Not only is Dave Ramsey’s path not the only path, it’s actually not the best or most efficient path to financial freedom.

Using a geographic metaphor, if you’re in New York City and want to get to Los Angeles, going to Atlanta does get you closer to your goal, but heading to Chicago would be a more efficient path.

Similarly, as you say, his Snowball Method may be emotionally easier for some to stick with than the Avalanche Method, but it’s not the most efficient path forward. That’s why I argue that you have to use your self-knowledge to figure out if you have to use the former as the most effective one for you to get out of debt, or if you’re disciplined enough for the emotionally more challenging but financially more efficient latter.

People who slavishly follow Ramsey’s advice are essentially saying to themselves that they’re driving through a completely foreign to them neighborhood, so they have to trust that their old-style GPS (the one that has no traffic information) will get them where they want to go. Sometimes that works out well, but other times there’s a crazy traffic jam and things don’t go so well.