Dave Ramsey's Anti-Debt Rants - He Sounds Like My Mother (and, when I hit my late 50s I knew she was right)

 It seems so long ago. But it isn't. That's The Great Depression ethos. Officially bringing it back is Dave Ramsey who rails against debt, as well as spending on non-essentials such as eating out. 

Dating way back to the 1940s, we Boomers had hammered into us by our parents, especially our mothers, that if we couldn't pay cash for something we were not entitled to buy it. That's what they did. They came of age during The Great Depression. They viewed themselves as "making it" when they paid cash for a 2-family (yeah, get that rent) in a lower-middle-class section of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey. 

But soon enough it was the beginning of a wave of extreme affluence in America. And, just like the current Gen Zers, as The Wall Street Journal reports, we Boomers ignored the go-cash lifestyle. Come on, that was nutty. If Dave Ramsey had been around during our young adulthood we would have made fun of him. No debt? I couldn't have gotten my Ph.D., first car, first house, first pedigree dog and first business.  

That was then. At age 58, like so many other Boomers, I got it that mother was right. The saga is familiar: Assuming that the good-earning times would continue we took on more and more debt. Considering ourselves a golden generation we didn't even factor in that aging itself would negatively impact earnings, at least for most of us. 

In 2003, when my industry and along with it my boutique had collapsed I was in debt for 6 figures. At the time the skills I have acquired were no longer marketable. Here is the primitive ebook I had knocked out on that which has had a million downloads. 

Chastened, I not only manage finances like my mother. I have a hunch I sound like her.



I paid cash for the 2013 two-door Smart car. And because I was paying cash I asked for and got something knocked off the sticker price.

Despite the HCOL New York City Metro area being "all I really knew" I conjured up the common sense and strength to relocate to a LCOL part of the US. No, it isn't true that you can't make a good buck in communications if you're not in NYC. 

Debt-free, I have choices. The most amazing to me was being able to pull the plug on a lucrative retainer agreement for communications services with elite law firm Paul, Weiss. That was after 2 months. It wasn't panning out to be a fit for me. In the process I liberated myself from chasing what that kind of brandname supposedly represented. Prestige? Smirk. 

Another choice I was able to make was to downsize the communications part of my boutique and build up other services. I had the financial reserve to take that risk. It was just in time. As you know, already AI is eliminating myriad kinds of tasks in communications.

Now in my late 70s, I have no intention to stop working for income. If business for my boutique dries up and I can't get it up and running again I will pick up a part-time job. My father remained employed in this or that after his formal retirement. 

With their extreme frugality my parents were weird. Anyone who left on the lights was vilified as morally deficient. 

It is likely that Gen Zers observe my current lifestyle as somewhat to very aberrant. My observation about them: They haven't suffered enough, at least not yet. For those in my Boomer circle and myself the definition of the "good life" is what we have grafted together after our own catastrophes.  

The Dave Ramsey voice is kind of cartoonish. But ignoring the old-line fundamentals of managing money can catch up with you.

2024. You can transform the craziness of this time into unique opportunity. Jane Genova provides you with intuitive career coaching, Tarot readings and related communications. Complimentary confidential consultation. (For appointment text/phone 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)

Meanwhile, please get to know me:

https://tarotreadingsforcareers.blogspot.com/

https://janegenovaintuitivecareercoaching.blogspot.com/

https://makingyourpoint.blogspot.com)

 


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