This looks like an old post, but I have personal experience with Dave's strategy that have made it hard for me to invest.
When I graduated from College with a nice paying job lined up and no students loans (from working hard, not rich parents) I thought that I would get some tips on how to manage my newly found wealth. After all, $65k/yr right out of college made me rich beyond my wildest dreams. I found Dave's book and took his approach, that almost all debt is bad debt, to heart. I decided to save up a large down payment for a house that needed a lot of work and live in it while I flipped it. So I moved back in with mom and dad to maximize my savings (and free food).
Two years later I have $40k in the bank, and a heart of gold, ready to logically explain to the bank why I am low risk. The only problem is that I don't have any credit, at all. Its not that I have bad credit, I don't even show up on the searches as an actual human. So here I am sitting in the bank with $40k in my hand making about $75k/yr( I got a raise!) and the bank says that I cant borrow $50k for a house.
No problem though, Dave has the solution. I can get a manually underwritten loan. So I call an underwriter and he asks me for my payment history to prove my credit worthiness... Uh oh, I live with my parents and the only payments I make are Netflix, Car Insurance, and loads of Taxes.
I ended up working out a deal with a private investor (my grandparents) who lent me the money and put a lien on the house. They get more money than their CD in the bank and I get to buy a house. If I didn't have grand parents with some extra money to invest I would have been stuck.
Fast forward again, I now make $100k+/yr (woohoo, more raises) , my house is fixed up, I have money in the bank, and I am looking for more investing opportunities. I get interested in crowdfunding after funding a 3D printer on kickstarter and wonder if anything exists like that for Real Estate Investing. I find a few sites and discover that having money in the bank doesn't qualify me as an accredited investor. Fun times! I finally find a site that might not require me to be an accredited investor and sign up. Uh oh... to verify my identity they need to run my credit, which is still non-existent. Once again, its not that I have bad credit, I have what Credit Karma calls a "light file". I have since made some steps to remediate this concern.
Here is the moral of the story. Dave is great for people who are in trouble, I think a lot of his advice is sound. Be careful though if you ever plan to take financial opportunities. This is my first post since my intro post. Sorry that it is so long, but I can get worked up about this topic.
