The MMM Show - Episode 1 

Yesss!!! Finally!! I’m so excited for this. I’ve been waiting for this for far to long. Video content is where it’s at Pete. :)

My question: do you recommend in-sourcing everything for a dad of two ( a toddler and a baby) who is working full time, given that the in-sourcing often comes out of the weekend - the only real time I have to spend playing, reading, and bonding with my kids. This is a major point of contention with my wife who has to pick up the slack when I am making home repairs, mowing, gardening, maintaining our clown car fleet of 2, etc. Is there a formula or flowchart that can be generated to determine when the in-sourcing is worth it and when it would be better to pony up the money and pay someone else? Variables would be monetary cost of outsourcing the labor, difference in time between what it would take me or a competent pro to complete the task, the potential savings of learning the skill required, etc. Mowing is a good example, learning the skill is trivia and not transferrable to other potential money saving skills, a pro isn't that much better at it than me and wouldn't be able to do it quicker, and the cost of outsourcing it is low (relative to a plumber for instance). Bonus question: how are you preventing tannin bleed from knotty pine interior trim? Zinnser cover stain is what I've been using but it sucks to apply, sucks to clean up, and smells awful for indoor projects.

Hey Pete, thanks for showing up every now and then. In a way it's like getting news from a dear old friend that you don't hear about as often as you'd like. We do need role models to look up to, the non-sellout kind ;-) .

I have been hoping MMM would start vlogging! How about a simple start saving 101 or FIRE 101.

Oh this is so awesome! Thank you MMM & Son! Excited for these videos. Love that you and your son are doing these together. This channel is going to grow leaps and bounds. Sound, trusted advice was very much needed on RU-vid. 🖤

Hi Pete! My question is, at what point should I stop putting money into my retirement accounts and switch to funding taxable investments? I’m concerned about putting too much into my 65+ accounts while not investing enough in vehicles I’ll need to fund my next 25 years.

Interesting! I'm excited to see what this turns into!

Wow I remember when you posted about how young your son was back in the day on your blog. It's great he's helping get you into the video world!

Thank you MMM for this beautiful introductory video. I am glad to discover that you are now on RU-vid, wow! Continue your good work to demystify everything related to personal finances, and the quest for financial independence. It is a little bit because of you that I myself started my efforts towards FIRE.

Great idea! My QUESTION: How would you go about investing in real estate in an expensive area like Los Angeles (assuming you are already contributing heavily to retirement accounts and regular investment accounts...: heck, let’s just assume you’re already financially independent based on the 4% rule and index fund investments). Thanks!

SOOO stoked about this. I've always wished to hear from MMM more often in the form of a podcast. :)

MMM's RU-vid is back up! Excited to see where this goes.

Haven’t found much written or spoken about in terms of what needs to be done and how to get your finances ready when you’re close to pulling the trigger and dropping out of the rat race. Hoping you can provide a step by step guide on what needs to be done (I.e. how much should you have in cash, rebalancing portfolio, selling holdings in your brokerage account to fund your expenses while you start building your ROTH conversion ladder, etc.) What happens when you’re ready to quit? MMM can you write an article or speak about this topic in an upcoming pod cast? Thanks!!!

This is awesome! Looking forward to more episodes!

Thank you for what you do! I am a father of 2 kids (4 & 6), and own a small business, with a good work, life balance. I love what I do. My wife also works full time from home for a large company so we use her company for our health insurance. It’s still expensive. We have always saved and lived within our means but we still struggle spending frivolously IMO. We have done most of our planning. We have good life insurance, savings, only mortgage debt and one car payment for our family minivan. Can you devote some time to how to discuss your lifestyle principles to get everyone in the family involved and bought in in stages? Thanks again MMM

Awesome idea! Looking forward to this immensely!

Congrats on this new adventure with your son.

Looking forward to the next episode!

