Did anyone watch MMM's Facebook show last night?

[G-String]

I loved the idea and MMM was great...when he was able to speak. Who was the woman who completely highjacked the show? MMM looked mostly disinterested because of her but he was polite and professional. Pete commented near the end that next time he'll get a moderator to stop the guests from talking so they can take questions from the Facebook chat.

[solon]

Link to the video: https://www.facebook.com/mrmoneymustache/videos/1348829471975275/

This is the Amy who was co-hosting with him: https://anunstoppablelife.com/about-unstoppable-life-coach/

[Dicey]

Well, that was interesting! Thank you for posting this, Garrett B. Alas, it seems you weren't listening very well. It wasn't an MMM Financial Presentation, it was about dealing with stress, particularly during a pandemic. Clearly you were expecting something else, but that wasn't Amy's fault and your criticism is way the hell off base. And it seems you completely misunderstood Pete's comment about having a moderator next time.

Most of the questions from F/B chat were pure crap. WTF? Why all the babyish questions and guessing about an imagined relationship? Move along, nothing to see there...

[FiveSigmas]

Well, that was interesting! Thank you for posting this, Garrett B.

Yes, thanks Garrett! I enjoyed this. Both Amy and Pete did a great job doing what they do.

I always find talk of meditation and flow-inducing activities a bit cheesy and over-worn, but the techniques work. The video was a good reminder to me of this.

ETA: Thanks Solon for the direct links.

[FiveSigmas]

Okay, I am gonna neg just about the video just a bit:

• Since there was so much talk of data-driven decision-making, I wanted to investigate Amy's claim of 25% unemployment amongst those 20-35 (@ ~18:30 in the video). I can't get any data to back this up, and in fact it appears at best very misleading and at worst wildly inaccurate. *
• I would have preferred if they had practiced better social-distancing. Preaching that the general public should not congregate but smart, well-informed people like themselves can use their best judgment is not a good look. I believe I understand why they did it. I don't agree with it.

* As I heard it, Amy was stating that, immediately prior to the corona virus scare, the youth unemployment rate was 25%. Here's what a random website (apparently using BoLS data) says is the historical "youth" unemployment rate:

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/youth-unemployment-rate



The recent (pre-coronavirus) rate was roughly a third of the 25% mentioned, and even at the great recession peak it was still under 20%.

Now, the BoLS apparently defines "youth" as persons 16 to 24, so that's not quite the same demographic. Patching together data of 25-34 and 20-24 year olds directly from BoLS's site paints a similar picture: https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/0832e9ef5c264acabf4b4084fd876820 (top graph is 20-24 year olds). Neither peaks above 16%. I think the websites Amy and Pete mentioned are good sources of information, but I'm hesitant to believe any statistics actually mentioned in the video.

[G-String]

Well, that was interesting! Thank you for posting this, Garrett B. Alas, it seems you weren't listening very well. It wasn't an MMM Financial Presentation, it was about dealing with stress, particularly during a pandemic. Clearly you were expecting something else, but that wasn't Amy's fault and your criticism is way the hell off base. And it seems you completely misunderstood Pete's comment about having a moderator next time.

Most of the questions from F/B chat were pure crap. WTF? Why all the babyish questions and guessing about an imagined relationship? Move along, nothing to see there...

Yes I understood the theme. Pete wanted to talk about stress related to people losing money in the stock market. Amy kept rambling on and on about random nonsense. You could tell Pete was frustrated.

[Dicey]

Well, that was interesting! Thank you for posting this, Garrett B. Alas, it seems you weren't listening very well. It wasn't an MMM Financial Presentation, it was about dealing with stress, particularly during a pandemic. Clearly you were expecting something else, but that wasn't Amy's fault and your criticism is way the hell off base. And it seems you completely misunderstood Pete's comment about having a moderator next time.

Most of the questions from F/B chat were pure crap. WTF? Why all the babyish questions and guessing about an imagined relationship? Move along, nothing to see there...

Yes I understood the theme. Pete wanted to talk about stress related to people losing money in the stock market. Amy kept rambling on and on about random nonsense. You could tell Pete was frustrated.

