The Ramsey Show - App - Millionaires Delay Pleasure for a Greater Gain (Hour 2)

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Kristina Ellis interview five millionaires to find out how they built their wealth. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods of Moving and Storage Studios, it's the 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. Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. We're taking your calls if you are a millionaire. This is a Baby Steps Millionaire Theme Hour. We are going to be talking only with millionaires.

Regardless of how you became one, we want to hear your story. Now, let's be very careful to define it because some people don't know the definition of millionaires, including people who think they do. A millionaire is someone who has a one million dollar or greater net worth. Your net worth is defined, it is an accounting term, as your assets minus your liabilities. What you own minus what you owe equals your net worth. If you're a cash millionaire, it means you have at least a million in cash. Okay? But if you have a house, if you have retirement, if you have whatever,

the things that you own added up minus what you owe, if it equals $1 million or more, you are a millionaire. And we want to talk to you because we want to teach America what millionaires really look like, not what idiots on news shows with political agendas think a millionaire is. I heard some congressman, a U.S. congressman the other day goes, well, he's not a millionaire. He doesn't make a million dollars a year. That's not what a millionaire is, you doofus. It's not an income measure.

It's net worth. How do you get into the U.S. Congress and be this stupid? Oh, there's a lot of ways. Okay. Or TikTok. Lots of TikTok millionaires right now. Lots of TikTok millionaires. They don't even know what a millionaire is.

TikTok doesn't know what anything is. So anyway, check it out. If you're a real millionaire, we want to talk to real people, not your broke brother-in-law's opinion. I don't want to hear about your politics or what you wish things were or your whining. I want to talk to real millionaires and learn how you really did it so that our audience knows what it looks like, what it feels like,

and what the process is. The phone number is 888-825-5225 jason and shannon are starting our million babies millionaire theme hour off well hey guys what's your net worth hey we're hey dave glad to be on the show uh we're at 3.5 good for you well done nice job okay give me a little breakdown on that by category. How much in each category? Yeah, so our home is about 1.4. We've got a business worth about 1.6. Roughly 150 in our 401k, about 400 in cash. Very good. Well done. How old are you guys?

44 and 45. Very good. What kind of business old are you guys? 44 and 45. Very good. What kind of business have you got? Sandwich shop. Oh, very good. Good for you. Fun. So how much of your $3.5 million did you inherit? Zero. None. Zero. Okay. Well, you did this really early.

What's been your best year of working income and your worst year of working income um early on was probably pretty rough we'd be household income under 50 i would guess out of college yeah and uh last year close to 400 very good good for you guys well done okay so your career is you're a small business owner, sandwich shop, right? Correct. Yeah. Okay. And what's your, do you have degrees? A carpentry degree for myself. For me, sales and marketing. Okay. All right. And what were your, you got a carpentry degree. So like an apprenticeship or a technical school or what? Yeah, essentially technical school

took a couple years of generals and just finished with the technical college um built a business there doing some remodeling and then made the jump into um a franchisee and small business owner um as far as that goes so built a couple different locations and sold a couple and and now glad to be debt free also. Yeah. Very good. So what was your GPA back when you were in school? Books.

Mine was that I had the same one you had. That's not the string. That's a good answer. So a 3.0 or less. sir okay all right i'm going with that i love it okay so uh i got a 24 year old version of you listening right now and i do out of 22 million people out there i'm sure i've got a 24 year old version of you listening talk to that person a can this still be done in america today yeah i would say to 24 year old 100 percent um it can be done i biggest piece is just hard work and continuing to get up each day and go out and do it i know you mentioned killing something dragging at home i mean that that's just what has to be done, especially those early days, looking back on what it took to get businesses going and even have an asset to be able to sell. There was a lot of work,

a lot of grinding. I had multiple people come up and say, we were going to do this. We thought of doing this, you know, as customers and it just, you got to kind of get off the fence and do it. So it took a lot, took a lot, but very thankful and humbled where we're at now. That's amazing. And getting to 3.5 million, that is no accident. There's, I'm sure you have a lot that's happened in your journey. What would you say is the biggest challenge you had along the way? We're actually scheduled to come and share, do our debt-free stream in December. So maybe I'll go a little more in depth then, but the biggest challenge was actually getting on the side with SBA and just going around with another business partner and digging a hole a little too deep and then realizing what does it take to get out of the partnership and to get on solid ground and to eliminate that essentially. Yeah, get rid of partners, get rid of debt. Yeah.

