This post is a public apology for making an ass out of myself for saying some pretty sh!tty things about a woman who seemingly wants to help people get out of debt. Baker at Man vs. Debt interviewed a “Dave Ramsey Certified Counselor” a person who seems kind hearted and genuine in attempt to help people out of debt.
I took offense to her blog in which she states:
The hope with my blog is to encourage and equip you to handle every personal financial situation that comes your way.
I can tell you succinctly why this irked the hell out of me. She took a four day class does that make her prepared ot handle every personal financial situation that may come your way?
- Estate Taxes?
- Asset Allocation?
- Monte Carlo Analysis?
- Trust preparation and review?
- Income tax planning?
- Capital Gains?
- Family businesses?
- Business Succession?
The answer is likely to be no, is it definitely no? Well…No, and that is why I feel the need to apologize. Will she care? Probably not, she didn’t respond to my unnecessary attack on Man vs. Debt, but hey that is not the reason one should apologize.
Letters after any Advisors name is not the End All be All
I came home today and told my wife about my comments and she reminded me of a bad ass story about my boss. My boss has zero letters after his name, and while at a meeting with a client’s attorney (the client requested my boss to be there) the attorney rudely said, “What credentials do you have to be in my office?” My Boss, put his card on the table and responded with, “I don’t need Letters, our mutual client needed help with a problem that you failed to address and I have the answers.”
Well today, I was that rude guy and it sucks. So for that I apologize.
This particular debt counselor, despite being kind hearted (or at least seems to be from what I found on the Internet) main expertise seems to be just that – debt counseling not planning for dynasty trusts.
With all that being said, I just implore people to do due diligence with the people they listen to. For instance, I live in the Trust and Estate world, despite having a letters after my name, I shouldn’t be your first choice if you are in a criminal court facing heavy charges.
Just remember How many Christians were swindled out of money from crooked preachers in the 80s and 90s? How many Jews lost millions with Madoff because he came recommended from a Rabbi?
This is my attempt at an apology, I don’t think its a great one, because I generally believe that this person is not qualified to answer many advanced questions, but it was wrong of me to:
- Assume she isn’t smart enough or well versed enough to have the information
- Be as rude as I was in making my point.
I don’t apologize often lol.
Congratulations for apologizing.
The trick is to be hard on ideas and to be easy on the people putting them forward.
Rob