In a country where the San Bernadino DA characterizes Apple fighting for privacy as Orwellian, comes this news item
How Fiduciary Rule May Censor Financial Broadcasters Like Dave Ramsey
The quick synopsis of what Dave Ramsey does for those not familiar with him and/or living in Belize…
Dave recruits people who want to become “debt free”. Much of that recruitment occurs at churches because Dave loves Jesus (or the legal protection of religion). Dave then sells people a course in how to get to debt free heaven.
It’s pretty straight forward – the couple have to agree to work from a budget, give 10% referral fee to Jesus, eat beans and rice, stop going out to eat, don’t take vacations, get rid of your car, buy everything for cash, maybe take a weekend second job working at Walmart – basically living the American Dream™
Having drastically cut expenses, pay off your credit card debt and close the accounts as fast as possible. Don’t worry about your credit score. All your credit card score measures is your gullibility to become a slave to the blood sucking banks.
Once you have no debts and are used to living in poverty and have free cash flow, talk to one of the financial advisors (called an Endorsed Local Provider) who pay Dave a referral fee and then buy as much term life insurance as you can afford using Zander Insurance Group, which just happens to also be located Nashville, TN.
Everything until the last paragraph I agree with. I would just suggest an alternative is to go back to school or move to a better employment location and work to increase your income rather than living like a serf in a mobile home. Start adding things back into your life you can afford. Spend more time with your children. Create memories. Replacing credit cards with life insurance is just switching blood sucking masters.
The guy mentioned in the story sells annuities, which Ramsey almost always says are a bad idea, because the people pushing them get a large upfront commission that they don’t disclose, which means a huge early termination fee if you decide to back out of your decision.
I like some of Dave’s ideas, but as with any such ‘guru’ there are plenty of “Dave-bots” who hang on his every word. Living on a budget and eliminating all debts is where I agree with Dave (and something that a large portion of American’s do NOT do).
The guy that I miss is Bruce Williams. He tended to give good, balanced advice in a variety of areas. I listen to Dave sometimes, but he does have a continual repetition of themes that gets old. The best parts of his show are when he has interesting callers.
Dave Ramsey’s advice is great. I cut up my last credit card over 5 years ago and never looked back. I don’t like being beholden to anyone, and would rather pay cash be done with it than to have ongoing monthly payments. It’s not for the feint of heart, but it’s worth it. I’m not rich, but I think I’d be in better shape than most if the SHTF.
That said, Dave Ramsey the person is an olympic class jerk. I asked him an honest question on Twitter once. He gave me a snarky, sarcastic, useless answer that humiliated me and got retweeted. That was the end of Twitter for me, and the end of listening to the “Christian” Dave Ramsey.
I’ve since been listening to Financial Issues with Dan Celia. For anyone tired of Dave Ramsey’s arrogance and narrow subject matter, Dan Celia is a welcome change.
Ironically, the only talk show host I hate more than Ramsey was Bruce Williams. I’ll never forget a woman called into his show. Apparently she wasn’t a long time listener, she had had enough of his attitude and said. “I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me. Goodbye!”, and hung up on him. Beautiful. 🙂
It’s not too late to buy some Jersey Pork Roll!
I never contacted Bruce when he was on the air. I don’t have any particular memories of him being obnoxious to callers. Of course, I listened to him in the 90’s, so it has been quite awhile and sometimes we only remember the good things and forget the unpleasantries.
Bruce carried a lot of baggage from being a life insurance salesman. A significant number of his calls ended with the suggestion “you need to hire a lawyer” or “you need to buy life insurance”
After he lost his network syndication, he morphed into a political talker, an area he was unprepared to handle. “Let’s do again what FDR did to win World War Two” is not exactly a useful perspective
Those were the days, my friend: Bruce Williams, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Larry King on the overnight.
The old axiom – “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.” Simple – maybe we don’t need Dave Ramsey.