But here's the deal. I followed my dad into his practice 25 years ago, but what we’re doing now is 180 degrees from what he did in the 70’s and 80’s.  His newer posts are longer pieces, so devote 10 minutes or so to read through them and completely absorb their content. Avoid waste. Many people seem stuck on the idea of retiring early and “being forced to do the same thing for the next 50 years.” What? They still do some work, both for free and for pay, but are not financially required to do so. He and his wife graduated from college and were making a decent amount of money. Mr. Money Mustache may be frugal, but he's high income. Don’t ruin the planet. At that price I’ll have paid for the boat in a few more weeks of use. I can see why you might feel as if his website is not set up to monetize the way it should. Anonymous wrote:Mr money moustache is blocking people on his forum for criticizing his New Yorker article!!!! In residency, unless you are moonlighting, you cannot earn extra money, so you might as well paint that house on your day to night shift conversion day! Another option is to pay money to buy time. #475: Mr. Money Mustache — Living Beautifully on $25-27K Per Year (Repost) I agree that in many of my interactions with docs (today it was a doc several years out making $300K a year having trouble making ends meet) a different attitude toward spending would go a long, long way. Neither my wife or I will ever stop working or earning money in some form, but I do plan to “retire” before I’m 45. Today on the Financial Independence Podcast, I’m excited to share a live Q&A session with Mr. Money Mustache, Paula Pant from Afford Anything, and Doug Nordman from The Military Guide!. Having said that, I agree that not everyone needs to live up to his exact personal goals. He seems to be the kind of person who can do a plumbing job at his home or his rentals without outsourcing. uh, what I said is the exact opposite of ‘Internet Retirement Police’. You really think most mustachians like their jobs? I make more money (I think) and definitely spend more time earning it. We meet fascinating people. Also, I am paying for it with cash that other folks are using for their daily car commutes and expensive cell phone plans so I ultimately am still financially ahead of my peers yet much more happy because I am putting money in the place that brings the most value to me! “Retiring” doesn’t mean you become lazy, or even stop earning money. Your email address will not be published. The brain is a mysterious black box after all.  My wife and I have made dramatic changes in our lifestyle thanks in large part to the motivation that his blog gave us. That’s $48K. I think you fundamentally misunderstand, and misrepresent, what MMM is about. The Frugal Physician: 5 Steps to Becoming Debt Free. Great article. Let me quote from the thread there discussing this post: And as for ‘if you don’t like your job get a better one’, f*** the f*** off, you smugly self satisfied deluded…. I can come home from work and buy a car with my day’s earnings. I haven’t done that very often. But some people simply find more happiness buying more expensive things and doing more expensive activities. Or your mortgage? Mr. Money Mustache frequently extols the virtues of a walk or bike ride in a blizzard, working in his woodshop, or brewing his own beer. I’m financially independent from medicine.  His has been around for 4 years and, of course, his blog is hugely popular and far more well read than mine. He and his wife retired from middle-income jobs before they had their son. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. He excels at motivation and his lifestyle encourages us all to stop, examine the big picture and think about what we would like our end game to look like. Required fields are marked *. Having more time (balance) in your life can make a big difference as having control over your career and being able to decide what you want to do (work more and make more money, or work less . Probably not. Basically he lives on $7000/year somewhere in the Bay Area. He uses extreme examples to illustrate how any obstacle can be overcome by sheer stubbornness! Plus the paint probably looks better. The bike is an automatic life-balancing machine. Then I will probably cut back hours and ramp up the luxury. Otherwise he’s a fantastic writer and I really enjoy reading his posts. She got it for $800 even though it had just been upgraded with a $1200 wheel set, $200 seat, new bars and CF seat post and front fork. I have my own little blog here at ThinkSaveRetire.com (less than a month old as of the time of this writing) that chronicles my journey towards the same worthy goal of jobless badassity (a term that I usually change to "badassery"). However, with ** years into training, $400K in debt, and mouths to feed, my options are limited. Why? And he advocates asking yourself if you’ve ever experienced the satisfaction of doing your own work. Do fish ride mountain bikes or road bikes? You did such a great job in pointing out the good parts of the MMM blog and the parts that don’t really apply to physicians and other late professional starters. HSA Accounts. There is plenty of waste in life, but sometimes wasted time is more expensive than wasted money, especially for a high earner. I’m not discouraging you from your current plan, I just want you to know the burn out can get better, and hopefully in a few years you’ll be able to find some satisfaction in what you do. Sure, his perspective is extreme and nearly impossible for the vast majority of people, particularly high earning physicians. At any rate, I think everyone serious about their own personal finances should spend some time on Mr. Money Mustache. Some of his advice isn’t really practical, but that’s OK. He’s already given me a lot to think about for my next car purchase, for instance. A money-printing fountain of youth. And that's okay. The job-hating part is simply not consistent with what I’ve read on MMM.  Through serious investments and a solid savings plan, the math proves how possible it is to quit the damn rat race sooner rather than later. If you read through some of his old articles and see some of the lifestyle choices he makes, it makes MMM seem downright extravagant. I don’t clean my own house though. Not me. Nature Itself told the Stoics what conditions they should learn to appreciate as humans – since they realized we are all in fact an integral part of Nature. It’s a powerful, life-changing adjustment in perspective. And it seems like that worked well for them. Then you’re free to ignore income as a factor in choosing how you spend your time, if you want. Moving from the mental to the physical, Stoics actually enjoy experimenting with Voluntary Discomfort. I love my job and I love the way my life looks now that I’m out of residency. From 1994. MMM’s point is that there is a deep pleasure in doing things yourself, by your own wits and motive power. But mountain biking in Sedona, Fruita, and Moab on my new fancy mountain bike is REALLY fun, but 100 times as expensive. My kid graduated Stanford as Phi Beta Kappa in medical ethics and health policy, aced the new MCAT (526—98th percentile), and my wife is first-generation Mexican, so kid gets to apply as a minority. I agree that you shouldn’t waste money on things that don’t make you happier. There are only so many bikini inspectors and waterslide testers the world needs. If you have been around this whole early retirement business long enough online, chances are good that you have run across a web site called Mr. Money Mustache. 