The Ramsey Show - App - How to Make Your Retirement Dream a Reality (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 7, 2018

The show about you

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show. Where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. The reason on the Dave Ramsey Show we teach you to get out of debt is not so that you're out of debt. We teach you to get out of debt so that you're able to invest, so that you're able to give, so that you're able to live. Chris Hogan joins me this hour. We are going to do an Everyday Millionaires theme hour. We're going to take calls and answer and ask questions of everyday millionaires, people who are millionaires, and how did you get there and what did you do?

Not what your broke brother-in-law's opinion is, but what real millionaires tell us. What did they do? Did they inherit it? Did they save it? How long did it take? Did they do risky investments? Did they borrow money to get it? Where did the money come from? And Chris, you and I have been doing this a while with Everyday Millionaires. As a matter of fact, we've just finished this huge study, and the lesson comes back time and time again that the answer is predictable. There is no surprise. There's no shock, Dave. I mean, it's crazy. You've been telling people for years, get yourself out of debt, build up a nest egg, and let's invest over time. Not a quick hit, not a get-rich-quick scheme, but focused, intentional investing based on your risk tolerance, and you'll get there.

I don't want to sacrifice. I want to live while I'm young. I want to live while I'm young. I don't want to be one of those old misers. Have you heard the phrase YOLO? Mm-hmm. Do you know what that stands for? You only live oh you're hip dave i'm so hip i am yolo i'm so hip i'm about to grow hair so new york new york times and nbc news uh featured sylvia bloom the frugal secretary who hit a nine million dollar fortune uh she joins a list of secret millionaires these frugal secretary who hid a $9 million fortune. She joins a list of secret millionaires.

These frugal millionaires wore faded clothes, drove used cars, keeping their fortunes a secret until their death, and in every case they gave their millions away, in most cases, to a charity of some kind, usually a college in several cases. There was the janitor, Ronald Reed, who dressed so poorly that someone once paid for his meal in a restaurant because they thought he was the janitor, Ronald Reed, who dressed so poorly that someone once bought him, paid for his meal in the restaurant because they thought he was a homeless guy. And when he passed away, he had been investing, and he had $8 million in his nest egg, left

it to a local library. There was the librarian, not at the same library, who was in the paper a while back. They're all featured in this particular article on NBC, who spent almost half a century working as a librarian at the University of New Hampshire. And when he died at 77 years old, he had $4 million, left it to his alma mater. But, you know, again, everyone thought he lived alone, ate Fritos for breakfast. There's a secretary whose $180 stock purchase grew to millions, Grace Groner, secretary who scooped up clothes at garage sales and lived a Spartan one-bedroom house in Lake Forest, Illinois,

survived the Great Depression, and she left $7 million to Lake Forest College, her alma mater. And this is, you know, you and I were talking before we went in. These are not who I aspire to be or who i would recommend you aspire to be they're wonderful stories in some sense but in other sense they're real sad now let me guess are you saying because because they did in my mind two out of three things well they saved they invested but i bet you're going to say they didn't live i would say even another thing they did well. They were generous. Yes, yes, they did.

Saved, invested, and they were generous. Right. But they didn't live. And they got the miserly, frugal extreme when you've got $7 million. Now, I'm not suggesting that you go crazy and that you blow the $7 million and go one weekend in Vegas and it's all gone. But we teach you to live and give like no one else. There's three things you can do with money. You can give it, you can invest it, and you can enjoy it, and you should do all three.

See, the thing that I had wrong coming from the banking industry before I connected with you was I knew of two schools of thought. You spend what you get to enjoy your life now, or you save every dime. I wasn't aware of the middle road. I wasn't aware of that. So that was the game changer for me coming here getting that information. Well, it was save like no one else, so later I can live like no one else. I mean, there is a sacrifice when you're gazelle intense,'re getting out of debt and you're getting the thing started but at some point you let the foot off the gas a little bit on the frugality and start to enjoy a portion not all

of but a portion of but it seems like people get caught up in the extremes and maybe then maybe they don't make the news if they're not in the extremes that's probably true because but this frugality right here fuels the fire in a 26 year old who says i just want to live my life now i just want to do yolo you know yolo and you know give me a break well and see that makes people they hear these stories and they think well i can't get there because i'm not willing to give up living i don't want to have a no life right and i don't i don't want to wait till i'm 65 to travel right i don't want to wait till i'm well you don't have to you don't you really just have to get your act together and get yourself out of the ditch and then once you're up on the road you can save live right and and give right

