Poll - How many Mustachians do you know personally

[Russ]

Alone on a island in central Wisconsin.  Anyone have a spare boat?

Whenever we put together the mega Chicago-MKE-Madison-Twin-Cities meetup, we're expecting you to come. 2 hours to Madison is nothing! Russ could bike that in 10 minutes while modbanning some trolls!

lulz. I rode right by Weston on my way up to Lake Superior for 4th of July. We could have had a mini-meetup!

[Booritocat]

Darn!  Next time you are in the area you will have to stop in.  We are not far off the highway and easy to find.  Have space to park, lots of homemade wine, and a spare room in case you drink too much wine! 

[pachnik]

I had a hard time figuring out which one to pick. 

I have never met any Mustachians that belong to this website IRL. 

However, my parents are very Mustachian (and I wish I had followed more closely in their footsteps for the last few decades).  They both retired at 62.  A close friend of mine is quite frugal and I have told her about this website but I don't think she's interested. 
My friend retired at about 60 due to health issues.

There could be others around but I am not comfortable talking about my finances other than with my SO, my parents and my friend mentioned above.

[stlbrah]

probably no one, which is why this type of mindset was such a huge cultural shock

[happy]

Another lonely islander here.
Diane C might be right though….had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance (in the carpark at the supermarket of all places) where we were talking about cutting back, and she said something like "its interesting to see how low you can go". Ran into her again and we started talking about how we should do a fruit&vege swap. Someone to follow up IRL!. Hope to get to my first meet up in a couple of weeks.

[nora]

My husband is interested in retiring early but not really on board with some of the ideas as yet. My Dad retired when he was 40! But funnily enough when I brought it up with my Dad, he said it would be a strange thing to want do that with my line of work -medical professional. I guess because I studied so long to get here? I don't know. Maybe it seems like a waste of skills to get out early. And i spoke to my brother about it earlier this year, maybe he is reading this post? He has taken a lot of it on board which is good. So mostly I feel alone with a few glimmers of hope of involving others on the edges.

[happy]

My husband is interested in retiring early but not really on board with some of the ideas as yet. My Dad retired when he was 40! But funnily enough when I brought it up with my Dad, he said it would be a strange thing to want do that with my line of work -medical professional. I guess because I studied so long to get here? I don't know. Maybe it seems like a waste of skills to get out early. And i spoke to my brother about it earlier this year, maybe he is reading this post? He has taken a lot of it on board which is good. So mostly I feel alone with a few glimmers of hope of involving others on the edges.

Nora, I'm 55 and a doctor and I gently raised the topic of hanging up my stethoscope with my family, and they pretty quickly put me back in my box and told me I had better keep working as a medico. I didn't go into anymore detail because  I could see it didn't match their idea of what I should be doing. None of them live nearby so I have fantasies about retiring and just not telling them.

[johnny847]

I was talking with one of my friends about how I am considering writing a blog about personal finance, investing, etc. My friend asked me if I follow MMM, and I was like yes...wait do I know a Mustachian in person??

But no. He's not Mustachian. He has friends who are. Had a glimmer of hope for a second there...

[nora]

My husband is interested in retiring early but not really on board with some of the ideas as yet. My Dad retired when he was 40! But funnily enough when I brought it up with my Dad, he said it would be a strange thing to want do that with my line of work -medical professional. I guess because I studied so long to get here? I don't know. Maybe it seems like a waste of skills to get out early. And i spoke to my brother about it earlier this year, maybe he is reading this post? He has taken a lot of it on board which is good. So mostly I feel alone with a few glimmers of hope of involving others on the edges.

Nora, I'm 55 and a doctor and I gently raised the topic of hanging up my stethoscope with my family, and they pretty quickly put me back in my box and told me I had better keep working as a medico. I didn't go into anymore detail because  I could see it didn't match their idea of what I should be doing. None of them live nearby so I have fantasies about retiring and just not telling them.

Funny. My Dad was pretty firm about my options too I thought. I have no family near me either and  I might do the same thing! My Mum always asks me about work every time I skype with her and she worked to 70 and is not interested in discussing ER with me -will need to make up some stories. It is a wee way off yet though even if my plans work out. Would be 7yrs at least I think and I will be 45 by then, so older than my Dad was. Perhaps I could site burnout or some other understandable reason. Political change perhaps.

[happy]

@Nora My family have never been interested in specifics, so that makes it easy. I'm not comfortable with telling porkies in any case, but can probably just away with being economical with the truth when the time comes. But rather than lie if necessary I'll just tell them straight.  I really think they just feel I'm the doctor in the family and that all makes them feel good…don't think they've really ever been interested in what I do day to day specifically and how I feel about it. I really raised it just on the off chance I might get some support/creative energy/ideas for the idea of RE, or a career change.

[JPinDC]

I have a few real-life friends who read the blog (don't know if they're in the forum though). I don't remember exactly how we found out, but one of us wanted to share this great site they'd heard of and we'd already heard of it too! I send it to friends on a somewhat-regular basis, but I haven't heard of anyone really adapting anything. I would be thrilled to recruit my just-out-of-college brother with $30k in student loan debt who has a 2011 car but wants to buy a new one anyway. Tough sell, but he was so surprised to hear how much I had saved, so maybe there's some interest in there!

