Whenever I see gobs of hate hit our blog here, I know for a fact it’s been picked up in the media lately and people for some reason feel the need to go out of their way to spread the nastiness…
Such was the case the other week when one of Mr 1500’s posts got picked up by Business Insider and over 200,000+ people viewed it. (In case you’re missing him here btw, I do too! But scroll down to the bottom to see how you can get more of him while he’s on break here ;)).
Here was my favorite comment that trickled down to our blog from it:
You are an idiot! Buying nice cars (and kites) will leave you with little money in a few years. 1.9 million dollars is really not that much money and will not last a lifetime. Your advice is hopeful at best. My advice to you, go back to work and save more money.
I always laugh at these because first of all, you have to assume that anyone leaving comments such as these must be multi-millionaires and thus speak from experience, right? (Hah!) And secondly, how do random people on the internet even know how much your daily expenses are anyways? The key ingredient to financial freedom?
I’m just waiting for someone one day to say “you know what? You are completely right! Let me dust off the resume and get back to work again because my life totally sucks! Thanks for saving me!” Haha…
Here’s the thing: if you’re smart enough to retire early, you’re smart enough to figure out how to live for the rest of your life.
You’ve already done the hardest part! You hit your early retirement number! And we all know damn well that “retirement” really isn’t “retirement” for folks in our community anyways… What blogger, or early retiree, do you know who just lays around all day wasting away their lives?
(Answer: no one)
If you’ve figured out how to get – and keep! – millions of dollars for yourself, and certainly by your 20s/30s/40s, you’ve earned the right to do whatever the $hit you please in life. Whether that’s to keep working for more or just completely change your life.
Plus, a million dollars, or in this case $1.9 Million dollars, is still $1.9 MILLION FREAKIN’ DOLLARS! Maybe *you* can’t live off that much, Mr. Hater Pants , but you ask anyone off the streets if they think $2 Mil is a lot of money and I guarantee you’ll get more Hell Yes’s than you would No’s.
I’m so confident, in fact, that I’ll gladly give you MY $0.6 Million dollars if I’m wrong ;)
So sure, the future is never known and the money may or may not last for your entire lives because of health insurance and the stock bubble and yada yada yada, but if you’ve managed to stack a couple of million in your lifetime already, I guarantee you’ll be just fine later regardless of whether your plan works out perfectly or not.
And btw – this applies to anyone who has saved $10,000 or $100,000 or whatever too. Not on the retirement side, of course (def. no way to live off that ;)) but you should certainly be PROUD of how far you’ve come and know that you’re well on your way to financial freedom yourselves if you keep going strong. No matter what the outside world tells you. And we all know the first $100,000 is the hardest anyways, so once you cross that barrier things just get turbocharged!
Here’s another gem we received on the blog lately about our friends who retired off a million dollars and started traveling the world at 30 years old:
Amazing how a posting like this gets encouragement from complete strangers thinking their accomplishment is cool, lets see how they help when sh. hits the fan if they still post their problems, wake up people, it’s the journey, not the finish line.
Grammar aside, I find it hilarious that he/she? mentions the “journey,” considering these guys are literally journeying around enjoying life and *not* chasing the “finish line” haha… And again – these guys have literally saved over a MILLION dollars! Why not see if you can live off it for the rest of your lives? If it doesn’t work out you go back and get a job or do whatever it takes, right?
If you’re smart enough to hit your FIRE number, you’re smart enough to manage the ups and downs of life. I think I’ll just copy and paste that forever and ever in response to all the future haters here, haha…
Point is – our community will, and always has, stood for positivity and *encouragement* on this blog here.
You’re free to voice any concern and opinion as you’d like, but I hope you know it’s a judgement-free and safe zone here, and that we’ll never go out of our way to tear you down or anything.
Whenever you see randos stirring up trouble here, you’ll know exactly where they came from – the outside world ;)
And speaking of community, if you’re gonna be in the Dallas, TX area next Friday, October 27th, make sure to come out and meet me and hundreds of your other favorite $$$ bloggers too!
