Okay, I don’t know what’s up with the Mr. Money Mustashe name. So let’s put that aside for now.
What’s important is content. And the Mr. Money Mustache site has lots of good content enabling and encouraging anyone to attain financial freedom sooner than most Americans think is possible.
It’s a fast, hardcore track to financial freedom. He’s done it and is still retired seven years later.
Other than being sort of retired in their thirties, the Mustashes live a normal life with their kid in a midsized city in Colorado. They both had normal salaries and no big financial windfalls, like buy-outs or winning the lottery. What they did was shift their focus to happiness rather than seeking conveniences and luxuries pushed by ads and popular culture, and saved like crazy.
In a nutshell, what he and his wife did was this. They spent much less than they earned, avoided debt, and saved more than 50% of what they made. Then, when they’d saved 25 times their annual spending they quit the rat race.
The site has more than 300 posts and is easy to navigate. Over the years, I’ve done many of the things they recommend, so I know they work. Most are simple. Live close to work. Never borrow money to buy a car. Pay off your house. And invest in stock market index funds. Not sexy, but very effective.
Mr. Money Mustashe isn’t the first person to implement these ideas and says so. For instance, he recommends, “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez. I read it years ago and found it validating and empowering. It’s about what you value. Look at where your money’s going, and if you find you spend $55 a month at a coffee shop on cappuccinos but you get $55 or more of enjoyment and satisfaction from spending that, then carry on.
The nuts and bolts, and the tools, are all there to get to financial freedom, but the first step is an attitude transformation taking your perception of happiness away from where ads are trying to convince you to look.