Dave Ramsey is a guru with a loyal throng of fans. Either you love him or you hate him. JLP from AllFinancialMatters made his opinion known, although his post didn’t say much. Any attack on Ramsey, no matter how brief, attracts vitriliolic comments from both lovers and haters. Here are a few of those comments.
- People who charge an arm and a leg for financial organization tools drive me nuts… So maybe you do have to spend money to save money, but why not go for something less extortionate?
- Seems like Ramsey is looking after his own “personal” finance.
- That stuff is pretty valuable information for people not knowing how to get out from under financial pressure.
- Not to sound like his biggest fan or anything but the stuff that you get is pretty good.
- it’s a rock-solid program that the most overwhelmed can understand. i give him kudos for making the tidal wave of personal finance a bite-by-bite program that affords those who don’t have the wherewithal to make something positive from their mess.
- Good call. Save your money and pay off your debt [rather than buy Ramsey’s products].
A Penny Saved is impressed with Ramsey’s book, and he is inspired:
[The book is] sound and isnt a get rich quick or eliminate your debt in 30 days kind of program. It’s a life long commitment to living a sound financial life. I’m fairly sure that we will have begun our own Total Money Makeover soon.
Now, Dave Ramsey often invokes God in his message. But one religious individual shows some of Ramsey’s reasoning conflicts with some biblical teachings. Ariah explains why he (she?) ditched Dave Ramsey (and once again, the cultists are back en force to eagerly defend. You’re better off ignoring most of the 100+ comments, but this is from Ariah’s post:
The thing that bothers me is the second half of the “live like no one else.” statement. The idea is that once you’ve paid off your debt and saved your money you can spend it on what you want to. Now most folks want to hear that and so they are happy to listen and hear what Dave has to say. I have trouble cause my Bible (and I’m pretty sure it’s the same one) seems to say we are to be sacrificial in our lives, regardless of how well we’ve saved, etc. And that we should be good stewards, and wise consumers no matter what income/debt we have.
Here is the piece of bad advice that Ramsey gave that set Ariah over the edge:
A lady called in yesterday with a question. It was quite simple, her husband and her are debt free. The question was which is better: their current minivan or trading it for an SUV of equal value?… Dave’s Response: This is a silly question that you should not fret over… She’s being a “tight-wad…”
Ariah explained that the difference lies in the better gas mileage of the current minivan, and the Bible requires its adherents to be wise stewards.
Look, I may be the furthest you can get from a Suze Orman supporter. But all this talk in the financial blogsophere about Suze Orman being gay has got to stop! Grow up! There are more important financial decisions and learnings out there than lingering on this news development.