The Tim Ferriss Show

#475: Mr. Money Mustache — Living Beautifully on $25-27K Per Year (Repost)

Oct 23, 2020

Mr. Money Mustache, aka Pete Adeney, is an early retiree and financial guru known for his blog promoting a life of adventure on a shoestring budget. He shares how his family lives beautifully on just $25-27K a year, emphasizing mindful spending and financial independence. Discussion highlights include his philosophy of 'mustachianism,' the impact of community engagement on sustainable living, and the joys of biking as transportation. Pete’s journey showcases that happiness can thrive through simplicity and intentional living.

01:54:22

Episode guests

Money Mustache

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Highlights

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

To achieve early retirement, optimize all aspects of your lifestyle for maximum fun at minimal expense.

Financial independence can be achieved by saving 25 times your annual expenses in conservative investments.

Make spending decisions based on happiness optimization and remove negatives from your life.

Prioritize using surplus money for positive impact and community improvement beyond personal consumption.

Deep dives

Optimizing Lifestyle for Maximum Fun at Minimal Expense

The podcast episode explores the story and philosophy of Mister Money Mustache (Pete Adeney), who achieved early retirement at the age of 30. Pete and his family live a free-form life focused on interesting projects, side businesses, and adventures. They have optimized their lifestyle for maximum fun at minimal expense, with annual expenses totaling around $25,000 to $27,000. This is accomplished through efficiency in spending decisions, such as buying cheaper cars, optimizing transportation, and being thoughtful about purchases. Pete emphasizes the importance of removing negatives from life to increase happiness.

Building a Home

00:59

The Pros and Cons of Retiring Early

01:43

The Magic of Thinking Big

01:09

The Little Book That Beats the Market

01:12

Intro

2min

The Art of Detail: Elevating Your Brand Through Design

2min

Unlocking Mobility and Health: Innovations in Personal Coaching

3min

Sustainable Living and Community Connections

7min

Embracing Mustachianism: A Path to Financial Freedom

16min

Health Supplements and Transformative Book Recommendations

4min

Reflections on Thought, Travel, and Values

10min

Valuing Time and Money

19min

Navigating Personal Finance and Investment Wisdom

19min

10.

Passions Beyond Early Retirement

7min

11.

Navigating Career Setbacks and Personal Growth

21min

12.

Curated Insights and Sponsor Highlights

6min

Mr. Money Mustache (@mrmoneymustache — Pete Adeney in real life) grew up in Canada in a family of mostly eccentric musicians. He graduated with a degree in computer engineering in the 1990s and worked in various tech companies before retiring at age 30. Pete, his wife, and their now eleven-year-old son live near Boulder, Colorado, and have not had real jobs since 2005.

This begs the question of “How?” In essence, they accomplished this early retirement by optimizing all aspects of their lifestyle for maximal fun at minimal expense, and by using basic index-fund investing. Their average annual expenses total a mere $25-27,000, and they do not feel in want of anything.

Since 2005, all three of them have explored a free-form life of interesting projects, side-businesses, and adventures.

In 2011, Pete started writing the Mr. Money Mustache blog about his philosophy, which has grown to reach about 23 million different people (and 300 million page views) since its founding. It has become a worldwide cult phenomenon, with a self-organizing community and incredible news coverage. This episode explores his story, philosophies, and routines.

Please enjoy!

This episode originally aired in 2017. You can find the show notes here: https://tim.blog/2017/02/13/mr-money-mustache/

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.