This Is What It Sounds Like To Become a Millionaire in America

[0] from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people, build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships.

[1] Ken Coleman, number one bestselling author, Ramsey Personality, host of the Ken Coleman Show, where he does help people with their work and their careers.

[2] He's my co -host today.

[3] So we'll be talking to you about your life, and we talk about you right in front of you.

[4] The phone number is 3 ,8 -825 -5 -2 -2 -5.

[5] The call is free, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it.

[6] So come hang out with us.

[7] We're here for you, baby.

[8] This is how it works.

[9] Chris is in Boston to start this hour.

[10] Hey, Chris, welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[11] Thank you, sir.

[12] How are you today?

[13] Better than I deserve.

[14] What's up in your world?

[15] So I'm trying to figure out a way that I can set my parents up for financial wealth.

[16] They're in a tough situation right now.

[17] Okay.

[18] what's their situation how old are they well so they have 300 ,000 mortgage no other debt but they are way over the 25 % they should be at it's at like almost 70 % of their income is their mortgage payment how old are they and they're very much struggling to pay for everyday things sure okay how old are they uh dad is 64 mom is 62 okay how did we get into this mess did they quit their jobs retire and couldn't afford two?

[19] No, just, you know, poor financial planning.

[20] My dad's looking to retire in two years, but they have no savings and no retirement.

[21] Well, typically they don't want your advice.

[22] It's the powdered butt syndrome.

[23] Once someone has powdered your butt, they don't really want your opinion on money or sex.

[24] That's fair.

[25] And so it's hard to, it's hard to talk to your parents unless they invite you into the conversation.

[26] And that would usually say something like, hey, dad and mom, I've been doing this stuff and you talk about you a lot and you talk about some of the dumb things you've done and some of the dumb things you stopped doing and the good results that you had.

[27] And then mom or dad says something like, wow, that'd be good.

[28] I wish I could do that.

[29] Can I show you, please?

[30] Can I show you?

[31] Invite them to ask you in by talking about you.

[32] But going over there and wagging your finger at them.

[33] It's probably not going to work with most moms and dads.

[34] Would you agree?

[35] No, of course.

[36] Yeah.

[37] So that makes you, what, 30 or 40?

[38] I'm 33, sir.

[39] Yeah, okay.

[40] All right.

[41] And so, I mean, you and I both know they got to sell the house, right?

[42] That's actually, that was the first thing I told them, and they fought me tooth and nail for about three months.

[43] They just listed it two weeks ago.

[44] Oh, good.

[45] Okay.

[46] So you are actually making headway?

[47] I'm trying to, but I still feel like it's a long road ahead, and I was just hoping to find some better advice.

[48] There's no hack.

[49] I mean, you live on less than you make, and you save some and invest some money.

[50] That's the hack, right?

[51] Of course.

[52] And so we've got to get their housing where they can afford it and then get on, you know, get on a budget and start stacking cash into their 401ks and so forth.

[53] What are their careers?

[54] What are they doing?

[55] My father works in the welding industry.

[56] He is a welder.

[57] he's not a welder he he sells um the the gases and welding equipment all welders all right and your mom does what she's retired she's on social security how old is she 62 yeah he's unable to work oh okay why uh she has a serious back condition her back's all messed up okay all right that's sad um hopefully she could find something to do in spite of that um that, you know, use your mind instead of your back type of a position.

[58] And because what they desperately need is an infusion of cash, and that comes from career, right?

[59] Correct.

[60] Yeah, get the house down where they can afford it, and just get a rental property or whatever, and then let's see how fast we can stack some cash.

[61] Yeah, is she bedridden or is she completely immobilized, or can she actually do it like?

[62] No, no, she's able to walk around, but, you know, Doing a regular day -to -day job would be impossible for her.

[63] Not true.

[64] Not true at all.

[65] What did she do prior to the back injury or retiring?

[66] She hasn't really worked in a long time.

[67] What did she do?

[68] Well, she was a manager for a restaurant maybe 10 years ago.

[69] Fantastic.

[70] So she understands customer service.

[71] Yes?

[72] We live in a day and age where I think it would be pretty darn easy for your mom to get a job where she can do customer service.

[73] She does it from her own home.

[74] It does not require any physical effort at all.

[75] It's not going to require her to do anything.

[76] She's not already doing in her normal life.

[77] Customer service role or some type of a phone role where she's working for a company.

[78] She could probably make pretty good money per hour and really help the cash infusion.

[79] That's an idea that she got to bring to the table.

[80] This idea that she can't do anything is just completely false.

[81] Yeah, the good news is with the digital world that we're in that there's a lot of options for folks.

[82] A lot of remote work to that kind of thing.

[83] Obviously, she's not going to carry a waitress tray around.

[84] I get that.

[85] And I don't have any problem with that at all.

[86] But, yeah, so all I want to do is get the income up, the outgo down, and that creates the space in between those two things called margin, and we throw that margin towards investments, and we try to start building an estig.

[87] And, you know, you got 10 years to do it if their health holds out, if his health holds out.

[88] But he's not retiring in two years.

[89] eat and you know and they live on social insecurity with no money um you're and buy that cookbook 74 ways to prepare alpo that doesn't work you know um the old dog food thing is gross you know so it's a tough one chris but yeah if they follow everything you tell them which is what you're going to be telling them what we would tell them here on the air is get on a budget get your lifestyle down and stack cash with the money you create in the middle get your income up um that's where it comes from.

[90] It's, there's not a hack.

[91] There's not a short, you know, oh, let's go buy Bitcoin.

[92] No, that doesn't work.

[93] That just loses what little money you have.

[94] So that's kind of, you know, don't get desperate, in other words, and fall for some con. There's not a shortcut.

[95] Yeah, that's the hard part of this whole thing.

[96] Open phones here at AAA 825 -5 -2 -2 -25.

[97] Ken, the book you did, find the work you're wired to do.

[98] It goes along with the assessment, the get clear assessment to get clear on what you can do and what you're good at.

[99] I think sometimes when we're pinched in a corner like that, we don't, there's something about the stress of being put in a corner that you don't see all the, you don't do what Schuller used to call possibility thinking.

[100] That's right.

[101] Yeah, it's because you're panicked.

[102] You've got a lot of fear and doubt.

[103] and it's really, really hard to replace that narrative.

[104] That's why we call that assessment, by the way, the get clear assessment.

[105] Here's what we've learned from studying psychology, and you look at successful people.

[106] In times of confusion, in times of defeat, whatever you want to label it, they retreat to clarity.

[107] They get really, really clear.

[108] And what we teach is if you can get clear on what you do best, this is just raw talent or skill set that you've acquired.

[109] And if you can focus on that, you've got an opportunity no matter what.

[110] what your financial situation is to leverage that, to use that talent to actually go make money.

[111] That's just baseline.

[112] And getting clear on, like in his mom's situation, that question is the right question.

[113] Well, what has she done in the past?

[114] Well, she was a manager of a restaurant.

[115] Let me tell you something.

[116] She can take great care of somebody on the telephone.

[117] And once she's trained and she understands the process.

[118] And you know how many companies are looking for somebody that know how to talk to another human being?

[119] I mean, she's got a real talent that is transferable to start making money.

[120] right away.

[121] Yeah, she actually used to have face -to -face interaction with humans.

[122] She didn't grow up with a text.

[123] That's right.

[124] Whoa.

[125] What a skill.

[126] That's right.

[127] Increasingly valuable skill in today's world.

[128] This is the Ramsey show.

[129] This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[130] Hey, good folks.

[131] The back -to -school madness is upon us.

[132] It's hitting us right now.

[133] We got travel and work and all these forms to fill out now and sports to travel to and on and on.

[134] My family's schedule is so packed, and we haven't even begun talking about things like exercise and date nights and counseling and church and home projects.

[135] And those are the things that make our life even worth living.

[136] Here's what I've learned.

[137] When it comes to taking care of me, I have to put on my oxygen mask first.

[138] And that means that I have to do the things that keep me well and whole.

[139] And I know that you have to do those same things too.

[140] So don't skip the things that matter to you, including regular exercise, hanging out with your friends, and regular therapy appointments.

[141] And when it comes to therapy, contact my friends at BetterHelp.

[142] BetterHelp is 100 % online therapy staffed with licensed therapists.

[143] It's convenient, it's flexible, and it's suited to fit your schedule.

[144] And therapy can help you learn positive coping skills, how to set and practice boundaries, how to become the best version of yourself, and most importantly, how to find peace in all of this chaos.

[145] In this upcoming season, make sure you put on your oxygen mask first.

[146] Never skip therapy day.

[147] Call my friends at BetterHelp.

[148] Visit BetterHelp .com slash Deloney today for 10 % off your first month.

[149] That's BetterHelp, H -E -L -P .com slash Deloni.

[150] Have you all noticed that real estate is weird right now?

[151] It's weird out there.

[152] I mean, if you're going to buy a house right now, if you're going to sell a house right now, You don't really need to be screwing around with this unless you're dealing with somebody really knows what they're doing because it's a strange time and you need someone to help you navigate that.

[153] If you're a buyer, that way you don't get ripped off and you don't get pushed into some kind of weird thing or if you're a seller, you get the proper amount for the property and the right kind of marketing advice from a pro who's actually done it before.

[154] Not your uncle Henry who got his license three weeks ago and demands that you list your largest asset with him.

[155] That's dumb.

[156] Don't do that.

[157] No, no, we're going to get like somebody that sells 30 to 300 houses a year.

[158] That's somebody who actually stays in the business when things are good and when things are bad.

[159] They know the market.

[160] They know how to navigate weirdness and they can help you.

[161] We vet all of the agents that we put in the Ramsey trusted program.

[162] We coach them.

[163] They're lined up with what we teach here.

[164] They understand what you're listening to this show that you're going to be calling with that mindset and they really are high octane, high protein, get or done people.

[165] with proven track records.

[166] To find a Ramsey trusted real estate agent for free, just go to ramsysolutions .com slash agent.

[167] Amit is with us in Greensboro, North Carolina.

[168] Hi, Amit.

[169] How are you?

[170] I'm great.

[171] How are you guys?

[172] Better than we deserve.

[173] What's up?

[174] So I, long story here, but my background and technical background is engineering and science.

[175] I did that for a few years.

[176] I went to school for it and everything.

[177] love basketball, ended up switching careers, and I ended up coaching basketball first at the collegiate level, Division I, and then into the NBA for the last two years.

[178] The NBA is moving more and more towards hiring players, even with 10 years' experience in coaching at those levels.

[179] I'm having a hard time finding jobs that are paying me enough to get by.

[180] I'm married.

[181] I don't have any kids, but my wife makes exponentially more money than me. So financially, we're okay.

[182] We have no debt, nothing.

[183] homes paid off cars are paid off so we're good there but I'm thinking now of transitioning into a different career I have no idea what to do and I've been so out of touch with what my degrees are in that I don't know if I could go back or if anybody would take it you know bring me back there if that makes sense it does make sense but I want you know that's your fear and doubt that's clouding your judgment and just somebody who's completely objective a former division one basketball coach a former NBA coach is a highly attractive bio and resume, especially if you have some skill set that will apply to what you're going for.

[184] I'm just interested.

[185] What's your favorite part of coaching?

[186] To me, it's about the relationships and the people I interact with every single day, whether it's players or other coaches or executives, whatever, administrators, whatever it may be.

[187] It's a very people -in -relationship -driven business, and that to me is why I got into it in the first place.

[188] I know the salaries are crazy right now, especially in the NBA.

[189] Right.

[190] But I never was about it for the money.

[191] I was in it for experience, opportunity, and just because it felt so satisfying, and it still feels satisfying, and I want to keep doing it as long as I can.

[192] Did you play college basketball at any level?

[193] Did not.

[194] You did not.

[195] And that's the crazy part.

[196] No, it's not.

[197] I'm 5 '10.

[198] I'm Indian, and there are not a lot of people that look like me that do this.

[199] Right.

[200] Okay.

[201] You actually led me right into my question, and you're making my case for me. you aren't in that position because of your X and O's knowledge and being a guru, a guy who put up 25 points a game.

[202] You're not in that role and you haven't gotten into that role based on that.

[203] Is that true or false?

[204] My success is all from work and relationships.

[205] That's it.

[206] I don't have the 15 -year NBA career that some of these guys have.

[207] Exactly.

[208] And you have managed to get to the highest level of a sport.

[209] the NBA as a 5 -foot -10 Indian.

[210] I mean, you really are an absolute freak in a good way, okay?

[211] And it's all based on your skill set of connecting with others.

[212] Can I just tell you something?

[213] And Dave can chime in here.

[214] He's a guy that is the founder and active CEO of a company of over 1 ,000 people, and he hosts one of the largest, most influential leadership podcast in the world.

[215] We talk about leadership all the time.

[216] America needs leaders.

[217] I'm paying attention to this stuff every day, and companies need people who can lead people, who know how to connect with people, who know how to communicate with people, who know how to instruct people, who know how to encourage people.

[218] A meet, you got an incredible resume, oh, and an engineering degree.

[219] So if I'm you, I'm going, I'm going to start with, let me take that degree of engineering, and I'm going to look at the engineering field.

