The Ramsey Show - App - Bonus Episode: Building Wealth Live Event ft. Dave Ramsey, George Kamel & Rachel Cruze

Episode Date: January 21, 2022

Dave, George & Rachel walk you through the fastest, right way to build wealth in 2022. They’ll hit hot topics you may have questions on, from crypto to zero down real estate to how to handle inflation. Listen and learn to set your 2022 up for financial success. Try a 14 Day FREE trial of Ramsey+ and learn the proven plan to get out of debt and build wealth through Financial Peace University: https://bit.ly/3Kt76bA

Hey guys, it's Dave. Today we're going to do something a little different. Recently we surveyed almost 10,000 of you and the biggest thing you wanted to hear about on this show was wealth building. Crypto, real estate, single stocks, NFTs, everyone is trying to get rich quick one way or another. Last week I got on stage with George Campbell and Rachel Cruz and talked all about that. For the next 90 minutes, we're going to make sense of the get rich noise out there and show you how to really build wealth in 2022. Enjoy. Personal finance is 80% behavior.

It's only 20% head knowledge. Your most powerful wealth building tool is your income. And when you give it to someone else, you don't have it anymore. It's not about the money. It's about margin. It's about options. And it's about freedom. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, Dave Ramsey. Hey, guys! How you guys doing? Wow! Thank you, guys. God bless you. Thank you. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much. So the ballroom in this hotel was a little bit tired, kind of a little dingy.

You know what I'm talking about? Say yes. Yes. And I'm the third row from the front in the ballroom chairs that are a little bit tired and a little bit dingy. Four seats in. I still remember exactly where I was sitting. It's 1983. I'm 23 years old. I got my real estate license at 18 years old, and I'd been selling real estate,

and I was ready to be a real estate investor. And I was there to learn how to buy investment real estate with nothing down. Because that's precisely how much I had to put down. Nothing. 1983. Queens, We Are the Champions starts playing. Rocky music starts playing. The speaker is a little bit late on purpose to draw us in. He gets on stage. He was perfectly fit, unlike your speaker tonight. His suit was very expensive,

unlike your speaker tonight. It was custom tailored, just like your speaker tonight. And he started explaining to us how we could start with nothing, and by the end of the week, we could own real estate with nothing down. And he described four very persuasive techniques on how we might go out that very day and start looking at foreclosures, start looking in the MLS, real estate, multiple listing service, and finding motivated sellers that would do these special techniques, four of which I found out later were illegal, to buy a house with nothing down and begin our real estate investing career. And if we wanted to come back for the weekend seminar for a mere $3,500, we could learn the other 42 techniques and we would be on our way. Well, I got to tell you all, I've always been good with math.

I've always had a pretty good intellect. And I've always been really, really ambitious. And that was all very true in 1983. So much so that I looked at that guy and I thought, you know what? I don't need his weekend seminar. I can figure this out. I think I figured out what he's doing here. And I immediately went out and within four weeks bought my first piece of real estate

without his seminar, nothing down. Several years later, I had $4 million worth of real estate that I had put nothing into except bank's money. And it was only owed about $3 million on it. And so I was a millionaire at 26 years old. I had $250,000 income at 26 years old. And the banks called our notes and my income at 27 years old was $6,000. Well, I spent the entire year trying to sell it all before they foreclosed on it as the house of cards of nothing down, get rich real estate came crashing around my ears. Well, Dave, you just didn't know how to do it. The guy, Robert Allen, who wrote the book, Nothing Down, filed chapter 11, people.

I mean, come on. He was the expert. Get Rich Quick has been around a long, long time. The human heart is perpetually looking for an easy button. We're always looking for something quick. In the 1600s in Holland, tulips were considered first a sign of prosperity, later started to be associated with wealth. And then tulip bulbs, as a result, started to be associated with wealth and started to become an investment. People started buying tulip bulbs as an investment because it represented wealth. And the tulip bulb craze in Holland got completely out of control As everyone rushed to get theirs and get in on the action, FOMO was

officially invented in Holland in the 1600s. The fear of missing out to the point that by the time it peaked, the great tulip bulb mania of the 1600s, a single tulip bulb that year sold for 10 times the average household income, or today around $750,000. Of course, you know where this is going. Eventually people went, what? We've invested in tulip bulbs? And it began to unravel. It, and people lost their fortunes as they couldn't get out of the tulip bulbs that they had overpaid for in an effort to become rich. Bankruptcies happened in the 1600s due to tulip bulbs. Isn't it funny how to us today, that sounds so absurd, but to those people, it was so serious. Can you imagine the discussion over the dinner table when one brother-in-law chose to not be involved in the tulip craze and was considered absolutely out of his mind? You've had those

discussions with your crazy brother-in-law lately, haven't you? You've decided, I'm not going to be investing in that. Well, you must be out of your mind. And we'll look back on it later and go, looks like a tulip bulb to me. When the new world was discovered, in air quotes, and Jamestown is formed, the Puritans land on Plymouth Rock. The 1600s, the first 200 years of America's history, Americans really believed Benjamin Franklin's poor Richard Almanac. They really believed the Puritan work ethic. And they really believed in agrarian culture, a situation where agriculture was where you built your wealth.

And it was work and work and work and work to build your prosperity over time, incrementally. And that was how wealth was built in America. Thomas Jefferson wrote on it. It's how wealth was built in America for the first 200 years until 1848. James Marshall is working for his boss, Jim Sutter, and he's building a windmill on the California River in California. And he looked down in the river and he saw something shiny, and he had discovered gold. He took it to his boss, Mr. Sutter, and the two of them said, we need to keep this a secret, because they went back up there, and they found more than one piece of gold.

Don't tell anybody, because if word gets out, this will go sideways. Well, I don't know who talked, but one of them did. And word got out and the great California gold rush was underway. Here we go. Wagons wide open across the plain as fast as the horses would pull them, but looking for all the glitters, easy money. I want to push the easy button. I need to buy a tulip bowl. California went from 800, a population of 800 people in 1848 to 1851, just three years later, over 100,000 people had rushed to find their gold and their easy fortune. And the American dream was redefined. The 200 years previous to that, the American dream was,

if you work hard, you steadily, incrementally do the right thing. You put corn in the ground, you're going to grow corn. You steadily, incrementally do the right thing. You put corn in the ground, you're going to grow corn. You steadily, incrementally do the right thing. You're going to build wealth and you'll prosper off the back of your hard work, your diligence, your intelligence. But now it was up to daring and luck and wealth was now going to be easy. Easy money. Get rich quick became the new American dream. The gold rush reformed the philosophy of how we in America thought about wealth and where it comes from. Consequently, every few decades, every few years since, we've seen a steady spin-up of get rich, go broke, get rich, go broke. And the reason the go broke goes with it is we've gotten rich the wrong way. The 1920s, the roaring 20s come on. The stock market gets completely out of control. The robber barons had turned the marketplace loose and it was wide open. The great Gatsby, the flappers, all of the things are happening.

The economy is booming. It's churning like never before. You've never seen anything like it. And then it crashed. Men lost their fortunes and jumped from the windows in skyscrapers. Also in that same environment, there was a guy named Charles Ponzi. Charles Ponzi was the inventor of, you got it, the Ponzi scheme. One of the greatest cons ever pulled off. And a Ponzi scheme was really simple. You take money from investors and you give it to

the investors that gave you money two weeks ago as if they had gotten a return on their investment. And it's this spin out, this shell game, and you keep hiding the P and gathering money until someday somebody discovers there's no P. And the thing comes crashing down. It's a literal pyramid scheme now known as the Ponzi scheme. Charles Ponzi also got into selling swampland in Florida. He was the first. This guy was good. He was diversified in his efforts. Of course, he ends up getting busted, going to jail, but he had left his mark on America,

the Ponzi scheme named after him. I know his grandmother was proud. Swampland sales in Florida continued. The Gulf American Land Corporation opened a subdivision called the Golden Gate Estates. It was 3,000 square miles of swampland. 40,000 people bought land that was underwater. This is where, have you ever heard somebody go, well, that's a dumb idea, and if you believe that, I got some swampland in Florida I'll sell you.

