“And her advice is little more than common sense: pay off debt; max annual payments to 401(k); live within means.”
That is close, but it is not her advice. She is more concerned about the FICO score than any of the above. She IS fine with financing the purchase of a car with credit. She is OK with using your ROTH contributions as your emergency fund, she is OK with carrying student loan debt, car debt, etc and making more purchases as long as you have “8 months in your savings.”\
It is like she takes your advice half way to success and then gets distracted by a shiney object and starts talking about something else. Just like she complains about our society not pushing for personal responsibiity (being truthful to ourselves) then she advocates voting for Obama.
Yes I watch her every week for the entertainment factor and to continue to support my decision to take advice from her competition.
All of what you mentioned has been the accepted norm for at least the last 50 years.