Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). What financial shows do you listen to on the radio? Just curious.
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Dave Ramsey is kind of interesting, but getting boring. Just been streaming him on the internet since I recognize him when I search the radio listings. But I need some new stuff to listen to. I am sick of screaming at the radio - "Don't do it!" He was telling someone to pay the government taxes instead of funding a SEP because they didn't have enough money to save. (But give it to the government? Is he crazy? Saving money you don't have beats giving it to the IRS).
Yesterday was interesting though. some guy called in and at 40 had a paid off house. I guess his payment had been $1500 or something. So Dave says, round up to $1800 and invest that monthly for 30 years and he'd have $6 million.
I rolled my eyes.
I popped the numbers in a calculator - he was assuming a 12% rate of return. Also, there is a BIG difference between $1500 and $1800 per month. So he was REALLY exaggerating. (He was saying, oh let's just round up a bit...)
10% I would say is fair and that would be $4 mil in this case. 8% is likely and is only $2.5 mil. Sure, either way is great. But there is a BIG difference between 2 & 4 & 6 million all the same. Plus without the rounding up it makes an even bigger difference. Haven't even gotten to inflation...
I guess this is why I always find the great mortgage debate weird - because we are so young. Granted we won't pay off our house by 40 most likely, but in general we have a goal to pay it off by 45. So no, in our poorest years I don't want to pay down the mortgage like crazy, but doesn't mean I can't pay it off by 45 and have a few million by retirement.
I guess I want the best of all worlds. & it is possible. So I think Dave makes a point and I somewhat agree. We want to save our mortgage payment for a good 20 years before we retire (none of this "house payment into our 50s" business). But he REALLY exaggerates all the same. We pretty much have a plan to set $2k/month aside starting in the next few years when dh returns to work. My goal is not to be filthy rich, just to lead a comfortable life. If we lived in Kansas or NC we wouldn't need nearly so much, but then again we wouldn't make nearly as much.
I am starting to think the odds are we will "over save" and have it quite cushy, but so much can happen between here and there. I don't think it's a given at all that we'll be filthy rich or have all that money, even if we plan to be saving well enough for it.
I guess I find the whole thing a little misleading as a whole. All Dave really needs to say is "put that money side and you are set for retirement." Maybe he can only sell people when he convinces them they will be filthy rich. Maybe they will be... Who knows... I can't disagree with his underlying principles though. It is certainly awesome to be rid of a $1500 house payment at age 40 - nothing to complain about there. I guess I just don't get the exaggerating. Does he really have to convince you having another $20k/year to savings is awesome? Isn't that obvious?
Well give me some radio ideas and I will have something else to talk about besides Dave - LOL.
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In other news I decided a week or 2 ago that I was sick of the human race. Money is not a problem for me. Family, love, it has all always come easy. But my achilles heel is friendship. Mostly I expect too much from people, and don't have a lot to give since family is so important to me. & friendship is too so I know I don't have the time to be a proper friend, which makes it hard on me as well. So I pretty much decided last week to screw it, the kids will be in school soon enough and will be making their own friends, I am just bowing out of the playgroup scene. Had enough. Suddenly a bunch of friendships I have been trying to cultivate for years and stuff I had laid the groundwork for in the past are all popping up to the surfact this week. Just bizarre. It's like the powers that be are telling me - look - all in the past is for naught - and I need to be out meeting people and getting our of my own little bubble. I also just met the most interesting person yesterday, and an old friend I had not talked to in ages just e-mailed me to tell me she had moved in my neighborhood and wanted to get together.
For a while there all my friends were moving away too. Inevitable I meet someone I really like, and they move across the country. It's an ongoing joke whenever I hit it off with someone, dh asks when they are moving and how far. I guess I find it frustrating. So my friend visited from Canada and we just had a blast. I decided yeah they all move away but they still enrich my life in some way.
I also got together with a friend over the weekend. She has been a breath of fresh air to me since we moved to Sacramento since overall I find most people "crazy" but with 3 kids and a move across town it has been hard to get together. It was extremely bizarre to meet up and find we are much in the same place today - our lives are very parallel. When we met we were in very different places, except we both had a kid the same age. Funny how life does that.
I guess I shouldn't give up on the human race just yet...
The hardest for me is the politics and it gets thick in the mommy crowd. I'll take office politics any day - LOL. I find it easy enough to just not play the game when it comes to the office. When you refuse to play the game in the women crowd you get left in the dust. But I guess this week is a reminder I have met a few gems. Maybe when it comes to the office I just don't care if I get left in the dust. LOL. I don't know.
Financial Radio and prepaying mortgage...
August 22nd, 2007 at 02:26 pm
August 22nd, 2007 at 06:20 pm 1187806824
I must be one of the very few people on this earth who have never listened to Dave Ramsey. For many years, i liked listening to Ken and Daria Dolan on WCBS-NY. No smoke and mirrors, just good-old fashioned common sense. I've gotten out of the radio listening habit for the past year as i'm not in the car much anymore.
August 22nd, 2007 at 06:29 pm 1187807370
I often question the 12%, but like he says, it is the historical return of the broader stock market and I can't argue with that. The trick is putting money in and not monkeying around with it like I usually do.
I think he puts those big numbers out there to get the person pumped up about saving. Even if he is wrong, most people would be happy with a couple million.
I am interested to see if others have financial shows they listen to, I could use some variety as well.
August 22nd, 2007 at 08:07 pm 1187813230
But yeah - balance has always been key for me. We could really sacrifice our quality of life and pay off the house by 40, perhaps. But doesn't sound very fun...
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 pm 1187820374
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 pm 1187822544
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:53 pm 1187823182
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:48 pm 1187826494
August 23rd, 2007 at 05:19 am 1187846367
Ditto. It's tough to be a working-outside-the-home-full-time parent and still find time to do things with friends, let alone near impossible to find similarly working-outside-the-home-full-time parents for friendship: where is the time?s
August 23rd, 2007 at 03:22 pm 1187882560
I don't think that you'll be saving as much as you think when you still have to pay for these other expenses.
August 23rd, 2007 at 05:43 pm 1187891039
I don't think it is even just a mom thing - it seems to be a woman thing. I just can't get along with women - no one told me the invisible rules (the politics in this case).
I had an easier time in high school. I totally laugh at the concept that high school could be any worse than the BS I have seen from hormonal adult women. But then again I guess I was lucky in high school... I've really yet to find friendship on that mature level for the most part. In fact my high school friendships mostly disentegrated into the BS when we were adults. Insert boyfriends,husbands and children and everyone goes berserk I guess.
& really with Paulette - who has the time. I think that is my biggest problem. I can't keep up with all the gossip anyway which puts me at a huge disadvantage. Inevitably I can't keep up with who's in or out and then guilt by association.
You see why I am fed up...
August 23rd, 2007 at 05:56 pm 1187891795
August 26th, 2007 at 02:47 am 1188096448
I like to listen to Rockin Real Estate out of the bay area on Sunday mornings (comes on after Dave Ramsey). More for entertainment than advice but I have learned some stuff.