Preach brother! Dave Ramsey is a tight wad rooky when it comes to some of my family . I had no choice when I was growing up either.

If I became a financial advisor , my clients wouldn't like me much , think old school , Marine Corps drill instructor.

Ben, I agree with you and Irish both. I pay all houshold bills and buy gas on a credit card that gives me 1.5% cash back on everything, and pay it off once monthly but I pay cash for everything else.

For those of y’all getting credit card points, I do it too. But the data shows you spend about 15-20% more by using plastic.
Again, I do it too. But the guy that says there’s no free lunch is 100% correct. That free lunch costs a lot.

Most places gig you for CC fee that often more than offsets the cash back . I rarely use mine other than online purchases , hotels and such.

Doing the points game encourages girl math thinking which always ends in a financial disaster. Be careful.

What do they consider "savings"? Sounds like you all consider your retirement accounts to be savings. I guess I think of savings as funds you have on hand in a checking or savings account set aside. If they are including retirement accounts, I am shocked at how low that number is. If they are talking about actual fluid funds set aside in a readily available "savings" account, then I'm shocked at how high it is.

I've heard him address this several times. He says study after study shows people who use a credit card for all their expenses and then pay it off each month spend on average 30% more than people who use a cash system. I believe that to be true. Sure is easy to whip out the credit card or just hit Buy Now on Amazon.

What people call savings is always different. Some folks call digits in a savings account savings. Other folks call the ugly antique lamp in their attic savings.
I tend to separate "working capital" from "savings". One earns livable money the other does not lose value and its there like insurance.

" Girl math" I'm gonna start using that one.

Cheap entertainment. goto You Tube. search Girl Math or Girl Math explained. Hours of endless stupidity.

It's tough to save $ in this economy. I was finally getting to the point I felt like I had some room to breathe, and then inflation hit, my son got a BS reckless driving ticket from a tyrant SRO, which we got dismissed, after about $6K in legal fees, and everything keeps going up. I paid $3.59 a gal for mid grade last night, which my Tundra comsumers at the rate of 1 gal/14.5 miles. Hook up the trailer and haul the tractor, and that plumets to about 9 miles per gallon.

I changed my dependents on my taxes, lower by 1, and got less money back. So I paid in more, and got less back. I need to drop the number again, because my oldest graduates and is going to be a fireman, so he probably won't qualify as a dependant this year. So more $ out of my check. Not to mention the meager child support I get for him stops next year too. Funny how they don't build in an increase in that based on inflation.

I have some $ put aside, and my 401K is doing well, finally got past the high # under Trump, but its no where near what it would have been had Trump not had the election stolen from him.

I’ve recently (in the last couple of years) started putting 30% of my paycheck in 401k. At first it was a shock but when you really look at it, you’re tremendously lowering your federal tax burden and putting that money in 401k. The total amount you don’t bring home is negligible, but the amount you’re inventing is tremendous. Just have to watch and not go over the max. I do like to keep a good bit of $ in the bank too though.
We pay our CC off every month but I will agree 100% that you spend more with CC than cash. I know I do.
My 23 yr old has more in the bank than most adults I bet.

I put everything on AMEX and doubt I get charged a fee on over 95% of my purchases. I have found usually small businesses do it; and I just pay cash/check.

Explain how it cost 15-20%? My annual AMEX fee is less than 1/2% of my annual expenditures and I don't use it at many places that charge a fee? And; their security is EXCELLENT.

I started my adult life with a $975 to my name, it was in my pocket..... and a wore out old F-250 single cab on Q78 Buckshot Mudders... the truck blew a headgasket as I roared down I65 on my way to Birmingham when I was 18 years old. Blew it at Lacon hill on my ride down here to live... the good news is that everything I owned I could fit in the cab when I walked my ass most of the way to the next exit and called a tow truck from a pay phone. I fixed the head gasket in someone's parking lot up there at the exit where 157 crosses. I didn't call my Daddy to help me when I drove out the end of the driveway about a week after I graduated from High School I was on my own and have been ever since. Moving somewhere for a good paying job is a foreign concept in today's America. If you think I wanted to live in Birmingham you are sadly mistaken I did it because I had more opportunity. Would you be willing to do the same? For most the answer is NO and that is part of the overall problem.

