Quora Answer: Is David Lawrence Ramsey III Qualified to Offer Life Insurance Advice?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Without a license or any training, is David Lawrence Ramsey III qualified to offer life insurance advice?”

I would think it is obvious that David Lawrence Ramsey III, or Dave Ramsey, as he is better known, is in no way qualified to offer advice on insurance.  He is leveraging on his minor celebrity status and modest success in one small part of finance to claim some form of authority to speak about investments, bonds, wrappers, insurance and a lot of things he is obviously unqualified to speak about.

Some of the things he has to say, particularly about credit and debt instruments, is incorrect, and coloured by his previous bankruptcy.  His ideas are not practical, and even detrimental.  He has a basic understanding of how some forms of insurance works, but no inkling of their use within a portfolio and their role as financial instruments.  Dave Ramsey has experience with property investments.  He should stick to that.