Our financial blogging conference (FinCon) is opening up a half day for the public to come out and get their money on, and there will be tons of great speakers and fun going down for anyone who wants to meet us. David Bach from Automatic Millionaire fame will be there, Farnoosh Torabi will be there, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox will be there, (J. Money will be there!! Did I mention that?), and then special guest – and rapper – Dee-1 will even be there to put on a show for us.
You might remember him from the hit songs, “Sallie Mae Back” and “No Car Note” – both of which are perfect to blare whenever your debt-ridden friends are around ;)
Here’s the No Care Note one – you’ll like it:
So yeah – I hope to see some of you there! Just make sure to look for the ‘hawk so we can meet up :)
To positive journeys,
*******
PS: One last hilarious hater that recently came out – Robert T. Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” fame! He thought it would be fun to call Mr. 1500 a “loser” the other week, and so of course Mr. 1500 had to blog about it, haha… you can see that article here if you can’t get enough of this stuff. Good times…
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this is great J!
I really needed this!
I’m often accused of being able to do what I do ( travel a lot, buying my house without mortgage) because of my parents money.
people never consider the fact that my parents worked hard for that money and also thought me how to work hard for money and how to save and be frugal and how to get a job that pays well.
I literally just did that, and that’s how I’m doing things. My parents gave me (and continue to do so!) all this knowledge which is waaay more useful than money in the bank.
people just think that because they didn’t do and don’t want to put the efforts in doing things, that it’s wrong or impossible for others to do too.
and when you’re the living proof , like in your examples, then bahm! , negativity all over your accomplishments,.
Why, really, why, I’ll never understand.
(I hope this is clear, English is not my native language)
The English was great! The most important part is believing in YOURSELF and looks like you’re doing an excellent job of that :) Keep rockin!
The problem occurs when you make a decision to do something that isn’t in the norm, or what that person is doing. That’s when that person feels that you are saying that what they are doing is wrong, when all you’re saying is you are doing what’s right for you.
I live this all the time with decisions we make in our personal life. For example, we homeschool, so my mom goes on the defense for my childhood, feeling I am telling her she raised me bad. Which obviously I’m not. People have a really hard time accepting that we all have different lives to live, and that our lives won’t look the same along the way.
Like that comment said, it’s the journey, not the finish line. Enjoy the time now, and stop stressing about where we are all working towards. This is a great post! Really encouraging when people’s negativity gets you down!
yeah, home schooling gets alllll kinds of bad press. I’ve never known anyone who had been home schooled before, but I guess now I do! Haha… so way to represent – no pressure ;)
J, you are so right. Those haters are most likely NOT millionaires/multi-millionaires (well with the exception of RTK ).
Most successful people don’t put people down, they raise them up. Every single time I have encountered negativity it has been from someone not so successful.
Let’s continue keeping the community positive and encouraging. And just thank the haters for the traffic .
I agree with your comments 100%!
We were all outsiders from this community once. Hopefully someday Mr. Hater Pants can shed whatever issue he has and join the ranks of people passionate about leaving the 9-5 behind.
The internet seems to bring out the worst in people and that’s too bad. Perhaps if they were more open in a positive way these negative people may grow for the better and not worse.
I think people tend to get really bold and assertive on the internet since nobody knows who they are. If they met us in person and had the courage to tell us what they think, I’d give them credit at least for speaking their mind.
I am no Mr. 1500, but I’ve gotten some negative comments on my blog. My initial reaction is to want to respond to them to explain my point of view. However, given how negative and insulting their feedback is, I realized it’s not worth my time to argue with them.
In other words, my time is precious (at least to me), and I will spend it with the people who matter (my supportive readers and those who legitimately want to start a meaningful debate).
That’s a good way of looking at it :) I tend to get sucked in, but do my best to be more snarky so at least I’m entertained by it haha… But I’m with you on the courage to say it to your face. I wish I had the balls to tell people how I really feel sometimes haha…
Hope to run into you next week!
