UH — not really.

It strikes me as pretty hypocritical to be in a position of being a paid columnist about learning to be fiscally responsible, and then to openly discuss a situation in which you flagrantly disregard fiscal responsibility.

I think we should hold columnists/bloggers/etc to a higher standard. After all, they are purporting to some degree of being in a position of “expert.”

Why should I give any credence to anything this woman has to say now? I don’t. What kills it for me isn’t that she bought the house, but that she bought it with such whimsy.

If you go back and read her root articles, it turns out the only reason they will be able to afford this whole thing is her husband is taking a second job and they were lucky enough to rent the house they already own.

If they needed a bigger house — well ok. So whatever happened to making the purchase rationally — selling the first house before buying the second one? And not buying such an expensive house that you need to take on a second job?

Dave Ramsey would throw a fit.

Second, she kicked a woman out of the Women In Red Group (Stephanie) for buying a Mercedes. Apparently it wasn’t keeping with the theme of becoming debt free.

Well then 3 months later she did the same thing buying a house. Can you say hypocrite?

The problem arises when there is a disconnect – without a clear explanation.

I think her financial sense is skewed because she spent some of her “single young professional” time in NYC, then moved upstate when she settled down. She seems to measure a “deal” by how much she would have paid back when she lived in NYC.

All that said, I found the situation a bit annoying only because I felt she was cultivating an entirely different persona on NYT than she did on MSN–therefore one, or both, has to be fake.

That said, no one is perfect, and we all do things that aren’t necessarily in character some of the time.
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Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/

That’s what makes Dave Ramsey an amazing financial blessing!

But if readers are following her advice and experiences to improve their own personal finance situations, perhaps the readers should re-evaluate whether her articles are worth reading.

I think part of MP’s success is simply that’s she’s interesting. There are plenty of zipped up people who have it together– it’s not hard for them to put their finances first; they’re born that way. Though admirable and useful, somehow I don’t find them as interesting as the people that struggle like I do.

A house purchase is a deeply emotional one, pity they’re so blinking expensive. I went out on a limb to build a lovely house designed just for us, and now I have a mortgage that rose from 8% of our combined gross income to 25%. My PF reading has spiked since we moved, simply because I want to get my scary mortgage down. I keep reading about how the road to wealth is an inexpensive house, groan! I could have stayed in our ugly boxy place and been paid off in ten years, but I didn’t want to. For better or worse, I did what I wanted to do. I spend every day with gleaming hardwood floors and light and space, and also with a slight seizure of the internal organs when some hitch in my DH’s employment appears. (It’s okay, looks like we’re good for a while). My choice, but I’m glad my personal finance blog is not public!

You don’t have to be a great doer to be a good teacher.

I’ve known lots of people who are great at teaching or helping others, despite the fact that their personal choices aren’t the best. One of my best friends is an awesome social worker, but her personal life is a freakin’ train wreck.

I have seen examples of this same principle in doctors, nurses, athletic trainers, counselors and acting coaches. I personally value what I can learn from a person. It doesn’t really matter to me if they follow their own advice.

I’ve been debating with myself over the very issue you mentioned – do I give my readers advice that is sound even if I don’t do it myself? There are lots of great ideas out there that for one reason or another I haven’t done, and sometimes I feel so hypocritical telling my readers to do something when I don’t do it (even if it’s great advice!)

After reading the comments, though, I feel much more confident in what I am doing. It appears that most people understand that one may be able to give sound advice without following it and still not be hypocritical. After all, every situation is different, and to not take advice because you simply can’t afford it at the moment is not contradicting yourself.

I think that’s what makes her attractive to a lot of us. For whatever reason, I don’t have the discipline Trent does (though I try to be inspired by TheSimpleDollar to do better every day). So, I enjoy her writing because she is very real to me and struggles with the same things I (and a lot of other people) do. Also, if you read her book, it isn’t a series of rules or recommendations. It’s more of an exploration about the emotional side of money and why we spend the way we do.

The real message of personal finance is not “Thou shalt live as far below thy means as possible, or else thou art an evil person who is going to hell.” It is “Financial decisions have consequences, which are sometimes hard to weigh against each other, either because they’re long-term (like retirement savings) or cumulative (like buying lattes) or very emotional (like buying houses) or some combination of the three.” Now, it seems like Dunleavey bought the house on an emotional whim, without taking a whole lot of time to think through the consequences. Perhaps that was foolish, but it’s not immoral. I’m interested in seeing how it turns out for her, though, so I’ll be following her writing more closely in the future.

We all have setbacks in our personal finance paths, and I like reading PF blogs that document the struggle. But I expect more from people who have a prominent, public, position.

So we’re not talking about some financial guru with her act perfectly together. MP has been very upfront about both the good and the bad, not just about this house purchase, but about her finances all along.

As to whether she can give advice without always having to follow that advice herself, I believe it’s very possible to know what the rules are, to be able to explain them to someone else and to still have trouble following the rules.

Does anyone here have a weight problem? If so, and you know that in order to lose weight you need to eat fewer calories and exercise more, then you’re in MP’s situation.

Same thing goes for smoking. You know about cancer, right?

Or personal finance. Did anyone out there increase their credit card debt over the holiday season?

In my own case, I know how important having a current will is. Guess what? I’ve been “in progress” on it since August. Does that make me incompetent? No, human.

Let’s cut MP a little slack and see how it progresses. I’m pleased to see that her hubby stepped up to the plate about the part-time job. Maybe that wouldn’t have happened if not for buying this house and it helps balance their responsibilities.