To Retire Well, You Need Less Than 2% of Dave Ramsey’s Net Worth — How Much Is That?
Written by
Andrew Lisa
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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The world — or at least a small part of it — met Dave Ramsey in 1992.
That year, the budding celebrity personal finance guru launched a show called “The Money Game” on a single struggling local radio station for no pay. Within a few years, it blossomed into the highest-rated show in Nashville.
The program would evolve into “The Dave Ramsey Show,” then “The Ramsey Show,” the nationally syndicated talk and call-taking money advice mainstay that propelled Ramsey to national stardom — and nine-figure wealth.
Celebrity Net Worth estimates Ramsey’s personal fortune is in the neighborhood of $200 million. With that kind of cash, he can retire anywhere he wants, any way he wants. Chances are you have fewer dollars — and, therefore, fewer options.
But if you can drum up even 2% of that figure, you can have a rich retirement in any state in America — and you’ll do just fine in most places with much less.
From Neighborhood Lawn Boy to Centi-Millionaire
Celebrity Net Worth reports that three-quarters of Ramsey’s fortune — $150 million — is tied to his vast real estate portfolio, but he earned his first dollars cutting lawns as a 12-year-old boy. Later, Ramsey worked his way through college, earning degrees in finance and real estate. Then, “Dave started buying and selling real estate,” according to the Ramsey Solutions website. “And at 26 years old, he was rich.”
He still hosts the Ramsey Show and has spent decades piling on the profits as an eight-time national bestselling author. But you don’t need to be a household name to maintain a rich household in nearly every state in America.
$200M Would Be Nice, but $4M Will Suffice
A recent GOBankingRates study found that a $2 million nest egg — just 1% of Ramsey’s net worth — could fund a basic retirement in even the most expensive states. The study used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Missouri Economic & Research Information Center to analyze living costs like housing, transportation, groceries, utilities and healthcare expenses in every state and the District of Columbia. The analysis then subtracted the average Social Security income from each state’s average annual living expenses and presumed a yearly 4% drawdown from the typical retiree’s nest egg.
Since that covers just basic living expenses, doubling it to $4 million — 2% of Ramsey’s fortune — would ensure a rich retirement that provides for all of your needs and most of your wants.
In Most States, $2M Is More Than Enough Money for More Than Enough Time
The study found that just one state would force unpleasant but modest compromises on retirees looking to live well on $4 million.
Daily life in Hawaii costs an average of $103,609.86 per year. When you subtract the typical retiree’s Social Security benefits, your savings are on the hook for $81,472.74. To scrape by in the Aloha State, you’d have to save $2,036,818.40 to endure the decades.
Most other states, however, are much more forgiving.
In the cheapest state, West Virginia, the average annual living expense is $49,260.94 — just $27,123.82 once you subtract Social Security income. You can live out your golden years there with a $678,095.40 nest egg — that’s roughly $1 for every $3 needed to retire in Hawaii and less than 0.34% of Dave Ramsey’s vast fortune.
And Hawaii is much more of an outlier than West Virginia.
Just 1% of Ramsey’s net worth — $2 million — will cover a cozy retirement in all but 15 states plus Washington, D.C. The No. 35 least-expensive state, Colorado, requires $991,758.10 to cover the basics. You can get by in 40 states with less than $1.1 million. Even infamously expensive New York and California command less than $1.5 million to pay the bills — that’s under $3 million to retire worry-free. In fact, the only places retirees need Social Security plus at least $3 million to retire rich are Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Hawaii.
Methodology: In order to find how much you need in savings to retire in your state, GOBankingRates analyzed each state to find the cost-of-living indexes across grocery, healthcare, utilities, transportation and housing from the Missouri Economic & Research Information Center. Using these cost-of-living indexes, GOBankingRates found the national average costs for people aged 65 and over across the expenditures; grocery, healthcare, utilities, transportation and housing as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the average expenditure costs for each category in each state. The average Social Security Income was subtracted from the overall expenditure to find the annual cost of living remaining. Assuming a drawdown of 4% a year to pay for living expenses, GOBankingRates calculated the savings needed to retire in each state. All data was collected and is up to date as of May 22, 2024.
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