well you've talked about it i mean back in the day when i was got here in 05 you know traveling around and and i would hear you talk to people about, you know, once you get yourself out of debt and you've got your emergency fund and you're investing 15%, now you start to look as a percentage of your income to look to increase some things. That's that living component. And so mentally, as you sit down and you talk, and you've talked about the nerd and the free spirit, you know, those two people coming together to make a decision, now what you have is you make sure you're not going on the extremes working as a team. Now, you might see me in a restaurant, and you might think I'm dressed so poorly that I'm homeless. But it's not because I'm frugal. It's just because I don't care how I dress. And it's just I have no taste.

I'm going to get you in a tie one day. No, you're not. Yeah, I am. In a coffin. You'll be looking down. That's the first time Dave's ever won a tie. It's the only way you're getting one on me. I'll be dead.

Oh, I love it. Chris Hogan's with me. We're doing the Everyday Millionaires Theme Hour. Now, what is this? We started this a while back, Chris and I did, and we've both just become enamored. As a matter of fact, entire segments of our company have become enamored with this subject of where do millionaires come from? Well, let's start with a definition of fact, entire segments of our company have become enamored with this subject of where do millionaires come from? Well, let's start with a definition of a millionaire.

Absolutely. So that's taking a look at all your assets minus your liabilities. Now, that's your home, your investments, all of that together. If you total over a million, you are a net worth millionaire. Yeah, and it's a net worth millionaire is the only real millionaire. Sometimes people say, well, you make a million dollars a year. That's not a millionaire. That means you earned a million dollars.

That's right. You could have spent two million. That's right. It's possible. So the whole thing is it's not what you make. It's what you keep. That's right. That gets you there.

And so when you get to a million dollar net worth and truthfully, a million dollar net worth is not enough anymore. No, I mean, it's a whole lot more than Alpo and Social Security check, which is what some old people got, right? But it's not like you're going to be living on Easy Street. No, not at all. It's not that kind of money, but it's a really good foundation for retiring with dignity. Well, especially, Dave, I mean, think about this.

I tell people all the time, I want you to go into retirement and take your dreams, your hopes, and your plans, but there's one thing I, I want you to go into retirement and take your dreams, your hopes, and your plans. But there's one thing I don't want you to take, and that's debt. So if you've got debt out of your life, you've paid off your house, and you've got a million-dollar net worth, you start to look and you start to have some options. And you can make some decisions. But if you've got a $300,000 house and $700,000 in mutual funds, if you made 10% on them, that would be $70,000 a year. That's not uber-rich. No. That's a good life. But you can a year. That's not uber rich. No.

That's a good life. But you can live. But it's not uber rich. I agree. I mean, you're not living on a 110-foot yacht. No. That's not the kind of stuff

we're talking about. This is a millionaire, not a billionaire. Right. So if you have a net worth of a million dollars or greater, not an income, but a net worth,

call in. We want to talk to you this hour on the Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour on The Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, I need you to listen to this, because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home,

you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit and every search you're doing online. It doesn't matter if you're on your cell or your laptop. They can see you visiting websites, streaming or downloading, uploading photos, files, and more. I'm not telling you this to scare you, but I want you to be aware and take action. You need to download an app called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield helps keep your connection on your own Wi-Fi and any public Wi-Fi secure.

600 million people worldwide have downloaded Anchor Free's Hotspot Shield. Download it right now. Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to hotspotshield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. If you are a millionaire, what you own minus what you owe equals a million dollars. That is your net worth. That is the definition of a millionaire.

Then we'd love to hear from you this hour. We've got some folks that are lined up to call in, but if you want to just call in, you can get through. We keep the lines clean because we're only taking calls from millionaires. So the phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. And if you want to learn more about millionaires, you can check out. We've got Everyday Millionaire series on our YouTube channel at The Dave Ramsey Show. And also ChrisHogan360.com.

So Dave Ramsey Show, you can subscribe to the YouTube channel. You get everything that happens on YouTube there regarding this show. But the Millionaire Video Series is where we capture stories of people who have become millionaires and how did they do that. And if you binge watch these, you will totally be dunked in the idea. It'd be like taking a course on how to be a millionaire. It'd be a pretty good course to take. It really would.