[220] I'm not going to limit myself to engineering, but I'm going to start there because I got the degree.

[221] And then I'm going to start working my connections.

[222] By the way, I'm going to give you my book, The Proximity Principle, which for a guy like you who's a learner, it's going to give you the absolute formula, the five people you need to be around that will help you get where you want to go.

[223] And by the way, you have an unbelievable network.

[224] And so all those coaches who know business guys, your college connections with all these business guys who used to donate money, big time, they were hanging around those D1 programs.

[225] Those are your connections, and you go, look, I got an engineering degree, I can get in the engineering field and lead people today.

[226] I may not be the most talented engineer, which, by the way, Amit, tell me if I'm right or wrong.

[227] The guys and gals that are leading teams of engineers are rarely the most talented engineer.

[228] True or false?

[229] I wouldn't know.

[230] I've been removed from it for so long that I don't remember.

[231] All right.

[232] I'll tell you the answer.

[233] The answer is leading engineers, you don't have to be the smartest day of the most talented engineer.

[234] You just got to know how to lead people.

[235] guy, he's bona fide.

[236] That's my take.

[237] And he's going for management and leadership positions across the spectrum of the business world.

[238] I think you can go just about anywhere because it's not about the trade and it's not about the industry.

[239] It's about his ability to come in and bring a team together.

[240] That's my two cents on that one.

[241] Exactly right.

[242] What we teach when we're teaching entree leadership to business people is what happens a lot of times of small businesses, people become accidental entrepreneurs.

[243] I'm really good at heating and air, and I get me a truck, and then I look up, and I got 40 people and 10 trucks running around.

[244] Now I'm no longer, now I'm no longer a heating and air technician.

[245] Now I'm a leader.

[246] That's right.

[247] And leading and running a business is a different skill set than fixing your air conditioner.

[248] And leading and running people is a different skill set than playing basketball or being an engineer.

[249] The leadership skill set you excel in.

[250] That's right.

[251] And so you do have a great resume in that sense.

[252] Now the trick is where do you want to plug it in?

[253] What type of a business, what kind of dynamic environment do you want to be in where you're leading and then finding people through your connections with proximity principles to plug into one of those locations.

[254] It'd just be amazing.

[255] Yeah.

[256] I mean, he can absolutely make this transition and do very, very well.

[257] Because what he has going for him that a lot of NBA coaches don't have if they leave that industry, is he's got a really good degree.

[258] That engineering degree is very helpful, meaning he's got that skill set.

[259] He's got the mindset to think like an engineer.

[260] You add the leadership to it.

[261] Unbelievable.

[262] Absolutely.

[263] It's exactly how it works.

[264] So hang on.

[265] We'll have Christian pick up and we will get you signed up for that.

[266] Send out that book to you.

[267] I meet.

[268] So can the proximity principle give us the thesis of that?

[269] It just simply means this.

[270] If I, am around the people and in the places that of the space that I want to be in, then opportunities come my way.

[271] And so the formula is this, the right people plus the right places always will equal opportunity.

[272] I got to get around the right people.

[273] And then I get in the right places.

[274] And when I'm in the right places, I meet more of the right people.

[275] And then they point me to the right places.

[276] And it is this knowledge and connection combination that just keeps moving, moving, moving, move, and moving, moving.

[277] And if you stay with it long enough, opportunities show up on your doorstep.

[278] This idea of kicking the door down is Hollywood bravado.

[279] It makes for great fantasy.

[280] But in the real world, connections come at the most unexpected times because we keep showing up in the right place, or we keep showing up around the right people.

[281] And all of a sudden, I'm top of mind, or I've got the experience, and I was showing up, and then boom, I'm ready to step into it.

[282] She's speaking of basketball.

[283] John Wooden, arguably one of the greatest coaches all time.

[284] Certainly basketball.

[285] It's my favorite quote, Dave.

[286] He said when opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare.

[287] And the proximity principle gets me in a place.

[288] When the opportunity shows up, I'm ready to step right into it because I kept putting myself around the right people and in the right places.

[289] This is the Ramsey Show.

[290] Hey, you guys, emergencies happen in life.

[291] Your dishwasher breaks and floods the kitchen.

[292] Your AC goes out in the middle of the summer.

[293] Situations like those are why we teach people to have an emergency fund.

[294] And when it comes to medical emergencies, there is a medical emergency kit from the wellness company.

[295] They're great for when you need medicines right away and can't wait for the pharmacy to open.

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[303] And use the promo code Ramsey at checkout to save 15%.

[304] I have one and you should too.

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[306] Use the promo code Ramsey.

[307] In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt -free stage, Nathan and Brittany are with us.

[308] Hey, guys, how are you doing?

[309] Doing well.

[310] How are you doing?

[311] Better than we deserve.

[312] Where do you guys live?

[313] Tadunga.

[314] All right, just down the road.

[315] Well, welcome to Nashville.

[316] And how much debt of you two paid off?

[317] $73 ,545.

[318] Excellent.

[319] And how long did that take?

[320] About 14 months.

[321] Good for you.

[322] And your range of income during that time?

[323] 80 to about 100 ,000.

[324] Cool.

[325] What do y 'all do for a living?

[326] I'm a first grade teacher.

[327] And I'm a mental health therapist and I direct a college counseling center for a local college.

[328] Oh, excellent.

[329] Very good.

[330] So what kind of debt was the 74 grand?

[331] It was taxes.

[332] It was a car, credit cards.

[333] And I had student loans.

[334] Yeah.

[335] Y 'all were kind of normal.

[336] Yeah, very normal.

[337] Yeah.

[338] Normal sucks.

[339] Yeah.

[340] It did.

[341] So what happens?

[342] What happened 14 months ago?

[343] What was your wake -up call?

[344] What was your, something's got to change moment?

[345] Yeah.

[346] Well, we went through Financial Peace University whenever we got married five years ago, and we were Ramsey -ish for about three and a half years and paid off only $30 ,000 of debt.

[347] So you flunked?

[348] Yes, very much so.

[349] And then 14 months ago, we owed in taxes for the first time and had to get new tires on our car within a couple of days of each other.

[350] And we both felt like we got punched because we had a...

[351] bunch of bills.

[352] We had student loans, credit cards, and now we had to get new tires and pay the IRS, which is a scary feeling.

[353] It's interesting that owing the IRS suddenly like that is like a hundred X more drama than owing the exact same amount to a credit card company.

[354] Yes, it was scary.

[355] They're just like, yeah, and with good reason because they're scary people, but but wow that there is something puts a lump in your throat a nod in the stomach and you got okay this has got to stop we got to get that old financial peace book back out and this time we're doing it exactly is that what it sounded like yeah i mean we i started working um at my school we have an opportunity to work the late stay program and so i started working from 7 a .m. to 6 p .m. every day he started door dashing he started teaching classes yeah so we need extra that we could do we were trying to do we cut up our credit cards the whole nine yards yeah it got very serious yeah got on a budget yeah we were on a budget but we started actually following the budget oh yeah actually doing it yeah exactly yeah see here's what i want people to hear you knew the plan you said you were ish and then you go from ish to rr right like that r ramsie was like it's a it's a guttural kind of a sound so what were beyond working hard what were some of the communication changes in order to actually finally go, we're doing this thing.

[356] Yeah, we had to quit making excuses and, you know, our date knots look a lot different.

[357] Friday knots, we were having cheap pizza, watching smart money happy hour at home, you know, I mean, just, yeah, the communication, we began to more just breathe and communicate Ramsey.

[358] Yeah, and we communicated about everything.

[359] Like, people in our lives would be like, you're talking about buying gum, but it'd be like, no, we're working.

[360] communicating about everything saying this is where our budget is going.

[361] Is it okay that we put this in the miscellaneous category because it came up unexpectedly?

[362] Yeah, we just communicated about every little thing.

[363] Yeah.

[364] That's awesome.

[365] Yeah.

[366] Glad the wake up call is something small.

[367] Yeah.

[368] That's too.

[369] Knock out.

[370] Yeah.

[371] That the why.

[372] So your your core reason was to get away from that fear.

[373] That's what drove you.

[374] That moment.

[375] I don't ever want to feel like this again.

[376] Yeah.

[377] And to change our generation.

[378] that comes after us.

[379] That's the more noble step.

[380] Once you get past the fear, you're like, okay, we're going to change the family tree.

[381] Yeah, we never want our kids to experience that.

[382] Right.

[383] The fear motivated us, but then also, I mean, we're both Christians.

[384] And so once we began getting on that path, like it wasn't easy.

[385] It felt like spiritual warfare at times.

[386] Like things kept on coming up, coming up, coming up.

[387] But we realized, like, you know, we also want to use our finances to honor God and steward what we've been given well.

[388] Yeah.

[389] Yeah, good for you guys.

[390] Well done.

[391] Well done.

[392] What do you tell people, key to getting out of debt is well other than getting to brittany in their life because like i could take an hour and talk about how incredible that she is um but other other than that because i've got her and that's my my step but um but i would say know your why just i mean tying it back into that and for ours was for um giving praise to the lord jesus yeah and intentionality because as we said it took us three and a half years to pay off 30 000 and then we paid off 73 000 and 14 months And it's just funny how we had so many people tell us while we were on this journey, oh, I just wish we could do that.

[393] I wish we could do that.

[394] And it's like, well, you can't.

[395] All you have to do is make the hard choices because it is hard.

[396] It's not an easy thing.

[397] It was the hardest season we've had so far.

[398] Yeah.

[399] But the intentionality is what changed it.

[400] And if we can do it, anyone can.

[401] Yeah.

[402] Deloni says choose you're hard.

[403] I mean, it's hard to owe the IRS money and not be able to put your tires on your car.

[404] That's hard.

[405] But there's also the hard of, I'm going to sacrifice so I don't ever have to face that again.

[406] that's that's a better hard to choose yeah choose that one and that's the one you chose the second time good job y 'all well done very very very well done so um what was the hardest part what was the biggest fight you had while you were doing this 14 months um the hardest part was just making sure that we were both serious at the same time because it is hard and it's really nice to do this with somebody to keep you accountable and so when i would say I think we should use the budget for this or he should, he would say that we should use the budget for this.

[407] It was just hard sometimes getting on the same page.

[408] And it was really easy to have one person say, well, why not for this?

[409] Oh, also, no spend months are hard.

[410] Those are really, really hard.

[411] And so just making sure we would get on the same page.

[412] Yeah.

[413] And I'm, you know, Rachel Cruz talks about, like, I'm a spontaneous giver.

[414] She says that in her book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money.

[415] And for me, I had to be.

[416] like no I can't give right we gave to our church obviously that was our plan to giving but for me I had to keep that like long distant go of like I want to be able to live and give like no one else yeah yeah so right now I'm going to not do the spontaneous right yeah everything's got to be dialed into a plan a period of time here with this intensity yeah right well done you guys proud of you all thank you who was cheering you on we had a lot of good cheerleaders in our life but our main ones are here today we have my parents as I said my dad he had us do financial peace university whenever we first got married and then my mom she is an avid couponer and so we haven't paid for toiletries or anything like that because of her and then also there were some times that we'd come home from work and our fridge would be full of groceries because she was just being a great blessing and then my best friend megan is here and she has just been the ultimate cheerleader like every little thing she'd be like you paid off 50 dollars yeah that's awesome just cheering every little step along the way so just truly done a great cheerleader very cool Good job, you guys.

[417] Surround yourself with people that love you and support you and that instead a bunch of Debbie Downers around you.

[418] That's very smart.

[419] Very smart.

[420] Well done.

[421] Good stuff.

[422] Good stuff.

[423] Poor Debbie and poor Karen.

[424] They've just gotten messed over.

[425] Absolutely.

[426] Oh, my gosh.

[427] Wow.

[428] Way to go, you two.

[429] Very, very cool.

[430] Good stuff.

[431] Nathan and Brittany from Chattanooga, $74 ,000 paid off in 14 months, making 80 to 100.

[432] count it down let's hear a debt -free scream three two one we're dead free that is how it's done wow can if we can ever solve the formula to get people to be intense automatically while they're in the class sometimes they are sometimes they're not but if we can solve that formula and not have that three and a half year gap of ish before something has to come along punch you in the gut to get you away fake, we will have hit, you know, we will have hit a milestone.

[433] That will be huge.

[434] Yeah.

[435] Because the number of people, number of you listening out there right now, you know, you listen to this stuff, but you don't do it.

[436] Yeah.

[437] And here's the thing.

[438] I'm just sitting here watching this.

[439] And if those of you that are listening, you could hear it in Nathan.

[440] Nathan's this very nice, soft -spoken young man. And he just let it rip.

[441] And what's fun about watching that, and there's no judging whether you're louder than the next deck free screamer.

[442] But there's something emotional there and to your point Dave if you can figure out how good it's going to feel in that a class like and you see what it feels like uh that's the idea is bottling that and go why would I want to delay that I want to get through this now and experience what's on the other side of it yeah fantastic step away from the ish right that's right don't do the ish back away don't do the ish don't do it just cannonball don't do it of the Ramsey show.

[443] You've worked, saved, sacrificed, and been gazelle intense with your financial game plan.

[444] But do you have the right defense in place, like the right health insurance?

