As a Metro-Detroit Bankruptcy Attorney, I examine people's financial problems almost every day. I could work far less and make far more if I could show people how to avoid Bankruptcy by increasing their incomes. And while we're fantasizing, wouldn't it be nice to get paid for just telling someone that they could clear up their financial difficulties by increasing their income? What person in their right mind would consider that as worthwhile advice of any kind? And who would pay for such nonsense?

Apparently, I'm working too hard (and earning comparatively too little) actually getting people out of debt with Bankruptcy, because it appears that lot's of people are willing to pay good money just to hear such bad advice. What am I talking about? Well, thanks for asking.

If you've read my earlier Blog post about bad advice from money huckster and "Financial Peace University" salesman Dave Ramsey, you know that I (and lots of others) am not a fan of Dave and his showroom full of "get out of debt" schemes. Yet, I've got to hand it to old Dave: He's got a veritable factory cranking out his books, DVD's and other materials designed to get you out of debt. Dave, remember, is the guy who advises that Bankruptcy should be your last resort (after you've bought and tried all his stuff), but who got rid of his own debt by filing Bankruptcy. If I get his story right, at the time Dave got himself out of the bucket by filing a Bankruptcy, he had not yet developed the curriculum for his "Financial Peace University." That was to come later, when he could keep the profits for himself.

Okay, so why am I so riled up about Dave again? The other night, I was flipping though the channels, and I thought I'd watch a minute or two of Dave's show on the Fox Business channel (that should tell you something right there). As I'm watching, Dave is answering callers' questions. Then, Dave takes an e-mail, and the writer begins by proudly declaring that he and his wife "enrolled" into Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" (only $299 for the home study kit; coffee mug for $11.95, and money clip for just $9.99, and lots of other goodies that have nothing to do with getting out of debt and everything to do with making more money for Dave). Anyway, the writer went on to describe some of his problems with using Dave's plans to get out of debt, and asked for help. Now remember, this isn't even some stray caller, this question came from a paying, committed believer. So as I sit back, holding my breath for Dave's analytical insight, waiting for some financial strategy of the highest order, this is what Dave advised his poor client: "...You have an income problem..." Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Dave's went on to "instruct" the client to "...get your income up...."

Can I tell you how blown away I was? Can you imagine someone calling my office for Bankruptcy information, and my staff or I handing them advice like that? Pretty much everyone with a debt load has an income problem: not enough of it to get out of debt! And if just "getting your income up" was any kind of a viable option, everyone would do it. Have you ever, much less recently, met someone who has the ability to get their income up, but hasn't? And yet, this is just the kind of advice that Ramsey literally gets rich selling!

And the real problem isn't that he gets rich peddling this nonsense, while I bust my you-know-what on behalf of my clients, it's that, in the end, he really offers nothing by way of real help that can't be gotten for free. Respected money expert Suze Orman will sell you all the materials you can buy to invest wisely and save for retirement, but she'll also tell you, for free, what you can do on your own to get out of debt, provided that you have enough money left over to do it with. As the saying goes, "therein lies the rub," because practically no one in Michigan has enough money to even make ends meet, much less entertain some wild idea of a plan to use leftover cash to pay debts off. In a prior Blog post video, Suze acknowledges that you have to have enough left over to start making payment plans.

For what it's worth, Suze Orman's investment advice is miles above Ramsey's and worth the price if you've got money left over to invest or save. Ramsey, on the other hand, just packages well-known and well-worn strategies for debt reduction into fancy materials, which he in turn sells.

Listen, if you can work out a budget to pay off your debt, you should. But if you're like loads of other people in Michigan who have been hurt by the recession, then you probably only have enough money to barely make minimum payments on your debts, or, more likely still, not even enough left over to cover that. So what good is it to tell someone to "get their income up" when there's not even a prayer of a chance for that to happen? Why tell someone to double up or triple up high interest payments first, when they can't even make all the payments they have? What's the point of drawing up a payment plan for three, four or five years when you can just get out of all that debt, keep your earnings to feed your family, and get that fresh start and have your credit re-built in less time than any crazy plan would take, anyway?

When someone is in any kind of trouble, financial or otherwise, they should always consider all of their options. I offer the Bankruptcy option, and I am proud of the help and relief I obtain for my clients. Anyone who even has to start looking at "options" would be well advised to take the time and consider all of them. Wouldn't you agree that to say otherwise just doesn't make sense?