Yes, sir. And then that gives you some peace of mind here at 44 years old with the whole stinking thing paid for. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Well done. Did y'all set out to be millionaires or or did you follow like it with intention did you plan did you fight for it tell us a little bit about that journey um you know a lot of the the net worth piece too comes into that carpentry background i was able to get my hands dirty and build some homes for us but ultimately we have four children oldest is 20 now so, so he's really close to the 24-year-old that we'd be talking to.

My wife wanted to stay home with kids and to not have her at work took a bigger step for me to move family and to get into something different and to really have to stretch as to what to do next. And then there was some growth opportunity, and we continue to pursue that. You know, I'm convinced today with all the whining that's going on out there and the carrying on that, you know, quiet quitting and my goal is mediocrity, and I sure want the government to have universal income so I don't have to work and I can just sit and play game boy all day long or whatever it is call a duty or whatever and um

I'm convinced with all of that that someone that's just willing to work as hard as you have worked has an inordinate advantage in America today oh completely agree completely agree I still employ still run a business still employ a lot of that demographic of the 16 to 25-year-olds, and I deal with it every day. Yeah. There's some studs in that age group, but there's some duds in that age group, too. Yeah. Just like there is in every age group, by the way.

There's some duds in my age group, too. Most of them are still smoking pot at 65 years old. This is The Ramsey Show. One of the most common pieces of advice I give folks trying to get out of debt is to sell the car. And I get it. That's easier said than done. Selling a car takes a lot of time and hassle unless you use CarWiser. CarWiser is a free service that gets you the best offers instantly from dealers around the country. And it couldn't be simpler. Just enter your vehicle's information and boom, you've got offers to choose from. So go to carwiser.com slash Ramsey.

That's carwiser.com slash Ramsey. It's a Baby Steps Millionaires theme hour. Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host. We're talking to real millionaires, asking them how they did it, hoping that you might take a cue in knowing that you can do it. Let me tell you, no one accidentally becomes wealthy. No one accidentally becomes healthy. No one accidentally becomes healthy. No one accidentally takes care of their marriage.

And grazing great children is never an accident. Successful living is always an act of intentionality and a level of intensity and a level of work that other people won't do. That's why we recognize successful people. And we say, wow, there's a bar set there. Wow, this is worth doing. Wow, I want a marriage that looks like that. Wow, I want kids that turn out like that. Wow.

And then you immediately, if you're smart, you ask, how'd you do that? And that's what we're doing this hour. It's a baby steps millionaire theme hour. It's not an accident to win, America. If you want to be somebody, you got to light your butt on fire. You got to get with it. Winning is not an accident, nor is it anything to be ashamed of. And any of your friends who happen to be left-wing socialists,

remind them of that. Winning is still a good thing because it always involves people getting lifted, people getting helped, people getting better. So light your butt on fire and go be somebody. That's what this hour is about. Adam and Ashley are with us in Oklahoma City. What's you guys' net worth? Hey, Dave, our net worth is just over a million dollars.

So you just did it. Awesomeness. Give me a little breakdown on that. What's the categories? Yeah, so our retirement, between retirement accounts and savings accounts, we have about $700,000. We've got a rental property that's paid off and worth have about 700,000. Uh, we've got a rental property that's paid off and worth about 130,000. Um, our primary residence is also paid for that's worth about 180,000. Uh, and then we've got a couple of vehicles that are paid for that, uh, combined

are worth about 55,000. Cool. And how old are you guys? Uh, I'm 35 and my wife ashley here is 33 okay very cool young millionaires so you're just getting there very good how much of this did you inherit zero way to go cool and your best year of working income and your worst year of working income since you became adults um our our year, well, we started this journey about a decade ago, and we were making about $80,000 at that time. And then last year would have been our best year. We made just over $200,000. Cool. What do y'all do for a living? I work in insurance. And I'm a teacher. Awesomeness.

