Mr. Money Mustache goes GRM

The Man Who Gets His Cars for Free

There's a big profile of MMM in this week's New Yorker. His blog makes $400,000 a year, but he says he won't spend it, "plans to give it away."

Margie

Nice.

In reply to Marjorie Suddard:

Damn. That's some good dough. Who knew blogging was so profitable (at least for the few with a lot of followers).

So you're saying I should sell Catywampus now?

T.J. wrote: In reply to Marjorie Suddard: Damn. That's some good dough. Who knew blogging was so profitable (at least for the few with a lot of followers).

He's so much more than a blogger. Mr Money Mustache is so so much more than a blog. It and he are a brand who are featured in a lot of main stream media which acts as an increasing spiral of clicks to the site, which attracts more advertisers which attracts more attention etc.

Also, he may live on $24K a year or what ever it is, but a lot of what he does equates to travel and perks paid for by others that keeps his living expenses down. I'm not knocking him, he did and does walk the walk to get where he is in the first place. But where he and his brand is, is very different from the guy who retired at 30 back whenever it was.

I read his posts regularly and wondered about cross-posting that article over here. It seems like his money concepts and the GRM persona go hand-in-hand.

I like that other groups of people can see the benefit in turning a wrench and learning a valuable skill.

Yeah, i read that article a few weeks back too and thought about how much easier that is in a state where you can transfer plates/registrations.

here in IL, the 300-500 chunk taken out of each car for title transfers on each car makes it much harder. not impossible, just harder.

Never heard of the guy or the blog. That one didn't hold my interest, but I might click around a bit and see if there's anything interesting.

First I've heard of him.

The part that has me curious is his "no safety fund" concept. Instead of 6 months safety fund he recommends investing that money aggressively. Seems very risky to me.

I've been reading his blog for a while. Everyone here made fun of me when I dropped his "if you had the money right now and wouldn't buy it, you should probably sell it" advice in regards to having way too many cars. Lots of good advice though if you're willing to sacrifice a few creature comforts, particularly in regards to investment strategy and having more money by spending less.

What he had just kept the first car and looked after it? And personally I value my time. I can work at my business or I can be a fairly average mechanic. I know where my time is better spent. Buying a beater hoping that it just has rusty calipers, and then spending a day covered in rust, brake fluid and blood has a fairly high cost factor to me.

I agree about the monetary value of time. I view extreme frugality as a job I can always take on if my day job ever falls through. You can always trade time for money.

Regarding retiring in my 30's (or even 40's) based on a frugal lifestyle... I view that as high risk. You could possibly live another 50 years. What if your investments crash and you've been out of the workforce for decades?

I'm trying the balanced approach via consulting/contracting. Reduce the work hours but still maintain the career to compliment and back up the investment income.

I once had a blog on geocities where I gave financial advice. It was based around idea that the easiest way to riches is to make sure you are born into a family with lots of old money. It never really took off with the readers.

It was an interesting post. Like others, the challenge here is that registrations don't roll over, and you pay sales tax on each transaction (based on book value, which is often higher than purchase price).

I do a lot of the basic work on our own cars to save money, and it also gives me some insight into things that will need to be replaced/fixed in the future.

pointofdeparture wrote: I've been reading his blog for a while. Everyone here made fun of me when I dropped his "if you had the money right now and wouldn't buy it, you should probably sell it" advice in regards to having way too many cars. Lots of good advice though if you're willing to sacrifice a few creature comforts, particularly in regards to investment strategy and having more money by spending less.

You might be over stating it with "everyone here made fun of me," don't you think? (Since that's how I view unused stuff.) ;-)

I haven't been driving for free, but I've been driving way nicer cars than I should for way cheaper, thanks to a DIY attitude.

