What do you suggest if not savings accounts? Ideally you should have a few months worth of living expenses in some liquid asset. You just can't have all your money tied up in CDs or mutual funds, and if people don't have enough money after that emergency fund there's really nothing you can do.
I agree that having a liquid emergency fund is ideal. I also suspect quite a few of the people who are buying into the "seed" money scheme are going for a hail mary pass, e.g. can't afford to pay for huge medical bills, but I imagine there are also some people who feel they are better off putting money towards the "seed" preachers than in some low risk investment options. Indexed stocks, ETFs, and no transaction mutual funds are all low entry level investment options that give far better returns than a standard savings account. Granted it's possible to lose some money from market fluctuations following a forced withdrawal for an emergency expense, these fluctuations rarely reach the same levels of money loss compared to the "seed" money scheme, where people seem to get a fraction of their money back.
If I was in a situation where I only had a thousand dollars in savings and faced overwhelming expenses, then I'd rather put that money into some financial instruments than passing it to a "seed" money preacher. I understand that people get somekind of peace of mind by praying or in this case, giving money to a supposed higher force, but it feels so divorced from reality to just adhere to a TV preacher.
Definitely do not invest in gold though. The gold bugs are also another depressing group that disturbs me.
