Dave Ramsey was a life changer for me. I became debt free, stopped the $550 per month auto lease payments, stopped borrowing money, and my net worth has soared compared to pre Dave. Tried and true biblical based financial advice, nothing fancy, just simple and it works. The guy has been a game changer for many Americans who otherwise would be in debt to their eyeballs, with depreciating cars they can't afford, living paycheck to paycheck. He has performed the largest study ever done of millionaires, and teaches what he learned from this in a way that gets through to people....
Yes. I concur... it is not bad stuff at all on the
frugality and discipline and budgeting part. I would say he is good and pretty funny at doing it. Dave or similar is basically a retread/repack of Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn who preached lowering fixed costs, developing savings and regular investing... which themselves were remakes of
Richest Man in Babylon and other prior teachings. The "live beneath your means," "keep something for a rainy day," "make hay while the sun is shining," etc advice is always needed. It should be in all languages and all places. It has to be reshaped and re-sold again in order for a new generation to understand it. I don't know if it needs to hold onto the religious/faith/chursh aspects since that tends to almost lose more eyeballs than it gains in this day in age, but however it works and however people will stop buying vacations or clothing and jewelry on credit cards and needing 6-12+ month to pay them off, then I support it.
I agree Dave or similar are quite useful for actually stopping the hemorrhage of cash, overuse of credit, etc that causes most people to be check-to-check (or worse). Dave was touted to me by a personal friend with Ivy MBA (smart dude, makes more than most DPMs) who was going through bankruptcy at the time since he had always been into fancy cars and parts and racetrack mods... and buying basically every watch and gadget and outfit you see in GQ mag and think "who TF can afford that?" I had heard of him on YouTube a bit, but I read Dave's main book and liked it.
Rich Dad is another one that makes you think of if in terms of which of your purchases just disappear (food/entertainment/discretionary), which continue to cost you even after you buy them (car, memberships, house you live in, etc), or will actually produce for you (stocks/bonds, entrepreneur, rental RE, etc). Everyone needs that motivation and that "why" to change their habits and make budgets first and foremost. That is the obvious yet tough first step (WCI calls it "live like a resident") which the vast majority of people can never get past (and most docs with money problems are stopped there also). I know pleeeenty of DPMs who bought a new house and a Beemer right out of residency... others had eclipsed $500k in student + credit card debt even before finishing residency. Those are the ones I hesitate to even give job tips to since they just tell me, "it doesn't pay enough" no matter what the base/bonus. They had started the doctor lifestyle early and aggressive. It doesn't matter at all if somebody knows the best stock picks or the advantages of various types of stock accounts or where the real estate will boom if their money is all spoken for in lease, credit card interest, mall money, gambling, etc.
After that getting initial stability with debt shrinking and a bit of savings (Dave "baby steps" if I recall), the Ramsey books/message have done their job, though. I don't think they're at all helpful after that.
Growing wealth and investing (thread idea) is much more complicated than the "growth stock mutual funds 12% returns" way he over-simplifies it again and again. To be fair, he is talking/writing largely to average broke people who lean on credit cards to get by, shouldn't buy a house, would start to lose their lifestyle level almost immediately with a lost job, might not even have the cash saved for a basic car or health expense, etc. I assume he is glossing over the subject of actual market investing since he doesn't know much, knows investing or home mortgage doesn't apply for they at the present time, and wants to mainly stay in his lane.
In reality, the 12% he makes sound to be standard expected return is very hard to find consistently. Many books by much wiser and wealthier men than Dave can barely scratch the surface of AA and stock picks and options and etc... and sure won't pretend it is easy in the medium/long term. Some funds might come close... but they will usually have heavy fees that negate a lot of gains or minimum investment marks that none of us can do. Most RE won't do that rate without substantial risk, and stocks and funds that might get you 12% in a normal year are probably sectors or singles that might struggle to match the overall 7-8% market in most others (2020 or 08/09 etc when you could buy basically anything doesn't really count, lol). Investing is just incredibly complex and individual... the books owned, AA, strategy, timeline, risk taking, etc is different for everyone. Many do the basic Bogle index thing and buy a house to live in, some do Dalio/Robbins or some published strategy, some pick singles, some might buy all Berkshire or Blackstone, a few do their practice/RE with few/no stock/funds, some might do whatever their CPA or buddy or whoever says, most do their own mix. It is cool to see what people are trying in here.
Basically, I don't think we're in any disagreement that Dave is generally good info and well presented... just that saving/budget is a far cry from growth/invest. His wheelhouse is 99% the former.. the latter he is fully touch-and-go and expects his readers/listeners who reach the point of climbing out of debt and having money to invest to go elsewhere (hopefully to his sponsors).