You ever heard that? This is where it came from, this company. Golden Gate Estates, swampland in Florida. Why would we fall for that? In the 20s, another group bought it from Ponzi. They bought by mail and never even went to Florida is how good the get-rich-quick con was. Something for nothing. The easy button. It glitters.

It shines. This is going to be easy. In the 1980s, the Ponzi scheme was revived again. This time it was called the airplane ride, the airplane pyramid scheme. Several people went to jail on that puppy too. Worked exactly like the Ponzi scheme, only apparently this generation had never heard of Charles Ponzi and they all fell for it

again. And then of course, we get the internet. Oh, thank you, Jesus. I'm so thankful we have the internet. This is a whole new way to get to people. And anything that's on the internet in late 1990s, 1998, 1999, if you open up a company and the last part of the company was.com, you were about to be rich, weren't you? It was automatic money. And these companies that had never made any revenue went public, collected millions, tens of millions of dollars in stock, issuing stock on a company legally right in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission's nose and had absolutely never made a freaking dime. And the investors knew it and still bought it because dot-com meant money. So Compaq went away and people lost money. Palm Pilot went away and people lost money. AltaVista,

which is the precursor to Yahoo, which is the AltaVista, which is the precursor to Yahoo, which is the precursor to Google, which is the precursor to DuckDuck, right? I mean, it went away. It disappeared. A lot of you in this room don't even know what AltaVista was. It was the original search engine. Poof. There wasn't a lot to search in those days. But we're going to get rich. Easy. What do you mean you're not going to jump in on the issuing of the stock? Oh, the company's never made any money. Why would I want to buy stock in a company that's not made money? It's got.com in the name. Oh, I'm in. Easy button. Go rush.

Quick and easy. Get rich quick is not a new thing. The Spanish philosopher famously said, those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. There is nothing new under the sun, the Bible says. These things have been around forever. I've been doing our radio show now for almost 30 years. I've seen waves of get rich quick come through at different times. There's something happens in the culture that makes us susceptible at different times in the rhythms of life to get rich quick. And get rich quick is on fire in the last 18 months. We are seeing it like I don't remember seeing it ever

in the 30 years. Nothing down real estate, back with a range. I've got young people watching 19-year-olds on YouTube going, Dave, man, real estate, man, real estate, like it's new. Reminds me of that kid sitting in that ballroom when I take the call from some of these guys. Really smart. I had good, strong intellect.

I had a lot of ambition. But I was greedy. And if you want something for nothing, let me help you. It means you're greedy. And you're about to get it. You're about to get it. Something has happened with the pandemic and the resulting inflation that has shaken people up and is making them ripe for the picking for Get Rich Quick because Get Rich Quick is booming.

There's a bit of an existential crisis is my hypothesis. Apparently, we've got an entire population that suddenly realized they're going to die. They didn't know this before the pandemic, but now we've realized we're going to die. And so we need to get ours and get it quickly because this ain't going to be long. This life is just a flicker. You better jump on it, baby. You better get it and you better quit it quick. And then you see inflation, and this is a generation that doesn't know Jimmy Carter. They don't know about real inflation. And real inflation is different than what we've got right now. But they don't know about inflation and they're going, oh, God, stuff's going up in cost.

If I don't make a lot of money quickly, I'll not be able to keep up with inflation. Have you heard that say yes? See, that's an existential crisis that sets you up to fall for a get rich quick scheme or an actual con. And sometimes the lines between the two are a bit blurred. A lot of stuff happening out there right now. Robinhood app has gone bananas. The whole GameStop margin buy that happened just a few months ago, people just went and it was like, there was this, you could just hear it, man.

It's like a beagle chasing a rabbit all through a Reddit thread. And if you dare question the intelligence or the wisdom of this, you will be put outside like the brother-in-law who dared question the tulip bulb. And you're not allowed, oh, you're just a boomer. You don't understand. Oh, baby, I understand more than anybody in the room. That's the beauty of being old. You've seen a lot of stupid. And sometimes you've been a lot of stupid. And you really got a good up-close look at what stupid is,

and so you can kind of recognize it when you see it coming. Cryptocurrency's gone bananas. It may someday turn out to be a thing and it might actually pave out, but the heartbeat and the spirit by which people are chasing it is the same shrill tone. You can feel it. There's this rush, quick, easy, money. You can still feel it. And when I smell that, I can always tell somebody's getting ready to get hurt. Now, I'm not saying cryptocurrency is going to go away.

I'm not saying it's horrible. I am saying it's not a proven track record of building wealth. And people have got this crazed, almost cult-like discussion of it. I get more hate mail over cryptocurrency. What? I mean, I've done some stuff you should really hate me for, but that? I mean, come on. Of course, gold is back too, which I don't understand at all, but gold is back. And of course, NFTs. Oh yeah, that's a good one. Let's buy a digital copy of something and call that value. We'll see how that works out. I remember several years ago, I was traveling a lot and my wife made sure every time I went through an airport that I got a Beanie Baby, the latest release. We have a full collection of Beanie

Babies. We were heavily invested in Beanie Babies. And if you got the Michael Jordan one, it was like, whoa, that's a thousand dollars stuffed animal. I found it the other day. One of the grandkids had let the dog play with it. And a generation later, didn't work out, did it boys? We just moved and we were going through the moving process and I opened up my son's stuff from his 10-year-old years, 20-something years ago, and we found his old Pokemon cards. And they were very systematically laid out in this little book. He was a bit of a nerd.

Look at that. I love it. And so we let one of the grandkids start playing with his Pokemon cards because if you didn't know, Pokemon's back. God help us. And then one of the aunts or uncles or something actually pulled those cards out and looked one of them up and they went, that one's going for $3,000.

We shouldn't let the kids play with it, okay? Because these things are the vintage Pokemon cards have turned into a thing. There's nothing new under the sun, y'all. At any given moment in time, somebody's looking for an easy way to invest, an easy way to get rich. If you search building wealth on the internet,

you'll find one of two things. You'll find these get rich quick things under the heading of building wealth, or you'll find, and that usually has an intellectual component to it, and you can see it with your mind. And it also pulls you in on fear, FOMO, or greed. It's going to be easy. And if you feel your heart rate change, your eyes start to dilate and you get a little FOMO going, that means stay away. That's your warning. You're getting ready to make a mistake because you're falling in the noose of fear or greed. Something's happening. You're feeling it

physiologically in your body. Your heart rate's changing, a little sweat in your palms, your eyes are starting to dilate, a little sweat on the upper lip. It's like, oh, I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it. This is what's causing people to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more than a house is listed for while 83 people make an offer on it. And I just want to stand back and go, this is entertaining. And we didn't even have an auctioneer. You got to watch yourself and think about what is true, what's real. How do you really keep from getting snookered even by someone who's well-intentioned but just wrong?

How do you keep from getting pulled into get rich quick and instead find the real ways to build wealth and to implement them. A friend of mine's mom fell for it the other day. She's a sweet lady, 74 years old. And she was looking for a mini golden doodle. And if you didn't know, like everything else, there's a shortage on golden doodles, which means you have to rush to get one. When you find one, get in line, know somebody, FOMO. You feel it again? Here we go. It's like the golden doodle tulip bowl. So the poor lady gets on, God help us, Facebook marketplace and finds a golden doodle that no one else has found. Who knew?

The people out of convenience for her agreed to meet her with the golden doodle puppy at the Walmart parking lot. She gives them several $100 bills for the golden doodle puppy. Imagine her surprise after she fed it for six months and realized it was a great Pyrenees. In the country, we call that buying a pig and a poke. If you've never heard that one, that's what that means. You didn't get exactly what you signed up for. And that's what happens in so many of these things. I sign up for an easy way to build wealth, an easy way to get rich that no one else knows about. And I meet them in the Walmart parking lot. And then later I found out it

really wasn't what I thought it was. Things didn't turn out as advertised. There was a con man that ran a Ponzi scheme in Florida in the 60s. He ended up in jail and wrote his book from jail called Con Man or Saint, John Frasca. And John said he's a true con man. I mean, he's in jail for being a con man. Now, he thinks he's a saint. That's why he wrote con man or saint, but he's confused. He's in jail. So let's just keep this in mind, all right? And John's comment after conning thousands and thousands of people out of millions and millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme said,

you can con someone of any level of education or any level of intellect if you can activate fear or greed. Anyone can fall for it. Three rows back, four seats in, anyone can fall for a great Pyrenees switcheroo. If you got bad information and the thing driving it in your heart is not maturity, not wisdom,

but is just unbridled ambition with a lot of intellect, you're gonna get your head taken off. True wealth building, a good investment plan is always slow and steady. Oftentimes it's boring. As a matter of fact, I've worked with thousands and thousands of millionaires over decade after decade after decade, more than anyone else you know or anyone else you're listening to in America right now. I've not only studied them, I've walked among them. And it is disgustingly simple, the things that they do. It's so boring that you think it must be wrong.