“If you’re smart enough to retire early, you’re smart enough to figure out how to live for the rest of your life.“
I love it – every single blog or post I read about people pursuing FIRE has one thing in common – resourcefulness.
I will be there! It’s going to be fun!
Yep, haters gotta hate! I think what haters really feel is jealousy or maybe even an attack on their way of life. The idea that others can FIRE while they can’t freaks them out. I could be wrong though.
The good news is that when your blog gets big enough to attract haters, it means you’ve hit the big time! :)
As someone pursuing FI, I always have a concern in the back of my mind about the “what if” scenarios… what if we need more? What if the market tanks? What if we have large unexpected expenses?
But like mentioned in the article, we’ll figure it out! Haha- we are relatively intelligent, flexible, creative people in a community of awesome resources (looking at your Rockstar Community!).
Happy Wednesday and see you in Dallas!
You know it :)
(And all good things to worry/think about too! Perhaps we all are too naive to know what’s coming in the future, but if anyone can figure it out and adapt – it’s us!! Or at least those living FIRE already – i’m still a wannabe, haha…)
In some way, I think that some of the haters have no idea what their FIRE numbers are or they are using someone else’s number and judge that based on their own frivolous spending habits.
I actually feel encouraged when I come across FIRE stories. I don’t judge the numbers or the story, but I use it as motivation to achieve my own numbers.
For some people $1M is definitely good enough based on their lifestyle and needs. For me, I live in an expensive city, so I will need $2M. Would that guarantee me not running out of money before the $1M early retiree? Not really.
I tend to put more emphasis on he FI part when it comes to FIRE.
Exactly – you can’t even come close to comparing even if you WANTED to without knowing the other person’s expenses and lifestyle. One person can be fine with $500,000, and another $5,000,000!
Ohh, internet trolls. They make the world go ’round. I always find it odd that people who aren’t pursuing FIRE can be so hateful about the concept. If someone retired early and is making it work, why is it your business how they live? Why do you think they’re lying to you? Why does their success diminish your own?
Right? And what are you trying to accomplish by bringing the other person down anyways? Does it in some way help your own situation out more? (Answer: nope) You can interpret it that maybe they’re *warning* others which is fair enough, but there are much better ways to do so than calling them an idiot ;)
Yes, if you were resourceful enough to build a $1.9M net worth, you will be equally resourceful enough to manage it in early retirement. I highly doubt that the person who wrote the negative comment is infact a millionaire. If he or she was a millionaire, I would think that they would be empathetic. Also, if they were a millionaire, they would probably be too busy working or enjoying life to post negative comments about other successful people.
Lovin this post, J! It’s too bad these people don’t take more time to dive in and learn more about what we do in this community to reach FIRE. They could find a better way to live instead of throwing hate.
Most of us got here by thinking outside the box. If shit hits the fan, we aren’t going to stand around getting covered in poop :)
I have the urge to delete this entire post here and just plug in that last line there, haha…
Brilliant.
Sometimes, you just have to grin. We Got This.
Looking forward to meeting you next week!
Yep! Couldn’t agree more. The haters giving advice to the doers is mind-boggling.
Hope to see you in Dallas!
Some people need to put others down about money to feel better. I’m glad that’s coming from the riff raff and not from the actual people in the blogging community. I’m sure for some americans $1 million really isn’t that much because they do, in fact, spend their life on the treadmill debt and enslavement to working. I personally love hearing from all the people who have gotten their expenses so low that they’re hardly subject to modern day (artificial) money scarcity that generally drives people crazy. I love our minimalism, our crappy cars, and our socks with holes in them (just me?). Right on J
We used to have some people in the community who poked at others, but for some reason they all disappeared? :)
Geez, these internet warriors. That comment doesn’t even make any sense. But warriors are a dime a dozen, we’re a strong community so ain’t nobody can touch us.
I read Mr 1500 other post about Kiyosaki – ouch but a very professional response when someone calls you a loser basically.
“How much would I have to pay you to get a VTSAX tattoo?”
