What's the hive opinion about the Dave Ramsey Show???

He seems to make a lotta sense to me.  

The people that I know that have listened to his advice, have turned their financial situation around.  They are all doing well.

I think he has sound advice for 80-90% of the population. You won't necessarily get rich but you won't be a slave to debt either.

He makes a lot of sense.

I was debt free before I heard of him, and I agree with 90% of what he says.

Dave Ramsey is a good, clear thinking guy from when I have listened to him.  I wish most people could actually do what he suggests.

I've been a fan since I took his class as an elective in high school. Really saved me from making huge mistakes financially.

Now I'm a couple months from graduating college debt free, with money in the bank, ready to start building some serious wealth.

I listen to the radio show at least once a week.

He gives excellent advice.

I think most people miss the most important part of the plan, which is having a budget that you stick to at the beginning of the month.  You'll be surprised how much you can save by just telling your money where to go.

Eric  

Pretty much.  Not all his advice makes sense for everyone but if you are going to him for advice in the first place then it probably applies to you.

His voice is what finally convinced my wife that I am not a tinfoil-hatted miser, and that saving money is actually a positive move.

She's been without a credit card for almost two years now, so she survived the withdrawal symptoms okay.

I like everything he has to say except for paying down credit card debt.

He advocates paying off credit cards starting with the lowest balances first.

The best and fastest way to do it is to pay the minimums on every card except the one with the highest interest rate.  Pay that one with everything, widdle it down to no balance, and begin again with the next highest interest rate card.

What happens when your card company decides to change your interest rates due to the "economic situation". The reason behind the smallest to largest is for the initial quick wins and to develop a plan and stick with it. It's about behavior modification.  If it were about being good at math, we wouldn't have credit card debt.  I've been "modified" by Dave since Aug of '08 my wife and I are down to a mortgage and a student loan.

Edited for spelling

Mathematically your method is correct. However, if you have heard his explanation, his way makes sense. It has much to do with the fact that personal finances are 20% head knowledge and 80% behaviour. He will tell you from experience with thousands upon thousands of people paying off CCs that starting with the smallest debt creates a little victory when you pay it off, giving you motivation and creating the "Snowball Effect". While it may not be the as fast, and you may pay a bit more in interest, most people will have a better chance of following through with the plan if they go smallest to largest instead of by interest rate.

He has sound advice, but really you need someone tell you that shit?

Seriously, has common sense gotten to be so uncommon that his advice is considered controversial?

We are a nation of people who want the easy path. Yes, they need to hear it.

Seems that way.

I haven't heard it from his mouth, but every time someone gives me advice they learned from him and try to convince me to take his class, I'm unimpressed. I'm already doing all that...because it's common sense.

Yes, common sense is that uncommon.

That's cool it was offered in high school though. Some kind of financial management class should be required in high school. There are too many idiots out there who don't know what to do with their money, I was one of them, but after some mistakes it didn't take long to learn- it didn't take Dave Ramsey- for me to figure it out on my own.



Here's something interesting: Guess where I signed up for my first credit card..... a table set up for some solicitor in the cafeteria of my HIGH SCHOOL. Don't really remember who or why they were there.



 

It's all common sense

I agree that it's mostly common sense, but sometimes people will listen to his advice more readily than they will accept the same info from a spouse, parent, friend, etc.

Apparently it isnt common sense. Look around.

Excellent advice, but repetitious.  

I like his attitude and generally agree with his fiscal advice.
No idea about his politics but i'd imagine he is a free market capitalist.

I am required by law to say that I love it.

Abso-fuckin-lutely. It should also not be possible to escape either high school or college without intense schooling on both micro- and macroeconomics. Financial illiteracy is a plague. It creates liberals.

No, if your parents did not teach you this (provided they were around), then you should drive to where they live and slap them across the face right now.

You do not, and should not, expect the government to that, that is a parents job.





 

He sure pimps a lot of products for someone who preaches frugality, sort of like the AA counselor owning a liquor store.

He has sound advice, most of which is pure common sense. I disagree with his interpretation of Biblical scripture from time to time.

All in all he's not the biggest idiot on talk radio right now.

Generally good advice.



I am starting to wonder about the investment plan though.  After 12 years in the markets investing like he says, I am below what I actually put in.  His compound intrest calculations are great, but I can't seem to come close in the real world.  I understand that the market is down right now but the most I have ever been up was 10% after investing for 10 years.

