If the government combats a recession with lots of inflation, then it is great to have lots of debt.

Somehow I would expect him to any game he could for his own benefit. Have no data to back this up, but he seems to be a fast talker.

good idea, but I doubt it will happen...

The only issue I have with Ramsey is he seems to have a pathological hatred for companies that sell timeshares. He lost a lot of money in them himself, therefore they are the work of the devil. After a while that refrain gets old.

Corporate banks have a built-in incentive problem. The answer, IMO, is to make them reorganize as partnerships, like the Scottish banks of Adam Smith's time, with wealthy general partners who stand to lose their own families' life savings if they lose yours.

Banks are businesses like any other. They declare bk and if fdic doesn’t pay it, you are hung out to dry. The bank accepts your deposit and logs it as a loan it owes you. Then it loans most of that cash it just forgot to its customers and ti handle expenses. IF ITS CUSTOMERS PAY BACK the loans, then the bank. Can give you your deposits back. Pretty shaky situation if u ask me

Pretty good way to think about purchases.

Diversification. Honestly, I am strongly considering a Food Dehydrator (for EGGS, primarily).

And also a solar "shield" cooking lens [You know, the type that melts razor blades, and rocks!] Or a little less powerful than that.

But diversify. Have enough of everything without too much of any one thing.

Today, your "prepping" seems like overkill. AFTER the event happens. It will seem like you did not do enough!

Well, the 2% cashback actually is paid via transaction fees through the processors, and the vendor who takes a 3% haircut when you use a CC.

But yeah, this is how they get you. ONE bad month and you are in trouble. And it could take a while to dig out of. Meanwhile, that $500 month is wiped out quite quickly.

And as you realized, it's hard to do ANY kind of "timing" because you are using the car for the NEXT month, by the time you realize THIS MONTH is a problem.

I teach people to have 2-3 credit cards. ONE they use and pay off monthly. One for emergencies ONLY. And the OPTIONAL 3rd card for managing long-term issues. Usually one that has a LOW TRANSFER Rate. In case you need to use THIS card to pay off one of the other two. Again, going for the more favorable terms on this card.

But the real discipline is learning that MONEY is a STORE of PREVIOUS WORK EFFORT.

if you can get someone to price things in "How many hours do I need to work to pay for that?"... It's EASY to be a saver...

New $80K car? I make $40/hr. That's 2,000 hrs (or 1 year buying NOTHING ELSE). Would I work for someone, for FREE for 1 yr, to get this car? [While I still have to pay my other bills?]

Probably not. I'll pass...
LOL

I remember a few years ago getting enticed into a credit card fr our business that paid 2% cash on whatever I charged. Our expenses that we could charge on it were 25k a month. The deal was that on the day it would accrue interest, the bank would pay off the total balance and there would be no interest charge. Seemed innocent enough... So we just got the $500 a month in benefits for the 25k monthly charges. Went along fine until one month we were probably going to be short on the 25k to completely pay off the balance. we scraped up the 25k, paid off the balance but then I started to see how people get into trouble. We immediately stopped using the credit card at that point so as never to get into this situation again. Once you build up the balance, its going to be hard to pay that off the next month PLUS the new charges- all by the drop dead day the following month. This is how people get into trouble, and how the CC company can afford to give the 2% cash back benefit....

I'm mostly with Dave Ramsey. There's nothing you or I can do to make the government pay its debts (and in fact there's a strong moral argument not to honor those), but we can refrain from borrowing ourselves and we won't get nasty surprises when recessions come.

Not being hurt by bank failures is a harder problem, though. Ultimately we can't trust banks because their directors and officers aren't liable if they lose our money. That situation should not be allowed.

I keep reading about the doom and gloom of currency and stocks. Then the links all lead to buying high value stocks and such. I can't figure out how attempting to gain more financial wealth can lead to anything if the value of those assets is completely taken away. Are they suggesting to spend all your money and convert it into physical assets like real estate, or guns and ammo? Seriously, not a joke. Maybe convert your cash to toilet paper to later trade it for grocery.

Yes, when I helped our daughter get into a house, I said "Owning an asset in an inflationary period, against debt at a much lower interest rate than inflation, is ALWAYS your friend".