Not very much at all hahaha.
Exactly my answer! Hahaha… VTSAX 4 LIFE (quite literally)
The “average” person does not save. They are going to work far more than they want to. They don’t have a plan. They spend without intention. When these types of people criticize me, I know I’m on the right path. The Robert Kiyosaki dig is awesome! It’s funny how the income growers and the expense cutters don’t get along. The truth is we are all trying to maximize the gap between income and expenses. I read a couple of the Rich Dad books and found them motivational to build my own passive revenue streams. I think he was in my head when I started my blog. I do disagree with him on this point though.
Who knows what was in the complainant’s mind when the wrote the negative comments? Could have been nothing more than a bad hair day going on. Just let it pass as you know you are winning life your way. I will share something from long ago by Earl Nightingale and Im going to paraphrase because i’m too lazy to look up the quote. If you want to be wealthy, you can either diminishes your wants or augment your earnings. The quickest way is to do both.
Yep yep yep to all of this.
There are so many things tbat crack me up about those comments. Like the “worst case” idea. Oh no, we might lose ALL our investments, need to mortgage our paid off house, spend ALL our cash, our rentals burn down and the insurance was lapsed, put 10k on credit cards….”worst case”….we are like everyone else! Oh the horror! Living just like all our friends, neighbors, and family members. Because if things start to go poorly, I generally wait until we hit “worst case” before I do a course correction.
But tell you what, if all that happens, I’m totally writing about it. Now that would be fun blog to read. I’ll rebrand to Train Wreck in Progress.com. Traffic would 10x!
OMG I love all of this haha..
Do everyone a favor and blog about this??? “”worst case”….we are like everyone else! Oh the horror” — hilarious!!
I’m reminded of those online calculators that are based on your current income. One told me I needed $16 million to retire. They must expect that your expenses will be 100% of your post tax income in perpetuity. Which is just ridiculous. Especially for us working towards FiRe where a HUGE portion of post-tax income gets invested. And add more on top for those paying off their homes early.
$16million. Stupid, crazy.
Whoops, this was supposed to a general reply. :)
For this comment, I think of these stats:
“In fact, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), around 29% of households age 55 and older have neither retirement savings nor a pension. ”
Mean retirement savings of families between 56 and 61: $163,577
Median retirement savings of families between 56 and 61: $17,000
Even if we don’t get past $2million, every one of us is doing our part to bring up the Median and mean retirement savings.
$16million- HAH!! I just spit out some of my coffee :)
We’re doing something different and people just don’t like that. An average person who hasn’t saved much just won’t understand. Even people who saved, most of them spend way too much. The FIRE lifestyle is too unconventional for them to get behind.
Anyway, I just ignore those haters. It’s great that our community is so much stronger now.
Loved this one. It’s a really encouraging message to hear.
Just getting back from a week at Chautauqua with a group of like-minded individuals was refreshing to say the least. It was amazing to talk with people that “get it” since my typical life is constantly bombarded with haters, judgers and non-believers. I’ll also be at FinCon next week, first time for me. I’ll definitely come by and say hi!
Nice!! You’re making the rounds of all the $$$ nerds :) See you soon!
Hi J Money,
Love it! You do have to wonder about these “trolls” (I think trolls have a higher IQ than some people who post these thoughts…!). I do think it is that they just cant wrap their heads around such a basic idea that you CAN save up that amount of money over a long number of years with a steady saving. It isn’t easy by any means – not keeping up with the Jones, not buying the latest gadget / car / biggest house on the street etc. but look at what you get back on it!
Keep up the good work!
FiL
I LOVE THIS! I hear this so often – early retirees are lazy, they’re stupid, etc. It’s just crazy – if they have the motivation and strength to retire early, what makes them dumb and lazy?
Right?? Makes no sense.
“Haters gonna hate!”
“Confidence is quiet and insecurity is loud.”
I used to be terrified when folks would throw evil comments and elephant turds my way. Now, I realize that I must be doing something different. And dare I say, something right. To be polarizing isn’t bad.