I still find your attitude to be rather dismissive, to put it as politely as possible. This comment says more about you than Amy. Random nonsense my ass.

[G-String]

Well, that was interesting! Thank you for posting this, Garrett B. Alas, it seems you weren't listening very well. It wasn't an MMM Financial Presentation, it was about dealing with stress, particularly during a pandemic. Clearly you were expecting something else, but that wasn't Amy's fault and your criticism is way the hell off base. And it seems you completely misunderstood Pete's comment about having a moderator next time.

Most of the questions from F/B chat were pure crap. WTF? Why all the babyish questions and guessing about an imagined relationship? Move along, nothing to see there...

Yes I understood the theme. Pete wanted to talk about stress related to people losing money in the stock market. Amy kept rambling on and on about random nonsense. You could tell Pete was frustrated.

I still find your attitude to be rather dismissive, to put it as politely as possible. This comment says more about you than Amy. Random nonsense my ass.

We can agree to disagree then.

[Highbeam]

I watched the last part of it too. I was hoping for something more about finance/frugalism/strategy and not accupuncture/fairies or whatever she kept talking about. I would have shut the show right the heck off if it was just her. Nice enough gal but I'm not interested in what she had to say. There are other groups for that.

I think people making lame comments was a sign of boredom.

Looking forward to future shows that speak to the forum and mustachianism more.

[Jack0Life]

I must admit I've only watched about 12 mins so far and I don't know if I can finish it but my first impression of it is that lady Amy does do a lot of rambling. I guess its expected from a life coach.

[G-String]

I must admit I've only watched about 12 mins so far and I don't know if I can finish it but my first impression of it is that lady Amy does do a lot of rambling. I guess its expected from a life coach.

It only gets worse the more you watch. Pete got most of his talking in early.

[TomTX]

Okay, I am gonna neg just about the video just a bit:

• Since there was so much talk of data-driven decision-making, I wanted to investigate Amy's claim of 25% unemployment amongst those 20-35 (@ ~18:30 in the video). I can't get any data to back this up, and in fact it appears at best very misleading and at worst wildly inaccurate. *

Unemployment survey numbers seriously lag actual job loss. Even the new jobless claims lag, but not as badly, and they're more quantitative (actual people filing, not a survey and estimates followed by seasonal corrections.)

So, lets do a sanity check:

Add up the reported new jobless claims from the last 5 weeks. 26 million. Presume that the current week is another 4 million (somewhat of a drop) - that's 30M in recent job losses.  The US workforce was 165M people in February. 30/165*100% =  18% of the workforce lost their jobs in the last 6 weeks.  Add in the existing unemployment rate before the virus at 3.5%, we get an estimated 21.5% current unemployment rate.

That's likely a lowball number because the new unemployment numbers generally don't count the millions of self-employed people in the workforce as they are typically not eligible for unemployment.

So, the number doesn't seem out of line.[/list]

[Jack0Life]

I must admit I've only watched about 12 mins so far and I don't know if I can finish it but my first impression of it is that lady Amy does do a lot of rambling. I guess its expected from a life coach.

It only gets worse the more you watch. Pete got most his his talking in early.

Around 7:30, she said:
" So if you have a stock portfolio, its not a real thing until you have cash in your hands. But even then its not really a real thing because it doesn't exist. It exists in our mind "" What ?? Huh ?? Say that again.

[G-String]

I must admit I've only watched about 12 mins so far and I don't know if I can finish it but my first impression of it is that lady Amy does do a lot of rambling. I guess its expected from a life coach.

It only gets worse the more you watch. Pete got most his his talking in early.

Around 7:30, she said:
" So if you have a stock portfolio, its not a real thing until you have it in your hands. But even then its not really a real thing because it doesn't exist. It exists in our mind "" What ?? Huh ?? Say that again.

Ya I'm kinda surprised her and Pete get along. With him being so logical and her head in the clouds.

I'm like Pete, very logical, and I couldn't stand being around her for more then a couple minutes.

