OT: Dave Ramsey

[johnson86-1]

Count me on the 50% that doesn't know if I need to know the $ amount. I have no idea how much I pay for all the streaming services, and I don't want to know. If I were living paycheck to paycheck, I would know. I have suggested to my wife that we cut a couple, but she vetoed my suggestion.

There is an argument for just putting a healthy percentage of income into savings/investments each month, and then not worrying about anything else beyond making sure what's left doesn't run out each month, but I really believe everybody should track their spending at least for a little while. It's just so easy to do now with software, and I think almost everybody will find they are spending on something that doesn't give them enough value to justify it. We pretty much cut our restaurant spending by 25% without any pain. Just realized there was other stuff we wanted to do with that money and a lot of that spending was just "it's easier to go grab food than spend 15-30 minutes putting something together".

Even the little things like streaming add up. A $100 a month habit takes about $30k in savings to fund at retirement. A lot of people aren't saving $30k a year for retirement, even when they're near their peak earning years, so thinking of it as representing another year of work to keep spending on it makes it easier to drop to me.

 

[paindonthurt]

It's not can't, it's that they don't care to do it. There's no failure if they don't. Too many bail outs and entitlements. Responsible people do it and that's about it.
Ramsey isn't the fix here and he's no budgeting guru.

You are naive or dumb if you think there are people who can't do it. They exist i assure you. They might can if someone helps them (thats what dave 17ing ramsey is doing). Who else is gonna help them?

 

[paindonthurt]

Count me on the 50% that doesn't know if I need to know the $ amount. I have no idea how much I pay for all the streaming services, and I don't want to know. If I were living paycheck to paycheck, I would know. I have suggested to my wife that we cut a couple, but she vetoed my suggestion.

I mean i don't know the exact dollar i spend every month but i have a budget and a plan for savings. If I don't reach that plan each month, i find the 17 out why.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

The Ramsey Show has changed its tune on bitcoin. I don't know if Dave himself will ever admit he was wrong, but it is interesting to see how their position on bitcoin has changed from "wacko" (price $555) to "part of a diversified strategy" (price $100k).

I used to listen to Dave. I even led a Financial Peace University class at my church a long time ago. But he has really done damage to his reputation with his prideful, stubborn position on bitcoin. I started finding it hard to listen to his opinion on anything because I knew he was willing to blindly take a strong, public position on something he clearly didn't understand (see his "flip the switch" comment above). It just became too difficult to ignore.

I still don't think the Ramsey Show guys understand bitcoin, but at least they are admitting that it has a place in a diversified strategy. Took long enough.

I've decided to take what I was going to invest in Bitcoin and use it to invest in travel expenses to go visit the al-Qaeda guys in Qatar. I hear it is an easy way to make millions quickly.

 

[NTDawg]

There is an argument for just putting a healthy percentage of income into savings/investments each month, and then not worrying about anything else beyond making sure what's left doesn't run out each month, but I really believe everybody should track their spending at least for a little while. It's just so easy to do now with software, and I think almost everybody will find they are spending on something that doesn't give them enough value to justify it. We pretty much cut our restaurant spending by 25% without any pain. Just realized there was other stuff we wanted to do with that money and a lot of that spending was just "it's easier to go grab food than spend 15-30 minutes putting something together".

Even the little things like streaming add up. A $100 a month habit takes about $30k in savings to fund at retirement. A lot of people aren't saving $30k a year for retirement, even when they're near their peak earning years, so thinking of it as representing another year of work to keep spending on it makes it easier to drop to me.

My wife retired 2 years ago, and I'm retiring next month from my current job. We could spend less for sure, particularly on streaming and with what my wife spends on clothes and shoes, but a Middle East peace deal would be easier to accomplish. Anytime I bring up how much she spends on clothes, she brings up how much I spend on whiskey, and that ends the conversation.

 

[bolddogge]

I agree with Dave in principle when it comes to getting out of debt ASAP, staying that way and saving / investing for retirement. His method his proven work and create everyday millionaires out of us common folk. It basically boils down to discipline and common sense though. People with substantial disposable income are able to take other paths. Similarly, his credit card philosophy is ok for some, but others. It's best to avoid them at all costs if you have self-control issues. He cites studies that show you'll spend more using a credit card than you would if you were paying cash. That may be true for some folks, but not me. I use a credit card to funnel as many of my expenses through as possible (unless they add a fee for CC users) and pay it off every month. Those CC points have paid for my rental car and 4 airline tickets for my family vacations the past 2 years and again this year - Yellowstone, Hawaii and Sequoia / Yosemite.