Author Topic: who's super saving for early retirement?  (Read 5904 times)

DK

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who's super saving for early retirement?
« on: August 31, 2013, 08:16:06 PM »
I bet the MMM forum members could overwhelm them with amounts of people saving.

http://moremoney.blogs.money.cnn.com/2013/08/30/are-you-super-saving-for-early-retirement/?iid=HP_LN

DocCyane

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2013, 08:31:22 PM »
I wonder if people who share financial details in these type articles regret it when the comments start rolling in and they are identified in real life by friends, family and employers.

arebelspy

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2013, 09:24:47 PM »
I bet the MMM forum members could overwhelm them with amounts of people saving.

http://moremoney.blogs.money.cnn.com/2013/08/30/are-you-super-saving-for-early-retirement/?iid=HP_LN

I'm sure that's the case, considering they are looking for people who are "regularly socking away 20%, 30%, or even more of their income" and of approximately 400 forum members surveyed, 90.9% meet that 20% bar.

Heck, the median is above the two they listed, in the 41-50% category.  The average forum member (who voted in that) plucked at random would be "super saving."
« Last Edit: August 31, 2013, 09:26:48 PM by arebelspy »
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footenote

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2013, 08:39:46 AM »
"We are looking for people who are passionate about saving but don't totally deprive themselves."

So Mustachians probably needn't apply.

arebelspy

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2013, 08:42:44 AM »
"We are looking for people who are passionate about saving but don't totally deprive themselves."

So Mustachians probably needn't apply.

Deprive themselves by whose definition?

I think 80%+ of the people on here don't deprive themselves.
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.

Jamesqf

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2013, 11:02:07 AM »
Well, I "deprive" myself of a lot of consumer junk like big-screen TVs, oversized pickups, airline-hotel-cruise vacations, and such that society says I ought to want, but strangely enough,I don't feel all that deprived :-)

footenote

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2013, 11:11:10 AM »
arebelspy & Jamesqf - Agree. I never feel deprived and yet I expect my 1998, 175k miles car and many other aspects of our (imperfectly) Mustachian lifestyle would "read" as deprived over at CNN.

mgreczyn

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #7 on: September 01, 2013, 01:20:59 PM »
The only interesting thing about this effort IMHO is what the definition of the word "deprived" turns out to be.  My gut feeling is that it will turn out to be ridiculous to most on this forum, and that the people who show up in the eventual piece will be outliers on the high side of the income spectrum who live slightly less conspicuously consumptive lives than their peers.  I expect to see things like "yeah, we drive Accuras even though all of our friends drive Mercedes.  It really helps us sock away that 20%."  Maybe, hopefully, I'll be wrong.

arebelspy

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2013, 01:30:30 PM »
I expect to see things like "yeah, we drive Accuras even though all of our friends drive Mercedes.  It really helps us sock away that 20%." 

Absolutely.  And other things (that are quite vanilla to Mustachians) like "we pack our lunches to work" and "we have a smaller home than most our friends."
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.

cats

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #9 on: September 01, 2013, 03:15:01 PM »
arebelspy & Jamesqf - Agree. I never feel deprived and yet I expect my 1998, 175k miles car and many other aspects of our (imperfectly) Mustachian lifestyle would "read" as deprived over at CNN.

Yup, I think we would get the same reaction--by their definition we are "super savers" and by our definition our life is awesome and un-deprived but by mainstream standards....I'm sure the single 12-year old car, small apartment, less-than-up-to-the-minute fashions, and preference for eating homemade food would strike many people as crazy.  I mean, even my relatively frugal co-workers don't get how often I bring my lunch from home, I can imagine how the general population would take it!

Kriegsspiel

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #10 on: September 01, 2013, 07:58:02 PM »
I was interviewed for one of those, but nothing came of it. I used a pseudonym (at the bequest of the writer), so I really didn't care at all if people figured out it was me. Which, in this nation of millions, is very low %.

avonlea

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2013, 05:37:03 AM »
Quote
MONEY is looking for ordinary people who are in their 40s and regularly socking away 20%, 30%, or even more of their income.

Why does it have to be this age range?  Do they assume that people in their 20s and 30s can't save much?  Or is spending typically at the highest level when people are in their 40s?

matchewed

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2013, 05:46:01 AM »
They're probably going off of demographics for their readership. Who reads that site the most and target them. Or that's the most reasonable explanation I can think of.

NumberJohnny5

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #13 on: September 03, 2013, 10:05:09 PM »
Well, I "deprive" myself of a lot of consumer junk like big-screen TVs, oversized pickups, airline-hotel-cruise vacations, and such that society says I ought to want, but strangely enough,I don't feel all that deprived :-)

Yup. We don't even buy a lot of gifts at Christmas or birthdays anymore, but lots of fun is had by all. Car may be older, but it still gets us there (and if not, we do have two legs that still work). No cable/satellite tv, but have tons of ota shows recorded on the drv; there's always something to watch.

Plus, dial your expectations back ten years, and I think I'm living an outrageously lavish lifestyle. My car is suddenly "only" six years old, tv is huge and expensive (42" lcd if I remember correctly), our kids' tablets are more advanced than anything on the market, my mobile phone is nearly as fast as a desktop pc, etc; I must be uber-rich to afford all this stuff. No wait...I'm just ten years behind times, and soooooo deprived.

pom

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Re: who's super saving for early retirement?
« Reply #14 on: September 12, 2013, 05:39:28 AM »
Well, I "deprive" myself of a lot of consumer junk like big-screen TVs, oversized pickups, airline-hotel-cruise vacations, and such that society says I ought to want, but strangely enough,I don't feel all that deprived :-)

Same here, I totally deprive myself of stuff that I don't want.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!