Yeah, teacher, the number three most likely category of career to become a millionaire. Pretty cool. All right, and so your degrees, I assume yours was in teaching. Correct. Actually, special education. And special ed, okay. And what about yours, Adam? I have a business degree. Of course, okay. And what were yours, Adam? I have a business degree. Of course.

Okay. And what were your GPAs? Mine was probably about 3.2, 3.3. I'm going to say maybe 3.5. Yep. Okay. Very cool. Very cool.

Now, let's see. Did I get my wires crossed or did you guys do a debt-free scream? We did. So I mentioned that we kind of started this journey, frankly, unknowingly, but about a decade ago. So we got married in 2012, in September of 2012. And 23 and 25 years old. Uh-huh. Yep. And we were fortunate enough to not have any debt coming into the marriage and so we had bought a house together and um we looked at each other and we just said hey we can i think we can get this thing paid off um and obviously we knew about you at the time and about three months into our marriage we we actually went through FPU, which that just kind

of lit the fire. And that's when we went, you know, gazelle intense. And within 24 months is when we paid off our primary residence at that time. And so we did the debt-free scream. I think it was technically 2015. It was about three months after we paid the house office when we came up and did the debt-free scream. Wow. So you've done the whole thing, Financial Peace University, debt-free scream, and now Baby Steps Millionaires theme hour. You've done the whole deal, buddy. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And we're actually currently right now teaching FPU. Oh, thank you. We're giving back. Yeah. Well, thank you. I love that. Y'all are truly Baby Steps millionaires. You have done the plan from the very beginning and have just crushed it.

I'm curious now, since y'all started so young, right after you got married, early 20s, is there anything you would have done different? What would you tell your 25-year-old self? It's hard to say that when we're sitting here having this conversation, frankly, from a financial perspective. I know y'all pretty much have nailed it. Yeah. I mean, obviously there were some sacrifices along the way. It's not easy. Like you said, it's a baby step process.

It's been, like I said, 10 years in the making. So some days are longer than others. But at the same time, you know, you wake up and here we are. You know, we have a million-dollar net worth, and I think it's just taking it one day at a time, staying focused. How does that feel? Is it like, do you own it emotionally, or does it feel a little bit surreal, like it's happening to someone else? Surreal, honestly. We didn't even realize that we had hit this

accomplishment. I walked into the bedroom one night and my husband, of course, was doing numbers. I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm trying to figure out what we're worth. And I'm like, why? And he's like, I don't know. I haven't done it in a while. And then he looked up at me and he goes, babe, we're worth a million. Babe, you're a millionaire. Exactly. I was like, stop. Get away. I like it.

I like it. That's fun. I think y'all are walking proof for any young people listening who are picking up Financial Peace University, who are looking at Baby Steps Millionaire, it's going, wow, man, millionaires are 40-year-olds. They're 50-year-olds. No, you can see this 33 and this 35-year-old who started in their early 20s, and here they are. They are millionaires. They just followed the plan and did it. Married 10 years and seven years ago did the debt-free scream house and everything. And so you 25-year-olds out there listening, this is you. If you'll just bother and do it and quit believing the lies that are floating around the culture out there

that the little man can't get ahead because you guys inherited zero. No one did this for you. No one gave you this. This is not a government grant. This is you did it. So fabulous. We're so proud of you guys. Very, very, very well done.

