Mr. Money Mustache may be frugal, but he's high income.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Money Mustache makes $400k per year from his blog......


See this profile in the New Yorker

The Scold
Mr. Money Mustache’s retirement (sort of) plan

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/29/mr-money-mustache-the-frugal-guru

"He told me that his blog is now earning around four hundred thousand dollars a year. He was reluctant for this to become public, without his being able to provide a detailed explanation. He makes money from the products and services he recommends—Betterment, Lending Club, Geico, and numerous others. They pay him for every customer who comes to them via his site. He insists that he makes these recommendations based only on his own research and experience. He’s saving all this income and plans to give it away someday."

[Anonymous]

Yes of course. This isn't news. Even when he worked he made 150k+ I think as an engineer? He's teaching a lifestyle and he's obviously gotten rich off of it. No more hypocritical than Dave Ramsey or Suzy Orman.

[Anonymous]

OP here. More power to him. Wish I could pull off what he has.

But there is something a little off about encouraging people to retire early -- he retired at 30, with less than $1 million in assets apparently -- when you, in fact, are still earning several hundred thousand dollars a year (even if you aren't spending it).

I dare say with that kind of income I would be willing to quit my day job, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. More power to him. Wish I could pull off what he has.

But there is something a little off about encouraging people to retire early -- he retired at 30, with less than $1 million in assets apparently -- when you, in fact, are still earning several hundred thousand dollars a year (even if you aren't spending it).

I dare say with that kind of income I would be willing to quit my day job, too.

He wasn't making 400k a year when he retired. He followed his own plan to a T before retiring. Then he started the blog and did get rich.

And I don't think he ever really "retired". He never planned to just stop working the way I think of retirement. When I think of my retirement, I think of lots of travel, bouncing grandbabies and fun hobbies.

[Anonymous]

Meh, still disingenuous that he tried to hide the fact that he's a 1 percenter to keep credibility with his readers. I liked some of his stuff, but he's just a rich guy living frugal to prove a point now. Credibility rating down about 80% as far as I am concerned.

[Anonymous]

The secret to making and keeping a large fortune is by husbanding one's resources correctly.
This is something Old Money knows how to do, but New Money doesn't.

[Anonymous]

I find it really ironic that he got rich by being really, really good at being poor. It's almost as if there is a lesson here somewhere, but I can't quite get my head around it.

[Anonymous]

"you, too, can retire at age 30 with less than $1 million in assets. Just figure out a passive income stream that pays you around half a million bucks a year!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"you, too, can retire at age 30 with less than $1 million in assets. Just figure out a passive income stream that pays you around half a million bucks a year!"

lol.. yeah the rest of us need like a 12.5M portfolio to get passive income on that level. I guess it turns out MMM is just some of the DCUMers. He's another super rich guy, but instead of purporting to be middle class he tries to pass himself off as a poor. Total fraud.

[Anonymous]

I stopped reading him for his inflexibility. He wrote, in either a post or in the comments, that he didn't budge birthday presents for kids because his son only hung out with families with the same values as them. I found that really sad, that he would deprive his son from knowing the joy of giving. Of course, he, and possibly you, might say that he could make the kid a gift, but that still usually costs something for supplies. He just isn't really teaching his kid how to make money mistakes.

Therein the article he won't pay for cards to play a game, despite having the goal of having him hang out with friends. Then it mentions that the kid has $700, but I bet he isn't allowed to use it or is guilted into not using it.

I think he'd have more regular readers if he showed more relatability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stopped reading him for his inflexibility. He wrote, in either a post or in the comments, that he didn't budge birthday presents for kids because his son only hung out with families with the same values as them. I found that really sad, that he would deprive his son from knowing the joy of giving. Of course, he, and possibly you, might say that he could make the kid a gift, but that still usually costs something for supplies. He just isn't really teaching his kid how to make money mistakes.

Therein the article he won't pay for cards to play a game, despite having the goal of having him hang out with friends. Then it mentions that the kid has $700, but I bet he isn't allowed to use it or is guilted into not using it.

I think he'd have more regular readers if he showed more relatability.

I agree. It is good to reject a materialistic, disposable consumer culture. However, if you veer off too far in the other direction, your life is still all about money, but instead you are obsessing about not spending it. To me, an ideal financial situation is to not have to think about money pretty much ever, that is, not wishing for more, or worrying about not having enough. I live a very moderate lifestyle that MMM would scoff at (why drive to the train station when you can BIKE!), but my finances are pretty much on autopilot and I like it that way.

[Anonymous]

15:28 here, oh, and to add- advocating for sensible moderation is not going to make for a sexy blog so I assume he's never going to take that stance!

[Anonymous]

The whole premise of the website reads like who can out poor each other the most. There was a lady that bragged about living in her friend's backyard shed and saving $100,000 in 3 years.

Also bragging about hiding your kid's birthday and Christmas presents to sell on ebay was very distasteful to me.

The site reminds me of that extreme show where people did nasty things to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole premise of the website reads like who can out poor each other the most. There was a lady that bragged about living in her friend's backyard shed and saving $100,000 in 3 years.

Also bragging about hiding your kid's birthday and Christmas presents to sell on ebay was very distasteful to me.

The site reminds me of that extreme show where people did nasty things to save money.

Exactly. What makes it particularly offensive to me is that the guy leading the charge to out poor each other, the Pied Piper of Poorville himself, MMM, is actually a 1%'er!! You can't make this shit up. Too funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole premise of the website reads like who can out poor each other the most. There was a lady that bragged about living in her friend's backyard shed and saving $100,000 in 3 years.

Also bragging about hiding your kid's birthday and Christmas presents to sell on ebay was very distasteful to me.

The site reminds me of that extreme show where people did nasty things to save money.

Yes! Or the person who refused to pay for trash pickup and would do throw it in his work's dumpster. Or the person who only showers at work's gym to save a few bucks. Just disgustingly cheap.