The Scold

Move along, nothing to see here!
Dragline
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Re: The Scold

Post by Dragline »

Yes, I believe his income comes from ads, clicks and affiliated links. "Nice work if you can get it." Just remember that his site is just one of scads on similar topics and, like all outsized successes in the media world, there is more luck involved than people think as to which ones will rise to the top and do outlandishly well. Its a very steep power-law distribution.

I think his financial success may start engendering "foolish consistency" moments for him, as it really does not make sense for him to argue over $20 to "prove a point" anymore, especially if it might interfere with his son's otherwise decent friendship. "You can't play cards with that kid because I don't approve of the way his father handles their family finances" is not likely to go over well long term, because it teaches a "people like us"/"people like them" mentality and blames one family member for the behavior of another. Private conversations with children about values and when to be/not to be flexible with others tend to work a lot better than notorious and public example-setting (that the kid might not even see or appreciate).

This was actually one of the quandaries faced by Franklin and Gandhi that is something to be learned from -- they had notoriously bad relationships with some of their children because they were too didactic with them about certain issues/things.

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jennypenny
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Re: The Scold

Post by jennypenny »

Those comments. :roll: It's been a while since I read through the comments on a retirement story. It always surprises me that people get so bent out of shape over the definition of retirement. Why is the only acceptable definition 'sitting on your ass all day'??

Drop that hammer ffj, and for heaven's sake stop posting pictures of your subversive retirement behavior on the internet! You know you're not really retired if you're building tree houses or furniture. The IRP will be at your door any minute to strap you to the barcalounger and duct tape the remote to your hand!

Dragline
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Re: The Scold

Post by Dragline »

And the internet storm of cognitive dissonance continues . . .

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jennypenny
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Re: The Scold

Post by jennypenny »

The bogleheads thread about the article devolved into an argument about (1) whether he was actually 'retired' and (2) his propensity for profanity, and has now been locked. :lol:

In all seriousness, I bet MMM will have to move at some point now that he and his fortune have been outed.

jacob
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Re: The Scold

Post by jacob »

I've seen far far worse from the MSM. Maybe I just have low expectations but I actually thought the article was pretty good?! To me it showed how far we've come compared to the hatchet jobs from five years ago.

I think the MSM will always try to make it about the person[ality]. It's not a stage the MSM have reached now after hashing out all the FIRE related concepts and strategies. It's a stage they never left. I don't think we'll ever see any kind of conceptual development or focusing on the analysis of ideas from the MSM. It's simply not compatible with the format.

The Old Man
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Re: The Scold

Post by The Old Man »

The article seemed balanced to me. It did paint him as an eccentric, but that seems accurate to me. Even Mr ERE himself got a mention. The one-liner about Jacob makes him seem like a very interesting person.

BRUTE
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Re: The Scold

Post by BRUTE »

MMM has a weird personality. brute thought the article did that justice. it's actually jacob's most attractive feature that he does not fall into that "i'm a star now!" personality complex, maybe because the ERE following is too small. overall the article was not too bad.

Tyler9000
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Re: The Scold

Post by Tyler9000 »

I also thought the article was pretty good. It does sound like the author misunderstood or exaggerated a few details (like the cards thing), but on balance I found it interesting and pretty even-handed. It was not a financial independence promotional piece nor a hatchet job, and it provided far more insight into MMM than any article to date. I actually sorta like that it personalized him, flaws and all.

With any article like this, people will read into it what they want to see. Those who strive for financial independence will find it inspirational, and those who believe FI to be unattainable will cite is as evidence that he's a miserable liar with a miserly life. The degree of negative feedback simply illustrates that the average person feels trapped and helpless.

One thing pointed out on the MMM forum is that you kinda get the vibe that MMM is starting to tire a little bit of the blog game. He's been posting less and less for a while now as his life has turned towards raising and homeschooling his kid, and finally being so open sorta reads like one method of turning the page.

jacob
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Re: The Scold

Post by jacob »

Tyler9000 wrote: One thing pointed out on the MMM forum is that you kinda get the vibe that MMM is starting to tire a little bit of the blog game. He's been posting less and less for a while now as his life has turned towards raising and homeschooling his kid, and finally being so open sorta reads like one method of turning the page.
The five year rule? In other news, he just might be focusing on a bigger/wider game (e.g. TED talks).

BRUTE
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Re: The Scold

Post by BRUTE »

soon humans will have the pleasure of attending MMM-university for only $29,999 per semester in various franchised locations around the country.

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