They don't, the really wealthy people, even the people with 20 and 30 and $40 million, they don't have like double backflip family partnership, limited thingies. I always ask them, what's the secret of the rich? And he goes, I only invest in things I know about. Wow. I only invest in real estate because I love real estate. I only invest in mutual funds because I've had a really good long track record with that. But I'm steady and I never let up. Okay, wow.

So we find that most millionaires are 401ks, paid for houses, sometimes big farms, and the occasional small business entrepreneur. Those are the four categories that makes the most millionaires anywhere. And you didn't hear GameStop margins on Robinhood. You didn't hear that in there because it's not in there. Now you might make a million dollars doing that, but I doubt 10 years later you'll have any of it because of the way you got there will be also the way you lose it. This is how this stuff works. So we discovered that there's a whole bunch of people now with over 7 million families going through Financial Peace University and about 10 million people going through Financial Peace University in that process,

that these people have followed these baby steps that we teach, They have predictably with a system, a proven process, incrementally, gently over time with some hard work and sacrifice. No easy about it, but boring, become millionaires. None of them will tell you it was easy, but none of them will tell you they were geniuses in their finances, that they had some insight that no one else in the whole world had. Oh, bull. The baby steps are simple. You know them. First, baby step one, we save $1,000. A little starter emergency fund, you do that really quick, about a month. Baby step two, you pay off all your debt except your house quickly, using the debt snowball. When you're out of debt, you take all the money that you used to spend on that, which is $1,200 to $1,500 a month for the debt, you take all the money that you used to spend on that,

which is $1,200 to $1,500 a month for the average family right now in non-mortgage payments. You use that to build your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses in Baby Step 3, and then we're ready to start the wealth building. Now, everyone knows the Ramsey Organization and Dave Ramsey for the Baby Steps 1 through 3. For sure, Baby Step 2, for sure the debt snowball. For sure it's no debt Dave, right? But here's what happens. We weren't getting you out of debt

just to get you out of debt. We were getting you out of debt so that you can invest and become wealthy and change your family trees so that you could be outrageously generous. You're living like no one else so that later you could live and give like no one else. There's a method to the madness. And baby step four is 15% of your income going into retirement. Now let's

look at that and here's how the actual math works out. The average household income in America today, according to the Census Bureau, is slightly over $65,000. If you save 50% of $65,000, that'd be $9,750, about 800 bucks a month going into your 401k. Let's take Joe and Susie and say they're 31 and it takes them three or four years to get through the first three baby steps. And at 35 years old, they start investing 15% of their average household income. That's 800 bucks a month going into their 401k. And let's pretend that they don't have a match, which is an unrealistic thing that we're pretending because 82 percent of the companies that have a 401k in America today have a match. But we're going to pretend they managed to find one of the 18 percent that

didn't. Okay. And so they work for this company and they put 15% of their $65,000, $9,750 a year, $800 a month in there from age 35 to age 65, 30 working years with no match. And they never get a raise. Now, let me help you with this. If you start at average and you work 30 years without a raise, you're a loser. Okay. Let's just keep that in mind. This is the assumptions we're running the math on. Okay. No match and loser. Okay. Never get a raise in 30 freaking years. What? Who are you? Okay, but this is a conservative assumption. Would you agree? Say yes, okay? So at 10%, this money will turn into $1.8 million. No match and no raise. 15% of the average household income going in. At 11%, it'd be $2.2 million.

At 12%, it'd be $2.8 million. My personal mutual funds with my SmartVestor Pro have averaged over 12% through the last bazillion years that I've been doing it, which is greater than the stock market is average. And I know some of you can't fathom that, but I do it all the time, so shut up. It's really not rocket science. But even if you didn't do that, let's just say it's 10%, and let's just say no match, and let not only can be done, but it should be done.

How do you get out of the sixth grade in the United States of America and someone hasn't shown you this? This is ridiculous. America is the land of opportunity. And guess what? Math is not racist. Math is not sexist. Math doesn't care if your parents are cray-cray. Math is just math. Math doesn't care if your boss is a moron. Math works. Guess what? There's all kinds of stuff out there that's bad in America that you have to overcome to become wealthy. It's not easy

out there, but math works. Now, keep in mind, what will likely happen is it won't be 30 years because they will get raises. And it won't be 30 years because as those raises come up, they keep putting more and more and more money in, and they're watching their portfolio. You don't have to be a genius. You just actually have to invest instead of discussing it. That's all I did. Everybody gets paralysis of the analysis with these nuanced little stupid mathematical questions that keeps them from actually joining the game. Instead, they discuss it.

Why don't you get in the game? And then we'll discuss it. So your income's going to go up. During that time, they're probably going to pay off their house, which we didn't even have a paid- off house in those figures. You noticed that. And so what we end up finding is the typical millionaire, as Ramsey Solutions, we did our study of millionaires, the largest study of millionaires ever done, airtight research, 10,000 millionaires studied in North America. When we did that study, we found the typical millionaire is hitting between 12 and 17 years from the time they start their version of baby step four, or if they're actually

doing our stuff, baby step four by God, right? And so that's what they're doing because they're getting raises, they're getting their house paid off, and they're going on vacation, and they're buying a couch, and they're upgrading their car all with cash. They don't go back in debt. No debt, no debt, no debt. And they take what was all that debt money, and they're throwing it in the 401k. It's a pretty simple, basic formula, and it works all the time. It works all the time. Let's take it a little step further. Let's say that Joe and Susie are able to do this in 15 years, and they get their first million dollars at age 50. Remember, they started at 35.

And they quit investing. And they leave that $1 million in mutual funds at market rates of return. Now, let me teach you a little math trick that's out there. There's a thing called the rule of 72. So if you divide an interest rate into the number 72, it tells you how many years it takes for a lump sum to double. So if my interest rate was 7.2%, then the lump sum would double in 10 years divided into 72. Y'all see how that works? Say yes. Okay. Now, if the interest rate or the rate of return on the investments is 10%,

your money is going to double about every seven years. If you do a little better, it's going to double quicker. But let's just use seven years. They got a million dollars at age 35, and they don't add anything to it seven years, or at age 50, I'm sorry, at age 50. Seven years later, at age 57, they got $2 million. Seven years later, at 64, it's $4 million. Seven years later, at 64, it's $4 million. Seven years later, at 71, it's $8 million.

They did all of that in 15 years of investing at an average income with no match and no raises. And it doesn't count their paid-off house. This is a mathematical set of proof showing you that we should all be doing this. We should all be achieving these heights. So how do we do this? Because I don't want people to have to struggle.

I want you to find the easiest way. I'm not against an easy button. I just need to find one that works. And that's why I'm not a proponent of these other things because I cannot find that as a high percentage of the time that when you invest in GameStop margins with Robinhood that I meet you 20 years later and you're a multimillionaire. As a matter of fact, I find precisely zero that are millionaires. I cannot find that people who buy lottery tickets and call that their investment end up millionaires. If it worked, I would tell you to do it. I can't find any data that says it. I'm not against you winning. However, you can do it the easiest way and the fastest way. I want you to get there. I want it to be fast. I want it to be as easy as possible. Why work harder than you need to? But I also don't want to fall for something

based on my need for easy that causes me to not have a high probability of success at the end. And so here's what we know. We know that when you work the baby steps exactly as we have laid them out, that 100% of the time, eventually, even with tragedy in your life, you're going to reach a million dollars. Now, that means that you're not going back into debt no matter what happens. That means that you're working on a budget. That means you're doing the stuff we teach, which is hard during tragedy. It's hard during layoffs. It's hard during pandemics. It's hard during uncertain times. I'm not saying this is easy, but when you follow that over time, somewhere between 12 and 25 years, you're going to hit a serious net worth figure. That's going to happen all the time.

