Mr MM Explains the Why of FIRE

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Wait, I love sitting on the couch playing video games. I'm still early retired, right?

yeah those are about fighting words!

I love me some fallout 4

I used to be a 100% PC gamer but my PS4 is pretty neat.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi He dissed sitting on the couch and watching tv. I like sitting in my comfy chair and watching tv. I also haven't found anything I'm passionate about enough to make monetizing it worth it. I'll stick with my version of retirement which involves exercise, cooking, reading, watching tv, being a better mom.... No desire to blog, build houses, etc. for money.

I agree Rodi, with the natural exceptions of being male and female...But the comfy chair and watching TV is a common bond shared.


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[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Wait, I love sitting on the couch playing video games. I'm still early retired, right?

No, you have to love working for pay in early retirement too, because that is the only way a retired person can ever find sufficient "intellectual stimulation". Or so some people think, although I just don't get it myself.

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Wait, I love sitting on the couch playing video games. I'm still early retired, right?

Sorry FUEGO - the retirement police object to SAHD/SAHMs calling themselves retired. So you and I don't qualify. LOL.

[Gone4Good]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options Put up with what? Trading an endless, meaningless, never-ending treadmill of a life earning as much as you can to spend as much as you can, only to find, as just too much research has shown, money cannot buy happiness. I've always lived well beneath my means (enabling me to retire early), unable to relate to the whole "lifestyle" concept ("fine" dining, expensive cars, houses, clothes, ad nauseum). I live in an area of Los Angeles where the insatiable appetite to fill the psychological/emotional hole with the material/external is so rampant you can smell it in the air. As such, I'm at a particular advantage to see the extreme degree to which it just doesn't work. I applaud Mr. MM for inspiring others to tune into a different way of living, turn on simplicity, and drop out of the insanity that is so much the current american way of life (Black Friday riots, anyone?).

In the lives of most "normal" people, especially those with a better than average income, there's bound to be a fair amount of excess spending in the budget. It's that excess that can be cut back without sacrificing much in the way of quality of life.

But when you keep cutting beyond the excess you run into the reality that certain expenditures really do make our lives easier, more comfortable, or simply more enjoyable. When you start cutting into those layers of spending the trade off switches from the virtuous "less spending equals more financial freedom" to the deleterious "less spending equals more hardship."

My guess is that few of the extreme MM acolytes will end up happy over the long term with the trade offs they're promoting. Soon enough they'll discover the truth that just like everything else in life cutting spending is not immune to the law of diminishing returns.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Sorry FUEGO - the retirement police object to SAHD/SAHMs calling themselves retired. So you and I don't qualify. LOL.

Hey, you can proudly call yourself a "kept woman" or a "kept man"! That's a gig I would have loved to have had but wasn't smart enough to figure out how to pull it off. Well done!

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gone4Good ....My guess is that few of the extreme MM acolytes will end up happy over the long term with the trade offs they're promoting. Soon enough they'll discover the truth that just like everything else in life cutting spending is not immune to the law of diminishing returns.

Probably the first time they transport their 2-year-old to daycare on the back of their bicycle on a snowy morning. Reality has a way of smacking you in the face when kids come along.

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R It could be worse - - you could enjoy sitting on the couch playing video games. For some reason, sitting on a couch playing video games is considered to be worse than watching TV, and sitting on a couch reading is considered to be comparatively virtuous no matter what you are reading. But it's all sitting. I don't know anybody that doesn't sit for a while every day even though most of us should be exercising more.

It's okay to be sitting on our couches and comfy chairs as long as we are "writing our blogs" and counting our clicks for adsense; then we might sort of meet the standards of the new retirement paradigm (feel free to start a blog called The New Retirement Paradigm, btw).

[Accidental Retiree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Hey, you can proudly call yourself a "kept woman" or a "kept man"! That's a gig I would have loved to have had but wasn't smart enough to figure out how to pull it off. Well done!

Rodi's managing the family portfolio. Who's keeping whom? ;-)


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[Elbata]

Yeah. Not one postive comment about the article. Proud of you guys.

[HadEnuff]

I have hobbies that theoretically could be monetized, but then, they wouldn't be hobbies, would they? I can't tell you how many times I've heard, regarding my hobbies (writing, cooking, winemaking)..."When you retire you should open a ______ or write a _______."

Then they have to hear me explain the difference between retirement and a career change.

[Big_Hitter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elbata Yeah. Not one postive comment about the article. Proud of you guys.

what's positive about it?

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HadEnuff I have hobbies that theoretically could be monetized, but then, they wouldn't be hobbies, would they? I can't tell you how many times I've heard, regarding my hobbies (writing, cooking, winemaking)..."When you retire you should open a ______ or write a _______."

I've heard that too about my photography hobby and picture framing. I actually thought about it some and bought some books on the subject of running a photography business and that took the notion out of my head.

Very few people could afford what I'd charge I'm worth.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 I've heard that too about my photography hobby and picture framing. I actually thought about it some and bought some books on the subject of running a photography business and that took the notion out of my head. Very few people could afford what I'd charge I'm worth.

I had a friend that ran a photography business. Lost his butt, then opened a laundromat. Both businesses fit in with his third business of placing and operating food and beverage vending machines. He tried all those businesses shortly after he retired from ARCO. I'd love to know how much money he lost during the short time he tried all that stuff.

[highlow65]

I think some people on mmm do just fine, and with low incomes in America today a lot of people had better learn to do without luxury items, and if it works for them great, I love my expensive cable and cell phones, I realize they are toys but I can afford them and have no plans to go without them, I don't wish to ride a bike and I like heat and air conditioning . I could relatively safely retire today , but I own my business and answer to myself. So while work is a constant I do have a choice. I mostly answer to myself.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 I've heard that too about my photography hobby and picture framing. I actually thought about it some and bought some books on the subject of running a photography business and that took the notion out of my head. Very few people could afford what I'd charge I'm worth.

I have a buddy who is an amazing amateur photographer, does a lot of work at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. He always tells people he charges $10K to do a wedding. So far nobody has taken him up, to his delight.

DW started a couple of businesses after we FIREd because she felt like she should be "doing" something. She loved the activities (hypnotherapy and Reiki), but hated the "running the business" side of it, even with me doing the taxes. She finally let the businesses die, and continues working with people on a "pay it forward" basis. She's much happier that way.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elbata Yeah. Not one postive comment about the article. Proud of you guys.

What an extremely odd thing to say.

Why on earth would we care if you are "proud" of us? Do you spend a lot of time worrying about whether we are "proud" of you?

[Bestwifeever]

I do like to knit but was taken aback by someone who suggested I knit sweaters for her two little boys. She would buy the yarn and I would put in a bazillion hours of work to create them. Um, no.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever I do like to knit but was taken aback by someone who suggested I knit sweaters for her two little boys. She would buy the yarn and I would put in a bazillion hours of work to create them. Um, no.

People never cease to amaze me.

You could tell her that in exchange for the sweaters, your house needs painting, and you'll happily supply the paint and brushes - when can she start?

[rodi]

Managing my family portfolio sounds almost like work. Good thing I follow a lazy portfolio approach from my comfy chair.