I think there's a lot of myths right now running around Gen Z and my generation that, you know, we can't be millionaires because, you know, the cards are stacked against us. It's just it's different now. And I just I love hearing this story. I love seeing young people win on the show because we can't believe that lie. It can still happen for this generation today. You know, those lies, lies that mythology the biggest danger of it is it steals people's hope and hope stealers are people i want to kick their butt you know

so people that perpetuate those kinds of lies are ones that need their butts kicked because it's a lie and some people don't knowingly that they're not like i'm trying to screw up people's lives but you are so you need to shut your negative mouth because you don't know what the flip you're talking about so this is one of the reasons i wrote baby steps millionaires was in response and so i come at it from a spiritual perspective a math perspective an investment perspective um stories of real people that did it and that's why the book is another number my eighth number one bestseller but um it all came out of starting to do this hour because i kept hearing those same exact myths those hope stealers are putting out there that well there's systemic problems with the economy with wealth inequality

and you just really you really don't want to get your theology from tiktok it's a bad idea you don't want to get your life game from that you so you need to actually talk to real people that are winning out there and go, wait a minute, the math says that Adam and Ashley did this in 10 years. And it didn't just come from an inheritance. It didn't come because they make $600,000 a year. It's somebody who works in insurance and it's a teacher yep and they just have the discipline to stick with the plan and do it consistently over 10 years and the other guy was a carpenter who bought a sandwich shop and then another one and then sold one of them to get rid of a partner you know made mistakes but still i mean there's no magic here boys and

girls there's just doing it and that's why we do this theme hour, to give you hope and also to rub the lefty's nose in the fact that America's not so broken you can't win anymore. This is The Ramsey, personality, number one best-selling author is my co-host today as we answer your questions this hour is a baby steps millionaires theme hour we started this hour because as Christina was saying in the last segment Gen Z but also every generation for that matter has believed lies about millionaires, that they inherited their wealth, that all rich people are evil and they're crooks. The way to become wealthy is rip people off.

Some people believe that. I remember hearing that growing up a lot, that most rich people, the most likely way to become rich is you have to be famous. You have to be like an NBA star, a Major League Baseball star, an NFL star, a country music star, Beyonce, you know, Kanye. You've got to be that, or God help you, the Kardashians, right, in order to be a millionaire. You know, Rachel on her podcast the other day blew me away. Kim K's net worth is $1.8 billion with a B.

That's $180,000 million. Blows my mind. Yeah, pretty wild. So it's worked out for her. But as far as the financial part, anyway. Oh, man. Anyway, I got sidetracked. But yeah, so you don't have to, but do you have to be famous to be millionaires?

And the other thing that people believe is, and this one's a little lesser of a myth, but that the only people that become millionaires are the super geniuses. You know, the 4.2, like you, GPAs, right? That was your GPA, right? No. What was your GPA? 3.8. 3.8?

I thought you were like a... 3.85. Yeah, because you're one of the smarter people in the building. I mean, your intellect. So I figure I'm a little surprised it's that low, honestly. Oh, gee, thanks, Dave. Hey, part of my message is that you don't have to be a perfect student to win scholarships. I know, I know. But you, no, wait a minute, your grad work. I did in grad school, yes. All right. When you got to grad school, you leaned into it. Once I got to college, I figured it out. Okay.

That's what I'm talking about. But anyway, the average millionaire does not have a GPA above 3.5. Okay. Very few of them have a 1.5. It turns out you do need some gray matter to pull this off, and you need to do something when you're in college other than beer pong but um but yeah there's that but but this idea that you have to be brilliant or you have to steal from people or you have to be famous or you have to inherit it is the only way to get money those are all lies statistically they're lies factual

studies including the ramsey research on millionaires, the largest study of millionaires ever done, indicates that all four of those things are absolute lies. And when people believe lies and they act on lies, meaning, well, I can't be a millionaire. I inherited. I don't have a rich uncle. Shut up, Dave Ramsey. Shut up, Dave Ramsey. You can't do that.

You know, I'm going to get rich on my airline miles. I'm going to run up my credit cards and get airline miles. You know, people, when you believe stupid stuff, you do stupid stuff. When you believe lies, you live a life that's full of disasters. Well, and there's so many lies now out there. It's like there's so many people trying to get rich quick. There's so many people with tiktok stories and bitcoin stories and all these different things that it's tempting to fall into that trap yeah but the number of by

the way as you study millionaires and even deco millionaires people with 10 million dollars the number of them that are famous is less than one-tenth of one percent of the rich people wow in other words 99.9 percent of the rich people you never heard of them there you go i mean that's that's they're not so you don't have to go do something stupid to get on a reality show to be rich you could just work yeah good old-fashioned work be a teacher be an engineer be an accountant that's the top three categories of people who became millionaires in our study, by the way. Stephanie is in Green Bay. Stephanie, what's your net worth? Just over $1 million.

