The term I have heard for this is "productive debt" vs "unproductive debt".

Productive debt helps you make money. For someone starting out, that might be a modest car loan to get to work.

Unproductive debt just helps you consume. Once your car is past the basic point-A to point-B automobile, a loan to but it is unproductive debt.

I think your being a bit generous. I listened to the entirety of Dave Ramsey's 'Financial Peace University' series and I don't remember him once mentioning the concept of "good debt". In fact, here it is, on his site:

>Myth: Debt is a tool and should be used to help create prosperity. >Truth: Debt isn’t used by wealthy people nearly as much as we are led to believe.

http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/the-truth-about-debt

Dave Ramsey is extremely anti-debt.

With the exception of buying your house. But then only if you 20% down and 15-yr mortgage.

And, let's face it, for the demographic he is targeting that's great advice. Most got into their situation due to poor handling of debt.

However, the vast majority of other financial advisers in the world, and economists, agree that with good management debt can be very beneficial. Dave Ramsey is not the Financial God. He has a very simplified, easy-to-follow program designed for a specific set of individuals. And, honestly, the majority of people would do well to follow it to the letter. But that doesn't mean EVERYONE should for EVERY situation.

True. In the context of Kioski he talks about some debt almost entirely around real estate.

This is less black and white than you are making it out to be. Taken to the extreme you praise the millionare who is up to his eyeballs in debt and living under a bridge because all of his money is tied up in investments and he's going to die with the biggest fortune possible.

Having tons of money is pointless if you don't eventually spend it on improving your life or the world around you. Obviously blowing all of your cash on frivolity is also bad, but you need to strike a balance or you will end up being Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserable old rich guy with nothing to show for his life but big numbers on a piece of paper somewhere.

I resonate strongly with this position but don't think the media will ever be able to express the nuance well. I explain to people about the difference between borrowing to buy a farm tractor that lets you double the money per acre you can get on your farm, vs borrowing to buy a super elite electric car that only drives you to the same places (and usually at the same speed) as your old gas car did.

One debt increases your annual revenue for as long as you own it, the other increases your annual car expense as long as you own it (decreaing your revenue).

As a regular Ramsey listener, I can tell you he is against ALL debt (except for a reasonable home loan). Basically if you are making some kind of investment, you should save up the cash for it.

You're 100% correct—but also 90% of the people in his audience are squarely in the bad debt category and to them the simplified message of "debt is bad, get out of debt and stay out of debt" is winning andvice, especially with his straightforward plan.

Agreed