Transcript of Why You Need To Vote in Every Presidential Election

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. Number one, best selling author, host of the Rachel Cruze show, co host of the Smart Money Happy Hour, Ramsey personality. My daughter is my co host today. The Phone number is, Iple 882-55-5225. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. So Rachel, I'm going to do something that we don't do 99% of the time on this show. This show is about our callers and their opportunities, their problems, the things that we can help them with in general. We are neck deep in the middle of an election season and I'll be early voting this week and then I'm going to be away from the microphone a little while. So I'm going to take a minute here and walk you guys through something and just stay with me a minute. Okay, so here's the thing. Most people in America have already decided who they're going to vote for. You agree with that?

Yes.

The idea that there's a big block of undecided people out there wandering around is kind of absurd. Really. There's really not a bunch of people walking around with their head in the fog and go, oh, I think, I think all of a sudden I need to learn about this. It's like, no, they, you know about it, everybody's talking about it, it's everywhere. You can't get away from it. We're sick of it. We're tired of all these people. We're sick of the whole freaking thing. Most of us anyway, I mean, some of you are really into it, you're not sick of it. You just love every moment of it. And you're going to be desperately have a political hangover in the middle of November. But anyway, the rest of us are like, yeah, okay, we got it. We know what, we know what we're going to do and there's not a big block of undecideds that are going to swing this election. I'll tell you who I do want to address though. There is a large block of people that are not planning to vote at all. And I'm going to be straight with you. I think that's a mistake.

Okay. And I want to walk through with you just a basic decision making paradigm on that idea. So my friend Simon Sinek, who wrote the book Start with why Infinite Game, many others, we've spoken on stages together, we've been in think tanks together, we've Been friends for years. I follow him on Instagram. It popped up on his Instagram, Rachel, yesterday or day before yesterday that he had interviewed President Joe Biden. And the interview on his podcast, by the way, folks, landed last night and I was able to listen to it this morning. It is really good. It's really good. I did a really good interview with Donald Trump and if you haven't seen that, you ought to watch it. But this is better. It's better. Simon did a better job than I did. Um, and I, to the point that I saw things in Joe Biden that I've never seen before. And so I, I enjoy getting information and perspective on things that I didn't have. I'm not challenged. My, my belief system isn't challenged because I learned something about someone I disagree with that I actually like. Yeah, you know, that doesn't bother me.

I'm. It's not, it doesn't cause me to melt down. So anyway, I'm going to recommend highly that you go to Simon Sinek's podcast and listen to this interview. It's really good. Obviously, President Joe Biden is not in the thing. Oh, by the way, side note, some of you that were griping about me interviewing President Trump kept telling me, it's former President Trump. It's former President Trump. No, that's not correct. Protocol. I have a friend that passed away a few years ago that was the ambassador to France. It was Ambassador Joe Rogers. He was a Tennessee and he lived here in Nashville. I knew him in the real estate business and from the time he was an ambassador in France, the rest of his life, he was known as Ambassador Rogers. Everywhere I went that he was introduced, he was introduced as Ambassador Rogers. If you introduce Bill Clinton, you introduce him as President Clinton. President Bill Clinton. Not former President Clinton. Someone who served as a senator for the rest of their lives. They're called a senator. That's. That is normal protocol. So some of you that are mouthing off about that, you're just wrong.

You don't know what the flip you're talking about, as usual when you're running your dad gum mouth on stuff like that. Okay. So anyway, that was a sidebar, by the way. I'll tell you another one.

No, no, stick with your points. You need to go, you need to go do this.

You need to go watch Brett Bear tonight. Brett, one of the more level headed people on Fox has gotten an interview with Vice President Harris. The one I wished I had gotten.

Yes. Yeah.

And you need to go watch that. I'm going to be watching it. I'll recommend that one as well because Brett's pretty.

I like all.

Yeah, he's pretty. He's pretty straight. He's not like. He's not going crazy. Yeah. So here's the thing. 49% of evangelical Christians surveyed right now say they're not going to vote.

Wait, how many?

49%.

Dang.

That's my brothers and sisters in Christ. Because they're disgusted with the quality of the character of both candidates in their minds. That's what the thing comes out. And that's understandable. 16% of gun owners say they're not going to vote. And that's just because they don't want to get on the grid. They don't want anybody know where they are. Because some of you are just weirdos, okay? And you don't have to be a weirdo. You don't have to be a weirdo to have a gun. I've got guns.

No, no. But I do think they know a lot about us.

They know a lot about us. I don't think. I don't think voting is going to cause them to know more or less. So here's the thing. You're not voting for a savior. If so, neither one of these would be qualified. You're not even voting for a pastor. If so, neither one of these would be qualified. What happens in your house is more important to your success than what happens in the White House. But what happens in the White House does affect your life. And to not vote at all out of disgust is bad decision making paradigm. You should make a list of the eight or 10 issues that are out there and which side each candidate falls on. And regardless of the candidate themselves. I don't believe in voting on a single issue. If you want to vote single issue voter, you can. But I don't vote on a single issue. There's not a single issue that I will vote on above everything else. I mean, there's things that are more important or less important, but like, you know, there are people that say, okay, pro choice or pro life. I will not vote anything except that on any other issue I could disagree with them on everything and they'll still get my vote because of that.

I don't believe in that. I believe in looking at the whole thing and saying, okay, there's the economy, there's inflation, there's interest rates, there's taxes. Which candidate falls on the side of those things that you believe you can fix or that they're going to impact? There's the border, the Immigration issue. That is real. Which candidate falls on that? Check the box. Right, Check the box. Pro life, pro abortion. Okay. Well, it's Democrat and Republican very clearly on that. Okay. Although Trump is not going to do anything on a federal level for pro life. He's just going to let the overturn of Roe v. Wade run its course and the states decide Kamala is going to be pro abortion, period. And they've said this very clearly. I mean, it's a standard plank in their party. Okay. Pro second Amendment, no question. Which one you're going to check there on? Which, if you're pro gun or are you anti gun? Okay. If you're anti gun, you need to vote for Vice President Harris even though she has pro. If you're pro gun rights, just because you got one doesn't matter. If you're pro gun rights, you cannot place.

You cannot put a check over there. And again, I'm not going to vote on a single issue. Okay. Who, Who. If you're really concerned about the, the social issues around woke.

Can I, can I, can I jump in? What about writing in a name? Does that count?

You can, but I think one of these two is going to be president and you should participate.

That's what I think.

Yes.

But if I have a conviction as an American to actively vote, because I do believe in that.

Yep.

If someone out there just to even, you know, practice that action, write someone in.

Yep. So I'm going to tell you I'm voting for Donald Trump, not because I'm voting for Donald Trump.

Oh, my gosh, are we going here?

It's okay. But because I check those boxes and more of those are on that side than on the other side, I'm going to hold my nose and I'm going to vote.

I might vote for Ken Coleman. That's who I might write.

Ken Coleman. We could vote for Ken Coleman, but I'm not. Definitely not. This is the Ramsey Show. Mortgage rates have dropped. So if you're thinking about buying a home in the next year, contact your local Churchill Mortgage team right now. If you wait, more people will be in the market competing for the same homes and potentially driving up prices. Churchill will help you do the math to be sure your budget is correct, making your home a blessing and helping you build lasting wealth. Learn more@churchill mortgage.com Churchill mortgage.com this is.