I lived paycheck to paycheck for the next probably close to 10 years as I worked and paid my way through college.


Really pisses me off when people act like if you don't live the Dave Ramsey lifestyle... then you are doing something wrong..... Not always the case. If you are coming at people with that mentality... then you've never been really poor because if you had then you would know how tough it really is.

Now.. the rest of it... I have no sympathy for being broke. That's your own fault I did something about it. But at the same time acting like people who are broke aren't doing things the right way is NOT accurate. Many are and can't get ahead regardless especially if they are taking care of someone else like a couple kids. Some of y'all have no idea what that's like and I hope you never get to experience it.

So why do Americans have no savings?... because MOST have no work ethic. Simple as that. Go drive down the street right now and ask yourself what all these people are doing out there and why they aren't at work? I am willing to do things and work jobs I don't like I'm still doing it decades later. The problem with this Country is this.... a lot of people out there are doing what they love every day... and that's pretty much being a Lazy MF'er.

My experience with Ramsey was not a great one at all . I grew up outside of Nashville. I built 3 businesses simultaneously in my 20’s and was doing pretty well. Ramsey advertised as financial advisors. I made a call to inquire. Next thing you know they’re calling frequently wanting to know when I wanted to come in. I finally set an appointment. As soon as I walked in I was informed that the consultation fee was $400 up front (this was in the mid 90’s). They called me back and this guy started asking inane questions about how much this and that was per month like housing, utilities, etc.. Then, proceeded to tell me that everyone has hard times financially at some point. I asked him what in the world was he talking about and informed him that I owned 3 businesses and was looking for financial advice, not some goofy envelope budget. He looked at me with a deer in the headlights look, then proceeded to ramble for an hour and at some point said “We’re going to give you another hour on the house” or something to that effect. I walked out of there with a cassette tape, a book and the feeling I’d just been rooked out of $400 by someone loosely using the term “financial advisor”. It dawned on me what this bunch was doing. They were charging people $400/hour!! to share the most ridiculously, elementary, common sense practices. At that hourly rate, it seemed more to me like preying as opposed to helping. Especially since these folks didn’t have a financial clue right out of the gate. My own attorneys never charged even close to that kind of money per hour! To this day, I can not tell you what happened to that stupid book and cassette but, I’ve never forgotten where that $400 check went.

I use my credit cards for just about every purchase and pay them off daily. Yep, I balance my budget, check each credit card (2 total), then check my Fidelity account. I do this first thing in the morning everyday. When you are poor with a wife and two kids you best learn how to manage money. I have always had at least 2 months of income in a savings account. But I still felt we were paycheck to paycheck until our kids were raised and out of college. I was not saving big money until the kids were gone, off my insurance and 100% off that titty.

The issue I see today is young couples think they supposed to already have all the stuff at 27. Stuff we didn't even think about getting until after 45. Boats, side x side, new truck, new guns... etc. I was not able to purchase any of this until after 45. Could I have, yes probably but it would have been irresponsible on my part as head of the household. It's my responsibility to make sure my family is provided for financially. It's not mine and my wife's responsibility. It's the husband and father's job to provide. Never put yourself in a position to be dependent on your wife's money. Also learned this from by grandfathers... call me old fashion I guess. If you can't provide for a wife and provide her basic needs then you don't need to get married.

I'm simply not going to take envelopes of cash around everywhere and hand pay all my bills, grocery store, liquor store, etc... I'm just not doing it.

And no... I don't spend 30% more than anyone else I don't care how frugal they are. We didn't get to be debt free and financially independent by not being frugal with our money.

The fact of the matter is: If used to your advantage and paid in full at the end of each month, a credit card can be a valuable financial tool.

100k wont get you far now. Thanks to Biden and demoncrats

No kidding; it's all about personal accountability. If somebody can't use a credit card correctly; that have lots of issues.