re: What are some very basic tips/advice to give to poor/uneducated people re: money

SFP, your target demographic is starving for this kind of thing. I would say that for starters, you should find a way for them to bring documentation about their current bills, utility payments, rent, cars and income documentation.

Find out things as basic as how many folks are in their family, how many they support, where they work, why they work there, how long is the commute, etc.

Before you can teach them effectively, you have to know your audience. The first lesson or piece of this process should be to assess their situation and then ask some probing, open ended questions about why and how they got to the situation.

Once you get them through the door you'll have the first yes, which is that people want to get smarter, and are tacitly admitting they lack the necessary financial savvy to manage their finances effectively.

But you can't teach adults without understanding where and why they are at the point they are at first. Beyond that, breaking these situations down in small group settings can help to change behaviors in the group without them thinking you are singling them out.

Showing them all they're being fleeced on car loans, or rent a center furniture, or payday loans due to underbanking helps them to realize you aren't picking on them but calling out how prevalent the myths of these services are.

From there, you can effectively break down their situations in order to build back up healthy habits and teach lessons.

I would also focus on how to buy the things you want using alternative methods for less money.

Buy jewelry or clothing 2nd hand or knockoff if you must on Social media. Buy a lawnmower on a FB Group. Sell shite on eBay or Craigslist for more money or before something becomes obsolete. Buy big ticket items that are not musts using online methods or alternative methods to find discounts. Buy refurbished, etc.

I also think it cannot be stressed enough to help create an industrious mindset in low income folks. Teach people that instead of trading EBT card purchases for cash, they can buy a simple push mower used and mow grass for their family, friends and neighbors for that $100. Then they can do something socially responsible and mow for church members, etc.

Find a way to teach people how to hustle for money on top of their 9-5. Babysitting, hell donating plasma, working a 2nd job.

Good discussion and interesting ideas, SFP...

The one thing that has served me well is I do not buy things that go down in value and I always try to buy things cheaper than what they are worth. I spend LOTS of money on things that make me money.

Examples....

I own ten houses right now. I've never paid more than 0.75 on the dollar.

My cars have always been 10 year old Camrys. I buy one for 5k, drive it for 3 years and then sell it for 3.5k.

The one exception to that is a jeep wrangler I bought from a guy who needed the money ASAP. I paid 20k for the jeep and sold it for 25k a year later.

Everything piece of furniture in my house is from a thrift shop, estate sale, yard sale, etc. I get comments all the time about how nice my things are.

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As opposed to your computer?

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My computer is an income generating asset. I do some freelance work evenings and weekends. Paid for itself several times over.

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2. The debt snowball (most folks will spend the vast majority of their time at this step - paying off all debts, other than the mortgage on the residence, from smallest balance to largest, making only minimum payments on everything but the "target" debt - then rolling up the rest as the smaller ones are retired).

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It's obviously smarter to hit highest interest first, but I get the psychology behind the snowball, so I don't have much of an issue with it.

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3. 3 to 6 months expenses (and I would even recommend making it 6 to 9 months)

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This is my big issue with Ramsey. I see no reason why people shouldn't start availing themselves of tax sheltered retirement accounts after they have a couple of months of emergency fund. That's a lot of lost compounding interest in order develop an absurdly large emergency fund you'll likely never need to wipe out.

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That's a lot of lost compounding interest in order develop an absurdly large emergency fund you'll likely never need to wipe out.

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I'm not 100% sure he insists the 3 to 6 months be in "cash" - as long as it's liquid - you can be in a lot of vehicles and still be liquid. I've heard him talk about it all the time.

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I was poor and starting out I would prepay my budget for the month on my credit card.

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This is pretty brilliant didn't know you could do that.

- If you're not into investing, go with a cheap discount brokerage like Vanguard and buy VO and dollar cost average into it every month. If at the end of the month it falls below its 10 month SMA, sell it and buy TLT. If TLT is below it's 10 month SMA buy IEF. (There are way more sophisticated momentum systems but that's probably the easiest one to explain and avoid 50 percent losses like in 2008)

Can we unpack that a little more?

The university I work for has started a "last semester - this is life" course that teaches personal finance and other life skills. Trying to get SACS to approve it as required is an act of Congress, so its an elective for now.

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They should learn to NEVER swipe their debit card anywhere but an ATM.

why not?

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Credit Cards are free money. You just have to be disciplined enough to never carry a balance. My wife and I put every dollar possible on our credit card and I have it set to automatically pay down to $0 on the 17th of every month. I have literally never given Visa a dollar in ten years but they have purchased multiple flights and hotels rooms for me.

Second, debit cards are horribly insured. A lost card or a misapplied debit by a vendor is a pain to rectify. Credit Cards, on the other hand, come with a plethora of protections and benefits built in.