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Rachel Cruz Ramsey Personality is my co host today. Thank you for joining us. All right, I want to wrap up that thought and then we'll move on with the callers. Okay, here's the thing. I have voted in every single election Since I turned 18 years old, presidential election or otherwise. I've not missed a single time to cast my vote as an American. I believe it's a patriotic duty. I believe it is a right. And, and I got to tell you, I think every single vote I've ever cast, I disagreed with the person I voted for on at least something or I wished something was different about them. And so, as my friend Steven Mansfield so eloquently put a while back, he said, all of us, if we're honest and have good decision making skills and independent thought, all of us are not worshipers of candidates. Now there are some of you that are worshipers of candidates and you lose your freaking minds on this stuff. But I'm not one of them, okay? I'm looking at ideas and which ideas land on which side of the aisle. Where am I most likely going to get a tax policy?

I like an immigration policy. I like. A foreign policy I like. Where am I most likely to get a gun policy? I like a climate change policy. I like a WOKE policy. I like that. I agree with. Where am I most likely to get that? And I can check those boxes very clearly, very quickly on these two candidates. And then based on that, none of them are going to be 100% on what I want them to be in personal character, in personality style, in history, in even where they stand on the issues. None of them are 100% exactly who I want them to be. So that means 100% of the votes I have cast and I voted in every election, I've held my nose and voted anyway. There's something I didn't like, but I voted anyway for the one that most aligned with all the different issues, plus or minus, Right? And again, I've not. I've never thought I was voting for a savior and I never thought I was voting for a pastor. Some of you think you are, and that has you all disillusioned, but I don't think you could find a president that you go back and go, well, this was a holy man.

This was Billy Graham. There's no Billy Graham ever been in the White House, okay? It just hasn't. It's not, it doesn't happen. There's some, some that were better than others, some that were more slimy than others for sure, but it's just not, it's not like their job. Billy Graham, that was his job. And so it's a different thing. So I suggest you hold your nose and you vote. And that's what, that's what I don't mean. I, I think they stink. And I'm having. No, I'm saying there's something I disagree with and I'm gonna vote anyway. And that's the. That's how I made the decision to vote for Trump was the boxes that were checked. And I'm. If you want to vote the other way, as long as you're being thoughtful about it and you're being a nice person, we're still friends, I'm okay with you. I'm not mad at you. Some of you are never gonna listen to me again after this. That's okay. I can deal with that. That's happened to me for 30 years. People have threatened me, like, I'm going to cancel you. That's hard to do. I own the show. And so you're not going to get to cancel me.

So you can le. But you can't cancel me. So that. That's. That. That's what I want to talk about. And then the other thing I want to tell you guys, speaking of interviews, once you pick up Simon's interview, Simon Sinek pick up Brett Bear's interview on the politics. Non. Politics. 98% non. We actually got to sit down long form and hang out with Ben Shapiro last week, and that landed today on the Ramsey network app. And tomorrow it'll be on our podcast and on our YouTube. And so don't miss Ben Shapiro. Very brilliant guy. Long form interview. We got to talk about Judaism. He's an orthodox Jew, I'm a Christian. And so. And we've got a lot of friends in both camps that. And we got. Had a great discussion on some of that stuff. Marriage issues. Been on marriage. That's something very different. Interesting. Because his mind's like a freaking steel trap. He's. Yeah. Very interesting. So very cool.

Talks about life.

Yeah. Yeah, we did. And so be sure and tune in for all that. So what do you want to add to that? Anything. You just wish I hadn't gone there or what?

No, I saw that. I wish you hadn't gone there. I'm shocked. You did to a degree. I was like, oh, my gosh. Are we saying who we're voting for right now? No, I think, you know, last time we were in Epcot with our kids, we. I made my girls go to the American Adventure. It's a It's a show in the America part of Epcot. And it's about. It's about American history. It's 30 minutes long. And they have Roosevelt, they have all these presidents that come and tell the history of America. And you leave that and you just think, I am proud. I am proud to be an American, even though, you know, there were elements of our history that we're not proud of, but who we are as this country. So I think the rights and the responsibility to vote is huge. And I think that's an older generational thing. So I kind of see you as Papa Dave a little bit in that segment of, like, hey, especially to the younger generation, I think it's more of the younger ones that don't feel the seriousness of voting. So I love the message of go vote.

Your vote does count.

Yes, Go vote. Because I think that that is a part of America that's beautiful and so do it.

And by not voting, you can swing an election.

Yes, for sure. Yeah.

And that. That's wrong.

Yeah. So vote for who you. Yep. Vote for who you agree with. I agree.

I mean, if Kamala, because of this speech, is a landslide and you guys all exercise your vote, I'll take that. Yes, I'm fine. Yes, I'm fine. That's okay.

Yes.

Because I want you to get up off your butts. I want you to think clearly for yourself. Don't stick your head so far up your party that you can't think. And some people do. They can't. Everything that's on that side is right. No, it's not. No, it's not. And all the people that are on that side are right. No, I have met cucazoids on both sides. I mean, complete crazy people that should be in a padded cell. It. Don't tell me everybody that falls on one side or the other is right. They're not. They're just not. They're just. Some of them are. You're not voting for a savior, folks. Anyway. All right. Last thing you're going to hear on Politics and Ramsey for a long, long time, I hope. And because I really don't want to become those. I don't want to do a political show. It's not what I want to do. I don't even enjoy it. Rachel actually enjoys it somewhat. We have some great. She has. We have some great Rachel. One sided family discussions at dinner about all this stuff, but one sided.

Just me, a monolog.

Monologuing. We definitely have you stirred up for sure. And you can go there and. But They're a lot of fun, and it's always entertaining, but it's not what we do on the radio. We're here to help Morgan in Pensacola. Hi, Morgan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. What's up?

Hey, just letting you know I will be most definitely voting, and me and Rachel have that in common. I love talking about politics. And I love politics.

So.

Good, Morgan.

Well, good. That's why you didn't hang up while I was doing all that. You were on hold, right?

Oh, no, I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Anyway, so just short and sweet.

Last year, my parents needed a place.

To go, and it was a consensus.

That they move here on the property. And they said, hey, or my dad.

Said, hey, we will give you a.

Certain amount of money per month. It'll help you guys out.

Help us out. We. We said, sure, that sounds great.

And then that happened for, like, maybe a month or two. And then it kind of has been very sporadic since like, maybe $100 here and $100 there.

How much is he supposed to be paying you?

About 850.

Okay. And that's what he promised. He brought it up. You didn't even bring it up?

Yeah, he. He threw out that. That number.

Okay. The first time he missed. Why did you not say something?

I just had.

Hello? Did you. Do we lose you, Morgan now? She hung up. Darn. Oh, well, we'll see if we can get her back for another segment then.

Oh, man. Shoot, Morgan. Sorry. Yeah, sorry about that.

Here's the thing. If you don't bring something up that's obvious, people think it's okay. Like, when he didn't pay and she didn't say anything, he starts to think.

It'S okay because she probably felt bad of, like. Oh, well, I'm sure it's. Yeah, that.

Like, because the consensus was apparently with her brothers and sisters, I don't know that they're going to help mom and dad out. So I think what you need to establish is, does it matter if you were going to let them live there free, then just whether it pays or not doesn't matter. Just forget it. Whenever he sends a check, that's fine. Don't worry about it. If there's something else going on, that they're wasting money or something, you need to help them with that and coach them, that's fine. If you really want to hold their feet to the fire on accountability, start having discussions about this early and often. But where you made the mistake was not early. So that. That's going to be the answer to your question. I Think. But if we can get you back, we'll hear the rest of the story. And that's how we do it here. This is the Ramsey Show. 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. Yeah.

And what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through how am I going to pay my bills.

In the middle next week.

Yeah. In the middle of all that grief. Like, it's just. It is. It's terrible. And 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. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. 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. The cost of stinking pizza. To get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282 or go to Xander.com Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality. My daughter is my co host today. Jeffrey and Julian or Julianne are with us. Hey guys, how are you?

Hi.

Hi there. Where do you guys live?

