Reader Case Study – This Guy Doesn’t Need My Help
But then, many faces looked familiar. But the direction of approach is important. The brown and white palomino I am riding is getting tired, and so am I. That is one of the disadvantages of being an outlaw. You often travel for hours with no apparent destination. Being an outlaw, you sometimes have to take things as they come.
Willy-Wully is my Woolly Mammoth. Willy-Wully is so small I can hold him in my hand. He is able to roar very loud for such a tiny mammoth. One roar from Willy-Wully and all the dogs in the neighborhood stop barking. My dad complains that Willy-Wully tramples his TV dinners and poops in the ice cream.
Sometimes when Willy-Wully is surprised he throws ice cubes. One day when I get home from school Willy-Wully is nowhere to be found. My dad tells me he went home on a boat. There is a mosquito in my room, blinking in and out of sight like a figment. I fear he is some sort of mutant mosquito, toying fleetingly with the power of invisibility. But always the sound betrays my little, bloodsucking friend. I say friend because he and I share a relationship, something deep and unspeakable. In my moments of most focused concentration, when I pander to the indulgence of reveling in my aloneness, as if through this isolation and self-exploration I may somehow discover profundity inside myself, there he is.
Nothing more than a background vibration really, frantic yet soothing, surprising yet expected. It feels like terminal deja vu.
My isolation is an attempt at meditation, as I mine the deepest creases of my brain for inspiration. I am a writer of fiction supposedly, trying to construct a masterful work of literature from the ether of my own psyche, a task on par with producing gold bullion from a burning pile of dog poop. I long to write a story of consequence, of socio-psycho-significance, of earth shattering implication; a story of prize winning, career-launching quality.
There are a million stories out there and all I have is this stupid mosquito. Youth had proven very traumatic for Brantley, as it does for most turtles. He had been born in steaming muck beneath a rotting log, hatching from a leathery egg synchronously with thirty-three of his siblings, all of them clambering over one another toward freedom like a riotous mob. He had a sense of direction, some instinctual behavioral tract that kept Brantley moving, scuttling against thirty-three other muddy little turtles.
Emerging from beneath the log, Brantley had been greeted by two hungry raccoons scooping the baby turtles up like treasure. They were brutally efficient, missing hardly a turtle, picking the tiny squabbling pucks up in their inquisitive fingers, lifting them to their mouths, cracking open their still fragile shells in their molars, folding them open with both hands and slurping out the insides like oysters on the half shell. One had reached for Brantley, brushing its claws on the back of his shell before instead grabbing another young turtle as it came from behind and tried to scramble over him.
Something drew him away, something kept his tiny legs scrabbling like a wind up toy and pulled him to the water as if a guideline had been tied around his neck. Brantley escaped somehow, but remained forever traumatized by the experience. Retrieved 17 September Retrieved 18 August Retrieved 5 December Retrieved 4 December Retrieved from " https: Personal finance websites Internet properties established in American blogs Simple living advocates.
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Views Read Edit View history. Marcus September 4, , 6: Johnny M, congratulations on your transformation. Now we need to work on transitioning that Boston hat to a Yankee hat and the full transformation will be complete! Money Mustache March 16, , 8: As a philosophical side-note, when I study the writing style of Jim Collins, Johnny Moneyseed and JJ who sent in this story, I notice a pattern — could there be a connection between Financial Independence and Swearing? Geek March 16, , Johnny Moneyseed March 16, , Heath March 16, , Frugal Toque March 17, , 4: I think swearing is essential to leading any type of balanced and low-stress life.
Different manners of early retirement are a subset of those low-stress lives. Self inhibition from the natural human tendency to hurl the occasional Expletive in response to the Hassles of Life is just going to lead to bottled up emotions and other weird psychological problems. Patrick March 21, , 7: One thing I love about my job US Coast Guard is that I can drop an F-bomb pretty much anywhere, anytime, and nobody thinks anything of it — even in relatively formal situations.
Much like one of your earlier posts its about giving the middle finger to many of the stupid things we have in our lives!!! Grandma Emily March 17, , Actually, young men, although I quite like your blog and am heartily in favor of all your goals, I could do with a clean up of the language around here. However, you alienate generations before you and even those your age who feel swearing is for smacking your finger with a hammer and to be done in private.
Money Mustache March 17, , 1: The goal is not to please everyone, but rather to be true to myself and through that achieve a more authentic voice and thus a more receptive audience. Laura March 18, , 7: I always make sure to put where the article came from, that way the students who are more interested will hopefully come and look on their own. The irony is that reading this blog would actually teach your students how to swear properly. That is, rarely and for effect. Like strong spices in cooking.
Joy March 18, , 8: As far as the swearing, I could do without it. But, that is because I was taught that only ignorant people with a very low vocabulary use swear words. I adopted this belief. After reading MMM and others, I see this is not true. However, I have yet to see a speech by the President or, those desiring to be so say things like WTF in public. Here is what I think about reading fantastic information that is sprinkled with profanity. A joke told by my younger sister when she was about 8 years old. Money Mustache March 18, , 9: Ironically, having Real Language as part of articles like these would probably have a positive effect on high school students.
Mr. Money Mustache
Kids are quick to tune out of a message they perceive to be from The Man, and quick to warm to anything that displays a bit of countercultural freedom. CALL March 17, , Most people mindlessly follow the group, because we need the group for survival. Currently, the group mores say spend all of your money or more than all of your money on relatively worthless shit. People willing to break norms in one way, are frequently willing break them in many. Franco March 18, , 5: The incongruity, and good timing, of your swearing, MMM, is what makes it work, I think. It just is kind of funny to hear the f-word alongside a sentence about credit card interest rates.
