MMM on Nightline! (May 12, 2015)

[PtboEliz]

Nice house there Pete!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/man-mr-money-mustache-retired-30/story?id=30989572

[swick]

Cool beans, thanks for sharing :)

[CoreyTheMan]

Nice house there Pete!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/man-mr-money-mustache-retired-30/story?id=30989572

Ha, the comments section!! Always such an entertaining place!!

[trailrated]

comments section is filled with people that will never be financially independent. Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they become yours.

[forummm]

Love it! I bet MrsMM was not happy about the photos of her on national TV. Unless she's gotten a lot less private lately.

[4alpacas]

Phil Blank doesn't like MMM.

Phil Blank • 8 hours ago
He says he's retired, but is on disability and his wife is still working.
Plus a family relation left him the house that he still has to pay taxes and insurance on.

Phil Blank • 8 hours ago
Only spent $71 on gasoline in 1 year?

Thats one or two tanks a year, the gasoline would go bad and turn to varnish, gumming up the engine.

And I wonder how much they fought?

[Bank]

I find the comments make a lot more sense if you read them in an Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer style.  "My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts."

[forummm]

They got Nightline to say "Badassity"

[MandalayVA]

They got Nightline to say "Badassity"

I know, that was awesome.

[I'm a red panda]

Love it! I bet MrsMM was not happy about the photos of her on national TV. Unless she's gotten a lot less private lately.

I would imagine she was fine with it or the pictures would not have been provided for the segment.

[lifejoy]

Sweeeeeeet. Thanks for the link!

[Pooperman]

Posted to to Facebook. Let you know if there are any replies haha.

[I'm a red panda]

Thats one or two tanks a year, the gasoline would go bad and turn to varnish, gumming up the engine.

I like that it doesn't occur to him that people who do not use a lot of gasoline in a year don't fill their tanks to full precisely so it doesn't go bad.

[handsnhearts]

They got Nightline to say "Badassity"

I know, that was awesome.

I loved that...

[handsnhearts]

I actually thought the comments would be much more vile than they were.  Trolls etc...

[Travis]

I actually thought the comments would be much more vile than they were.  Trolls etc...

That Phil Blank fella was a bit weird making up stories to post. My favorite complainypants was the guy from Seattle. "This is bullshit, if I can't do it where I live it's not worth discussing!"

[Miijia]

I am just happy that they didn't title the story "live like your poor so you don't have to work". That makes me so mad. I thought the video was good. Comments were basically what I expected. Although I should get used to it, I haven't gotten it through my own head that people just don't get how compound interest works. I love the people who do the math and say $60,000 for 8 years doesn't equal $800,000. Like they just put the money in a paper sack until retirement.

I apologize for any errors, I'm no good at typing on the phone.

[arcangel911]

Great! He wears flannel!

[Spork]

I just saw it.  Baddassity indeed.

[forummm]

Love it! I bet MrsMM was not happy about the photos of her on national TV. Unless she's gotten a lot less private lately.

I would imagine she was fine with it or the pictures would not have been provided for the segment.

I'm sure she OKed it. But it doesn't mean she was happy about it.

I am just happy that they didn't title the story "live like your poor so you don't have to work".

I think showing his fancy house a little and that he seemed healthy and his car was clean, etc, help make it more real to people. He wasn't living in a trailer full of trash and cigarette butts falling off his obese lap. His life is pretty great.

[dandypandys]

haha that is great!
i feel i was born mustacian, us Scottish are just naturally like it.
He's nice :-)

[Prairie Gal]

Loved it!

[PtboEliz]

Okay, okay, after posting this and watching the piece again I'm now convinced that some of the commenters are right and Pete is a terrible guy. Not only does he take his car to the grocery store (that it is raining, and the journalist appears to be pregnant, are poor excuses) but he is CLEARLY seen taking more than 10 items through the express check-out line. No credibility. What a fraud.  I quit the cult ;)

[Daisy]

Nice! Loved the teenage pics of Mr & Mrs MM. Why don't they ever use the acronym M&MMM?

It's funny that they said the word "badassity" in the video, but in the text of the article they spelled it "bad---ity". Ha!

And then they have the gall to spell "assume" correctly instead of removing the offensive part and spelling it "---ume". And later on they offensively spelled out "assumption" too.