[Dicey]

I must admit I've only watched about 12 mins so far and I don't know if I can finish it but my first impression of it is that lady Amy does do a lot of rambling. I guess its expected from a life coach.

It only gets worse the more you watch. Pete got most his his talking in early.

Around 7:30, she said:
" So if you have a stock portfolio, its not a real thing until you have cash in your hands. But even then its not really a real thing because it doesn't exist. It exists in our mind "" What ?? Huh ?? Say that again.

That quote, in context, actually gave me a something to think about. I already know that it's not a loss unless you sell, but she put a slightly different spin on it.  I logged into my account (which I've been avioding see---> Low Information Diet. I discovered a tiny little widget that tells me exactly what I have put into my account,which never knew was there before. Wow! As a result, I'm now looking at exactly how many dollars I have invested, not at my peak balances. Am I still way above the actual number of green soldiers I have amassed in my lifetime? Hell yes, and that's a comfort in these crazy times.

I get that it wasn't high production value and had little planning, but stop harshing on the woman because she wasn't what you wanted. Or do you think Rule #1 should only be applied to Pete and not Amy? Insulting her is insulting his choice of guests. Enough already, you're making it way too personal.

[FiveSigmas]

Add up the reported new jobless claims from the last 5 weeks. 26 million. Presume that the current week is another 4 million (somewhat of a drop) - that's 30M in recent job losses.  The US workforce was 165M people in February. 30/165*100% =  18% of the workforce lost their jobs in the last 6 weeks.  Add in the existing unemployment rate before the virus at 3.5%, we get an estimated 21.5% current unemployment rate.

That's likely a lowball number because the new unemployment numbers generally don't count the millions of self-employed people in the workforce as they are typically not eligible for unemployment.

So, the number doesn't seem out of line.

That seems like a reasonable back-of-the-envelope for current (total) unemployment numbers. Amy’s claim was regarding pre-Covid numbers, though (at least I assume so, since she said “which we already had, prior to this”). The actual statement is at around 18:30 into the video.

[calimom]

I think the intent of the show was to provide hope and be helpful, so taking it at that is useful. What did surprise me somewhat was the discussion of the stimulus payment. MMM said his son would likely spend his [the son's] $500 on video games. I'm honestly curious if others see it that way  as well? My family will be receiving $2200, and will be earmarked for our own expenses and for helping out some of those we know in real need. Is anyone else going to  hand their minor offspring  $500/

[Weisass]

I think the intent of the show was to provide hope and be helpful, so taking it at that is useful. What did surprise me somewhat was the discussion of the stimulus payment. MMM said his son would likely spend his [the son's] $500 on video games. I'm honestly curious if others see it that way  as well? My family will be receiving $2200, and will be earmarked for our own expenses and for helping out some of those we know in real need. Is anyone else going to  hand their minor offspring  $500/

Nope.  As I told our kids (aged 8 down to 1 years old) this money is for helping our community and keeping them fed and clothed.  So it isn’t fun money.  Anything we pump into the community will be to stimulate businesses we care about, and to take care of our neighbors who need it.

[Dicey]

I think the intent of the show was to provide hope and be helpful, so taking it at that is useful. What did surprise me somewhat was the discussion of the stimulus payment. MMM said his son would likely spend his [the son's] $500 on video games. I'm honestly curious if others see it that way  as well? My family will be receiving $2200, and will be earmarked for our own expenses and for helping out some of those we know in real need. Is anyone else going to  hand their minor offspring  $500/

Nope.  As I told our kids (aged 8 down to 1 years old) this money is for helping our community and keeping them fed and clothed.  So it isn’t fun money.  Anything we pump into the community will be to stimulate businesses we care about, and to take care of our neighbors who need it.

I definitely raised an eyebrow at that comment. Maybe it's a result of the divorce? Could he have fallen into the competitive parenting trap? Seems the old Pete would have had the kid haul bricks or clean up construction sites to get the dough for video games. And even if his boy had earned the money to buy said games himself, usage would be strictly limited. Changing times, perhaps.