[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=Escoguy]I’ve read some of Mr. MM from time to time.
What I like:
Agree that you should be able to get by with as little as possible. Maximize savings, minimize expense.
What puzzles me greatly:
What does a man who lives on 30K /year do with the revenue from advertising?
In this sense, the Zen lifestyle makes no sense. Either you are confident you don’t need the money and could say donate it to charity or there’s this little voice in the back of his head that says, perhaps I can’t keep this up forever and I will need more later.
Don’t think we’ll ever get the answer but for me, I do want to increase my standard of living gradually over time. Even if I can live on a small amount, it doesn’t mean I’ll always WANT to do it.
Live well[/quote]
yep.[/quote]
I get the Zen aspect with regards to the surplus, but I’m not sure if the 25-30k/year is necessarily the point. Maybe he’ll stick to it, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to increase his standard of living gradually over time just like you are….at least a little.
My gut says he uses the 25-30k number to eliminate all the “complainypants” out there that will right him off because they make less than the number and they get to use that as their first excuse why his methodology will not work for them. He’s overcoming that objection at the beginning so what he’s saying applies to more people when they make that much….or more and are NOT retired yet like he is.
He also defines retirement differently in my opinion. He still works he just does not have to. He helps friends with carpentry and things he enjoys or he chooses not to do it, which is something I think we can all appreciate. I believe he talks about retiring when his son was born because he wanted to spend more time with him and his family than working to provide for them and suddenly realized that if he could live on less then he could do it now vs. waiting until a later age when the kids are not there to hang out with anymore which is the norm.
I think he’s more about defining what it is to live well than to pick if you are going to or not based on what you make each year.
