How much did Mr Money Mustache retire on?

[Alchemisst]

In this video he mentions he retired on 600k + a paid off house, which doesn't seem like much, depends where you live I guess? I guess he possibly had other retirement funds and money coming in from the blog by then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvJ4bwnAHnE

[Kwill]

I recommend reading early posts from the blog itself to understand that. The main point was to reduce his spending and make the savings continue to grow as investments during retirement. Here is a post he made for people who are new to the blog and want to catch up.

[Schaefer Light]

I'd quit today if I had $600k and a paid off house.

[terran]

Not to say that people don't still retire on $600k (they do), but remember that MMM retired in 2006. $600k in 2006 adjusted for inflation is $763,934.15 today. That's actually less than I was expecting, but still, may as well use current numbers in the discussion.

[Metalcat]

Not to say that people don't still retire on $600k (they do), but remember that MMM retired in 2006. $600k in 2006 adjusted for inflation is $763,934.15 today. That's actually less than I was expecting, but still, may as well use current numbers in the discussion.

Also, even if you ignore the unexpected massive blog income, his other projects generated more than enough to live on, so he wouldn't have had to touch his 'stache and it would have kept growing, CoastFI style.

He's even admitted himself that he could have retired quite a bit sooner and just let the 'stache passively grow while he did his profitable fun projects.

[ixtap]

MMM did barista FIRE, albeit as a blogger and carpenter.

He also only counts daily expenses when he shares his budget. Travel, an addition to the house, a car to prove to his followers that they can get a car...all business expenses.

However, there are plenty of places where $600k ($24k pa) is doable. Just be sure to have that sinking fund available for home repairs and other non regular expenses. We plan to live that lifestyle occasionally, but aren't willing to commit to it for the next 60 years, so we continue to work now while the salary is ridiculously high.

[mcneally]

Wasn't it $600k + a paid off primary residence + a paid off rental that rented for $2k/ mo?

[MonkeyJenga]

Wasn't it $600k + a paid off primary residence + a paid off rental that rented for $2k/ mo?

He mentions the rental in this post. Yep, $24k a year after expenses.

His #4 also makes it seem like he doesn't count 401k balances in his initial net worth/SW calculations. So that's even MORE buffer???

[FireLane]

In this post from 2018, he describes his stash as a million dollars of investments, "based on 2005 retirement date inflation adjusted to 2018 dollars".

[norajean]

He hasn’t retired yet as near as anyone can tell. He is working like hell at many profitable endeavors.

[LennStar]

If I had 600K Euro I would FIRE today. That is enough for comfortable living in a German LCOL area thanks to the fact that you pay "flatrate" for health (% of income) and don't need to worry about any big expenses.   
And that is calculated for renting.

If you own a house and have 600K it is easily enough for a couple since 2/3 of the costs aren't increasing (or only a bit that doesn't matter) with one person more.

[NorthernMonkey]

MMM isn't retired. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/03/09/money-and-confidence-are-interchangeable/ Read through this. He makes enough money from working to cover his expenses. That's not retired by any conventional definition.

[LennStar]

MMM isn't retired. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/03/09/money-and-confidence-are-interchangeable/ Read through this. He makes enough money from working to cover his expenses. That's not retired by any conventional definition.

He is FIREd but not retired.
In other words, you do what you want, and not for the money. If it still earns money, it's a bonus, but not the goal.

[Scandium]

MMM isn't retired. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/03/09/money-and-confidence-are-interchangeable/ Read through this. He makes enough money from working to cover his expenses. That's not retired by any conventional definition.

He is FIREd but not retired.
In other words, you do what you want, and not for the money. If it still earns money, it's a bonus, but not the goal.

Sure. But it highly depends on your life and skills. Nobody would pay a penny for my carpentry or blogging skills:D (and I have nothing else that could make me any money). My engineering career is either 110%+ position or nothing, I couldn't get a part-time job. And if I was out of the job a few years I doubt anyone would want to hire me, too much skill loss.

So it worked for MMM's situation, but clearly wouldn't work for me. I'd need portfolio to cover it all.

[Cassie]

I didn’t think he had the blog when he first retired.

[NorthernMonkey]

MMM isn't retired. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/03/09/money-and-confidence-are-interchangeable/ Read through this. He makes enough money from working to cover his expenses. That's not retired by any conventional definition.

He is FIREd but not retired.
In other words, you do what you want, and not for the money. If it still earns money, it's a bonus, but not the goal.

"Financial Independence and use the knowledge that you have enough cash to fall back on if you dont make any money, and you just do what you enjoy" isn't as catchy as FIRE

[Firehazard]

MMM isn't retired. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/03/09/money-and-confidence-are-interchangeable/ Read through this. He makes enough money from working to cover his expenses. That's not retired by any conventional definition.

He is FIREd but not retired.
In other words, you do what you want, and not for the money. If it still earns money, it's a bonus, but not the goal.

