Quote: (01-07-2019 01:57 PM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:
He looks like he's on team no fun.
Being careful with your money is a virtue, particularly for families that are in debt and struggling.
Miserliness, on the other hand, isn't a virtue.
I'm always amused how many comments, controversy, and wholly wild speculation these early retirement stories generate.
People love to pontificate as above, even though while spending 25k, that probably puts him (on a wage where you'd pay tax) somewhere around median if it were bumped up.
https://wallethacks.com/average-median-i...n-america/
2 cars (including a fancy overpriced electric one), decent house, multiple overseas trips every year, I bet there's a huge number of people on the forum who can't afford to live so "miserly".
Keep in mind on top of the 25k he spent, there's 2 more magnification factors since he does a ton of shit himself (installing his own furnace, moving appliances on a bike) which as a throw back to the DIY thread, and isn't necessarily because he doesn't want to spend the money, as much as their is a huge degree of pride in handling shit yourself, doing something cool, and learning new skills. Then, the fact that he's spending a bunch of company money on things that benefit him, but which don't count in his personal spending.
It always struck me in broader sense as a happiness and efficiency blog. Perhaps it's because we're both engineers, but I think there's a bit of magic in accomplishing something that others' did, but with only 1/10th the inputs. It's not about spending as little money as possible, rather it's about detaching that money from the happiness you expect, but it will fail, to provide. Rather, the whole frigging point is that instead of working a job you don't like (70 hr software engineering weeks) so that you can afford a third car, realize that you will be far happier and healthier if you use that time to do something you love instead of hate. Such as go for a bike ride or write a blog. Like Buffet or Gates, once your material needs are met, you can either keep on working at building something for it's own virtue that you love doing and then use the proceeds to help society, or you can ostentatiously buy 200 cars and a super yacht to show off on Instagram. Who do you think honestly sleeps better at night?
Once you have about 40k/yr in income, any problems you still have don't get resolved with more money. This community abounds with them, millionaires who can't get laid, people far better served from going to the gym than working on getting their income from 200 to 300k. You have millions living on a dollar a day who are happier than a lot of people in the west, yet many here's solution to materialistic culture that's brought us to the current state is that he should have been more materialistic from the get go.
As for MMM, sort of a surprise, but even if he is taking a 7 figure hit, it effectively changes nothing day-to-day. He'll still have a blog he enjoys writing producing more than he needs, along side investments that will do the same. Someone who can give away sums each year larger than the bottom billion people out there will make in their life time is doing okay financially in my books, more evidence that he isn't just a miserly fuck jerking off to bigger numbers.