Made a convert!

[Gone Fishing]

An ex-co-worker and I remained friends after he left the company.  We've always batted around investment ideas, 401(k) contributions and the like, but he has always been a bigger spender, but no McMansions and only one BMW that he sold after the first trip to the shop.  So, a couple weeks ago I tell him that I am going to RE next year and his competitive juices started flowing.  He asks me how I did it and I tell him about my 50%+ savings rate.  I send him links to MMM, MadFI, and a few others and tell him to start reading.  He has been calling me up every 4-5 days to update on progress.  Just got the latest update.  He did a post-mortem on his last 12 months spending, was utterly shocked, and has been making as many changes as he can.  He developed a new budget and spent 2 hours looking over everything with his wife.  They both came from modest means, hate debt, but just let hedonic adaptation get the best of them as they progressed in their careers.  I really feel like they could be FI in a decade or so if they stick to it.  Even worst case senario, they will be far better off than if they had done nothing.  I am really excited for them!

[skunkfunk]

You win!

[Gone Fishing]

Thanks! 

Secretly, I just want someone to hang out with and go fishing with me:)

[forestbound]

Thanks! 

Secretly, I just want someone to hang out with and go fishing with me:)

+1

Okay,  now I've got to go recruit some retirement buddies!

[Heather in Ottawa]

jealous :) I want to recruit some friends, too. I want to tell them all about the shockingly simple math. But, my friends are mostly at work, and I don't want to be a weirdo there (I ride a bike, that's weird enough), so mostly I just drop subtle hints and hope someone will want to continue the conversation. A few nibbles, but I don't think anyone's on track for FIRE

[johnny847]

I've been slowly making progress on converting one of my labmates to becoming Mustachian. She still spends quite a bit of money. But, she was originally looking to put 10% into her 401k at her new job...and I crunched the numbers for her and showed her that she could easily afford to max it out. And also afford for her husband to max out his contributions. Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to convince her husband to max out his 401k contribution (though fortunately he does maximize the match).
Unfortunately, she's the type of person who tends to spend money if she sees it in the bank, even if she doesn't need it. She always spends within her means, and she's been getting better at limiting it.

I've also convinced her to open Roth IRAs for both her and her husband.

[pistachio]

I'm jealous too! I've been dropping hints at work too with "I read blah blah blah at Mr. Money Mustache." Or when I was helping people with their benefit elections and they'd ask how I know this stuff, I'd say, "I like personal finance. I follow Mr. Money Mustache." I'm still waiting for someone to say back, "me too" and then I'll die from happiness. Still hasn't happened ... yet.

[Adventine]

...I'd say, "I like personal finance. I follow Mr. Money Mustache." I'm still waiting for someone to say back, "me too" and then I'll die from happiness.

This is still my ultimate work fantasy.

[falcondisruptor]

Congrats!

The closest I got was a friend who said "interesting" when I sent her the link.  She already has pretty low expenses for housing and transportation, so I think she could do really awesome with a mustache.  I think she read a few pages, but I'm not sure if she'll be changing anything up.

[powersuitrecall]

Ever since my FIRE switch has gone off (on?) I've wanted to tell everyone about it.  EVERYONE! 

How could anyone not want to do this?  It's just simple math!  After a couple of "meh" responses at work it's clear that people will either get there on their own or not at all.  And that's ok.  Heck, I took long enough to get here.  It's not going to stop me from bringing up MMM when the opportunity presents itself.

Congrats on your conversion :)

[shanghaiMMM]

The first time I broached the subject of savings, frugality etc to my friend it was at the pub and I was expecting it to be dismissed out of hand but was shocked that one friend replied - 'Have you read MMM?'. Hells yes I have!

But he then went on to dismiss a lot of it as too extreme, so he's not fully on board...

However, he was telling me how he has cleared all his debt and is building up a little stash, so some of it must be sinking in!

[skunkfunk]

...I'd say, "I like personal finance. I follow Mr. Money Mustache." I'm still waiting for someone to say back, "me too" and then I'll die from happiness.

This is still my ultimate work fantasy.

Somebody at work told me about his plan to retire early. I was surprised, a guy in his 30s who doesn't even make as much as I do has these grand plans? Impossible! This is pretty much what started me looking into this stuff.

Later, I learned that he had read up on the mustache, and no longer does since he has pretty much got his plan in place, in motion, and on track.

[randommadness]

A lot of my friends are pretty good about staying no debt, but that's about it.

Lately I've gotten several to start upping or maxing their 401k's + some dividend investing.  They are all in better positions than me and I'm glad I was able to get them thinking and acting on this stuff. Nice knowing you got someone to change their 401k from 5% to 20%, etc.,.

[socaso]

...I'd say, "I like personal finance. I follow Mr. Money Mustache." I'm still waiting for someone to say back, "me too" and then I'll die from happiness.

This is still my ultimate work fantasy.

This happened to me the other day but not at work. I was hanging out with friends and I said I had been bopping around on the forums at MMM and she said OMG I'm on those all the time. She may be reading this now. Hey girl, you know who you are!