I subscribe to a lot of money-management/frugality blogs, and the majority of them have a plethora of “how to” articles, theories, philosophies, etc. I think what a lot of them lack though, are case studies of how these “how tos” and theories and philosophies are applied in every day life by the average person.

So, that’s my vote for more case studies. 🙂

I like the rants/opinions and inspirational posts! Keep ’em coming 🙂

I also enjoy the anecdotal posts and would like to see more on how to maintain an early retirement extreme upon retirement.

I like to read rants/opinions because I enjoy your point-of-view. 🙂

How about ideas and advice on navigating the health care “system” when you can’t get insurance through work or independently due to “pre-existing conditions.”

I’d also like to see ongoing exchanges of stories from folks who’ve achieved early frugal retirement or are almost there. Could help the rest of us with fine-tuning our strategies or give us some great new ideas.

I’ve enjoyed and been enriched by different types of your posts. In the future, I’d like to read more anecdotes about the contrast between your way of life/thinking and those of others. So, I guess I like anecdotal rants 🙂

“They” always say ‘write what you know’. Your posts so far have been from the heart and I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

There are a lot of self-help and financial blogs and sites out there. Although the ‘how-tos’ and case studies are useful, it is the quality of your writing and your unique perspective that continues to give your site its real value.

Keep up the good work!

More rants! I sincerely appreciate your non-conformist views on the prevailing consumer culture and other subjects.

Investing “as a science” is something I study and enjoy. I too would like to know more about your investment choices.

As Imani said, keep up the good work, your writing style, opinions, and attitude are what attracted me and have kept me coming back.

-Spork

I kind of enjoy the personal stories. I really like the pictures of your camper and your experiences with living full time in it.

To me, the best of the blogosphere is when bloggers share their personal life experiences and what they’ve done, seen, or learned. I find it an interesting juxtaposition of reading about how different someone’s life and experiences may be different than my own, and yet how we might still be similar (say in a socio-political context) in many ways.

I’d like to see;

– some book reviews (maybe one a month?)

– more case studies

– maybe some guest posts from other bloggers/key people

– some interviews with other bloggers/key people

– more explanation of they keys to success in Early Retirement

– more challenges / experiments in things related to early retirement

An idea – Many of your blogsphere have goals and aspirations. Perhaps a section where we (the readers) can have a section on goals and post progress against those goals on a quarterly basis. This will share success stories and further the doxology of simple, frugal and free.

Also, I like the idea of a guest posts on goals, progress and aspirations as well as techniques on how to achieve ones intentions.

So, perhaps more interaction yet the posts as well as the comments are all valuable and fantastic to read and reflect upon. Keep up the great work!

Love your blog. Thank you Jacob and Happy New Year.

My favorite parts are rants & personal anecdotes. What do you friends & family think of your plan? Do you have friends who share your philosophy or know other bloggers with ER successes you can share?

I like the shortcuts to more complex financial formulas, like the (monthly_expense * 300 = future_savings_required) one.

It would be cool to have a post with all of those in one place, and a brief explanation of how the shortcut was derived.

What I really appreciate most about your writing is that the signal-to-noise ratio is remarkably high compared to many of the blogarrhea-infected bloggers out there who take 2,000 words to say what 20 could have more successfully communicated.

Keep it up!

BTW, I live in a motorhome as well, and by choice, as well.

I totally agree on the areas you should stay away from…honestly if you did write about those I’d probably think someone hijacked ERE.

I like the rants, opinions as well as theory and philosophical stuff. You don’t see too much of that on other PF blogs. Also maybe more on the ecological benefits of living the way you do.

Overall, the blog is great. Looking forward to reading more in 2009.

Just keep doing what you are doing. I was/am well on the way to Early Retirement, although I didn’t realise it was that, I just always had an aversion to working even though I have worked very hard at times and enjoyed evey minute of it e.g. as a primary school teacher. When I found your blog amongst others I realised that I was not so odd after all. Although my retirement won’t be as extreme as yours it will be very early (I am sort of retired already but still rely on my wife’s income but she loves what she does). I am working on learning to invest for income so she can retire early when she’s ready .

Very early retirement doesn’t have the same ring to it as Early Retirement Extreme.