I mean, Dave, we've got people that are out there working hard. We've got people that are trying. And we know almost 80% of people are living paycheck to paycheck. And so being able to point people in a direction to help them understand exactly what is possible, that you can reach this goal, you can do this, you just need to plug in and understand the right kind of steps to take and when to take them. And the culture has told you that you have to be like a 4.2 GPA or a famous entertainer or athlete. You have to play in the NFL to be a millionaire. Or you have to be a crook.

You have to steal your money. Or you have to inherit your money. And the truth is we find out that a very very very very very like less than one percent of the people fall in those categories of the people that are millionaires and there's about 11 million millionaires in america right now so um you know something's happening uh you know and we're going to share with you how you get there mike is on the line mike is in louisville kentucky Welcome to a Millionaire Theme Hour, Mike. What is your net worth, sir?

$2.8 million. $2.8 million. Very cool. And how is that invested? Break that down for me. Sure. $2.2 million I have in mutual funds, my retirement, and then $600,000 in property. Okay.

That was easy. All right. Cool. And how old are you? I am 56. easy. All right. Cool. And how old are you? I am 56. Cool. All right. And how much of the $2.8 million did you inherit?

You know what? I didn't inherit any of it, but I've got to give most of the credit to my parents for teaching me the basics that you teach. So I would say that's what I inherited. So you inherited common sense, which is like having your own superpower. It's priceless. All right. So give me your household income range from the time you started, your household income from the time you started until now.

What was the low point and the high point? For my whole career? Yeah. point uh for my whole career yeah um i probably started around 15 000 dollars a year uh straight out of college almost 36 years ago um when i left my company i was about closer to 175 000 okay very cool what you do for what you do for a living What was your career? I worked for a major food company. Doing what? It was very good to me. Doing what? Well, I was in sales.

I was in sales. Yeah, so I kind of started at the ground floor as a sales rep and then made my way up through sales management and director role. So like a manufacturer, so you're selling into it like a grocery store chains or you worked in one of the chains? Yeah, I would tell you that my customer was Kroger. Okay. So if I get his sense, it was a major food, yeah.

Gotcha. Okay. Cool. Cool. And do you have a degree? I do. I did graduate. GPA was 3.0, and I would tell you I was not a great student.

Yeah. I was 3.0, and I would tell you I was not a great student. That 3.0 was basically from buckling down my junior and senior year, knowing I had to get out four years. So I kicked it in. The first two years wasn't nearly that. So I ended at 3.0. Mike, what did you study? Business. Business, okay.

When I started to get into some of the business and marketing classes it became a lot more interesting to me and thus the grades improved and my focus improved so gotcha and did you ever borrow any money to help you get to millionaire status no okay no borrowing all right and do you do any giving as a household? You know, I would say the baseline, you know, kind of the stuff. That is one area that I really want to improve in. I just, you know, I would say I do the basics, and I want to give so much more. It's just something I've got to kind of hurdle. I've got to get over, and I'm going to work on it.

Fantastic. But, you know, that is one area that I definitely feel like I need to get better at. All right, let me go a little light here. How much have you ever paid for a pair of jeans? I think I paid $15 at a big box club store recently. It fit just as well as the expensive ones, and I actually bought two pairs. Oh, did you splurge? That's a good thing.

Hey, and before you reached millionaire status, did you ever own a new car? No, no. You had used cars, and the one I drive now is about three years old. What advice? So you really did this in your 401ks and your mutual fund investing. Almost all of it is in a paid-for house. So what advice have you got to the 25-year-old version of you that's out there listening? Yeah, I'm kind of boring.

You know what? You live below your means. Like you guys talk about, get a budget. Invest. It doesn't have to be a lot, but be consistent and keep working to build it up to the levels. You know, the 15% is actually the number I kind of landed on about 15 years ago. But it was slow, 5, 6, 7, 10. As you get raised, you add a little bit more to that number.

Again, live below your means. Quit looking at the Joneses. You know, it's really simple. It's hard, but it's simple if you just kind of follow the steps. Very cool. Hey, man, thank you for joining us. Very, very well done. Very well done.

Hey, folks, if you want to call in on an Everyday Millionaire show, you can do it now, or you can actually just register, and we'll get you in one of these Everyday Millionaire theme hours, DaveRamsey.com slash show slash millionaire. And there's a form there for you to fill out, and we will let you participate in one of these shows. That's DaveRamsey.com slash show slash millionaire. And we're going to open up some lines if you want to call in at 888-825-5225 if you are to call in at 888-825-5225 if you are a millionaire.

