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That's all dependent on the car you choose. My Acura was 5 years old when I bought it for $13,000, with 33,000 miles. It lasted to 315,000 miles and the only major expenditure I had in all those miles was replacing the transmission for about $2000.
Pretty much anything by Honda, Acura, Toyota, or Subaru is going to be fairly bulletproof with regular maintenance. I drove my 2002 purchased new Honda CRV for 18 years and had only one repair on it the whole time (the AC) . I sold it for twice the Blue Book value because it still looked and ran like it was almost new. DH bought a used Acura from a friend's sister who was meticulous about maintenance for about $4K, and he drove that until it had about 250K miles, no repairs needed. He only gave it to his god-son because, after his mom stopped driving, she gave DH her 15 year old Toyota that looked and drove like new, and he drove that for the next 8 years. Finally we decided to retire our cars at 18 and 23 years, and purchase new, or near new, ones. After researching all the similar SUVs, I ended up buying another Honda CRV. A year after he purchased his 2020 used Toyota Tacoma, the dealer called and offered him $2K more than he paid for it!
Good quality used cars are a great buy if you stick to reliable brands and maintain them according to the manufacturers' recommendations. I have a AAA membership, but in the last 15 years I haven't used it for anything other than flat tires on our daily drivers. I did have to use it 3 times when our vintage car wouldn't start. It had a pesky electrical problem that never got properly sorted.
In my opinion, using advice from someone who has a radio or TV when it comes to financial matters isn't a good idea. Because not everything applies to your specific situation. That's where the experts come in and advise you for your particular needs and goals. You are better off having your own financial advisor to counsel you from a major brokerage house.
So many people have misinformation about how to handle money, investments and social security it's sad. If they do nothing else, listening to someone like him is better than being on their own or doing nothing. Breaks my heart to hear stories of people screwing up their retirement plans by doing foolish things when it could have been easily avoided.
His main advice that he gives on his show is more about getting out of debt. There aren't a lot of financial advisors who help those folks who have gotten themselves into debt and don't know the basics of how to get themselves squared away. Sure there are "credit counselors" but most of them are focused on legal ways to avoid paying debt by negotiating with debtors. There aren't a lot of people handing out tough love and telling people that they're going to need to learn to budget, and leading them by the hand with the baby steps, like he does. I also appreciate that he teaches them pride in being financially aware, and conscientious about new debt. There's a place for him in the world. I just don't like the constant plugging of his products on air (especially with people who obviously don't have a lot of sales resistance or they wouldn't be in their situation), but many of these advice shows do the same. I also dislike the constant biblical references, I don't care for those who wear their religion on their sleeves, but it must resonate with some of his listeners.
He has great advice for most people. Your average person could really benefit by listening to him. For super fiscally responsible people he is wrong on a couple things.
His advice is generally good but not always. He advises always pay cash for a car. But if you can get 4% financing (some lucky stiffs get 0%), you're a fool to pay cash if your money can earn 8%.
His advice is generally good but not always. He advises always pay cash for a car. But if you can get 4% financing (some lucky stiffs get 0%), you're a fool to pay cash if your money can earn 8%.
As a rule, people that can get 0% financing are not Dave's target audience. I suppose some might be if they've taken advantage of excellent credit to the point of being in trouble.
Bottom line... it will take a reasonable adult about 7 minutes of listening to Dave to decide if what he says can be helpful to them. If not, move along. I just don't get the hate.
Though, some people out there are more open to strangers giving them advice, rather than family or friends.
She might also not have a good circle of support. Or embarrassed by the situation and no one really close to confide in. I sometimes ask for advice about things that I don’t want to tell anyone else about yet.
Bottom line... it will take a reasonable adult about 7 minutes of listening to Dave to decide if what he says can be helpful to them. If not, move along. I just don't get the hate.
"The hate" is that people such as Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and on the "investment" side, people like Jim Cramer, have become the dominant voices in personal-finance. They control the narrative. They set the tone. They influence the culture, the expectations among regular investors, the discussion at dinner parties and at office water-coolers. They've turned lifelong quest of amassing funds and deploying funds judiciously, into a trite bromide. They encourage, on the one hand, simplistic and bovine renunciation of anything creative, and on the other hand, embrace of the speculative, where money is a kind of game, instead of lifelong achievement.
Their bloviating tends to crowd-out alternative voices and alternative discourse, in particular serious advice for people trying to be serious investors.
I spend big on lifestyle things he would put out of bounds. I ski. I own a boat. I take trips. My life goal isn’t to accumulate the most wealth. It’s to not have to worry about money so I always structured my lifestyle so I spent a bit less than I earned.
I don't think he's against those things if you can easily afford them. It's just that a lot of people spending money like that really can't afford to.
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