Keep doing what you are doing. I find your blog a daily inspiration. I like hearing about the RV and personal anecdotes. Would be interested in DV’s thoughts too at times. Also more on your investing strategy. Liked your post on those questioning you living in the RV.

I enjoy the majority of your posts, particularly personal anecdotes as well as rants, opinions, and inspirational posts. I liked the December series you did. And I want to thank you for inspiring me donate my toaster along with a lot of other useless junk and clothes that were taking up space. It was rather appalling to see how much money I had wasted buying some of these things (many years ago) but I won’t be doing that in the future. And there’s no point in hanging onto stuff just because I made a mistake buying it. I also discovered a lot of useless unwanted gifts that people had given me. In the past, I really felt guilty getting rid of gifts but no more! So I guess I’d like to see more on minimalist living.

I agree with Seth – more on cycling would be great.

Ok, I didn’t read the above 38 comments, so if I’m repeating things please excuse me.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you think you life would be different if you had kids. Could you still be FIRE now if you had some?

The reason I ask for your thoughts on this is I constantly fine myself reading your blog while thinking “yes a good idea I like that, but with kids how the hell would that work?”

Thanks!
Tim

Jacob,
There is too much crap on the internet. You are a radical voice of reason. I like your philosophy on life & money. Some how-to’s to flush it out are nice as well.
Racetoend the ratrace

I appreciate that your posts cover both abstract philosophies, and concrete directions with all the nitty-gritty details. A lot of blogs and books have one without the other, and come off as half-baked.

I wouldn’t change the direction of the blog. However here are a few specific ideas for posts:

– How do you decide when to invest in skills and facilities to DIY, vs. when to rely on public/paid services. E.g. you cook from scratch and pick stocks, but IIRC use community laundry and buy food from a grocer. What’s your litmus test for insourcing or outsourcing?

– Entertainment. I spent a summer living with one car trunks’ worth of possessions and went stir crazy. There was reading, the Internet, and computer games, and after that the choices seemed to be A) buy some stuff or B) pay to go “out on the town.”

– Just-in-time versus bulk supply. Buying in bulk makes things cheaper, but is at cross purposes with minimizing living space and transportation needs. Do you buy anything in bulk? If so how do you decide what’s worth it?

– Is moving to a suitable location a necessary step in ERE, or can it be adapted to work anywhere? If the latter, how do you adapt to the country, snow, hurricanes, …

Keep up the great work.

I would like to see more posts about minimalism and small-space living.

In the past I’ve enjoyed your posts about how all of your cooking equipment once fit into your pressure cooker, about how all of your possessions once fit into a single suitcase, and about how later all of your possessions fit into a single closet.

And by the way, even though I’m a former part-time photographer, I like the fact that your blog doesn’t contain photos. So many blogs include stock photos that add nothing. (They’re the visual equivalent of verbal cliches.)

Save the photos for facebook, as you did with the photo of your RV. (It was fun to see, but I’m glad that it wasn’t in this blog.)

Another wish: for my own admittedly selfish reasons, i hope that you continue to not include advertising in your blog. (Or if you do decide to add advertising, I hope that it’s text-only ads.)

And as I write this, it occurs to me that your minimalist, uncluttered blog design reflects a key message of this blog: minimalist, uncluttered living.

I am new to the blog and I have enjoyed everything I have read. As to any topics for the future, I suggest anything that will help the average bear make the transition from our 1995 to 2006 “boom and whoosh” to our 2007 to 2025 “doom and gloom”. For the average American family of four, (to pick a demographic) “The party is over”. Now, back to the Beaver Cleaver era of living. Instead of the 3000 square foot McMansion, we have the 1200 square foot Ranch, aka starter home. Instead of a Lexus and a Hummer, we have the paid for 1992 Honda Accord. We now have the beginning of the savings account instead of the Visa Card. Instead of the $2500.00 washer and dryer, we have a pair of standard machines that will not fly to the moon, but will wash and dry clothing and costs no more than $600.00 combined. This is the transition I am talking about and its almost too late to even afford this change of lifestyle.
I also enjoy your posts of minimalist living and downsizing. Your posts and articles are excellent for your age group let us say the 30 somethings to the 40 somethings, and also convey well to a few of us Senior Citizens. Most people though, will not sacrifice too much and live as simply and cheaply and save as much as you have done. In closing, I am glad to have found this blog and agree with most all principles shown on it.