Dave Ramsey’s advice is only ever applicable to those who are terrible with self-control. If you have at least mediocre self-control, carefully managed debt can be a boon
Dave Ramsey is a bigotted, sexist, racist piece of shit who got rich running mega churches. Ie: scamming people and the government.
He’s fired people because they’ve have children out of wedlock. The whole company is a cult.
Doesn’t that describe pretty much everyone in finance
The average person in finance has different flaws than this particular douchebag.
Hi. I’m an person in finance. Fuck Dave Ramsey. He gives decent financial advice, but the way he shoehorns God into financial matters so frequently was off-putting to me, even when I was a Christian. That, and he’s a racist, bigoted POS.
If you’re in the middle class, his baby steps are somewhat solid stuff, though.
- Learn how to write a budget. There are sites out there to help you with that. Personally, I’ve found I like a spreadsheet best.
- Reconcile your accounts daily. Know where your money has been and where it’s going.
- Squirrel away some cash. A grand ain’t much to have, but it’s a fuckton to owe.
- Don’t drive glitzy cars. A '99 Corolla gets you there just as effectively as a new Tahoe.
- Get out of credit card debt ASAP. If you can’t pay cash for it and you don’t need it, you can’t buy it.
- If debt is crushing you, use what windfalls you can get to pay them down.
- Eat out less. Cook at home more. Not only is it less expensive, it’s generally healthier.
But saving six months’ expenses and paying off your house early…yeah, that’s not feasible for at least 70% people. Especially renters.
The truth is Dave’s screeners do not let anyone through if his program can’t help them. I mean, a single parent in a rural town whose boss won’t pay them enough to survive and whose economic prospects are so limited that “just get a better job” will never work because there aren’t any. People who must rely on the generosity of others to get by and will be completely fucked if they lose their government assistance. Or worse - their job. There’s no financial advice that can help them. Because we live under an economic system that can’t operate if those at the bottom aren’t going through untold suffering and can be helped by “drive an old car, eat beans and rice, and just get a better job.”
At that point, it’s not the fault of the person. It’s the fault of the system. Dave isn’t the problem, but he’s certainly a complication.
There is a British financial advisor who basically says the same thing.
If you can actually manage debt make sure to get some. And then pay it off.
One example: If you get to own a house (that’s paid off) not having debt on it is stupid because you get the lowest interest a regular person possibly can get. Even if everyone else has interest rates up to their mouth you’ll get a rate so cushy investing the money in any index fund will outperform your interest payments.
Disagree, sure you can make more in the open market over time by getting another mortgage on a paid off home.
But that invested money means absolutely nothing if the market has a downturn and you lose your job. Now you’re on the hook to a mortgage you can’t pay and risk losing a place to live.
While on paper you can make more money, it’s very dumb to gamble with things you need to survive. And that’s all any loan is, a gamble that you will be in good health and have the means to pay it back.
Like how some banks go “save a coffee now, buy a house in a year”
Isn’t dying poor a good thing? I don’t want to live poor, but you can’t take it with you. I’d ideally spend my last dollar right before taking my last breath.
The problem is when you spend your last dollar but still are breathing.
If you’re unmarried and have no descendants sure. Although you’re kind of screwing them over, these days, you dying is the only way your kids are ever going to be able to buy a house.
With inheritance taxes in the west not even then.
I would love to have inheritance tax as something to worry about.
It would mean I have millions to leave my family.
Unless you are dying with millions, inheritance tax is nothing.
Exactly. I forget the limit, but it’s something north of $10M before it gets taxed in the US. Not sure about other western countries.
Problem is, that you normally don’t know how long you’ll live and cannot plan accordingly.
I know when I’m going to die, because I’m an independent free thinker. I refuse to face my death on anyone’s terms but my own. I intend to live a rich and fulfilling life, watch my family grow, and then end it at a time of my own choosing, after giving all of my grandkids the tools they need to go on without me.
If I died to any means but suicide, I wouldn’t think it fair. You can’t fire me, I quit. It’s my life and I’m going to be in control until the last second.
You goober, even if you’re planning on offing yourself you can still die randomly before that.
The audacity to use the word goober as an insult in a comment this stupid is baffling.
Of course you’re right. Obviously.
Did you not get the point?
