The Self Educating Child

Little MM and me self-educating with some Orson Scott Card, way back in 2017. We’ve come so far together since then! So it looks like my 15-year-old is officially a high-school dropout. Halfway through ninth grade, emboldened perhaps by the taste of freedom that Covid-era remote learning had provided, he realized that the whole system...

Apr 2021

Beware of the Bubble

“A Nation Which Forgets Its Past Has No Future” Those were the words on a 20-foot-long banner that “Mr. Slick”, my high school history teacher, kept carefully pinned across the width of his classroom for the entire four years I had classes with him. “That makes no sense at all”, I thought to myself when I first read it at age fifteen....

Mar 2021

The Margin Loan: How to Make a $400,000 Impulse Purchase

So, I kind of just bought the house next door to me. We’ve already gotten straight into the renovations with a symbolic first step: a new front door. This is already somewhat amazing, for a small-town boy who refuses to even buy himself a new car.  But even stranger are the details that surround this deal: I’m not moving into it.I...

Jan 2021

Poisoned Just Enough: Why I’m so Optimistic About 2021

A close friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer this year. It was the serious kind, where you need to treat it quickly and aggressively or it will spread through your body, stick to all of your organs, and kill you. The diagnosis was a shock to my friend and her loved ones – she’s fairly young, had always been healthy in the past, and had no...

Dec 2020

Two Years Without Health Insurance (and What I’m Doing Now)

Two years ago, I was unsatisfied with my options for health insurance. The premiums were rising even as the quality dropped in the form of an ever-increasing deductible. I am guessing that you might feel the same way these days – most of us Americans are in the same boat. I felt like I was being squeezed from both ends and it was starting to...

Nov 2020

The Man Who Retired at 27: Why You Should Consider House-Hacking

Way back in the olden days, people used to be amazed at my life story. I was “The Man Who Retired at 30”, and it was so unusual that it would show up in news headlines all over the place.  Thankfully, this is no longer such a surprising story. The idea of financial independence has spread far and wide with the rise of the FIRE movement, and people...

Oct 2020

Socially Responsible Investing: Is It Also More Profitable?

Since the Dawn of Mustachianism in 2011, the same question has come up over and over again:“MMM, I see your point that index fund investing is the best option. But when you buy the index, you’re getting oil companies, factory farm slaughterhouses and a million other dirty stories. How can I get the benefits of investing for early retirement...

Aug 2020

The Sweet Spot

“Success can get you to the top of a beautiful cliff, but then propel you right over the edge of it.” As a Mustachian, there’s a good chance that you are a bit of an overachiever.  Maybe you fought hard to get exceptional grades in school, or perhaps you have always dominated in your career or your Ultramarathon habit or your hobbies – or maybe...

Aug 2020

Introducing Coverage Critic: Time to Kill the $80 Mobile Phone Bill Forever

A Quick Foreword: Although the world is still in Pandemic mode, we are shifting gears back to personal finance mode here at MMM. Partly because we could all use a distraction right now, and even more important because forced time off like this is the ideal time to re-invest in optimizing parts of your life such as your fitness, food and finances.Canadian...

May 2020

The Medicine of Mustachianism (a guest post from Marla)

Camp Mustache Seattle, one of Chancellor Taner’s ongoing assignments. Foreword from Mr. Money Mustache : Marla is a long-time friend who I met on one the very first of the Ecuador Chautauqua trips. Since then, she has served as the Chancellor of Fun in the MMM organization, which is an informal and haphazard group of entirely volunteer...

Apr 2020