Why I hate loving Dave Ramsey

I have grown to love Dave Ramsey, which I hate.  It has taken me a long time to acquire this attitude, because his no debt program makes me assume that he assumes that I'm an idiot who can't manage my money. 

I do realize, though, that the ridiculous simplicity of his program DOES and CAN apply to every single person, and I DO think most people need it..  There is a reason why credit card companies are so darned successful and why they can afford all these "cash back" and incentive programs; they ALWAYS win more than man. 

Just because the credit card companies always win more though, doesn't mean that there aren't undefeated men.  My qualm has always been in the narrow minded mind-set that all debt is entirely evil.  Ramsey's contrarian (in my mind), Robert Kiyosaki, advocates leveraging debt as a wise tactic, namely through Real Estate. 

Real Estate is the bread and butter of practical investing, in my book.  Yes you can have hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage debts, millions for that matter, but if you have a good cash flow on your rents, even in a bad market, how is this debt evil?  Not only do my rents satisfy the debt, not only do my rents build equity and my net worth, but once the mortgage is paid, I'm still getting paid all the more.  This does not seem evil, in my book.  It seems more like the epitome of practical wisdom, even if you have a student loan or a car payment. 

I'm not saying by any means leveraging debt is a wise route for everyone, I'm just pointing out the mere fact that not everyone has a problem paying bills on time and buying too much impractical crap.

Loud Silence

My house is silent right now, which is actually, quite profound. 
There has been "white noise" from a water pump thingamajig running in the basement for the last week straight. 
When I first heard the noise last week, I thought it was odd, but after a while, even though the noise was still there, I couldn't even hear it.
Now that the noise has seemed to cease, the quietness of my house seems so profound to me. 
The silence is so loud, I can feel the peace.

I wonder what else is in my life that I cannot hear that is keeping me from hearing..

Balancing Balance

So many seemingly meaningful issues in life seem to resolve with needing to be viewed with "balance".  Sometimes this is frustrating as such a resolution is so inconclusive.  I feel like this balance is wise, but can often make one feel they are sitting on the sidelines of life while the unbalanced players have something to fight for.  I suppose a good way to think of it is that if every coin has 2 sides, if you can see both sides, you've got the whole coin; that is, until you have REALLY got something worth fighting for, then it's time to cash in.

Seth Godin on how to succeed

Notice things, turn them into insights and then relentlessly turn those insights into projects that resonate


read the full post here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/06/how-to-succeed.html