We are from Ontario, Canada.

Oh, welcome to Nashville. And how much debt have you two paid off?

So 110 in consumer debt and 345 total. So 235 was our mortgage and 110 was consumer debt.

You paid off your house.

So great.

Looking at weird people.

The total was. What? What did you say? The total.

345. 345.

Okay.

235 house, 110 concern.

So great, you guys. Congratulations.

How long did that take?

Seven years, start to finish.

Wow. And your range of income during that time?

We started at about 120 and our highest year was 350.

Wow. Good for you. What do y'all do for a living?

I'm a real estate appraiser.

Ah. And I'm an underground miner. Okay, very good. OT lots of ot. Yeah. And that's good money. That's really good OT right there. Wow. So what started this whole process seven years ago with this Ramsey thing, Getting out of debt thing.

It was a scary tax bill. So similar to your irs. I got a bat, got our tax bill, and it just. We weren't prepared. And so that made us realize that our finances were an absolute mess and we had no communication skills. So we decided to clean it up, got our act together. And after searching for some plans, we found yours. And it just made sense. It was simple, it was easy to follow. So we jumped on. Good for you guys. Incredible. So before you guys were scattered, you said you really didn't talk about money. So what's the before and after picture as you're standing on this stage from where you guys were seven years ago, even as a married couple. Right. I mean, like your whole life versus today, what is that transformation like?

Well, it's just we're being honest with ourselves now.

Not hiding anything from each other or.

Making purchase without talking to each other. Back then it was just a lot of, you know, fly by, see your.

Pants, a lot of individuality. Yes, totally. Yeah. So how is that, has that increased your. Yeah, your marriage unity and everything? Yeah, for sure. Because we agree on what we're spending money on. And really it's. It's everything. It's not just. And sometimes we laugh because he'll say like, well, I gotta talk to my wife. And it's not like a, you know, I have a whip type thing, but it's more just because we want to agree, we want to do this together. And is this decision in line with our plans? And that's why we'll discuss. So great. What was the 110? You said consumer debt? Was it credit cards, loans, everything? Yeah, credit cards, loans, personal loans, vehicles. Yeah. So we started off, we sold the two vehicles right away. So that was about 55,000 of the debt was gone. And then the remaining 55,000 was paid over a year. Oh my gosh. So y'all did that quick. Yeah, I had to let go.

I had ATVs, snow machines, all the fun toys. All the toys. A toy collector. Yeah, Once I let go of that.

Put them for sale, it was real. And Jeff had a real Dave car. He had a fifteen hundred dollar car that he got from a buddy. Oh yeah, there it is.

There it is on YouTube. That's nasty.

Yeah, and it was funny because his weekly paychecks were more than fifteen hundred dollars. But he's driving that thing.

Yeah. And his guy, his buddies are going, what are you doing?

Yeah, exactly. But I had a good friend who helped me out, and it was his.

Mom'S old car, so when he heard the journey we were jumping on, he. He sold that to me. So.

Yeah.

What was that, a Ford Fairlane or something? Crown Victoria. Crown Victoria. I thought it was. Yeah. A land yacht. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah.

Very cool. How many miles did it have on it?

Actually, not that many.

It was his mom's old car, and it was just ugly and old.

She drove from home to work, which was only.

So it had a lot of life left.

Oh, it.

Did it ever.

Yeah. It was actually in great shape. That's the problem. It would have lasted too long. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. So was that part hard? Because for a lot of people, getting out of debt, the sacrificial end of the lifestyle. Right. Decreasing lifestyle to get margin. Right. And when you're used to living a certain way to what can feel like going backwards, to obviously move forward, you're doing it for a reason. How was that? Was that. Was that hard? It was. I can go to ego, especially making. No, we were making good money. Yeah. Just.

Yeah. Not smart with it. So, you know, surrounded by nice vehicles at work in the parking lot, and then driving in with that. Once you put that aside, there was an end game.

We knew it wasn't forever, and now.

We'Re back into the vehicles that we.

Had in the past. So.

Good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it feels really good.

We just had to decide in that moment that we didn't care what people thought. Yeah. Like, if they laughed, whatever. Like, they don't see our bank account. They don't see our net worth going up. And actually, that's a huge tip that I can add is that we tracked our net worth every month. We would look at all our accounts and the debts and just track it. So we started at a 27,000 net worth, and now we're at 1.3 in seven years. So if they laughed at our car, that's fine. Totally.

Yeah. Check this out. I don't see your network, but no one sees that.

Right?

No, they don't.

No. It's like a secret, you know, it's the secret number that no one knows. And people that look like they have a high one, you assume, oh, my gosh, they're doing so well. Right. But usually they're just normal. Yeah. And have payments. Yeah.

Wow. Way to go, you guys. That's a perfect paradigm. That's a perfect way of looking at it. They don't Get a vote because they don't get to see everything, so. And you know, there's a high correlation between people that build wealth and those that quit caring what other people think. Yeah, it really is. It's a huge thing. This need to impress is very expensive. It's a very expensive hobby. And so. So what's the first big thing you're going to do to celebrate? We're here.

Yeah.

What are you going to do? Big. Cool.

I don't know. It's hard to dream. It's hard to think big. We've been limited for so long, but. But this is our first family trip since the journey.

Yeah. So it's going to be a week long. Go catch a hockey game. Oh, good. Okay. And make a.

Make it fun.

Good Predators game while you're here in Nashville then. Yeah.

Yeah. It's also symbolic. We. I had a trip to Nashville booked for July 2016. When we decided in April to get out of debt, I canceled that trip. So it's. It's full circle. Here I am back after. You're completely debt free. Incredible.

Incredible. Good. That's a good mark right there.

So not only to see you, but Nashville was symbolic even before. Totally. Totally. Oh, I love it.

We're not the only cruel thing in Nashville. So there you go.

I know you guys have. Have a little guy. What? How old is he? 10 years old. 10. Okay.

So, Eli, come on up with your mom and dad.

So he was three when you guys kind of started this.

Yes.

Yeah. So you had a little one His Christmas during our baby step two. He got two dollar store mini sticks. So two dollars, that's all he got. So four dollars.

But he was. He was young enough. He didn't know.

He didn't know. Play with the fox.

Anyway. Yeah.

Y. Oh, so great.

Oh, look at the little baby picture. That's great.

Oh, there. There. He sticks.

Yep. He's a cute kid.

Oh, my gosh.

Well done, you guys. All right, what's the secret to getting out of debt? When people ask you, what are the things they ought to do?

Communication.

That's key. Communicate together.

Weekly budget meetings.

Yes.

Not caring what people think.

Yeah.

Not giving up when it's hard.

Yeah. You're not kidding when you say you'll pass out before, so. Yeah. Before you die.

I did some long hours and you were right about that.

You didn't die from hard work. No, exactly. Right before you die, you'll pass. Yeah. Hey, Jeff, talk to the guy out there that's got a big old. Some kind of collection of something that's toy type stuff. What did your emotions go through? How did you flip the switch to go? My wife and my baby are more important than this collection of stuff because that's what happened in your head. It had to be.

Yep.

Just be honest.

Trust the process.

It's not forever.

You'll get those things back whether it.

May not be exactly the model you.

Had before, but then you'll realize that having a nice truck doesn't mean big tires.

You could get that. But it's good.

Yeah. Still enjoy and be happy with it. So, yeah. Fun. Fun. Yeah. I've got more toys than I had before I went broke. So I mean, it's like we went broke, lost them all and you know, live like no one else. And now we can drive and play like no one else.

Right.

Do whatever we want to do so. Well, I'm proud of you guys. Way to go your heroes.

Well done.