David is with us in Kansas City. Hey, David, what's your net worth? Close to $2 million. Cool. And break that down for me. How's that invested? Sneaking on a million dollars' worth of farm real estate and then the remainder in mutual funds, our home, and a small amount in stocks and stuff.

Got you. Okay, how old are you? 62. 62, very cool. And how much of this $2 million did you inherit? About $104. Okay, so are you a millionaire because of that? No, that came here within the last three years okay

all right cool so it's not because you were inherited the money then okay and your uh your household income range from uh the low point when you started to the high point well i started out at three dollars and fifty cents an hour and now i'm close to i've been 120 and right now it's about 100 okay all right so the most you ever made household income was 120 that's correct okay all right cool and what is your career in david i am a financial advisor financial advisor very good and do you have the last 10 years okay the last 10 Do you have a degree? Associate of Applied Science degree. I was a diesel technician in one of my prior lives. Yes, sir.

And do you remember your GPA? Probably 3.5. Okay. 3.5. Very good. And did you borrow any debt, any money to help you reach millionaire status? We borrowed just to buy our home. That's the only loan that we've ever really had.

Okay. And do you all do any giving as a household? We definitely give. We've given all of our life. We were raised that way and always make sure there's money set aside and if we have to dig deeper because somebody has a need, we do that.

That is fantastic. Mr. Financial Advisor, how'd you do this? Tell people how to do it. Well, the first life insurance policy we bought was whole life. A couple years later, we started working with a financial advisor, and he said, you need to get this turned into term, which will actually take care of your family should you have need. We were spending every penny we could,

and we had a $25,000 life insurance policy and two little girls. Getting ripped off. We could have done absolutely nothing for them. So then we went ahead, and I ended up with a $300,000 policy. We put the cash value into our first retirement. And we're off and running.

Well done, sir. Thank you for calling in. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ

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That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org It's a millionaire theme hour, an everyday millionaire's theme hour, here on The Dave Ramsey Show with Ramsey personality Chris Hogan, number one best-selling author of the book Retire Inspired. Dave is in Appleton, Wisconsin. Hey, Dave, your net worth, sir? Yeah, it's about $3 million, Dave.

Very cool. And how's that broken down? Yeah, 401Ks. I probably got $1.2 million in 401Ks. And I should, when I say me, I also include my wife, Joan, in that. She's a partner with me in this. Mutual funds, probably about $200,000. IRA is about $800,000.

I get about $550,000 in real estate, and equity is about $200,000 and $50,000 in cash. Very cool. How old are you guys? I'm 56. My wife is 54 at present, Dave. Perfect. And how much of the $3 million did you guys inherit? Zero. Okay, cool. And what And how much of the $3 million did you guys inherit? Zero.

Okay, cool. And what is the range of your household income? High point since you've been married and started working, and low point since you've been married and started working? Yeah, the low point was right out of college, and I was working at that time. My wife was not. But $30,000 is probably where we started at, you know, young 20s.

And currently, you know, in recent years, our income has increased. We both went to a public university. I'm an engineer, and she's a computer science major. And we've moved up in the management of our companies. And our household income at the current time with our salary is about $275,000 with about $60,000 in bonuses, so $325,000 overall. Okay, excellent, excellent, cool. So computer science, and what was the other? I'm an electrical engineer, Dave.

Electrical engineer, okay, cool. And so obviously those are your degrees then. That's correct. Okay, all right. And what was your GPAs when you guys were going through? I was probably about 3.8. I'd say my wife's was similar. Okay.

Cool. We both worked hard. Our parents taught us that. Absolutely. Cool. Very good. And Dave, did you ever use any debt to help you reach millionaire status? You know, there was only two times, Chris.

And one was when we bought our first home. We borrowed some money then, but, you know, we were, as I mentioned, we were frugal. And so what happened was is that we had a mission to get that house paid off as quickly as we could. So we went without some things that, you know, a real fancy car. We always drove Chevrolets, et cetera. in order to be able to pay that debt down. So getting out of debt was always a mission of Jones and mine. That is fantastic. And do you all do any giving as a

household? Yeah, we give, we tithe and give about 10% to our church and other worthy organizations. We're looking here to retire here in the next couple years and live more of a life of service at that point in time. That is fantastic.

