Getting upset that someone else is worth more than you will be is a short path to endless despair... though don't confuse "Worth more now" with "Always worth mo

Getting upset that someone else is worth more than you will be is a short path to endless despair... though don't confuse "Worth more now" with "Always worth more." Lots of ways to lose an awful lot of money. As far as "deeply in debt and giving more to the church," it doesn't make sense from a pure "numbers" perspective, but it does make sense from an "attitude" perspective - and I'll suggest that in most cases where someone is $50k in credit card debt (interest on that being in the range of $15k/yr if you've got the sort of interest rates someone stumbling into that situation likely has), it's less a "numbers" problem than an "attitude" problem. If you come at finances from a "My parents/friends/social media comparisons have X, I ought to have X, so I will go obtain X regardless of my ability to afford it!" sort of perspective (which is a common enough way to get into that sort of trouble with credit cards), then shifting to a "It's not my resources in the first place, I'm simply managing God's resources that He's granted me" perspective can be worth a lot, and giving to your local church (or other appropriate organization, though the local church is often the best answer) helps reframe those attitudes that got you into trouble in the first place. In most of the "Dave Ramsey" threads I've come across (in places that tend to have their financial heads screwed on straight), the attitude I see is, "Well, based on the numbers, Dave Ramsey's advice is far from optimal, so, clearly, the best solution based on numbers is..." And if you had your head screwed on straight with financial numbers, you wouldn't be calling into a radio show about your $50k in credit card debt. Either you wouldn't have it in the first place, or you would have it, for a specific purpose, with a plan to resolve it on your own schedule, and therefore wouldn't be calling in about it. There exists a rather large chunk of the population who simply has never learned good financial skills. You run across it constantly if you listen - think about people who leave a balance on credit cards "to help their credit score," or work on a "I have money in the bank, therefore I can buy this," or "Oh, hey, I got a raise, time to take on more monthly payments!" point of view. If you don't know any, thank your parents for teaching you what they did, and maybe talk about money a bit more with friends. This sort of thinking is found across the entire range of incomes, and there are plenty of people who make $500k/yr and are still trapped in a debt-based, paycheck-to-paycheck sort of cycle with zero buffer. The book "The Millionaire Next Door" goes into some great detail on the differences between "looking wealthy by the world's standards" and "actually being wealthy." An awful lot of "Fancy home and luxury cars in the driveway" families that look wealthy, aren't. They're drowning in debt. Meanwhile, the researchers found that actual millionaires (and this was published back in 1996, so think $1.7M-2M today) tended to live in mid-sized homes, and drive things like "A Toyota Camry" or "A Honda Civic." Often purchased used. Reliable, non-flashy transportation that wasn't going to leave them stranded, but also didn't cost a small fortune to purchase or run. If you're in the position to be arguing that Ramsey's approach isn't correct, because it's not financially optimal... you're simply not his target audience.