So what's the fastest, easiest way I know to be a millionaire? Million to 5 million. Not a billionaire. Won't work for getting be a millionaire. Million to five million, not a billionaire. Won't work for getting to a billion. You gotta do something else to do a billion. You wanna be a billion, we're in the wrong room. This stuff, you're not gonna be a billion with your 401k, okay? Just let's settle that, all right?

Can't get there. It's impossible mathematically. A billion is a thousand million. It's gonna take a little longer or a different angle, right? But your first level of wealth on your way to whatever, one to five million dollar net worth, the easiest, fastest, shortest way is these baby steps

and following them exactly, which involves 15% going into your 401k, your kid's college, and getting your house paid off. Of the 10,000 millionaires that we studied, almost all of them, the case study icon that developed the persona of the people. Now, there were exceptions of different kinds of all kinds, but most of them followed this. About two-thirds of their wealth was in their 401k, retirement plans, Roth IRAs, and about a third was in their paid-off house. So you find a million and a half dollar net worth with a half million dollar house and a million dollars in their retirement. And we

found that thousands and thousands and thousands of times. The number of times we met a millionaire in this study, the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America that made their money getting airline miles on their credit card? Precisely zero. Didn't happen. Didn't happen. So the fastest right way is following those baby steps. And so I need something that keeps me doing that in my case. And Financial Peace University puts you on the track and shows you how to do it and walks you through it and keeps you on the track.

People that have even been through Financial Peace University while they're working their baby steps four, five, six, they're often coordinators just so they keep their nose stuck in it so that they can just not get away from the rhythm of the system and they stick with it. Of the people in Financial Peace University that have had the highest probability of not only getting out of debt, but of building wealth, head and shoulders data above any other data point is they're on a budget the way we teach, a zero-based budget. And most of them these days are using the EveryDollar app over and over and over and over and over again,

every month, every week. And it's their guideline. It's like, it's this North Star, how are we guiding the ship? We want to get there. We're walking these steps. This shows us how to get there, and it shows us how to stay on track. And for those of us that are married, it helps us communicate with our spouse and do this stuff. And you need a coach in your corner. All three of these things are now in a thing we call Ramsey Plus, and you get a subscription to that and you can watch the videos, be in the class at a church or go through them online. You get a coach in person online. You can get the Every Dollar app, and it's an app. That's it. That's the only place you can get it, and you're getting it all through there. Guys, I'm really, all the Bitcoin guys are really mad at Dave because he's

a boomer, and he doesn't keep up with technology, and he's not in touch with how things really work, and there's a lot of horrible things being written and said about me out there. I'm really not mad at Bitcoin or even the Bitcoin guys. They're a bit cultish right now, to say the least. But all I care about is finding something that works and that is proven. And once you prove to me, not for 20 minutes, but once you prove to me over decades that you've created thousands and thousands of regular people and help them create wealth and become millionaires, then I'll sign up. But until then, I just think you're a cute child, a little bit impudent. You're a punk. You can try it if you want to try it. You can throw some money in there.

You can go to Vegas and throw some money on the roulette wheel if you want. I'm going to be mad at you for that. I have family members, Rachel, that does that kind of stuff. And so she might have been known to lose some money at the craps table. It's just a rumor, but she thinks that's entertaining. I don't think it's entertaining, but it's okay if she wants to. She can afford the little bit of money. You can do that if you want to play with something small. It's okay, do that. But I want you guys to win. In the book, Baby Steps Millionaires, we outline and we cover several real baby step millionaires,

people that have really, really done it. And several of the people that are actually featured in the book made it with us tonight and are sitting right down here. You guys wave, everybody. One of the folks sitting down here is my friend Webster. Webster, would you stand up and wave? So Webster and I have known each other a long, long time. He goes back a long way with Ramsey, and he'd been following this stuff and stumbling his way through it. And at 64 years old, he has a pretty serious net worth

and has done a great, great job. And his story is just so interesting. He's a high school graduate, has a learning disability, went and got 180 different certifications in technology, went from making $400 a week to $180,000 a year over the years, overcame, overcame, overcame, and overcame. Started with nothing and followed the stuff we taught. Not perfectly, because no one can, even the guy that wrote it can't. But his story is absolutely riveting.

So brother, we love you. Thank you for being with us. So he actually came on the show when we were doing one of the millionaire theme hours on the show and told his story. So I want you guys to watch his story right briefly. Give Webster a look. It's an everyday millionaire theme hour. This is The Ramsey Show. We're talking to real millionaires. Webster's with us in the lobby on the debt-free stage to tell us about being an

everyday millionaire. So what's your net worth, Webster? 1.4 million. Good for you. And give me a little breakdown on that. Retirement, real estate, so forth. $250,000 is the house. $1 million in retirement. And then $200,000 in cash and a taxable investment account. Good for you. Well done. How old are you? 64. What's your range of income in your working life?

Your best year working, your worst year working? Well, worst year was when I first started in IT in 1977, making a whopping $400 a month. Okay. All right. $4,800 a year. Yeah, yeah. All right. Up to a high of?

$180. $180. Good for you. Way to go. And what was your GPA in college? I have no degree. No degree. Zero degree.

So high school education? Yes. Okay. Good for you I listen to you I've been listening to you since um November 1999 and so over the years listen to you listen to others especially when Entree Leadership started yeah invest in yourself yeah invest in your skills invest in your knowledge so when we started our so so we just had our 20-year Dave Ramsey anniversary on March 25th. Wow.

So when we started, I was making $36,000 a year. Okay. And then over the four and a half years that we paid off $197,000, our average income was 48,000. My advice to my 25-year-old self would have been to have listened to a very wise woman that I knew at the time, Mrs. Campbell. She was Dave before Dave was Dave. And her advice was always pay cash, never have debt,

always save, and always invest for your future. And always give. Yes. Yeah. And I wish my pig-headed, stubborn, obnoxious, arrogant, 20-something self would have listened to her. Yeah. Yeah, this would be $4 million. But you did okay, Webster.

Yeah. You still got $1.4 million. I'm so proud of you. Congratulations, sir. You're living the American dream. Woo, Webster! Well, I brought the gang out with me. Rachel Cruz.

Rachel Cruz, three-time best-selling author. The latest one was the New York Times, Know Yourself, Know Your Money. And George Camel, newly minted Ramsey personality. And big time on the show these days. A big favorite among our YouTube audience in particular. And so I brought them out to have a little discussion and talk about this stuff that we were just talking about. Yeah, it was great. Good job, Dave.

I just got to say, wasn't Dave great? You did good. We'll give you a hand. You think I got a future? He's got a future. I don't know. I was like, I mean. This guy could sell me a Beanie Baby right now.

I'd buy it. I wanted those tulips. You still got those Pokemon cards? Because I heard they're worth a lot right now. I think they were a prop. They may be gone. I don't know. We talked backstage about grabbing them off the prop table

and selling them and going on vacation because I think they are worth something now. You could use them at the craps table, yeah. I know. That's right. That's right. Well, I always think this discussion is always interesting when it comes to building wealth

because as you just talked about at the beginning of this event, there's so many ways, there's so many angles. Everyone has their opinion and looking to see, okay, what are the things no matter what that you have to be doing? So no matter what baby step you are on, whether you're starting for the first time tonight maybe, or maybe you've been doing this for 30 years.

But for me, the thing I always go back to, one of the foundational principles that is key, just to remind you all again, is the budget. So when we look at being intentional with our money, it takes intentionality to build wealth. And it takes intentionality just day to day with your money. And I've had so many conversations with friends and even family and looking at the subject of budgeting because it is, I keep going back to it in these conversations, telling people and encouraging people, this is the thing you have to do. No

matter where you are, no matter where you are, you have to be intentional with your money. And so it's always hard for me though, because I am a natural spender. Love spending money. I think it's awesome. People that are natural savers, I don't really get it. You're one of those. I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like, just have some fun. George is a serious nerd. Yeah. And that's coming from Dave Ramsey.

