Hey Everyone!
I got word that this discussion was going on about the story and I thought it would be worth throwing in a thought or two.
First of all, while I think it is pretty good fortune to be featured in the New Yorker, I've learned that every story of this type comes with some pain. This one was no exception, and it may be a little worse for me personally than expected.
Overall it was still worth it because it should bring a lot more high-income eyeballs to the ideas I'm trying to share on the blog and hopefully change a few more minds about consumption and the purpose of life.
But yeah, some of the stuff Nick wrote seemed to be out of pure misunderstanding. Take the Magic the Gathering Cards debacle for example. In the NY story, it sounds like I tried to prevent my boy from hanging out with his buddies over 4 bucks. Here's what really happened:
- a friend invited him over to introduce him to the game. There was a $20 buy-in for whatever reason, as announced in the email from his dad. "Awesome!", we all said. We'll pay for you (rather than having him pay out of his own sizeable 'stash), since this is kind of a special thing more like a joining a sports team than just buying yourself a video game. He went, and had a great time
- at the big game night, each kid was given 4 decks of 15 cards each. These little packs cost $5 apiece. "Hmm, sounds like a bit of a racket", I thought to myself, but obviously this was not a big deal and I was glad he had a new pastime.
- Magic the Gathering really captured his imagination, so he dove in. We researched the game together and it turns out you can buy packs of ONE THOUSAND (1000) cards for 20 bucks on Amazon. You get a curated mixture of like-new and new cards from game shops, because the nation is swimming in Magic cards after 20 years of popularity. So we bought him a thousand-pack for his birthday, and another for Christmas. He built a huge portfolio of custom decks and started playing the game with friends all over town.
- Then another email comes from that first friend's dad: "Friday Night Magic Night again! Every kid should bring another 20 bucks!"
"Wait a minute - why would kids want to spend $20 on another few dozen cards when we already shared the news about the thousand packs and several of the kids bought them?" I asked his dad, who is a friend of mine.
"Oh, that's just what Tom likes to do, because he heard about these Friday Night Magic nights that the company that manufactures cards likes to promote"
It was at THIS point that I felt the conflict of trying to be easygoing vs. speaking out against what I feel is bullshit consumerism. So I told my son that he could certainly continue to go, but I felt it was a pretty expensive hobby for 9-year-olds, and he'd have to start using up his own money if he wanted to do so.
Meanwhile, I privately suggested to his dad that he squelch the $20 part of his son's game night and just encourage the kids to play for free.
As it turned out, his dad agreed and the game nights have been free since then.
That was a long sidetrack story, but I feel it represents the difference between the deprivation of cheapness and Mustachianism, which means pursuing only win/win situations. For example a bike is better for you AND cheaper. Working harder instead of being lazy makes you happier AND earns you more money.
Similarly, there were about ten other parts of the NY story where the tone misunderstood the reasons I do things. Like the part about "would not stay in a cubicle just to be able to afford a Tesla or a Dryer". My wife and I CAN afford both Teslas and dryers, we just don't buy them because they would not make our family any happier!
Finally, the part about the blog making a shitload of money last year - it's true and it surprises me just as much as it surprises anyone else. The blog gets equivalent traffic to newspapers that have dozens or hundreds of staff, so even with pretty minimal advertising stuff, it adds up.
But I think this is an endorsement rather than a subtraction of what I'm promoting. Remember, this whole MMM thing is secretly an environmental activism blog. It's about getting my fellow rich people to consume less, because we are the ones destroying the planet.
Whether you spend $25,000 or $25 million per year, you can extract full happiness from life - the extra products and "experiences" you can buy with the surplus money don't help once your true needs are met. But in order for rich people to believe this, they have to see it being done. They need to see someone who has the option of spending more money, and yet still does not do it. They need to see their peers doing this. So although I didn't expect to make THIS much money after retirement, it's pretty handy that I can continue to not buy too much shit and continue to live the same life as before. And use this surplus money for something other than just pampering myself or passing on a big estate to my descendants.
Addendum on Parenting/School Choices: it's always funny when people become judgemental over parenting choices when they haven't met either the parent or the child. But in case you're curious: we left the public school system a couple years back not because it was bad, and definitely not because it was "low income" as someone stated earlier (average house price in our neighborhood is about $500,000 these days), but because our boy has a generalized anxiety disorder.
This means that things that other kids might not even notice, can be sleep-destroying, sickness-inducing things to our son at this point in life. For example, while he's incredibly social with friends and constantly leading little groups in creative pursuits, he is DEADLY AFRAID of, say, arriving late for school and having to hang up his coat after everyone else has already hung up their coats. He eats exactly the same food every day for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner and is very fearful of new foods unless you reaaaaally work at it.
It's hard for an outsider to understand if you have never dealt with the condition before (and read a few books on it, there is a relevant chapter in Susan Cain's "Quiet".) - But we're working on it and making great progress. The condition comes with a lot of creativity benefits too, so there is no need to feel sorry for us. But it does mean our parenting experience is several times more intensive than what I see close friends get away with. (Your kids EAT AT RESTAURANTS, VOLUNTARILY JOIN SPORTS TEAMS, and PUT THEMSELVES TO BED!?!!)
Addendum on Marijuana: Oh, and as for the "Pothead" stuff, that was weird too. Here's how it really went down:
Nick was intrigued by the idea that marijuana is legal in Colorado. I do like the stuff, but I don't use it often and it is in plentiful supply around here so you rarely actually buy it. I have about a year's supply ($50 worth) sitting in my computer desk drawer as I type this, just left over from gifts from friends, dinner parties, whatever. But Nick seemed interested in going in to see what the legal weed buying experience is like.
So we walked down my street to "Native Roots", and each of us bought a little sample. I don't think we got around to partaking together since it was a busy week, but I still have the little oil refill thing I bought and it comes in handy occasionally.
Anyway, if you take the NY article with a good plate of salt, you can still get the general idea. It was lots of fun to work on it and Nick is a more fun guy in real life than he lets on as the author.
