Mr. Money Mustache
 | |
Type of site | Personal finance blog |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Peter Jonathan Adeney[1] |
| Created by | Peter Jonathan Adeney[1] |
| Revenue | $400,000 annually as of 2017[2] |
| URL | www |
| Launched | 2011 |
| Current status | Active |
Mr. Money Mustache is the website and pseudonym of Canadian-born blogger Peter Adeney.[1] Adeney retired from his job as a software engineer in 2005 at age 30 by spending only a small percentage of his annual salary and consistently investing the remainder, primarily in stock market index funds.[1][3][4]
Adeney lives in Longmont, Colorado, and contends that most middle-class individuals can and should spend less money and own fewer physical possessions. He argues that by doing this, they can live with increased financial freedom and happiness, reducing their environmental footprint in the process.[5] He has described the typical middle-class lifestyle as "an exploding volcano of wastefulness," particularly citing the overuse of and overspending on new cars as an example.[4] The blog has been featured and cited in various media outlets including MarketWatch,[6] CBS News,[7] and The New Yorker,[1] as well as others. He is the brother of Chris Adeney, a Canadian indie rock musician better known by the stage name Wax Mannequin.[8]
Retirement story
[edit]The primary aspect of the blog which has caught the attention of many media outlets is Pete Adeney's extremely early retirement at age 30. Adeney and his then-wife both worked in software engineering, averaging an income of approximately $67,000 per year, per person, over the course of their careers.[9] They lived frugally, investing the majority of their take-home pay during their working years. At the time of their retirement, they had amassed approximately $600,000 in investments in addition to a mortgage-free house valued at about $200,000.[9]
Adeney believes in the 4% rule, which states that, with a balanced investment portfolio, a retiree can withdraw 4% of their portfolio's initial value each year, adjusted upward for inflation each year thereafter, with a low probability of ever running out of money.[10][11]
Adeney's portfolio was valued at $600,000 at the time of his retirement, which could support his family's annual expenditures of about $25,000[9] indefinitely according to this rule.
Adeney has made considerable money aside from his initial investment portfolio since he retired from his software engineering job in 2005, through the blog and other sources of income, but he maintains that none of this additional money was ever necessary to fund his family's normal expenses.[12]
Community
[edit]The website includes an active internet forum for discussion of personal finance matters outside of the blog's comment threads. People who read the Mr. Money Mustache blog and subscribe to its philosophy are known as "Mustachians."[13][14] Many of the forum's discussions are focused on topics unique to this niche community, such as frugal living, investing large sums of money, and retiring early.
Readers of the blog gather in person regularly at meetups around the world to share experiences and tips on how to live a lifestyle conducive to wealth building, early retirement, happiness, and environmentalism.[1][15]
In 2017, Adeney introduced "The MMM World Headquarters Building," a physical location in Longmont, Colorado, dedicated to the Mustachian movement.[16][17]
Common topics
[edit]The blog's topics often include:[18]
- Early retirement
- Financial independence
- Frugality and simple living
- Anti-consumerism
- Consumer debt
- The cost of driving cars
- Bicycling
- The philosophy of happiness
- Do-it-yourself work ethic
- Environmentalism
- Credit card churning and travel hacking
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Paumgarten, Nick (February 29, 2016). "The scold : Mr. Money Mustache's retirement (sort of) plan". Profiles. The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 3. pp. 22–27.
- ^ A Visit With Mr. Money Mustache, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Meet Pete Adeney, 2024, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ a b Johnson, Kelly (26 April 2013). "Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30". The Washington Post.
- ^ A Visit With Mr. Money Mustache, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Coombes, Andrea. "How to retire early — 35 years early". MarketWatch.
- ^ Stillman, Jessica. "How Much Your Commute Is Really Costing You". CBS News. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ^ "Mustache Really on the Move: Heading to Canada for the Summer". Mr. Money Mustache. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
my brother (who, as a bit of trivia for you, happens to be the Canadian Indie Rock Star Wax Mannequin).
- ^ a b c Pedersen, Claire; Effron, Lauren (12 May 2015). "How the Man Behind Mr. Money Mustache Retired at 30, and You Can Too". ABC News.
- ^ Mr Money Mustache: How I ‘retired’, aged 30, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ The early retirees who know there's more to life than work, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Adeney, Peter (15 September 2011). "A Brief History of the 'Stash: How we Saved from Zero to Retirement in Nine Years". Mr. Money Mustache.
- ^ How these penny-pinchers retired in their 30s, 2024, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Anderson, Tom (31 May 2017). "Use these homegrown tools to figure out if you could retire early". CNBC. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ^ A Visit With Mr. Money Mustache, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Meet Peter Adeney, the Canadian-American Who Retired At 30 Years Old - Straight.com, 2024, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ A Visit With Mr. Money Mustache, retrieved 4 March 2024
- ^ Adeney, Peter (27 May 2014). "All The Posts Since The Beginning of Time". Mr. Money Mustache. Retrieved 4 December 2017.