Meet Mr. Money Mustache, the man who retired at 30
By Kelly Johnson, WashPost, Friday, April 26, 10:09 AM
To hundreds of thousands of devotees, he is Mister Money Mustache. And he is here to tell you that early retirement doesn’t only happen to Powerball winners and those who luck into a big inheritance. He and his wife retired from middle-income jobs before they had their son. Exasperated, as he puts it, by “a barrage of skeptical questions from high-income peers who were still in debt years after we were free from work,” he created a no-nonsense personal finance blog and started spilling his secrets. I was eager to know more. He is Pete (just Pete, for the sake of his family’s privacy). He lives in Longmont, Colo. He is ridiculously happy. And he’s sure his life could be yours. Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Q Interesting name you have there. What’s the story?
I imagine the Mr. Money Mustache character as this old-fashioned financial sage from days gone by. He runs his old western town with quiet wisdom: The business leaders from Wall Street seek his advice, and the mayor checks with him on issues of town policy. He takes time to dish out a wise lesson or two to the local children, occasionally, and with a sparkle in his eye, he flips them each a golden coin with the tip of his thumb. “Invest it wisely, children, and you too will grow to be Mustachians!”
So there’s that, and the fact that all those M’s just sound great together. Plus, the convenience of how Mustache rhymes with Cash — as in “You Must Stash your Cash.”
So you retired at 30. How did that happen?
I was probably born with a desire for efficiency — the desire to get the most fun out of any possible situation, with no resources being wasted. This applied to money too, and by age 10, I was ironing my 20 dollar bills and keeping them in a photo album, just because they seemed like such powerful and intriguing little rectangles.
(More here.)
To hundreds of thousands of devotees, he is Mister Money Mustache. And he is here to tell you that early retirement doesn’t only happen to Powerball winners and those who luck into a big inheritance. He and his wife retired from middle-income jobs before they had their son. Exasperated, as he puts it, by “a barrage of skeptical questions from high-income peers who were still in debt years after we were free from work,” he created a no-nonsense personal finance blog and started spilling his secrets. I was eager to know more. He is Pete (just Pete, for the sake of his family’s privacy). He lives in Longmont, Colo. He is ridiculously happy. And he’s sure his life could be yours. Our conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Q Interesting name you have there. What’s the story?
I imagine the Mr. Money Mustache character as this old-fashioned financial sage from days gone by. He runs his old western town with quiet wisdom: The business leaders from Wall Street seek his advice, and the mayor checks with him on issues of town policy. He takes time to dish out a wise lesson or two to the local children, occasionally, and with a sparkle in his eye, he flips them each a golden coin with the tip of his thumb. “Invest it wisely, children, and you too will grow to be Mustachians!”
So there’s that, and the fact that all those M’s just sound great together. Plus, the convenience of how Mustache rhymes with Cash — as in “You Must Stash your Cash.”
So you retired at 30. How did that happen?
I was probably born with a desire for efficiency — the desire to get the most fun out of any possible situation, with no resources being wasted. This applied to money too, and by age 10, I was ironing my 20 dollar bills and keeping them in a photo album, just because they seemed like such powerful and intriguing little rectangles.
(More here.)
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