I have to admit, in spite of
being called a liberal by almost all my conservative friends, which happens to
be probably at least 90% of my friends by the way, I LOVE listening to Dave
Ramsey. I often listen to his podcast
while walking or running. I went through
Financial Peace University. I’ve read The Total Money Makeover at
least 3 times and probably closer to 4.
I want to read Entreleadership
in spite of being an elementary teacher.
This irony doesn’t escape one of my best friends, who is about to do a
debt-free scream on the Dave Ramsey in a few short weeks by the way. I asked him for a shout out so we’ll have to
wait and see if he does so. We shared a pretty
hearty laugh when we thought about how Dave would take that. “Wait a minute, Curtis. You’re telling me your friend is a liberal
through and through but likes listening to me?!
You’re right, that’s just insane!”
Regardless, I couldn’t be prouder of him and his wife and their hard
work to get out of debt.
I was listening to good ol’ Dave
in the Bangkok airport the other day when I had a few hours to kill. He was interviewing an author for the Motley
Fool who had claimed Dave was doing damage by saying people could get 12% on
their retirement accounts. Dave started
the show by quoting this author’s article. After he announced he was going to interview
the author, I instantly felt a little uneasy as to what was about to come. Thankfully, they were both civil and Dave
proved the author’s idiocy in a nice way, which would’ve been particularly
difficult considering how the author had disrespected Dave to say the
least. His essential argument was that
you can only expect 10%, not 12% in the longer term. In reply, Dave showed several things that
backed up his 12% figure and the author still argued saying those were not to
be believed.
As I was listening, after I got
over the initial uneasiness of the situation, I found I thoroughly enjoyed it
for a couple of reasons. For one, good
for Dave, right? I mean, you have to
have some brass to invite someone who outright came against you, right? Good for the author too for coming on the
show in spite of sounding like a complete moron while Dave tore him to pieces
albeit politely.
Here’s another thought for Dave
that I wanted to tweet him but realized he wasn’t as small as I am so he
probably wouldn’t have appreciated it anyways.
He introduced the author as a former middle school teacher who worked
for a charter school who had a goal of a 100% graduation rate. I wonder if his middle school had a 100%
graduation rate if they followed all those same students on into high
school? Did they have a 98% graduation
rate, since 2% was apparently a big deal in this author’s mind? I mean, Dave can back up his 12% with other
stats but also with his own experience, can the author back up his claims to
have a goal rate of 100% graduation rate with any solid numbers? If we were to look back at all his students
in his tenure at the charter school, did they all end up graduating high
school? Admittedly, I can’t remember if they said they
had a graduation rate of 100% or if that was simply their goal. I do remember thinking though that a 100%
graduation rate isn’t exactly a novice goal, is it? Do you have to be a charter school to have a
goal of a 100% graduation rate?
Secondly, I think it’s because
Dave reminds me of my dad, who also happens to be named David ironically. He’s a strong male leader who is very
opinionated and loves to take on challenges bigger than him. In the case of Ramsey the debt culture; in
the case of my dad a board of executives that sometimes is hesitant to spend
money to expand the business. The crazy
thing is, they’re both relentless enough that they usually get their way in the
end. Not to mention my dad got me on the
right track financially long before I had ever heard of Dave Ramsey.
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