Do we like him?  What do we think about his philosophy overall?

 

Good decisions and self control are all you need.  

If you follow his advice you will get out of debt and stay out.

There are other methods but his works.

I do not follow all of his methods and thus I have a bit of debt.

He offers a great plan to get out of debt, but his investment advise is suspect at best. YMMV

He does the thinking for the ppl that cant think for themselves and use common sense. IMO, its no different than diet gurus, its simple, dont eat junk, limit sugar and carbs, get up and move once in awhile. lol

1) Live below your means

2) Dont spend more than you have coming in.

3) Pay cash, youll never be in debt

4) Save, Save, Save, start young, sacrifice and youll be set in golden years.

5) Bills come first, then savings, then frills. Set a budget and kept it strict.

6) Max 401k / IRA as soon as you can and stick to it and forget about it.

While its boring to save and not spend on the latest greatest, it will pay off in the end. Still live life, but make the times out special occasions. i.e. dont eat out 3-4 times a week, eat out once and itll be special, not routine. There are a billion ways to save and still live life.

This right here ^. The one thing I can't stand about Ramsey is his militant followers. It's good advice and I follow pretty close to what he preaches, just can't stand the high horse some people get on after reading a book of his. Know your limits and control your spending, I even have a *gasp* credit card that I get points off of and pay off Everly month. It's stuff I have to buy either way, might as well get some cash back. Don't tell a militant Ramsey follower that....

IF you are in debt and looking for a way out...I would recommend Ramsey.

Once you have figured out how to make a budget, you have your finances in order...and you want to start investments...I would look elsewhere.

100% agree. If I'm wrong here, please someone correct me but Dave's qualifications are a degree in finance and real estate and he's a certified financial counselor. I respect his business experience, his advice on getting out of debt and his over all take on money. However, much of his investing advice seems well intentioned but less than good. I'm a debt free business owner and I used to listen to him a good bit but his never ending advice to buy and hold mutual funds is outdated by about 10-15 years. Don't get me wrong, I have investments in mutual funds but I don't put it all in them and I will NEVER ride the market to the bottom like he and my advisor (at that time) told me to. Worst financial decision I ever made.





I'm close friends with an older, experienced financial advisor who whole heartedly agrees with Dave's debt advice but feels the same way I do about his investment advice. He told me something that I've never forgotten. He said if he made the ROI and investment interest rate claims that Dave did, the FTC would have taken his license away years ago. But since Dave is unlicensed and not actually selling mutual funds (but getting paid via his advisor referral network) he can make all the claims he wants.





Again, I think the guy is a great Christian family man and he's obviously done well for himself and helped millions of people get out of debt and manage their finances. But lest we forget, when he retires, it's not because he turned $200,000 of mutual fund/stock market investments into millions....it's because he's sold tens of thousands of books, courses and seminars and made millions upon millions doing it and he's managed that money well.





Just my 2 cents.




 
 

I like to make fun of him, but he's good for people who arent good at manahing their financial affairs.

He causes some people to confuse debt and leverage as to what they are.

Lastly, someone can correct me bit doesn't he recommend some absurd amount of money percentage wise from your assets to live off of?

Your right about the return claims, I say that because normally when you hear stuff like that it's based off of some type if insurance product. Not saying you can't find great returns but you can't advertise those returns like that.

Here's a tidbit, Learn all what finra is and what their liscenses mean, learn what form adv is, learn what all the credentials behind someone's name means and get familiar with broker check also.

This is all true but for someone who is already in debt his plan is pretty bulletproof. Its easy to follow and his podcasts are motivating.

THIS. it is like a diet, just a wallet diet instead o fa waist line diet. It works, much like any diet, you could cut eating out and it woudl help, or you could work out AND cut eating out and it would help more.

I took his class at my church last year. 95% is great advice but I didn't agree with his investment advice. He recommends 100% growth stock mutual funds no matter what age. That sounds really risky to me. He also quoted some unrealistic returns on those funds. I think 20%. I'd figure on 7% to 10% but no one is going to get 20% over the long term. Everything else was spot on though.  

Yeah he's out there with return claims. I really want someons to call him out on it one day.

He says 12% (10 year average, I think) is realistically attainable

I re-read the book and you're right he did say 12% not 20% like I had thought. He also recommended a mix of growth, growth & income, aggressive growth, and international.  
 

As I said above, I really like Dave, he's full of good advice and he's a great Christian man. I guess the one thing that sort of rubs me wrong is how some of his hardcore fans regurgitate everything he says regarding investments and feel the need to tell me how I'm doing it all wrong. Mind you, I didn't ask for the advice, I'm using an extremely successful financial and investment advisor, I'm diversified and I'm not doing anything crazy, risky or "out there". Mind you, I understand this isn't Dave's fault, it's just a characteristic I've noticed among many of his biggest fans and I'm sure it's because of their loyalty and admiration of him for helping them get out of debt.



I've got one buddy who was in debt up to his ears and he got on Dave's plan and has become the most hardcore disciplined financial student I've ever seen. It's insane and it's impressive. He squeaks when he walks now, he's so tight. He's still working off the debt but he's almost there and he has a good plan for investments and savings when he's done. But good grief this guy wears me out asking questions about my investments and he wants to school me on what "Dave says....". I usually just grin and bear it but it gets old after while.lol



But again, I don't think someone is going to go wrong with his money management plans and advice.

