Hyundai's "Dollars and Sense" Ads: Authors You Should Avoid
I noticed that Hyundai has stopped airing the car ads for their "Dollars and Sense" campaign, in which they offered a "cash back" promotion on newly purchased Hyundai vehicles. In the commercials, Hyundai paid off various financial gurus to give financial advice to prospective car buyers.
If you have no idea of what I'm talking about, below is a version of the commercial with Larry Winget (author of the best selling book You're Broke Because You Want to Be) telling the driver to "take the money you'll save and pay down your credit card debt."
Each of the financial gurus had exactly the same thing to say -- run out an purchase a brand new car and take the "cash back" money you save and invest it (or pay down your credit card debt).
Each of these authors deserves heaps of scorn and I have permanently blacklisted them from my reading list:
- Larry Winget author of You're Broke Because You Want to Be.
- Ray Lucia - author of Buckets of Money.
- Adam Smith - author of The Money Game.
Bah. I can't believe a financial guru would actually guide people to purchase a new car, much less take the $3k and invest it rather than pay down the 6+% financing most normal people are going to get. In most cases, if the car is less than $20,000, it is MUCH better to take cash back than 0% financing. Given that most people will be financing, lopping $3k of the price of the car is a much better deal than investing it in a 3-4% CD.
Really, I'm shocked that these hucksters have conned enough people into purchasing their books to make them best selling authors. Moreover, I'm shocked that they would damage their credibility by doing these commercials. If my accountant gave me the advice that these guys are spouting, I would seriously think about letting him go.
Labels: Personal Finance
