Bash him all you want, most of his critics are just too lazy for self control. To rebut some of the things said in the comments, we are getting along quite well with a zero credit score and zero credit cards. If I get laid off today I can whistle all the way home.

Also Jason R. Peters is the man.

Fight the good fight against the cult of owning your own stuff!

Someday you’ll show Ramsey who’s boss when you have more money than him thanks to your travel points and interest paid!

The thing that really sold me on this was that my wife got on board right away and immediately raided our liquid savings (not retirement) to pay off our car and van. The thought of owning our home so quickly has lit a real fire under her, yet we still do save for vacations and other things to do.

We aren’t rigid followers, but a lot of what Ramsey says is common sense type stuff that I just hadn’t thought of. If and when we ever get to a real wealth building mode, I’ll probably seek professional help (and a tax accountant also).

I guess I’ll just say I like Ramsey and his approach. I think it is a good method for everyone to follow until they’ve changed their personal spending/saving habits and live on less than they earn (which seems to be where so many people land in trouble).

Call it a cult, call it ‘overbearing,” but hasn’t society done the same to us: Where you ‘have to have a credit card’ to get anywhere or do anything, or where using credit is our mantra, instant gratification has become our god. Hmm, sounds like general society could be deemed a ‘cult’ too.

Anyway, I’m not here to step up on my soapbox, but let’s look at a few items mentioned in the main story:
- “too many stories”, ever hear of MO-TI-VA-TION?
- “similar to previous works”, repetition is used as a process to learning.
- “product placement”, so the man created a service-oriented business? Cleaning houses, restaurant servers, cashiers. They earn a living by by performing a service.
- “careless mutual fund suggestions” – this I’ll agree with, somewhat. He does throw around ‘good growth mutual fund at 12%” but many times he’ll also retort, “What if I am half wrong?”
- “depthless wealth-building content” – well, when you get to that point where you have money to build wealth (instead of to make payments), hire someone to tell you what to do with your hard earned cash.

I like Dave Ramsey. He’s helped to bring a bit of sanity to unfocused finances. Dave offers as much if not more behavioral advice than mathematical, financial counsel.

Oh, and if you don’t like his style or methods, there’s always Suze Orman, Bob Brinker, and hundreds of other people who teach on personal finance. It’s not like he’s got a monopoly on YOUR money.

If you’ve ever bought gas with a debit card, and checked your bank balance right after, you may notice $100 or so missing, because it takes a while for the actual transaction to go through. When it’s authorized at the pump, they automatically take a high number, and fix it hours or days later.

If there’s any mistakes or fraud committed with your debit card, your money is GONE while you dispute it with the bank. With a credit card, you dispute it while not having to pay the disputed amount.

As for Dave Ramsey, he has become an industry and a cult. I find the whole Dave Ramsey experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth. His hatred of any debt is ridiculous. Debt for things that will accumulate in value, or help you earn extra income, is a good thing, provided you use it wisely and can easily afford the payments.

Unlike Michael, I’ll take David Bach any day of the week. At least he has simple, easy to initiate ideas, and best of all, he’s great at motivating you to start doing the basic things that will really make a difference. I’ll take a cheerleader over a butt-kicker any day of the week.

The religion may provide much of his audience, but it is also a way of saying things to people in a way that they will understand it.

now I see why I felt a bit weird as I read the book. if you couldn’t tell from the review, I semi-switched view half way as I wrote it.

but yeah, what everyone has mentioned so far about Dave Ramsey is pretty much dead on.

Since then, though, my view of Dave has faded a bit. Yes, he’s bigtime and commercial. Yes, religion provides most of his audience. Yes, his assertions of 10%+ returns “in the market” are shaky. But I’ll take him over, say, David Bach, any freakin’ day.

Dave certainly helped me get where I am. He helped me “get my head straight” regarding debt and money. But his message isn’t the end-all, be-all in financial advice, by any means.

I firmly believe that having a credit card/a loan is a necessity. How else would you become trustworthy enough to buy a home?

My father-in-law goes to The First Church of David Ramsey, figuratively speaking. He worships the guy. He hates credit, debt, AND spending money. Last year he put over $3,000 into repairing his daughter’s very rusty 1991 GMS Jimmy with 300,000 miles on it, all in the name of “I know where the car’s been” and “she doesn’t need a car loan”.

Overall, I agree with his message that we shouldn’t have consumer debt. Where I differ is that I think debt can be a tool as long as you know how to use it.

I agree about the product placement. The commercials during his radio show are all him doing a pitch for this, that and the other.

I also agree about the Mutual Funds, he routinely says, “if you put that in a good growth stock fund earning 12% or better, and there are plenty that have done much better than that, you’ll have $xxx,xxx”