You changed that young man. Eli's whole life. His family trees changed because you two grew up. Way to go. Very well done, Jeffrey, Julianne and Eli. 345,000 paid off. 1.7 1.3. 1.3 million dollar net worth baby steps millionaires in seven years making 120 to 350. Count it down. Let's hear a debt free scream.

3, 2, 1. We're debt free.

Yeah.

Whoa. The ones that pay off their house and do their debt free scream were often baby steps millionaires simultaneously be watching that. That number's there. This is the Ramsey Show. You've been working the Ramsey plan and you've made real progress. But if something happened to you tomorrow, would your loved ones be able to access all the account info you've got stored on your computer, phone or even scraps of paper? Knockbox can help. That's Knockbox in ok, as in next of kin box is a complete system that organizes your important documents, accounts, IDs, tax returns, insurance policies, estate plan plans and other personal history in one secure place to help protect what you have worked for. So ditch the thumb drives and file cabinets and organize your digital and paper files with Knockbox. You'll leave memories, not a mess. Get your family's knockbox today@knockbox.com Ramsey that's nokbox.com Ramsay student loan debt is an epidemic, a pandemic. And defaulting on debt makes you feel even worse. But our question of the day sponsor why refi refinances defaulted private student loans and builds a custom loan based on your ability to pay. You'll have A payment you can afford with a low fixed interest rate that you couldn't get anywhere else.

Go to yrefi.com today. Slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y, R, E, F, Y.com/Ramsey might not be in all states.

Today's question comes from Carter in New Hampshire. He says, my wife and I are avid listeners, but we don't share the same views financially. I'm an analyzer when it comes to finances and it annoys her to no end. I have a two year emergency fund and our home is paid off together we earn $200,000 a year. She likes to spend and wants me to co sign on a vehicle that's $80,000. She has $10,000 in credit card debt and she pays $15,000 each year for private school for our kids. If I mention anything about money, I'm the one who's wrong. I wish I could say that we pay for vacations, recreational toys and trips, but these funds come from my checking account and she gets mad when I say that I pay for them. Is it okay to have an account together to pay bills in separate for spending accounts? I mean, I think you guys are disjointed completely when it comes to money. I mean obviously this is like a pick and choose what we want to do together and what we don't. And I think the goal here is that you are a unified team with all of it, right?

All of it together. So the spending, the saving, where your kids are going to college or to school, where you guys, you know, what kind of cars you guys buy, that you are in agreement together in those things. And so some we owe. She's a spender. So you guys are in a great position. You have no debt, you have great emergency funds. So if she wants to go spend a little, you can't be crazy and be like, no, you can't spend anything, right? And you sound a little bit, it sounds a little crazy to a degree, Carter, that she just wants a little bit of freedom. But then she on the other end is not what it sounds like. $80,000 car and credit card debt, that's crazy. The same value system though is what's not being played out. So I think that's, that's the issue is that you guys are functioning not on the same value system and so it's looking like a mess like this. And the accounts, that doesn't fix it.

I think people think, I think, I don't think they have a money problem.

People think they have a marriage, right? But that's the problem is people think, is it okay if we just have separate accounts? And what that does is it sweeps the one issue that you actually need to talk about under the rug. It doesn't fix it. It actually continues to alienate you guys from each other. So, no, Carter, I would not do these separate accounts. I would force you guys to work out of one account because to your point, it's actually going to reveal other issues that are actually going on in your marriage.

Yeah, and I'm the one that's wrong. She gets mad, you know, if you just change out the subject and it wasn't money and you were talking about something else and she acted that way or you acted that way, you over analyzed everything, which is what you're doing for sure. And on the other hand, then she's acting like a princess and stomping her foot with her little red face out till I get what I want. And if you don't let me have what I want, then you're wrong. This is a marriage problem. You guys desperately need to sit down with someone because here's the problem, okay? The probability that you have a high quality marriage going forward using this system is close to zero. You may or may not get divorced later, but you're definitely not having fun in your relationship. And the probability that you build wealth with both of you pulling at each other the whole time instead of pulling the wagon. No. Almost zero. One of the things we found when we study wealthy people is the data tells us that they work together with their spouse. They're unified in their goals. They're aiming at the same target and pulling the trigger together.

That's what we're doing. And you can't drag along a princess. She can't drag along someone who overanalyzes everything and has no fun left anywhere in life because you squeeze every dollar until George Washington screams and no, you can't. You got it. You got to have something in here. We got to have some flow to this, some relationship to this that's not in here. And so, yeah, this desperately screams of a need for marriage counseling to me for sure. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Bo's with us in Las Vegas. Hi, Bo. How are you?

I'm doing good. Can you hear me?

Absolutely. What's up?

So I wanted to know if I can keep using my credit card. And I know you're probably going to say no, but I'm going to try anyway.

You're right. No.

So.

Do your convincing, though.

So give it Your best shot, Bo.

All right, so this is a unique situation. I've never heard it on your show, and I've been only listening for, like, five months. Okay, so I have one credit card. I have a medical condition, and my medication is insanely expensive, and I can't afford it until I hit my deductible, which my insurance will cover, but my deductible is $13,000. And so the pharmaceutical company that makes it will reimburse me for it. And I've been doing this for two years. And so I use the credit card and I get cash back for the. And then they reimburse me in a few days.

Mm.

So is that something that I would keep it for?

Why don't you just pay cash out? Why don't you pay cash?

I can. I have, but it's really expensive.

Oh, good. We'll pay cash.

And then you. And then you still get reimbursed.

It's really expensive either way, dude. You're out the money either way, right?

Yeah, but I get it. The money back from the pharmaceutical.

Okay, and so you use your cash, and then you get your cash right back.

I can do that, but I get another 300 bucks or.

Oh.

Okay.

You're gonna sell your financial soul for 300 bucks?

Well, it's.

I never met a millionaire said, you know, Dave, I made all my money on my airline miles.

It's not airline miles.

I know. It's 300 bucks. 300 bucks has never created a millionaire.

Okay. I just don't make a lot of money. So it's. It's really.

Well, then that's a. If. If 300 is a lot of money, then that's a different problem, isn't it? You have an income problem, then.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to make more money.

Why?

It's not because I'm lazy. I'm not really worth a lot of money.

Why?

I. Society would say I lack intelligence or education.

They're different. You don't lack intelligence. You've carried on a very clear conversation in a high pressure situation. You don't like and lack intelligence. You've done a good job in this banter that we've had here, which was kind of fun. So you're not lacking in intelligence. You might not have education. That doesn't mean you're not able to make a living. What do you do? What do you make?

I make 26, 35 an hour.

Okay. That's not super bad. You were getting 40 hours.

No, I worked. Well, it varies but seasonally, I work between 30 and 45 hours a week. It depends on what time of year.

What do you do?

It's kind of. I work for a distribution center. I'm. I operate. The simplest way I could say it is I manage robots.

Okay. Are you 24? Job.

Are you 24?

No, I'm sorry, 42. 42. Okay, so here's the deal. What I would do if I were you is I would say, hey, I can be anything I want to be. What are the steps to being one of those? And I could make twice as much money being one of those. And I want to go start working towards being one of those. And it could be an apprentice program. It could be a certification program. It could be a couple of classes at the local community college. I don't know. But you're capable of doing all of those things. And so your issue is that you need to increase your income and have some career goals. We'll help you with that. I'm going to give you Ken Coleman's book, Find the Work youk're Wired to Do. I want to get the title right. So I turned around and looked at it, and it's got in it the Get Clear assessment. I don't have to look at it because we've had over 100,000 people take this assessment, and it'll help you get clear on what your skills are. And I want you to go work on that boat where $300 to where you're no longer in a place where you think $300 changes your life.

