I’m not a follower of Dave Ramsey, but having read a lot of personal finance sites and blogs, I’ve come across his teachings and his books more than a few times. I applaud his efforts, and his success at helping thousand of individuals climb out of debt. That said, I don’t think his way is the only way. While I probably agree more than I disagree with Mr. Ramsey, his draconian attitude towards all types debt instruments is not for me.. I have over a dozen credit cards, but I don’t carry a balance. I have a mortgage, but it’s at a great fixed rate with more than manageable payments. I think like anything else borrowing money is just another tool. It’s not evil or bad in itself. I have no great love for many of the tactics that credit card companies employ, but I don’t believe them to be any more evil than many other companies. Personally I prefer the credit card companies over cable providers any day as there is more competition. Credit card companies offer a service and are trying to make money like any other business. Like any profit driven business, credit card companies are trying to keep customers and extract as much out of them either through interest payments or transaction charges (billed to the retailers). As long as there are number of credit card companies competing for customers, I’m generally OK with their business model.

Dave Ramsey, on the other hand, hates credit card companies, and all forms of debt with a passion. I’ve actually never read any of his books, or listened to his show. Most of what I know about him comes from post by other personal finance bloggers, and comments from other personal finance blog readers. While I think that most people who look to Dave Ramsey as a personal finance guru are more than reasonable, I have found a minority of his followers incredibly dogmatic in their approach to personal finances. Given that I’m not following his way and I have very strong moderate tendencies (I have a hard time accepting any one answer without also acknowledging some reason in the counter position), I raise an eyebrow when I see people espousing Dave’s way is the only way.

From what I understand of Dave Ramsey, his basic pitch is that all debt is bad debt. Don’t use credit cards. Don’t have a mortgage. I’m not a fan of debt either, but I don’t think all debt is bad debt. When it comes to actually down to paying debt, he pushes the “debt snowball” - pay down the smallest loan, and then move to next larger one once that’s been paid. Rationally speaking paying down the smallest debt doesn’t make sense, paying the highest interest loan does. However, I think from a purely psychological perspective Dave’s advice is good. People often need to feel like they’re meeting goals.

Again since I’ve never listened to his show or read his books, what little I know that comes from him directly is from his website. While I don’t agree with him 100% as I wouldn’t usually expect to agree with anyone 100%, I think his arguments are well constructed and don’t strike me as particularly dogmatic. However, I also know that Dave Ramsey has a strong reputation as a powerful speaker who draws on his own Christianity to illustrate points. I imagine some of his force is lost when his words are translated to text on a page. I guess the broader question is not why followers of Dave Ramsey’s are so dogmatic as much as why some followers of any expert/guru feel the need to disparage and completely discount any conflicting view. Personal finances can be complicated. I readily acknowledge much of it is behavioral and psychological rather than mathematical and rational. Exactly because of the large psychological component, I believe there are many different “right” answers.