The Ramsey Show - App - Real Millionaires and How They Did It (Hour 3)

Episode Date: June 12, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage is an indication you're probably an everyday millionaire. This is an Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour. The everyday millionaire expert, Chris Hogan, number one best-selling author of a book by the same title, is with me this hour. Ramsey Personality, welcome back, Chris. Well, thank you, sir. It's good to be with you, Dave.

We're going to talk to millionaires this hour about how you be a millionaire. See, if you want to be skinny, talk to skinny people about how to be skinny. If you want to grow hair on top of your head, don't talk to Chris or me. We can't help you with that. But if you want to be a millionaire top of your head, don't talk to Chris or me. We can't help you with that. But if you want to be a millionaire, you can talk to millionaires. Isn't it interesting how many broke people have opinions about money? Strong opinions. It's strong.

Like they will stand behind it time after time. And they're wrong. And they're very wrong. It's funny they will argue a blue streak based on their politics or based on their upbringing or based on their victim mentality that it can't be done and that millionaires all inherit their money, which we've proven time and time again by the largest study ever done, that that's not where millionaires got their money. That's right. So a millionaire, folks, is not someone that makes a million dollars a year, and Chris

has a net worth tool at ChrisHogan360.com that's free for you to use to determine your net worth, and what's that look like when they do that, Chris? Absolutely, Dave. So we help people walk through, And here's the thing, America. If you want to understand your net worth, you take what you own. That would be your 401Ks, your IRAs, the home, cars, all the things that you own, and subtract out anything that you owe on. So what you own minus what you owe. And, Dave, that gives you a net worth.

So you can understand exactly where you are in this journey. And so you're right. It's a free tool at my website, ChrisHogan360.com. Know where you stand today so you can start your everyday millionaire journey right now. Yeah, if you're 100% debt-free, it's simply what you own. Right. And if you own a million dollars worth of assets at that point, then you are a millionaire. We're not arguing if a million is enough.

We can have these other philosophical discussions later, mathematical discussions. All we're saying is it is a good measure of being wealthy. There's about 12 million millionaires in North America. And the question is, how do you get there? And can you, if you're not a millionaire, still get there? And that's the question we want to ask real millionaires this hour. Pat is starting us off in kalamazoo michigan pat what is your net worth uh it's about 2.6 dave cool and give me the

categories of that and break it down for me how's that invested uh about 2.1 is in 401k YNK and retirement instruments, about $300,000 is the home. $100,000 is in one company stock, which I know you don't like, but I'm going to talk about that. It's less than 10% of your net worth. I'm fine. And then we have about $100,000 in what I call the YNK fund. What's that stand for? You never know. Or it could be the Why Wouldn't I fund. It's our

fallback fund if something happens with the house or, you know, we have four dogs that have medical needs. That kind of thing. You got a $2.6 million net worth, 100,000 liquids, not a bad idea. Good for you. How old are you?

I'm going to be 65 next month. Awesome. How much of this $2.6 is there because you inherited it? $13,000. Okay. Safe to say you're not a millionaire because you inherited it. No, when my mother passed away, I got half of her, what was left of her, beneficiary IRA. Wow, amazing.

So household income, what was your worst year and best year in your working life? Our worst year was probably the first year we were married, which I think our taxable income was about $21,000 to the two of us. Okay. And your best year? 1976. We typically ran in the $170,000, $180,000 range. Okay, cool.

What did you do for a living? What was your career? I was in middle management. I worked for a very large pharmaceutical company, and my wife was a teacher administrator. Okay, cool. Very cool. So what's your degree in? Pretty average.

I'm sorry? What's your degree in? My degree is in political science. Mm-hmm. Poli-sci. Which I never applied. Okay. And your GPA in college?

It ran around 3.7, I think, somewhere in there. It's been a long time. Very cool. Very good. And Pat, do you as a family, do you all do any giving? We do a lot of giving, and giving to us is very, very important. The two major beneficiaries of our giving are our church and our university. Okay.

And when I talked about the stock again, my employer from whom I retired was a really good company, and I used my stock to fund. We have at our alma mater mater we have funded three university scholarships and we also obviously support our church quite substantially yeah and there's a wonderful transaction you can do giving stock away and you get the market value right off when regardless of what your actual basis is and so well uh when i got my last statement my basis rate was probably about seven percent of the actual value yeah yeah so

so to take the beating you know kept from capital gain standpoint plus uh my company my my former employer even though i'm retired still matches oh. Oh, wow. Okay. Very cool. So basically you've got $7,000 in something that's worth $100. If you cash it out, you pay taxes on the difference. By giving that, you get a 100% write-off on the value. Exactly. Yeah. That's fantastic.