Oh, it's just a big statement. But it's true. I mean, it really does give you freedom. So for those of you that feel like this is going to be restrictive, I don't want this telling me what to do, it really does give you that permission. You feel good about spending because it was in the budget. You had a plan.

You paid attention to your money. That's exactly right. And that's what I experienced. So just the encouragement out there for you all, either watching this or here tonight, that this is something that it has to be part of your financial plan. You have to be intentional and tell your money where to go. Every dollar, it's my favorite budgeting app.

I love it so much. Literally last night, I was laying in bed, and I got an email favorite budgeting app. I love it so much. Literally last night, I was laying in bed, and I got an email about a sale. Shocking, I know. Unsubscribe. I know, I should have, but I didn't. And I did, and I clicked on EveryDollar right there on my phone. I was like, okay, how much do we have budgeted for the rest of this month? I was like, okay, and I was able to buy some clothes, and it felt great because I was like, I know exactly the money I have to spend. It gives you a boundary. It gives you a guidance, but it allows you to live life,

to know that I can do these things, have fun with my money still, but I'm doing it in a wise way that's not going to harm my future. So the budget is one thing that I'm like, everyone, you have to have it. You have to have it. And EveryDollarPlus, I love, it's inside of Ramsey Plus,

but EveryDollar, it's the thing that has saved me. The budget is, it follows really an overarching, I mean, it's a tactical thing to do. Yeah. But philosophically, it follows a basic success principle that no one ever that you meet that wins big does so accidentally. It's a series of intentional acts. I mean, we saw Georgia, Alabama the other night. Wow, what a football game. Man, that was a football game. That was amazing. I mean, I actually, and I didn't think it was going to be. It looked like it was just going to be nine to six or something. But, you know, they didn't come up at the end to, you know, to Kirby Smart or to the quarterback or the guy who won MVP.

And they go, how'd you do this? How'd you win the national championship? And he goes, I don't know. I just got off the bus. No, they had a game plan. And they had worked all season. As a matter of fact, they'd worked their whole life to be able to do that skill level, to play at that level, to win the national championship

that particular night. It was a whole series over decades for those young men of intentional acts to be at the top of the top of the top. You don't accidentally win. And so budgeting is just, it's a manifestation of that success principle of intentionality. And what's interesting to me though, even with it, again, harping on the agenda, no matter where you are, no matter where you are. So even people on Baby Step 7, you still have to be intentional with exactly what you're doing. You have to have your goals. You have to know what's going on. Those of you starting on Baby Step 1, you have to know what's going on. So that budget, I love it. It gives me the control, the freedom to kind of live life. And I'll tell you, like,

Winston and I, we have three little ones at home, and it is like we are in the grind, right? I mean, it's just like school drop-off, you're making lunches, you're going to work. I mean, bath time, you're just doing it all. And the one thing that is steady when it comes to a subject that can be really volatile is that. The budget is like our, it's our safety net where I'm like, okay, we can go back to this. We agree on it. We see it. We know it. So it is.

It's a big part of that. It answers one of life's most important questions. Can Rachel order pizza? Happening tomorrow night. Is pizza in the budget? It's always in the budget. Don't worry, everyone. It's happening tomorrow night.

Well, you know, as we talk about building wealth, it's fascinating as we take calls on the Ramsey Show, a lot of people call in, They say, Dave, George, you know, so I'm out of debt except for my student loans and my car payment. And we're just sitting there just like, oh, gosh, how? And so I just want to make this very clear what debt is. Some people don't know. It's owing anything to anyone for any reason. It's as simple as that.

And until you get control of that, it's really hard to build wealth while you have your car payment and your student loan and your credit card payment. And you're trying to invest up to the employer match. And you're wondering why you're not getting rich, why you're not building wealth. And so I want to talk about debt because it's one of the best ways to give yourself a raise and get that margin in your life so that you can invest. And we talk about the debt snowball as one of the best ways, and people love to argue this with Dave on the show. Well, Dave, mathematically, the avalanche method,

there's no millionaires getting made from the avalanche method. Where are they? I'd love to meet them. The debt snowball works every time you work it. You list your debts from smallest to largest and ignore the interest rate. I know that blows some people's minds,

but it's incredible what happens when you focus on progress and you attack the smallest one with a vengeance and you're willing to sell stuff and get a side job and cut some expenses and subscriptions temporarily so that you can get out of debt. And once you do that, it's incredible. You have to see the traction.

You have to be able to see progress. The human psyche requires progress. We get bored if we don't see progress. We won't stay with it if we don't see progress. We get bored if we don't see progress. We won't stay with it if we don't see progress. We were gamified long before there was Nintendo or Atari, right? I mean, our hard wiring is that we need to see something moving for our efforts or we won't stay engaged. And that's the beauty. That's why the debt snowball has been so successful over all these decades. Yeah. And we had a debt-free scream yesterday on the air. Erin from Missouri. Is she in here?

I did one too. That's right. That's true. That is true. Talk about that. Okay. George. Well, speaking of getting out of debt, we got out of debt.

We had gotten out of debt a long time ago, consumer debt. And yesterday, me and my wife, who also works at Ramsey Solutions, we really drank the Kool-Aid, Dave. We did our debt-free screen because we paid off our house. Thank you. And how old are you guys? So I'm 32 years old. My wife is 31. We paid off $165,000 in 26 months. We just went intense. So good. So that's the, and it was amazing seeing other team members go, I want to go home and talk to my spouse. How do we get rid of this house faster? How do we build wealth faster?

God, if George can do it, I mean, come on. That's exactly it. George can do it. And I'm, hey, if that's what it takes, I'm happy about it. But it is true, Dave. You know, I started here nine years ago as an intern at a temp, and I had $40,000 in debt. A lowly intern. A lowly intern on the totem pole and a temp, and I had $40,000 in debt.

A lowly intern on the totem pole there. And I came in with $40,000 in debt. I had student loans and credit cards. And I just thought this is normal. I was trying to get the rewards. I was, oh, they got 5% cash back on gas this month. This is how I'm going to get wealthy. It didn't work out. And so I got on board with our plan. I went through Financial Peace University, and I paid off that $40,000 in two years, and I never looked back. And it's been absolutely incredible. But this other debt-free screen. And then Whitney would marry you.

And then my wife said, yeah, I'll marry you. No. Now, that's not what happened. That's not what happened. But she's always been a lot smarter. We met. She was already debt-free. We started off our marriage debt-free.

We were already on the same page. And it was incredible what happens when you get on the same page with your spouse, and you guys have your eye on a prize. It's incredible. But we had a debt-free screen. You guys will be baby step millionaires soon with the paid off house and your 401k. In our early 30s. In your early 30s. Yeah. So we're really excited about that. But Erin from Missouri came by, did her debt-free screen, $40,000 paid off in 24 months. And it was fascinating what she was saying as she was on this journey. She got connected with Financial Peace University. She was in Ramsey Plus. And she

said, I hired a financial coach because I wanted someone who could speak specifically to my situation and help me make better decisions. And that's one of those things that you kind of forget that, oh, I can bring someone along this journey who can walk with me, who can help me. And in Ramsey Plus, we have live group Q&A coaching for free multiple times a week. You can connect one-on-one with a coach in your area. And that's one of the biggest game changers. If you feel like you need that push, more traction, get plugged into that stuff. I have something. She's a single mom, had her 15-year-old daughter standing there with her to do the debt-free screen. It was sweet. Yeah, it was inspiring. It was very sweet,

very powerful. So I feel like these are some of the foundational kind of building blocks as you move to build wealth. But today, and you touched on some of them earlier, but I'm like, there's just so many terms and things happening right now that are in the news, social media, friends are talking about. You talk about over the holidays with family. I mean, it's just, it's constant. It's everywhere. And I feel like one of those big things is inflation. Yeah. And so it's a term that we're hearing constantly.