I don't agree with his investing advice either but that is not correct. He recommends 4 types of fund. Growth, Aggressive growth, Growth & income, & International.

Also he doesn't say 20%. He routinely spouts off 12% which is also high but not out in left field like 20%

Dave Ramsey is a little over the top on some things, but overall, he is good, and his message is good for the average person with too much bad debt.

I cringe every time he tells people to pay off their mortgage early. Maybe that would be a good idea a long time ago. For most these days, a 3-5% mortgage is cheap money. Focus on building up investments before paying down a mortgage with low interest in advance.

As others have mentioned, his loathing of credit cards is also out of line with reality. If used responsibly, credit cards are fine.

Yeah I must have remembered it wrong. I went back through the book and it was 12% with the mix you said. I still think that mix is crazy for anyone near retirement. I'd be holding more cash and bonds if I was near retirement.





 

His story kinda erks me.

He never tells you how much he made the year after going "bankrupt".


He was a millionaire on paper and then lost it all.  Ok, but he never tells you actual numbers of his debt.  

The Dr. Phil of finance.

just look at the long term average return of the SP500, 400, 600.

I think Dave is great for those who have "silly debt" like cars they can't afford and unsecured debt which unfortunately is the majority of the population. For those who know how to manage debt, think real estate investing, etc. and those who know how to use a credit card to their advantage he doesn't have much to offer.

Granted there are some exceptions but for the most part if you can make more $ than the debt cost you, use the debt to make $. An example would be if you had a $100k cash to invest in RE. Instead of buying 1 property outright for $100k you'd be better off financially putting $25k down on four properties and having four mortgages. Dave would tell you to pay cash for the one property.

Yes.

His program is a good way to learn financial responsibility.  Those who criticism his program either have good financial habits and can't understand how someone can get buried financially and emotionally by debt or don't give a rip about debt and will bemoan the fact they are 'poor' forever.  Those who benefit the most are those that want a way out, but just don't know where to start.  Dave's program gives you a toe hold to managing money and getting things under control.

It's pretty simple, written budget, live within your means on the surface of it.  The snowball is meant for those that need some emotional wins to stay motivated.  You'll hear people argue that it is the wrong way to pay the smallest debt and roll that amount into the next, ect...  The problem is that if you need Dave's program you need to see that progress to keep your head in the game, you are to far gone to rationalize paying the highest interest debt first,  you need to change your habits and those first small wins put you on that path.

I worked Dave's program about 2 years, cleared off a lot of debt, became credit card free, got lazy for a year, didn't run up more debt, had a bunch of repairs to vehicles, home, and generally life.  No debt incurred, ran through the emergency fund a couple, three times.  Decided to go to FPU and got focused again.  Just paid off a loan, down to my wife's car, her student loan, and cash flowing some household repairs.  We'll be rolling the snowball of the loan being paid off into the car and hope to pay it off in a year.  We could get leaner, move faster, but sometimes you have to budget for a break.  We tried the whole beans, rice, rice beans thing, and found that we would end up cheating more than we should and mess up our budget.  By putting it in the budget we plan for it and enjoy a little reward for our work while still being financially responsible and paying down our debt.

As for investment advice....I would probably look elsewhere.

I like him. He has setup a blanket plan that works for the majority of the population. The only down part is it's frustrating that he acts as if it's gospel and won't waver. Nobody can have a plan that works for everybody 100% of the time. Family, government, or Dave Ramsey.

I've been blessed to not be in dire straights like some others, but it has helped my SO substantially. She used to use her CC as her checking account and came from a foolish family. FPU helped tremendously (and free through some churches). My best take away? CC increase your spending by ~12%.

All in all? I don't know of a better financial spokesperson, although Howard Clark is pretty close.

I think that's a fair summary. I think the point you touched on about his non-wavering at all on his methods is what seems to be somewhat off putting. But overall, I agree, he has a good plan and it works in most cases.



 

He has to be unwavering. The reason he does is because of the folks he helps. Beating the drum to the same tune over and over is the only way most of those people will stay out of debt. It's the same way AA preaches that you can't have not even one drink. Just one charge to that credit card may cause a relapse.

This.  His advice is tailored to a target audience - those who need his advice.  Those who don't need his advice don't need to strictly adhere to it.  He has a one-size-fits-all approach that may work for everyone but won't be optimal for everyone.

I think he's a decent guy that is doing a good job doing what he's doing, namely teaching people without a clue how to get out of debt and making himself a boat load of money in the process.  He doesn't claim to be any sort of financial guru, and I think he'd be the first to tell you that the concepts he teaches are pretty simple, as others have summarized above.  You can't argue with his results though, there are thousands of people that are in a better financial position because they followed his advice.

I do agree that his investment advice is a bit on the weak side, it is quite challenging to manage to get a 12% return no matter where you put your money.  For investment advice I prefer Clark Howard.  For the casual investor he recommends index funds for the long haul.

I do NOT agree that one should not pay off their house.  Mathematically, yes you can make more money in the market then you are paying in interest on your house, but that ignores risk and assumes that you are never going to lose your job, or that you have the money to pay off your house immediately if you so desire.  Most people can't count on either of those things.

Couldn'

t have said it better myself