[445] Look, you can't walk past a doctor's office these days without getting a massive bill.

[446] And if you don't have health insurance, a major medical situation can undo all of your hard work.

[447] That's where my friends at Health Trust Financial can help.

[448] They work for you, not the insurance.

[449] company, so they find you the right health insurance and they save you money.

[450] Ramsey has recommended Health Trust Financial for two decades because they're the experts.

[451] And whether you're 19 years old or 90, you can trust them to do two very important things.

[452] Listen to you, then find you health insurance coverage with everything you need and nothing you don't.

[453] Health Trust Financial is your one -stop shop for unbiased advice about affordable health insurance options.

[454] They could save you hundreds of dollars a month.

[455] So make sure you're not overpaying.

[456] Go to health trustfinancial .com today.

[457] Healthtrustfinancial .com.

[458] Hey, guys, we could use your help.

[459] It helps us a bunch, and we know you're doing it because we're seeing the numbers are incredible.

[460] If you subscribe to the show on the platform that you're doing or follow the show on the platform that you're listening or watching, whether it's YouTube or Spotify or, you know, Apple podcast, Google Play, whatever it is.

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[463] Also, share the show.

[464] Some of these things have a share button where you can share it.

[465] Maybe you're just listening on talk radio.

[466] Tell people where you're listening.

[467] You know, I'm in Phoenix.

[468] I listen on KTAR, you know, and the Ramsey show's on there.

[469] It's changed my life.

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[473] Tell people when you hear a good show, a good podcast, a good, YouTube show, whatever it is, spread the word.

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[476] And so it changes everything when you do that, guys.

[477] It's a big deal.

[478] Thank you very, very much.

[479] Even the five -star reviews, those help a bunch, too.

[480] Thank you.

[481] William is with us in Providence, Rhode Island.

[482] Hi, William.

[483] How are you?

[484] Hey, guys.

[485] I'm great.

[486] Thanks for taking my call.

[487] I appreciate it.

[488] Sure.

[489] How can we help?

[490] So I'm in the military, and I just got married two months ago.

[491] Congratulations.

[492] About four months ago.

[493] Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[494] I discovered you guys four months ago.

[495] Life has been excellent.

[496] So we're in the process of moving, and we're paying off my wife's student loan debt.

[497] It's about $28 ,000.

[498] And we figure out we're going to be moving to Hawaii in March.

[499] Looking at housing prices over there, it's going to be pretty insane, at least to do like first month's rent, security deposit, everything like that.

[500] So I'm looking at your advice on how to approach that, taking a pause at Baby Step 2, and how to move forward there.

[501] It's not really a pause on Baby Step 2.

[502] It's just a pause on the whole thing because you've got something staring, you're staring, you know, you're staring at this thing in front of you and you've got to deal with it, right?

[503] And so, you know, what I would do is put a detailed number on the March move, stop everything, and pile up that number, because it's coming.

[504] It's not if, it's just, it's not, there's no question about the probability of it.

[505] And so, and then when you've got that number, then push play, set that number to the side, push play, and then start working it again.

[506] Okay.

[507] Yeah, that's exactly how you do it.

[508] So which branch are you in?

[509] I'm in the Navy.

[510] Okay.

[511] Well, thank you for your service, sir.

[512] We appreciate you guys.

[513] Well, I appreciate you guys.

[514] And how old are you, too?

[515] 28.

[516] My wife is 26.

[517] Perfect.

[518] Okay.

[519] Have you been through Financial Peace University yet?

[520] No, sir.

[521] We've been just kind of listening to the show and making a go at it.

[522] We're going to give that to you as a belated wedding gift.

[523] Two months into my wedding, two months into my marriage, I wish somebody had shown me this stuff.

[524] My life would have been completely different in a good way.

[525] So, yeah, and I got a pretty good life.

[526] But, yeah.

[527] So anyway, hang on.

[528] Christian's going to pick up.

[529] We'll get you signed up for Financial Peace University because Hawaii is expensive.

[530] Yeah, you need to.

[531] And that's the truth.

[532] Dave, I've got to ask a quick question because this is, I'm curious, you know, your take on this.

[533] If I was in this situation, and he's in the military, so he may not be able to do anything outside of his military service.

[534] But if his wife is not working outside of the home or even if she is, I'm the kind of guy that if I were in that position in the baby step, certainly in baby step two.

[535] And I had an expense like that that was coming and we knew it was going to be a chunk.

[536] So let's just say it was, I'll make this up for example of purpose.

[537] I had to come up with $5 ,000 for something in March.

[538] I'm the kind of guy that's going to go crazy trying to make extra money and fund that $5 ,000 above and beyond what I'm doing out of my normal budget towards the baby.

[539] steps do you do you does that bother you is that's an okay thing the thing is the thing is it works exactly the same way if you just push stop that's true and then go crazy right pile it up that much but i'm the guy who hates losing the progress put put put you know uh but if you pile it up twice as fast right because you're not staying in play mode you push pause then then you boom you're you're back at it and mathematically you'll end up in about the same place and um but it you You're right.

[540] It does light a fire under you to get it done quick.

[541] Jack is in Los Angeles.

[542] Hey, Jack, how are you?

[543] I'm good.

[544] How are you doing?

[545] Better than I deserve.

[546] What's up?

[547] My fiancé and I are both 25 years old.

[548] We're getting married two months from now.

[549] And we're, of course, looking to combine finances.

[550] Not sure the best way to go about it on a couple fronts.

[551] One, could we be waiting until we're married?

[552] two, we both do have credit cards.

[553] We both, as of last month, are debt -free, but we're wondering, should we be keeping them, should we get rid of them?

[554] We're worried about, you know, canceling them, impacting our credit scores as we look to buy a house, so hoping to get your advice on all of that.

[555] Okay.

[556] You don't combine finances until you're married.

[557] Okay.

[558] And after you're married, then yes, you combine them because the preacher will say, and now you are one.

[559] And that's what that means.

[560] Until then, you've got all kinds of issues when you combine things that can happen if something terrible happened before the wedding.

[561] You get yourself into a mess.

[562] So we just wait until then.

[563] As far as keeping your credit cards open, the best thing I know to do is cut them up and close everything and have zero balances.

[564] And if you have no active accounts going, it takes about six months.

[565] for your credit score to just disappear.

[566] What you don't want is a medium credit score.

[567] You either want a very high one or a no credit score when you're going for a mortgage.

[568] No credit score sets you up for manual underwriting with someone like Churchill Mortgage Hour, the team that we've endorsed for mortgages for almost 30 years now, and they can help you do a manual underwriting with zero credit score.

[569] But you don't want, you don't want to be a no -man.

[570] land in the middle and that's what will happen if you keep a bunch of stuff open with zero balances because the FICO algorithm is built to where it wants you to be in debt to drive an 800 credit score you have to get in debt and stay in debt and pay it regularly I pay my credit cards off every month or I don't use them at all and they're open will damage your credit score so will closing them will damage your credit score but closing them is the path to to get to zero and that's where I would recommend you go is to zero and it's okay to not buy a house immediately by the way it's going to take about six months for this to happen so six months six months for the time you're married you both close all accounts you have zero balances zero activity of any kind on anything that's reporting to fico you will disappear you'll fall off the grid which is what you're trying to do here and um you know that's the goal and we recommend in general young getting married that they wait a year to buy a house it takes about a year of marriage to know how close to your mother -in -law to buy you got to get to know each other okay and you know you've been married 20 minutes you're going to buy a different house then than you will when you've been married 20 months um it's a different it's a different property you're going to sign up for and so you just you know just take your time you got you got the rest of your life you're going to be okay I don't want you to take 10 years, but you can take a few months.

[571] And during that time, you have the opportunity for the credit score to go away.

[572] Yeah, you know, I'm thinking back to when Stacey and I got married and this whole question, and we were walking through premarital counseling.

[573] Both of our dads were pastors.

[574] And so they were, you know, really driving home the point that you made, keep everything separate, separate, of course.

[575] But it was us trying to clean everything up.

[576] And Stacey had some debt.

[577] And we worked really hard to help her.

[578] her and she went after it.

[579] And to enter into marriage with, and we had a little debt, I had a little bit of student loans left, and she had a little bit left, and then we knocked them out in that first couple years.

[580] But it was such a big deal for us to, in the first 12 months, just learn how each other handled money.

[581] You know what I mean?

[582] How you handle life.

[583] There's that too.

[584] But it's like to make a big purchase decision like that and strap yourself into a mortgage like that without kind of, as you said, experiencing marriage in the way we viewed money.

[585] That first 12 months for us was really eye -opening.

[586] And we had to learn how to get on the same page.

[587] Yeah.

[588] It was for my wife, Sharon.

[589] She realized she'd made a huge mistake.

[590] Well, Stacey as well.

[591] Poor woman.

[592] They have the patience of Joe.

[593] Thought she married Sir Galahad.

[594] Turns out it was Goober.

[595] Right.

[596] I resemble that.

[597] This is the Ramsey Show.

[598] matter what platform you use for news or entertainment, you and I both know it is way too hard to keep your feed from getting junked up with bad content.

[599] I know I'm not the only one who's gone searching for the Ramsey Show, only to find myself two paws and 12 videos deep in a kitten hole on YouTube, which is great, but not what I'm looking for right now.

[600] And heck, if you're tuning into this digitally, there's probably some weird, scamy, suggested content trying to play in the sidebar right now.

[601] Crypto -content.

[602] See what I mean?

[603] And that's why I love the Ramsey Network app.

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[610] Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships.

[611] I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality number one bestselling author and host of the Ken Coleman Show, a great podcast on the Ramsey Network.

[612] He's my co -host today.

[613] Open phones here, AAA -825 -225.

[614] Rashon is with us in Richmond, Virginia.

[615] Hi, Rashon.

[616] How are you?

[617] Hey, how are you doing, guys?

[618] How are you doing?

[619] Better than I deserve, sir.

[620] How can I help?

[621] So I'm kind of in of a little dilemma to where I feel like I've wasted 10 years of my life.

[622] And so long story short, coming out of high school, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do of my life.

[623] And, um, you know, I scrambled.

[624] I went from nursing, land care, uh, being an entrepreneur.

[625] I did a whole bunch of things and, uh, found myself in trucking.

[626] Now, I've been in trucking for about four years.

[627] And throughout me trying to figure myself out and going back and forth through college, online courses and things of that nature.

[628] I've, I've tackled on a little bit of debt, which is minuscule compared to others.

[629] But I also, uh, um, I got into a couple of vices, drinking, smoking, and I guess the biggest one would be gambling.

[630] I have two sons and a daughter, and I recently popped the question.

[631] So now I'm on my last year, in my 20s, I turned 30 in November, and now just kind of reminiscing of what went wrong in how many years and days, most, and seconds have I really wasted of just not figuring out life.

[632] If I don't have a savings, I don't have, if it wasn't for my current employer, I wouldn't even have health insurance, no 401K, no big plans, most of my life has been basically paycheck to paycheck, just surviving.

[633] You're a great place.

[634] Yeah, I would say so.

[635] My dad told me growing up, 90 % of solving a problem is realizing there is one.

[636] Right.

[637] And I just, and I realize that, and I've listened to you.

[638] I listened to you guys for a while now.

[639] I just never really had the courage to really call.

[640] But speaking to my fiancé, you know, she said, it would be a good idea.

[641] Don't be scared, you know, and from what I've heard, from what I'm here, what I've heard from you guys in the past, especially giving up people advice.

[642] You guys are very blunt.

[643] And I feel like that's needed.

[644] So I'm just kind of just wondering, where should I start?

[645] Okay, so I heard four things.

[646] that you described as problems, smoking, drinking, gambling, and not sticking with a career track.

[647] Did I hear that right?

[648] Right.

[649] Okay.

[650] If those are the four problems, what is causing that?

[651] Get down under what the cause of those things.

[652] And I bet it's the same thing as causing all three of them.

[653] It could be simple immaturity.

[654] It could be, you know, you've got demons, from your childhood chasing you or something?

[655] I don't know.

[656] Not literal demons, but possibly.

[657] But I mean, okay, so, because, I mean, the obvious answer is, it's almost like a joke.

[658] You know, Bob Newhart just passed away, but he had a famous routine that he did as a psychiatrist.

[659] He wasn't a psychiatrist.

[660] He played one on TV.

[661] But he would, you know, people would come in and tell him their problems and he would just yell, stop it, you know, just stop it.

[662] and then that'll be five dollars you know stop it that'll be five dollars and so it's kind of it's kind of like where you are right i mean it's like okay the gambling the drinking are you are have you stopped it i have i can i'll be honest i've i'm that was a no yeah i'm not i haven't i haven't i have stopped i forcibly stopped myself from gambling uh i self -exempt myself then myself uh within virginia state so um for about five years.

[663] Of that five years, it's been, I want to say close to three.

[664] I haven't smoked in about a good, almost nearly a year, and my last drink was probably last weekend.

[665] Okay.

[666] And so then I guess the other thing you think about is who are you running around with that was caught, that was thinking that this is a good idea, and you're not running around with them anymore, because you know you become who you hang around with.

[667] That's right.

[668] That's true.

