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> One complaint from readers was that the 33-year-old author and her husband still earn sizable incomes. Nate Thames works for a nonprofit and was paid about $2

> One complaint from readers was that the 33-year-old author and her husband still earn sizable incomes. Nate Thames works for a nonprofit and was paid about $270,000 in 2016, according to his employer’s most recent tax forms. Ms. Thames makes an undisclosed amount from her blog and a recently published book. “Now I understand why even with cutting everything to the bone, that we haven’t been able to save like they do,” a reader posted in an online review of the book. Ms. Thames says she is “transparent about the fact that my husband still works a conventional job from home and that I enjoy working for myself through Frugalwoods.com.” > Mr. Sabatier, 33, says his Millennial Money website made $401,000 last year. Blogger Joe Udo, 44, recently disclosed he has made almost $350,000 since starting “Retire by 40” in 2010. > Tanja Hester, author of a blog called Our Next Life, called for FIRE bloggers to be more transparent about their financial lives in a post this year. She said she makes less than $1,000 a year on the blog, but declines to disclose her income from a book advance, saying “there’s no need to share your actual numbers if you are honest with readers about your general financial situation.” Like much of the self-help ecosystem, seems the key to living that superior lifestyle is having other people pay for it.

vibrato 8y ago
All monetary success requires having people pay for it. That is the definition of money.
astura 8y ago
There is a lot of, for lack of a better word, fraud in the financial stories posted on the internet, and if you call it out on the financial forums, you get accused of just being jealous. Like people who got wealthy from getting a job through family connections, borrowing tens of thousands of dollars from family members to start a business, large inheritance, parents pay for college, stuff like that, then pretend they lifted themselves up by their bootstraps and anyone can do the same. There was an article a bit ago like "how I paid off $150,000 in student loans in a year" where the woman said that her aunt or something gave her a high paying job, her grandma gave her a condo, and she lived rent free with her parents while renting out the condo, then used the money she wasn't spending on rent to buy a second condo. Anyone can do it! I really don't understand why that is the way it is, but whatever.
- roenxi 8y ago
  Stating the obvious - the average person must produce about as much as they consume over their lifetime or 'the system' will by definition collapse. I'm on board with what you say, but frugality is a pretty basic virtue and there are a lot of people who set themselves up for failure - there are people earning more than ~$80,000 who have good excuses for struggling financially, but they are rare. The fact that some people luck out in life and don't acknowledge it doesn't detract from the basic good sense of consistently investing in the future, and being realistic about whether your purchases are buying you more happiness than they lose you time through working. The core of the FIRE philosophy is to try and do all the production in one big up-front batch, and then benefit from any opportunities that come along. It is obviously easier for the upper middle class and harder for the lower working class. There isn't anything wrong with that though, as long as everyone acknowledges that saving isn't equally easy for everyone and it depends on their ability to contribute to the economy.
esotericn 8y ago
The inheritance stories are bogus, sure, but aside from those, I think part of the issue is that there's a sort of selection bias in FI individuals that makes it difficult to just stay on the margin. A self made financially independent individual is someone who went against general trends in society for a decent length of time, who now suddenly has essentially infinite free time (e.g. probably 10 times the amount of a salaried worker or more, normalizing for energy levels). It would be odd for them to _not_ develop these side streams of income unless they just sat on the beach all day. Making money really isn't that difficult. The difficult bit for most is satisfying basic needs so that they're in a place where they can actually _think_ and act upon those thoughts.

vibrato 8y ago

All monetary success requires having people pay for it. That is the definition of money.

astura 8y ago

There is a lot of, for lack of a better word, fraud in the financial stories posted on the internet, and if you call it out on the financial forums, you get accused of just being jealous. Like people who got wealthy from getting a job through family connections, borrowing tens of thousands of dollars from family members to start a business, large inheritance, parents pay for college, stuff like that, then pretend they lifted themselves up by their bootstraps and anyone can do the same. There was an article a bit ago like "how I paid off $150,000 in student loans in a year" where the woman said that her aunt or something gave her a high paying job, her grandma gave her a condo, and she lived rent free with her parents while renting out the condo, then used the money she wasn't spending on rent to buy a second condo. Anyone can do it! I really don't understand why that is the way it is, but whatever.

roenxi 8y ago
Stating the obvious - the average person must produce about as much as they consume over their lifetime or 'the system' will by definition collapse. I'm on board with what you say, but frugality is a pretty basic virtue and there are a lot of people who set themselves up for failure - there are people earning more than ~$80,000 who have good excuses for struggling financially, but they are rare. The fact that some people luck out in life and don't acknowledge it doesn't detract from the basic good sense of consistently investing in the future, and being realistic about whether your purchases are buying you more happiness than they lose you time through working. The core of the FIRE philosophy is to try and do all the production in one big up-front batch, and then benefit from any opportunities that come along. It is obviously easier for the upper middle class and harder for the lower working class. There isn't anything wrong with that though, as long as everyone acknowledges that saving isn't equally easy for everyone and it depends on their ability to contribute to the economy.

esotericn 8y ago

The inheritance stories are bogus, sure, but aside from those, I think part of the issue is that there's a sort of selection bias in FI individuals that makes it difficult to just stay on the margin. A self made financially independent individual is someone who went against general trends in society for a decent length of time, who now suddenly has essentially infinite free time (e.g. probably 10 times the amount of a salaried worker or more, normalizing for energy levels). It would be odd for them to _not_ develop these side streams of income unless they just sat on the beach all day. Making money really isn't that difficult. The difficult bit for most is satisfying basic needs so that they're in a place where they can actually _think_ and act upon those thoughts.