12 pack of good beer runs you around $18 at most so it cost about $70-90 for an equal amount of beer that you can make. Comment below! Far too many people see retirement/working as binary, arbitrary, and mutually exclusive. He has a remarkable ability to make early retirement very accessible to the average person, and published a powerful article that details the simple math behind early retirement. 23235 Posts And I couldn’t be prouder. Zero employers local to me were looking to hire part time surgeons. At any rate, if you're not familiar with his financial philosophy, you would do well to learn about it. After retirement, Mr. Adeney earned even more money with his blog and eventually he is now earning around $400,000 a year. The best part was hearing about how to create a cult and seeing the stuff that transfers over to here. Since you’re a smart Mad Fientist reader though, I suggest you disregard the medical aspect of the account and simply think of it as a special retirement account that you are able to contribute to when you are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. I’m planning to transition to a third career soon where I’ll work for myself. MMM lives on $25k a year. This requires an investment account of $750,000 to sustain. If you focus too much on just expenses, you end up with a scarcity mentality. But overall, both have a similar philosophy. pile away cash. MMM celebrates the joy of calling your own shots, and spending absolutely as much or as little time as you want with your family and your preferred activities. Maybe not a very nice car, but a car nonetheless. For her it’s just her ride, and she has no trouble dropping the bike dudes on their new and silly-expensive carbon fiber rides (which somehow all seem to weigh more than her bike, despite the insane expense). The intentions are solid, but can be misconstrued as inflexible. Or working out. Your email address will not be published. Live like a resident and get out of debt – secure financial freedom so when your hospital wants to make you an employee or partners go crazy and want to kick you out that you have options. 8 hours work, 8 hours fun and 8 hours sleep, what could be more moderate than that! It’s because he just stumbled across a competing personal finance blog that espouses blatantly Anti-Mustachian principles! Yup, this. give yourself a little raise. Yes, taking the car will burn more gas, ruin the planet, and cost you more money. The noted penny-pinching guru dubbed Mr. Money Mustache announced on New Year’s Eve that he and his wife have divorced, writing in a blog post that they only spent $265 on the entire process.  Forget retiring in your 60s. If I was getting burned out so much, I would just cut down how much I work. Some do, some don’t. Pete does not. Talk about censorship. Like many who read both blogs, I plan on living like a resident a little longer than most to pad the retirement accounts, then winding down a little earlier, and finally “retiring” when I want. That’s pretty impressive. Sermo (online physicians forum) feels the same way sometimes. Mr. Adeney doesn’t give out the exact number for his net worth, but the extrapolated net worth of Mr. Money Mustache is between $3 million to $5 million. He advocates asking yourself if something is important enough in your life to be worth paying for (or rather, working so you can pay someone else to do them). Not my content to give away.]. If you had 10 million in the bank would you be working the night shift and dealing with drug-seekers? [One of my partners, who reads both MMM and WCI regularly says this, “I love MMM, but his bike sucks.”]. Thank you again for this wonderful, well reasoned and thoughtful article. He's basically living on $25K a year and loving every minute of it. The tradeoff in our case was working about 20 years longer than he did. I’m only a year out of residency but I can’t tell you how much better life is on the other side. And for some of us… even if we have a job doing something we love(d) to do… it’s no longer enjoyable when we HAVE to do it 40hrs/week. I agree that if additional spending is not going to bring you significant additional happiness, then you shouldn’t do it. I doubt she’ll follow me into private practice as she is bored with my specialty and seems better suited for academia. You’re free to work on whatever you want.  I'm talking thousands of hits a month. So I’m a fan of MMM. But there are some options. Reading MMM has vastly changed my outlook towards work; on a daily and career-length basis. And, we earn enough money to do other things we enjoy. MMM is the shock and awe for most people. His posts are motivational, unique and inspiring for those who desire to live a more efficient life. I think MMM addresses Concern #3: Doing Things The Hard Way Is Not Always Better. . Actually, scratch that. Have you been to the MMM forums? Next, the hospital owns all the local primary care docs, so all the referrals go to their employed surgeons. But here we go anyway. Do you think doctors should retire after 7 years if they don't like their jobs? They build their own cabins, chop their own wood for fuel, hunt their own food, and in general live completely off the grid. There are a lot of odd people out in “The Bush.”. If you’re going to take your taxes out before doing the calculation, why not your charitable contributions too? Watched it, seemed like I thought he would be, maybe a little less macho that his picture. Really, I think you’re being disingenuous on this point. I don’t know. Mr. Money Mustache is the website and pseudonym of 47-year-old Canadian-born blogger Peter Adeney. I loved this article and I’d consider myself a Mustachian wanna-be, but I can’t commit to it 100% (I’m not biking in slush and getting up an hour earlier).  In other words, a high salary. I agree, not only do I keep buying stuff but when you think about it, the cost isn’t that much better. In fact, rental boats are in general surprisingly difficult to find.  Too easy. Medicine is just not what I had hoped it was going to be. It’s great that you love your boat. What do you think? He's a fan of simple living in natural surroundings. I had a military rotation right in the middle of it, so I had several weeks on either side of the rotation with little to do and not enough time to do any real research or get any real job.