He told me that several of the intro videos on the Clever Investor website are more about tugging on a customer's emotions (like claiming that the video will only be available for a short time, and that he shouldn’t share the link with his friends) than they are about providing real information about Clever Investor products.

You can teach someone something, have them all excited about it, and when it comes time for them to follow through, they let emotions get the better of them, and the rest,...is very expensive.

You will not hear an illegal claiming there dog is for emotional support.

Reading your post I see two problems that may be keeping you back from achieving your savings goal:1) You are spending too much - that's a personal choice obviously and will have to be dealt with through time-tested techniques like budgeting and disciplined frugality.  

You have the discipline to manage debt.

In case you didn't hear himThe consistent message here is get them out as quickly as possible Take our advice, don't let emotion take you over.

Don't get emotional on the physical presence, but do manage your expectations from the numbers.

A troubled rental property is almost as bad as going through a divorce on the emotional side.

Self-insuring is significantly cheaper if you have the discipline to retain reserves.Also, they take forever to actually repair things.  

I go off emotions with a lot of my investments and always try to do whats best for the people that I am providing services and the people that have given me opportunity including the BANKS.