[669] Rayshon, Rashon, I'm going to be real blunt with you because you opened up the door and usually Dave does all the blunt, but I'm going to tell you something, you have been trying to escape a life that you don't enjoy, and you need to start building today a life that you don't need to escape from.

[670] Gambling is a rush.

[671] It is trying to discover what it feels like to be enthralled.

[672] A win to win.

[673] That's right.

[674] And I think it's building a life.

[675] And I know I'm the work guy at Ramsey, but the research backs me up.

[676] This is not my opinion.

[677] When a human being does something in their day that is meaningful, then they don't need to escape from life.

[678] The reward is knowing that you are doing something that matters to you because it matters to someone else.

[679] So from a work standpoint, we're going to give you some tools, by the way, because there's a lot to cover here.

[680] But I want to give you the get clear assessment in the book, find the work you're wired to do because they're going to really help you.

[681] And then we could also set up a call for you to come on my show where we can go a little bit deeper.

[682] here.

[683] But my friend, what is ailing you is that Dave's right.

[684] There's something in your soul that is longing for meaning and purpose or there's this vision you had of your life that maybe you don't think is possible.

[685] And a lot of fear and doubt along this way, these 10 years in your 20s, you've gotten to a point where you didn't think it was possible.

[686] And so to medicate, you medicated through alcohol and you medicated through nicotine and you've medicated through gambling.

[687] And I think Dave's right.

[688] Stop it.

[689] You don't need to be sad.

[690] You need to be mad.

[691] And I think a good, healthy sense of self -anger to say, as Dave, you said it on the stage, I'll hand it to you.

[692] It's the most power thing I've ever heard you say.

[693] And I've seen you say it.

[694] I feel like I've seen you say it a thousand times.

[695] But it's where you get to a point where you're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

[696] And he's at a great place.

[697] Yeah, you've got to say I've had it.

[698] I've had it.

[699] I'm not living like this anymore.

[700] And so, and the good news is, is that you're doing some real manly, masculine things.

[701] Absolutely.

[702] You're taking ownership of this stuff.

[703] You're engaged.

[704] You're going to be a dad.

[705] You're actually going to show up and be a dad, not just father children.

[706] There's a difference.

[707] That's right.

[708] You know, you're entering into all of these things.

[709] And so what would you do, you know, what's the course on how to do life right that you'd sign up for?

[710] Well, I'd get plugged in with some men that are who I want to be when I grow up.

[711] up.

[712] Oh, that's true.

[713] And I would, you know, get a group of guys that I hang out with all the time because you do become who you hang around with.

[714] So true.

[715] As a matter of fact, folks, the research says that your income over a 10 -year period of time will be within 15 percent of the average of your 10 closest friends income.

[716] That's right.

[717] Some of you're going, I need some new friends.

[718] Well, you might.

[719] Okay.

[720] It's okay.

[721] So that's, you know, and so in my case, what happened with me, Ray Sean, was I got plugged into a good church because I met God.

[722] And I met other men that were trying to be men, be good dads, good husbands.

[723] And I started learning from them.

[724] And so I was hanging out with people who had the same aspirational goals that I had from a spiritual, emotional, relational, financial, everything.

[725] And instead of just hanging out my drinking buddies.

[726] It's a different group of people, I can tell you that.

[727] And so that's how I did it.

[728] And that's what we'll plug in to a bunch of Ken's materials, though.

[729] Hold on.

[730] Christian will pick up.

[731] We'll get you some of his stuff that get wired.

[732] They get clear assessment with the find the work you're wired to do book, and the whole thing will help you with all of it.

[733] You're a good man. You've got a good heart.

[734] This is The Ramsey Show.

[735] You know, it doesn't take a degree in statistics to realize this one stinks.

[736] 93 % of undergraduate private student loans are co -signed.

[737] So when you're delinquent and drowning, mom or Papa or Uncle Joe is stuck in that financial stress along with you.

[738] But there is a way out.

[739] Why Refai?

[740] Y -Refi offers a custom refinancing option with a fixed -rate loan based on your ability to pay.

[741] And the average interest rate Y -Refi offers is 3 .9%, which can significantly reduce your monthly payment and decrease your total cost.

[742] Contact Y -R -R -R -R -F -E -F -2 -Ramsey, or go to Y -Refi .com slash Ramsey.

[743] That's 8442 Ramsey, or the letter Y, then R -E -F -Y .com slash Ramsey.

[744] Ramsey.

[745] Why Refai is not licensed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

[746] Why refi is not authorized by the New York State Department of Financial Services to service any New York loans.

[747] Funding may not be available in all states.

[748] Ken Coleman -Ramsey personality is my co -host today.

[749] Our question of the day comes from Kevin in Georgia.

[750] Kevin asked, with the presidential election coming up, I have been doing research on who to vote for.

[751] Sorry.

[752] I can only laugh at that.

[753] Some politicians want to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

[754] What are the pros and cons of this?

[755] My thought is that it means products and services will go up and price, and everyone will be right back to the same financial spot they were in before the increase.

[756] Okay, this is one of my favorite things to talk about.

[757] This is Economics 101, and Dave, I talk about this some on my show, and it's hysterical to see people just come at me with the vitriol and the hate over basic economics, as though I came up with it.

[758] But it's very simple.

[759] when a minimum wage is raised, it puts financial pressure on the economy in a negative way.

[760] But the bleeding hearts, and people who don't understand basic economics, go, well, this is great.

[761] Well, they think Santa Claus is providing the money.

[762] Right.

[763] But the reality is that those in the best.

[764] A customer pays for it.

[765] Well, yeah, the grocery store, the fast food place, passes on the increased cost of your combo meal.

[766] And so you gripe about inflation, and yet you celebrate.

[767] federal minimum wage ideas.

[768] Now, let me just address that.

[769] This is nothing more than a political football.

[770] It doesn't happen.

[771] One point one percent of Americans are on the minimum wage.

[772] That's exactly right.

[773] And one freaking percent.

[774] Right.

[775] And if you look at what happened during COVID, there was societal pressure on this, and we saw a couple big stores, namely Walmart and Target, raised their minimum wage voluntarily, and a lot of companies followed suit and then came.

[776] We went from $10 to $15 to $20 in about 18 months.

[777] And then you saw the Great Resignation as a result of that and now very stubborn inflation.

[778] So if you want to know how it actually works, pay attention to how inflation rose from 2020 to the end of 2022.

[779] So it's not arguable.

[780] You can't debate it.

[781] You know, you can chase your tail if you want to.

[782] It's mathematics.

[783] But it just, it is.

[784] It's math.

[785] When the person putting the bread on the shelf at the grocery store makes $20 instead of $10, that cost of that bread has to go up or the grocery store loses money and goes out of business and the cost of the bread goes up and so you buying the bread pay more the cost of the eggs go up when the person handling the eggs is paid more it's very simple it's uh because it's like we're going to raise taxes on corporations no you're not corporations don't pay taxes they pass the cost of the tax through to the buyer of their goods and services, their customers pay the taxes.

[786] They're built into your product.

[787] So if you raise taxes on corporations, you raise prices on the people that are doing it.

[788] It's economics.

[789] It's not liberalism or conservatism.

[790] It's just freaking math.

[791] If you run a business, you have to charge more than it costs you.

[792] Which, by the way, Dave, let's point this out because we have a very large audience.

[793] all political spectrums make sure you hear this if you're somebody right now and there's a lot of americans three out of five americans new data just came out believe we're in a recession which we are not by the actual definition of it but it's inflation that's making people feel this way hear this when you hear certain people on the left say we're going to raise taxes on small business and we're going to raise taxes on the corporation what you don't understand is is the opposite of that policy to cut taxes on small business to cut taxes on big business means that the cost of everything in your life will go down, which means you keep more of your paycheck if you're disciplined.

[794] It's really important that people understand this stuff because it gets politicized and you don't look at the math.

[795] You think that there's not a one and done, but all it is is a chain reaction.

[796] You're pushing a domino when you raise the cost of something in business.

[797] That's right.

[798] You're pushing a domino and then the next thing down costs more.

[799] So here's an example, okay?

[800] If gas is $5 a gallon instead of $2 .50 a gallon, the truck delivering the stuff to the store has to pay twice as much in fuel cost.

[801] So they're going to charge more to deliver the stuff to the store.

[802] So the store is going to charge you more when you buy that loaf of bread that came off the bread truck.

[803] It is a domino.

[804] There's a domino's going all the way down the line here.

[805] And so you are paying for the truck driver.

[806] higher fuel bill when you buy stuff that that truck carries by definition you don't have a choice and it's not a you know you can not like that or like that well that's evil it's capitalism we'll try communism if you visited those countries yeah they have a line to get the bread the bread sucks you can't get it there's a shortage because they don't produce goods and services uh and so these are what you know people who love communism are people who have not traveled Okay.

[807] Go to the country.

[808] I've traveled all over the world.

[809] About the only thing I'm sure of is I'm always happy when I get back to America.

[810] Okay.

[811] And you can dislike some of the stuff that goes on in America.

[812] We're not perfect.

[813] I don't have that.

[814] But I got to tell you, man, there's very few places in the world you can have this quality of life.

[815] And it is this freaking system that gave you this quality of life.

[816] So that's your minimum wage answer.

[817] Oh, by the way, 1 % of Americans are on minimum wage.

[818] So if you raise the minimum wage, it does absolutely nothing.

[819] it's political bull crap is what it is.

[820] The only other people that are affected are some of the union contracts are indexed off of minimum wage.

[821] So whatever minimum wage does, the union contract gets the same bump.

[822] So it does affect actually more than the 1%, but it's still a minuscule thing.

[823] It's absolute political bullcrap.

[824] What does drive the cost of entry level work up is a supply demand issue.

[825] That's what we ran into at COVID.

[826] There was a shortage of workers, and these stores were having to pay people more money to come to work.

[827] And so that's the only way they could get them was to pay them more.

[828] That is a free market pressure to drive wages up, not a regulated pressure.

[829] There's a difference.

[830] And so in either case, though, the $20 person versus the $10 person putting something on the shelf is built into the cost of whatever they put in the shelf, whether it's driven.

[831] driven by the rise of minimum wage, which it probably doesn't affect that.

[832] Almost every grocery store is paying more than minimum wage.

[833] Almost every restaurant's paying more than minimum wage.

[834] They can't attract workers right now unless they do.

[835] Targets, Walmarts, everybody.

[836] By the way, that's an absolute fact.

[837] Amazon, everybody.

[838] Nobody's, none of these people are working for seven and a quarter.

[839] That's right.

[840] They're all paying above the actual federal minimum wage.

[841] It is a default price.

[842] So you could move the minimum wage and it wouldn't change those people's pay one dime.

[843] That's correct.

[844] One dime.

[845] Doesn't change the thing, but, but it's, so it's political bull crap.

[846] We're, for the working man, we're trying to help the little man. Oh, bull crap.

[847] You haven't tried to help the little man in decades, either one of you.

[848] If you did, you cut your own pay and balance your budget, quit spending as a dadgum much if you want to help the little man. You cut taxes on the little man. If you actually cared about the little man, both of you, you ours and D's sicken me. That's right.

[849] Just the crap.

[850] We're for small business.

[851] You haven't done anything for small business and, decades, except tax our assumptions off.

[852] I mean, it's absolutely crazy.

[853] While we're at it, if both parties cared about the average American and their income and their children's children's opportunity, we'd have a balanced budget amendment.

[854] It'd be a single issue.

[855] Balance the federal budget.

[856] States all across this country have a constitutional requirement to actually balance their state budgets.

[857] And we don't have a, and we're now $35 trillion in national debt and i think it's the issue no one's talking about it and we the people it's not going to it we just walk around going well they'll figure it out no they won't and so you know anyway that's they don't really all of this is politics all of it's all perception it's all emotion and um you know and this idea that somehow you're going to uh straight you know you're going to ruin the economy so that you can ruin america it's a bad plan y 'all it's a bad plan because you can't have this good of life anywhere else, anywhere else in the world.

[858] The best shot at going from poverty to wealth in the history of the world statistically is to be born in America right now in poverty versus being born anywhere else in poverty.

[859] Communism does not lift people out of poverty.

[860] Socialism doesn't lift people out of poverty.

[861] Margaret Thatcher said it best.

[862] So the problem what socialism is, eventually you run out of other people's money.

[863] Venezuela, in the news, today.

[864] Today.

[865] Today.

[866] This is the Ramsey show.

[867] I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable.

[868] Yeah, and what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible.

[869] People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly, and they don't have life insurance.

[870] When you have to think through how am I going to pay my bills?

[871] I'm going to eat next week.

[872] Yeah, in the middle of all that grief.

[873] Like, it's just, it is.

[874] It's terrible.

[875] So life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive.

[876] Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

[877] And it doesn't cost much because Xander shops among a gazillion different companies.

[878] It doesn't cost much.

[879] You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here.

[880] You got to say it out loud and you got to say, I'm going to say, I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place.