I had an interesting conversation with a friend this week who is currently in med school as a third year. We were discussing an MMM-esque lifestyle and FIRE and she was adamant that there was no way this would be possible for someone in her situation, specifically 2 distinct arguments: A) She is going to complete school with about CAD300K in student debt(and earn only CAD50K as a resident for the first few years) and B) that medicine, specifically owning your own practice, is unlike any other job and is more like entrepreneurship with a twist & the inflated salary (CAD220K in these parts) is significantly DEFLATED by those additional costs. I tried to encourage her to be open minded about financial paths other than the traditional ones but I chose to back off to avoid seeming like I was mansplanning her finances to her. While she dodged around the question it did seem like she felt that "keeping up with the Jones' " wasn't going to be optional as a doctor. She is generally very frugal(currently driving an $800 car) and she's terrified of her mounting student debt(about CAD180K). What's your take on this? I don't like to preach and rarely discuss FIRE with anyone but it came up organically. I was surprised at the hostility, especially from someone with a well rounded intellect. If you could only give someone in this position 30 seconds of advice, what would it be?

Love it. No bull video.

just a thank-you to MMM - last night i changed car insurance to a cheap high-deductible plan. got a little case of the worries and went and re-read "safety is an expensive illusion." it is, in fact, all going to be ok! thanks :)

Yaaah!!! Finally. I'm one of your 1000 crazy fans. Have been waiting for the MMM channel.

Excited to see where this goes! Keep up the videos

Yay! Yay! Yay! Delighted with this!

Love it! I'm so excited that you started a youtube channel. You're going to expand your audience and help even more people with this new platform. :)

Yay...mr. money mustache is here!!

Yessss! Been waiting for this. Excited to see all your wisdom via RU-vid, since admittedly I'm too lazy to read the blog 🙄

You should put the subject on the titles...

Finally! Can't wait!

Aww. I love the fact that your son is working on this with you, Pete. Subscribed and can't wait see more videos!

I begin waiting for this! It's about time! Subbed and liked before even watching the video

QUESTION 2: should I start my own finance blog to record my own journey? There are already so many blogs out there. And I’m not 100% sure about sharing all my finances publicly with the world (mostly close friends and family). But personal finance is a passion that I love talking, reading, and writing about. So 1, what advice do you have for whether to start a personal finance blog or not. And 2, what advice do you have for writing a personal finance blog and getting followers.

we've been waiting!! welcome back to RU-vid Mr. MM! And Mr. MM Jr.!!

Great idea, an antidote to the Dave Ramsay machine.

Dude finally I have got on the FI bandwagon not really for me but for my wife and son. Can't wait to see more information.

Stumbled across your content and looking forward to getting in to it and getting some interesting ideas...

Oooh. I like this idea. Go man go!

Yessssss!!!

Starting the series now! My question, a bit personalized, firstly I am a med student and I wanna start a business but being a med student I have no idea what to start and how to start. All I know is mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell (and a lil more than the average human haha ). So particularly I would love yo hear your guidance on how to start learning more about this , through which source and your personal advice too. Any response is appreciated. Haha

How do you/did you keep yourself motivated on the journey to FI? Sometimes reading FIRE blogs can give the impression that it's all super easy, it would just be good to hear about how you dealt with the bad times, doubt etc. Anyway v excited to see more episodes - thank you for posting.

I have been waiting almost 5 years for this!

Hey MMM! Love your work. My question is about interest-free loans. In New Zealand, student loans are interest-free as long as you are living in the country. I have about $30,000 in student loans, and while your usual advice is to smash out debt ASAP, I'm more inclined to just be leaving it alone and investing money I earn. I'm slowly paying it off anyway through deductions in my salary. Do you think this is a wise approach, or would you advise simply paying it off ASAP?

No questions right now, but I'm looking forward to seeing what comes in!

Lots of support for this project!

There he is!

You've definitely made a name for yourself. I'm finding myself looking you up now 2-3 years later.

pretty excited for this.....although to be honest I was a little disappointed because I thought it might be another DIY construction project :-). Any chance we might see some more of those with you and Poppa's Cottage teaming up?

This is going to be awesome! Looking forward to all of the questions that get answered. Not to be discouraging at all to your son, but I would recommend a better audio setup for these videos. Camera quality and lighting were on point, but audio left some to be desired.

First heard about you through Tim Ferriss Show - really looking forward to seeing some new videos! I’d be curious what you would recommend some one do with 10k they’ve saved up in our current financial climate.