Why the discrimination against the three letters "a-s-s" in one word and not the others? Editors...

And who's the MMM reader that was featured in the video? I'm curious if he's a forum member.

[jengod]

Love it! I bet MrsMM was not happy about the photos of her on national TV. Unless she's gotten a lot less private lately.

I would imagine she was fine with it or the pictures would not have been provided for the segment.

And she is SOOOO cute! What's not to be happy about? Adorable cat-costume photo and I really like her hair, just because I am shallow like that.

[seattlecyclone]

My favorite complainypants was the guy from Seattle. "This is bullshit, if I can't do it where I live it's not worth discussing!"

Complainypants are going to complain. Joke's on him. Houses are more expensive in Seattle than Colorado, but software engineers are paid more as well. FI at 30 is possible even here.

[cerebus]

My wife showed me it this morning from her FB account. Great interview, he managed to distill the essence of MMM philosophy into a compact space of time. Actually kind of hard to believe that their maximum combined income was $134k and they only had 600k banked when they FIRE'd.

[Elderwood17]

Thanks for sharing this.  I thought it was very well done and captured the philosophical essence of mustachianism quite well.

[Moonwaves]

And who's the MMM reader that was featured in the video? I'm curious if he's a forum member.

For absolutely no reason at all I immediately decided that must be Mr. Frugal Toque. Which makes no sense whatsoever - I'm sure it must have been someone who lives in the same area as MMM but there you go. Logic never was my strong point!

[Pooperman]

And who's the MMM reader that was featured in the video? I'm curious if he's a forum member.

For absolutely no reason at all I immediately decided that must be Mr. Frugal Toque. Which makes no sense whatsoever - I'm sure it must have been someone who lives in the same area as MMM but there you go. Logic never was my strong point!

Toque was my thought also. Funny thing was seeing the kitchen since it's 95% the same as the one my parents have (same cabinets, same tiling on the walls)... the not MMM kitchen. Funny thing while walking to work this morning. I saw a construction worker get out of his work "truck" that had his company plastered all over it. The "truck" was a Fiat 500. Badassity.

[PtboEliz]

Ha, don't think it was Toque - that was no Canadian accent.

[pachnik]

Funny, I thought it was Mr. Toque also and I don't really know why.  Something to do with the shape of the face I think.

[Moonwaves]

Ha, don't think it was Toque - that was no Canadian accent.

Sorry. Non-north American here: you more or less all sound the same to me. :)

[RoseRelish]

And who's the MMM reader that was featured in the video? I'm curious if he's a forum member.

For absolutely no reason at all I immediately decided that must be Mr. Frugal Toque. Which makes no sense whatsoever - I'm sure it must have been someone who lives in the same area as MMM but there you go. Logic never was my strong point!

Toque was my thought also. Funny thing was seeing the kitchen since it's 95% the same as the one my parents have (same cabinets, same tiling on the walls)... the not MMM kitchen. Funny thing while walking to work this morning. I saw a construction worker get out of his work "truck" that had his company plastered all over it. The "truck" was a Fiat 500. Badassity.

I guessed the mystery reader was Brave New Life.

[Mississippi Mudstache]

I guessed the mystery reader was Brave New Life.

That's what I thought, too. But from his last blog post in January, it looks like he's moved on to Kentucky.

[arebelspy]

Pete is awesome.

I love that he's created this movement and is spreading the word.

Think about how many people are so much happier because of that.

What an awesome legacy.

[forummm]

Pete is awesome.

I love that he's created this movement and is spreading the word.

Think about how many people are so much happier because of that.

What an awesome legacy.

ARS, how many times have you met MMM? How did you get started out moderating this forum?

[NearlyThere]

I love that he's created this movement and is spreading the word.
Think about how many people are so much happier because of that.
What an awesome legacy.

This.

How many people are achieving things they never felt possible because of this blog and forum. I know I am.

[Friar]

This was a great watch!

They managed to get across the essence of Mustachianism (what a fun word :P) in a concise video that, as others have said, was a nicely balanced segment.

What pleased me the most was that we got to hear and see MMM in the flesh. It's easy to forget sometimes that writers are real physical people and not just a mind that comes up with words for bi-monthly articles.

[lpep]

I feel super creepy, but I recognized that house picture.