Don't be in a place where you think 300 bucks changes your life. You want to be in a better place than that. And then you don't fall into the traps of these stinking banks and these stinking credit card companies, and you get sucked in thinking they're actually there to help you. They're not. So problem solved. Hang on. We'll give that to you as our gift. This is the Ramsey Show. Do you ever feel like you're finally making progress towards your goals only to get quickly distracted by something else in your feed? Well, that's why we created the Ramsey Network app, your single source for content that keeps you motivated. The Ramsey Network app is designed to keep you laser focused on reaching your goals. Loaded with over 7,000 hours of Ramsey Shows, this free app is the best place for uninterrupted content and no distractions. Plus, you can search specific questions to get more personalized content in seconds. So for the days you need some extra motivation, you'll have proven advice at your fingertips. It's time to get serious about your goals and shut out the distractions for good. Simply search Ramsey Network in the App Store or Google Play.

If you're listening on a podcast, just click the link in the show notes to download our free Ramsey Network app. Today. 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Rachel Cruz Ramsey, personality number one best selling author and my daughter is my co host. Today. This is a baby steps millionaire theme hour. If you are a millionaire, we want to talk to you and learn about you so that other people who aren't yet a millionaire can hear what it sounds like to be one and how to get there. Let me help you with what a millionaire is. Some people don't know, some people are confused. It is not an income of $1 million a year. You can have a million dollar a year income and still not be a millionaire. It's possible. Not probable, but it's possible. A millionaire by definition is an accounting term. It is a simple math formula. What you own minus what you owe equals your net worth. Your assets minus your liabilities equals your net worth.

When your net worth is greater than $1,000,000, you are by definition a millionaire. It's not a feeling. Well, no one should have wealth. It's not a moral construct. It's a math thing. Well, million dollars isn't enough. Well, maybe we can talk about that. But you're still a millionaire. If you have a million dollar net worth. Well, it's all in his house. Doesn't matter. A house is an asset. It's all in cash. Doesn't matter. Cash is an asset. Well, I don't understand. I don't care if you understand. This is what it is. Period. There's only one definition. People say net worth millionaire. That's a redundant term. That's like saying millionaire millionaire. Because all millionaires are net worth millionaires. It is the only kind of millionaire there is. There's not another kind. So you don't have to put an adjective in front of it. It's not net worth millionaire, it's just millionaire. And the data tells us that most millionaires that become millionaires are boring. They simply invest money in their 401k other paycheck and they pay off their house. That's what most of them do. That's the first one to $5 million. It's just the old a matter of fact James, our producer, found the video of an actual millionaire versus the typical American.

Fire that up and let the people on YouTube see it. And Rachel and I will do a play by play of what a real millionaire looks like versus most people. Here we go. You ready? It's the tortoise versus the hare. The classic, you know the story. The hare is always distracted looking at things they can't afford, buying things with money they don't have to impress people they don't even really like. They have a great gun collection, a great purse collection and cars that they can't afford parked in front of a cheap house. Meanwhile, the tortoise just keeps on walking.

This is a live video of an actual tortoise.

This is a tortoise actually winning the race, beating the hair. Yeah, it's actually some of our YouTube.

Geniuses here actually a really. Yeah.

Found that.

It's a.

It's a big old tortoise.

It's a huge horse and it doesn't stop. Then the pace is consistent. You see, he just kept the same pace, just kept going. And that hair was kind of back and forth, looking up, looking around and that's it.

I'm like distracted.

It is, it's it and it's boring.

All financially add.

Flashy. I mean, it's. Yeah, it's not the cool. Like this new thing.

We could actually name the hair Bitcoin.

Oh, my gosh.

And we could name the tortoise millionaire.

There you go.

Right. Because that's what happens. You're just distracted. You're looking for a quick, easy way and all the people cheering for you, they're not helping because you're still just going to be your own worst enemy.

All the way around. Yeah.

And by the way, I was a hair in my 20s and I lost everything and went broke. And so I have adopted the tortoise personality since then and the tortoise haircut. So I'm full on tortoise at this point. I'm big time into tortoises, so. Because I found what works and I'm sticking with it. So we're talking to real millionaires, not your broke brother in law with an opinion. Alex is in Charlottesville, Virginia. Alex, what's your net worth?

About 1.5 to 1.6 million.

Cool. Give me a little breakdown by category. How much in house and 401k and so forth.

My house is worth 225 or so. Best estimate, 401k. I've got 300 some odd thousand in there. I've got almost 200 in a Roth IRA. I've got a SEP IRA, which has about 65, 70,000 in it. I've got, you know, a traditional IRA, a liquid investment account. I also recently became an accredited investor. So I've got. Oh, God, probably 300, 350,000 in there. And then I also own my own business. And the only thing I really count towards my net worth is the value of that building, which is probably 350 to 400,000.

That's the building that that's in. Okay. How old are you? How old are you?

42.

42. How much of this did you inherit?

I didn't hear it. Anything?

Zero. Okay, and your best year of income since you started working? And your worst year of income since you started working?

My best year, I probably made 280,000 before taxes. My worst year, probably in my early 20s, and I think I made 52 or 53,000.

Okay, cool. What's your career?

I own my own business. I'm an electrical engineer.

Okay.

And I make equipment for aircraft.

Gotcha. All right. Are you engineering degree?

Yes, electrical engineering.

Okay. All right, cool. What was your GPA?

Wasn't very good. 2.8.

2.8. I got out. Thank you. Lori graduated. Thank you. Lordy.

That was pretty much.

I like it. I like it. Cool. All right, so you're listening. You have listening to us out here, and I promise you, with 30 million people out there that we do have this person listening. They're 22 years old and they're studying electrical engineering. Can they still do this in America today?

Oh, absolutely. In fact, they could probably get ahead of where I am just by being a little more aggressive with their investments.

That's the first thing you tell them to keep investing because you've done a great job. You got lots of 401ks, Roth sepsis, credited investor. You paid off your building. I mean, you. And you're not living in a $2 million house. You're living and you make 280 grand. I mean, you've really. You've really focused on this, done a great job.

Yeah.

I don't know what I'm.

I probably won't make 280 this year, but I'm sure I'll do pretty well.

That's okay.

Alex, do you have a family? Are you married with kids?

I am not married and no children.

That's great.

I have two dogs.

They count.

What's the biggest mistake you've ever made with money?

I don't know. I. It's very hard to say that I am I am actually the best. The best way I could describe my relationship with money is I am terrified of debt. So, you know, I think the worst decision I ever made was loaning money to family.

Oh, yeah, because that got into that terror thing and transferred to the family. Wow. Well, congratulations, sir. 42 years old, no inheritance, $1.6 million net worth. Hmm. Something to think about. This is the Ramsey Show.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. October is the season for wearing costumes and masks. But let's be honest, a lot of us hide our true selves behind a mask and costumes all the time.

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We do this with our friends, with our famil. We even do this with ourselves. I've been there multiple times in my life when I'm not being my true self. And it's the worst. If you feel like you're stuck hiding your true self, I want you to consider talking with a therapist. Therapy is a place where you can be honest with yourself. So you can take off the costumes and take off the mask and learn to live an authentic life. If you're considering therapy, I want you to contact BetterHelp. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy. You can talk with your therapist anywhere so it's convenient for your schedule. You just fill out a short online survey and you get matched with a licensed therapist. Plus, you can switch therapists at any time for no extra cost. Take off the costumes and take off the mask. With BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com deloney to get 10% off your first month.

