It definitely was somewhat unrealistic - 20s Harvard MBA grad with high salary, no kids, no spouse.
Seemed pretty inventive with the specifics he came up with though (starting landscaping business, bringing flask to the bar, skipping bach parties, renting extra rooms out, selling crap).
I like how he had a specific goal rather than just a generic pay off debt theme, but to each his own.
I suppose. I found the backhanded complainypantsing to be a little annoying. For instance, on his most recent post:
"To those who say that anybody making six figures can easily pay down their five-figure student loan within seven months, think again. The gentleman who sent the note above is a consultant for one of the top three (Bain/BCG/McK)–he didn’t exactly go non-profit, and is likely pulling down more than $150k/year. These are the folks to whom I was trying to tell my story."
In other words "Hey guys, this was
really hard, and I am therefore awesome for doing it."
In the same post, he also addresses people with relatively low incomes (in the 35k range) and high debt.
"To be honest, I’m afraid I don’t have any ideas. This person obviously took the right step to move back in with her parents rather than rent an apartment, and I have to assume she looked for a better job, but couldn’t find one. As far as next steps go, I really don’t have any ideas. I’m deeply sympathetic to her plight, and if I knew what to say I would say it, but I just don’t. I’m sorry."
This more or less summarizes my problem with his blog. Even while erasing his own student debt, the guy perpetuates the idea that if you make a "low income" like $35k, you're screwed, and the solution to higher expenses is to raise your income, or be screwed. Paying off his debt so quickly was a great decision, but the way he perceives income, money, and frugality is not on par with a full-on Mustachian outlook.
Next, from the same post:
"What I do know is that students have a duty to fulfill throughout all of this. They owe it to themselves and the rest of this country to pursue majors that have consistently proven to be high-ROI and to practice personal accountability and live below their means (e.g., no Starbucks and new cars) until their debt is paid off."
No, I have no such duty. Personal accountability? Yes. A major with a proven high ROI? I don't think so. Sorry, but this country needs great literature, even if English isn't generally a viable major. This country (In my opinion) needs men and women who are going to be the pastors, Rabbis, priests, and shamans that guide the faith journeys of the next generation. This country needs the people who are going to forego lucrative careers in order to pass their knowledge on. This country does
not need to become a society in which the primary governing principle for choosing a career is whether it will pay well.
Finally, from a while back,
"In the past seven months, I haven’t bought a single article of clothing or a single 'must-have' gadget or gizmo. I’ve completely eschewed consumerism, and it actually felt pretty good."
Ok, fine, I suppose this part is a good thing, but really... seven months? My guess is that most people would have very little difficulty going 7 months without buying new clothes or tech. I could be wrong in that assumption, but in my personal experience, it's not something that's particularly difficult or laudable.
The whole blog just seems like an unfortunate cross between "Look at the awesome things I've done" and "Having a 6-figure income does not make life easy."