Yesterday, I got together with five fellow Mr. Money Mustache fans at Lake Merritt in Oakland to talk about money and life.  This was the latest Bay Area Mighty Mustachian Meetup (BAMMM) event, which is to say I sent out an email on the Google Group list, posted in the MMM forum, and created an event in a Google+ Community and some people showed up.  If you'd like to hear about (or better yet plan) future events, tap into one of those channels or (NEW) follow me on Twitter at @BC_ChemE and watch for stuff tagged with #BayAreaMMM.

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⚠ IMPORTANT ⚠ 
I don't do affiliate links, so I'm not linking this to make a buck.

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The 5.12% Savings Account

⚠ WELL THAT SUCKS ⚠ 
The week after I posted this, the Mango Money sign-up page was deactivated!
The week after that, Union Plus sign-up page was also removed.
In August, the Mango Money signup page was back, but the terms have changed:
the savings account interest rate is 6% only with a $500+/month direct deposit.
Otherwise, the interest rate is only 2%.

One thing we discussed was the pain of holding cash in "high-yield" savings accounts that return, at best, 1% now.  I used the opportunity to pitch US Treasury Series I Bonds, which I've always liked for emergency funds because they at least keep pace with inflation.  Another attendee recently became financially independent (dunno if he wants to be publicly outed and not sure if he has a site) and had a more liquid solution with a better rate: a savings account associated with a prepaid debit card company called Mango Money.

The vital details, culled from the AHS Wiki page that serves as my open notebook for these projects:

Another successful meetup!

Nine of us gathered in Mission Dolores Park to hang out, trade tips, eat pasta salad, and get to know eachother better.

You only get one birthday a year.  I spent mine with Mr. Money Mustache.

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Reclamation By the Bay

The meetup was planned for a Friday evening, 5pm, in a small park on a reclaimed industrial site along the Bay.

The EcoCenter environmental center at Heron's Head Park

The location just happened to be convenient for MMM; him and his family were staying with friends nearby in the city.  But to me it seemed symbolic of what this movement is all about: reclamation.  Reclaiming our finances from the credit card companies and the student debt and the car loans and the mortgages.  Reclaiming our time from the folly of the forty-hour workweek, from the office cubicle, from the hour-long commute, from two weeks paid vacation.  Reclaiming our culture from the destructive insanity of consumerism, from those damnable Joneses, from the rotted-out carcass of the American Dream.

I came out here to meet a man that has inspired me to change how I live, and to inspire others to carefully consider their own paths.  I came out to meet those similarly inspired and see if we might build some community.

I was not disappointed.