MMM is starting to go downhill IMO

[Frankies Girl]

I still really like MMM but of course not every post is going to get the same kind of "OMG why haven't I thought of that before" reaction that they got when I was first reading.

On a related note, hubs and I were talking about GRS last night and how we've just outgrown it. I still get the posts emailed me to me but sometimes I don't even bother to read them. But I still recognize how those posts can reach out to those just getting their feet wet when it comes to becoming financially savvy.

I'm about to drop GRS from my bookmarks as they're really not doing it for me any more too. They also just had a very embarrassing posting that appears to have involved a SEO stealth marketer writing as if they were a poor little old lady that was singing the praises of financial planners and honestly, it looks like GRS just copied and pasted without even reading it. It had no actual advice or information other than "see a financial planner for everything because you're probably too dumb to figure this scary money stuff out on your own" type of message... and readers tracked back the "author"  to a 30-something financial planner's name (who claimed no knowledge of the article, but yeah, okay). GRS posted an apology and poofed it out of existence really fast but not before it racked up over 60 comments calling foul on it.

I mod over on a really big forum, and we've really had to get all Sherlock Holmes on some of those stealth marketing things that they try to slip by. It's really sad, but I'm getting to the point where the phrasing and such jump out at me now, but still, VERY obviously a fake and that's not a good thing for them to let get on their front page and hang out until their readers pointed it out to them.

And on the actual subject, I do still enjoy MMM's actual posts in general, but agree that many of them don't contain info that I hadn't heard/thought of that often any more. But I'm okay with that - I still think he's a trailblazer and like his writing style, and I am learning so much in the forums from other wise mustachians.

[SnackDog]

Most blog writers run out of steam after a while. MMM just needs new sources of material. He seems to derive quite a bit from the forums. As someone said, he has enough for a book in case anyone wants to read it all on paper. I'm sure after the comparisons to Suze Ormen he has been approached by publishers with splendid advance offers.  He could be the Rick Steves of frugal living: a few books and seminars, maybe a video.

[Nords]

They also just had a very embarrassing posting that appears to have involved a SEO stealth marketer writing as if they were a poor little old lady that was singing the praises of financial planners and honestly, it looks like GRS just copied and pasted without even reading it. It had no actual advice or information other than "see a financial planner for everything because you're probably too dumb to figure this scary money stuff out on your own" type of message... and readers tracked back the "author"  to a 30-something financial planner's name (who claimed no knowledge of the article, but yeah, okay). GRS posted an apology and poofed it out of existence really fast but not before it racked up over 60 comments calling foul on it.
I mod over on a really big forum, and we've really had to get all Sherlock Holmes on some of those stealth marketing things that they try to slip by. It's really sad, but I'm getting to the point where the phrasing and such jump out at me now, but still, VERY obviously a fake and that's not a good thing for them to let get on their front page and hang out until their readers pointed it out to them.

I almost linked to that freakin' post to illustrate a point in my blog about "current self" vs "future self", but the recommendations about financial advisers were so pathetic that I decided to pass.  I didn't even notice the comments controversy.

I started reading GRS back in 2009 or 2010 when they ran an a guest post on military housing allowances.  The author (who turned out to be, big surprise, a realtor) was trying to claim that military who didn't buy houses on active duty wouldn't be able to afford a house when they retired from the military and would end.  It was written in the tone of "OMG buy a house now before they're all gone or you're a clueless fool doomed to rent in a trailer park for the rest of your sad life".  Needless to say after the housing financial crisis, this hypothesis was met with considerable ridicule.

So their gaffes in guest posts might be more of a sine wave than a trend.  And whether they get a lot of traffic from writing deathless prose or from making a really stupid mistake, there's no such thing as bad publicity blog traffic.

J. Money's started a new blog called "RockStar Finance" that links to the best 2-3 personal-finance posts he's read that day.  It's sort of an RSS reader with a human ranking filter.

[cbgg]

I agree that there have been a few weak posts this week.  Actually, after the "Republic Wireless" post my husband made a comment much along the same lines!

As someone who considers myself somewhat of a blog connoisseur (that's embarrassing to admit), single author blogs eventually reach an expiry.  At some point, the author has said what they set our to say, and there isn't much quality content left for them to put out there.  For example, back in the day Get Rich Slowly used to be phenomenal.  But eventually JD (the author) figured out his life, shared a lot of solid PF advice and learning, and then got bored of writing about it.  Then he turned GRS into a group blog and left.  Those who are in a position of strength bow out when they know it's over.  Those who are addicted to the dollar bills try to stretch it out with crap content.

Has MMM hit that point yet?  I don't think so.  There have been a couple of weak posts this month, but there have been some really good ones too.  IMO "The Position of Strength" and "Obamacare: Friend of the Early Retiree" were excellent, compelling, fresh posts.  But he will done day and that's ok.  I'm confident that he'll bow out gracefully rather than selling out.  There will be other thought provoking bloggers/writers/content producers out there to fill the void.

[cats]

Anyone remember this post?

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/08/16/what-it-feels-like-to-become-rich/

Seriously, I suspect part of the "problem" may be that you've gotten your life pretty well optimized and so MMM may have less to interest you because you pretty much have things under control.  I know we are at a point now where we've really made all the "big" changes, and now it's just a matter of staying on track with them and then maybe occasionally making a game out of finding another $5-10/month that we don't need to be spending.  It is still interesting, but it's not as absorbing as back when I first stumbled upon ERE and realized this whole vague idea I had about not being beholden to a job was actually realizable as a reality.  Likewise, MMM was super fascinating at first but now I'm definitely not checking in on the main site that often.  I still enjoy many of his new posts, but I'm not all over them like I used to be.  I don't think that's really a reflection on MMM, but a reflection on me: I've absorbed what's most useful to me, implemented much of it, know what I need to do to implement the rest.

One could also say that Jacob "sold out" by becoming a quant, no?  Okay, he's not blogging about it, but he got that job as a direct result of his blogging.  I am not too bothered by MMM's product reviews as they don't generally feel pushy and I think he is honest about trying to present a fair review (i.e., bad and good).  The one "review" topic that does rub me the wrong way is that he seems to be very positive about Lending Club, which I personally have not had a great experience with.  I'll be interested to see what his experience is like over time and if he changes his tune at all!

[121 Seconds]

I also thought MMM was also working on a book.  If so, that is very time intensive.  He's also re-doing a house. 

Really, what have we all been doing?

Good question and thanks for asking. Well, last Saturday night I travelled up to the small township of Bulahdelah to film their demolition derby.

You can watch it here, http://youtu.be/HYKoBtYuwls

I'm interested to hear what people think about the merits of smashing up old cars for entertainment.

[Khan]

I think the lot of us have just found our own happy place. We've streamlined our finances, keep an eye on our own efficiencies, but have found a new equilibrium point that works for us. There might be a couple face punches we could take, but maybe we don't want to go there yet.

That, and MMM has already tread upon a lot of areas, so there's less that's interesting today compared to previous articles such as Shockingly simple math, which got me to buy ERE's book, and was a real eye opener. The house renovation articles I look forward to, but wireless? I switched to Virgin Mobile from Verizon, sure I could go one better(Ting/Boost/Republic), but that's scraping at the bottom in terms of efficiency, and also forcing another cell phone change and all the attendant physical waste.

I will say though that GRS has most definitely become an extremely weak blog, and I don't check it anymore. I found it after MMM(and long after it had been sold), and quickly went to the archives to vacuum up information, but the posts on the front of it are aimed at a very low level of conscious consumerism, and so readers of MMM might find that the information there is pretty weak.