Pat, how much TV do you all watch on average in a given week? We watch a lot of TV, but most of it is white noise and we typically watch like old stuff okay we don't watch anything that's current all right okay so uh young version of you out there listening is 25 years old can this still be done absolutely what should they do i'm sorry what should they do? I'm sorry? What should they do? Number one, spend less than you make. Number two, take advantage of what your employer offers you. The company I worked for was fabulous in terms of doing the 401k matching and all those types of things. And once you get on board with that and you don't even recognize that disposable income is gone and you live with what you get,

it's amazing how that rolls up over time. Yep, absolutely, absolutely. And so 65 years old, $2.6 million net worth, did not inherit it, $13,000 of it from his mom. That didn't cause him to become a millionaire. Not even close. $13,000. Not even close.

Not at all. Pat, thank you for calling in, man. Proud of you. Good job, man. Love it. Love it. That's very cool stuff. Again, it follows what we found in the study of 10,000 millionaires.

A large portion of them, like 82%, used their 401K and Roth IRAs. It was a large reason they became wealthy. And he had 2.1 just in his 401K. Got a good company match, it sounded like, that caused that partially. But he took advantage of it for 30 years. Focus did not finish. Love it, love it, love it. I love it.

Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour. I'm the Dave Ramsey Show. I got a call the other day, and I thought it was worth talking about again. It was from a wife looking for life insurance for her family. She asked why I only recommend term life insurance instead of cash value plans like Whole Life. I usually explain how you overpay for coverage, earn a horrible rate of interest, and don't get your cash value when you die. But this time, I just had her go straight to Zander.com and get a rate. And then we compared that rate to the Whole Life plan, and she immediately saw the huge savings.

She realized all the things she could do with that money, like paying down debt, investing in a smarter way. That made it real for her. It makes no sense to buy or keep a cash value plan when there are smarter, less expensive ways to protect your family. That's why I suggest that everyone go to Zander.com or call them at 800-356-4282 and get a free quote. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282.

It's an Everyday Millionaire theme hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show, named for Chris Hogan's number one best-selling book, Everyday Millionaires. And it comes from the 140 statistics in that book about millionaires. The Ramsey team and Chris studied and commissioned a study, both, at an outside research firm verify our research process. It's airtight research. Studying over 10,000 millionaires to find out what actually happens with real millionaires. Not what somebody's political agenda opinion is.

We're not going to go with victim mentality here unless there's a reason to. But you're not a victim, it turns out, except of your own believing your own lies. That's the only thing you can be a victim of, which is an interesting point, actually. One of the more staggering statistics was we also did ask similar questions of white space public, meaning public that was not in the study. Right. And just in general, just man on the street so to speak and uh we we ask millionaires um do you believe you know what what part did your belief play in this what was it phrased do you remember yeah it was a matter of yeah what do you think is possible yeah for you and is this possible is it still 96 believed it was possible yes and when you ask the

public is it possible 62 said it was possible massive difference yeah one of the more staggering you know gulf wide statistics out of the study right and what it really points out is this the belief matters and it's not just the power of positive thinking but if you really believe you can't do it why would you bother that's exactly right dave it's a lack of hope it is it really is and another stat that jumped out was that 97 of the millionaires feel that they control their own destiny that was the one i was talking about yes that was it control their own destiny which means dave that they happen to things things don't happen to them and so with their their you're absolutely right it's that

central mindset of hey if i did it great if i didn't do it i'm gonna fix it so it does happen for me yeah what has to be true that's not true now so that i win that's yes i control my own destiny and 62 didn't they felt like they were controlled by outside variables that's right not true you know racism holds me back sexism holds me back that's right um i'm from the south so i'm held back i grew up in appalachia so i'm held back right baldism baldism is a big problem in america we could we could do a thing on baldism you guys have to stop with the baldism out there i'm just saying yeah so i mean whatever it is there has not been a bald president since television except gerald ford and he was not elected so you know baldism is real this i'm just saying

i'm just saying it's a thing you gotta have ronald reagan hair you don't get in it's just it's a thing all right mike is with us uh mike's in louisville kentucky mike your net worth hello sir my net worth is $1.4 million. Good for you, man. Excellent. How old are you? I'm 51 years old. 51.

So break that 1.4 down for me by a couple of categories. It is almost entirely in 401Ks, rollover IRA, Roth IRA, just about all of it. And then there's the equity in the house. What's the equity in the house? The equity in the house is about $174,000 right now. Okay, so we'll call that $201,200 in retirement. So you've just been slaying the retirement then. So how much of this, obviously if it's all in retirement, I know the answer to the question,

then how much of this, are you a millionaire because you inherited money? How much did you inherit? None of that money is inherited, Dave. question, then. How much of this is, are you a millionaire because you inherited money? How much did you inherit? None of that money is inherited, Dave. Okay, zero. All right. And what's your best year working income, household income, and your worst year household income? Household income, my best is current. We're about at $150,000 right now combined.

