Dave Ramsey products

More specific. Total Money Makeover? Financial Peace? FP Classes? EntreLeadership? ELPs?

I have not used any but I do listen to his show daily. It's a common sense approach that is good for 95% of the people.

I bought one of his shirts...on credick.

I haven't used any of his products myself. But a couple of years ago there was a thread here about paying off debt and how Ramsey's method could help you do it. I had about $20k of credit card debt that I was struggling to pay off inspite of making good money. I was just indisciplined. There was one poster here, forgot who it was, that gave me the best price of advice ever.

All he said was forget Ramsey. Stop using credit cards. Pay cash or use debit cards everywhere. And start paying off the credit cards one by one starting with the least balance even though paying off the highest interest credit card makes the most sense. It was true, seeing balances go to zero gives a sense of accomplishment that is hard to explain. You have to experience it. It feels good. I paid off the debt in less than 6 months, while I had carried over the balances for a few years. I have been debt free since then. I put a couple of thousand dollars on my one Amex Blue Cash credit card to earn cash back, but pay it off every month, no matter what. Even when I had cash flow problems on certain months due to big purchases or whatever, I have taken money out of my saving account to pay off the credit card for that month. I haven't paid a cent in interest since I got debt free. Made a few investments here and there including real estate.

There is not much to Ramsey apparently other than that he asks you to pay everything in cash, not take in debt, save money religiously and not to buy anything that you can't afford to pay for immediately (maybe with the exception of a house, I think).

I've lightly read some of his stuff. Basically it is personal finance lite for people who either have no clue what to do or lack the right behaviors when they do know what to do.

It's very simple stuff, but it works fine if you're in either category. He admits that you can do better if you learn more but for a KISS philosophy it works fine.

For example, debt is perfectly fine and can even help you if you know how to use it, but most of his customers are struggling with debt used unwisely instead. For them the first step is to just quit digging the hole, not to learn how to use the shovel more usefully.