Dave Ramsey just trashed DVC on the air

[4formickey]

The difference is that we did not bash EVERY financial advisor, just DAVE.
We did not label them ALL as "preying on idiots" just because Dave does it.

I'm sorry ,I bashed them. O.K I was really bashing the one that posted and was giving us advise for free.

 

[canda]

His belief of timeshares is based on paper and bottom line figures, not love of a place. what he is saying is if you take your payment into DVC and save the amount including the maint. fees, in 2042 you will have a large sum of cash. in 2042 we will not have any cash or even rights to DVC. That is why he thinks it is a bad investment. (to sum up, not to quote)

Now before you think I do everything he says, I don't, I am not a big fan of his style. I do think the message of getting out of debt is good. I just think he is a little harsh on his delievery.

The problem with this debate is that Dave is talking figures based on the outcome of saving the money over a 50 year span.
the Dis'er are responding out of emotion for a product that they love and have more than money invested into it. We have invested time with family and memories which are very important.

 

[Anewman]

His belief of timeshares is based on paper and bottom line figures, not love of a place.

His belief of "timeshares" is fine, but bottom line figures and resale price history has shown that most DVC buyers that have chosen to sell after a few years actually came out with a profit over the original purchase price. At the very worst the loss is very small(and they took a few vacations), contrary to the other timeshares that DAVE lumps DVC with.

Resale prices have nothing to do with love of a place, and "other Timeshare" resale patterns should not be refered to when talking about DVC.

what he is saying is if you take your payment into DVC and save the amount including the maint. fees, in 2042 you will have a large sum of cash. in 2042 we will not have any cash or even rights to DVC.

Yes if you SAVE the entire amount through 2042, you would have a large sum of cash.
But the same can be said of everything.
Cable/Sat TV
Internet bill
Phone bills(cell and land lines)
Car Payments
kids clothes
RENT
Hotel rooms at non DVC rates.

IMO 50 years of hotel rooms at RACK RATES would add upto much more than 50 years of "maint. fees" and the buyin cost.

 

[salmoneous]

That is why he thinks it is a bad investment. (to sum up, not to quote)

Actually, Dave thinks timeshares are a bad investment because he doesn't understand much about timeshares. He takes information that may be true about some timeshares, and claims it to be true for all timeshares. Here's Dave:

The reason you can’t make any money off time shares is that there’s virtually no market for them. Nobody in their right mind wants to buy one. Once you get stuck with a time share, it’s like being lost in a black hole. You never get to use it enough to justify the cost, plus you’ve got things like maintenance fees and the possibility of borrowing the money and paying interest on something you’ll hardly ever use. For what you’d shell out for a time share, you could go to Europe every summer for the rest of your life!

Time shares are a really bad deal, Travis.

 

[vascubaguy]

Actually, Dave thinks timeshares are a bad investment because he doesn't understand much about timeshares. He takes information that may be true about some timeshares, and claims it to be true for all timeshares. Here's Dave:

The reason you can’t make any money off time shares is that there’s virtually no market for them. Nobody in their right mind wants to buy one. Once you get stuck with a time share, it’s like being lost in a black hole. You never get to use it enough to justify the cost, plus you’ve got things like maintenance fees and the possibility of borrowing the money and paying interest on something you’ll hardly ever use. For what you’d shell out for a time share, you could go to Europe every summer for the rest of your life!

Time shares are a really bad deal, Travis.

No market for DVC... hrmm... I guess he doesn't see how quickly some of these resale listings get whisked off the market! I'd agree with him that many timeshares are a "bad" investment if you are trying to make a profit. However, i'm not "investing" into DVC to fund my retirement!

I mean I live within my means... but I do "LIVE"! I'm not going to just pack all my money away for someone else to live off of that didn't earn it!

 

[CarolA]

Actually, Dave thinks timeshares are a bad investment because he doesn't understand much about timeshares. He takes information that may be true about some timeshares, and claims it to be true for all timeshares. Here's Dave:

The reason you can’t make any money off time shares is that there’s virtually no market for them. Nobody in their right mind wants to buy one. Once you get stuck with a time share, it’s like being lost in a black hole. You never get to use it enough to justify the cost, plus you’ve got things like maintenance fees and the possibility of borrowing the money and paying interest on something you’ll hardly ever use. For what you’d shell out for a time share, you could go to Europe every summer for the rest of your life!

