$169 to Be Told To LBYM

[tangomonster]

I never heard of him, but there is a radio talk show host named Dave Ramsey who came to Atlanta to give a talk and 5,000 people came! While the basic fee was $25, some paid $169 to get the platinum package of a few books, a lunch, and small group time with Ramsey. One woman was profiled. She is 56, "a medical sales manager" and a retired Army major. Sounds like she wouldn't be hurting financially, right? But it seems she has no money saved and is suddenly realizing that she should have saved something. She was $24,000 in credit card debt. She is now living on $1100 a month in a 400 square foot home. She shelled out $169 so that she could personally ask him "what is a single woman in her fifties to do who have no savings? What path is there for them?"

The $169 reply: "I wouldn't tell you to do anything I wouldn't tell any other caller. Tighten the belt. Pay off debt. Aggressively save." The article stated that the woman was "a bit let down at the answer, not hearing a magic nugget of advice." What did she expect? And it sounds like she is still a bit too free with her money, plunking down $169 to ask this question. And how in the world did this woman get to be a sales manager and Army major?

Dave Ramsey's gospel: Spend less. Pay off debt. Save. | ajc.com

 

[ladelfina]

"What path is there for them?"

5000 x $25 = $125,000
Get into the financial advice racket!

 

[chinaco]

Begin LBYM by skipping that Dave Ramsey donation (to his wealth).

It amazes me that people would pay for one of his seminars. IMHO he is a cheerleader. He espouses basic info. I agree with the common sense thrifty message.... but why pay for it?

If that Major thought there was some magic answer... well there is her problem.

 

[dumpster56]

"
And how in the world did this woman get to be a sales manager and Army major?

Following Orders? Not asking questions? being a team player? Not thinking for herself? There are so many out there with no idea how to say a penney. Then our society of the instant fix instant gratification I want it so I charge it. Americans are living on credit to keep a standard of living they are brainwashed into thinking they must have. Easy credit card debt is a real problem. Heck my sisterin law has 50K in CC debt and now wants to declare Chapter 7 11 or whatever it is now. I told her what are you gonna do when you do it? You charged cr@p that you never needed. That we were not gonna help her or put her up in our house when she loses her place. that she should go back to her ex!

 

[FinanceDude]

Begin LBYM by skipping that Dave Ramsey donation (to his wealth).

It amazes me that people would pay for one of his seminars. IMHO he is a cheerleader. He espouses basic info. I agree with the common sense thrifty message.... but why pay for it?

If that Major thought there was some magic answer... well there is her problem.

Dave Ramsey
Suze Orman
Jane Bryant Quinn

I wouldn't pay $.50 to listen to any of them.........

 

[ladelfina]

I don't think Suze is all that bad; anyway on the TV she is saying the same stuff for free.

 

[Keim]

There is nothing wrong with Ramsey here. Dave has a great message. I pity the woman that thought $169 would get her a different message. Good advice is good advice, free or for $169.

Unfortunately, some people don't value things unless they pay for them. Maybe she'll listen to Dave's good advice, now that she paid $169 to hear it!

 

[ChemEng]

There is a special place in hell for people who take advantage of the poor. I think what Ramsey did is akin to just that. Enough said.

 

[Darryl]

Yep he makes a lot of money for giving very basic boring advice. I stumbled across him on the radio almost three years ago I debated for a week whether to cough up $20 bucks for his book the Total Money Makeover. I spent the $20 and it is the single best investment I ever made. That $20 brought some focus to the budgeting and saving part and this board has helped tremendously with the investing AA part.
My finance's are a world away from where they were 3 yrs ago. Only debt is the moderate size mortgage. Cash flow is fabulous stress level is normal vs wigged out. Dave didn't do any of the work. I did because it was important to me. He did publish an economical road map that was easy to follow $20. I didn't borrow $169 and expect a magic bullet.

 

[RetireeRobert]

I don't think Suze is all that bad; anyway on the TV she is saying the same stuff for free.

I don't think Ramsey is all bad either. And on the radio every day, he is saying the same stuff for free too--more so than Suze.

 

[template]

I listen to Dave Ramsey's radio show and watch his TV show. He is entertaining, though overly preachy (in a religious sense). I agree with probably about 2/3rds of his advice.

His target audience is mainly those who are in serious debt and either don't know or have ignored financial basics. Many of them lack financial self control and need the direction he gives them.

Suzy Orman is entertaining, too. She has more expertise than Ramsey, though I consider her emphasis on earning a high FICO score off base.

I am a saver not a borrower so listening to Suzy and Dave is mainly for my entertainment.

Bruce Williams used to give some good advice on his radio talk show, but as he got older, his focus shifted to political editorializing and talking over his callers.

 

[dex]

Dave R. is a money making machine - Radio programs; conventions; approved advisors; recommened products; books and other programs.
His message is basic - my mother did the envelope budgeting 50 years ago.
I think he get greedy and have his hands into too many related products, get exposed and decline.
I'm not saying his message is bad - no debt is good.

 

[haha]

There is a special place in hell for people who take advantage of the poor. I think what Ramsey did is akin to just that. Enough said.

Sorry, but a retired Army Major and corporate sales manager is not poor. She bought an experience, just like someone who travels to Thailand buys an experience. At least she won't get a disease form her purchase.