[881] the cost of stinking pizza to get a free quote call 800 356 4282 that's 800 356 4282 or go to zander dot combe kin kohlman ramsi personality is my co -host today thanks for hanging out with us america luke is in maryland hi luke welcome to the ramsie show hi how are you guys doing better than i deserve what's up so just a bit of background i'm i'm 19 i'll be a sophomore in college this fall graciously through 529s the first two years of college will be paid for however the second two years of college will not be even with me living off campus those last two years and paying for my own groceries and stuff I'll still need about $48 ,000 to complete college and get my degree as of now the option in front of me is student debt but I've been listening to you for a while and I'm very anxious to do that I currently do not have any debt I have a paid off car very reliable I have no credit card I've known of the debt.

[882] However, I recently just got in contact with a recruiter through my school for the Army National Guard, and through the six -year contracts, I would be able to have, once I'm completed basic training and schooling for the job, I would be able to leave college without any debt, and I would be able to have a nice little chunk of change around $17 ,000, maybe more leaving college in my bank account that I can just start my life.

[883] Yeah, so.

[884] The National Guard has a phenomenal program for students in your situation.

[885] What you stumbled into, there was a gold mine.

[886] Yes.

[887] It's an excellent, excellent program, and it's not going to be bad for you as a man at all to go through the whole process.

[888] And so I can't, yes, absolutely.

[889] Hands down, go do that.

[890] So the last time I looked at it, we endorsed them for a while because they had like a, like 10 ,000, dollars cash at sign like a signing bonus that went towards tuition immediately is that it must be more than that now with what numbers you just gave me so um in one more detail uh basically i'd get a 7500 signing bonus by sign between october 1st and may 15 um that would be given to me um after i finish my job schooling um i would get $4 ,000 immediately as um federal tuition assistance that's per year everything else about that the up but and it maxes that yeah yeah So you've got $7 ,500 plus $8 ,000 there.

[891] Yes, sir.

[892] And then I get $20 ,000 per year for state tuition assistance after I've completed my basic training and job schooling.

[893] That would right now, if I'm trying to get the best or max out the benefits, I would need to basically slightly defer my spring semester this year of college.

[894] And that way I can do my basic training and schooling without missing any more college.

[895] That's kind of my only holdup.

[896] I've been talking to my college counselor, and as long as I take one online class, I can still be enrolled in my college so that should not be an issue.

[897] Perfect.

[898] Do that.

[899] I hate the word defer there.

[900] I understand how they're using it.

[901] But this is the no -brainer for you to do the one class, stay eligible.

[902] Yeah, you're going to be 25 years old and have served in the National Guard and have come out of college completely debt -free.

[903] okay great thank you guys this is uh we we've worked with these guys for years um i i i think the numbers change from state to state if i recall in terms of what how much assistance they give and different things but the package they're offering you solid i mean you're looking at it and you're you're going this looks good you're you're kind of almost like it's too good you're kind of worried right yes sir yeah i think the i think the downside is is you were going to be in the military and that means they own your butt right yeah I don't have a problem with that.

[904] My father was a member of the Air Force, so I have no issue of serving my country at all.

[905] The only slight hold -up I had is my contract starts immediately when I signed like this October, so I'll be done, I'll be getting three years done on in college.

[906] But the last three years, I'll be doing while I have my career.

[907] And I know legally jobs can't say no to hiring, but I'm still just a little.

[908] No, we hire, we got several folks in that.

[909] We just got an award from them for our employees when they go out.

[910] out, we pay them.

[911] We keep paying them.

[912] We, we, that's one way that we're sure our patriotism here at Ramsey.

[913] So there's some jobs that not only that are, that go the other way, like they're really proud to have you on.

[914] Yeah.

[915] And proud that you're not here.

[916] I mean, some of our guys are, one of my tech guys the other day stepped out.

[917] He was gone for a period of time with the guard and then came back.

[918] And he and I were talking about it at lunch.

[919] And, uh, but they came the other day and gave, gave Ramsey an award for this for the number of times that we've supported our guard people when they go out.

[920] And so, yeah, that's, but there are, there are actual Americans that are proud to support you and that own businesses out here like me. That's right.

[921] And so, but yeah, I don't think it's a hold up.

[922] No, I wouldn't hold that up a bit.

[923] As long as you get the idea that, you know, you're not, I hate the military, but I'm doing this for the money.

[924] I wouldn't do that.

[925] Right.

[926] But I'm not hearing that at all with you.

[927] You don't want to serve your country, your parent, your dad was in the forces.

[928] And so, yeah, I, Luke, I think it's brilliant, brilliant.

[929] I'm totally signing on for this.

[930] Yeah, you know, this is, I'm not going to get into policy here, but, you know, we've got this, the federal government, Dave, is in the banking business in the onerous student loan program.

[931] And they, you know, certain administrations will make it a political football and yet not shut the program down.

[932] But this, to me, there's something here.

[933] And I've long felt like we need some type of national service program, whether it's in the military or something else.

[934] And I love this option.

[935] I wish more young people would do this to come back.

[936] the rising tuition costs and not be stuck with generations of debt.

[937] This is such a viable option and good because you become a part of something far bigger than yourself.

[938] I love this program.

[939] You know, until you said that just then, in my entire life, I have never thought until just this second that if you want your student loans forgiven, that you go serve your country for a period of time and we will forgive some of them, that might be a student loan forgiveness program I could actually get behind.

[940] I think millions of Americans would get behind it.

[941] I would get behind it.

[942] Yeah.

[943] But I'm sitting on my butt and I'm a victim.

[944] Right.

[945] And so you need to forgive my loans.

[946] I really have trouble getting behind that one.

[947] I don't like that one either.

[948] I paid mine off.

[949] You should pay yours.

[950] It's not fair.

[951] People like me finally get to say it's not fair.

[952] You don't get to say that.

[953] You're not allowed.

[954] Fair is where the tilter whirl is and the cotton candy.

[955] So that's where fair is.

[956] Open phones at AAA 825 -2 -25 -2 -25.

[957] Maddie is in Phoenix.

[958] Hey, Maddie, welcome to The Ramsey Show.

[959] Hi.

[960] So, a little backstory on me. I'm 26 years old.

[961] I work as a pharmacist for a retail chain.

[962] I'm currently on Baby Step 4.

[963] Good for you.

[964] So you're a pharmacist.

[965] That's correct.

[966] Way to go.

[967] And you're out of debt.

[968] No pharmacy school debt.

[969] I know.

[970] It only took 18 months to pay off.

[971] You are a rock star, kiddo.

[972] That's awesome.

[973] Very good.

[974] How can we help you?

[975] So the store I currently work for only gives me 32 hours, which is not enough hours for me. And that's pretty standard amongst all of their stores.

[976] But I do go to a busy store that has a little bit more hours to make up the 40.

[977] And I often pick up.

[978] Well, the busy store I work at, they're a, One of their pharmacy positions is opening up, and I have been asked to apply to it.

[979] So this would be a guaranteed 40 hours every single week.

[980] I could still pick up if I wanted to.

[981] It would be about $28 ,000 more a year.

[982] What are we waiting on?

[983] Why are we saying yes?

[984] Why did you even have to ask?

[985] Wait, I can actually work a whole 40 hours and make $28 ,000 more and work while I'm at work because they're busy.

[986] instead of sitting on your butt while you're at work.

[987] Yes, go take the job, kiddo.

[988] It's just a very stressful store as well.

[989] You're counting pills.

[990] What's stressful?

[991] It's a lot more of that.

[992] You know, I deal with insurance.

[993] I deal with people who don't feel good.

[994] Okay, let me dive right in on this.

[995] Okay, Maddie, let me die right on this.

[996] Do you know...

[997] It's what you went to school for.

[998] That's right.

[999] But if it's more intense, do you know how to actually handle that once you're done working?

[1000] do you know how to eat right exercise have a hobby get sleep these are the things that allow you to handle a high pressure job can you do that's i'm working on it you know what mattie you you have already proven you're the kind of person that can handle this you're not a weak sister yeah you can do this it's not it's 40 hours you have what it takes 40 hours yeah you can do this you you got what it takes you need to go do this you're already signing up for this kind of stuff anyway because there's not challenging you at the other place.

[1001] Don't you hear yourself?

[1002] You've already done this.

[1003] So go do it.

[1004] Yes, go take the money.

[1005] Good job.

[1006] Proud of you.

[1007] Ken Coleman, Ramsey Personality is my co -host today.

[1008] He and all the other Ramsey personalities along with me will be on a seven -day cruise.

[1009] The Ramsey Cruise, the Live Like No One Else Cruise.

[1010] For those of you that are baby stepped four and beyond and are ready to do vacations and strike some milestones, live like no one else, so that later are you.

[1011] You can now go on the Live Like No One Else Cruise.

[1012] There you go.

[1013] We're going to be doing this in March.

[1014] That's March 22nd through the 29th.

[1015] And it's all the Ramsey personalities on there all week long, along with my friend Stephen Curtis Chapman, Grammy Award winning, Dove Award winning.

[1016] And Ken, I was with Stephen Monday night at my house of the thing.

[1017] And he just got inducted into the Grand Ole Opera.

[1018] On his Instagram.

[1019] What a cool moment.

[1020] Grand Ole upper, first Christian, major Christian artist to get inducted in the Grand Ole I saw that.

[1021] Really cool.

[1022] Really fun stuff.

[1023] Proud of him.

[1024] And so he'll be with us.

[1025] And Manit Shohan from the Food Channel, famous Iron Chef will be with us.

[1026] She's a great entrepreneur.

[1027] owns a bunch of restaurants here in Nashville.

[1028] He's a good friend.

[1029] We'll be doing some cooking demonstrations.

[1030] Dina Carter, famous country artists as well, tons of other entertainers.

[1031] And all of us will be doing events and talks on the ship.

[1032] There won't be any regular dancing poodle people on the ship.

[1033] We'll just will be it.

[1034] Hey, I have some breaking news, though, Dave.

[1035] Oh, what's that?

[1036] This might hit a small percentage of the folks that want to come, because it's going to sell out quick, by the way.

[1037] You've got to move.

[1038] But I found out from the actual cruise line themselves, I took a shot, and I said, is there a pickleball court on this cruise?

[1039] And I'm happy to report that there is a pickleball court or courts on this ship.

[1040] So I will not be at the pool.

[1041] You will find me when not speaking or saying hi to folks.

[1042] I will be hosting holding court literally, Dave.

[1043] We can teach it, we can compete, all levels, fun.

[1044] We're there to make our fans feel better by beating you.

[1045] No, I'll teach them.

[1046] I just, I got to tell you, James, I'm so excited.

[1047] So this is a fact.

[1048] If you're thinking about coming, you're going, wait a second, I won't miss my weekly pickleball game.

[1049] There you go.

[1050] And I maybe get Dave out there.

[1051] Can you, will you commit to playing one game?

[1052] Absolutely not.

[1053] What?

[1054] Not a chance.

[1055] I don't know, folks.

[1056] I'm telling you, it's the number one thing that puts men over 55 in the emergency room.

[1057] Well, they have doctors on board.

[1058] It's going to be fine.

[1059] I know.

[1060] That's what I need.

[1061] We'll put you in an air cast.

[1062] Dadgum pickleball injury.

[1063] That would be embarrassing.

[1064] All right.

[1065] So Turks and Caicos, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas.

[1066] We would love to have you come with us.

[1067] We're going to have a lot of fun.

[1068] My wife, Sharon, I'll be there the whole week.

[1069] Ramsey Solutions .com slash cruise.

[1070] You can put down a $600 deposit.

[1071] There is just a few cabins left.

[1072] It is almost gone.

[1073] You're going to hear us quit talking about.

[1074] it and then you're going to go oh I missed it and then you're going to have FOMO or whatever they call that and you're going to wish you could have come and then you're going to do another one Dave and I'm probably not so don't miss this one I'm telling you that this is great it's Holland America it's a high -end ship this is not one of those Cheapos this is not Walmart on the seas this is a great great high -end thing I don't do that stuff I do nice stuff so come hang out with this guys it's going to be fun all right letrice is with us in Detroit hi Lettrice, how are you?

[1075] Hi, how you doing, Dave?

[1076] Better than I deserve.

[1077] What's up in your world?

[1078] Just kind of going through with Capital One, so to make this short, Capital One did pursue me legally to pretty much get payment for a credit revolving credit card that went negative just because I went through economic hardship.

[1079] We've been to court once.

[1080] They asked, could I settle for the overall debt with legal fees was $7 ,000, and they wanted me to settle out for $6 ,000.

[1081] $6 ,000 with interest incurring.

[1082] I told them that I could not afford that as my health is not, you know, you need sustainable employment right now because I can't stand up so I'm still on a job hunt and it's just causing me a great financial deficit.

[1083] You don't have a job?

[1084] Yes, I do have a job.

[1085] Oh, you do have a job.

[1086] Yeah, but it's it doesn't bring in much.

[1087] It's only part time because of just the way my physical health is set up right now.

[1088] What's wrong with your physical health?

[1089] Basically, I'm suffering from a heart murmur, and also I was in a bad car accident, and I have one of my spinal discs is located, and I'm supposed to have a surgery, so it's hard for me to stand.

[1090] Wow.

[1091] How long ago was the car wreck?

[1092] It was 2020 to the end of the summer.

[1093] I want to say August.

[1094] I'm sorry.

[1095] That back stuff is so painful.

