Dave Ramsey Ticks Me Off

[Anonymous]

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@trusty wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Those extended warranties dealers try to be bad deals as they pressure you so much into buying one,  I have never bought and have never regretted.  If I buy on on my current car I will buy one right before manufacture warranty and contact a ton of dealers to see who gives me the best price. 

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Agreed. An extended warranty is never a good deal... because of the fine print. - The issue is that when you go to use your warranty, the warranty doesn't cover the most likely things that will go wrong.

Now, if there were an extended warranty that covered everything, including routine maintenence... it might be worth it.

Alas, Extended Warranties are nothing but pure profit, and not for the benefit of the consumer.

Consumers would do well to avoid the Finance Manager after purchasing a car. Learn how to say, "I'll pass on that."

If you cannot afford to provide regular maintenence and fixes for your own car, than the car is either too fancy, or too old... or you just cannot afford that car.

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I worked at Sears a long, long time ago, way before the chain worked toward teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and we used to sell the PA's (protection agreements) on our appliances and I specialized in washers and dryers so that's where my personal experiences are limited to.  I used to advise my customers not to waste their money on covering their dryer because there were so few moving parts involved and they were more likely to last a very long time, at least in comparison to their washing maching.  The exception was with the customer who had no idea how to clean out the lint screens, hoses, etc. and had no inclination to learn how to do so annually, in which case I advised them to purchase the PA but ONLY if they called in annually for their free annual preventative maintenence visit where the techs would do this for them.  Dryers, at least back then, were in the top 5 cause of house fires.  As far as washers, I only recommended PA coverage for the Energy Star models because of how fast the RPM's tended to run and MAINLY if they would also have the annual preventative maintenence check - levelling, checking (and replacing for free if necessary) hoses, etc., etc.

While I'm sure what remains of Sears continues to push these "extended warrantees", I wouldn't count on the promises of the current PA's they offer mainly because I've no idea as to whether or not they offer the annual preventative maintenence option and because who knows how much longer will they be around.  Point is, Sears is the ONLY place I've ever bought an "extended warranty" from and it was only on my two washers I bought through them, and yep, they did provide preventative maintenence as promised back then.

Does anyone know of any other extended warrantees that provide routine maintenence anymore?  Just curious.

[Anonymous]

I really dislikeDave Ramsay's credit outlook either. It's too general. He won't admit the potential positives: that % cash back cards can save you a fraction of almost everything and financing some stuff can be okay if your interest rate is 2% and you're invested in the S&P is getting you 7% with the cash you saved form financing something instead of buying.

That being said, his advice isn't necessarily wrong. I completely agree that for the average person debt is a horrible idea. It's too tempting to overextend. Dave Ramsey actually used debt himself to succeed in real estate in his younger years. He was a millionaire... but then the banks recalled the loans for some weird reason and he went totally bankrupt, had to sell everything. I can imagine why based on that he wants to teach people his way which is to acquire wealth without the use of debt. The lending industry totally screwed him over and I see why he personally would never recommend anyone going that route. He believes card bonuses etc are just a marketing ploy to get more profits by using their cards more and lenders get to pocket the % fees etc. He's right, the companies wouldn't give those bonuses unless they made money overall.

But for EDUCATED consumers credit used properly, it only helps. Mortgages are easier with a high Fico, good cards with rewards on money you're already spending saves you money, insurance is cheaper, leasing cars is cheaper. If something costs 20 bucks at a store its 20 bucks whether I pay cash or credit. At least with the credit, I can get 2-5% back and I get protected returns on stuff too. 

You can probably succeed on the Dave Ramsay way, and you can probably succeed using debt to finance certain things or start small businesses if you're a good entrepreneur. I don't think it's smart to be too extreme in either category but either one can work. If people like the debt-free philosophy I wouldn't say their wrong, they just want to accomplish things in a different way than me.

Funny note is that Dave's primary income generation at least, in the beginning, was real estate commissions. I'm guaranteeing 90% of those clients financed their home so the origin of Dave's wealth was actually possible thanks to debt lol.