The reader is Mr. 1500 from 1500 Days to Freedom, 1500days.com.

Someone corroborate me _{and make me feel less creepy}

[cerebus]

I feel super creepy, but I recognized that house picture.

The reader is Mr. 1500 from 1500 Days to Freedom, 1500days.com.

Someone corroborate me _{and make me feel less creepy}

It's not creepy unless by 'recognized' you meant 'through the telescope lens of my camera'.

[lpep]

Thank you, Mr. Swanson.

[cerebus]

Thank you, Mr. Swanson.

It helps if you picture everything I say read in his voice.

[Homey The Clown]

My wife showed me it this morning from her FB account. Great interview, he managed to distill the essence of MMM philosophy into a compact space of time. Actually kind of hard to believe that their maximum combined income was $134k and they only had 600k banked when they FIRE'd.

If you read the history of the 'stache, this isn't quite true. He made over $100,000 by himself. I think they made $150K+ shortly before they retired. Also, not all of that 600K was cash. It included rentals as well.

[Spork]

My wife showed me it this morning from her FB account. Great interview, he managed to distill the essence of MMM philosophy into a compact space of time. Actually kind of hard to believe that their maximum combined income was $134k and they only had 600k banked when they FIRE'd.

If you read the history of the 'stache, this isn't quite true. He made over $100,000 by himself. I think they made $150K+ shortly before they retired. Also, not all of that 600K was cash. It included rentals as well.

Yeah.  But I took that as "this is a short (and a little fluffy) segment on major media and we're editing 3 hours of interview down to 4 minutes."

[MandalayVA]

haha that is great!
i feel i was born mustacian, us Scottish are just naturally like it.
He's nice :-)

Don't you know that we Scots are the lost tribe of Israel?  :D

[arebelspy]

Pete is awesome.

I love that he's created this movement and is spreading the word.

Think about how many people are so much happier because of that.

What an awesome legacy.

ARS, how many times have you met MMM? How did you get started out moderating this forum?

Twice--once when he was passing through Vegas, and again at Camp Mustache I.

He asked for volunteers when the forum started (and then chose a few who had been reading the blog or around for awhile to try and choose people who would likely stick around, since the forum came 10 months after the blog had been around).

[zolotiyeruki]

That was a great segment.  I wish they had spent 20 more seconds on more examples of being cheaper without "missing out"--they hit the "don't buy a new car" and "modest home," which I suppose are two of the biggest things, but "drop cable, get a cheaper cell phone plan, don't upgrade your phone every year, eat at home more, live closer to work, actually keep a budget" would have been helpful as well.

[I'm a red panda]

That was a great segment.  I wish they had spent 20 more seconds on more examples of being cheaper without "missing out"--they hit the "don't buy a new car" and "modest home," which I suppose are two of the biggest things, but "drop cable, get a cheaper cell phone plan, don't upgrade your phone every year, eat at home more, live closer to work, actually keep a budget" would have been helpful as well.

I think it would have had a bit more credibility if they hadn't done the "don't buy coffee out".

It is SUCH low hanging fruit that it is somewhat annoying as money saving advice.


I also don't really see anything about his home as a modest home. Sure looked fancy to me.

[brooklynguy]

Pete is awesome.

I love that he's created this movement and is spreading the word.

Think about how many people are so much happier because of that.

What an awesome legacy.

Definitely.  Not long after discovering MMM, I started to get the sense that he could become a true historically significant figure.  In a few short years, he has gone from a guy "just typing shit into his computer" to the creator and leader of a bona fide movement.  Not to detract from the other giants of the FIRE community, but MMM has galvanized this into a true mainstream movement among fringe movements.  He's not only brought into the fold people who always had mustachian tendencies (like me -- I've always been pretty frugal and had the vague goal of "retiring early," but had never considered the possibility that it could be doable in my 30s), but he is also converting members of the unwashed consumer sucka masses.  I don't think it's a stretch to believe that he could end up being personally and individually responsible for making a meaningful contribution towards his stated goal of preventing the human species from destroying itself and the natural world through overconsumption.

Of course, it's hard to get a sense of how rapidly this movement is actually growing (and, as card-carrying members of the movement, our own perception of it is biased).  But each additional bit of mainstream media coverage is further evidence of (and helps contribute to) the growth of the movement.