[1096] I'm so sorry.

[1097] Yeah, I'm suffering a lot.

[1098] When's the surgery?

[1099] I'm scheduled to have it in October.

[1100] I'm looking for my official date.

[1101] My physician is supposed to contact me to let me know that official date, but I know it's in October.

[1102] And what can you do to earn some money until you get the surgery?

[1103] Because you're suffering because you have no income.

[1104] Yeah, basically, you know.

[1105] Capital one is not your problem.

[1106] You have no income is your problem.

[1107] Yes, but I was.

[1108] A family member was actually able to help me, and I was able to, you know, gather up $2 ,000 and I asked them would they settle out with me and I actually filed a second motion and they pretty much denied it.

[1109] It was in installment payment and so now they're trying to go for the full amount and I guess I'm trying to figure where are they going to get the full amount?

[1110] You don't have it and you don't even have a job they could do.

[1111] They don't garnish a part -time jobs.

[1112] Okay.

[1113] What are you making right now in your part -time job per hour?

[1114] I'm making about $20.

[1115] And what are you doing for that?

[1116] the work?

[1117] So basically I'm doing fulfillment of warehouse work.

[1118] Are you sitting down doing the fulfillment work on a chair?

[1119] No. So you're standing?

[1120] No. That's why the part time.

[1121] Yes.

[1122] Okay.

[1123] Can you drive your car with not too much discomfort?

[1124] Can you drive your car?

[1125] Not really, no. You can't drive.

[1126] No. Someone's driving you to and from work?

[1127] Yeah.

[1128] Okay.

[1129] I mean, here's my point.

[1130] I understand.

[1131] I've had back injuries, really rough stuff before where you can't even move.

[1132] I get that.

[1133] But the fact that you're part -time, you're able to do something that you're standing doing fulfillment, I would be looking at call service work.

[1134] That's customer service stuff where you're answering the phone following a script.

[1135] Can you be a receptionist and just be smiling and say hi and sit down behind a desk and welcome people at a small business?

[1136] I mean, Latrice, this is serious business.

[1137] And I think you can do more than you're doing it.

[1138] And I'm not being unkind.

[1139] And anyway, nor am I in any way overlooking the injury, but you can do more.

[1140] And at $20 an hour part time, you've proven that you can do that.

[1141] Yeah, that's pretty impressive that you're doing that.

[1142] So, yeah, I'm going to do anything I can to get my income up, and then I'm going to up the offer because I'm going to have some cash to stack on top of the $2 ,000, and I'll up the offer to $3 ,000 or $4 ,000.

[1143] In the meantime, Honey Capital One can't do anything.

[1144] You can't get blood out of a rock, and right now you're a rock.

[1145] can't get blood out of a tournament you can turn up you can hit a brick with a hammer but it doesn't do anything and so they can't get money that you don't have there's nothing and there's no debtors prison they're not going to put you in prison there's no such thing so you have been very proactive and have engaged with them and it might have given them false hope that you're actually going to come up with the whole thing you're not so all from 2000 and say hey I'm over here I can do 2000 if you want to call me back.

[1146] Meantime, good luck collecting this because I got no money.

[1147] And the 2000 is not even in my name.

[1148] It's sitting in my relative's name.

[1149] So you can't even get it.

[1150] So I'm going to go to work.

[1151] I'm going to get my back fixed.

[1152] I'm going to pile up some money.

[1153] I'll call you back when I got a little more money.

[1154] We'll try to do this again.

[1155] But in no case, am I going to be paying you $7 ,000 or $6 ,000 or the whole thing?

[1156] You can, you can just bite my ankle.

[1157] It's not happening.

[1158] Okay.

[1159] And just, you know, walk away there's nothing they can do just like a dog chasing a car nothing they can do and they catch it they don't know what to do with it so um it's the same thing that's exactly where you are so uh you're what we in the business call judgment proof they can't do anything with their judgment because you're broke there's nothing to get now you go get a big time full -time job they may figure out where that is don't tell them don't volunteer any of the thing about your employment to them ever in this until they're never and never do they ever need to know where you work the rest of your life and you're not required to tell them so i would just ignore their butts and there's nothing they can do about it because you're you know what we got somebody with a broken back who works part time good luck so um i just tell them to wait and you know you can take the two thousand or you can wait and i'll try to get you some more and we'll try to do it later i'll call you back when i got three and then i'll call you back when i got four and um but eventually you're going to have to say yes because i'm not going to do anything else and that that'll work out for you that's what you got to do i'm sorry you're facing all this but yeah anything you can do to get your income up anything you can do to uh get a long -term career path going here that works that's a smart move this is the ramsie show live from the headquarters of ramsie solutions it's the ramsie show where we help people build wealth do work that they love and create actual amazing relationships.

[1160] Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co -host today.

[1161] This hour is a baby steps millionaires theme hour.

[1162] What does that mean?

[1163] It means we're going to talk to actual millionaires, not your broke brother -in -law with an opinion.

[1164] We want to talk to people who actually have a net worth of one million dollars or greater, learn a little bit about them.

[1165] And, uh, you can listen in and say, gosh, I could do that.

[1166] I could be like that person.

[1167] This is an hour about hope because we have discovered that the typical millionaire in America started from nothing and became a millionaire.

[1168] And we're going to walk you through that.

[1169] We'll help you with this because there's a lot of misinformation lies out there about wealth where it comes from.

[1170] It's all inherited.

[1171] No, it's not.

[1172] That's just not the facts.

[1173] and I can prove it to you, and I'll walk you through it this hour.

[1174] So if you have a millionaire net worth, a net worth of $1 million or greater, call us, we want to talk to you and interview you and learn a little bit about you.

[1175] Folks, let me help you with this.

[1176] One of the things that gets confused out there is the definition of a millionaire.

[1177] There's only one definition.

[1178] This is an accounting definition.

[1179] There's the only one.

[1180] Net worth millionaire is redundant because net worth is how you measure, whether you're a millionaire.

[1181] So there's not a different kind of millionaire and a net worth millionaire.

[1182] There's only a millionaire whose net worth is greater than a million dollars.

[1183] So by definition, they're the same thing.

[1184] So there's no such thing as an income millionaire.

[1185] You can make a million dollars a year, but that doesn't make you a millionaire.

[1186] What makes you a millionaire is if what you own minus what you owe, your assets minus your liabilities equals one million dollars or more you are by definition of millionaire.

[1187] Well, people shouldn't have that much money.

[1188] It's not a moral construct.

[1189] It's a math thing, darling.

[1190] It's too difficult.

[1191] It can't million dollars isn't enough in this inflationary market.

[1192] It's not a question of that.

[1193] The question is, do you have a million dollars?

[1194] That's the only question we're talking about here.

[1195] You have a million dollars worth of assets in exceeding your liabilities.

[1196] That is the definition.

[1197] You can like it, not like it, agree with it, not agree with it.

[1198] This is not a feeling.

[1199] It's a math thing.

[1200] And then we want to learn how you got there.

[1201] where'd the money come from you inherit from your rich uncle how'd you get your money so that's what we're doing the phone number here is triple eight eight two five five two two five our first millionaire is in flint michigan dave what is your net worth hi dave my net worth is around 2 .3 million good for you can you give me a little bit of breakdown by category how much in retirement how much in house and so on all right so So $750 ,000 is the assessed value of my paid -off home, and the rest of that is spread across some high -yield savings accounts, a Charles Schwab stock account, a brokerage account, some 401Ks, and my wife has a 403B as a public education.

[1202] Okay, so you've got about a million and a half in investments.

[1203] Yes, sir.

[1204] And most of that, it sounds like it's 401K.

[1205] Actually, as a business owner, I'm kind of, most of it is in my brokerage account because I don't qualify for the Roth IRAs.

[1206] Okay, I got you.

[1207] Okay.

[1208] Good, good for you.

[1209] Well done.

[1210] How old are you?

[1211] 51.

[1212] How much of this did you inherit?

[1213] Zero.

[1214] Zero.

[1215] Since you've been working as an adult, what has been your best year of income and your worst year of income?

[1216] So my worst year of income was $32 ,000, and my best year was $855 ,000.

[1217] Holy!

[1218] What do you do?

[1219] Oh, you own a business.

[1220] What's your business do?

[1221] So two businesses, I have an electrical contracting business, and I have a overhead door contracting business.

[1222] Gotcha.

[1223] He's in the trades, folks.

[1224] I love it.

[1225] You got a four -year degree?

[1226] I do not.

[1227] Okay.

[1228] How school?

[1229] I went to trade school to be an electrician.

[1230] Okay, trade school.

[1231] All right.

[1232] And you made $855 ,000 one year.

[1233] Yeah, there we go.

[1234] Okay, I like this.

[1235] I like this.

[1236] Well done.

[1237] Okay.

[1238] So, what do you drive?

[1239] I drive a GMC Sierra pickup truck.

[1240] How old?

[1241] A year.

[1242] A year old.

[1243] Okay, what's your wife drive?

[1244] What's your wife drive?

[1245] Chevy Travers.

[1246] Okay.

[1247] And how old is it?

[1248] uh it's four years old okay and you have 2 .3 million dollars okay yes sir good all right just making sure people are hearing this this is what it sounds like to be a millionaire in america right now this is exactly what it sounds like well done do you think people can still do this dave in america now uh absolutely okay very cool without a doubt good why why why so strong in that opinion uh basically because i didn't think i could get there until uh until I did it.

[1249] I never thought I had an opportunity to be where I'm at today.

[1250] It still amazes me. Ken, I would go, thank you, Dave.

[1251] You're a hero.

[1252] I'm proud of you.

[1253] I would go so far as to say the trades are in such desperate demand right now.

[1254] Yeah.

[1255] That if you go his route, you're probably more likely to get there than it was when he did it.

[1256] There's no question today.

[1257] Here's what happens.

[1258] This is the progression.

[1259] You get in.

[1260] You make really good money.

[1261] You're not saddled with students.

[1262] student loan debt, you learn a skill, you get really good at it, you keep moving up the ladder, and then all of a sudden an opportunity pops up to where you can start your own business.

[1263] And now you're like a Dave where your best year you make $800 ,000 and you're also a small business employer.

[1264] It's 51 years old with $2 .3 million starting from nothing.

[1265] That's going to turn into a whole lot more money over the next 30 years.

[1266] So because of all the leftist communist crap that is spread out there in America, right now.

[1267] We decided a few years ago we were going to do the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America.

[1268] We studied not just people that knew who Dave Ramsey were, but in general.

[1269] We had studied 10 ,000 millionaires.

[1270] We ended up talking to 10 ,167 of them.

[1271] And in detail, we had an outside research firm looking over our shoulder to make sure there wasn't confirmation bias or other survey, other research problems.

[1272] Our research techniques were airtight because we knew the lefties would be pissed off and they knew then we knew they would question the validity of the study this study is so airtight that it's what's known as a fact the conclusions of this study if you disagree with them you're what's known as wrong in other words okay so 79 % of america's millionaires inherited precisely nothing like dave our last caller another five percent inherited money but it was like five thousand bucks from grandmother It wasn't enough to mathematically make you a millionaire.

[1273] Another 5 % received a substantial inheritance, like $250 ,000 or something from Grandma, after they were already millionaires.

[1274] So let me help you with this.

[1275] 79 plus 5 plus 5 is 89 % of America's millionaires are not millionaires because of inherited money.

[1276] They're millionaires because they lived on less than they made.

[1277] They funded their 401k, they got their house paid off, and they used common sense over an extended period of time of their life.

[1278] The typical millionaire is 48 to 51 years old.

[1279] Dave fits the profile perfectly, our last caller.

[1280] We did not tell Dave what to say.

[1281] He just happened to fit what we discovered very closely.

[1282] We talked to some 25 -year -old millionaires.

[1283] We talked to some 85 -year -old millionaires, but the typical profile we talked to falls in that late 40s early 50s range and by the way if you're a millionaire by then you're going to be worth 10 million when you die so that's how that works just to help you with the math this is a baby steps theme hour kidn coleman ramsy personality is my co -host today this is a baby steps millionaires theme hour we're talking to actual millionaires Alex is one in green bay Wisconsin.

[1284] Alex, what's your net worth?

[1285] Oh, hey, Dave.

[1286] Net worth $2 ,000, $2 ,122 .12.

[1287] I love it.

[1288] Okay, give me a little breakdown by category, home, retirement, and so forth.

[1289] Sure.

[1290] My house, paid for house, $475 ,000.

[1291] I've got about $63 ,000 in cash, about $75 ,000 in just cash in a brokerage, mutual funds, $75 ,000.

[1292] $7 ,000.

[1293] $5 ,000 for the kids college.

[1294] I've got about $1 .3 million in different retirement funds, IRAs, 401Ks, have an ESOP.

[1295] My wife has a pension as a teacher, and then about $20 ,000 or so in health savings.

[1296] Well done.

[1297] How old are you?

[1298] 42.

[1299] 42.

[1300] How much of this did you inherit?

[1301] Zero.

[1302] Okay.

[1303] Okay.

[1304] And since you've been working as an adult, what was your best year earnings and your worst year earnings?

[1305] Yeah, my wife and I together are, I guess, our worst year, the first year we got married, was about $60 ,000.

