Monday, November 14, 2016

Review Writing Exercise by Phillip Wolf

This article begins with a surprise for someone who has read Mr. Money Mustache articles in the past, as he states that he has taken a full 180 from his past belief that spending frugally is the way to go. He says he has leased not only one brand new Tesla, but two, for both him and his wife, at the price of $1400 a month. He also says he and his family have moved into a $1.8 million dollar house, with a mortgage payment of $8,500 a month. He then goes on to say that his family's spending has risen more than $225,000 from 2014 to 2015, from $25,000 in 2014 to $256,000 in 2015. However, he quickly follows this by saying "April Fools". His family's actual spending in 2015 was $23,941, with a spreadsheet to lay out how much was spent on various different things. He uses this article to say that even if you have the money, you don't have to spend excessively, and if you don't have the money, there's a way to spend that will allow you to save more.

The strength of this article is the transparency he provides. The spreadsheet he gives shows all of the spending his family does, and what they spent it on, even specific items. This transparency leads the reader to really trust what he is saying in his writing, and take the things he says and the tips he gives to heart. Another strength of this article is that he gives you his methods of tracking his spending. He provides the readers with the apps he uses to organize his spending into specific groups. This is great as his blog is most definitely a thing that many people apply to their own financials. A weakness in this article is the beginning, when he claims to have gone back on one of his principle teachings and has started spending recklessly. Obviously, you learn later in the article that this is all a joke, but for a dedicated follower of his blog this may have caused a lot of stress, or to cease reading this article, or his writings altogether thinking he'd gone off the deep-end.

This is a great piece of writing for the average person. The author is obviously a wealthy man, but shows that he spends very little each year. It's a great change from the common practice of Americans to "Keep up with the Joneses", or spend money they don't have to impress other people. Mr Money Mustache has the money to spend, but chooses not to, because he is sensible and knows the important things in life. The story he writes at the beginning of the piece could easily be true, with him spending nearly $2800 a month on cars and $8,500 a month on his house, because he has the income to spend that much, but in reality, his family doesn't pay a mortgage or a car payment.

2 comments:

  1. Reading your review and others', it's kind of an advantage to know about his tactics and habits in financials, because as college students, frugality is essential, but using these habits can help us grow our money.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Mr. Money when he says that we do not have to spend money to impress people. I feel in today's society this is what a lot of people do. People who do not have money spend it to try to impress people and even people who have money do the same. I like how he gives tips on how to keep track of what you spend, because for me it is hard to always keep track.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.