ABF layoffs

Dave Ramsey always struck me as your typical televangelist without the god bit.
I don't trust a man that's not willing to stuff a buck in a G string on a Saturday night anymore than I trust the cooking of a skinny chef.

 

How do you know someone is a Cult of Dave follower? Much like vegans, they'll tell you they are. Every. Chance. They. Get.

 

So I was on a road test for a new job recently.. This company basically has you do a short peddle run with a trainer riding shotgun as a road test. While we were waiting to get unloaded, my trainer asks why I'm still renting. I told him its because I just moved to this area last year, haven't had enough time to learn the market yet, or what areas are the best fit for me, etc. Then he lectures me about how I'm wasting 20k/year on rent (his math was waaay off) and I should start thinking about my future because young people are stupid with money. The person to teach me to learn about money is Dave Ramsey. Mind you, I bought rental properties in 2009-2010 and sold them in 2022, bought a house in 2018 and sold it in 2022, I have a sizeable 401k and roth ira, other investments, money in the bank etc. And this guy lives in an rv with his wife and kids on his dads land, owns nothing outright but is almost done paying off his rv and has "over 10,000" in his retirement savings. And he was able to pay off all if his credit cards thanks to Dave Ramsey. OK dude, thanks for the advice ✌️

I ended up going to another job lol. Mostly for other reasons. But also because I didn't want this moron to be my trainer. Not saying Dave Ramsey is bad, but some of his cult members are a lil shaky.

 

Ramsey has some good ideas. He has some bad ones too. Most of what he peddles is just common sense.
Ever notice that his followers, when they speak of him, get kind of a glazed look in their eyes and start speaking in a rapid monotone?
Kinda reminds me of Jehova's Witnesses.

 

We had Jehovas witnesses come around my place alot. My next door neighbor who is mormon happened to be at my place when they showed up. I introduced them to each other and haven't seen the Jehovas since. . They hate each other.

 

I rented for a few years after I sold my house. The rent on my little one-bed apartment was less than what I had been paying in property taxes. Sure, it was much smaller and not nearly as nice as my old house, but it opened my eyes to how much money that old house that I never really liked was truly costing me.

Since then, I have lived in a truck while driving OTR, then moved into a camper that I paid three grand for. I lived in that for a couple of years while I worked a local trucking job.

I work online now and spend most of my time in Asia or Puerto Rico. I don't stay in any place long enough to make sense to buy, so renting apartments and Air B&B. units make the most sense for me now.

I doubt I will ever consider buying a house in the US again. I can afford it, but spending that kind of money on a place to sleep and poop just no longer seems worth it. Since I am not tied to one place to make my living, I can take advantage of the nicer weather and lower cost of living that other parts of the world can offer.

I think the biggest problem with the housing market in the US is everyone builds McMansions. Nobody builds reasonable-cost housing anymore. I was just as guilty as anyone else. My house was 2600 square feet plus a full basement, and it was just me and my dogs living there. Talk about a waste of space and money.

You don't see homes like that outside of the US, for the most part, and you also rarely see homes with only one or two people living in them either. A lot of that is due to economic factors, but there is also a good deal we can learn from other cultures.

As far as Dave Ramsey goes, there are worse things you could listen to than him. I don't agree with everything he says, but much of it makes sense.

His debt advice is excellent for high-interest debt; however, if you are smart with money low, interest debt and or financing things that can make you a profit is not always a bad idea.

If you have a 3 percent mortgage and have 100k saved up, you should consider investing that money into something like S&P index funds which have a year-over-year history of around 8-10 percent return.

The same goes for a successful business owner who needs expensive new equipment to expand. Financing it with favorable terms, you can get the equipment immediately and begin making money with it. If you wait and save up the money, it could take years before you can afford it, and that is years of lost profit and revenue.

Then again, if you are in either of those situations, you are not exactly one of Dave's target audience.

 

Lol, not a Dave Ramsey cool aid drinker here. I listened to him in the early aughts because as truckers we have plenty of spare time to listen to the radio. My finances were messy so I started doing the things he said and cleaned everything up which served me well for many years. Yeah it's common sense, which ain't too common. I haven't listened to the show in almost 20 years now. It's tiresome, boring stuff same ol same ol every answer. Doesn't mean it's bad advice I just learned it already and moved on with my life. For anyone who's finances are a mess they'd do well to learn and apply the "common sense" methods he teaches.

 

Here's the Dave Ramsey advice, also known as the Opus advice.....

Stop buying stuff you can't afford

 

Yeah that's a start. But most people need some guidance on how to go about cleaning up their mess. Nothing to it really but bad habits and routines can be hard to see through and you don't know what you don't know if you've never been shown.