[1306] We had entry -level jobs.

[1307] And then my highest year in the last couple of years, we together were at $290 ,000.

[1308] Good for you.

[1309] And what's your career?

[1310] I'm in residential construction, the construction industry, and my wife's a teacher, a high school science teacher.

[1311] Okay.

[1312] All right, cool.

[1313] You got a four -year degree?

[1314] I do, but at first I went to a trade school, got that two -year degree in residential design, and just worked my way up on a company that was willing to pay for a four -year degree.

[1315] And I got that four -year degree in industrial management.

[1316] Got it.

[1317] What was your GPA?

[1318] I want to say it was right around 3 .9.

[1319] 3 .9?

[1320] Yes.

[1321] Show off.

[1322] Yeah.

[1323] You were an adult student.

[1324] There's no beer involved in that number.

[1325] My wife's the winner.

[1326] She got a 4 .0 on her.

[1327] Oh, there we go.

[1328] Make it stop.

[1329] I love it.

[1330] What advice would you have for the younger version of you that's listening this 22 or 23 years old right now?

[1331] Can they still do this and what should they do?

[1332] Oh, heck yeah.

[1333] they can do it.

[1334] I mean, be educated, be a champion for yourself.

[1335] There's going to be a lot of chaff out there, a lot of people that are going to tell you what they think you should do with your money.

[1336] My advice to me, again, if I were to go back, is just stay the course.

[1337] I'd like to, I told my kids as they're starting to learn about money.

[1338] Now, I was 16 when I finally had some W -2 wages, and I think I took most of my wages, and I want to say that at the time was like $500, and my dad said, hey, you've got to put this in a Roth IRA.

[1339] So at 16, I put my $500 into a Roth, not knowing what it was going to do.

[1340] And as a matter of fact, I saved that statement as I moved houses here a few years ago, found it in a pile of papers.

[1341] But I showed my son, right?

[1342] That $500 is at 8 % S &P.

[1343] I mean, it was like $12 ,000.

[1344] And I've done $500 into my Ross and my retirements, you know, five, six, seven hundred times over in the past 30 years or so.

[1345] Yeah.

[1346] And it's just huge.

[1347] Yeah, you're loaded.

[1348] Yeah, the 1 .3 in retirement, you've loaded that up.

[1349] You did a great job.

[1350] Well done, Alex.

[1351] Well done.

[1352] What do you drive?

[1353] An O2F150.

[1354] Oh, two.

[1355] Dude, that's old.

[1356] Hey, you need a truck.

[1357] Oh, come on now.

[1358] You need to upgrade your truck.

[1359] You got $2 million.

[1360] Okay, so what's your wife drive?

[1361] An 05 forward focus.

[1362] God, y 'all.

[1363] A focus?

[1364] Geez, man. Don't you love your wife?

[1365] Oh, my gosh.

[1366] Yeah, that thing.

[1367] That thing, that's awful.

[1368] I'm kidding with you.

[1369] But hey, do, do seriously.

[1370] Most of the millionaires I meet with when they're your age and they hit this, the thing you guys are the worst at is upgrading your cars.

[1371] And you really can't afford it now.

[1372] I mean, it's, God, a mighty.

[1373] A focus.

[1374] Yeah, way to go, dude.

[1375] I'm so proud of you.

[1376] Thanks for letting me make fun of you.

[1377] Open phones here at AAA 8255 -225.

[1378] If you have a million dollar or greater net worth, we want to talk to you.

[1379] Amy is a millionaire in Dallas, Texas.

[1380] Amy, what's your net worth?

[1381] Hi, yes, sir.

[1382] My net worth is $3 .1 million.

[1383] Give me a little breakdown by category.

[1384] How much by house, retirement, and so on?

[1385] Sure.

[1386] One million in our 401ks, $500 ,000 for our house, $900 ,000 in company stock, $400 ,000 in non -retirement investments like brokerage accounts, and then $200 ,000 in Roth IRAs and about $100 ,000 cash.

[1387] Way to go.

[1388] I love this.

[1389] How old are you?

[1390] I'm 35.

[1391] My husband's 34.

[1392] Wow.

[1393] Look at you.

[1394] Way to go.

[1395] How much of this did you inherit?

[1396] I think my husband inherited a little less than $50 ,000 after we've been married for a while.

[1397] So obviously after we were already millionaires.

[1398] Okay.

[1399] So you were not, you're not millionaires because of an inheritance?

[1400] Correct.

[1401] Just make sure the lefties hear this.

[1402] Okay.

[1403] Yeah.

[1404] All right.

[1405] And now, so since you've been working as adults, what's your best year working income and your worst year working income?

[1406] So obviously we started out separately.

[1407] So we started out like individually making about $60 ,000 each.

[1408] when we combined, it was about 120.

[1409] And then our best year was $375 ,000 plus bonuses in equity.

[1410] Okay, cool.

[1411] What do y 'all do?

[1412] We both have electrical engineering degrees.

[1413] Okay.

[1414] All right.

[1415] Is that what you do?

[1416] Yes, yes.

[1417] That's a very broad field, but, yeah, so we're both engineers, working engineers, yes.

[1418] Gotcha, okay.

[1419] And it got you into some positions where you got some stock options and everything else.

[1420] Well done.

[1421] Okay, cool.

[1422] So your degrees are obviously in engineering, electrical engineering, to be specific.

[1423] What was your GPA?

[1424] Mine was 3 .4.

[1425] His was 3 .1.

[1426] Now we know how this works.

[1427] Now it works at your house.

[1428] You have proof of anything.

[1429] I love it.

[1430] Very fun.

[1431] So we found the top five categories of careers in the most often occurring in the 10 ,167 millionaires.

[1432] Number one was engineer.

[1433] Yes, sir.

[1434] Now, number two was accountant.

[1435] Number three was teacher.

[1436] Number four was a lawyer and number, I'm sorry, business executive.

[1437] Number five was lawyer.

[1438] Medical doctor didn't even make the top five.

[1439] Teacher beat them.

[1440] And engineer is the top of the heap.

[1441] You're right there.

[1442] And you doubled up on the engineer thing here.

[1443] Yeah, and so at 35 years old, you're worth $3 .1 million.

[1444] That's amazing.

[1445] What would you tell somebody that's in school studying engineering?

[1446] Is it still possible in America?

[1447] or is the dream dead?

[1448] I tell even my cousin who's a sister that, or my cousin who's a teacher, it's still possible.

[1449] But I think I might be repeating you, Mr. Ramsey, but no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it yields the harvest of righteousness.

[1450] Well, that would be the Bible you're repeating, but yeah, let's get it.

[1451] Fair enough.

[1452] It's fine.

[1453] Torneth always wins.

[1454] Yeah, there we go.

[1455] That would be me. Yeah, okay.

[1456] Yeah, that's exactly it.

[1457] Yeah, you guys just, you've used your systematic, your brains are built for systems, and you use the system.

[1458] I also play basketball, so I got to have a game plan.

[1459] There it is.

[1460] Got to have a system.

[1461] Got to have a plan and execute, and you did it.

[1462] You did it beautifully.

[1463] All right, what do you drive?

[1464] I drive a Chevy Impala, 2017.

[1465] Be nice, Dave.

[1466] 05 GTO.

[1467] Oh, boy.

[1468] That's a fun car, but we did splurge a little bit a couple years ago.

[1469] as a family car, we bought a 2021 Yukon.

[1470] Good.

[1471] Oh, there we go.

[1472] Thank God.

[1473] Okay.

[1474] We'll catch.

[1475] Dave did not like the Impala.

[1476] He doesn't like the Ford Focus.

[1477] I don't mind that.

[1478] Impala's not a bad car.

[1479] It's just, you got $3 million freaking dollars.

[1480] I mean, so, yeah, it's just, this is a pattern.

[1481] Yeah.

[1482] So, let's do this one.

[1483] Here's a fun one.

[1484] What's the most expensive pair of jeans you've ever bought?

[1485] Ooh, I hate spending money on clothes.

[1486] I'm not the typical girl, so maybe $25.

[1487] Wow.

[1488] What about your husband?

[1489] Same.

[1490] What do you get $25 blue jeans?

[1491] Walmart.

[1492] On sale.

[1493] With a coupon.

[1494] 3 .1 million net worth when you're 35.

[1495] Are you people out there learning anything?

[1496] Everybody say, go Amy, go Amy, go Amy.

[1497] Wow, you're incredible hero.

[1498] I love you.

[1499] I'm proud of you.

[1500] Good work.

[1501] Very well done.

[1502] is a baby steps millionaire's theme hour Ken Coleman Ramsey personality is my co -host this is a baby steps millionaires theme hour thanks for hanging out with us Amy said it a minute ago the best way to win a game is to have a game plan no one wins or is successful at any area of their life accidentally winning is not an accidental event it's a series of good choices following a proven process a game plan when you do that with your money each month.

[1503] It's called a budget.

[1504] Tell your money what to do instead of wondering where it went.

[1505] My friend Zig Zigler used to say, if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.

[1506] And so you need to write it down.

[1507] You need to have a game plan for your money.

[1508] And the world's best budgeting app is called Every Dollar.

[1509] It is free to download at the app store or Google Play.

[1510] Or you can go to Everydollar .com.

[1511] You can spend a little bit with it and we'll put you through the baby steps, a paycheck planning thing, and hook you up to your bank, and it starts to do all kinds of fancy, fancy things.

[1512] Millions and millions and millions of people are using this.

[1513] Every dollar.

[1514] Check it out in the app store.

[1515] Damon is with us.

[1516] Damon is in Oklahoma City.

[1517] Damon, what's your net worth?

[1518] About 1 .6 million, Dave.

[1519] Good for you.

[1520] And what is your breakdown by category a little bit for me?

[1521] So I've got about 700 ,000 in my TSP, about 100 ,000 in Ross.

[1522] For my wife and I, I've got about 400 ,000 in rental real estate, and the rest is in cash.

[1523] Okay.

[1524] And I'm sorry, my personal residence is worth about 360.

[1525] Okay, all right, there you go.

[1526] Good for you.

[1527] Very cool.

[1528] How old are you?

[1529] I'm 45.

[1530] All right, good.

[1531] another young millionaire here how much of this did you inherit uh we inherited about uh 10 ,000 dollars about 15 years ago and we used that to pay off our house if we were on a plan to pay off our first house and in about 70 months and we did it in 60.

[1532] Okay so but so mathematically you're not a millionaire because of a 10 ,000 dollar inheritance though oh no no it just it just sped things up for us for about six months.

[1533] That's excellent.

[1534] Good.

[1535] What is the, since you've been working as an adult, what was your best year of income and your worst year of income?

[1536] My best year of income will be this year, probably about 155.

[1537] And then our first year of marriage, which would be 26 years ago tomorrow, we made a grand total of $14 ,000.

[1538] Well, happy anniversary.

[1539] Good for you.

[1540] What do you do for living?

[1541] I'm a criminal investigator for the federal government and a certified fraud examiner.

[1542] Oh, cool.

[1543] Okay.

[1544] For your degree?

[1545] Yes, in criminal justice.

[1546] Of course.

[1547] Okay.

[1548] And you're a GPA?

[1549] My GPA was 3 .7, but my wife's was a 4 .0.

[1550] There's a pattern here.

[1551] All these millionaires marry women smarter than they are.

[1552] I'm just saying, okay.

[1553] I'm kidding.

[1554] But, yeah, are more studious.

[1555] something yeah way to go man congratulations okay so you're 45 years old you have a 1 .6 million net worth can this still be done if you're talking to a 25 year old 20 years younger than you absolutely uh and in my household i've got a great example my son is 18 years old he just graduated from high school he started a lawn mowing business when he was 14 uh he's got 50 000 saved right now.

[1556] His plan is to stay at home while he goes to trade school for two years, and he wants to save about 40 or 50 percent to put a down payment on a duplex.

[1557] Wow.

[1558] What trade school is he going to?

[1559] He's going to learn to be an aircraft mechanic.

[1560] Oh, very good.

[1561] What's that starting salary?

[1562] Starting salary is around 70 ,000 for that, and they've told us, and I've talked to other people that within two years, you're making $6 ,000.

[1563] figures yeah yeah that's more like it yeah that's very cool wow very cool what do you drive i drive a 2 ,800 with 160 000 miles on it good lord and what's your wife drive she drives a 10 -year -old minivan with 150 ,000 miles on it okay would you please get your wife a good car well we still have a car that has a name we had one when we were in college it was uncle Jesse was an old white pickup and we carried on the tradition with my kids.

[1564] I've got two drivers and they drive, we bought a 98 Ultimobile and they call that Gam Gam, because it's a little old grandma called.

[1565] That's perfect.

[1566] And Uncle Jesse.

[1567] Well, like from the Dukes of Hazard.

[1568] I love that.

[1569] Yes.

[1570] That's great.

[1571] Yeah.

[1572] Oh, yeah.

[1573] He drove a white pickup.

[1574] He did.

[1575] I forgot that.

[1576] Yeah, it was an old white truck.

[1577] Yeah.

[1578] Okay.

[1579] Oh my gosh.

[1580] That's so fun.