And what's the most either of you have ever paid for a pair of jeans? Oh, geez. Well, in Wisconsin here we have a store called, I won't mention the store, but we have kind of a farm specialty store. And we don't go by the top designer jeans. I would say that most of what we paid for a jeans is probably $35 to $40, either one of us. Fantastic. Dave, you sound very intentional.

How many books do you read a month? I've been a reader since I've been a young boy. And I would guess in a month I'd probably read, depending upon the size of the book, four to six books. Four to six books. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah. What's the best nonfiction, non-Ramsay book you've read in the last year?

I've been reading a lot of fiction books, Dave. That's okay. I've been reading a lot about goal setting, basically around adventures, setting a goal like to conquer a particular piece of wilderness or go see a particular piece of wilderness and setting a goal to get there. I think that goes hand-in-hand with investing as well. So kind of bucket list stuff, huh? Bucket list for the future, Dave, are you asking?

No, is that what you're saying? The wilderness thing is kind of a bucket list thing you've been reading up on? Yeah, I did some climbing all over the world in Africa and Alaska, and I like that sort of thing. It's kind of goal-oriented, and that's something that always has been important to my wife and I. Very cool. Wow. Very well done.

So what advice have you got for the young guy out there listening, young gal out there listening? Can they do this still? Absolutely. Absolutely. And you don't have to have a huge salary to do it. What you have to do is you have to have a plan. You have to control your debt. And I always say you have to pay yourself first.

Anytime Joan and I received a raise or a bonus, What we did is we invested that money in ourselves. We just didn't take it, blow it on a huge vacation, and then it was gone. So we come from a very simple background, and kind of the things that you talk about, Dave, are the way that we got to where we are. I mean, it's taking care of an emergency fund, take care of your debt, and have a plan. And that's what we did. Well done, sir. Congratulations. Very proud of you. debt, and have a plan. And that's what we did. Well done, sir. Congratulations.

Very proud of you. Excellent, excellent, excellent job. Thanks for joining us. April is in Dallas. Hey, April, what's your net worth? $1.35 billion, Dave. Very cool. And what's that invested in?

Break that down for me. The breakdown is $425,000 paid off house, $750,, uh, 750 and 401k IRA and mutual funds. And, uh, we have 529 to the kids. Um, uh, IRAs, um, you can only let me go further, uh, three, 380. Um, And then I have a 401k that's $245,000. And my husband has his 401k that's $10,000. And then, so that's $519,000. You guys are killing it. Yeah, you're killing it. How old are you guys?

I'm 42. My husband's 45. You did this early. Well done. Well done. So how much of this $ 1.35 did you inherit uh we had uh my husband had um uh a relative passed about two years ago it was 40k so you so really you're not millionaires because of that then absolutely not no no okay and what's been your range of household income

in your working lifetime uh Gosh, my working lifetime? Oh, in college, I was maybe, you know, the lowest I was in college, probably to just a couple thousand a year. We had a banner year of 340K a couple years ago, he and I, and we averaged about 250. Okay. What do you do for a living? I'm a pharmacist, a my husband is a software

engineer okay so your degrees are in those things correct okay i assume all right yeah i know it is for pharmacy okay and so what's your mba too okay and so what's your like your g, undergrad, grad, whatever? Combined, I would say about a 3.5. Okay. And he's probably similar to that. Honestly, that's never really come up. It's like, do you have your degree? That's a very, very good point. And April, looking at this, have you all ever used any debt to help you reach millionaire status?

Hi, Chris. Yeah, on our home, we took out a mortgage uh we paid it off as fast as we could um not a lot of i would say you know i kind of got off to a little bit of a bad start i took out um i started listening to dave actually in like 2003 when he was syndicated on the radio and i was listening to him while i was working night and i had like 50k and um student loans which i will never do again and I paid him off in like three years did you really that is fantastic yeah you were definitely focused uh do do you all do any giving as a household um we do I have it there's a

disaster relief fund at work that I give to um and then we've given to church. Okay, very good. And I'm curious, what's the most you've ever paid for a pair of jeans? Oh, gosh, my dad's going to laugh because he's probably listening. Oh, Dad, so I got a pair that was like $100, but those were a gift for myself. Probably that was a one-time thing for myself. Probably I don't really get over 50. Okay. All right.

