Author Topic: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends  (Read 5733 times)

Bakari

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I've heard a lot of folk on these forms and at real life meetups mention that when they talk to friends and family and coworkers, they frequently seem put off by it, or defensive, or dismissive.

That hasn't been my experience, but I haven't had any converts either.  Most people I talk to in real life seem mildly interested, but it seems to always just be too complex, too abstract, or maybe like I am slightly delusional.
I occasionally forward MMM posts, but they tend to be written for people who already have the basic philosophy down.  you can get it if you start from the beginning, but it takes several posts to really come together.  There is his summary / intro, but its largely about specific steps, its geared toward the middle class and above, and a lot of it is links to other posts.
I was trying to find just one single post that got the basic idea across, and eventually I just decided to write my own.

Its gotten some positive feedback so far, including from some very unexpected sources, and an MMM follower said he's going to forward it to friends he knows who are already aware of the MMM philosophy, so (even though I specifically say that folk here needn't bother with it, its too basic) I figured I'd share it with y'all too.

http://biodieselhauling.blogspot.com/2014/03/all-of-money-stuff-condensed.html

Milspecstache

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2014, 09:58:18 PM »
Great post and well explained with references from MMM's blogposts.

Also I really like the post on "Adding an overdrive (BW T-19 to ZF-5 transmission swap)".  I have the ZF-5 tranny so I will need to spend more time looking at that post...

lifejoy

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2014, 10:17:43 PM »
Great introductory summary! I love it! I'll link to it on my tumblr :)

N

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2014, 11:53:32 PM »
I shared it on fb-hope thats ok. if not, let me know and Ill remove it.
Great summary.

Im 40 and have kids and a husband, but I wish I could go back and do so much over wrt finances.

ViragoStache

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2014, 12:20:42 AM »
I will definitely look at it as the people I talk to about FI and MMM just don't seem to get it and they really don't want to read allthe MMM posts from the begining to get the idea (like I did)

I hear ya N!  I'm in the same (2 kids/1 hubby and 41 yrs) you are and there is so much I could have done, but oh well, we continue from where we are.  I just have to get the hubby fully on board.

Squirrel away

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2014, 05:54:22 AM »
That's a good way of summing it up in a clear manner.:)

Start looking at your money differently.

Very true. I think I used to be scared and resentful towards money which sounds ridiculous but I think people think of money in a very negative way, eg: it doesn't go far enough.

Bakari

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2014, 07:37:53 AM »
I shared it on fb-hope thats ok. if not, let me know and Ill remove it.
Great summary.

Im 40 and have kids and a husband, but I wish I could go back and do so much over wrt finances.

very much so ok, I encourage it.

the future of human civilization will be better off the further the MMM message spreads

arebelspy

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2014, 09:26:53 AM »
Nice.  Just sent to my brother-in-law.  Thanks!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Gin1984

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2014, 10:40:20 AM »
I shared it on fb-hope thats ok. if not, let me know and Ill remove it.
Great summary.

Im 40 and have kids and a husband, but I wish I could go back and do so much over wrt finances.

very much so ok, I encourage it.

the future of human civilization will be better off the further the MMM message spreads
LOL, that very well may be true, but for now those spendy people are really helping us frugals.  For example, used car prices went way up when we were in the middle of the recession, to the point that it was sometimes cheaper overall to buy new because people were keeping their cars for longer.  I buy my DD's clothes at a consignment store for about pennies on the dollar because certain people just shop, shop, shop.  It really helps my budget.  If they stopped, I might have to pay more.  Then you look at the overall, Japan had a time where everyone was saving but their stock market did not do well, because people were not spending (or investing) enough.

Bakari

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2014, 05:14:44 PM »
I shared it on fb-hope thats ok. if not, let me know and Ill remove it.
Great summary.

Im 40 and have kids and a husband, but I wish I could go back and do so much over wrt finances.

very much so ok, I encourage it.

the future of human civilization will be better off the further the MMM message spreads
LOL, that very well may be true, but for now those spendy people are really helping us frugals.  For example, used car prices went way up when we were in the middle of the recession, to the point that it was sometimes cheaper overall to buy new because people were keeping their cars for longer.  I buy my DD's clothes at a consignment store for about pennies on the dollar because certain people just shop, shop, shop.  It really helps my budget.  If they stopped, I might have to pay more.  Then you look at the overall, Japan had a time where everyone was saving but their stock market did not do well, because people were not spending (or investing) enough.

This may be true (although I actually doubt it), but I don't think it's something we have to worry about anytime soon...

Guizmo

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2014, 12:10:40 PM »
I've been pretty good at saving since I graduated from college a few years ago. I just wish I would have known about MMM when I was in school. I might have 30k in an IRA by now. Oh well, can't go back in time... I'll still FIRE in 10 years, hopefully by the time I am your age Bakari.

uspsfanalan

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Re: Early retirement philosophy summarized for my real life friends
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2014, 10:44:06 AM »
Bakari - good post. I need to periodically go back and read the basics over again because I get distracted and drift back to non MMM/ERE ways. This is also a nice overview for some of my potential MMM converts.