MadFientist Podcast: Millenial Revolution

[FIREandMONEY]

Well, I just got done listening to the newest podcast from MadFientist, and it was with Kristy and Bryce from the millennial revolution blog.  Apparently they got really popular from this video:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/house-investment-wealth-1.3716641

I just had to get some things off my chest after listening to them for 45 minutes.

The Good:

Great ideas/thoughts about the political situation and dividend investments.  I absolutely love dividend investments and I always get psyched whenever I hear people talk about them vs growth stocks. 

Any story of a couple getting FU money and quitting their jobs is awesome.  Especially since they are just a little bit older than me, it really hits home that this could be possible for me.


The Bad:

Could these two sound any more closed-minded?  Yes, I have read some of their blogs and looked at their math about the home ownership issue and it looks okay.  It makes sense in their situation, but the way these two speak, and I mean literally the words they choose to say, make them sound so ignorant, narcissistic,and just show a real lack of empathy from other's viewpoints.

There was just simple things that annoyed me like when the guy said that people who think traveling for a bit and then getting it out of their system are wrong and "once you start you can't stop".  Yes, that is his experience.  is it everybody's?  Not even close.  Same with the home ownership thing.  There are hundreds of things I can think of that home ownership allows that renting does not.  And vice-versa.

[cincystache]

I listened to that show this morning on my way to work...(via bike)

I completely agree, very closed minded towards other peoples' viewpoints and lifestyles.

The racist comment was the worst. Wow, completely uncalled for. edit: She said "van" instead of "man" (thanks arebelspy)

That being said, the madfientist is awesome. Love his blog/podcast!

[Ynari]

I ran across a post on their blog a few weeks ago, read around a little, felt like the tone was way too... excitable, I guess I want to say? It wore me out. Like a mix between Buzzfeed and a quirky motivational speaker? I dunno really, just didn't appeal to me, so I didn't listen to the podcast. From what you're saying, I'm kinda glad I didn't.

[arebelspy]

I'm not a fan of these bloggers either (I've commented why in other threads about them, when they went viral on some Canadian news sites and it got threads started here).

Besides some of the content, they're much to "sales-y" for me.  They're very concerned with pushing themselves and marketing themselves, and less concerned with quality.

That being said, I'm even more not a fan of FUD/incorrect information.

The racist comment was the worst. Wow, completely uncalled for.

I'm assuming this is referring to (what sounded like) the "white man" comment, which actually was "white van"

I haven't listened to the podcast, but it gets explained pretty clearly in the comments to the MadFIentist blog post about the podcast, here: http://www.madfientist.com/millennial-revolution-interview/

Some white van hit their car, and since then they've been ranting and posting blog posts about a "white van" as an ongoing joke.  Some people heard this in the podcast as "white man" and got (understandably) upset.  But I think it's clear that they meant white van, given the blog post about a white van made weeks (months?) ago, before the podcast was made.

Plenty of stuff to criticize them about, IMO.  OP brings up a few, I've brought up other stuff.   But this isn't a legitimate complaint, IMO, just a misunderstanding, so I wanted to clear that up.

Cheers!  :)


Also, as an aside, I'm probably glad I'm not hearing what people think of my podcast on there, because I'm sure I sounded pretty dumb at times (someone reminded me I went on about the movie Tangled, lol).  ;)

[Metric Mouse]

Wow... that was bad. The video posted there was a bit too complainypants for me. I think that, even though they've retired early, they could still use some Mustachian positivity.

[cincystache]

I think that, even though they've retired early, they could still use some Mustachian positivity.

+1. Even in their comments on MadFientist's blog they are still combative and mean to people. Learn how to take some criticism (hint: don't just call everyone "haters" who disagree with you)

[C40]

Hey now, don't blame the van!!

[C40]

I watched about half of a video they made on one of the links, and I can see very clearly what you guys mean..

I'll leave a reminder: a very important skill in life is being able to learn from people - even (or sometimes especially) when they seem annoying, or some of what they say seems wrong, or so on. Take the parts that are useful for you. Don't let the bad parts prevent you from taking the good.

I don't know whether this is true at all because my exposure to these two is very little, but, it could actually be an intentional tactic of theirs to present themselves the way they are. They're targeting millennials, and (I could be wrong about this, but) of the people who identify most strongly with the label millennial, a pretty large portion of them are unhappy - even angry about the stuff she was complaining about in the video. It could be that she's adopting the emotions of her target audience in order to appeal to them and open them up for the message they are sharing.

[ysette9]

I've made it half-way through the podcast before I got pulled off to something else. I agree with others that I don't agree with the sentiment that homeownership is always bad and that the only reason they FIREd was because they didn't buy into that "scam". I do believe that it is important to run the numbers and make sure they really make sense, and not just jump into buying because it's what everyone does. On the other hand, there are 5 bazillion articles out there on how home ownership is the ticket to financial success and it is what everyone should strive for, so perhaps you need a strident voice on the other side of the debate just to try to even things out a bit.

The biggest omission I felt was how they glossed over their high savings rate in favor of focusing in on not buying real estate. Really, it doesn't matter if you buy a house or not if you are saving >50% of your income.

[financiallypossible]

The biggest omission I felt was how they glossed over their high savings rate in favor of focusing in on not buying real estate. Really, it doesn't matter if you buy a house or not if you are saving >50% of your income.

It does matter. Buying a house in overpriced markets (Toronto, SF, Seattle, Vancouver, etc.) just carries too much risk. If you're putting so much money into a single investment with a high P/E ratio (would you like to slam hundreds of thousands of dollars into Amazon stock?), then you can be the one left holding the bag if the tide of popularity suddenly changes.

The ridiculously priced housing markets often "force" many to take out jumbo mortgages creating a whole class of wage slaves.

[ysette9]

Well, living in the SF Bay Area myself I have experienced how the housing market here as been "overpriced" my entire life with no signs of slowing down. I am not saying something major couldn't happen that would cause things to implode, but housing prices are dependent on people's ability to pay for them. Around here we are awash in high-paying tech jobs and multimillionaires from the tech companies. Even still, when we run the numbers in the NY Time's rent vs. buy calculator it still makes sense go us to buy in the long term. That said, we are renting now because that makes sesnse for our current situation.

[BuffaloStache]

I agree that the video is somewhat complainypants, but I also think that this brand of message could reach some people well. For those who have never heard of FIRE, live in a HCOL city like Toronto, and can relate to the Millennial Revolution mindset, I think it's not bad.