Ha

 

[haha]

Bruce Williams used to give some good advice on his radio talk show, but as he got older, his focus shifted to political editorializing and talking over his callers.

I probably missed him before the transformation. By the time I heard him he was incredibly arrogant and rude to his callers, and often he misunderstood their situations too.

Ha

 

[Fred99]

"political editorializing"? "arrogant and rude to his callers"? Gee, that sounds just like Dave Ramsey! Must be a syndrome.

 

[Katsmeow]

Begin LBYM by skipping that Dave Ramsey donation (to his wealth).

It amazes me that people would pay for one of his seminars. IMHO he is a cheerleader. He espouses basic info. I agree with the common sense thrifty message.... but why pay for it?

If that Major thought there was some magic answer... well there is her problem.

I sort of agree, but sort of don't.

Back when I was in debt I read Total Money Makeover and listened to his show quite a bit. Yes the information is in some ways basic (although I did learn some things from him on how to do certain things).

There is a lot he says that I don't agree with. I don't think there is anything wrong with using a credit card and paying it off each month. I think student loans while they should be limited are sometimes worthwhile. I think his investment advice is awful.

I would say two things after listening to lots of his callers:

1. There are tons of people out there who don't know the basics. Those people are not on this board (by and large). They don't understand why debt isn't a good idea and have no conception of what they can or can't afford. They need to know the basics. People learn in different ways. Some can get it from a book, some will do fine just listening to his shows and some might need to go to one of his speeches or do his financial course (Financial Peace University). For some of them, paying for FPU is a great expenditure.

2. Even for people like me who do know the basics, I sometimes find it motivating to listen to or read something from someone who is advocating what I find difficult to do. This is why I go to Weight Watchers meetings even though I learn nothing at the meetings. I find it motivating to go the meetings and it keeps me focused on weight loss. Theoretically I could do it on my own without spending money. In practice, I lose a whole lot more weight if I go to the meetings.

 

[Marita40]

Dave Ramsey evidently helps lots of people piled in debt and/or who have no clue how to save, or LBYM, or create a budget. You can read the posts on his forum for free, and there's a clear pattern to the people he attracts--many of fairly young (20s-30s) and struggling with student debts, housing, young families, and not enough income. According to the many testimonies, however, his plan does help lots and lots of people face their debt and pay it down, even truly massive debt. I often look at it and, while I'm not in debt, have gained inspiration from some of the stories of frugal living.

 

[karluk]

I'm not really qualified to judge Dave Ramsy, because I've never seen him on TV, heard him on radio, or read any of his books. But I'll admit to having an extremely negative opinion of him, nevertheless. I've participated in financial message boards where his followers mindlessly repeat his advice to first pay off the credit card with the smallest balance, not the one with the highest interest rate. It's extremely aggravating for a numbers guy like me to deal with people who are willing to waste hundreds or thousands of dollars paying unnecessary credit card interest on other cards while paying off a card with 0% interest, just because it happens to have the lowest balance. There's no reasoning with some of these people. They either can't, or won't, do the math.

 

[Major Tom]

It's extremely aggravating for a numbers guy like me to deal with people who are willing to waste hundreds or thousands of dollars paying unnecessary credit card interest on other cards while paying off a card with 0% interest, just because it happens to have the lowest balance. There's no reasoning with some of these people. They either can't, or won't, do the math.

From a purely numbers point of view, paying off the card with the highest interest rate first makes the most sense. However, there is great psychological value in knowing that you have completely paid off a card - especially to someone who is not particularly financially savvy. By completely paying off a low balance card, the person may get enough of a psychological boost to keep them on track to paying off their remaining debt.

Remember that many of Dave's listeners and followers are not that smart with money. Better that they follow a discipline that gives them enough positive feedback to keep them on track, than one which might end up in them losing faith and giving up. A financial plan that saves more money in the long run is no good if the practitioner doesn't stick to it.

 

[audreyh1]

This is an ancient thread! It just seems odd that a new poster - only posting once - dragged this thread out from its 2007 burial ground. And many of the posters that participated aren't even around anymore.

Not that Dave Ramsey and his callers is not a current topic. But why reactivate an ancient thread? Has anything really changed?

 

[Major Tom]

Has anything really changed?

No, but since when has that been a justification for not discussing the same old subjects again and again?

 

[Katsmeow]

I must admit I didn't even notice this was an old thread. It popped up for me under new posts due to the newest post. I read the newest post and then the rest of the thread didn't even realize that the other posts were far older.

 

[audreyh1]

I must admit I didn't even notice this was an old thread. It popped up for me under new posts due to the newest post. I read the newest post and then the rest of the thread didn't even realize that the other posts were far older.

Yeah - I know. Those things catch us sometimes. And who knows why a single-time poster decided to unbury this one.

If someone reactivates a thread that is over a year old, they get a warning dialog first and they have to override the warning, which means this poster deliberately brought up a very old thread.

I thought I'd just point it out .

 

[mickeyd]

I noticed in our church bulletin on Sunday that Dave's total money makeover deal was being offered for $XX and was being directed/monitored by a financial planner who advertises in the bulletin!

I'll bet that they have a full class. Sounded like a great opportunity...

 

[ls99]

Do they kiss the attendees first? Or just do it to them sans KY?