I like to periodically re-read various personal finance books. Over this weekend, I just finished re-reading Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover".

While I have no objections to his get out of debt advice, I find his investing advice scary. In my opinion, people who follow his investing advice are setting themselves up for failure, big time. If you read the forums, you may have already read my objections to some of his investing advice, as I have been vocal about it a time or two already. After re-reading this weekend, I find his investing advice scarier than ever.

A few weeks ago, I shared my Excel calculations on the possible size of my nest egg at retirement age, assuming different scenarios. Here are my projections using Dave Ramsey math:

My traditional and Simple IRA balances as of 12/31/12 total $141,313.40. If I were to re-allocate that money based on Dave Ramsey's advice and assume I can count on 12% returns from now until age 65, my nest egg will reach $1,217,098.64 without my adding another single penny.

Currently, I am aiming for 600k in those accounts so that I can draw down 24k per year (standard safe withdrawal rate of 4%). But, Dave Ramsey says 8% is a safe withdrawal rate. So if I follow his advice, I only need 300k to safely draw down 24k per year.

Well holy cow, I am already looking at a nest egg of 4 times that amount without adding another penny between now and age 65. I will be able to count on my nest egg being 1.2 million, and I will be able to count on safely drawing 96k annually from my 1.2 million nest egg. I only make 49k per year now, so to me that is a fortune! Conclusion: I am golden. I have no need to continue adding to my traditional or Simple IRAs. I should immediately begin doing something else with the money I have been directing towards my traditional and Simple IRAs.

What about my Roth? I need to re-allocate that to 100% stocks too. The $15,295.50 I had on 12/31/12 will grow to $131,736.50 by the time I reach age 65 without adding another penny. My goal is 150k, so this is a little bit short. However, the whole reason I am saving in my Roth is to have a fund to pay for large irregular expenses such as a new roof or a new (to me) vehicle. But if my income is 96k per year, I don't foresee having any trouble paying these expenses out of current income. I will have twice the income I have now and no longer be saving for retirement or paying Fica taxes, so surely I can come up with 10k to buy a nice used car. I won't even need to dip into my 131k Roth. In fact, I don't see why I need money in a Roth at all.

Conclusion: I have already salted away far more than I need. I am done saving for retirement.

So I stop saving now and arrive at age 65 with...substantially less than Dave Ramsey promised me. Then what? Well, adjust to a much lower standard of living than I had expected. It's too late to do anything else.

It is a good thing for me that I recognize the huge flaws in Dave Ramsey's investment math. I hope that those following his advice are able to recognize the flaws too, but I fear that many are not.