Dave Ramsey Advice

#1
Rasputin_Vol

Rasputin_Vol

"Slava Ukraina"
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#1
Hmmm... so this interesting scenario popped up as a video on my Youtube feed. The guy on the phone didn't really have a lot of time to explain, and there are two sides to every story. But Just hearing what little bit that was given, it would be hard for me to just let a house go back to the bank when it's just $55k left to pay on it. Why couldn't he just take up the payments and kick them out at some time later if they don't get their act together?

 
#2
#2
Someone in the YT comments to this video is right on the money:

Some calls come on the show are just complete lunacy and those people blather on for 5 minutes about nothing. This one needs that time and gets the short end of the stick. How sad
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This is a tough one. Part of me says it is time to let his son, who is financially incompetent by the dad's own admission, flap in the wind. It sounds like neither the son or his daughter-in-law have asked for or want his help. Another part of me says it is crazy to let an almost-paid-off house go into foreclosure. Take up the payments, and if the son doesn't want to pay rent, kick them both out. His idea about kicking just the daughter-in-law out is nuts and just asking for huge trouble. There are definitely 2 sides to every story as you said; I could see the dad being a big time meddler in his adult son's life, marriage, etc.

Also, and this can be said for probably 75% of the people who call into Dave Ramsey, but this is a marriage/relationship problem first and a financial problem second. The financial problem is downstream of and is a symptom of the marriage problem.
 
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#6
#6
GAVol said:
I've thought that for a long time; but especially now when money is dirt cheap. The advice is sometimes good for folks who are completely clueless and have simple situations, but he goes off the rails with a one size fits all approach.
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Bingo
 
#7
#7
05_never_again said:
DR gives great advice to people who are financially unsophisticated or incompetent, which is probably 75% of the population. It is overly conservative, but the kinds of people he caters to actually need to hear that advice.
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Putting cash in an envelope isn’t a good idea for anyone, but it’s especially egregious if you try to market it as a one size fits all solution.
 
#8
#8
TBrown said:
Putting cash in an envelope isn’t a good idea for anyone, but it’s especially egregious if you try to market it as a one size fits all solution.
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I know people who'd benefit from it. Seriously. I also know people who would be well-served to cut their credit card up and pay everything with cash or a debit card. Yes, some of the advice he gives sounds like something you'd tell children. But a ton of people behave like children when it comes to money.

Like I said, if you have any financial discipline, sophistication, or just common sense, DR isn't the best. But there are tons of people who have none of those things.

This big lot of kids coming out of college with $250k in student loans and a degree in underwater basket weaving would be well-served to follow his advice to get out of debt.
 
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#9
#9
We took FPU several years ago when we were in massive debt. It gave us the tools and motivation to pay off all of our debt. Today we are debt free, except my law school student loan and our mortgage. We still use the cash system today and I only use a business credit card that only off immediately
 
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#10
#10
05_never_again said:
This is a tough one. Part of me says it is time to let his son, who is financially incompetent by the dad's own admission, flap in the wind. It sounds like neither the son or his daughter-in-law have asked for or want his help. Another part of me says it is crazy to let an almost-paid-off house go into foreclosure. Take up the payments, and if the son doesn't want to pay rent, kick them both out. His idea about kicking just the daughter-in-law out is nuts and just asking for huge trouble. There are definitely 2 sides to every story as you said; I could see the dad being a big time meddler in his adult son's life, marriage, etc.
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That is where I am leaning right now.

But also, how can he (the father) be financial literate and his son be irresponsible?
 
#12
#12
Or the daughter in law is a negative influence. I’ve watched that one myself with my brother.
 
#13
#13
TBrown said:
Dave Ramsey is too debt averse to give worthwhile advice.
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He has been guilty of that, but he's a very good student of human nature, I mean other than himself. I would much rather people call him than me, I can tell you that.
In this case we're dealing with secondhand crazy/evil/stupid (not the caller). There's not a whole lot you can do or should do with crazy evil stupid people. I actually agree with Dave, but I'm glad it's not my problem.
 
