Comments on: Dave Ramsey Falters in a Crummy Economy

By: M

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:45:56 +0000

Hey Mr High & mighty ……. I know you don’t have a clue who I am BUT I ( and Karma) WILL catch up to you!!!

You ARE a FRAUD and only care abou making money at the expense of people who don’t know better. SHAME ON YOu !!!!!!!!!

By: Boris

Boris — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:18:04 +0000

This guy is absolutely correct in what he’s saying and I’d advise people to listen, especially with the rumors going around about a “double-dip” recession in the second half of 2010. This exact scenario happened to me recently . . . having already gotten laid off during the meltdown of Sep-Oct 2008, I was led to believe that my new position was more secure and so I had been aggressively paying down debt using DR’s snowball method. Unfortunately, my second, completely unexpected layoff left me swinging in the wind, and I had nowhere near enough in emergency savings to survive an extended layoff. Fortunately, I landed contract work within six weeks of the layoff, but unfortunately, I don’t get paid until the client pays my firm, and so I’ve been contracting for over two months without seeing a penny yet, and by the time I do, I will have gone 4 months without any incoming cash flow except for two very small unemployment checks (which I had to stop filing when I took the contract position). If you’re in this position right now, put your debt paydown on the back burner for a little while and SAVE UP FOR THE RAINY DAY. It will come, and you’ll have a much greater peace of mind if you do.

Another thing . . . and when I DO resume debt paydown, my plan is to immediately pay off the $12K of outstanding student loans before anything else, regardless of the lower interest rates, reason being that if things continue to get progressively worse in this country, then student loans are one of the only debts that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. I’ve been laid off three times since 2007, and I’m not a blue collar manufacturing worker . . . I’m a software consultant with an MBA degree and almost 15 years of experience. And the reason behind my debt load is not excessive conspicuous consumption, but caring for my terminally ill mother during the last years of her life. Life happens in spite of our best laid plans, unfortunately. I think Dave Ramsey gives good advice generally, but I do agree with this author’s suggestions for reordering of priorities in this difficult time, with layoffs rampant.

By: Annie

Annie — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:31:23 +0000

I agree with you 100%. I often watch his show and wonder how people have the willpower to sacrafice their entire paycheck to debt. I like to manage my money and pay everything on time and be responsible to save everytime i get my paycheck. I still paydown on debt and in this economy savings is big for me. I have the utmost respect for Dave Ramsey but he went bankrupt and couldn’t manage his money to avoid that. The only way people that go through bankruptcy see a wealthy future is to be debt free. I have nothing against that and promote it but who in their normal mind would pay off their mortgage, pay cash for cars, have no credit cards, only savings and retirement and build a wealthy life there. I don’t see this in this century unless your totally blind to live a depressing life. I actually feel blessed to get a loan from a bank, maybe it’s becasue i am from India and know what money can do to make a difference in a persons life but there is no way what he is saying will work for me.

By: Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University: Week One - SavingAdvice.com Blog

Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University: Week One - SavingAdvice.com Blog — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:44:05 +0000

[...] pretty obvious that I have some preconceived ideas about Dave and his advice, but I vowed that for the thirteen weeks I would try to put everything I already knew aside. I set [...]

By: Ali

Ali — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:39:24 +0000

DR’s one size fits all approach really targets lower to middle income america. He has been a tremendous resource to numerous people who didn’t/ don’t know where else to go for advice. That being said, aggressively building savings is a key component of any financial plan–regardless of the economy. 3-6 months of income is a bare minimum to protect oneself and one’s family. Then, eliminating debt and accumulating assets becomes more important.

By: Going Into Debt to Have Kids - SavingAdvice.com Blog

Going Into Debt to Have Kids - SavingAdvice.com Blog — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:02:58 +0000

[...] imagine my surprise the other day when, while listening to Dave Ramsey’s program, I heard him tell a caller that it would be okay to go into debt in order to have kids. The caller [...]

By: Emilie

Emilie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:01:46 +0000

I have always approched dept repaiment aggressively withought savings and obviously it as backfired in my face when we started our family. But now I started saving for everyting I buy and also putting money in my saving account every month. I don’t even have a month expense saved but I make it work somehow. I do have a goal to save up 3 months expense in the next 2 years. Thanks for the article.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:55:01 +0000

Oh, and an earlier coment was absolutely correct: Dave has way too much faith in a 12% return on investment with only little risk. This is unrealistically optimistic.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:44:56 +0000

Ramsey is on our local radio station. 90% of his financial advice is just common sense. But when someone calls in who has financial problems because of illness or death in the family, or because of the loss of a middle class job, he is pretty clueless and not really helpful. I would say that I live what he preaches for the most part.I just don’t understand why people pay him good money to learn that acting responsibly is good. He is a great marketer. He ties Chrisitanity into his message, and from what I can tell is heavily marketed among church groups. Well, good for him, I guess, but there is no need to pay someone to have them tell you that you should live within your means.

By: IndianaTeacher

IndianaTeacher — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:37:43 +0000

I have watched Ramsey’s show for a while and came to these conclusions:
1. People with a little sophistication and self-discipline don