[darkadams00]

My coworkers make good money, but they're on a mission to wear out the magnetic strips on their debit/credit cards in the shortest time possible. My friends and my parents have about the same pattern--they live in reasonable homes and drive used cars, but they have saved little and spend too much in small amounts that add up by the end of the month. A couple friends do buy the occasional extra vehicle or recreational toy.

That just leaves my wife, and I have to help her along. Finances don't interest her much, and she has mixed financial patterns--saves on groceries somewhat, is willing to have just 1 car and bike as needed, helps save on utilities, and buys clothes at thrift stores. She doesn't ever spend > $100 on anything other than groceries without letting me know, but she will overspend on smaller items, e.g. restaurants/gifts/household items, every month if we don't have a short chat and look at the numbers on the screen. I'm glad for what she does, but she could improve. If only she were as perfect as me.  :)

[Dicey]

I was talking with one of my friends about how I am considering writing a blog about personal finance, investing, etc. My friend asked me if I follow MMM, and I was like yes...wait do I know a Mustachian in person??

But no. He's not Mustachian. He has friends who are. Had a glimmer of hope for a second there...

Awww, Johnny, don't be shy, ask him to introduce you. I'll bet they'd be happy to meet a fellow mustachian. What have you got to lose?

[mostlyeels]

I know two people who are half mustachian -- can I put them together and count it as one?

[tofuchampion]

Can I change my vote?  I said none, but I do know one person.  Well, two - a couple.  I don't know details, as I don't know them well, but I know he bought their house for cash, for about 1/3 the original asking price, and has been fixing it up himself.  They both drive older cars and dress nicely, but not expensively.  They're probably the most Mustachian people I know. 

That's about it.  I really don't have much of a social life, and my family (as well as Husband's family) is pretty un-Mustachian.  Shit, husband isn't very Mustachian.  I'm working on him, but it's slow.

[Will]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

[Adventine]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

Gah, I wish I lived in Portland!

[Squirrel away]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

Gah, I wish I lived in Portland!

Same here!:)

[johnny847]

I was talking with one of my friends about how I am considering writing a blog about personal finance, investing, etc. My friend asked me if I follow MMM, and I was like yes...wait do I know a Mustachian in person??

But no. He's not Mustachian. He has friends who are. Had a glimmer of hope for a second there...

Awww, Johnny, don't be shy, ask him to introduce you. I'll bet they'd be happy to meet a fellow mustachian. What have you got to lose?

Haha neither my friend nor my friend's friends live anywhere near me. At that point it would be an online friendship...which is in a way what we all have on this forum, isn't it? =P

[PeachFuzzInVA]

None. My fiance` is halfway on board, but not quite all the way there yet as far as understanding everything. She's naturally cheap, so there isn't really any quarreling. She doesn't quite understand the finance and investing side of things, so she's basically given me carte blanche to cut expenses where we can and invest our money how I see fit. With that said, I would love to meet some of the Richmond group one day.

[rocklebock]

I know a lot, but I'm not aware that any of them read the blog or participate in the forum or even know who MMM is. Quite a few people I know through work retired medium-early (50-ish) just by taking advantage of our employer's amazing retirement plan. Then I have a few friends who made money as entrepreneurs in their 20s and just decided to not work very hard after that. Another friend who used a small inheritance to buy a rental property that now supports a modest life of leisure. Then there's my parents, who retired in their mid-50s by playing their cards right. However, they still seems super-stressed about money even though they have plenty of it, which doesn't seem very mustachian.

[pichirino]

Does it matter if your heart is in the right place but your savings rate isn't?

A colleague is in this situation and would love to have a high savings rate but is stuck with a shitty situation.
Aside from the colleague there's also the GF who has a ~40% savings rate,which is not due to MMM but due to
goals we both have,would having a decently high savings rate such as that but not caring about MMM principles still make you mustachian? So many ways to look at it.

[Sparky]

As in 'on MMM' forums, I know 1 person. However my GF is incredibly frugal and would easily fit in to the MMM community. It's one reason we get along so well; we both have zero interest in being consumers.

[hybrid]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

We are doing the same in Richmond in October. If you are in Richmond and are interested, PM me.

[Asgard01]

No one at all however 2 of my friends are starting to get interested in investing and the general idea of FIRE.

[Nyarlathotep]

I guess it makes me feel a little better knowing that  I personally do no know of any who have committed to becoming financially independent. I do think there are people out there who can be converted... 

I need to get my self on these boards more so I can feel a little less like my wife and I are on our own island of frugality. I will also have to add "Meet mustachians" to my check list as well.


I love the fact that the term "converted" is used... Its as if we are all in some sort of cult or something...

[Thegoblinchief]

Met 6 new Mustachians (or at least adult members of a Mustachian household) by hosting a meetup this afternoon.

[deborah]

Met 6 new Mustachians (or at least adult members of a Mustachian household) by hosting a meetup this afternoon.

