A blog by an ER'd person - that I stumbled upon today

[walkinwood]

This post talks about how he earned & saved the money to ER in his 30s.

A Brief History of the ‘Stash: How we Saved from Zero to Retirement in Nine Years | Mr. Money Mustache

His other posts are quite entertaining & informative too.

 

[Amethyst]

His ER is based on the amazing earning power of his entire family - even the baby brings in big bucks!

"It earns me about $50k in the first year, and wife still works for part of this year until the baby comes, earning $60k."

Amethyst

 

[Bestwifeever]

His ER is based on the amazing earning power of his entire family - even the baby brings in big bucks!

"It earns me about $50k in the first year, and wife still works for part of this year until the baby comes, earning $60k."

Amethyst

 

[Sarah in SC]

I've been reading him for a while. My absolute favorite of all time? Are you a complainypants? Pure awesomeness.
How to Tell if You’re a Complainypants | Mr. Money Mustache

 

[MichaelB]

I've been reading him for a while. My absolute favorite of all time? Are you a complainypants? Pure awesomeness.
How to Tell if You’re a Complainypants | Mr. Money Mustache

That's great. Mustachian or Complainypants? I'm sending that one to the kids.

 

[ikubak]

Great stuff! I'll be reading this blog...this is a great example of "how to" for those who want to become financially independent. Did he have some good luck? Yeah....got into technology at a good time. Did he have some bad luck? Yeah....housing isn't always a moneymaker. But the main message here is work hard (he got a good degree and then worked hard), get married and stay married (a common thread among FI's, although not absolutely necessary), and LBYM, investing the extra. Does it work this good every time? No, but even if this guy had done this during the worst investing years ever (would that be the last 10 years?) I still think he becomes FI...just would take longer. Bottom line, this guy "gets" it and got it done....doubt this type would have ever been at an occupy wall street rally...he would have been too busy working hard.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I didn't see how he handles health insurance.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Complainypants!
I honestly have no idea how he handles health insurance--I read blogs like his not for "how-to" tips, but for purposes of confirmation bias and inspiration. And I do love his moxie!

 

[Bestwifeever]

I like the pants. "...pants" is the new "...kins" or "....poo." Tina Fey's autobiography is Bossypants.

 

[Helen]

doubt this type would have ever been at an occupy wall street rally...he would have been too busy working hard.

Since we don't all agree on the rather emotional and political topic of the occupy movement, perhaps it would be best to leave it out of posts that are not in the political forum.

Just sayin'

-helen

 

[haha]

-I read blogs like his not for "how-to" tips, but for purposes of confirmation bias and inspiration. And I do love his moxie!

Hi, I am Sarah, and I am helpless over seeking confirmation bias...

Ha

 

[Mulligan]

I didn't see how he handles health insurance.

If you are healthy and have a high deductible plan, and can whistle while walking through the graveyard, health costs are very cheap. Of course anything can happen, but for a lot of people including me, fortunately, healthcare costs are minimal.

 

[walkinwood]

I didn't see how he handles health insurance.

If he bought individual insurance when he ER'd (or while in good health) and kept it up, it is affordable in CO. Our premiums dropped by 50% on moving here from NJ.

 

[arebelspy]

I've read MMM since May, when Jacob at ERE had a guest post by him. I immediately went back and read all the articles (had only been around a month at that time). By far my favorite financial blogger.

He actually has a whole post about health care costs, IIRC.

 

[brewer12345]

Great blog and very thought provoking. The guy must have a tough time walking what with the giant chip on his shoulder and those huge huevos bouncing against his thighs.

If you are a carpenter instead of a programmer, are you really retired?

 

[Bimmerbill]

I thought the same thing Brewer. He is "retired" from the corp rat race and works for himself. I would still take that any day tho!

I liked the post about the 50% and 2% rule for rental properties. There is no way that would work up in my neck of the woods but it is a good sanity check/rule of thumb.

 

[Mulligan]

I've read MMM since May, when Jacob at ERE had a guest post by him. I immediately went back and read all the articles (had only been around a month at that time). By far my favorite financial blogger.

He actually has a whole post about health care costs, IIRC.

I read a post of his on health insurance that may be the same one. He mentioned how inexpensive it was to get high deductible plans. The fact that he said he went on ehealthinsurance for quotes without citing his own cost makes me wonder if he has any coverage at all. He mentioned something about eating well and taking care of himself as his best insurance policy and most of these type of people do not get sick. He also mentioned that healthy 60 years buying their plans don't pay that much more than younger ER people buying it. I'm sure the assumption was if your healthy you will stay healthy until you get a lot older.

 

[haha]

I'm sure the assumption was if your healthy you will stay healthy until you get a lot older.

That is why nobody dies young.

 

[Mulligan]

That is why nobody dies young.

Agreed. While I hope he is correct, as maybe I will benefit from it too, I don't trust it enough to not have insurance!

 

[eridanus]

He may be one of the 3 people in America to have made investment gains in the dot bomb crash.

 

[brewer12345]

Well, since I have been in a mental bunker for the last six months reading the entirety of this blog has been refreshing I need to think seriously about my medium term plans.

 

[studbucket]

What an awesome blog, thank you for sharing!

 

[Helen]

Health Care:


Exposed! The MMM Family’s Actual Spending | Mr. Money Mustache

Update: After writing this article, many people asked about health insurance. Right now, Mrs. M. has negotiated some “free” coverage as part of her pay from a part-time employer. Without that coverage, we would get a high-deductible plan for about $240 – $320 per month for the family, as described in a later health insurance article. This is indeed a significant cost at about 15% of our future annual spending – luckily the cashflow from retirement assets is already high enough to cover this expense if we did quit the part-time work eventually.

 

[Nords]

Well, since I have been in a mental bunker for the last six months reading the entirety of this blog has been refreshing I need to think seriously about my medium term plans.

Carpentry or home brewing?

I've had my eyes opened wide to the marvelous world of personal-financial blogging for money. There must be something similar for home brewers, even if it's just AdSense ads for keggerator kits.

 

[arebelspy]

I thought the same thing Brewer. He is "retired" from the corp rat race and works for himself. I would still take that any day tho!

I liked the post about the 50% and 2% rule for rental properties. There is no way that would work up in my neck of the woods but it is a good sanity check/rule of thumb.

Thanks, that was my comment he was blogging on.

As far as is he retired or not, Jacob from earlyretirementextreme gets the same questions all the time, but frankly I'm surprised to see them from is crowd.

If he has enough assets to quit his job, live off that income, and do nothing, it seems that he's retired. So he quits his job, but then decides to do some things, like carpentry, that make a little money, does that mean he isn't ER? Come on. We've seen that debate before, I'm surprised to see it in this thread from some of the people that are saying it.