Then why go to school for anything? My parents taught me math, maybe I shouldn't have taken any math classes. My parents taught me science, maybe I should have been excused from all of my science classes. History & social studies...yep mostly my parents. Wow the public school system IS pretty much worthless.



ETA: and they did teach me to do that- VERY well. But if I had a penny for every teenager that didn't listen to their parents...





 

My wife would dump me to be Dave Ramseys sex slave.

???

Anyone who preaches debt is bad and there is no good debt, gets immediately tuned out by me.

I can list 1000's of things and circumstances that it makes sense to go into debt for. In fact debt is often a great way to make more money than if you were debt free.

Now as far as CC shit, only someone with no financial sense thinks they should be used as anything more than a 30 day loan.

He's the reason I started a debt snowball and became debt free (except for the house).  I didn't follow his plan 100% but I followed most of it.  His advice is common sense but a lot of people like me just didn't apply our common sense to our finances.  Why?  Don't know, I never did because if I wanted something I would just charge it and slowly my debt grew.  The more I made, the more I spent and it was a never ending cycle of debt.  Now, I don't buy anything with my credit card that I can't pay off that same day.  Dave says to get rid of your credit cards but I don't agree with that.

Remember, he went under himself - and turned it around into a business.

I've never heard him say that. Now, I've only really listened while driving, so I haven't heard everything. His fundamentals are sound. Have an emergency fund. Don't carry unsecured debt. Don't go out and buy things on credit if you can get away with it. (For instance, buying a car on a loan is fine as long as it's a necessity and not just because you want a new one.)

I differ with him on investing.

I also think that his message is the right one for these particular times. We need to get rid of debt, build up savings, and buy things that we save for. That will get us to a stable recovery and not one funded by more debt that we can't afford as consumers, which would just create another bubble.

His system works.  A lot of people manage to graduate from high school without knowing how to manage money properly.  In my high school, the "work transition" special needs classes learned to balance check books, manage bank accounts, price compare etc.  I think we should definitely be requiring basic personal finance into our curriculum for everybody.  

Dave doesn't eschew all debt, mortgages are ok, but I think that is it.  I like others, agree with 90-95% of what he says, and as stated, his system definitely works.  My wife and I did Financial Peace University before we got married.  It definitely put us both on the same page on the issue that causes a staggering amount of marital problems, money.  Highly recommend.

Dave's a good guy but he doesn't believe in dollar cost averaging like Clark Howard does. Dave is more geared to people who are, or have been, undisciplined with their money for a long time.

Damn.

He is very much a free market capitalist.

Also, rumor is, he likes guns.

He and his family took a course for CC in Tennessee.... If only he weren't a Titans fan!

My name is Dave Ramsey. I work in Sales. Every motherfucker on the planet with a beacon score higher than 500 and less than 700 knows who Dave Ramsey is, and therefore, I should help them with their credit.



*While I am not THE Dave Ramsey, I am A Dave Ramsey.



 

I believe the ultimate Dave Ramseyesque act is to buy his books...when he offers them on sale.

Dave Ramsey Is Selling Some Books And Videos At Reduced Cost This Weekend

But that's just me.

I have listened and I have followed his advice but he's been giving the same advice for years.



Save 3-6 months emergency fund

Pay off your credit cards

Stay away from credit cards

Live below your means

Pay off your house.

Cash is king





That about sums it up.

