Clark Howard vs Dave Ramsey - What a difference!

[Carlyzmom]

Gosh, maybe I am VERY naive - but I am shocked to find so many Dave-haters on here! Dave and his program changed my families lives.

Oh, well, to each his own. I'll have to check the other guy out, but I know I will always be a HUGE dave fan!

 

[Purseval]

Gosh, maybe I am VERY naive - but I am shocked to find so many Dave-haters on here! Dave and his program changed my families lives.

If you read my original post:

I don't know. Perhaps if I had never heard of Clark Howard then Dave Ramsey would sound just great. There's certainly nothing wrong with his advice or his system.

Oh, well, to each his own. I'll have to check the other guy out, but I know I will always be a HUGE dave fan!

Nothing wrong with that. When you listen to Clark for a while what these people are posting about will become a lot clearer.

 

[Carina]

The reason he charges for the seminar is so that people have a vested interest in continuing the class. Anyone who has ever taught a class or seminar knows that the first couple of weeks the attendance is pretty good, but eventually it thins out. Dave wants people to stick it out.

!)

If that were true he would either re-imburse anyone that completed the seminar or donate all proceeds to a charity.

Dave wants to line his pockets, end of story.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Dave always likes to tell these cutesy little stories these kids send in in which they comment about how great Dave is... a few years ago I was in the car listening to his show and my daughter must have been about 5 at the time and she said "that guy is mean, calling people idiots and stupid, I get in trouble for saying those things, what a mean person"... always wanted to send that in, see if he read that over the air..

Between his boorish, holier than though and self promoting style, now to the point I would rather hit my self "down there" repeatedly than listen to him.. but I just LOVE Clark Howard..

 

[happygirl]

If that were true he would either re-imburse anyone that completed the seminar or donate all proceeds to a charity.

Dave wants to line his pockets, end of story.

Well,, this is his living he does have his bills to pay, You don't think Mr Clark does all his seminar for free do you?

 

[Purseval]

Well,, this is his living he does have his bills to pay, You don't think Mr Clark does all his seminar for free do you?

Yes, he does.

 

[crisi]

Well,, this is his living he does have his bills to pay, You don't think Mr Clark does all his seminar for free do you?

Ramsey's work has made him wealthy enough that he can live off his investments and wouldn't need to make a profit on his business. But his business is quite profitable.

His basic get out of debt advice is good (his investment advice isn't) and he's helped a ton of people. I often recommend Dave Ramsey's books. One of the things Ramsey does is manage to convince people that they can be frugal enough and work hard enough to turn things around - he doesn't pull any punches that this will take sacrifices, but he convinces you it will be worth it (and I agree). But I don't recommend his radio show, I don't recommend buying his books, and I tell everyone to ignore the religion and politics - which completely turn me off (and would offend most of the people I recommend him to).

Personally, I still like Eric Tyson's Personal Finance for Dummies best.

 

[jodifla]

IMO, some of Dave's advice is just downright dangerous. His "sell your car, buy a clunker for cash" could really mess up a family who then has to find a way to pay for all the clunker's repairs! Not to mention you need RELIABLE transportation to your job to keep paying your bills.

I would also never drain my cash reserves just to pay off debt. You need cash reserves well about his emergency savings account.

I would also never be so naive as to think I didn't need a great credit score in this day and age.

 

[JB2K]

I have listened to Clark Howard for years and knew about Dave Ramsey but never heard his radio show. Our local station recently added him so I've been listening for about a week. Talk about night vs day! Clark Howard is all about how to save money while Dave Ramsey is all about how to enrich Dave Ramsey. Every call has an ad in between, he recommends people from his website and pushes his courses and books. Clark never endorses anyone who pays him. He writes books but recommends that you check them out from the library for free rather than buy them to save money. Whenever he goes on the road it's always a free seminar.

This is a long-time issue I have had with the Ramsey show -- at the end of the day, he does what any other syndicated radio talk show host does -- to make money...lots of money.

I understand this is going to ruffle some feathers, as many on this board are devout followers of Ramsey, but I have serious issues with anyone telling me how to spend/not spend my money, but constantly encouraging me to buy their books, CDs, etc.

Clark Howard, OTOH, is pretty straightforward with his advice (without the upsell), as he earned/saved his own money to become what he is, today (I imagine his royalties come from whoever sponsors his radio show). Howard first came to my attention, several years ago when he took-on Bank of America over a Craigslist transaction gone wrong (which is also the time I became aware of the things that can happen at CL).

For those not familiar with Howard, he does have a 1-hour program that airs on the weekends on the "Headline News" channel -- it's a good way to kill an hour in front of the tube...

 

[Padstack]

DR really rubs me the wrong way. I would *love* to see him caught up in a big nasty scandal. His "holier than thou" attitude and constantly having his hand out are incredibly unattractive.

You are a sad, sad person to hope for something like that...

 

[DawnM]

I didn't get this one either, I would much rather have a car payment I can afford if I am a single gal or driving with young kids.

As for draining cash.....I think it depends on the cash. I would never take out a 401K or anything, but I wouldn't pay interest on a loan when I have the amount in the bank to pay it off either.

Dawn

IMO, some of Dave's advice is just downright dangerous. His "sell your car, buy a clunker for cash" could really mess up a family who then has to find a way to pay for all the clunker's repairs! Not to mention you need RELIABLE transportation to your job to keep paying your bills.

I would also never drain my cash reserves just to pay off debt. You need cash reserves well about his emergency savings account.