Good for you. Well done. Give me a little breakdown on that. Our home is worth $750,000. We do have a little bit of a mortgage on that yet. $450,000 in retirement accounts, $30,000 in college savings, and $50,000 in savings and other cash. Great job. How old are you? 34.

Good. How much of this did you inherit? Zero. All right. And best year working income as an adult, worst year working income as an adult? We started out making about a hundred thousand and now we're north of 300 Wow what do you do for living I'm an actuary and my husband is a physical therapist okay so I assume

his degree is a PT right correct and yours business or finance or yeah business okay what was your GPA? We were both at 3.3. Okay, there you go. I just made my case again. All right, cool. All right, way to go. And you're only 34 years old.

You're baby millionaires. Excellent. You're going to be so rich by the time you're old. Oh, my gosh. That's the plan. So how did you you do this what do you attribute this to uh we encountered your teachings about seven years ago and just followed the plan pretty boring so you're baby steps millionaires then yep following the baby steps house is not even quite paid off yep so you're still in four, five, and six.

Yep. How much do you owe on the house? $250. Okay. Yeah, you've got a little ways to go then. Good. Okay. Well done.

Very well done. I love that you started seven years ago. That, again, goes back to that case that a 20-year-old starting. Somebody in their 20s just doing the plan seven years. Look at you now. Baby steps millionaire. That's incredible. What advice do you have for a 24-year-old seven years look at you now baby steps millionaire what advice do you have for a 24 year old 10 years younger than you uh take it slow and steady i know you guys were talking about the tiktoks and the bitcoins uh get rich get rich quick and it just doesn't work that

way the slow and steady um scrutinize the needs versus your wants um and if you are married be in lockstep with your spouse it's all the that that's what you need yeah big time so uh are you guys boring or do you have a life uh we we think we have a life yep we have three kids so they keep us pretty busy okay all right yeah that's that's a life right there in and of itself. But, I mean, you don't never go out to eat. You don't live in a cave and collect lint. You're not, like, weird. No, no, no.

We're pretty normal. Go on vacation with our family, go out to eat once in a while. Nothing extravagant. But both have worked your careers, and you both have degrees with 3.3 gpa and you just leaned in for a decade or seven years ago you started with financial peace university and here you are well done i'm very proud of you good work thank you it's incredible excellent excellent heroes well done gary is in denver hey Gary, what's your net worth? 3.3 million, Dave. Cool. Give me a little breakdown on that. We've got 300,000 in savings and brokerage, 1.1 in retirement accounts,

and 1.9 in four different real estate properties, equity. Awesome. Okay. Not all paid off then? None of them are paid off, unfortunately. None of them. Okay. All right. That's why you said equity. I was picking up on that. All right. How old are you? Yep. Yep. I'm 54 and my wife's 49. Excellent. How much of this did you inherit? Zero. Zero. Okay. And your best year working lifetime as an adult, best year income and worst year income as an adult?

Best household year was 750, believe it or or not and our worst was 46,000 okay cool what do y'all do for a living we're both in sales management we're both sales leaders okay well you did well then excellent that's 750 is a nice year when was that about four years ago yeah one one year everything just popped that one year. Yeah, before the pandemic. Yeah, okay. And you got four-year degrees? My wife and I both do. Mine's in accounting, and my wife's is in marketing. Okay.

And your GPAs? I got the last. I'm going to make your case. If you round up, my GPA was a 2.8. Okay. And my wife's was a 3.1. Ah, you married up. Good for you.