Thank you MMM. I have two questions, let the fun begin. Question 1: I am currently maxing out my 401k contribution each year. As my reminding founds are available they go to index funds. I have been considering slowing down on the index fund investment and contributing more to a HSA fund, but, I am not well educated on the benefits of doing so. In the long run, what do you see as the plus and negatives of contributing to HSA over investing in index? Question 2: More of a request really. Can you talk about how you are teaching your son about financial skills. one of my favorite post talked about how you setup the digital bank account for him. I have a young daughter and I would greatly appreciate learning from your experiences on this topic.

How do you feel about Camp FIs? I love attending and am presenting this year. Just wondering how you feel about this FIRE movement and where things are headed with the documentary coming out 2019, is this a positive change or destined for flake out?

Hot Damn, some Badassity!

Nice! Badassity on RU-vid! You were a huge inspiration for me to get out of debt and on the path to true freedom. Thanks. Looking forward to the show. PS might want to try a lav mic. The sound is a little poor.

What is the best way to find your calling. In the sense of the intersection between passion, value added to society, and financially sound. I am at the FU money state and can be very driven towards goals. Thus, I'm careful towards the goals I set. Am I attempting to overly optimize the intersection of these values?

Would it be possible to make a Google form or an input method that allows us to submit non-publicly? This also has the nice side effect of keeping a list of questions in a spreadsheet on your end.

How do you bike in the winter? I live in Madison, WI. Between the wet, snow covered roads and drivers, I do not feel safe riding my bike to work, grocery store, etc.

Awesome, i'm excited for this! You mean you aren't going to sale me a course? I won't know what to think ;)

How do I get my wife on board with Mustachianism if she loves her career and plans to work until 60/65 anyway?

Go MMM go!

Hey Mr. Money! Love your blog, still waiting for that book to come out ;) I'm curious about how much money each week/month/fortnight you recommend investing into an index, like Vanguard for example. Much love from Australia!

Hey MMM! Good to see you. I am semi-retired (no I'm not a trucker). I work about 2 days a week and have biked 7 miles to work the last 10 years. We live in a house in the country that I built myself. I like the location and I like living in a house I built (second one for me). But this house if BIG and we are on costly propane and rural electric service. I would like to down-size by building myself another super energy efficient house. I don't want to move twice, but most of my money is tied up in equity, tax deferred 401Ks and IRAs. I am almost 59 1/2, so I don't need to worry about the penalties, but I don't want to get taxed out of mind either. Any ideas how to get from A to B?

I'm Canadian, how should I interpret you advice? Should I follow it exact or would I need to tweak it, make it more pliable to our different economies? I enjoy reading your blogs but I'm never quite sure what to take away from it.

Would like to see a video looking at buy and hold versus momentum trading strategies. Meb Faber has a good book out on the subject. It looks it could substantially improve the outcomes of early FI folks. Would love to hear your thoughts if you have time to dig into his research. You could start with his IVY portfolio book, very low cost book. That's it from me in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Can I listen to 2L&L music on Google play music or other online streaming?

I'm super excited for this but not sure what to ask.y finances are a mess so I certainly need to go back to square one

Hi, this sounds fun! I was wondering how you deal with tax loss harvesting across multiple accounts. You've talked about using Betterment and their automatic tax loss harvest feature, but what if you also invest in the same or very similar funds (like the total stock index) in your taxable account directly with the brokerage firm like Vanguard, Fidelity etc. Wouldn't that cause some wash sale issues? Thanks!

Is it possible to add captions? The auto generated ones are sometimes shitty and there might be people out there with hearing impairment but nonetheless want to take your advice.

What would be your generalised plan of attack to early retirement when you have 2 children 6 & 3yrs, own your own business which you both work for (It's a little below break even in the first year & our wages are low and hours are high @70+ for hubby & 30 me). We're selling our family home to move back into our first home (which was a rental property) and will potentially be mortgage free or up to $100k positive after settlement. We're in New Zealand (so you don't know our tax system I get that) our retirement plan is Kiwisaver at 3% employee contribution and 3% empolyer contribution which we're entitled to for first home buying (we don't qualify) and retirement @65years. Our Student loan system is interest free if you earn under a threshold or are studying or are actively paying it off (I have $3k left).

