - good for him.

Then I read how he "retired" at 30.

He says his family only spends 25k a year. Not surprising in property tax cheap Colorado.

But I still think he was crazy (at the time....now he's getting rich off the blog). At age 30, not knowing what in hell was going to happen to health care , and with a wife and child......

Maybe he knew his"backup" skills could carry him. But it's disingenuous to claim he was forever retired. He's not.

[LookingatFL]

Well, a lot of people like him, obviously. But I've always thought that he has to work really hard not to work.

[Yippeekayay]

Parents come into play. For example, a house where he does most of the work means he was guided by his father. Having a father who is handy on carpentry and stuff and passing that along to the son is a huge money saver.

[SierraCountyMtnBiker]

The website has helped me focus alot and plan. And overall, understanding money in general.

What I am afraid of, is the healthcare. They are sticking their necks out wanting to live on investments if there is no real security regarding healthcare. It surprises me there aren't more over there that consider themselves retired though they still need to work p/t for healthcare.

Because no matter what, I still see me working 20 hrs a week to obtain the indemnity plan which provides a set amount for almost everything + $1000 year towards dental, 50K life insurance, and disability. And I know I am taking a risk not being able to plan on catastrophic insurance via the affordable care act. My guess is repeal is in its future.

Honestly due to that website, I already "feel" retired. You cannot put a price on that peace of mind

[eliza61nyc]

I think you have to take any of these "money" gurus with a grain of salt.
I think most of them spout the "common" sense our grandparents had and now package it likes it's a new concept.

I love how they market themselves as "down and out" until I starting doing XYZ which I find a bit dishonest.

You work at a job making a couple hundred thousand a year, it gives you an advantage over someone make 30K a year.

lol, I have a friend who is a makeup consultant. she makes a very good living at it and is always claiming she's "retired" until I point out she spends 30-35 hours a week consulting. she uses that as a sales pitch at parties.

Mr. MM, Dave Ramsey, Suzy Orman. they are not retired, they are working jobs the love but working none the less.

[Perryinva]

Agree. Based on their descriptions, every semi successful writer, fitness trainer, actor, etc is already retired, just enjoying what they do and coincidentally getting paid for it. I’m retired, I just enjoy doing engineering for 10 hours a week, while shooting the breeze about technical things for another 30. I don’t NEED to work at all (which is completely true), so I must be retired. If I walked in today and said I quit, my life would basically not change one bit, and I’d have very affordable health insurance until 65 and my pension would exceed my current expenses.

Everyone has his own goal and it would drive me crazy to have to work so hard at saving money and writing a blog like his all the time, in order to pay the bills and still have a somewhat uncertain future. I’m sure if we met he would say I am wasting my life by staying employed. Only I can make that call. I don’t think he is ingenious or fake, he just chose a level of risk to live at, with an income that many do not want to live at, if they don’t have to.

[TimAZ]

People in the joe-job world don't understand self employment, and until a person actually walks through that door, they never will. For the past thirty years I've been signing my own paychecks and my lame joke with family members is that I only work half time and I even get to choose which twelve hours of the day I labor. The tax code has a lot of baked-in advantages for small business entrepreneurs and between things like the SEP IRA and equipment write-offs, it's easy to get Uncle Sam to help build a retirement stash. Health care is a definite downside and most self employed are royally screwed under the ACA because they don't qualify for subsidies and the premiums paid for an owner's policy are typically not deductible.

[Serious Conversation]

I have never been a big fan of MMM.

The whole FIRE movement requires a significant income. Let's say you start working at 20 and want to retire at 35. Let's say you average $70,000 over all those years. That's still just a little over a million earned, and that's before any taxes, insurance, and anything else comes out.

It's impractical for a lot of folks. Most people do not have the income to generate a sufficient portfolio to retire that young.

[PriscillaVanilla]

I admire this, but many people who go public with their stories of early retirement, often aren't telling the whole story. They aren't giving the whole picture. That doesn't mean they're being dishonest.

[Whyrallnamestaken]

My belief is that omission is considered a lie.

People read these stories of early retirement wanting to know if they could do it themselves. But, you need the WHOLE STORY. Then you can see if it would work for you and your family.