Well, that was interesting. Yesterday an old MMM article appeared on the front page of MSN.com (the 13th most viewed website in the world, apparently), and it sent quite a flock of people here.
It was a bit embarrassing, since the article was described as a “guest posting”, but really it was just an existing article scooped from the archives (“A brief history of the ‘Stash“), so it didn’t really have the kind of style or approachability that a guest posting should have. It was just a quick one I had typed up for you personally one day with no thought of the outside world. Plus, they covertly took out the swearing, which was my favorite part.
Partly because of the tone, and partly because of the fact that we live in a world of at least 38% hopeless complainypantses, the comments section on MSN has sprouted a rich and smelly list of complaints. I look forward to heading over there for a harvest some day with my copy/paste buttons.
But oh well, all publicity is good publicity, right? And to those stronger people who came from MSN and decided that maybe there was some useful stuff to be learned over here – thank you, and welcome!
So the real point of all this is, there are always a few new people showing up these days in the middle of this long story we are sharing. They have questions and want to know what the Mustachians are all about. How can they do it?
Quick Reference: Directly to the right of the list of articles on the front page, you’ll see a box labeled “Google Custom Search”. Try it out – it is a perfect search engine for all 600+ pages of this site’s content, and it is fantastic. For example, one friend told me the main reason he enjoys this blog over all the other personal finance options out there is because I am the only one who threatens to punch people in the face. So I typed in “Punch” to the search box, and learned that in fact I have only done that 19 times so far. Probably something I can improve. So if you want to know what the MMM family does about kids, health insurance, groceries, or anything else like that, try the box.
Full Research: As mentioned in the “Welcome new Readers” box in the top right corner of the front page, the articles are all linked in chronological order. If you ever feel like reading the WHOLE STORY, you can easily start at the very first article, then use the little link at the bottom of the article to move on to the next one. Save a bookmark when you get bored, then come back and read more some other day. There are somewhere close to 200 posts now, and over 5,000 comments. Some people write to me and tell me they have read the whole thing, including all the comments. This blows my mind and I am not vain enough to think my stuff actually deserves this much attention, but those folks definitely have earned the title of Senior Mustachian and should feel free to flaunt it. I even authorize you to make a customized mustachioed avatar at gravatar.com to appear next to your comments.
Further Clarification: I also get emails asking for information. Sadly, I can’t answer them all, otherwise I would not have time to write anything new or read any books to learn more (I only get to use a computer about 1-2 hours a day, the rest of the time is spent being a regular family man). I still like hearing from people and I do get to read every one. So hopefully the steps above can answer some of the questions, and for specific ones I also recommend the Financial Independence Forum on reddit.
That’s it for this Sunday edition, I hope you are having a great weekend!
love,
Mr. Money Mustache
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The most useful comments are those written with the goal of learning from or helping out other readers – after reading the whole article and all the earlier comments. Complaints and insults generally won’t make the cut here, but by all means write them on your own blog!