Maybe you've addressed this elsewhere but here goes. What are your thoughts on contributing to a pension versus opting out and investing in index funds on your own? I'm 33 and work a public sector job in Toronto with a pension plan. I like the gaurantee a pension provides but don't like that it locks away my money and I fear I could be doing better just putting it in index funds (TD e series for me right now). In general, your thoughts on pension plans?

Q: For people who have homes, families and are living at, or slightly beyond, their means, what do you suggest to make "FIRE" a reality? First steps. Thanks.

Hello. My question is regarding health insurance. My ACA is getting more expensive. Depending on my income, it could vary between 300/month and 900/month. I am mid 50s and have a couple minor pre existing conditions. At what point does one stop buying health insurance?

In your opinion? What is the best way to structure your bank accounts to properly bundle checking and savings?

This is awesome! Why did it take so long to do this? Thanks

I see that same print in a lot of your videos and photos. What's the story behind it and where can I get one?

Can you buy a microphone for your episodes? It's hard to hear you.

Wow this is so great! I cant wait for your show to take off. Or podcast, what ever it ends up being. I have a Question. Ive had a financial advisory for over 7 years now investing my savings. He charges a fee. And I know its a waste of money. Im not sure how to go about cutting him out of the picture and reinvesting my savings for myself. I know he will fight me tooth and nail to not leave him. How do I start to plan my strategy!?

Subscribed. Audio is a little echo-y just a production comment to look at for the next one :)

Hey great that you are becoming more active here!! I am saving money for early retirement and am get an defined benefit pension from my employer. How does this influence early retirement? I am now 36, have saved euro 750.000 end am entitled to a euro 12.000 state and a euro 15.000 employer pension from lets say the age of 67. I want to retire with euro 50.000 yearly. What’s my multiple in this case, how many times my expense should I save? When can I retire?

hahaha love this

Hi!!! Were about a year away from FI (could do it now if we trusted that Obamacare is reliable). My father in law is not taking our plans well. I've explained the lifestyle changes that we have made and showed him the numbers. He still thinks it is a mistake to walk away from a 6 figure salary so I can play guitar and ride my bike. What is your advice to help me get his blessing(not that I need but I want it)?

I know it was a mistake, but now I need to know how to get out of it. I bought into a Timeshare and I need to know how to get out.....I do not need to buy into another place who claims to sell it for me....even fell for that one too!

How can I get healthcare insurance for my family at a low cost when we're getting ready to enter the FIRE movement??

I'd like to welcome y'all to "The MMM Show" :-)

How do you feel about switching money currently in Vanguard Bond Index Funds to Total Stock Market Index Funds if the stock market starts zooming down below 20,000? The wrinkle: I'll likely want to use the money for a house down payment within the next two years.

Would love to know what an ideal portfolio for someone pursuing FI is? Let's say this person puts all their money into the stock market, they would have one Global ETF and some bonds. What percentage of each should be had?

What are the biggest lessons you've learned via mistakes in construction/diy? Do you ever quantify or budget for mistakes? I make them all the time, but usually write it off as a cost of learning which will pay dividends in the future. Is that stupid?

What’s the max %. someone should they take out if they retire early like 50 instead of 59.5 yrs old. Say in this scenario they had exactly 1.5 mil tucked away in good investments etc.

Do you like investing with Betterment?

I look forward to you investing in a good mic. 🎤 🙂

When is it ok to buy myself a Tesla?

luxury is not fitting for a fool ~ Jedediah c 1000 bc

Good idea. Lots of crap on RU-vid

For people who FIRE and are relying heavily on Obamacare and it’s subsidies. How do you see the “worst case” scenario of a full repeal and we all have to go back to regular full priced insurance with potentially pre existing conditions coming back. (If it got bad enough would you consider moving to another country to maintain FIRE?). For me medical insurance is the primary obstacle to RE though I do enjoy my job and could live with say working 30 hours a week just to maintain benefits. Sort of a “halfway retired”.

"Most financial advice is bullshit"... Tell us how you really feel...:)

How to live a mustachian lifestyle while wanting to create billion dollar businesses ?

Looks like someone is posting as MMM. DO NOT OPEN the link that has been sent to all our messages! MMM, if you are watching, you may want to do something about this person posting with your picture.