While I don’t disagree I think the people that need the zero tolerance method is smaller than many think too. I can teach a lot of financially illiterate people to do what they need. People like my brother though need the Ramsey approach.
One of my former employees definitely needs help. His wife is a nurse, he's a programmer, their gross annual income is about $180k. He spends more money than anyone I know. Has never bought a budget item, buys things I can't imagine ever buying. The one thing that stands out most for me is when his daughter was turning one. All of his family and friends were coming over and he wanted to get a big canvas banner announcing her birthday. One of those 3'x8' banners that you can roll up and use again without damaging it. He talked to a printing shop and they told him it was going to cost around $400. That seemed like too much to him, so his solution? He bought a printer that could do it. The printer was $2500. He printed his banner and said he's never used it again. His daughter is 7 now.
He has a brand new truck, his wife has a brand new car, he has a $15k motorcycle and a 2014 Camaro that he bought brand new and immediately modified for drag racing. It isn't street legal and he hasn't had it out in a few years.
He bought a house in 2007 and never got back above water. In 2017, he was laid off (along with 800 others) and he had previously taken out a loan on his 401k that he had to pay back immediately or pay the taxes/penalty. He couldn't afford to pay the taxes (around $7k) and had to figure out a way. Ended up borrowing money from his grandfather.
Last year he could finally "afford" to sell his house (he had enough money to pay the mortgage difference), so he did...and then bought a $500k acreage. I couldn't believe he did it, he must have financed all but a few dollars of it. His first purchase after buying the house was a small tractor - brand new. $60k with a few attachments. I found a similar tractor used online for $20k. He refuses to buy used because "who knows what the previous owner has done with it."
I was on the phone with him last week and we were talking about smokers because I had just gotten one. He, of course, had a very expensive one and was telling me about all of the different stuff I needed to get for it. While we were on the phone he ordered three smoker related items from Amazon. Just bananas.
He worked for me for five years. Excellent programmer, smart guy, but every meeting we had was me providing financial advice that was rarely heeded. His net worth has to be near zero, if not 100k in the hole. I can't imagine living like that.