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I don't hate him (I just disagree with some of the stuff he says), but the people who need him are the ones who barely have a childlike understanding of finance.
Dave Ramsey has gotten wealthy off those with no common sense...
I think you meant this as a negative but he essentially says this on the show, he really is only helping people with common sense solutions to problems that should be common sense. He often says common sense isn't that common.
There is a lot of bitterness out there toward Dave Ramsey. I take his advice for what it is, very general common sense advice for staying out of debt. He should not be anyone's only source for financial information, but the simple premise of staying out of debt shouldn't be that controversial as a broad statement. I frankly know a lot of people that would benefit greatly if they started out with his advice as a basic foundation and then built from there.
There's one thing that is real clear in many of these posts. Americans love their credit cards and you better not try to pull the cards from their wallets. They love to play the credit card games. They enjoy the fact that if they pay the cards off each month, then the cards aren't costing them a thing and they get the benefit of building up their all important credit score. People just love sitting in the credit card trap, while the credit card companies just sit and wait for life to turn their favorite customers financial life upside down and then they set the hook. really hard. Then you get to see how much fun it is to play the credit card game.
There's one thing that is real clear in many of these posts. Americans love their credit cards and you better not try to pull the cards from their wallets. They love to play the credit card games. They enjoy the fact that if they pay the cards off each month, then the cards aren't costing them a thing and they get the benefit of building up their all important credit score. People just love sitting in the credit card trap, while the credit card companies just sit and wait for life to turn their favorite customers financial life upside down and then they set the hook. really hard. Then you get to see how much fun it is to play the credit card game.
That trap has got me 12 free flights in the last five years while I paid no interest. We have a strict budget and would spend the same money if it was cash.
That trap has got me 12 free flights in the last five years while I paid no interest. We have a strict budget and would spend the same money if it was cash.
I just went to help someone rent a car today. Their car had been in an accident and they needed a car immediately. Couldn't believe all the hoops they had to jump through to rent a car with only a debit card. Extra deposits, proof of full coverage insurance (which they did not have on them), flight itinerary, and one or two other items I don't remember. With a CC, it was a five minute process. Seems to me common sense says having a CC made life a lot easier, and no more expensive. Only thing missing is the ability to feel smug about "not being slave to the lender," even if there is no lender.
There's one thing that is real clear in many of these posts. Americans love their credit cards and you better not try to pull the cards from their wallets. They love to play the credit card games. They enjoy the fact that if they pay the cards off each month, then the cards aren't costing them a thing and they get the benefit of building up their all important credit score. People just love sitting in the credit card trap, while the credit card companies just sit and wait for life to turn their favorite customers financial life upside down and then they set the hook. really hard. Then you get to see how much fun it is to play the credit card game.
I understand what you mean. But it won't happen to me, because if the stuff hits the fan, I go black belt frugal.
In fact, the few times when we've faced unemployment, we've actually saved MORE money, with unemployment and me picking up extra hours and ratcheting back the spending. When we're facing a lay off, everything is on the table for cutting.
This isn't a common reaction -- a lot of people stick their head in the sand and keep on spending like they spend.... and that's a problem.
I remember when the last layoff hit -- a few years before we started our own business. Hubs called me at work and told me he had two weeks left, no severance.
I sat down at my teller window and wrote up our budget between customers, and by the end of the day, I had tweaked it down by about 20%, told my boss I needed more hours, went upstairs to tell my HR lady I needed more hours and they got cooking to see where they could stick me.
Hubby picked up part time work from a friend, and that stretched out unemployment.... which we needed to do.
Between the cutbacks and the extra hours -- we ended up banking MORE money than we had normally saved.
It really can be done, but you have to be aware of what you are doing.... and most people aren't -- they just pull out that card and plop it down.
I take offense to your term "bible thumper" What's so wrong with using the one book that sells more copies each year, and continues to? Why do people take offense when someone is using scriptures from the Bible and sharing it with others. Maybe you find it a bit convicting? It's so amazing to me how people in America have the right to free speech, yet get so offended when someone mentions, God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, prayer or anything else that relates.
I take offense to your term "bible thumper" What's so wrong with using the one book that sells more copies each year, and continues to? Why do people take offense when someone is using scriptures from the Bible and sharing it with others. Maybe you find it a bit convicting? It's so amazing to me how people in America have the right to free speech, yet get so offended when someone mentions, God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, prayer or anything else that relates.
Please don't take offense. I am a Christian. A bible thumper is someone who is using the Good Book for his own ends. Keep in mind, we are told that even the Devil uses the Bible to decieve us.
I've seen a lot of people get sucked in by charlatans using the Bible to do "God's Work", when it, in fact, only profited the charlatans, and did real harm.
So, yes -- I have a real problem with a man who's built a 12 million dollar mansion, and lives in high style with cash from a program he panders to churches and dresses up in the Lord's name.
We've seen this already, how many times? Remember Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker? How many others?
That trap has got me 12 free flights in the last five years while I paid no interest. We have a strict budget and would spend the same money if it was cash.
12 free flights... That's great for you and it is great that you are disciplined enough not to spend more with a cc than with cash. Unfortunately, not everyone is that disciplined and many people have never thought of a budget.
Just remember that those 12 free flights for you were actually paid for by a cc customers that either did some stupid things with their cards or for no fault of their own, got sucked into paying an obscene interest rate and getting themselves deeply into debt. Charging these outlandish interest rates is not much different than the pay day lending scabs that take advantage of those that can least afford to be financially castrated. The fact that these types of businesses are legal and able to take advantage of people is absolutely a joke. If you think that this could never happen to you, that you could never be taken advantage of by these bandits, then you are living your life with your head stuck firmly in the sand. Those card companies have a way of knowing what's in your wallet and if they have their way... they will see that it won't include money.
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What's in your wallet???