That's betterhelp.com deloney folks, changing your family tree takes more than rice and beans and side hustles. It's also about transferring the big financial risks off your family by having the right kinds of coverage in place. That's why my team created the coverage Checkup quiz. It only takes about five minutes to find out what types of insurance you need and don't need to protect your finances. Make this quiz one of your regular checkups, starting right now@ramsaysolutions.com checkup. That's ramsaysolutions.com checkup. It's a baby Steps Millionaires theme hour. We're talking to real millionaires about what their life looks like, how they did it. So if you're not one, you can learn how that's the purpose and can it still be done in America? There's a lot of lies that are believed about millionaires. One lie is that you must be doing something famous to be a millionaire, like a Pro sports figure, a rock star, a country music star, a Hollywood actor. Less than 1% of America's millionaires are people that, you know who they are. Less than 1%. Most of them are like people sitting in my lobby right now, and they all look just like other people and they're not on the TV screen, and they're not on the basketball court and so on.

And so, as a matter of fact, a lot of the people that are like that aren't millionaires because they're so horrible at handling money. And so it's very interesting. But you don't have to be famous to be a millionaire. That's mythology. It's less than 1%. It's. It's a method. It is a method of getting there, but it's not the typical method, statistically. John's in New York City. John, what's your net worth?

How you doing, Dave? Thanks for having me on. My net worth is 1.65 million.

Cool. Give me a little breakdown by category.

Sure. So I have about 125 in a high yield savings. I have 340k in a brokerage account, and the rest is in IRA, in mutual funds, ETFs, you know, broken up, all kind of diversified.

Okay. You don't own any real estate?

Well, actually, I have about 350. I have a house and have about 350k in equity in it right now, which I kind of didn't include, which I should have.

Yeah, that's a $2 million net worth then. Okay. All right. Very cool.

Doing better than you thought you were, John, before you called.

Got a raise while you're on the phone. That's pretty good. How old are you?

64. 64.

And how much of this 1.6 or 2 million did you inherit?

I recently. My dad passed this past March, So I inherited 400k from him. So I had about 1.25 before he passed.

Okay, so you were already a millionaire before you got an inheritance?

Yes.

So it's fair to say that you did not become a millionaire, but it was enhanced, but you did not become a millionaire with because of an inheritance, Correct?

That's correct.

Okay. I'm just making sure I get my story exactly straight. So your best year, working income and your worst year, working income.

My worst year is when I first got out of college. I probably made only about 30k and my best year is about 190k.

Okay. What was your career or is your career?

I was in it, as did a whole bunch of different things. Technician, manager, director. Sales engineer. So I ran the gamut.

Right.

Are you retired now, John?

Yes.

Wonderful.

Four year degree.

Yeah, I have a four year degree in what? And my mess. My degree is actually in criminal justice.

Okay. All right. And then you got into it and your GPA in criminal justice was what?

3.8. 3.8.

All right, very cool, very cool. All right. I'm 64. You're 64. So can people still do this today?

Oh, absolutely. It's. I won't say it's easy, but you just need to be disciplined. And the earlier you start, the easier it gets.

It's simple, but it's not easy. Right? That's what I always think of. Yeah. Good. Very cool. What's the worst thing you ever did with money? What's your biggest mistake?

My biggest mistake? Actually, I was doing pretty good in my career and I always lived below my means. At one point, I bought a boat.

Ah, the two greatest days in a man's life. When he buys a boat and when he sells it. Yep, that's it.

So why was it a mistake? Because you went into debt for it or you just wouldn't use it? What was the mistake of the boat?

Well, I think the big, the biggest thing is I went into debt for it, which was a huge mistake. But, you know, luckily, you know, I made enough money along the way that really didn't impact me. So, you know, at the end of the day, you know, myself and my family, we enjoyed. We have a lot of great memories on the boat. So.

Yes, it's good.

And it didn't sink him. Bada bum.

There you go. I'm waiting for that one day.

You knew that was coming, right? Walking dad joke. Okay. The. The definition of a dad joke. So, yeah, very cool. Very cool. All right. What, what do you drive?

I actually drive today. I drive actually a BMW 330, but I have a caveat about that. I will never buy one new. I bought a 2018 as a three year lease return because I know I've had more than one BMW. All the depreciation is upfront. So you buy a lease return, that's 50% depreciation. I bought a really nice car with 35,000 miles on it for $23,000. Yeah, and that's.

And that's a $50,000 car.

Yep.

Yeah. Okay. Good for you. Well done. Love it, love it. Well done, sir. Congratulations. Proud of you. Mike is in Buffalo, New York. Mike, your net worth is what?

About 4.5 million.

Good for you. I like it. And give me a little Breakdown by category on that, sir.

Paid a house off when I was 50. It's worth about 600, 610 today. Between Schwab and Fidelity, I have a financial planner that manages about 45% of our net worth, about 2.5 million. My wife has about 750 in her 401, a small annuity, a very low cost. 1, 300 grand in that and gold and silver physical coins. About 33,000 then. Your favorite. I own some cryptocurrency and some. Some altcoin. I only. It's only 1 or 2% of my portfolio, my net worth.

And so it's like $45,000 worth. 80,000. 80 coin.

Okay. All right.

80 in Bitcoin. Okay, cool. And then cash.

85 grand. And then another 60,000 sitting around in stock from the company that I used to work for that I retired last June of 23.

Cool. What was your career?

I was in sales.

Oh, cool. And how old are you?

63. 63.

And how much of this did you inherit?

About 810,000. So we had over 3 million. Well, we didn't have over 3 million at the time. We inherited about a year ago, but we have 3 million of the 3.9 million is ours. And I came from parents that were frugal times 10.

So you were already a millionaire before you got an inheritance?

That's correct.

You were a three millionaire before you got an inheritance?

That's correct.

Okay.

I hit my first million about 11 years ago. And you take out the 6, 700,000 that I added to it in the years working post that, and we basically took the portfolio up two and a half times.

Gotcha. What's your degree in?

Just business management.

Okay. And your gpa, do you remember it?

Yeah, I was, you know, I was working 30, 35 hours a week in a restaurant. It was about 3.1, 3.2.

Good for you. Okay, cool. All right. We're about the same age. Do you think Americans can still do this today? You think a guy in sales can go out there and. And end up with $5 million net worth by the time he's 63?

This is what. This is. What sets me on fire is today you have more opportunities than ever. In the 80s, if you wanted to buy 100, you had a minimum of 100 shares. Right. I'll make this short and sweet. 100 shares would cost you a couple hundred dollars plus 100 shares. So if you were buying something for 50 bucks, you had to have $5,200. The 90s was about $40 trading cost with 100 share minimum in about 2011, 2012. The market makers, the Schwabs and the Fidelities free trading, no minimums, fractional share. So if you're a guy struggling the end of the month you got 76 bucks. I'm being facetious here. You could go in and buy whatever say Eli Lilly is selling at 190. You could buy a fractional share at no cost. There is no other generation that has had as many opportunities as these kids stay. There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be a millionaire by the time you're 50. Absolutely no reason at all.

You heard it from Mike.

There you go. I'm sold. Mike, I'm ready. I'm ready.

I, I, that's just the truth. Yeah, that's just the way it is.

What do you drive?

I, I drive a Tundra. Me and my wife bought two new cars and we, we said hey, we've we've arrived.

We drive a Toyota.

Yeah, drive a Toyota. But you know Dave, I will drive this car for probably 12, 15 years.

I wasn't shaming you. I'm happy for you. Right. The woman to my right, her husband drives it. My son in law drives a Tundra. He loves it.

I love it.

It's a great truck.

Yep, yep. I only drive 7,000 plus miles a year so it's going to take a while.

You don't have to justify it.

I think you're okay. I think you'll be okay. You did okay, Mike. You did good man. The number of people that drive a stinking Toyota that have million dollar net worth, they're everywhere. A Toyota, the, this is the Ramsey show.

I know you work hard for your.

Money and the key to keeping more of it in your pocket is by making a plan for your spending with a budget.