And prior to hitting millionaire status, did you all ever have a new car? No. I drove the same car from, I mean, from like high school until after I was already a pharmacist for a couple years. That is fantastic. In 20 seconds, can this still be done? Oh, yes. How'd you. In 20 seconds, can this still be done? Oh, yes. Absolutely. How'd you do it so young, quick? Well, Dave,

my parents were very practical people, and listening to you, I got a hold of you early in life, and just not being able to spend the money and get a hold of the money, just not even seeing it, just making it automatic. The 401K.

That's what it does. There it goes again. I love it. Thanks, April. You're a rock star. I'm proud of you. Well done. This is a millionaire theme hour on The Dave Ramsey Show.

With more frequency than you know, I get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent. You can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing. And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money. Especially when it's a situation that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be

it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family. Listen, you need to check out Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. I can't say it enough. Protect your family. It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's an Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour.

What we find when we interview real millionaires, not your broke brother-in-law with an opinion, is that the everyday millionaire, people that are millionaires, did not inherit their wealth. Almost never. Less than 10% of the time. They're not crooks. They're not Wall Street fat cats who rip somebody off or something like that. They didn't steal from anybody. Nope.

They're a pharmacist who's 42 years old and works her butt off, and by 42 already got to 1.35 million. They're not famous entertainers. You don't recognize their names, and they're not in the NFL or the NBA or the NHL. They are smart, but they're seldom off-the-charts geniuses. They're not, I mean, you know, very seldom do we hear anybody with a 2.0, but we don't hardly ever hear anybody with a 4.0. No, not at all. Most of us are about like me, about, you know, I got a 2.97.

I'm still pissed about the 3.100 of a point. You know, so, I mean, it's, but nobody ever asked, right? But, you know, so that's, you know, they're not, they're smart enough to get it. That's right. But they're not so smart that they think they get it just that they build up because of their intellect. Sometimes too much intellect, you overthink things. You can get in the way. And that was me, Dave, when I first came here.

You're that smart? I was, well, I don't know if we can say that, but intellectually, I would overthink things. Oh, okay. You know, overthinking, trying to make it sophisticated, trying to make it fancy. What was your GPA when you got your MBA? Well, 3.75. Okay. Ooh.

That's good. Not that I know or anything. No, not that you're bragging. I'm not proud of that or anything. You saw me fall off. Come on, man. Here's the thing, Dave, though. Getting here with you, I realized working here, I started back in 2005,

it wasn't that it had to be the pro athlete or the entertainer. You know, I was working with those people in the banking industry. And you and I have worked a lot with the NFL. We worked a lot. I was down a couple weeks ago. Anthony the other day was up talking to one of the football teams. Which one was it, Ravens? He's out in Baltimore. Baltimore, yeah.

I was on the right side here in Tennessee talking to the Titans. You were talking to the correct team. But the good thing is, you know what? They brought me in to talk to them before they got their first paycheck. Yeah. Because they wanted them to start off the right way. But here's the thing. For all of you out there that are driving or you're at work, you're working beside everyday millionaires and you don't even know it.

These are people that have kept their head down. They've walked through a plan. They're not letting a commercial get them off track. They're not letting a new vehicle that comes out make them jump off their plan. They're focused. And those are people that win. They don't care what you think. No, they do not.

And they're not mean. They just don't care what you think. Because they've got a plan. They have a dream that's bigger than today's needs, today's supposed needs that are really just wants. It changes everything. It doesn't matter where you come from. It matters where you're going.

And that is so true, Dave, especially doing that. The largest research study that has ever been done on net worth millionaires, we've just wrapped that up. And I'm going to tell you, people are intentional. They're not worried about your opinions. They're not worried about what the media says. These are people that are chasing dreams, and it is just exciting. I can't wait for people to learn more about this. We're going to put it out in a book called Everyday Millionaires that will come out in

January, and we'll start telling you more about that soon. Chris Hogan is the author of that, and the study was done here with the Ramsey Solutions team under Chris's guidance, and he's had his hands on this subject for many years. Steve and Lauren are with us. Hey, guys, what are your net worth? Hi there. Hey.