I would also never be so naive as to think I didn't need a great credit score in this day and age.

 

[vcasey]

I'm really enjoying the perspectives on this thread. I've never heard Clark Howard and I like Dave but knew that not all he said was a 'fit' for everyone so I'm really looking forward to checking out Clark and hearing some sound financial and savings advise from another perspective

 

[bumbershoot]

IMO, some of Dave's advice is just downright dangerous. His "sell your car, buy a clunker for cash" could really mess up a family who then has to find a way to pay for all the clunker's repairs! Not to mention you need RELIABLE transportation to your job to keep paying your bills.

I find it interesting how different people define "clunker". There are always a subset of people who define it as "barely running piece of junk". But I interpret it, and many others do as well, as "car that is decent, used, and at a better price than what I'm currently dealing with".

It's all in perception. He's not saying to buy something held together with duct tape.

And in our case, it was better to keep the car with its loan. And now that it's almost 6 years old (we bought it when it was 2 years old with a sick and wrong loan that was all DH could get at the time) it could BE someone else's clunker, b/c the cost wouldn't be THAT high. But it's a GREAT car! Not one I would have chosen myself, but it's what we could get, and it has been terrific for us. Totally safe, runs well, gets better gas mileage than DH's former compact car (we have a Grand Marquis now, so that's hilarious).

 

[redandblue]

You are a sad, sad person to hope for something like that...

I agree with you. I am not a true follower of DR but one of the things he is always saying is how disgusting it is that people in this society are always wanting to watch someone fail.

So he sells stuff and he has an endorsed vendor program. He is a business man helping people out of debt is not his only venture. He is huge into small business and helping people run a small businesses. And I think the endorsed program is helpful if he believes in the business and finds it trustworthy why not endorse it? Every radio stations needs people to buy it's airtime or is he supposed to pay that out of pocket as well?

He may sound harsh on his program but many people need a good kick in the butt to get motivated, many of the people calling into his show lived a life way beyond their means and need some real help not a hug.

I agree with many about taking what you need from all the financial planners out there. I loved David Bach's book "smart women finish rich" and wish I would have used more of his advice. I like Suze Orman and I will have to check out Clark Howard.

 

[labdogs42]

I'll have to check out Clark! I love listening to podcasts and I've never really gotten into Dave Ramsey, this Clark guy sounds more my speed. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[mhconley]

Never heard of Clark Howard but I have listened to Dave Ramsey and looked at his website. His debt snowball is very much like John Cummuta's Turning Debt Into Wealth debt payoff plan I purchased several years ago.

We're putting it into practice now.

I don't begrudge anyone for making a buck...

I cannot wait until the day I can call Dave and scream, "I'm debt free!"

Martin

 

[Padstack]

I agree with you. I am not a true follower of DR but one of the things he is always saying is how disgusting it is that people in this society are always wanting to watch someone fail.

So he sells stuff and he has an endorsed vendor program. He is a business man helping people out of debt is not his only venture. He is huge into small business and helping people run a small businesses. And I think the endorsed program is helpful if he believes in the business and finds it trustworthy why not endorse it? Every radio stations needs people to buy it's airtime or is he supposed to pay that out of pocket as well?

He may sound harsh on his program but many people need a good kick in the butt to get motivated, many of the people calling into his show lived a life way beyond their means and need some real help not a hug.

I agree with many about taking what you need from all the financial planners out there. I loved David Bach's book "smart women finish rich" and wish I would have used more of his advice. I like Suze Orman and I will have to check out Clark Howard.

I was looking at it along the lines of wishing that on anyone, just disgusting. As you pointed out, DR is running a business. I don't see how that takes away from the advice that he gives.

I do not follow him to a tee. I am paying off CC debt while still saving for a nice family WDW vacation this summer. I do credit DR with getting me to think about getting out of debt and actually making a plan to do so.

 

[mhconley]

I was looking at it along the lines of wishing that on anyone, just disgusting. As you pointed out, DR is running a business. I don't see how that takes away from the advice that he gives.

I do not follow him to a tee. I am paying off CC debt while still saving for a nice family WDW vacation this summer. I do credit DR with getting me to think about getting out of debt and actually making a plan to do so.

Happy I'm not the only one - now that we have our emergency fund stashed aside we're saving for our WDW vacation - then we start the debt snowball!

Martin

 

[Padstack]

Happy I'm not the only one - now that we have our emergency fund stashed aside we're saving for our WDW vacation - then we start the debt snowball!

Martin

We have been doing the debt snowball while saving for WDW. We started watching a friends kid aftershcool for a little extra that goes directly into the Vacation Fund. If we sell something on ebay, then that is split between Vacation and Debt Snowball.

As it stands, we will be debt free by October.

 

[MEM]

IMO, some of Dave's advice is just downright dangerous. His "sell your car, buy a clunker for cash" could really mess up a family who then has to find a way to pay for all the clunker's repairs! Not to mention you need RELIABLE transportation to your job to keep paying your bills. I would also never drain my cash reserves just to pay off debt. You need cash reserves well about his emergency savings account.

I would also never be so naive as to think I didn't need a great credit score in this day and age.

I have to agree with you on this. DH and I plan to buy our DD15 the safest, most reliable car we can afford, with or without monthly payments. There is no way I want her out on the roads in a "beater" - as Dave calls them. "Beater", to me, implies more than old and ugly.

Dave also should not be giving investment advice - my DH cringes when he hears Dave giving that kind of advice. We think he should stick to strategies for getting and staying out of debt.