Time shares are a really bad deal, Travis.

Facts aren't his strong point. Dave firmly believes that HE knows ALL! Facts just get in the way of his truth.

 

[canda]

GOOD LORD! I get it. you are right and Dave is wrong. I was not taking any sides. I was just saying he is looking at figures and you are looking at much more than the bottom line.

I love DVC and would not sell it even for a nice profit.

 

[littlestar]

About every 10 to 15 years someone new comes out and gets rich off of helping people get out of debt. Dave was smart and cashed in on it.

If you want the "real deal" I'd go buy (or borrow from the library) the books that started it - The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn and another good one by different authors, Your Money or Your Life.

One thing about Amy Dacyczyn (Tightwad Gazette), she always said make changes in your spending/buying to be able to get what YOU REALLY WANT in life. And she definitely wouldn't have "sold" you envelopes labeled for paying certain bills with cash. Amy probably would have given you instructions on how to make your own envelope from scratch.

Timeshares have allowed me, my family and friends to take vacations we only used to dream about. We own DVC and also two resale every other year timeshares (bought so cheap I'm embarrassed to post it). We joined Interval International (exchange company) and this has allowed our friends/family to use the cash Getaway weeks. We just booked an off-season Getaway week for our friends via our Interval membership at Marriott Horizons in a 2 bedroom and the price for the week was $489.00 (that includes the tax and Guest Certificate). That's about $69.00 a night for a fantastic place to stay. They are thrilled and told us there was no way they could have taken their family to Orlando/Disney without this deal. They have six kids. Tell me where a family of 8 can stay in a 2 bedroom condo with a full kitchen, water park/zero entry pools with slides/miniature golf course, etc., for under $70.00 a night?

Just like everything else, timesharing can be bad or it can work out VERY nicely.

 

[Anewman]

I was not taking any sides. I was just saying he is looking at figures and you are looking at much more than the bottom line.

And I was just saying that he was looking at figures about APPLES(most timeshares) and using those figures to give advice on ORANGES(DVC).

 

[Sammie]

His belief of "timeshares" is fine, but bottom line figures and resale price history has shown that most DVC buyers that have chosen to sell after a few years actually came out with a profit over the original purchase price. At the very worst the loss is very small(and they took a few vacations), contrary to the other timeshares that DAVE lumps DVC with.

Resale prices have nothing to do with love of a place, and "other Timeshare" resale patterns should not be refered to when talking about DVC.




Yes if you SAVE the entire amount through 2042, you would have a large sum of cash.
But the same can be said of everything.
Cable/Sat TV
Internet bill
Phone bills(cell and land lines)
Car Payments
kids clothes
RENT
Hotel rooms at non DVC rates.

IMO 50 years of hotel rooms at RACK RATES would add upto much more than 50 years of "maint. fees" and the buyin cost.

Are you saying that kids clothes are a luxury.

 

[Sammie]

Facts aren't his strong point. Dave firmly believes that HE knows ALL! Facts just get in the way of his truth.

Then he would fit right in on the DIS.

 

[CarolMN]

Then he would fit right in on the DIS.

Good one, Sammie!

 

[4formickey]

Send me $29.99 and I can show you how to make money .This is a proven and time tested way of earring extra cash!!!!!

 

[Esmerelda]

My husband and I have read Dave's book "Total Money Makeover". If you really read his book, his financial advice is terrific. We have started following it earlier in the year and golly oh gee...but does it work. I will say, I can't agree with him on DVC, only because I love it but pretty much every thing else, he is right on the money (no pun intended).

"Learn how to control your money..not your money control you...."

don't knock it, until you've tried it...
Esmerelda

added: we checked out the book at the library...no money spent here and the radio show is free

 

[eliza61]

His belief of timeshares is based on paper and bottom line figures, not love of a place. what he is saying is if you take your payment into DVC and save the amount including the maint. fees, in 2042 you will have a large sum of cash. in 2042 we will not have any cash or even rights to DVC. That is why he thinks it is a bad investment. (to sum up, not to quote)

The problem with this debate is that Dave is talking figures based on the outcome of saving the money over a 50 year span.
the Dis'er are responding out of emotion for a product that they love and have more than money invested into it. We have invested time with family and memories which are very important.

