[Mvandenbergh]

The challenge with any writing for a general audience is that unlike actual advice, which is tailored to the person receiving it, it just goes out into the aether for anyone to see so will be inapplicable for at least some people.

Sure, some mass-market dude with a radio show (I don't know anything Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman beyond their wikipedia pages) is going to have advice that "technically" doesn't make sense or that doesn't apply to some people. A very large number of people are deeply in consumer debt, have secured vehicle debt for more expensive cars than they should really have, and may well have taken the advice to get the biggest mortgage they could for a house in a place that requires that they maintain the whole shebang or go bust.

Telling those people "cut up your credit cards" and "if you don't have the cash, don't buy it" is actually good advice. The "snowball" thing that Ramsey is into is innumerate but may be just the thing for someone struggling to see their way through all their debts. I would no more tell someone with serious struggles with consumer debt that clever use of credit cards could increase their income overall than suggest a killer wine pairing to a recovering alcoholic.

I also don't think that it's a very fair categorisation of Sethi. He's never made any secret of the fact that these days most of his wealth has come from his writing and despite the name of his book, the advice he gives is more "I will teach you to be a financially prudent member of the upper middle class (if you are a well paid professional)" they just couldn't get that on the cover.