Meetups are wonderful!

[agent13x]

Here's the thing. They do not go around waving banners promoting their status.

Kinda wish they/we would. On reddit, in the /r/motorcycle forum, quite a few guys there have a small decal they put on their bikes that get them spotted in the wild. I'd be in for getting a mustachian decal on my cars (no, I don't ride a bike everywhere like a lot of you may). Would be nice to spot some other MMM's in the wild to let me know I'm not alone.

[Suit]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

Whoop whoop Portland! I also voted lots and I also recommend anyone in the area come and hang out with all of us!

[libertarian4321]

They are out there, but they usually don't advertise it.

Watch for tell tale signs, like a well paid professional answering a FLIP PHONE (rather than an iWhatevertheHell) at work.  Or those that drive a modest, older sedan rather than the newest offering from Mercedes or Lexus.

[hybrid]

I voted for "lots" since we have been having monthly Mustachian potlucks in the Portland metro area for almost a year now, and we've consistently had anywhere from 10-20 people at each one.  If any of you are in the area and say you feel like you are on an island and know no one Mustachian, come and join us!  We meet the first Sunday of each month.

Whoop whoop Portland! I also voted lots and I also recommend anyone in the area come and hang out with all of us!

TrulyStashin and I are building an East Coast Portland here in RVA. Last night we met three new people over a few beers on an outdoor patio at a local microbrew and it was a great time. Would love to hear about things that work (or don't work) in the Portland area.

There will be a big potluck in RVA October 19, see this thread for details. Going to put out a Share Your Badassity post soon about growing the local MMM community. Would like it if other folks who have done the same tag on and add their input. 

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/richmond-va-monthly-downtown-lunch-meetup/

[fb132]

I live in Montreal and I have yet to see a mustachian person. Funny enough, people at work see that I don't like to spend money (except if it matters to me like groceries), so they simply call me cheap...which I take it as a compliment.

[Gmullz]

I said none, but one person that may qualify is my old man.

In reading about financial independence and some of the posts on this site I've begun to realize why my dad has done some of the things he does over the years. Like why he drives old cars when everyone around him is telling him he can afford a new one. Why he embraces hardship. Why he denies himself most forms of luxury that have become common in our society.

I wish I knew more people who embraced the mustachian way of life. I biked 28 KM in the pouring rain yesterday. I don't think I know one person who wouldn't think that's insane, except my dad.

[hybrid]

I said none, but one person that may qualify is my old man.

In reading about financial independence and some of the posts on this site I've begun to realize why my dad has done some of the things he does over the years. Like why he drives old cars when everyone around him is telling him he can afford a new one. Why he embraces hardship. Why he denies himself most forms of luxury that have become common in our society.

I wish I knew more people who embraced the mustachian way of life. I biked 28 KM in the pouring rain yesterday. I don't think I know one person who wouldn't think that's insane, except my dad.

I think no one outside of your immediate family is the better choice. So many of these replies make me realize how fortunate I am to have Mustachian people in my life. 

[oinkette]

I know of one I "introduced."  I use quotes because he was well on his way and had not heard of either MMM or ERE.  Now he's hooked.  He's off on a boat in about 2 years.

I have a coworker I suspect is.  It's like one of those secret millionaires you hear about living next door. Only, mine is at work.  I already knew she drove a sensible car, and did 1 annual vacation (husband and daughter) off season by driving everywhere.  A former coworker told me that she lives in a very modest home (2 bed 2 bath) in a nicer low cost suburb.  We recently had retirement packages and she was eligible.  Apparently the only thing keeping her at work was her daughter about to start college, which she wants to pay for.  I suspect in 4 years (when daughter graduates) she's outta here, though I'm sure she rue's the fact that she wont get the package then.

I have yet to convince any of my other friends.  And pretty much all of them HATE their jobs!

[nyxst]

I don't know anyone. And it seems an impossible task to pick one out of a crowd :)

[devan 11]

  I didn't limit myself to counting forum people.  I count an old friend/ black belt who lived a simple life paid for by his rental income, countless Diy people in crafts and trades, farmers, homesteaders, and physical machine hackers.  Badassity is the definition I have used, and it is all around.  I'm lucky to live in a place that has it in it's roots.

[Mrs. SSC]

I've never met another one.  I have talked to my friends about Mustachianism, and some think its an interesting idea, but no one has really grabbed on yet... its a lonely path...

[Cherry Lane]

I wish I knew more people who embraced the mustachian way of life. I biked 28 KM in the pouring rain yesterday. I don't think I know one person who wouldn't think that's insane, except my dad.

Hey, I've done that (almost - my trip was ~25 km).  Forgot to check the weather before I returned the minivan I'd borrowed from my cousin to haul some stuff.  Drove over, unloaded my bike, and the skies opened up.  Rode the whole way home anyway.  I don't think I've ever been so wet.  It felt like getting in the shower after actually made me less wet.

But yeah, even though I've done it, I still think its kinda insane.  In a good way.

Glad you have had your Dad as an incognito Mustachian role model.