The problem I have with Dave is that he equates the quality of life with a dollar figure. Yes, if I invested that money (and that is a big IF) I would have a wad of cash in the year 2042 but I would not have the wonderful memories and experiences I have. In my book that would make me so much poorer in the long run (I'm a 9/11 survivor so I fully admit my perception is slightly different)

 

[DisneyBill]

Interesting/timely thread on the budget boards regarding like comments made by Suze Orman. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1257910

 

[CarolA]

My husband and I have read Dave's book "Total Money Makeover". If you really read his book, his financial advice is terrific. We have started following it earlier in the year and golly oh gee...but does it work. I will say, I can't agree with him on DVC, only because I love it but pretty much every thing else, he is right on the money (no pun intended).

"Learn how to control your money..not your money control you...."

don't knock it, until you've tried it...
Esmerelda

added: we checked out the book at the library...no money spent here and the radio show is free

Yes, but Dave thinks that HE is the ONLY person who has any good advice. (And to be honest is big advice is to SPEND less then you make......That's hardly an original idea!)

 

[Dean]

The problem I have with Dave is that he equates the quality of life with a dollar figure. Yes, if I invested that money (and that is a big IF) I would have a wad of cash in the year 2042 but I would not have the wonderful memories and experiences I have. In my book that would make me so much poorer in the long run (I'm a 9/11 survivor so I fully admit my perception is slightly different)

I don't really think that's true overall. His advice is very simple, don't have debt other than a house and get out from under that as soon as possible. While simple, it's amazing how many people screw even that up and that probably includes many DVC members. The idea of financing luxury items is certainly a poor choice, for that he is right on target.

 

[Bethshaya]

Actually,

He has pretty good advice, don't pay for anything if you don't have the money to buy it.

He can come on strong, and like Slakk, most people have a healthy balance, but it's his passion to get and keep people out of debt.
If you have no debt, you can build wealth and share it spend it however you like.

Don't be too harsh on him. He would be all for DVC if he knew more about it (high resale value), if you paid cash for it, AND had the money/income to support frequent trips to WDW.

Peace,
G4L

I agree. The advice goes for people who cannot afford it. If you have $10K in credit card debt, $60K in a home mortgage, a car payment bigger than you need, tuition for college and only making $40-50K a year you have no business buying a time share at that time. It means you got suckered into an emotional buy (yes, even for DVC). Buying any Timeshare requires thought and I bet there are more people out there who get suckered into an emotional buy (like those free weekends they get you to sit in on a sales pitch for and stuff) than who honestly buy after serious thought. DVC is a luxury, not a necessity. It sure is nice to escape to Never Neverland every once in a while, but now that things have changed in my life, I have to take reflect on my own reality. My DVC land of make believe, even though it is filled with wonderful memories, may need to have some changes made.

Now that my kids arent so much kids anymore, we find ourselves going to Disney less and less. In fact, 4 of the last 5 years we ended up banking our points and then losing them (we should have rented them, but I was uninformed on how it works and leary about it).

I think the time has come to say goodbye to our Dvc. Mickey served us well and we will miss him. I find it an emotional decision to make because I love going to Disney so much. But in all honesty to myself, I am paying dues each year for something we are not using and that money could be put into an account to save for something else. My DH was laid off last year and unable to find anything. We've gone through our savings and finding it harder and harder to make ends meet on just my income. It is a sad decision for me. If I could keep it, I would, but it is just draining us now that we are in a different situation than we were 10 years ago when we bought. The resale value is also tempting in that is almost doubled from what we paid for it.

Has anyone used the Timeshare Resales before? How do they work?

 

[drakethib]

I don't really think that's true overall. His advice is very simple, don't have debt other than a house and get out from under that as soon as possible. While simple, it's amazing how many people screw even that up and that probably includes many DVC members. The idea of financing luxury items is certainly a poor choice, for that he is right on target.

I may be off course here and not trying to start a flame war and while I didn't finance my DVC, I am not sure if financings DVC is a bad idea. I know several people who have no debt and have incomes that many people can only dream of that have financed their DVC.

Some people are more comfortable with the $$$ in the bank and paying a monthly note.

At the same time, if someone had their credit cards maxed out, could barely make ends meet, etc.and financed a non-essential, this is a poor choice.