I love it. Well done. What do you attribute having this fabulous net worth to, having inherited no money at 54 years old? There's a lot of things, Dave. You know, the budget, listening to you guys, being diligent, intentional. But, you know, Dave, the one thing for me, and I don't know how to put a finger on it, but there was some point in time, it came from my wife,

where I just realized I like having money more than I like having stuff. You know, it's just more fun that way. You wanted to invest rather than consume. That's a really good line right there. Well done, sir. Well done. It's a Baby Steps Millionaires theme hour with Christina Ellis. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. it's a baby steps millionaires theme hour there's a lot of ways to become a millionaire

you can follow a lot of plans um you don't have to have followed our plan to get there nor do you have to have followed our plan to be on the show and tell your baby steps story we did have one guy calling one time who had inherited a million dollars last year his parents died left him a million dollars that's how he got it okay it's unusual statistically and but we want to put him on we have one guy call in our one gal call in that uh hit the lottery and uh but again statistically very unusual uh it's not a method that you can use to become wealthy but it did happen and so we put it on so uh today we've had a lot of people say they went through financial peace university did their one did their debt-free scream here

seven years ago so if you want to know about this uh and you want to get out of debt so that you can build wealth so that you can change your family tree so that you can build wealth, so that you can change your family tree, so that you can be outrageously generous to your community, Financial Peace University will show you how to do that. We've helped over 10 million families learn how to handle money properly. And it's the most prolific personal finance class in America today. More people have been through it than any other finance class out there, and it's the most successful by far. That's why more people have been through it. It's a proven plan. If you've not been through Financial Peace University, just go to ramseysolutions.com

slash FPU and get signed up. It's very easy to do. It's nine lessons, and we're going to walk you right through it, and we'll show you exactly what to do, and it just works. It's nine lessons and we're going to walk you right through it and we'll show you exactly what to do and it just works. It's the stuff about money that you always wondered. You didn't know about insurance. You got screwed. You didn't know about real estate and you got the wrong kind of loan. You didn't know about getting out of debt. You thought you could borrow your way out so you got a debt consolidation loan. you got conned and we get screwed because we don't know or we don't take action because we don't know and we don't believe and this will give you a proven plan and you'll feel the progress and you'll get yourself out of

debt and put yourself in a position to be generous to your family and to others which is really what money is all about at the end of the day. So it's a millionaire theme hour, Baby Steps Millionaires. We're talking to Marilyn next. She's in Atlanta. Hi, Marilyn. What's your net worth? $2.7 million. Very cool.

And give me a little breakdown by category. We have, as my husband and myself, we have 1.3 in our 401ks, 487 in an IRA, 200 in cash, and 785 in paid off real estate. Awesome. Well done. How old are you? 54. 54, 5'4"? Yes, that's correct. Okay. Making sure I heard you correctly. And how much of this did you inherit? Absolutely nothing. Zero. Okay. Your best year of working income as adults or your worst year?

Our worst year was probably when we started out in the late 80s at around $25,000 combined. And then our best years are right now. And we average from $250,000 to $290,000. Okay, cool. What do you all do for a living living we are both in health care uh started out as rns and kind of worked our way up through into management so okay start as nurses and then you're in management and health care from that yes degrees in nursing i assume yes in business i have one in business we both have one in nursing i have one in business okay gpas um mine was a little bit better than his around 3.5 it was probably around a 228 to a

three so two two around a two eight okay very good very cool all right well nursing is a uh a wonderful uh career especially today because there's a shortage like never before. Post-COVID, post-JAB, the number of people that left the business is unbelievable, as you know, I'm sure. Right, right. And so there's a shortage of teachers and policemen and nurses right now in America like never before. And so it's a fabulous career field to get in. You can kind of name your deal right now in america like never before and so uh it's a it's a fabulous career field to get in you can kind of name your deal right now can't you yes you sure can you sure can i don't know it's very unusual i've not i don't know how many times i've run into somebody

that used nursing to go all the way into management though that's unusual what made you guys decide to do that it was uh moving from a hospital environment taking a chance and going to an industrial environment and then just going into management through into corporations i see okay so okay wow interesting very interesting but with nursing you can do anything so it's um it's it's very it's a great career yeah i have to tell you, when I was 34, I was driving through Jackson, Mississippi, and we were like everyone else, car payments, credit card payments, house payments, all those things, and young children. And I was listening to the radio and heard some madman screaming on the radio

about me and my money management. And so I listened all the way from there back to Atlanta, and I got hooked. And so I took it home to my husband. We got hooked at age 34, and we've taught FPU in our church and in our work. And so it's just been a great thing. And I just want to thank you for you taking your pains and your problems, your mistakes, and using those to invest in other people to help them. Well, thank you.

