A little ironic that I got tagged in a thread that started after I quit DDF about a topic I got into since I quit
I read some of the thread, but not all, so forgive me if I'm repeating things.
1) DR is catering to people who are stuck in debt. These are people who made mistakes and didn't know how to handle money. If they had good financial planning knowledge, they wouldn't be in the mess in the first place. Saying something like "Why would you pay off lower interest first?" and following that up with "I've always had financial freedome [and never been in debt]" shows you aren't the DR target.
Take me for example, and I'm saying this even though I'm not anonymous. I found DD and started opening up credit cards and earning miles. It was awesome. Did a whole bunch of things I could never have afforded. Paid my bills on time, had a amazing credit score without a penny to my name. Life happened. Expenses ended up being more than I was earning. One job cut my salary by 40% rather than fire me outright. I was never an extravagant spender, don't have a car, live in a small apartment, but the CC bills became unpayable. I did 0% balance transfers and was treading water for a while. Then I missed a payment on one card. Then another on a different card. Before I knew it I was 80k in the whole, with no shovel to dig out of it.
I hate to say it, but I worry that more DD(F)ers fell into this than we like to imagine. No CC farms, no swiping scams, just spending more than we can afford to on high interest CCs.
2) As such, the DR advice is not necessarily the most mathermatically sound advice. He says so himself. It's behavioral. It's about planning, budgeting, and being in control. It is absolutely beneficial for the kinds of people in point 1 above to pay off a smaller debts earlier, even if it is lower intrest. The whole point is to change behaviour, not be the most optimal mathematical plan.
3) I have learned his plan without reading his book (though I could, for free, at the library) or paying him a penny. I've listened to him on youtube and I got the picture. The fact that he has built a multi million dollar self help and media empire doesn't mean he preys on anyone. And even if it would have cost me $100 to learn his plan, it would have been the best $100 I'd have ever spent.
4) Some people have mentioned $1000 not being enough of an emergency fund. True, that's why it's called a *beginners* emergency fund. Step 3 grows that to 3-6 months of expenses.
5) All the talk of WL vs Mutual funds, etc. - once you get into step 4,5 & 6 you should be speaking to an advisor who can go through the options with you.
Thank G-d, I should be debt free within a month, and complete step 3 soon after that. Then I can come back to DDF to hear the outcome of the arguements for step 4, 5 and 6.