I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...
I don't really care what he did after this point. The fact that he multiplied his net worth many times thanks to blogging doesn't mean he is financial independent thanks to it.
He is selling shovels and jeans to gold rush miners. "Financial independence" when supplemented by the $$ he makes while telling people how he got rich surely makes a huge difference.
He's not saying people can, though. He's giving financial advice based on something he achieved following a plan when he was making $67k/year, years before he ever even had the blog.
Also, shovels and jeans to gold rush miners?? Pretty sure people can still make $67k/year. Pretty sure people can also still make simple investments, live frugally, pay off their mortgage and retire early. It's simple math. Comparing that to taking advantage of gold rush miners is quite a stretch.
Yeah, a Google /FB /x employee can sacrifice for 10 years and then retire, at least outside USA. Live like immigrants that send all their money back to their home country, do.
It's like if Rich Hickey gave simple programming tips, and you said, "He's a genius, of course this works for him." Yes, and? If the advice works, what does it matter how the giver is positioned relative to you?
He's actually probably the least divisive, unless we're including people nobody's ever heard of.
Also not sure what difference it makes whether he fits anybody's definition of "retired" or not. I don't think anybody actually cares if he's still saving money by doing his own yard work, or earning passive income from his blog. The point is that he attained the option of retiring at 30, which is true.
Whether you consider how he chose to live his life after that point "retirement" is kind of subjective and irrelevant.
That's not retired.
That's just changing your career. Of course it's relevant. He's still earning to make money to do more stuff, he just changed the way he does its.
Now he makes money off blogging. That's, again, just changing your career.
I know multiple people who are retired, but still do random jobs because they are bored or just like to have a bit more cash at the time. I still consider them retired because when they work, they are doing it on their own terms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.
You can define the term any way you want for yourself, but it seems arbitrary to exclude those who enjoy doing things that others happen to be willing to pay them to do.
He still needed to work to support his lifestyle as far as he explained it, he just did a different job. At very best you might term it semi-retirement.
1. get a time machine
2. go back 20 years
3. exploit your peers
He's full of it. I recall reading one time about him speaking about having a pound of oats in his hand and what a lot of raw energy that represented if used wisely.
That at then income of two other families whilst they struggle.
This is how we got to this total mess.
Secondly - and this shows you are living in a dream world - banks are not intermediaries of funds. When you borrow to buy a house credit is created not sourced.
Of course, moving into an area drives up demand making prices go up, but that comes from taking up space someone else could use, not from buying versus renting. The only way to avoid that is to use less space or move away.