DRamey on Early Retirement

S

slazenger

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Nov 21, 2007
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I was watching Dave Ramsey Monday evening on his new television show (on Fox Business News), and one of the public interviewed asked him (going on memory) "How much do I need to save to retire early".

Dave basically gave two answers. First, he said you'd need enough saved up so that you could live off of 8% of the principle. :eek: Though he didn't elaborate on how he came up with that, I could only guess that he was taking his typical 12% that he says you can earn off of good growth stocks and subtracting ~4% inflation. In any event, that sounds like a pretty ambitious figure!

Next, he started by asking him or her why are you so concerned about this at a young age? (the person asking looked early 40s, or thereabouts, strangely I forgot the gender :D) He said "if you're worried about this at a young age, then that must mean you're doing something that's making you miserable and that you need to find a job that you love" :confused: He continued with this line of thinking for a few minutes and tried to present the argument that we're all meant to be making a contribution to society, pretty much stopping short of just outright saying "its wrong to retire early". He finished by saying he won't stop what he's doing until he's outright unable to do it anymore, so we should look forward to a wrinkly, but wiser Dave Ramsey in the distance future.

Just thought I'd throw that out there for comment. I know that I disagree with him pretty strongly on both points.
 
Daves pretty good at firing people up to get rid of their debt.

Not so much with anything else.

But I'll take the dream job Dave suggests is out there. It needs to pay well, should not require that I get up early in the morning or at all if I dont feel like it, have no management or customers, no deadlines, good benefits, and only Pam Anderson clones as co-workers.
 
I think somebody posted something similar that he said awhile back on an 8% withdrawal rate...shows more of his ignorance...easy for guys like this making the megabucks being a demagogue to tell everyone to keep working...
 
I have benefited from listening to him and enjoy the radio show. He is definitely having fun doing what he's doing and he has consistently talked to folks about how they should keep working. He doesn't seem to relate to an early retire thought process.
 
slazenger said:
He.......tried to present the argument that we're all meant to be making a contribution to society
Click to expand...

I whole heartedly agree with that statement! And I make MY contribution EVERYDAY........I stay off the roads during the morning and evening rush hours, while those [-]other poor saps[/-] dedicated w*rkers are commuting to & from their j*bs! :D

Besides, once they're all putting their noses to the grindstone......I won't have to deal with them [-]trying to kill people and cause wrecks while talking on their cellphones, drinking coffee, combing their hair, and putting on makeup[/-] multi-tasking in their cars, or waiting in line behind them at the coffee shop! :2funny:

So raise a frosty mug, and give a hearty cheer, for all of us ER'd folks making our contributions to society!!!
food-smiley-004.gif
 
He is just his bit to help make sure SS is going to be there for us ER types.

I was explaining the the Protestant Work Ethic to some people. Idle hands are the Devil's workshop and all that.

That being said, I agree with CFB that Dave is good at getting people of out debt but not much else. The time I listen to him, his personna of happy buddy, sets me on edge, kind of like the male version of Suze Orman.
 
This thing has really deteriorated. LOL
 
That should teach you not to watch Fox News!
 
I agree with about two thirds of Dave Ramsey's advice. You found a few of his gems which are in the other third.

Dave can criticize others in a preachy manner for having jobs they dislike, but he doesn't have a job -- he owns a business. It caters mainly to folks who have been financial failures.
 
I just wanted to say all-in-all, I'm a Dave Ramsey fan too. If I were to be honest about it, I'm a financial planner junkie in the sense that if i see one happens to be on TV at the time that I turn it on, I'm probably going to turn to that station.

I agree I think Dave Ramsey's great because he's meeting "layfolk", with respect to finances, where they are and gives them a simple plan that, if they follow it, will be far better off than they were before. I do some things Dave wouldn't like, like not paying off very low interest rate loans, but I know why I'm doing it. Using Dave's own numbers, for instance, I'd prefer to invest in stocks in a tax-shelter that "earn 11.8%" long-term than give it to my lender who only wants 3.25% long term. I'm barely able to afford maxing all my tax-sheltered options, so until I'm able to do that, I'm probably going to maintain the low interest rate loans.
 
I like Dave Ramsey and think that he does a world of good when it comes to helping people get out of debt but I must say that I totally disagree with him on the early retirement thing. I don't believe that you have to be in the workforce slaving away each day to make a buck in order to contribute to society. Look at how many retirees are doing volunteer work for free!
 
haha said:
Interesting movie about this is Queen Margot, starring Isabel Adjani. I believe it is a little over 10 years old by now.

Ha
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I'll look for it. Good Tin-tin avatar.
 
bssc said:
Nope, Americans including my wife, who is Catholic though. Of course, some people have argued that this help lead to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
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I guess I have tended to think of this "protestant work ethic" as something uniquely built into the American culture. It seems Europeans expect more leisure time and pursue other pleasures outside of work. Latin cultures, or course, place high value on quality time with family and friends. It has just seemed like only in the US is the career almost the be-all and end-all of one's life and this automatic assumption that if you are not working, you are somehow "worthless" or "not contributing" - as if one must be paid for one's time in order for what one does to be "worth something". Or that there is something inherently "wrong" with leisure time. Certainly companies tend to push this point of view hard and it benefits them greatly.

Audrey
 
audreyh1 said:
I guess I have tended to think of this "protestant work ethic" as something uniquely built into the American culture. It seems Europeans expect more leisure time and pursue other pleasures outside of work. Latin cultures, or course, place high value on quality time with family and friends. It has just seemed like only in the US is the career almost the be-all and end-all of one's life and this automatic assumption that if you are not working, you are somehow "worthless" or "not contributing" - as if one must be paid for one's time in order for what one does to be "worth something". Or that there is something inherently "wrong" with leisure time. Certainly companies tend to push this point of view hard and it benefits them greatly.

Audrey
Click to expand...

What about Japan?
 
Meadbh said:
What about Japan?
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Yes, Japan's end result is similar in terms of the all encompassing work ethic (I suppose it's even worse), but since the Japanese culture has such a totally divergent history from western culture, I didn't include that. Especially since it doesn't have western religious origins.

Audrey
 
I think we can find interesting work ethic parallels in each cultures movie monsters.

European monsters were often slow and ponderous and only came out at night for brief periods, and frequently found daylight frightening or harmful.

American monsters are found in the air, on land, underground and in the water. Working primarily by daylight, they're fully capable of dispatching a dozen scantily clad or showering co-eds before dinner.

Japanese monsters are the size of skyscrapers and enjoy demolishing entire cities while laughing off the pathetic attempts by the army and air force to take them out. After lunch they turn on each other for some additional citywide destruction.

All of which goes to prove that I shouldnt write any posts until my second cup of coffee.
 
On thinking further on the matter, it occurred to me that there arent any obvious Canadian monsters (although many american monster movies are filmed in Vancouver), and the only Mexican monster I can think of is the Chupacabra, which was recently discovered to be a dog with bad skin.

Then there is the south american Pomberro, who comes to peoples homes, steals their rum and cigarettes, and can make women pregnant by touching their tummy.

Not sure if that makes it more interesting or not.

Dave Ramsey. Religious work ethics. Monster movies. Mythical beasts. 23 posts.

Dont try this at home.
 
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