Oddbean

I literally knew nothing. I was financially retarded. I just learned all this stuff to impress him, and now I know more than he does about it and I'm Mrs. Smarty Pants and he finds that friggin annoying.

What you're describing is why Dave Ramsey is so successful as a financial coach here in the US. The person who's already smart enough with money to be rich knows you should pay down the highest-interest loan first, to beat debt. Dave Ramsey tells people to pay off the smallest debt first, because the psychological impact of seeing that progress is more valuable for someone who is poor and just learning how to handle money than whatever matematically optimum strategy might exist. Same thing with credit cards. Smart rich people who pay down the card every month to avoid interest payments will do fine, and reap the cash back rewards. Poor people who aren't financially savvy need to stay away from credit cards so they feel the impact of each transaction on the bank account.

My mom would listen to his radio show while taking my brothers and I on errands when we were kids. I did his course for high schoolers, too. Most of my basic personal finance knowledge comes from him, and I use the EveryDollar budgeting app his team created.