Obviously, it's an issue. You joked earlier that George and I, us young ones, we didn't know Jimmy Carter. We were not alive in the 70s and the early 80s. Well, I mean, I was 22 years old in 1982. Okay, you can go back there for sure. And inflation was going crazy. So talk about what, like, give, okay, basic, like, econ 101.

Well, but the bottom line is that I experienced that real inflation, and inflation in the 70s was running double digits. It was running 10%, 12% in some cases. For the record, we're at, like, 7% right now? Well, that was the latest report that came out three days ago, yeah. And so that inflation was caused by, inflation is simply increasing prices. It's inflation, like you're blowing up a balloon. It's inflated.

That's all it means. Increasing prices, increasing prices. So then you've got to get under it and say, what is the cause of the inflation? The inflation in those days was caused by monetary policy. The Fed shrinking and growing the money supply, and they were monkeying with the economy doing that, and they couldn't get it straight. And it ended up bringing Ronald Reagan in following Jimmy Carter. It was one of the things that changed the regime, so to speak, in the politics. Today's inflation that we're experiencing is a different reason for the inflation.

We had an earthquake at sea. And when you have an earthquake at sea, it stirs up the sea. And following that, a few hours or even days later, a tsunami rises up and hits. This inflation is the tsunami as a result of the pandemic quarantine. Shutting down the economy and shutting down the production of goods and services created a shortage of almost every kind of good or service worldwide. There's a shortage of lumber for houses. There was a shortage of glass. You can name it. There's a shortage of anything you want to name. And when there's a shortage of something and there's six people wanting to buy it, and there used to be six things, that price stayed pretty stable. But when now we

have six people wanting to buy it, oh, better than that, they came out of their cave after the nuclear winter of the quarantine, really hungry to buy something because they hadn't been able to buy anything for a while. And so the consumer has gone bananas on their purchasing. And so we used to have six people trying to buy six things. Now we've got a shortage. We've got one thing and we got 12 people trying to buy it. Well, guess what that does? They fight over it and drive the price up. It's a supply demand curve from the seventh grade economics class, okay? And so the disruption of the production and the supply chain bringing the stuff in, so there's stuff's not there. And when there's a shortage 100% of the time, too many people chasing too few goods and services, you're going to see an increase in price. And so that's the

tsunami that has hit. And add to that, the Biden administration has got a war going against gasoline and against the oil industry. And so basically the cost of gas at the pump due to their policies has doubled. That's not a shortage. That's a created shortage with their policies. So you've got a political thing going and you've got the quarantine thing going that are driving these two sets of prices up. And this is where this inflation is coming from. That's the bad news. The good news is after the tsunami hits, it goes back out to sea. It's not a steady inflation. So you're not going to have this type of inflation, this cause of inflation last 10 years. It mathematically can't last 10 years because the factories catch up on production. And now again, you've, and the people slow down on their purchases because the prices have gone up.

And so now you've got six people chasing six goods again, and the price has stabilized. They may come back down, but they at least won't go straight through the roof. They may even out where they are. You may not see a reduction in prices, but you know, five years from today, this cause of inflation will be gone. Now you could bring back the other causes, but it's not, we've never seen that. I was about to say the positive. I feel like it's Pollyanna over here. Mr. Optimist. It might be 36 months. It might be 24 months. Yeah. But, you know, we're already seeing, for instance, lumber coming down. Lumber prices are coming down. The reason is factories have caught up. The purchase prices have gone high enough on

new housing as a result that it's slowing down that portion of the economy a little bit. And your goods, your number of people chasing the number of goods is slowing down. You're going to see it even out. Which is great. But I think the reality, day to day, I mean like— It scares people. Well, it scares people. And today I went literally to the gas station before I got here, filled up my car.

It was all empty. And I was like, oh my God. It's expensive. I mean, it's just a lot. It's a lot more. So the margin. It's twice as much as it was. Yeah. So the margin in your budget, the margin that we're feeling of what we used to have, we're just, you're just spending more. My grocery budget is insane. Like what we spent, what I spent at Costco on Sunday, it was stupid. And I was like, we didn't even buy that much. But like, it's, it's crazy the prices right now. And so I think for a lot of people. And let's be clear, it wasn't Costco's fault. They're just, they're passing on the prices. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. I'm not blaming

Costco for the inflation. I'm just saying like when you're buying groceries. If I don't piss somebody off, I won't do it on purpose. Okay. That's right. That's right. That's right. Don't mess with Kirkland Signature. I'm not, I'm not at Costco. I love Costco. Okay. No, but the, but I think that's why it's even that more important you guys to be intentional with your money because that margin is a real thing in our budgets and in our day-to-day life that we're feeling. So that rubs, so that does cause fear. You got a whole generation's never felt inflation and the shock of this. And if you turn on the news, it's like fear, fear porn. I mean, fear, you're going to die. You're going to die. Everything's going up in price and you're

going to die. And you're going up in price and you're going to die. And just, if you just watch it all day long, you're like, I'm going to die. You know, it's like, and so you get this, your whole, all your physiology, like Dr. Doney talks about, gets activated. And then you're set up for these get rich quick. But you would be for a lot of people though, that are living paycheck to paycheck and you fill up, you had my experience, right? You fill up at the tank, you go to cost and you're thinking, oh, this is scary. I've got to change my investments because I'm not going to keep up and I'm about to get stupid. So the fear aspect, it is very real. It is very, very real. But the antidote is the margin. You can't let that

control you. That's right. Yeah. And so getting the margin back is important. Margin is a fancy word for saying we got to spend less. We might need to make more. And that's where this budget really comes into play. Are you even paying attention? Where can we trim? Can we cut some subscriptions? Can we trim the fat off this thing?

Are we willing to take a side job for a temporary amount of time to clean up a mess and not have this weight of, oh my gosh, gas is a dollar more and my life is ruined. I want you to have the margin to where you go, you kind of yawn and go, oh, inflation's up another percent. Oh, well, we'll adjust the budget and move on. Yeah, that's right. That's what financial peace is all about. That's right. That's the goal, for sure. And that's why this plan works, because it allows you to have that peace in the middle of kind of that chaos that you feel. So another kind of term or idea that has been floated around,

I feel like not as much in the past like month or two, but it's been there, is student loan forgiveness. And it's interesting as I kind of dig into this and talk to people in this, because they paused the student loan payments during all the pandemic stuff. And what it caused, though, for a lot of people, I think, was to be a little bit more passive when it comes specifically to student loans.

But I think it seeped into other areas of life and their money of sitting back thinking, okay, someone really could just take care of this. I'm going to kind of sit back and allow others. The calvary is coming. Yeah, and I think that it was something that a lot of people did believe, but as you dive in, you know, the average person now has, I think it's close to $37,000 in student loan debt. So there is something so real about it, but there's also something real about that passive mentality that you have to break of believing that other people are going to help you build this wealth. Listen, the problem becomes whatever the program is or whatever the promise is

that is made from Washington, D.C. that's going to make you wealthy, if they convince you of that, therefore you stop making yourself wealthy, you're screwed. That's the problem. That passivity is because people have become convinced that they're going to forgive the student loans. They may or may not, but to date, 0.6 percent, about a half of one percent of the student loans ever made have ever been forgiven to date. And there are three programs currently for student loan forgiveness, death, disability, and the private student loan program, the public student loan forgiveness. Death, disability, and the private student loan program, where the public student loan forgiveness program, where you work 10 years in a non-profit setting or an underserved setting, and 280,000 people have applied for that. Only 6,000 people have been

granted that. So what we find is, is that people who depend on Washington to have a good life, their life sucks. Democrat or Republican. It doesn't matter. Regardless of what, yes, who's there. Trump didn't send me any money, and neither did Biden, and neither did Clinton, and do I need to keep going? All the way to Carter, Dave. All the way back there, right? If you need some cash, I got you, Dave. I'll spot you. Jordan, didn't send me any money.

Lincoln, didn't send me any money. You're not that old, Dave. Come on now. But the thing with student loan forgiveness, and we take calls about this, and we have to go, here's why you shouldn't bank on this 10 years from now, is because we want you to be in control. And when you put your future in someone else's hands to hope that it happens, you are not in control by definition.

