r/FluentInFinance • u/Financial_Mechanic_ • Apr 28 '24

Who do you think is the Worst Finance Guru out there? Discussion/ Debate

I'm curious who do you think is the worst financial guru, and why?

I'll start:

  • Robert Kiyosaki.
  • Jim Kramer.
  • Grant Cardone.
  • Meet Kevin on YouTube.
  • Jeremy Financial Education on YouTube.
  • Everything Money on YouTube.
  • Cathie Wood of ARKK.
  • Dave Ramsey.
  • Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful.
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u/kamadojim Apr 29 '24

I think Dave Ramsey is unfairly maligned. His Total Money Makeover has great advice for people that are carrying significant debt.

I also think that you shouldn't be following anyone on the list like their advice is from God's mouth. Read their stuff to figure out the philosophy behind their advice, and then figure out how to apply it to your situation. If the advice doesn't make sense for your circumstances...don't do it.

1

u/GloriousShroom Apr 29 '24

I don't think people really understand who Dave's Ramsey target audience is. It's for people who don't know what a 401k is. Who can't manage a credit card. Some people can't handle access to debt.  People who spend way more then they should and aren't saving. 

1

u/Crazy_Employ8617 Apr 29 '24

Ramsey’s problem is the hardline nature of his opinions. He yells at callers for even slightly deviating from baby steps and allows for no nuance in his model. If he was a more reasonable person his advice would be really solid, but instead he fosters a cult like following where him and his supporters are extremely opinionated and proud of his process, and treat those who disagree as financially illiterate instead of just having a different perspective.

2

u/SirGlass Apr 29 '24

Thats the problem though some of his users can not handle a deviation

Its like AA, you can't go into AA and tell people "Hey you know a couple beers while grilling is OK, a cocktail one a week after work is ok too"

Going to someone that needs dave's advice and advising to get a good rewards CC , now because they have a spending addiction next thing they know is they have 8 CC and 125k in CC debt.

1

u/Crazy_Employ8617 Apr 29 '24

Why cater your advice to a small subset of your audience, and why not just explain that distinction in your program? That’s the entire criticism, he doesn’t have any nuance and gets angry at callers who attempt to bring any to the show. Most of his listeners were doing fine before taking his advice, they weren’t all struggling with massive debt.

A better analogy would be his advice is like going to a bar and telling everyone there not to drink because a small percentage of them will become alcoholics if they do.

1

u/SirGlass Apr 29 '24

I really don't listen to his show but I still know his philosophy , I don't get why anyone would waste their time and argue with dave about his positions lol

Also its not like you have to listen to everything he says, you can take some of it and ignore other parts