6 • JULY 29, 2022 OPINION
bransonglobe.com
Dave Ramsey Says... You have to change
First Amendment to the United States Constitution Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ROB DOHERTY Publisher (504) 583-8907 robd@bransonglobe.com JANET STEINKAMP Editor editor@bransonglobe.com
BY DAVE RAMSEY, CEO, Ramsey Solutions, and an eight-time No. 1 national best-selling author, and host of The Ramsey Show
D
ear Dave, Is debt consolidation a good way to get out of debt? Erikah Dear Erikah,
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on my radio show all the time who don’t quite grasp this. They’ll tell me they paid off all their debt by using a debt consolidation company or taking out a second mortgage on their homes. Well, the truth is they’re not debt-free. They didn’t do anything but shuffle the same old debt around. Personal finance is 80% behavior, Erikah. When it comes to getting out of debt, staying out of debt and getting your finances into shape, you have to change your habits and behaviors with money. Interest rates aren’t the problem, and the number of payments you’re facing aren’t the problem.
The problem is the person you see in the mirror every morning. Until you change that person, and start living on a strict, written monthly budget and decide to kick debt out of your life once and for all, you’ll never make any real progress toward gaining control of your money! Dave Ramsey is an eight-time #1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Ramsey Show, heard by more than 18 million listeners each week. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions.
Stock Market Insights: Markets settle up
GARY GROMAN, A.K.A. THE OLE SEAGULL Independent Writer
Stone County Account Representative
No, it’s not. Debt consolidation companies try to position themselves that way, but they don’t even come close to addressing or solving the real problem. Here’s the big reason debt consolidation isn’t a good idea. It makes you feel like you truly did something to change your whole financial outlook when you didn’t. When you move things around, or suddenly have a lower payment each month, you end up thinking you’re making real progress. The thing is you didn’t do anything to address the actual problem— which is you. I meet people and talk to folks
BY DR. RICHARD L. BAKER, AIF® Founder & Senior Wealth Advisor at Steadfast Wealth Management
S
traighten up! I don’t read lips well but even sitting several pews back from my mom in church I knew what she was saying. I knew that sitting lower in the pew where
she couldn’t see me wasn’t an option and that I needed to straighten up quickly. One of my clients said to me recently that they “hope the market settles down” and I reminded them that the stock market doesn’t settle down it “settles up.” I have a chart that shows the stock market since the year 1900 which notes historical crises, such as World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the Global Financial crisis. It starts on the bottom left of the page and climbs and dives and climbs again across the page ending on the top right side of the page. Just like driving from Branson,
MO to Springfield, MO, you might be going downhill at times but you are gaining altitude the entire trip. The market is the same. There will be down times like this year but the market gains altitude and settles up. So far, this year hasn’t seen a fullblown crisis like any of the others noted on my chart, but it has been bumpy. We may not be flying into a storm, and there’s been plenty of volatility in the first part of 2022, but there are some positives. • The S&P 500 is about 6% higher since this year’s bottom on June 16 and on July 19 it had a one-day positive return of 2.8% which was its third best gain of
the year. • During the July 19 rally the S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite all finished up over 2% and moved above their 50day moving average for the first time since April. • With 10% of S&P 500 Index companies having reported their earnings, a strong 69% of companies have beaten analysts’ targets according to LPL. As we look towards the rest of 2022, it can be hard to get our bearings when there are so many unusual influences happening at the SEE STOCK MARKET, PAGE 8
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