A Rich Life

The Old Ideas on Saving & Investing Don't Work -- Here's What Does

“I Cannot Post Dishonestly on SWRs…I Don’t Have Any Wiggle Room — It’s a Numerical Calculation”

by

Yesterday’s blog entry provided the text of an e-mail sent to me on April 20, 2009, by J.D. Roth, owner of the Get Rich Slowly blog.

I responded by saying: “Thanks for your response and thanks for considering the idea. I’ll send you a possible Guest Blog Entry in the next day or two. You can of course decide on reading it whether it offers value to your readers or not.

I followed with a Guest Blog Entry entitled “We’re All Better Off as a Result of the Stock Crash.” I asked J.D. to “Please let me know what you think when you get a chance.”

I also sent an e-mail to Lazy Man saying: “J.D. wrote me a response suggesting (among other things) that I write a possible Guest Blog Entry for his site. I have submitted a possible Guest Blog Entry entitled “We’re All Better Off As A Result of the Stock Crash.” Perhaps that will end up helping spread the word a bit.”

Lazy Man responded with these words:

“Yeah, I was cc’d on the response.  I think he’s got some valid points. I hope you take away much more than the “I should submit a guest blog entry to him.”  To me that was the least important of the 5 or 6 things that he mentioned.”

I responded to Lazy Man with these words:

“I think I probably stated my views on most of the other points he raised in comments put forward at the Money Blog Network forum. My strong hunch is that it won’t help for me to go through any of that again.

“Please do let me know if you ever have questions or thoughts about ways that I could help out. My rule is to respond to all in a spirit of charity to the greatest extent possible given the circumstances that apply. I cannot post dishonestly on safe withdrawal rates. That’s out, for obvious reasons. Anything short of that works, so far as I’m concerned. That’s always been the rub and on that one I don’t have any wiggle room. It’s a numerical calculation.”

I did not receive a response from J.D. about the Guest Blog Entry.

Comments

  1. I am a little confused Rob. You claim that last Friday’s blog contains an email sent to you by J.D.Roth.

    However when I read last Friday’s blog I see the teaxt of an email that you sent to J.D. and Lazy Man

    Set forth below is the text of an e-mail that I sent to both J.D. and Lazy Man in response to Lazy Man’s e-mail.

  2. Evidence was right in what he was saying here.

    I originally (yesterday) posted this blog entry out of order. After Evidence pointed out the error, I moved this one forward a day and posted the proper blog entry in yesterday’s space.

    Thanks for the assist, Evidence.

    Rob

  4. I think the only lesson of these email exchanges is to avoid email exchanges with Rob Bennett.

  5. I can see how the Goons would come to that conclusion, Sadface. But deep down inside all the Goons secretly want to be Normals. No?

    Rob

  6. No. I don’t think so Rob. Clearly if you are going to arbitrarily post private email communications on your website – the lesson is to avoid communicating with you.

  7. the lesson is to avoid communicating with you.

    Some may indeed draw that conclusion, Sadface. And, if they do, perhaps it is better that they indeed not send e-mails to me. If there is anyone who would like to send an e-mail and not have it publicly quoted, they can of course let me know that, either when they send the e-mail or later, when I ask whether it’s okay to quote it or not. But if there is someone so lacking in trust that that sort of arrangement doesn’t cover it, it is probably indeed best that that person not send e-mails at all. I don’t get the sense that there are too many in that category, Sadface (perhaps only you and a small number of other Goons?).

    For my part, I will say that I am grateful for all e-mails that I receive, especially those that evidence a sincere desire to come to a constructive solution to the problems that have plagued our boards and blogs for a good number of years now. I’ve learned a lot from e-mails that have been sent to me on this matter, both from those that have been supportive of my position and from those that have not been supportive of my position.

    I am glad that the great majority of those who don’t agree with me on all points have not taken nearly as dark a view of things as the one you are expressing here. My guess is that you are faking, that you don’t believe the things you say. If you believe these things, I feel even worse for you than I do believing that you are faking. My hope is that there is no one on this planet who feels so bad that he actually believes the things that you are suggesting you believe here. But some of these things are beyond me. There’s a darkness that in exceptional cases resides in the human heart that I am not sure that I want to fully understand.

    I will make an effort to remember you in my prayers, Sadface. That’s the best that I can do in these circumstances. If you get to a point where you are able to talk in a human way, I will be here for you.

    Rob