Having just discovered Mr. Money Mustache’s blog, I would be interested on discussion concerning early retirement.
I did read your comment that the lifestyle this blogger advocates is unrealistic for many people, but it seems that he has a good counterargument w/r/t hedonic adaptation—i.e., we may think that living frugally will make us unhappier, but in fact, it likely will not, and vice versa—and preferences changing over time.
I would assume that most of our ideas about the stress of living frugally come from situations in which people are forced to live frugally. Choosing to live frugally is a whole different game, and probably not all that stressful when you have tens to hundreds of thousands in assets to absorb bumps along the way. In fact I could see one deriving lots of enjoyment from mentally gamifying it.
Exactly. I actually first thought Mr. Money Mustache was almost a crackpot, but I think he has a good point here. His advice on making frugality a habit and part of your identity, combined with the points from this paper on how to get the most happiness for the buck and our knowledge of the hedonic threadmill/adaptation, strikes me as very instrumentally rational, despite how unconventional it seems at first glance (very munchkin-esque actually).
At the same time, it seems so right that I’m a little suspicious, although maybe that’s a result of a status quo bias or the incorrigible consumerist part of my mind finding it unbelievable that I wouldn’t be happier with a few more gadgets and more money.
Having just discovered Mr. Money Mustache’s blog, I would be interested on discussion concerning early retirement.
I did read your comment that the lifestyle this blogger advocates is unrealistic for many people, but it seems that he has a good counterargument w/r/t hedonic adaptation—i.e., we may think that living frugally will make us unhappier, but in fact, it likely will not, and vice versa—and preferences changing over time.
I would assume that most of our ideas about the stress of living frugally come from situations in which people are forced to live frugally. Choosing to live frugally is a whole different game, and probably not all that stressful when you have tens to hundreds of thousands in assets to absorb bumps along the way. In fact I could see one deriving lots of enjoyment from mentally gamifying it.
Exactly. I actually first thought Mr. Money Mustache was almost a crackpot, but I think he has a good point here. His advice on making frugality a habit and part of your identity, combined with the points from this paper on how to get the most happiness for the buck and our knowledge of the hedonic threadmill/adaptation, strikes me as very instrumentally rational, despite how unconventional it seems at first glance (very munchkin-esque actually).
At the same time, it seems so right that I’m a little suspicious, although maybe that’s a result of a status quo bias or the incorrigible consumerist part of my mind finding it unbelievable that I wouldn’t be happier with a few more gadgets and more money.