Sure. But it highly depends on your life and skills. Nobody would pay a penny for my carpentry or blogging skills:D (and I have nothing else that could make me any money). My engineering career is either 110%+ position or nothing, I couldn't get a part-time job. And if I was out of the job a few years I doubt anyone would want to hire me, too much skill loss.

So it worked for MMM's situation, but clearly wouldn't work for me. I'd need portfolio to cover it all.

Don't sell yourself short.  You can always learn new skills, doesn't have to be carpentry or blogging!

[Catbert]

I didn’t think he had the blog when he first retired.

Yeah I think he retired around 2006 and didn't start the blog until 2012. I may be wrong about that though. But in any case he didn't start earning money from the blog until many years after he retired. He did do some work though - either for pay or for trade - but seems like pre-blog he didn't spend much more then what he started out with. But again I'm not 100% sure where all his income came from back then and I think his wife was still working. I just think that in his situation, even if he never earned another dime once he quit his job, he would probably have been fine and found great low cost ways to enjoy the things he wants.

Yeah, his wife was still working when he started the blog.  That's how they had reasonable cost (free?) health insurance before the ACA.

[Dee18]

A brief summary of their journey is available here:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/

MMM and his wife retired within months of each other.  They had enough saved/invested for their expenses using the 4% withdrawal rate.  The reasons I did not retire on that amount are many, including:  I drive a car most places, not ride my bike; I like to travel, including abroad when there is no pandemic; I like to eat in restaurants/get takeout about twice a week; I like to buy a few new clothes every season, etc.  I am happily retired now myself...with plenty of money to do anything thanks to cost savings and investments developed in part on the advice of MMM.  It often seems like people are trying to prove that MMM didn't really retire on $600,000 to justify why they aren't going to.  At least in my case, it's simply a matter of my not being as frugal/self-sufficient.  He's been a great role model for me. I am indebted to his blog. If I hadn't liked my job so much, perhaps I would have followed his model even more closely. 

[Loren Ver]

In this video he mentions he retired on 600k + a paid off house, which doesn't seem like much, depends where you live I guess? I guess he possibly had other retirement funds and money coming in from the blog by then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvJ4bwnAHnE

There are (or were) a bunch of us around here who retired on that amount or less with no future incomes planned for other then Soc Sec or pensions many years after we retired. It's very doable, especially with a paid off house regardless if low or high COL location. Obviously number of dependents, and things like healthcare costs, taxes, etc  are likely to effect everyone's expenses differently. As a single childless person with a paid off house in a HCOL area it's easy to keep basic expenses low and have more of my smallish FIRE income go to more luxuries.

It had better be doable as that is what we are doing :).  Well, when you take into account inflation and take away the paid off house and add in student loans.  Okay, so maybe we are in a worse position, but it the math still works as long as we aren't too rigid.   :).  The ACA makes it easier or estimating health costs.

Loren

[ericrugiero]

The math says that 4% works MOST of the time for a 30 year retirement.  A longer retirement is slightly less optimistic but not a whole lot different.  MMM shows that math and is clear about the fact that he retired while having some backup plans to make some money on the side either without really trying or if he needed to. 

It seems like early on they were close to 4% but with some pretty robust backup plans.  (maybe it was more conservative than 4% when you include the rental income)  Either way, he pulled the trigger when most people wouldn't have had the confidence.  These days, he is swimming in money but it's not fair to "hold that against him" because he didn't know what was going to happen.  The blog income is the big change and that couldn't have been predicted when he retired. 

Either way, he has shown the path to FIRE and written an entertaining blog that gives lots of people the confidence to take control of their life rather than blindly following the "normal" path.  Everyone should make their own decisions and have their own "backup plan" for if things go South.  My own thoughts are that I'd like to get to about 4% and then do some side hustles early on to make sure my stache grows.  That's pretty similar to his path except I won't be making six figures on a blog. 

[HPstache]

Here comes the IRP...

[StashingAway]

To claim that making money after retirement invalidates the retirement completely misses the point.

I don't intend to spend my retirement avoiding making money. I want to do things that are meaningful to me. If those things make money, so be it.

[Sanitary Stache]

To claim that making money after retirement invalidates the retirement completely misses the point.

I don't intend to spend my retirement avoiding making money. I want to do things that are meaningful to me. If those things make money, so be it.

I agree.  I often tell people my goal is to stop having to work for money.  I do not think that means that I will do work for other people for free.  If I do work for other people I will charge what I think is a fair price.  I just won't be motiviated by a need for money.  I will definetly work though.

[des999]

I'd be comfortable doing it if it covered my expenses, but I wonder if ACA got removed from the picture if I could still make it work.  That is a big gamble for our family right now (we aren't quite at 25x), and something I will have to consider before retiring.  I most likely will semi-retire for a while, until my kid is old enough to get his own ins.

[YYK]

$600k AND a paid off house is a pile of money! I'd for sure quit my day job with half of that even with a mortgage. Especially with a mortgage.

[American GenX]

Had to laugh when I saw the subject.   MMM retired  / FIREd?   That's a good one.

Just want to add that when I FIRE, my plan is to FIRE for real and not work at all.