He makes a lot of sense. Much of it "common" sense.
As others have said, for 80% to 90% of people, Dave's advice would deliver a safe and rational way to financial success and security.
Dave has done the over-leveraged real estate game where you use "other people's money" (and gotten burned) and because of this, may be more risk averse than some, but his basic plan, will work for everyone. No, it won't necessarily make you the richest man in the neighborhood, but you won't be poor either.
Yes, he makes money selling tools to aid in implementing and achieving "Financial Peace", but you don't actually need to spend a penny to start on the path today.
His "Seven Baby Steps" are rational, well thought out, and if applied with missionary zeal, do not impact much the mathematical "models" that those who claim to be more "sophisticated" like to deride him with.
Step 1 - Get $1000 together as an "emergency fund".
Make minimum payments on everything. Sell anything and everything you can. Temporarily stop contributing to retirement plans, make a budget, stick to it, eat super cheap and buy absolutely nothing you do not need. It's amazing when you look at many people's budgets how much easy fat you can cut, but then there's always more to cut. Yes - it will hurt and be painful. You've been dumb with money and now you need to "live like no-one else" so that later, you can "Live like no one else". Getting this $1000 together will pretty much save you from ever having to tap your credit cards again. I keep $1000 in my savings account for "immediate access".
Step 2 - Pay off all your (non-mortgage) debts using the debt snowball.
Yeah, just get mad at it. Smallest debt to largest, just hammer that debt down like fucking crazy. the mathematical difference between smallest first and highest interest rate first is so small when you're in "Gazelle-like intensity" mode, that it doesn't matter. And the quick wins make you feel bloody awesome. Don't listen to the guys who tell you that you're missing out on retirement contributions. You're going to change your life here and a year or two of no contributions will not make as big a dent as you think it will. Especially as once you are debt free, you'll have way more money to invest in yourself and your family, instead of paying to borrow "Other People's Money".
Step 3 - 3 to 6 months of living expenses in savings
Holy shit! You're now debt free (except your mortgage) and having lived really cheap, and no longer having any payments to creditors, you'll have a hell of a lot of free money left over every month, So now it's time to build up your personal war chest and get 3 to 6 months of minimal living expenses (what you've just been living on in order to knock out the debt).  This step really shouldn't take that long. Most people can live on much less than they make once they get out of debt. If you live on half of what you bring home (remember - still no retirement contributions just yet) It will take you three months to save three months of expenses. Get mad at it and do it. Then keep the cash in an interest-bearing FDIC account like INGDirect, so it's a little harder to access. Now come the easy steps:
Step 4 - Invest 15% of your gross income to retirement.
Good solid mutual funds with an age-appropriate stock/bond split. Plenty of established information on what to do here. First fund your employee retirement enough to get the maximum match. Then fund your Roth IRA to the max, and if you still need to put more away, go back to the employee scheme. If you're in your mid-30's you probably want to bump the percentage up to 20% if you didn't have any retirement assets beforehand. The wife an I have been "dollar cost averaging" through the market crashes. A few weeks ago our retirement funds reached the point where they are worth more than they have ever been. Just get on a plan and do it. We do 15%. With pre-tax and Roth IRA contributions, it's not that hard. Really, it isn't.
Step 5 - College funding for your kids
Take care of your kids future. Decide how much you want to have for college and start saving/investing. If college is less than 5 years away - you just have to save. If it's longer than that, you can "invest" as well as save. But don't go nuts. Once you have a kid, your timeline is only 18 years. You don't have to save to be able to pay for a full Harvard tuition, room, and board. Put enough away for state school, and if your kid is smart they can win scholarships or work through college. If you can do more, then that's great. But for most people, just getting to this stage is more than enough. We managed to put by about $80K before our son went to college. He won a scholarship to an out-of-state school, and so will not have any debt when he graduates. Fuck yeah!
Stay debt free, pay for everything in cash, and watch your retirement assets grow.
Step 6 - Pay off your house.
This one gets contentious with the "sophisticated" crowd. There are many people out there who have played the "refinance and invest" game. Some have won. Many have lost. I'm not 100% sure on this one though. If you are high income and truly benefit from the interest write-off, then just paying down your mortgage and not refinancing is probably enough. But switch to a 15-year one and just make it go away. Again though, if you're getting mad at your mortgage, you can bang it out pretty quickly. Dave regularly has people hammer out their mortgage in less than 10 years by paying a little extra on a 15-year note. If you overbought, you may find this tough. Sell if you can, or just hammer it down and deal with it. If you got an Option ARM or a neg-am NINJA loan, you probably haven't read this far because your electric has been cut off, or you still think you're financially "sophisticated"
Step 7 - Build wealth and give. Real Estate and non-retirement mutual funds.
Imagine your life: No debt, no mortgage, everything paid for. Retirement on a solid path, taxable investments growing by the day.
Financial Peace.
 

You get what you pay for. Or don't pay for in this case.

90% of issues can be fixed with his system. The other 10% should get a financial planner.

Or just not be a retard with your money.

wish I had heard him many yers ago.

Just bought his book today.  Going to read it next week and make my plan.



The biggest key is the discipline I'm going to assume.

I heard a sound bite from one of his shows the other day during hannity.  He was talking about gold as a last ditch, world is collapsed, currency investment, and how bad of an idea it was.  He said, "If it ever gets that bad, we won't be using gold for currency, we'll be using guns.  We'll be using stove fuel.  We'll be using food." etc...  Made me appreciate ALL of his advice more, and made me happy that I'm a SF junkie and doing as much as I can to prep.