Pay off debt or invest?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Um, he says only 15% to retirement, when you make $100k+ you should be maxing out the 401k over mortgage prepayment. You start to need the tax break. So his advice is more harmful than helpful.

Second, I heard him. He says don't do retirement savings while doing BS2 for less than 2 years. Well this OP makes $200k, by your advice and DR he'd be paying off debt instead of the 401k. BAD, BAD, BAD idea. Mostly because of the taxes he'd be paying before paying debt.

So there's the example of hurt instead of help.

And I think many people would not be investing in 401k if they didn't have 30 year fixed. I doubt many people can afford a 15 year fixed. And it certainly doesn't apply in HCOLA. Have you considered what happens when you live in a HCOLA and rent? How do you afford to buy when rent is 35-50% of income?

I know someone in NY following DR, her rent for a house is $4k/month. it's 40% of their income, and it's not a fancy house.

She says she wishes she bought before she found DR. Because now she'll never be able to buy.

Please tell me how you know you will have an emergency? I'll tell the people I know currently getting cancer treatment they should have planned better and known they were going to get cancer.

And I'll tell my sister that her MIL shouldn't have had a handicapped child which she quit her job to stay at home with. And now my sis and BIL are her guardians for life. If you knew all these issues beforehand you'd be a multi-millionaire. You could beat the stock market.

[maat55]

Um, he says only 15% to retirement, when you make $100k+ you should be maxing out the 401k over mortgage prepayment. You start to need the tax break. So his advice is more harmful than helpful.

Second, I heard him. He says don't do retirement savings while doing BS2 for less than 2 years. Well this OP makes $200k, by your advice and DR he'd be paying off debt instead of the 401k. BAD, BAD, BAD idea. Mostly because of the taxes he'd be paying before paying debt.

So there's the example of hurt instead of help.

And I think many people would not be investing in 401k if they didn't have 30 year fixed. I doubt many people can afford a 15 year fixed. And it certainly doesn't apply in HCOLA. Have you considered what happens when you live in a HCOLA and rent? How do you afford to buy when rent is 35-50% of income?

I know someone in NY following DR, her rent for a house is $4k/month. it's 40% of their income, and it's not a fancy house.

She says she wishes she bought before she found DR. Because now she'll never be able to buy.

Please tell me how you know you will have an emergency? I'll tell the people I know currently getting cancer treatment they should have planned better and known they were going to get cancer.

And I'll tell my sister that her MIL shouldn't have had a handicapped child which she quit her job to stay at home with. And now my sis and BIL are her guardians for life. If you knew all these issues beforehand you'd be a multi-millionaire. You could beat the stock market.

Your right Dave sucks. Bye.

[familyof4]

WOW.. listening to the school-age bickering is really putting my doubts in the senior member's advice on this site.

I joined to find helpful advice and I will admit most was.. some was bad advice for me and my situation (selling my home). But I respected most comments, take some with a grain of salt..

Seems to me wisdom is when you can make your own way, mistakes, learn from it and do what is best for yourself and family. Following someone and hanging on someone’s every word will end up getting you in trouble. Not all advice fits every situation to the T.

Show some leadership to us beginners and stop the bickering. Debate is fine.. but from the posts I am reading.. there is no debate.. just tantrums.

[ActYourWage]

The reason he is a millionaire is b/c he sells lots of books.

Yes, I would think he makes alot of money from his books. But he did start out by himself. Got to give him credit there.

Whether one likes DR or SO or some body else doesn't really matter. I listen to many people and form a balance for me.

[jIM_Ohio]

WOW.. listening to the school-age bickering is really putting my doubts in the senior member's advice on this site.

I joined to find helpful advice and I will admit most was.. some was bad advice for me and my situation (selling my home). But I respected most comments, take some with a grain of salt..

Seems to me wisdom is when you can make your own way, mistakes, learn from it and do what is best for yourself and family. Following someone and hanging on someone’s every word will end up getting you in trouble. Not all advice fits every situation to the T.

Show some leadership to us beginners and stop the bickering. Debate is fine.. but from the posts I am reading.. there is no debate.. just tantrums.

My leadership is to find other threads and follow those. Few threads with 7 pages actually have 7 pages of useful information or insight.

The first two pages of most threads are the best.

[disneysteve]

The first two pages of most threads are the best.

With all due respect, Jim, some threads go off on a tangent and end up with interesting, worthwhile discussions on some topic that may not even be that closely related to the original question.

For example, if you were wondering about the pros and cons of Dave Ramsey's system, you'd probably be very interested in reading this thread, not that you'd know that from the title.

[Scanner]

I'll admit I started the Dave Ramsey bashing and then it apparently took on a life of it's own.

Hey. . .some aspects I agree with. For instance, the "debt-reduction" philosophy I really recommend to self-employed people.

Self-employed people take their risk in securing income and building a business so it makes the most sense that they buy conservative investments and act conservatively with paying down debt.

That being said, all the way back to the OP, Jinco's gainfully employed. Therefore, since he's "rolling in" an evenly distributed $240,000/year. . .he doesn't have to act as conservative IMO unless he senses his business is gong to undergo a catastrophe.