We're just over $1 million. We just hit $1 million. We're about $1.1 million. Perfect. I love it. And break that down for me. How's it broken out? Sure. So it's mostly our retirement accounts 401ks and rocks and that's

about uh 750 000 and we have about 85 in uh college savings about 70 in cash our house is about 360 and our three cars believe it or not are 18 000 very good i love it how old are you guys how old are you guys uh i i'm 36 and my husband he's here but i'm the voice today he's 39 okay you're in your 30s our youngest millionaire of the day very cool how much of this did you inherit how much did you inherit zero zero okay and what's your income, household income, worst year and best year since you've been working? So our worst year was probably when we started, probably around 110, and we're at about 300 right now. Okay. So we have a decent shovel.

Cool. Yeah, you do. And I'm curious, what's your career? So my husband's in finance. Steve is in finance. He's an analyst at an asset management firm, and I am in hospital administration, so I'm on the business side of running hospitals. Okay, very good. And is that what you all studied in college?

Yes, it is. Yep. Those were planned sort of career paths. Okay, very good. And do you recall your GPAs? We do recall our GPAs, although we had to think about it. He was around a 3.2 and I was a 3.6 in undergrad. And we both have our master's degree. Okay. Very good. And do you all do any giving as a household?

We do. Yeah. We go to church, household we do yeah we you know we are we go to church so we do a lot of giving with our church and we also have a couple local organizations that we give a lot to and including the hospital that i work for you know i'm curious you guys did this really early how you know we thought about that a lot. That's one of the questions we had sort of thought about. And we think it's three things. So one is finding a partner that really sort of has the same beliefs and sort of So that was pretty easy. Um, the second was we saved, so we probably put more than 15% away in retirement just because we're able to. So we're just trying to load that up early on because we'd like to retire someday. And, um, then the third thing is just really being thoughtful about all of our decisions. You know, there's very few decisions that we found, at least from a personal finance

standpoint, that we needed to make instantly. You know, so it was really making sure we thought through them and then make sort of a conscious, well-thought-out decision. You know, that keeps you from getting ripped off, and I have found that people get ripped off more, very seldom get ripped off by an actual con man. They get ripped off by an actual con man they get ripped off by an enthusiastic ignoramus exactly and if you if you slow down you can smell that yeah you can smell it if you slow down and you guys have been real intentional about that very well done so uh thank you did

you did you guys like when you were like 16 or 17 sit around go i want to be a millionaire by the time i'm 35? No, no. It actually shocked us because we kept doing the numbers over and over because we wanted to be able to call you. And, you know, when Steve did the numbers, he's more of the nerd, and it hit a million, we were like, oh my gosh. So it was exciting. It was exciting.

We still owe a little bit on our mortgage, so we always, you know, we're still chipping away at that. But no, we never thought that very proud of you all very well done thank you yeah it is very impressive i mean what you all have done at this age hey i'm curious do you think your family would believe that you're millionaires right now no way and we're trying not to tell anybody because we're a little bit like still in shock so well yeah because you don't want them to line up exactly exactly i don't i don't need any requests i love it congratulations very very very well done, Robin. Man, that's just, I mean, Steve and Lauren, that's just absolutely amazing.

Fabulous. So we got five, really, I think the lady when we added that up later, it ended up being about $7 million worth. A 2.8, a 2, a 3, a 1.35, and our young millionaire of the day that just called $1.1 million net worth and still almost getting the mortgage paid off, but at 35 years old, 36, 39 years old, and making good money. They were making $300, so they're killing it as financial advisor, hospital administrator. So very intentional about their career path and their education. We see a lot of correlation with education, but education that actually has marketplace application. You don't get a degree in left-handed puppetry or, you know, you don't get a degree in whatever and then wonder why you can't make a living.

They got a master's degree, knew exactly where they were going with that, and it walked them right into some serious household income, and they've then saved all of it. Absolutely, Dave. They're intentional. I mean, everybody we've talked to had a plan, and they're doing it. Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour with Ramsey personality Chris Hogan. Chris, thanks for hanging out with me. Thank you for having me, Dave.

Good stuff. Very good stuff. Folks, bottom line of all this, the conclusion for you should be that you can do this. Everybody's making choices is what they're doing. They're making choices. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, it's Blake Thompson, Chief Production Officer

for the Dave Ramsey Show. This hour's up, but you'll find more on our YouTube channel, where we have over 6 million YouTube views each month. You can find debt-free screens, millionaire hour clips, Dave Rants, and so much more. Go check it out. By the time I was 26, I had $4 million worth of real estate, and then I lost it all because I didn't do it the right way.

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