That's 20 years ago. I was still the madman then. It's not gotten any better. It's not gotten any better. It's just gotten crazier. So that's 20 years ago i was still the madman then nothing it's not gotten any better it's not gotten any better it's just gotten crazier so that's fine you're awesome thank you so much for sharing your story we appreciate you maryland what would you tell you what would you tell that 34 year old version of you that was that was going down the highway struggling credit card debt all of that and now you're a millionaire. What would you tell that girl? I would tell them to start saving earlier, live off less than they make, and we've always been faithful to give and save.

Since we've discovered Dave, we give and we save until it hurts, and that's just kind of part of what we do now. You look like no one else. That's a good word, give and save until it hurts. Can't mess up with those two. You really can't mess that up. That's a good word. Give and save until it hurts. Can't mess up with those two. You really can't mess that up. That's a pretty good formula right there. All right, so we've got a sandwich shop owner, a teacher, an insurance broker, an actuarial,

a physical therapist, a couple of sales managers, and a couple of RNs that went into management. 3.5 net worth, 1 million net worth, 1 million net worth, 3.3 and 2.7 million net worth, 44, 33, 34, 54, 54. No 87-year-olds and no 22-year-olds. Notice the trend, okay? It takes a little time. The tortoise wins the race, not the hare. Get rich quick doesn't work. But this idea that you can't become wealthy early enough in life to have a good life and enjoy your life is ridiculous. I'm YOLO. You only live once. Thank God it's Friday.

Oh, God, it's Monday. No, you're a child. Children do what feels good. Adults devise a plan and follow it. We've been talking to adults this hour. Grownups. People with spiritual and emotional maturity and the ability to delay pleasure for a greater good. The changing of their family trees.

And these are the people that become millionaires, Christina. Yep, and a lot of them are young adults. I think a lot of people think, though. 34 and 33 were two of them. Right, exactly. A lot of 25-year-olds aren't willing to join onto this journey because they think it's going to take 30 years. But it's like these people are walking proof.

It took them seven years in one case, 10 years in another. And it's like they were just willing to be consistent, follow a plan and be patient. But they don't have to be patient for 30, 40 years. In our study, it was 12 to 17 years from the time you lean in start working the baby steps and do the stuff seriously 12 to 17 years to go from zero to a million dollar net worth and that is worth it that's what we found it wasn't 34 years now some people took 34 i'm talking about averages i mean you can you can drag it out uh but with normal incomes and normal raises and um just not doing normal stuff there's no new cars in the plan there's no car leasing in the plan there's no trips around the world when you make

thirty six thousand dollars a year and i'm gonna i'm gonna quiet quit i'm not gonna work very hard those people aren't in there. They're not in there. They're not in this. They don't show up because they don't make it. They don't make it. They get run over by life. Right. But on the flip side of that, you talked to that one of the callers and she said they

weren't weird about it, though. They weren't on ramen noodles for the entire journey to becoming a millionaire. No, they already get out of debt the first time and then start working their baby steps properly from there. That's what they do. And so you don't, you know, the average millionaire is not a crook. So when somebody says that, call them a liar. The average millionaire is not an entertainer and a famous person.

Tell them they're a liar. Eighty-nine percent of millionaires inherited precisely not enough to become millionaires. They're not millionaires because of inherited money. We did not talk to a single person today that inherited a dime. Not one. So the next time some lefty says that, just tell them they're wrong. This is The Ramsey Show. have you been inspired to make a change with your money want to know where to start take our three-minute money quiz to get a plan you can follow

go to ramseysolutions.com and search for Get Started to get a plan for your money.