To the haters: people don’t do great things by following the herd. Followers just step in the poop left by those in front of them.
You want to have a challenging, but fulfilling and rewarding life? Blaze your own trail. Forget what anyone else thinks. Do what is good and what is right and makes you a better person at the end of the day. Growth is happiness.
Thanks J$ for all of the support. I’m not going to forget about you this year at FinCon.
See you soon, bud :)
Love the comments. Do not like to be with negative people. I am 86 retired and no where
near $1 million and still investing and gaining.
86 – nice! Glad you’re enjoying the show here :)
It’s crazy how some people are just so negative and bitter. And rather than try to improve their situation or even understand someone else’s, they are quick to pass judgement. Haters gonna hate.
It’s all good, we are above that and making moves.
I will be attending FinCon next week and look forward to meeting you in person!
great! make sure to stop me and say hi! :)
OMG. Hahahaha dude I can’t take people like this seriously.
Call us ‘cultish’ or ‘stupid’ or whatever. The fact of the matter is, people who have done stuff like save up $2M for retirement in their 30’s don’t care about the petty BS that people on the internet spew. You know why? Because they’ve got enough money that they never have to deal with that sort of negativity again. :) Whereas many of the haters probably DO have to deal with it at a job they dislike.
And they just don’t get it. You’re right – even if it all goes to sh!t, chances are most people will be able to figure it out again.
At the end of the day, positive vibes and encouragement are what our community is built on. We support each other, not cut each other down. We’ll welcome like-minded people with open arms, but shut out those who try to piss on our parade. And at the end of the day I will bet 99 times out of 100 we’ll be happier for it.
“You know why? Because they’ve got enough money that they never have to deal with that sort of negativity again. :)” – hah! good point!
Great thoughts! Good reminder. I plan to quit my job at a net worth of only $500,000 and feel 99% confident everything will be fine and I will have more than enough to live a great life and the net worth with likely just keep growing. But, yeah, if something ever goes wrong, I should be smart enough to figure it out.
I think I heard a good line on Mad Fientist’s August podcast with Michael Kitces where he said something like: Extreme early retirees have the best economic advantage out there. Our ability to actually go back to some sort of work at anytime if we have to or want to.
YES! True! Nothing says we can’t ever go back to work once retired! Just like anyone who retires around a normal age!
Mr. 1500 himself had a post about trolls and haters on his blog. I left one of my favorite quotes in the comment section:
“To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing and be nothing.” – Aristotle
Also, when it comes to the car, he did so much research and pondering. He said he can probably sell it for the same amount of money, if not more! Some hobbies can be lucrative… and some are just crazy fun and worth every penny…. like getting into the air!
Also, what this hate commenter doesn’t understand is that $2M is waaaay more than enough, when you live a resourceful, mindful and meaningful life and not just spend $$ as a conforming consumer.
Great points!
Retirement is a number – not an age. Very interesting numbers though for most (perhaps those complaining)…unfortunately, many won’t be able to maintain their current lifestyle once they stop working.
Reviewing a few other articles previously posted here and elsewhere, it’s interesting that not even tax-advantaged accounts – let alone having multiple sources of income and/or investments in taxable accounts – are fully utilized.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be suprising considering the income-to-debt and savings ratios in various studies.
What is it with the haters?! The fact that they take time out of their day just to let you know how stupid you are always seems so crazy.
I find personal accounts like Mr.1500’s inspiring and want to soak up the information and incorporate what I can and apply it to my own situation. There is certainly nothing ‘uncool’ about saving a million dollars, retiring, and travelling the world.
I cannot stop watching No Car Note and Sallie Mae Back. I plan to celebrate paying off our car and student loans with these.
YES!!! DO IT! haha….
It sucks to see all the negativity but I suppose, in a twisted way, a lot of these people are probably trying to spread their own version of financial advice. To someone who spends at a non-frugal level, and who doesn’t have a great idea of how investments work, $1.9M really might not seem like it’s enough.