Now, in FL, the advent of Property Taxes and SKY HIGH Insurance are making property ownership difficult EVEN in that light. Buy a 500K house. And end up with $5,000/yr (or more) Home Owners insurance. It's like a 1% premium EVERY year. Taxes are like 2%, HOA, etc. etc. etc.

Debt is DANGEROUS. So are KNIVES and GUNS... But I've successfully managed all 3 :-)

Debt for me is something to be gotten out of ASAP. I have had debt occasionally, but its a real trap that is much harder to get OUT of than to get INTO.
I don't use credit cards, only debit cards. Cash is more difficult to deal with than paying with a debit card, and the debit card gives you a way to analyze where your money has gone.

In this inflationary environment, LOW interest rate mortgage can be not so bad.

My Great-Grand Parents lived in a day when there was no Federal income tax. The entire Federal budget was paid for by import tariffs... and there was a surplus.

Dave Ramsey strikes me negatively in ways I don't really understand.

Happened in Brazil in 2004, maybe 2005, when the 500,000 cruzeiro note became a 500 cruzeiro Reale note. They continued to use the same paper money after announcing the change. Somewhat different however as commodity prices also saw the same three zero deleted.

I guess that would equate to 'buy everything you want now, stocking up on essentials, like toilet paper, canned foods, pasta, etc.?' Since money will be worthless, spend it all while it still has some value. And don't forget guns and ammo. If only we could stockpile some energy, renewable energy too, maybe build little home (or local community) nuke power station.

I always wonder in this current atmosphere and the one during Obama years if it is wiser to keep some money in cash and out of the purview of the government. Physical gold and silver might take a major dump as well. I just can't decide what to do with all the crap these fools are pulling.

I used to love Dave Ramsey. Then I tried to call in to do a "debt-free scream." Because it had taken me 15 years I wasn't eligible.

I still think that biggest cancer in the United States is people thinking that they should get things they haven't earned. And that's exactly what debt is. It pervades the minds of the people and the peoples' representatives and destroys us from within as sure as any vice.

Dave Ramsey uses the logic that if a nation collapses and its currency is worthless, there will be no need for currency and even gold will have no value. In those days, only barter will mean anything.

Long ago, I read "The Wealthy Barber".
It's a bit dated.
I have helped coach many people in their finances and have seen them turn their lives around.

MUCH of what Ramsey says MAKES sense.
And I paid my house off early (11 yrs). I don't have car payments, etc. I prefer to collect interest...

I have referred many people to start with his stuff.
BUT I don't use cash in general (we disagree here, unless someone has a "habit", and I usually start people on ONLY CC for Gas and one for emergencies. NOT to cancel them, but no balances).

And then the deeper I get into this guy. THE LESS I LIKE HIM. He was involved in some scam buying back timeshares, and the approach that DEBT is always bad is wrong. Debt is DANGEROUS... But properly handled... It makes sense. I would not have my degree, my first car, or my first house without debt.

It's sad I needed to take on that debt. Agreed.

But I don't send many people to him any more as I think he went way over his skis a bit lately...

The Cabal, Central Banks, Deep State, whatever you call them, are killing our Republic by a thousand cuts.
The Petrol Dollar is hemorrhaging.
BRICS will be the next world currency.
It is not a matter of if but when.
The Cabal intended to kill Middle Class America.
They never expected Russia, China, India et.el. to step into the void.

You have a choice my friends.
No matter what "cash" incentive they offer you (and they will offer you a pseudo incentive) do not convert your wealth to CBDC's.
Once you do, there is no going back.

I highly recommend the book “When Money Dies” by Adam Fergusson. It’s an in depth study of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. I’m a few chapters in and already can see the frightening parallels. If you want to find a safe place to stand you need to see where other people blew it in similar situations.

remember, the New Dollar is ones it way
we'll just knock a few zeros off the $100 to make the New $1.00 bill

now, where did i hear this before....

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic
On November 16, 1923, the new Rentenmark was introduced to replace the worthless paper marks issued by the Reichsbank. Twelve zeros were cut from prices, and the prices quoted in the new currency remained stable.