And everydollar is the budgeting app that I use personally because it's perfect for.

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This is a baby steps millionaires theme hour. If you are on baby step four, retirement, you're out of debt. You have your emergency fund or beyond. Five is kids college. Six is pay off the house. Seven is you've done it all, you're debt free and Building wealth and outrageously generous. If you're anywhere in those. We are doing cruise the Live like no one else cruise. You should not go on this cruise if you're still in debt and getting out. That's not what we want you to do. We want you to get out of debt first. But if you're doing this, Holland America is the line that we're on. It's fabulous. It's one of their newer ships. It's all inclusive, of course, and it's all the Ramsey personalities. We're each going to be doing sessions in the evenings. We've also got Monique Shohan from the Food Channel with us. Stephen Curtis Chapman, Dina Carter, famous country music star, be doing shows with us as well. And so we will be the entertainment. We will be on the ship the entire week from March 22 through 29 this coming spring. There are. We're 97% sold out. So we probably should just quit doing these ads, actually.

But anyway, we're going to keep doing them. Comedian Trey Kennedy is going to be with us as well. He has made a career out of making fun of me. And so it's going to be really funny and a lot of fun. So looking forward to seeing Trey so I can choke him. No, I'm kidding. It's going to be fun. Ramseysolutions.com Cruise and get your cabin reserve before they're all gone, because they just about all gone. Ted is with us in Philadelphia. Ted, what's your net worth?

Good afternoon, ted. I'm about 2.26.

Wow. Very cool. All right. And a little breakdown by category.

Oh, 700,000 in a 401k, 300,000 in cash, and then the rest in some, you know, stocks and bonds.

Okay. No, real estate.

A home that I've been in for a long time. We have a. A value of about 1.3 on the home. Outstanding, or did you. About 250. And I know you don't like that, but I'm at 2.65 and I can pay for that out of an investment account that's generating enough to pay for that. So I don't really feel that.

Okay, so I'm not arguing with you. I'm just trying to find out where you are. Okay, so the. You have a house that's worth, that has equity in it of how much?

About a million.

About a million. Of your 2.26. A million is in your house?

That's correct.

Okay. That's what I wanted. All right. Million home. Okay, cool. All right. And how much of all this, did you inherit?

Not.

Not a dollar, not a zero. Need a not a not. How old are you?

58.

58. What was your career?

I did a lot of consulting. I'm like an operational consultant. I can look at operational efficiencies and statistical analysis for financial statements to find inefficiencies.

Gotcha. Business degree?

Business degree, yes.

GPA 3.8. All right, very cool. What do you drive?

Well, I drive a luxury suv, but certainly not one that I bought new.

Okay.

Now, I bought my SUV three years old about three years ago, and I still have it, so.

Very cool. What kind of luxury? What is it?

It's a Porsche Cayenne.

Oh, those are nice. Very cool. Good for you. Good. Well, you should.

I'm a bit of an unworthy enthusiast.

I mean, you got $2 million network. That's pretty good. I like it. All right, good, good. Can this still be done today?

Well, I think if you're deliberate and methodical again, you know, and what I've said to my kids is, you know, as you enter the corporate world and you start to work with these corporations, anything that they're willing to give you, you need to take. If they're going to match your 401k, you take it. If you can buy stock at a discount, you take it. And it's not about how much you're going to make, it's about how much can you keep. And the more they give and the more you make doesn't mean it's the more you spend, it's the more you can keep. And I think if you follow that and you stay true to that, and then certainly.

So, like, we opened up. You're more of the tortoise than the hare, then.

Well, yeah, I think so. I would have to say, yes, that's true.

Well, he wins the race. It's a good thing, you know.

Well, even at home now, you know, my wife and I are in. You know, we built the home new back in the mid-90s. It was a struggle for us to get there. And, you know, here we are, 30 plus years later, still in that home.

Yeah. So I'm curious, Ted and even Dave, you can chime into this, you know, to reach a status like a millionaire status. I mean, it's.

It's.

It's awesome. It's unbelievable. People listening are like, gosh, I wish, you know, that'd be nice to get there. So what does that give you when you say, hey, I'm a millionaire for you? What is the. What is the benefits Versus, you know, obviously just the title is great, but what does it give you in the quality of your life? Is it peace? Is it opportunity? Is it memories with family? Like give, like what. What is this doing for you, Ted?

Well, you know, I can come full circle with that because to me, it's a sense of freedom. So I had been self employed for the longest time, and my wife was fortunate with her career. She had some flexibilities as well. So, you know, our Give Back was a lot of volunteering. You know, we were the coaches, we were the mystery readers in the kids classrooms. We were the ones running the snack bar. You know, we were the ones volunteering for the cancer functions. And I think now as we've come into this, you know, the volunteering now has changed into the ability to start to make monetary differences, you know, as our time becomes our asset that we want to keep. Now we're willing to provide a little more funding than we could have before. So it's really that sense of freedom and the ability to contribute into the community.

I love that.

Well done, hero. So very well done. Proud of you, man. Congratulations. Very, very cool. Thanks for sharing your story. Julie is with us in Houston. Julie, what's your net worth?

1 million.

Very good. And give me a little breakdown on that.

It's 500 in mutual funds. My house is worth about 350 is paid off and the rest is liquid and a classic car.

Okay, cool. And how old are you?

I'm 39 and my husband's 40.

Excellent. How much of this did you inherit? 10,000. Okay, so you did not become a millionaire mathematically from that. Okay, all right, good, good. And what's your best year? Working income. Your worst year? Working income?

Well, my husband.

So I'm a stay at home mom.

And I've been at home for 10 years and my husband has only been.

Making six figures the past two years.

And the job he's at currently, like.

He'S been there our whole marriage.

What's he doing? What's he do?

He's a field service manager and he's.

Been there 13 years.

And he started at $30,000.

And with hard work and raises and promotion, he promotions.

He's now at 130. I quit my job when we decided to have kids and he was only making $40,000.

But we always lived off of one.

Income because we knew that our goal was to have me at home with.

Field service engineer and what, a field service manager in what.

Like UPS's?

Okay, all right, cool. All right, good. And does he have a four year degree or do you?

Yes, yes, we both do. He's actually the first one in his family to graduate college, so I'm proud of him.

What's his degree in?

And business. Business management. 3.0 and I had a 3.4.

He married a smart woman. Okay, very cool. So what do you drive?

A Toyota Forerunner?

Of course you do. Okay, very cool. I love it. Congratulations millionaire. Very, very proud of you folks. Here's the thing. You've heard the lie, it's all over the place. That all wealth is inherited in America today. We did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America. 10,167 of them in detail, airtight research technique. Had an outside research firm look over our shoulder because we knew some of the left wing nut jobs would not like the conclusions. So this data is what is known as facts. If you disagree with this, you're what's known as wrong. 89% of America's millionaires are not millionaires because of inheritance. Some of them, like these guys, got some after they were millionaires. Some of them got a very small inheritance like this last one, and most of them got zero. 89%, 9% out of that should give you hope. That means you can do it. Nine out of ten millionaires in America did it without an inheritance. Hmm. This is the Ramsey Show. Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here and I got a big announcement. I'm coming to a city near you live on the Money and relationships tour with Dr. John DeLoney.

This is the most interactive event we've ever done. You get to decide what we talk about. You do not want to miss miss this. We'll be coming to Louisville, Durham, Atlanta, Phoenix, Fort Worth and Kansas City in April and May of 2025. Get your tickets and more information@ramseysolutions.com Tour thank you for joining us, America. This is a baby steps millionaires theme hour. We're so glad you are with us. It's important, important to know that wealth in America today is not coming from inheritance. It's not coming from being famous. It is not coming from a 4.2 GPA. Not a bad thing to be that smart. But most of us aren't that smart. And you do need some gray matter. A 1.6 probably won't cut it. You're probably not going to get there. If you graduated with a degree in beer pong, you might make it, but I doubt it. So what are we trying to do here? We're trying to say there are some uses out There, there are some things that people believe. If you get a high GPA and you go to an expensive college that is famous, that that's going to make you a millionaire.