When one of the FIRE blogs go viral my favorite part is to read the comments! People are so off base in their assumptions that it borders on hysterical. And what do they care anyway? They aren’t paying our bills if we fail! It’s easy to recognize it is usually just a case of sour grapes. BUT for all those people who shit on it, there are a few that can be turned on to FIRE. That’s the end goal, isn’t it?? WORLD DOMINATION!!! ;)
Haters gonna hate! But until those critics are people much wealthier, and, you know, actually retired, just kick ’em in da teeeeeef!!! Ok, maybe we shouldn’t really kick them. But it’s encouraging to me to know we are doing something so against the grain. If it ruffles other people’s feathers, that’s on them.
I agree calling someone names or being aggressive in a comment is ignorant but the Personal Finance community needs to realize why these comments are increasing. There is a real arrogance to a lot of people that have accumulated a lot of money…a real lack of humility and this drives people nuts. I mean who goes around telling everyone how much money they have or how much money they earn? Think about how popular a guy at a party would be if he goes on and on about his huge net worth? Outside your community it’s socially unacceptable. What has gone from a few blogs about being smart with money and how to invest has gone to 1000’s of blogs with the same basic stories and everyone throwing around words like ‘retiring early’ at 28 or 32 or whatever. It’s gotten out of hand. Most of the comments in this blog are people who have blogs and are looking to drive traffic to their website. It’s gotten to the point where the actual path to the so called financial independence is to create a blog full of advertising or affiliate links and draw people to your site by saying you’ve retired at 32 (whether you have or not) The truth is these people have simply traded one career for another. Which is great. I’m happy for them. They’ve saved 2 million…great, good job. That’s impressive but why go on and on about it? You had a good job and saved a lot. Some people are savers, others are not. No need to rub your savings in everyone faces. When you get negative comments, it’s the non-savers simply expressing themselves as to what’s important to them. Just as you can’t imagine living like them, they can’t imagine living like you. A little more humility would go along way and a little less proclamation of how wonderful your life is traveling the world and living out of a trailer or in Thailand or whatever would be one way to ease up the negativity.
I use to really enjoy personal finance articles and podcasts but the focus has shifted from good information to ‘look at me’ and ‘look at my website’
If nothing changes, the negativity will continue.
I agree you can’t go around a party talking about how much you make, but that’s exactly why we have this community here – so you can talk openly about money to people who actually *care* :) And with real #’s too which you def. don’t get anywhere else.
But yes – you can certainly overdo it and “forget” to share all the failures as well as a blogger, so we def. need to be better about that in our community. And you’re also right that our space here is getting filled up pretty fast with people just trying to make $$$$ vs actually being passionate about spreading the good word… Which is pretty funny since blogging is NOT the fastest way to make money, haha… even with powerful stories! (That are hopefully true :))
So yeah – there’s def. room for improvement here, but if you had to pick a place to openly discuss money without feeling ridiculed (usually), I feel like our community here is a safe bet. And most people are genuinely trying to motivate others than boast, so it’s unfortunate that it does come across that way at times.
Even if you ignored that the $1.9M is invested, and not just sitting in a savings account, a reasonable person could slowly live off that for a long time! Spending $50K a year allows that to last for 38 years. Plenty of time to notice if you have a “retirement”/money problem.
I respectfully listen to others even if their plans are not my plans. I am not working towards FIRE but I like to see what others will do. I have found some FIRE folks don’t understand that I am not working towards FIRE. They think I am crazy not try to leave a job I love and a pension. Also I have found some to be very judgmental that I love my nice car and I won’t ride a bike on my 64 miles round trip commute, but everyone has their opinion. Let’s agree to disagree.
Haha that is very true too – we tend to get pretty one-sided here in the $$$ world, especially the FIRE crew ;) So point well taken! (And good for you for just doing YOU!)
Some people don’t want to put in the effort.
It is all about the journey though… But the end “FIRE” is really just a milestone, midpoint really, in the journey. I guess the end is… Well, I’m not sure that’s even the end.