A member of my Church congregation is planning to hold a Financial Seminar as part of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and I am going to be watching very carefully to see that he doesn’t give the group attending misinformation about Investing and Insurance.

I am a Licensed Life and Health Insurance Agent, but at the moment I am not representing any companies. Dave Ramsey is biased against Cash Value Insurance Policies, suggesting to his followers that they are better off purchasing Term Life Insurance Policies and using the difference to buy whatever they want. That is not only stupid, it is also dangerous because people who purchase Insurance have a need for something that they can’t find protection for any other way.

Then the bottom fell out. My wife had emergency back surgery, our savings went out the window, our debt load increased because of the medical bills, my wife was out of work for nearly two months and we’re right back to square one all over again — in the hole without any light.

I quit my part-time job after being there for a year because I was physically and emotionally exhausted working 7 days a week and barely ever seeing my three children or my wife. My relationships with my family deteriorated, I was edgy all the time because of working all the time, and our debt load — even with a Dave Ramsey budget in place — was still not paying down at a very fast rate. There was always something that popped up every month that the budget could account for.

We never go on vacations, don’t have new cars (newest is 8 years old and other is 12 years old), can never afford family outings, just pay the basic bills each month, have no savings (since the surgery) and can’t put together a meaningful budget on a monthly basis because the car keeps breaking down or a child gets sick and we have to go to the doctor and get medication, and we’re still paying for another half year on my wife’s medical bills for her back surgery.

I get very frustrated hearing all the success stories out there by people who do the Dave Ramsey plan and are out of debt within a few years. My wife and I make meager salaries and are trying our very best, but can never get over the hump because of stupid car/medical emergencies. There’s only so much you can sell and so much budgeting you can do with limited funds.

And now, my wonderful 8th grade daughter just won a state compeition at her school and is advancing to the national competition in Washington, D.C. But our reward is that there is no school funding going toward the trip (my wife is going with her since she is only 14 years old), so we have to come up with approximately $1,500 in the next 6 weeks. Oh the joy of life when you have no money, no savings and the bills keep piling up.

So Dave, would you be willing to help a person out with your enormous wealth?????? You’d probably just tell me to sell both my cars and ride a bike to work, continue to eat sandwiches with nothing but a little ketchup on it and continue to wear my hole-filled clothes and shoes for another few years so I don’t get into further debt.

Ramsey has no real plan for when life hits you with constant financial hay makers. Just so tired of trying to do what is right for more than 16 years with very little to show for it and no closer to being out of debt than ever.

The guy actually says on his website, “Dave prefers a commission-based advisor and funds. Over the lifetime of an investment, a commission-based fund will cost the least.”

That’s about as wrong as saying up is down and down is up. The guy isn’t just flat out wrong, I believe he’s lying deliberately to push his network of commissioned ELPs, who in turn give him kick-backs for referrals.

Go ahead and get out of debt, but at least try to think for yourself before drinking all the Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid. Those front-end loads and 12-1b fees aren’t worth it.

Dave’s philosophy is simple, get rid of credit cards and pay off debt. If you destroy your credit cards then you cannot use them and get distracted. It is also worth noting that the compound interest of retirement planning pales in comparison to the compound interest of debt.

Dave also does spend a lot of time telling callers of his show how to modify the plan to meet their specific needs.

For some reason there is a school of thought in financial planning that says debt is good. this is not a true statement. Sure a 0% car loan sounds good until you lose your job and can’t pay it any more. Walking away from this deal is called living within your means and it is a skill everyone needs a reminder of whether the follow Dave’s plan or not.