And the public sector often is going to pay less. And so you're saying, I'm going to stick inside of a job that pays less that I may not even enjoy just so hopefully one day my student loans are forgiven. No. In 18 to 24 months, on average, that's how long it takes for people to pay off their consumer debt. You can pay off your student loans and move on with your life for the next eight years

and build wealth. And I think it's important too. I think they'll send you a signal if they're gonna forgive them. If they're gonna forgive them, it means they really have come to the conclusion that the student loan is a bad idea. I thought it was good debt, Dave.

And so if they come to the conclusion that it's so bad that it needs to be forgiven, then they will stop making the loans. When they stop making them, they might be getting ready to forgive them. But until then, this whole discussion is intellectually dishonest. And it's giving a false hope as well, a false narrative around it. And again, just a reminder of, you said it well, George, but that all of this thing we're talking about tonight, right? The idea of building wealth, it has to come from you. It's going to come from you. And so being passive towards it is not going to help you. So that proactiveness is so, so key. Okay. Another term. You ready? Uh-oh. Cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency. These people are passionate, George. They're very passionate. The whole thing on the fine print on crypto and it was really well done. Thank you. But I thought I was going to find you hanging from a tree somewhere after that. I was nervous. Oh my gosh, they were so angry at you. I saw the crypto boss. Instead of me for a change. Yeah, they were coming after you and I thought I'm next and I don't have enough money to keep them away. But here's the deal. Here's the deal. Here's what I found out. I was wondering why it's not crypto itself that I was, uh, didn't like. It was the people that were really into it. And here's my, my conclusion. Cryptocurrency is Mary Kay for young men. That's it. That's it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Okay. That's funny. I don't care who'm sorry. Mic drop. Okay. That's funny. I don't care who you are. I'm sorry. They're obsessed, Rachel. I know. They're obsessed. I know. I know.

I know. I know. Okay. You did this on the fine print. So do a high-level explanation of what cryptocurrency is. And let's talk about it. Because you guys both have more of a, I don't talk about it this time, but y'all have more of a somewhat balanced view than people give you credit for.

I think a lot of people have assumed. Oh, you're not allowed to talk about it unless you're endorsing it, by the way, because they go bananas. Okay, I'm just setting you up for what we're going to talk about in a second. Thank you, Rachel. So George, you can give us the definition. And then I do want you to hear, I want to hear the approach about it. Because I think it is a little different than people maybe just assume stereotypically.

Who's the expert? One of the most dangerous things you can do is try to define cryptocurrency in 30 seconds. So this is a very risky move. You got it, George. But for the sake of everyone out there, I'm going to try. I believe in you. Cryptocurrency. Virtual currency that can be traded instantly, worldwide, 24-7, with little to no fees.

And it's not controlled by any one entity or government or company or person. So people love the fact that it's not regular. Which, by the way, I like that part a lot. Yes. So Dave likes that part. But here's the thing. When it's 24-7, it means you can watch it go up and down, which that's pretty much all it does, 24-7. At 4 a.m., you can watch this thing go up and down. And the craziest part is its value is based on speculation and hype. Most of the coins out there are just speculation and hype. Elon Musk says it's going to go up, so I guess we should all buy it before it goes up. That's it. Well, listen, let's just be clear. There's, again, a basic economic concept here. If you take an item, I don't care what that is, that's called a commodity. And just like earlier when we said six people chasing one item drives the price up on that commodity.

And that is different than an investment. An investment generates revenue, generates money, generates profit. So if you buy a rental house, you get rent. Real money. And so you can say based on the money that it is creating, not its increase in value, but the money that it is creating, I can give it a value. That's an investment, a stock.

The company is making a profit. And so based on the money I put in and then the money that company is creating back to me, the owner, the stockholder, then there's something happening there. But if it's orange juice, if you remember trading places with Eddie Murphy, right? And orange juice futures, you're just fighting over a fixed amount of orange juice and a number of people coming at it. Small number of people comes at it, price goes down. Large number of people goes at it, price goes up. And that's how crypto goes up, or that's how gold goes up. That's, you know, in value or down in value. Gold has no value except the number of people chasing it based on

fear or greed. Crypto has no inherent value. It's a digit, for God's sakes. But paper has no inherent value. But we put a president's face on it, and we declare it to be valuable. So we're all agreeing to change it. And it's acceptable, then we can change it. But if a large number of people chase a few dollars, the value of the dollar goes up. A currency goes up. But a currency is a type of commodity as well. So this is how commodities work. This is why when you play commodities on the commodities market, it's a very high risk play because you're anticipating the demand and that's all you can anticipate. And crypto is exactly the same way. I think crypto will be around. I think it's going

to be with us. I think it's kind of cool. I like the vibe on it. I can't stand the cult-like following and the idiocy that's around some of that, But I like the fact that it's outside government control. That's kind of cool. I'm kind of libertarian that way. That's neat. I don't want government screwing with anything if I could help it. And so I like that part. And I think it's going to survive.

I think it's going to be okay. But until it is proven over a decade or two to create wealth for the typical guy out there, I wouldn't put much money in it. No more than you would put at the craps table. Yes. Which, speaking of the craps. I like craps, okay? I think it's fun.

Dave doesn't like to lose money. Rachel is okay going to Vegas at the coin slots there. I have an envelope. I had an envelope. That's true. A craps envelope. I did. I had an envelope.

And once it was gone, it was gone. I have failed as a father. No, I'm sorry. I'm just telling the truth. It was in the budget. Save the secrets for later. It was in the budget. Save the secrets for later. But here's the deal. It's like going to Vegas.

A little bit. It's like walking up to the roulette table and going, all right, let's put it on red, see what happens. And then you win. You go, hey, guys, come over here. I made some money. Do exactly what I did.

And maybe you'll make money too. And they don't. And so don't tell me you're investing in crypto. It's fine if you say I'm playing with crypto. That's fine. But do it when you're out of debt. You have a fully funded emergency fund. You're already investing 15% into real things like your 401k, your Roth IRA. That's great. And then if you've got some entertainment money, because that's what it is, I'm totally fine with you spending on crypto. That's it too. That's the balanced approach here, right? In that

case, I would invest in crypto. I mean, no, I would buy crypto. Play with crypto. I take your correction. That was a good correction. Changing the... With crypto, we have to talk about NFTs. You all have heard about NFTs, right? Non-fungible tokens.

It really is a fun word. Whoever came up with that, they were having a good time. Non-fungible. It sounds good. It's cool. And so this is basically digital ownership. So I can take a picture of Dave Ramsey that I found online, and I can make it an NFT.

I can mint it, and I can sell that photo to someone. That would sell for precisely nothing. Some big Dave Ramsey fan. And you can say, I am the official owner of this specific version of this image. And so here's a great analogy for you. Y'all ever seen those websites that let you buy a star in the galaxy? That is an NFT. That's all it is.

So you're buying a star in the galaxy. You can point up and go, oh, it's up there. I know it is. It's basically a treasure map that points to the treasure. You don't own the treasure. The creator owns the treasure. In this case, God. But in the NFT case, it's usually an artist, right?

So people are going, all right, I'm going to buy this NFT, hoping that another sucker is going to pay a lot more than I did for it. That's all NFTs are. A 23-year-old called me on the air today with John Deloney on the air with me, and he makes $90,000 a year at 23 years old, and he lost $15,000 in one month buying NFTs. 23 years old. This is the kind of stuff that's driving me nuts.

Yeah. Dave, what's even crazier is I heard someone, this is a big NFT fan, he was describing it, and he said, you know, you have a sense of ownership. And I immediately went, oh my gosh, that's how they pitch timeshares. That's who you know. It's a terrible, terrible investment.

Get a sense of ownership. By the way, do you know who the timeshare guys are? They're the grandsons of the guys that did the Swampland. Oh. Is that a joke or is that for real? That's a joke. Okay. Got some Swampland.

I was like, really? It's a real estate joke. Dave loves a good real estate joke. I'm sorry. I didn't get it. I was a little slow on that one. Listen, if you want to— I'm in Vegas in my mind.

