Following Ramsey's advice, you've lost 14.6%

If you followed financial advice guru Dave Ramsey's direction on investing in the stock market, you've lost 14.6 percent of your money.

Ramsey was recruited by NewsChannel 5 last month to give financial advice to viewers on investing in the stock market. Then, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 11,600. The market had just gone through some volatile days, but Ramsey said the economy would be sound and viewers should still seek out growth mutual funds for their money.

Now, the market is trading below 10,000, as I predicted when I scolded Ramsey on my blog. And if you have put your money into growth mutual funds, you've lost at least 14.6 percent of your money. You've probably lost more than that shocking sum because the percentage I'm quoting is just from the Dow, which tracks the 30 largest industrial stocks in the nation.

Growth mutual funds seek holdings in a lot of financial firms, which have been hit hardest by the downturn. Ramsey and his ilk like to defend their advice by saying it is for the long term. But long term for each invididual is different. If you're in your early 40s, that can be for 10 years or more. If you're older, the time length is much shorter.

Most people see long term as 5-10 years. And The Wall Street Journal has reported that such mutual funds have not returned their losses from 2001. Now with the economy and markets headed downward, those losses will not be returned for a lot more years.

While I predicted the Dow would trade below 10,000 for the rest of the year, I did not anticipate such a fast drop. Asian markets now are reeling from the credit crisis gripping the world and this nation. I look for the Dow to trade below 9,000 with Sen. Obama's election because of his tax policy on the affluent.

All this mess points to why people must seek out the advice of certified financial planners on a one-to-one basis over several meetings. Reckless advice on TV like Ramsey's -- in a one-size-fits-all presentation -- must be avoided.

Or you'll watch the value of your money continue to disappear.