Also, the frugality of your swearing itself that JCollins alluded to, helps. You do come off as genuine and that is what matters. Tell me if I am wrong, though. Also, for the record, in everyday life I think it is more unusual to meet a person who never swears than one who does. So I am not at all convinced that refraining from swearing is a sign of buying into groupthink, or that swearing alone is a sign of an independent spirit.
Swearing on a finance blog might count as a display of independence and hilarity. Swearing all by itself. Snow White March 17, , 2: Danny March 18, , 6: Anje March 19, , 5: As an european I had to read the article twise. Still missed the swearing. Do I define swearing differently?
Mary March 23, , 3: Chipamogli March 16, , 8: Good for you, JJ! Jakub March 16, , 8: It gives me so much strength, reading stories like that. One just need to sit down and think about it. Wes March 16, , 8: Asset Allocation March 16, , 8: That is really impressive. Asset Allocation March 17, , 7: It is achieved indirectly, by producing something beautiful or useful or by making someone else happy.
The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. Money Mustache March 18, , 8: Rjack — you are definitely welcome to send me something! One of the most senior Mustachians in the house, and your new website is looking great so far. Asset Allocation March 18, , Cindy March 20, , 4: Jane March 26, , 7: Money Mustache March 26, , MrMoneyMullet March 17, , 8: Nassoro March 18, , 3: Kenneth March 18, , 2: I am so ashamed. No wonder I am still working.. CincyCat March 19, , 7: The ROI will be worth it. Plus, you could loan it to friends.
What do you guys think about owning non-local rentals? Would you really own a property in Dallas, MMM? Would you pay a management company? Rebecca March 17, , 9: I think if you have someone you trust manage them for you, it could be a possibility. Sounds like a winning situation for his friends, as long as they have the cash to buy the homes. Kelly Damian March 18, , I have personal experience with that. When we relocated for work we were not able to sell the house and so became accidental landlords.
With a bad tenant, it was awful. Very tough to keep them accountable on rent and to check on the little things that went wrong. We ended up having to do an eviction which was an ugly time and money suck. Our next renters were friends of friends and they were fabulous, did their own repairs and treated the place very well.
So, speaking from personal experience I would say be wary of the out-of-town rental. JaneMD March 16, , 9: CL March 16, , 9: I would love to hear more details about how he cut his spending. Stephanie March 16, , 9: LeRainDrop March 16, , Bonner March 16, , I would definitely like to hear that story!
More details and a few questions. Was part of that K you were spending debt that has now cleared?
How does the person you are in a relationship with feel about the lifestyle changes? Awesome job, well done. Would LOVE to hear that story. I am also impressed that a CPA is so handy with houses.
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We saw a fee-only financial planner shortly after buying the condo and again last summer. At this point I'd rather continue saving for a few years for a large down payment so hopefully we can keep our condo and rent it out rather than taking a huge loss. Oh yeah, and when he asked about our goal retirement age I answered 55 we're in our early 30's with 2 little boys. His comments were, "Not likely, overly optimistic. FederalMustache March 17, , At worst he needed a kick in the pants rather than a punch in the face.
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Dallas is not a high-cost area, what in the world was he buying? Getting it all the way down to 35k is nothing to laugh at for one person? What does does the other partner in the relationship do? I mean, how many people have a vacation property just sitting around to sell? Would that we could all be senior executives in cheap states.
Sound almost complainypants to me. MMM already advocates moving. The only one stopping you is you. Same goes for being an executive. Get the education and sell yourself. MMM sort of outlines how. By being here, you show knowledge, understanding and flexibility. All are desireable qualities. Make them work for you! Lindsey March 17, , 3: Actually, the weather would be stopping me from moving to Alabama! And I live in Interior Alaska, so am not a weather wimp, but it just takes thinking about places in the South to get me sweating….
Jen March 17, , 9: Why not move to Vietnam or Cambodia then — with their current stash, all the readers here could retire this instant in those places. FederalMustache March 18, , Point taken, Call , that definitely fringed on sounding complainypants. I humbly beg forgiveness from the Mustacho-sphere. The idea of moving is sometimes a good one, but we have to at least acknowledge that picking up and moving across the country is one of the least likely life changes discussed on this blog.
I do have to disagree that MMM kinda shows us how to become an executive. MMM also made a good point that this is an example of a guy turning back the clock on lifestyle inflation, even though he theoretically could afford a lavish cost of living. Just say No to Stuff. Sarah March 18, , 7: Yes, it is harder to move than to cut your clothing budget, but we moved a year ago from a bigger fancy house requiring lots of driving to a more modest one, and it has been such a helpful change — we have breathing room and a much better savings rate.
It was a lot of work to sell the house, but we were motivated and now our life is less stressful too. So I would definitely encourage anyone to consider it! Jen March 18, , 6: CALL March 18, , 8: I believe this may be the best part of the MMM experience. As a group, we all know we suck, and are not afraid to admit it, either to ourselves or others.
I said you were approaching complainypants, and you said thank you! I applaud your effort to gain new marketable skills — it shows off your flexibility! Look at these two badasses, Call and FederalMustache, conversing and displaying such mastery of Mustachian principles. Brings a tear to my eye! I would have written enthusiastically about the topic about 10 years ago, as I used to read all the management books and was all excited to move up as quickly as possible. Aimee February 24, , I actually have a vacation property just sitting around.
Own my co-op in NJ and am in the process of buying a two family house. Mrs EconoWiser March 17, , I would love a follow-up six or nine months from now when this dude is retired.