That's right. We live in a culture that mind. That's right. We live in a culture that has so much anxiety already. And so I like to take that part out and go, I'm not going to mess with all of these things. And here's what I like to say. If you follow the trends, you will fall for the traps. And a lot of these trends, they're traps.

They are. Please tweet that. Follow the trends, you'll fall for the trap. I need some new followers. You can turn a phrase, buddy. Thank you. That's good. I like that. That was the heart of the fine print, is trying to uncover what's going on in the world right now

and point back to the proven principles. You're not seeing the fine print podcast. We did a whole season of this kind of stuff with George as the host. You need to check it out. It's really good. Thank you, Dave. So I think that the spirit of all this, right,

whether it's crypto, all of this, there's a level of, sure, I think of greed, of like, okay, I can just get rich quick. It doesn't take a lot. But I know even talking to some of my friends even, though, that there is a, there is this sense of, gosh, we're working hard, right? It's not like, they're not lazy. They're not unwise. But it's like, okay, we're working hard. We're doing, every month we're doing our budget. You know, maybe they're on baby steps four, five, and six, but they're, you know, fund their retirement, kids college, they're putting

extra to the house, trying to save for a vacation, they're replacing a car. I mean, they're doing all this stuff. And it can be tiring, right? You do this over a long period of time. And like, yeah, sometimes you get the good wins and you feel energized, but sometimes it's just life and life is tiring and you work hard, you come home, you know, you do dinner, you get to bed. I mean, it's just, you're in it. And so I think for some people, it feels, and the easy button I think would be a thing, it's an easy button, but it's relief. It's like, oh, could I just put my money in something and I could get a really fast return and I don't have to do all this hard work over decades and decades. It sounds like a relief more than like greed or laziness. There's a level for people where it's like-

That's what you're searching for, but that sets your feet up in the news. So that's the problem. So like when you sit down with a good smart investor pro and they unpack and they actually teach you how the mutual fund works. And so you're able to select the right mutual fund. You know what you're doing then

by working with someone with the heart of a teacher. That's different than I'm buying something that I don't even know what it is or how it works because it's trendy and I'm looking for easy. So it's a whole different thing. And by the way, those of you that are on Baby Step 4, 5, and 6, be putting 15% in. It's not a theory. It's not 22%. It's not 12%. It's not 6%. And I'll catch up with it later. Some people hit that baby step three. And when they get the baby step four, they let their foot off the gas. Baby, that's when it's game on. And so you sit down and I understand you get tired. I've been working a long time. Sometimes I get tired too. But here's the thing. If I'm going to be tired, I at least want to be winning. Yes. Amen. Oh here's the thing. If I'm gonna be tired, I at least wanna be winning.

Yes, amen. Oh, amen, amen. And I think that that's the encouraging message here is that that relief, yes, it can come other places, right? You go and you invest and you're wise with where you're putting your money so you get that return, that relief can get there. But also to remember too, the journey throughout this wealth building process, you don't want to skip over because there is an element of your character

that's formed. There's an element of delayed gratification that seeps into other areas of your life. There's richness that through the hard work and through the diligence of it, there's something in there that is so good. And we are so used to instance. We want things fast because it feels good. That's what we want. And I think that's a really, really dangerous play. So there's beauty in the journey. So I just want to encourage you guys out there when it can be tired. It wouldn't force you to work together in your marriage and cause your marriage to draw together. Absolutely. Yeah. But the fact that we're fighting a battle causes us to draw together as a husband and wife and actually communicate and actually

lean in and go, we're going to do, come on, we can do it. Come on. And you lift each other up and you're carrying each other along like you're in this battle. And so, but if one of you just reaches over there on the internet at 2 a.m. and hits the easy button, I mean, none of that happens. And besides that, it doesn't work. I love the microwave crockpot analogy. How many of y'all burnt popcorn in the microwave because it went two seconds over, right? That's culture. They're going to get burnt. But the crockpot, right? Grandma's crockpot. I set it and forget it like Ron Papil. Remember the old rotisserie chicken? And it's so great. You can't mess up the crockpot. That is why I love the crockpot. You just leave it alone and it works. And yes, it will take four

hours instead of 30 seconds, but you're gonna actually keep your wealth. And it reminds me of that Proverbs 13, 11 verse, wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. There it is. And I love that spirit. That's the underlying truth of the whole night right there.

Absolutely. And what I think is so really cool where we're sitting today at this time, I'm like, you know, over 30 years of doing it, I'm meeting people in their 20s who are like, yeah, I mean, my parents took Financial Peace University and now I went to college debt-free. And they have this whole story, this springboard that they get to start off on because their parents chose something different. And that's my story.

I mean, I'm sitting here today because of him and mom and the choices that they made. It did. The idea that it changes your family tree, it really does. Like, it really does. There's an impact that is so much greater than those of you that are here. It goes so beyond you. And there's something beautiful about it, right? And it's not just handing them money. It's handing them a set of principles to live by that is part of their story forever and ever. And so all of you, it is so possible, number one, absolutely. I mean, we get these stories. I feel like that's the privilege of our jobs. We get to hear success stories. We hear the problems for sure, but we get to hear the success stories of people, all different walks of life, all income

levels, all debt levels, everything, walk this plan and truly do. They become everyday, they become millionaires. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And plan and truly do it. They become every day, they become millionaires and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing and it is possible for everyone. But remember, it's bigger than you. It's bigger than you. Other people's lives are going to be touched by the choices that you make today with your money. Well, I'm sitting here with a guy who's getting ready to be a millionaire in his 30s, has been on our team, met his wife on our team, all of that. I'm sitting here with another generation following these principles, and I'm sitting here with all of you guys, and it's just, I gotta tell you, man, it is so fun. It's so rewarding. It's so soul-filling to meet you folks that have done these things and see the stuff you've done.

You're incredible. I mean, so many of you are the things you've pulled off and that your steadiness and your maturity, adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. You guys, I mean, tens of thousands of people out there that I've had the honor of meeting and hearing your overcomers story. I'm so proud of you. And all we want for you at Ramsey is really simple. We make plenty

of money. We're doing all right. But what we want for you is we want to see you move the needle. We want to see you dial this in a little tighter or do it for the first time. And I just don't want to see you fall for stuff that doesn't work or that's unproven. I don't want to see you go through pain. I hate talking to that little 23-year-old today and lost $15,000. And Deloney and I told him, we said, it's really good that you lost it because you'll never do it again. It's true.

You'll never do it again. Yeah. And that really wasn't the answer he wanted. But it's the one he needed to hear. You know, when it comes to this stuff, I always think of this quote, people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, and they underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade. And especially with our story, me and my wife,

it's amazing that people don't have a vision for what they want five years from now, 10 years from now. They're thinking about this weekend, next week, they're living paycheck to paycheck. They want to get rich quick. There's all these trends. And if you can just keep your eye on the prize year after year consistently with discipline and the character that creates,

goodness gracious, we need more character than ever in the world today. Oh man, we got a character shortage in this country. And if you can just stick to that plan. We got some characters. A lot of characters. But we have a character shortage. Yes, and so that's my encouragement to you guys.

I'm not special, I'm not rich. I'm just a guy who went all in, not ish, on this plan. And I'm telling you, it works. You do have good hair. Thank you. That helps. That's the one thing I have over Dave is good hair. Guys, we're honored to be with y'all tonight. We love you. We're so glad you're here. Thank you for spending your evening with us. Please go win. Turn this country around. Let's have the good people take it back. And all this craziness is out there and toxicity and division and hate. It needs to be pushed down by the good people. And we need to go win and cause this to happen. Thanks for being with us, y'all. We love you. Thanks so much for listening to this special edition podcast on building wealth in 2022.

As you heard me say in this episode, if you want to build wealth the fastest right way, then you need to do these things. Take Financial Peace University so you can learn the money management principles that millions of yous to win with money. Live on a budget every single month by using every dollar and get some healthy accountability in your life using one of our financial coaches, all of which are exclusively available in Ramsey Plus. And the great news is you can always get started in Ramsey Plus for free. Join Ramsey Plus today. Visit ramseysolutions.com slash wealth. It's time to say never again and start building the wealth you have always dreamed of.

Thanks again for listening to this special edition podcast, Building Wealth in 2022.