There's no data to support that. Going to a good school, getting a good degree that's very usable in the marketplace and getting a reasonable GPA, it's typically around a 3.0. So what we find is an indicator that you're going to be there. And I'm not telling you to goof off. I mean, if you can get a 3.4, go get it. A 3.8, that's fine, go get it. But that doesn't mean that you're more or less likely. Okay? That's not how this works. So the day the data tells us that, you know, that most of these people do have a four year degree, there is a correlation there, but they have useful degrees, you know, electrical engineering, business, business, business. Criminal justice didn't use, it became it. So I mean this is, this is, this is the pattern we see throughout these millionaires that we study.

What's the joke that B students, usually A students, work for B students?

Actually it's a joke, but it's also a date backed thing.

It's just the idea of like, yeah, go, go figure it out, you're okay. Don't stress about, I don't know, every single thing.

Don't, you're not going to die over this. Oh, and by the way, people don't steal their way into wealth either. You get to go to jail if you do that. And in today's world, if you're a crook, everybody knows it because everybody tells everybody. There's all kinds of places to prove, you know, put out there, this guy's a crook, this girl's a crook. So this idea that all wealthy people are crooks is absolutely asinine. There's the same percentage or less percentage of crooks among the wealthies and there is among the regular other strata on the socioeconomic ladder. And by the way, all poor people aren't crooks either. But some of them are. All rich people aren't crooks, but some of them are because there's always a percentage of morons. It's just part of the deal. And it's not getting to do with wealth, you know. Yeah. And I think matter of fact, integrity is actually an indicator that you're going to become wealthy.

And I think point of this segment number one is, is to prove that you can still win financially today. Right. Like if you put things into place you can win. And the benefits of winning financially is not that because you have X amount of zeros in your accounts means that your life is suddenly better because there are rich, miserable people out there. But it's what you do with that money that creates a life that is full. You can still have a full life and not be a millionaire.

Right.

You can still have joy. And this is not an indicator of any of that, but it, but it is a ability. Our last caller said it, and I loved it, where he's like, it's just freedom, you know, like, money is a tool to create a life that you love and you have options and you have the ability to do things you want to do when you have the monetary means to be able to do it. And if that's a spouse staying at home, like whatever that looks like for you. And so for this, you know, I think that's an important point in it, right. It's not just to become a millionaire because suddenly your life's going to be fixed because it's not. There's a lot of really, you know, people that relationally are not great in their millionaires, you know, and they don't talk to their families. Like it's, it's not an indicator that your life is going to be perfect.

No. Matter of fact, what wealth does is it magnifies every area of your life. It magnifies the good and the bad in your life. If there's crazy in your life, life, you get a lot of crazy in your life. There's chaos in your life. You get a lot of chaos in your life. If there's anger in your life, you're going to get a lot of anger in your life. Money makes you have more of whatever it is.

That's right.

And so if you're happy and generous, you're going to have a lot of happy and generous.

Yep. And the character part of you. So those of you that aren't here yet and say, okay, I want to get there, who you are in the process is as important, more important, more important as the numbers in that account. Right. So that's why giving, we always teach in the budget. Giving is the very first thing you do regardless of where you are financially, like practicing these habits of selflessness and living with an open hand, because as you get more, you're going to become more of that. And that's an indicator of joy and peace in your life when you're a giver. So. So who you are in this process is really important. And we, we care about that it's.

It'S, it's very, very important. Jesse is in Madison, Wisconsin. Hi Jesse. What's your net worth?

Good afternoon Mr. Ramsey and thank you for you and your team having me on today. I truly appreciate your time.

Sure.

My net worth is just over $1 million.

Good for you. Give me a little breakdown by category.

Sure. So investments between Roth IRAs 401k tsp is just over 680,000. That's not including my military or state retirement. 529 of 21,000. We've got about 280,000 of equity into our house. We still have about 217 on our mortgage and then the rest is emergency savings and some assets. About 72,000.

Good for you. And how old are you?

37.

And how much of this did you inherit?

None.

Zero. And what do you make a year?

This year about 250k or 205k.

What do you do?

I work in cybersecurity in the Army National Guard.

Good for you. Okay. All right. Four year degree?

Yes, actually and kind of when I was listening to the last caller and when you guys came on it was a four year degree but never really used it and ironically I recently went back to a technical college for it and cybersecurity and networking. Best investment I ever made. It was cheaper and I was able to cash flow it because of the post 911 GI bill.

That's awesome.

Big time. So what was your GPA on that.

Or is that a passive bachelor's? It was a 3.12 for the bachelors and then I kind of got my act together a little bit more for and I was a little bit wiser but 3.98 for the tech college.

Oh God. Okay. So what was your four year degree in?

History.

History, Very good. Okay, cool. Good for you. You think this can still be done if you're 37 year old looking at a 22 year old out there, can they still do this in 15 years?

Absolutely. The three things that really worked for us were the budget. My family jokes about me nerding out over our budget all the time, but one of the things I wish I would have done a lot earlier in my life because I would have seen not to spend on kind of pointless items that didn't really give me the opportunity down the road as well as starting to invest earlier. I wish I would have done it. Even if it was a little bit, it still would have made, you know, my older self would have thanked my younger self a lot more time in the Market.

What do you drive?

Oh, 20, 21 Toyota Sienna.

A Toyota. Of course you do. Good gosh.

It's the dad van. But I'm.

Aussie.

We need a sponsor for this hour.

The Toyota Toyota hour.

Toyota needs to sponsor this hour.

Minivans. A great choice, though. Jesse, with little kids. You have a beautiful family.

Yeah, we saw pop up there on the. On the old YouTube. So very cool. Congratulations, brother. Very, very proud of you. Good stuff. So one of the things that people get confused on is the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire. Millionaires do not have private jets, second homes, and they don't drive $245,000 Lamborghinis. Billionaires do or can. So, you know, sometimes people get really confused. Most millionaires live in a standard house, maybe slightly above average, and they drive a Toyota.

And I think what's hard is I remember when I was a kid. So this was, what, 20 years ago, there was a movie called Blank Check on Disney Channel. You probably don't remember it, but they. This kid, like, picks up a blank check and he types in $1 million. I mean, this is in the early 90s. And he buys a castle. He gets a limo with a driver. Like, shows this crazy lifestyle for $1 million. So I do think there's, like, this nostalgia of, like, if I have a million dollars, I. You know what I mean? Like, it's like.

It's like it will do more than it'll actually do.

I get to buy a castle in. Have a driver.

Yeah. Probably not. Not much of a castle, not much of a driver if you did, so. But it's a great start, and that's why we feature it, because we want to give you guys hope that it is entirely possible if y'all can find.

The blank check meme.

That's.

That's your Zach. That's the.

That's it. Hey. The next segment will be on the Ramsey Network app. It's a free download. Be sure and check. Check that out on your Apple or Google Play.

Hey, you're still here.

What are you doing?

You do know that the rest of today's show is playing right now over.

On the Ramsey Network app, right?

All you gotta do to finish the episode is search Ramsey Network in the app store, Google Play store, or just click the link in the show notes to download the app for free. Yep, you heard me right. For free. Then right there on the home screen, you can watch the rest of today's show. Bada bing, bada boom.

All right, I'm getting out of here.

Enjoy we'll see you on the app.