@bearmtnmartin: to some of us being covered in rust and brake fluid and blood is a benefit in and of itself. I spend my days behind a desk doing namby pamby stuff, I want to get dirty and work with my hands when I get home.

dculberson wrote: You might be over stating it with "everyone here made fun of me," don't you think? (Since that's how I view unused stuff.) ;-)

Point taken, hah. At the time I was surprised at the sarcastic "BRB let me just sell everything I own" and "what, you expect me to lose on my investment!?" posts I received. Vehicles are fundamentally depreciating assets. Unless you feel a deep connection with one or are turning and burning them for a profit, it makes more sense to let your money make money for you instead of having a ton of cars just for the hell of it. I've had a ton of cars and a good amount of fun with them, but if I could go back 10 years and smack myself upside the head, and spend that money differently...it's a sobering thought that has done wonders to eliminate my automotive ADD.

logdog wrote: I once had a blog on geocities where I gave financial advice. It was based around idea that the easiest way to riches is to make sure you are born into a family with lots of old money. It never really took off with the readers.

Yeah, he seems like he kinda lucked into life. Sure, he's done well, but when you start off well, it's pretty easy to keep doing it. His car advice is pretty stupid:
Buy low
fix it yourself
sell high
Man, all these years I'm been buying high, paying the dealership to fix it, then donating it to Mother Wadles. No wonder I haven't made it rich yet.

I have him beat, I made 20 grand last year driving different cars etc... I do not have a mustache though.

pimpm3 wrote: I have him beat, I made 20 grand last year driving different cars etc... I do not have a mustache though.

Yeah but you're a dealer so it doesn't count. ANd if all you made was 20 grand at that, I might be inclined to think you are doing it wrong lol. But I am curious how much overhead you have and what you have to pull in just to break even with bonds, insurance, having a physical lot according to code, all that crap, it's whats turned me off from really pursuing a dealers license.

I like MMM, I try and live by most of his rules, and what the guy in this article is doing is exactly what I do with my cars. There's too many cars I want to have, and not enough garage space, so I buy low and sell high on cars that I want to own. The Celica, BMW, and this Mercedes I just flipped have all been on my list of cars I'd like to own, I fixed them up, drove them all, but none have really spoken too me so much that I couldn't part with them. It's actually kind of broken me though, I can't buy a car now that I feel I'll end upside down in. Does that make me any less of a gear head that I won't shell out the cash for a new FR-S? I don't think it does. But rest assured, when the first clean title FR-S comes up on CL with the title "Mechanics Special" I will be there cash in hand.

I supported my family of five for almost two years of unemployment largely by flipping cars. What he's saying is common sense and being done on different scales by lots of folks. I guess that's why I'm not impressed. But good for him.
I'm Going to start a cooking blog. It will basically say this:
Choose a good recipe.
Follow the recipe.
Don't burn it.

And I'll add it's being done across a lot of different hobbies. I have a friend who deals audio/video equipment.

We're just discussing how much money is made from part time jobs as dealers & mechanics.

I guess it's cool if you really enjoy the entire process and want to drive a lot of different cars. Personally I'd rather have long-term ownership of exactly what I want to drive. And I'm way more efficient earning money at my day job.

One thing I've always remembered (and I forget where I read it first) is that if you want to spend $1, you need to earn ~$1.30- basically, because of taxes. So saving $1 is generally a lot easier than earning the next $1.30. If you could boil MMM down into one idea, that would be it.

I like driving beaters, I get enjoyment out of it from multiple facets. Not the least of which is that I'm in the minority, and yet there's a great group of people here who share the same values. Or, at least, appreciate them.

I'm all for saving $1 where possible. But the article was about "the man who gets his cars for free". Except they weren't free. He was spending time and energy dealing and repairing cars in exchange for reduced cost of his hobby and transportation.

If you enjoy that job - awesome! But I don't see the difference between that and say, spending 20 extra hours per year at your day job paying for the depreciation on your long-term ownership DD.

Which method is more cost-efficient just comes down to the $/hr numbers and whether you view dealing/maintenance as fun or work.

jv8 wrote: I'm all for saving $1 where possible. But the article was about "the man who gets his cars for free". Except they weren't free. He was spending time and energy dealing and repairing cars in exchange for reduced cost of his hobby and transportation. If you enjoy that job - awesome! But I don't see the difference between that and say, spending 20 extra hours per year at your day job paying for the depreciation on your long-term ownership DD. Which method is more cost-efficient just comes down to the $/hr numbers and whether you view dealing/maintenance as fun or work.

I wish people would stop thinking that all of us have jobs where more hours equals more pay. My pay rate is exactly the same, if I work 40 hours or 60.