I stumbled across these videos randomly. Basically, people call this talk show for advice after making catastrophic financial decisions. It’s pretty eye opening with regard to how a lot of people live.
I know a lot of people that have dug themselves out of serious debt due to this guy. Good voice of reason, but yes, if you haven’t lived at those income levels its a different world.
i personally dont like it. he lead me in a wild goose chase on mutual funds. thought they were excellent ways to invest. gone are the days of peter lynch. the good funds are close nowadays! prolly will reopen when shit hits the fanny.
overall though i see why people would benefit from his advice. but imo, these are low hanging fruits. interest is compounding, so remove debt. reduce taxes. save in retirement. etc etc. lol shit that every kid should know.
Some of those people are not low income. For instance one guy who called is a doctor whose wife is also a doctor. However, they collectively have $650k in student loans.
90% of the advice on this show seems to be to save money and pay off debt. Dave Ramsey just finds a polite way to say “you fcking idiot, don’t buy a $30k car when you make $25k a year”. Some people just don’t get this. He also makes the (probably reasonable) assumption that his callers are morons. For instance, he told one guy to forgo 401k matching in favor of just paying off debt. This is mathematically not optimal, which he probably realizes. However, he assumes that the idiot caller will not be able to manage his liabilities if he has any at all.
Anyway, this show has clearly two audience groups: 1) people who have no financial skills at all and need guidance on even the most basic concepts, and 2) people who are entertained by hearing about other peoples’ financial problems. I think most of the callers are real, despite how ridiculous their situations might be.
I have listened to Dave for a while. His advice is very simple and basic and it is astonishing to me how little people know about personal finance. I am always amazed that Dave Ramsey has made a very successful business of this (my guess is he makes millions a year doing this with a nationally syndicated radio show and seminars, books, etc). I think it points to the general lack of education when it comes to personal finance and so many Americans truly live paycheck to paycheck even doctors and lawyers. I listen to the show as it makes me appreciate how lucky I am and keeps me grounded as to how the average American lives.
If you like Dave Ramsey show, you would LOVE Suze Orman.
She has a segment on her show where she tells people if they can afford to buy stuff. Like,
“Hey Suze. My name is Jack. I’m 45, and I have $100k in a money market and $1m in a 401k. I owe $200k on a house, and $25k on my car. I want to buy a new Weber Genesis for $1,000. Can I afford to buy that?”
I think we all know by now that mechanics don’t know what they are doing and are a stupid scam. I took my car to the shop the other day because of complete engine failure. Shyster mechanic had the balls to tell me that I should pay him money to repair the car or go to the dealer and get a new car. I said f that. Watched some YouTube and learned how to build and operate a mechanic store.
This is what I did with respective costs.
YouTube: didn’t cost a cent.
Mechanic store: $150,000.
Plot of land: $150,000.
7 staff members (no benefits 'cause I work them for 39 hours): $232,000/year.
Sometimes people call in to brag, essentially. They are like, oooh my business got sold for $50 million, but I can’t bring myself to spend any money. Pretty sure some of these people are plants too, as the stories are really outlandish sometimes.