Thanks Dave!

[HHSTigerFan]

But there is much better financial advice out there than what he sells, always remember that Dave is a marketing person whose product happens to be financial in nature..

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Thanks to those PPs who are pointing out the fact that this was a thread I created for people to CELEBRATE their financial success. Everyone is different and we need to respect that.

Without Dave, I'd probably still be dividing our monthly allotment for CC's and paying the same on each. That was getting me no where. For me, and for many that follow DR, seeing the debts go to $0, gives me encouragement to keep going.

I do not know much about DR aside from reading his book, which I checked out for FREE from the library. I even said that I don't follow EVERYTHING that DR believes. I've read several financial books and I picked and chose what worked for us.

So, please let's keep this as what I intended. No more bashing.

 

[Abbeys_mom]

If he was truly doing what he does out of the goodness of his heart, he'd either give the info for free or reduce the cost.

Notice he does neither?

I agree with the others that say what he is selling is common sense.

Last I checked, the radio was free. He easily could shut down the websites devoted to his program, but he does not. Heck, his website even outlines the steps and he has a few basic budgets you can download. If one choose to, then yes, his book does cost $10 on iTunes and a 13 week class for a couple to attend is about $100, with part of that going back to the organization that hosts it and comes with a ton of materials.

I am doing his program for the cost of the book. He is not getting rich off me! He does endorse people and companies and he has a large following, he in an entrepreneur that is capitalizing on his personal brand. Since when is that a crime? If you don't like his style, fine. But the OP started this as a support thread, not as a debate.

 

[SaraJayne]

And I am sure that you do your job for free too

Even though you are being snarky, you are correct in that I do my job for free.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

In the real world:

The majority of U.S. households have no credit card debt, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Consumer Finances. About a quarter have no credit cards, and an additional 30% or so pay off their balances every month.

Of the households that do owe money on credit cards, the median balance was $2,200 -- meaning half owe more, half less.

Only 8.3% of households owe $9,000 or more on their cards.

In the real world 28% of households make less than $25,000, 55% make less than $50,000, 7.5% make more than $150,000 and the median is ~ $44,000. If your argument is that poor people and rich people don't have much credit card debt then I guess we agree Poor because they don't have access to credit and rich because they don't need it.

Since, as a DR disciple, you would know that by far the deepest hole his devotees have to dig themselves out of is credit card debt it would be safe to assume that if someone has their credit cards under control the rest of their finances are in reasonable shape also. .

Since you don't listen you don't understand that most peoples problems stem from car loans, student loans, and too big of a house purchase. Credit cards get the press, but usually they are cash flow vehicles to pay for the others until the math of the interest rate overwhelms the income. Again, a lot of "common sense" is wrong advice like "college always pays for itself", "used cars always break down", "buy the biggest house you can afford", "houses always go up" etc.

Then again using the same statistics there are about 15 million people in deep doodoo. I'm no statistician but tens of thousands doesn't make much of a dent in 15 million so he has a way to go before he saves the world from itself

No, he has built a $10M+ net worth because in a nation of 350 million people it doesn't take a very big percentage of folks who can't control their spending to provide him with a lifetime's worth of business..

Your words about saving the world, not mine. I said he helps more than any single person in the US and if you add up the radio audience, book sales, financial peace university, etc. then he reaches an audience of millions with tens of thousands of success stories. A tree is known by its fruit. Should we not help the millions because you can't help everyone?

Dave seems like a good person. He's doing a lot of people who thought they had no hope a world of good and he's making a good living at the same time. Kudos to him and his system. But let's keep things in perspective.

I agree. So what are you angry about I would observe 4 of many possibilities:

1. You look down on the people who need/like the advice because you believe you are better/smarter than them.

2. You don't like a proscribed "system" like Dave's. You would prefer to do things on your own, but don't understand/care that many people are not like that and could care less about investing/finance. They just want a simple plan to take them where they want to go.

3. You think the advice is wrong or simpleminded. See above. You believe that finance is about mathematics vs. behavior and that logic always triumphs over emotions. You should use a credit card for the float and the rewards, you should abritrage your mortgage for investments, you would never spend more just because you were using a card, etc.

4. You don't like the Christian content.

Not really looking for an answer, just sayin. I just find the reactions on the thread fascinating on a thread about celebrating paying off a few bills.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

Even though you are being snarky, you are correct in that I do my job for free.

You are right, I was being snarky

I am glad that you are able to make you way in the world without paid employment. My (non-snarky) point was just that there is nothing wrong with making an honest living by helping people. To disparage someone's honor/integrity by saying that they should only work for free/less is not right IMHO

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I just find the reactions on the thread fascinating on a thread about celebrating paying off a few bills.

Me too - I can't believe it's spiraled into this!

 

[Purseval]

In the real world 28% of households make less than $25,000, 55% make less than $50,000, 7.5% make more than $150,000 and the median is ~ $44,000. If your argument is that poor people and rich people don't have much credit card debt then I guess we agree Poor because they don't have access to credit and rich because they don't need it.

But if poor people don't have credit cards and rich people don't need them the the numbers I cited about debt and payment behavior have to come from the middle class. So what's the point you're trying to make with those numbers?

Since you don't listen you don't understand that most peoples problems stem from car loans, student loans, and too big of a house purchase. Credit cards get the press, but usually they are cash flow vehicles to pay for the others until the math of the interest rate overwhelms the income. Again, a lot of "common sense" is wrong advice like "college always pays for itself", "used cars always break down", "buy the biggest house you can afford", "houses always go up" etc.

Credit cards get the press because they are a good bellwhether. If a family is managing their cards responsibly odds are they are managing everything else or making adjustments to one in order to offset another. I realize this wouldn't be considered something good under his system because he wants no debt at all but there is a big difference between debt and out of control debt.

Your words about saving the world, not mine. I said he helps more than any single person in the US and if you add up the radio audience, book sales, financial peace university, etc. then he reaches an audience of millions with tens of thousands of success stories. A tree is known by its fruit. Should we not help the millions because you can't help everyone?

He can save as many people as are willing to pay him to save them, that's not the point. The point was he's not some major influence like you claim.

Since you didn't want an answer to the rest I won't waste your time giving one.

 

[tpinc]

I have to agree with some of the other posters. I think Dave is a crock of crap, he charges for what you SHOULD know and he is rude beyond belief. I think he preys on people who are desperate and they fund his life. My dad taught me the basics for free, he didn't need a "Dave Ramsey" to teach him. It kills me how Dave doesn't want you to spend money on anything, except his seminars.

Hmmm.... Everything I learned from Dave Ramsey I learned from his free radio shows, free website and free newspaper columns.

 

[tpinc]

I'm quite confident Dave Ramsey did not invent the envelope system. However, he was the first one that I heard promote it.

Every time I've used envelopes to take a vacation for example, I've come back home with left over cash. Prior to using envelopes I had used credit cards and spent more than I could afford.

So, because of Dave Ramsey's free advice I learned how to go on vacation and not spend more than I could afford.