[1581] What's the most you guys ever spent on jeans you or your wife oh i probably sent maybe 50 bucks on a pair of jeans uh my wife probably i spent oh 80 or 90 on a pair of jeans but she looks pretty good in them so i don't mind well played sir well played good move he did that on national radio and a podcast with millions of people listening smooth very smooth i like that way to go dude i'm proud of you good work Bill is in St. Louis.

[1582] Bill, your net worth.

[1583] Hey, Dave.

[1584] It's $1 .8 million.

[1585] Good for you.

[1586] And give me a little breakdown by category, please.

[1587] House and retirement and so on.

[1588] Yeah, the 401Ks from my wife and I, $1 .33 ,000.

[1589] Cash, $1 .45 ,000 and the house $3 ,000.

[1590] Gosh, good for you.

[1591] How old are you?

[1592] 58.

[1593] My wife's 54.

[1594] All right.

[1595] And how much of this did you inherit?

[1596] I did inherit some last year, but we were, 30 millionaires, so it didn't matter.

[1597] How much did you get?

[1598] 120.

[1599] Okay, substantial, but it was after you were already there.

[1600] So you're not a millionaire because of an inheritance, okay?

[1601] And since you've been working as an adult, what is your best year of household income and worst year?

[1602] Best year is now, it's 270 ,000, and when I started out, 24 ,000 in the military.

[1603] Gotcha.

[1604] Thanks for your service.

[1605] What's your career?

[1606] Logistics, both of us.

[1607] Logistics.

[1608] Very good.

[1609] Supplatching.

[1610] Yes, sir.

[1611] A degree in logistics?

[1612] I have a two -year degree, and my wife has a four -year degree.

[1613] Okay.

[1614] What was your GPA on your two -year?

[1615] Mine was probably three, and hers is, I want to be nice, because I don't know for sure, but three and a half.

[1616] Three point five.

[1617] Be careful, yeah.

[1618] That's right.

[1619] All right.

[1620] So there's a 23 -year -old listing, I promise you today, that is just coming out of school with a logistics degree, which I think, by the way, is an excellent.

[1621] degree right now to get supply chain huge right now so many guys are coming out of school making almost a hundred right now with a four -year degree in that field and they should because the service they provided these companies is incredible what you do is a very valuable ROI um can they still do this can they still be worth a million two million three million dollars when they're 58 yes sir Dave let me tell you something we didn't really start your program until about 11 years ago we paid off all our debt in a year and we started saving 15 % and we were able to accumulate this much wealth in that short of time.

[1622] Wow.

[1623] So you did this on a little over a decade?

[1624] Yes, sir.

[1625] That's pretty cool.

[1626] Good for you.

[1627] It can be done and I just tell people to do it early.

[1628] My daughter paid off her debt five years ago, I mean five years after we paid off ours and we came down to a debt -free scream on your stage together with her and now she's a physical therapist making $150 ,000 and she's death -free, so she's doing really good.

[1629] And my son and his wife are death -free as well, so it's all been passed on.

[1630] What do you drive?

[1631] I drive at 2015 Tacoma, and my wife drives a 2016 Lexus RX 200, and we paid cash for both of them.

[1632] Excellent.

[1633] Quick question for you, Bill, for a young person that doesn't want to get the four -year degree, can they still do the two -year associates like you did and get into a really attractive industry like logistics.

[1634] Is that path still there?

[1635] Absolutely.

[1636] The military, you know, I was in logistics for 20 years, and when I got out, it was fairly, I'm not going to say easy to get a job, but I knew some people, and I applied at the company.

[1637] I've been at the company for almost 20 years now after I got out of the military, and yeah, a great company, and yeah, you can do it.

[1638] No doubt.

[1639] If you have the experience, no doubt about it.

[1640] Yeah.

[1641] Way to go, man. Proud of you, Bill.

[1642] There's that military option again, Dave.

[1643] Good work.

[1644] Well, it's not a bad thing.

[1645] A lot of people that are very successful start their careers in the military.

[1646] Some of them conclude their careers in the military.

[1647] This is a Baby Steps Millionaire's theme hour on the Ramsey Show.

[1648] Our scripture of the day, Psalm 1832, it is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.

[1649] Jerry Seinfeld said, sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

[1650] Ken Coleman Ramsey Personality is my co -host today This is a baby steps Millionaire's theme hour One of the mythology things out there Is that you have to have a 4 .0 You have to be a genius to build wealth The truth is the average millionaire Has around a 3 .0 GPA Mine was 2 .97 I'm still pissed about that 3 -100s of a point Missed it by 3 -100s I think beer was involved, but yeah, the, um, yeah, because I was smart enough to do it for sure.

[1651] But anyway, the, uh, yeah, there you go.

[1652] So the typical millionaire, you know, we don't find people with a 1 .2 GPA.

[1653] You got to have some gray matter going on upstairs, right?

[1654] Dumb people really can't do it.

[1655] But, but you don't have to be like the valedictorian of the salutatorian.

[1656] As a matter of fact, there's some really sad research that just came out on those two, how they underperform in the marketplace.

[1657] place.

[1658] But sorry if you're the valedictorian or the salutatorium.

[1659] But anyway, yeah, it's, that's, you know, not always, but there's, it, it's not an indicator.

[1660] It's not an indicator.

[1661] So, there you go.

[1662] So, A, they're not geniuses.

[1663] No. B, they're not people that didn't have a life.

[1664] They have a life.

[1665] They're not entertainers, these millionaires.

[1666] They're not professional sports figures or Hollywood actors.

[1667] Less than 1 % of America's millionaires are celebrity types that you know who they are.

[1668] Hardly any of them.

[1669] Okay?

[1670] And so this should give you great hope.

[1671] It should tell you that it can be done because this is who does it.

[1672] And we talk to them every time we do this theme hour.

[1673] Nathan's in Salt Lake City.

[1674] Nathan, what is your net worth?

[1675] Hey, Dave.

[1676] It's right over $1 million.

[1677] Good for you.

[1678] And give me a little breakdown by category.

[1679] Sure.

[1680] It's about 610 ,000 in a home, about 320 in retirement, like 401k Roth IRA, 50 ,000 in cash, 40 ,000, 529, and about 20 ,000 in cars.

[1681] Way to go.

[1682] How old are you?

[1683] 41, and my wife is just a little bit younger than me. Okay, good.

[1684] You did it.

[1685] Why to go?

[1686] How much of this did you inherit?

[1687] Zero.

[1688] Zero.

[1689] And what was your, since an adult, what's your best year of income and your worst year of income as an adult?

[1690] Worst would be about 60 ,000 and best would be about 160.

[1691] Okay, cool.

[1692] What do you do?

[1693] Business intelligence.

[1694] Okay.

[1695] Very good.

[1696] Good for you.

[1697] Four year degree?

[1698] Master's in business.

[1699] Okay, MBA.

[1700] All right.

[1701] And what was your undergrad GPA?

[1702] Both undergrad and grad were about 3 .8.

[1703] Okay.

[1704] All right.

[1705] Good.

[1706] Good.

[1707] Yeah, you're unusually high.

[1708] Typically, people do better at grad school than they did in undergrad.

[1709] That's why I ask.

[1710] Somehow when you get to grad school is usually a little more serious, but you just, you evened it out, though.

[1711] Okay, good for you.

[1712] Good for you.

[1713] So, you know, a 20 year younger than you, 21 years old, getting ready to come out of school, can they still do this?

[1714] Or is the hope of wealth building in evil America gone?

[1715] No, it can absolutely be done.

[1716] Compound interest is a mystery.

[1717] So getting on it early is better.

[1718] My wife and I really didn't start until we were about 30, but once we started working your plan about four or five years ago, it really just picked up and picked up steam.

[1719] Wow, that's two in a row that in 11 years did this.

[1720] Yeah.

[1721] Yeah, that is really, really exciting for people to hear because they think they've got to have this 30 -year runway.

[1722] If they didn't do that, then they're way behind, and this proves that it's not the case.

[1723] Yeah.

[1724] Wow.

[1725] Well done, sir.

[1726] You're a hero.

[1727] I'm proud of you.

[1728] you.

[1729] Congratulations.

[1730] Brent is in Salem, Oregon.

[1731] Brent, what's your net worth?

[1732] 1 .58, Dave.

[1733] Got it.

[1734] And give me a little breakdown by category, please.

[1735] Yeah, you bet.

[1736] So 1 .15 of that is the house minus our mortgage.

[1737] So equity in the house is almost 900 ,000.

[1738] Okay.

[1739] We've got 105 in cash savings.

[1740] Got it.

[1741] We have about another 100 in college saving accounts for our two boys and another $467 ,000 in retirement account.

[1742] Gotcha.

[1743] Good.

[1744] How old are you?

[1745] 36 years old.

[1746] Good.

[1747] And how much of this did you inherit?

[1748] Lucky enough to inherit just shy of $100 ,000.

[1749] Were you already a millionaire?

[1750] No, I wasn't.

[1751] The story there with that 100 was that was earmarked for college.

[1752] So I was lucky enough my parents set up a college fund and ended up going to community college and in -state school.

[1753] So through some wise and smart college decisions was able to cash with my work and my parents were cash flow college.

[1754] And that 100 ,000 that was maybe supposed to be for college tuition ended up rolling into a house down payment.

[1755] Gotcha.

[1756] Good for you.

[1757] And what's your, as an adult, your best year of income and worst year of income?

[1758] Worst year of income would definitely be when we started your plan 13 years ago, $29 ,000 a year.

[1759] Both my, I was a full -time student.

[1760] My wife was the only one working at $14 an hour.

[1761] And best year would be right around $300 ,000 just over.

[1762] My wife worked at a startup and was able to, you know, be one of those great stories where they started, ended up selling, and we got a lump sum of about $100 ,000 at that time that definitely boosted our income for that one year.

[1763] Yeah, very cool.

[1764] What do you do for a living?

[1765] My wife works in marketing, and I work in operation.

[1766] Okay.

[1767] You got a four -year degree?

[1768] I do.

[1769] 3 .6 GPA in my four -year degree, but it took me five and a half years to get that four -year degree.

[1770] What's the degree in?

[1771] Um, just a minor in business and a major in social science.

[1772] Uh, college was, was tough, um, and kind of just did what I could to get through.

[1773] Good.

[1774] Way to go, man. 36 year old millionaire.

[1775] What do you drive?

[1776] Uh, 16 year old Toyota Tacoma.

[1777] They always laugh and say Toyota.

[1778] Yeah, the laugh, by the way, always lets us know that it's an older car.

[1779] Like, yeah.

[1780] It's a Toyota.

[1781] Yeah.

[1782] How many?

[1783] That's like four Tacomas.

[1784] I know.

[1785] I know.

[1786] This is like the, is it.

[1787] Is this the millionaire truck, the Tacoma?

[1788] Winston drives a Tacoma.

[1789] That's good.

[1790] Yeah.

[1791] Well, you know, you've got a very reliable brand there.

[1792] We've had a nice mix.

[1793] A lot of Chevys, a lot of Fords, the Toyota.

[1794] A lot of trucks.

[1795] A lot of trucks.

[1796] A lot of pickup trucks in these millionaires.

[1797] By the way, no electric cars, just want to point that out.

[1798] No Tesla's.

[1799] I didn't hear a single one.

[1800] Not one.

[1801] 51 years old, 42, 35, 45, 58, 41, 36.

[1802] The last three callers all did it.

[1803] in 13 years or 11 years from the time they started listening to us following the baby steps their baby steps millionaires that should give you guys hope out there that's what we're doing and uh 2 million network 2 .3 2 .1 3 .1 1 .6 1 .8 1 .8 1 million and 1 .5 8 this was a fairly young crew today to a 35 36 year old and a 41 that that's you know we didn't have a single one over 60 Yeah, that's a fairly young bunch today.

[1804] So very interesting.

[1805] And, you know, again, engineers, criminal justice, logistics, masters in business, business trades, construction.

[1806] One clear pattern, strong investment strategy.

[1807] The diverse and stable, and they've stayed with it, some longer than others, but there's a consistency there when we saw the breakdown, always a real.

[1808] really good investment strategy, very stable.

[1809] Yeah, the reason we do these things is because all of the hogwash that's out there running around in the media and on TikTok that the American dream is dead and that you can't do this anymore and it's more alive today than it has ever been in spite of the morons in Washington, not because of them.

[1810] Okay, so you guys out there, don't let people steal your hope.

[1811] don't let broke people that were trained by a communist college professor steal your hope it's not real this is real we were talking to real people here we didn't script any of this this is all did we talk and we've been doing this for years i've talked to thousands of these people you can do this guys you can do it that puts us our the ramses showing the books we'll be back with you before you know what in the meantime remember There's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

[1812] Hey, folks, Dave Ramsey here.

[1813] You know, budgeting doesn't have to be boring.

[1814] You just need a budgeting app that's made with you in mind, and that's Every Dollar.

[1815] The Every Dollar app has helped millions of people work the baby steps and take the stress out of planning and managing their money.

[1816] Start budgeting with Every Dollar for free right now.

[1817] Just go to Ramsey Solutions .com slash Every Dollar, and down.

[1818] download the app today.

[1819] That's ramsysolutions .com slash every dollar.