#16
#16
Rasputin_Vol said:
Hmmm... so this interesting scenario popped up as a video on my Youtube feed. The guy on the phone didn't really have a lot of time to explain, and there are two sides to every story. But Just hearing what little bit that was given, it would be hard for me to just let a house go back to the bank when it's just $55k left to pay on it. Why couldn't he just take up the payments and kick them out at some time later if they don't get their act together?

Click to expand...

Sounds like a marriage issue. Easiest step is to not get involved rather than be forced to be the bad guy when rent didn't get paid. Not combining assets or sharing liability would have been a major red flag of it was my wife.
 
#17
#17
ButchPlz said:
You fundamentally misunderstand that he is chemotherapy for people with financial cancer.
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Yep.

DR is a "get your house in order" guy. I'd encourage anybody who has very high levels of personal debt (credit cards, student loans, car loans, etc.) and is being consumed by it to listen to him and follow his advice. Once you get your house in order, you can up your game as far as the level of sophistication. For people who are more sophisticated financially and in good shape, I actually don't think he offers the best advice. For people with some resources, DR probably does focus too much on a conservation vs. growth mindset.

I'm cracked up by some of the "finance bro" crowd that makes fun of him and his advice. They say stuff like "Don't get out of debt - those people just need to buy rental properties." How in the hell is somebody who lives paycheck to paycheck, drowning in personal debt, has no assets, and has no financial literacy supposed to purchase and manage a portfolio of rental property? That's a great goal to aspire to one day, and they can eventually make it there, but you don't start there.
 
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#18
#18
05_never_again said:
Yep.

DR is a "get your house in order" guy. I'd encourage anybody who has very high levels of personal debt (credit cards, student loans, car loans, etc.) and is being consumed by it to listen to him and follow his advice. Once you get your house in order, you can up your game as far as the level of sophistication. For people who are more sophisticated financially and in good shape, I actually don't think he offers the best advice. For people with some resources, DR probably does focus too much on a conservation vs. growth mindset.

I'm cracked up by some of the "finance bro" crowd that makes fun of him and his advice. They say stuff like "Don't get out of debt - those people just need to buy rental properties." How in the hell is somebody who lives paycheck to paycheck, drowning in personal debt, has no assets, and has no financial literacy supposed to purchase and manage a portfolio of rental property? That's a great goal to aspire to one day, and they can eventually make it there, but you don't start there.
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Maybe using less than stellar advice in order to monetize people in significant debt makes you an easy target.
 
#19
#19
He has certainly built an empire; figuratively and literally. Anyone driving up I 65 (just south of Franklin) recently will verify.
 
#20
#20
TBrown said:
Maybe using less than stellar advice in order to monetize people in significant debt makes you an easy target.
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You don't think that DR's advice is prudent for people with significant personal debt?

I mean, sure, he wants to make money selling his programs, but does that mean that the advice is bad?
 
#22
#22
Ramsey gives the same advice to every caller. He’s a one size fits all guy.
have any of you heard about how controlling of a boss he is? He sounds like a mega a-hole
 
#23
#23
Carl Pickens said:
Ramsey gives the same advice to every caller. He’s a one size fits all guy.
have any of you heard about how controlling of a boss he is? He sounds like a mega a-hole
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I have a friend who worked for him and he loved it! He spoke very highly of his time there.
 
#24
#24
TBrown said:
Dave Ramsey is too debt averse to give worthwhile advice.
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If you think Ramsey is too conservative you are above the threshold for taking his advice. The average financial literacy of this country is abysmal and they need to stop hemorrhaging money.
 
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#25
#25
I actually think Ramsey was very astute in this scenario. This man was meddling in his adult (30's, 40's or even 50's) son's life, using the house as a tool to have the son evict his wife. Ramsey could have gone on a rant like Judge Judy would have about letting his son lead his own life, but his advice to let the son fail and lose the house has the same result and the man might actually heed.
 
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