I guess worst is when I was single and first started out i remember them sliding across the uh the hire ticket at 35 326 dollars i'll never forget that number but we've come a long way since then yeah you did good man i came out at 18 000 all right good cool so what'd you do for a living i'm a mechanical engineer oh that's why big expensive engineer now i get that 35 000. Big expensive engineer. Now I get that $35,000. All right. So you got a degree in engineering. Yes, sir.

And your GPA on that? My GPA was about 3.4. Good. Very cool. Very cool. And did you work at all, Mike, with an investment professional? Yes, I have. A couple different ones over the years.

I'm currently with one of the LPs, but yes, I've used Investment Professional to get to where I'm at. Very good. And as a household, do you all do any giving? Yes, we do. We do a lot of targeted giving at church when we can and then some random acts of kindness along the way, things like that. Love it. Very good. And how much TV do you all watch in a given week?

I'm probably the low baller there. I don't watch much TV at all unless SEC football is on. The rest of the family, a couple hours a day, maybe one hour a day. Not a whole lot, really, compared. Okay. So what's the biggest financial mistake, the dumbest thing you all ever did? The dumbest thing ever done was very early in my career. I had a new house.

They needed a new roof, and I tapped into the 401K to take care of that. Ooh. What would that be worth now? I haven't run a number. Make your stomach hurt. You don't want to know, Mike. You don't run the number. Make your stomach hurt. You don't want to know, Mike. You don't want to know. That's a $300,000 roof, I'm just saying.

I'm sure it was. So what advice do you give to a 25-year-old version of you? Can this still be done? And if so, what should they do? It can still be done, absolutely. You have to plant that seed early and make the contributions automatic and just never look back. That's the way to get there. It's like the Great Wall of China was built a brick at a time, and you just got to stay at it.

You need to be focused and keep your eye on it and make sure things are invested the best they can be invested. And just keep adding to the nest egg. Yeah, excellent. Well done, sir. Very well done. You will notice that almost never when we're talking to a millionaire, I don't think I've ever heard one say, you have to get high rates of return on your money. No.

I've never heard them say that. No. I've never heard them say, watch your expense ratios, ever. I've never asked that question and gotten that answer i always hear the great wall of china is a brick at a time i always hear slow and steady wins the race i always hear keep investing keep investing keep investing that's a good point dave that is a very good point everybody gets preoccupied oh expense ratios oh my god people cannot win because of the expense ratios we need the government to come in and fix everything.

Woo! You know, they just go bananas, don't they? And it just doesn't have squat to do with it. That's a very, very good point. Wow. Very interesting. And you know what, Dave? Guess what else?

I haven't heard anything about any airline miles or bonus points either. I made all my money on my airline miles. I didn't hear it. I haven't heard it. Didn't hear it. Nope. Didn't hear it. All right.

Kristen's with us in Tampa, Florida. Kristen, your net worth? About 1.25. Good. Very cool. Give me the categories. Break that down for me. Sure.

I have about 900 in retirement funds, about 100,000 in mutual funds, and about 250 equity in my home. All right. Very cool. How old are you i am 48 young millionaire good for you good job i've worked hard so how much of this did you inherit um that would be zero all right and your best year income worst year income since you've been working my best year is about 200 and when i was in graduate school, I lived on $9,000 a year happily. Love it.

What do you do for a living? What's your career? I'm a pediatrician. Oh, good. Okay, excellent. All right. Very good. And so your degree is MD, obviously.

I have an MD and I have a PhD, which is what paid for med school. So I came out of medical school with no loan, and that helped. So you did the MD-PhD program, and that way you had zero student loan debt. Correct. Where did you run the MD-PhD program? Where were you? I was at the University of Florida. Oh, wow.

Okay. Cool. All right. Good. So your GPA was, what was your GPA in undergrad? High, but I can't remember an exact number. Yeah, well, you got into med school, so it had to be, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. It was high. All right. We'll give you a 4.0. I'm just going to mark it down. All right. It was pretty close. It had to be.

It had to be. You got into med school. Yeah, you have to. Kristen, do you or have you ever worked with an investment professional? I do. I have an ELP in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, and I found him via your website, and I absolutely love working with him. That is fantastic. And do you do any giving?

A ton. Yes. As far as sizing and extra giving, yes. That's fantastic. Congratulations, Kristen. Proud of you. Another Everyday Millionaire. Touchdown, baby!

We keep talking to real millionaires. How'd you really do it? And that tells you, if you haven't done it yet, that you can. And we'll show you how. The book is Everyday Millionaires. We'll be right back. It's an Everyday Millionaire theme hour. Chris Hogan, the author of the book Everyday Millionaires, is with me this hour as we talk to real millionaires to find out how they did it. It turns out that they're fairly smart they generally have over a 3.0 gpa if they're brilliant it does not reflect in their gpas no uh you talk to a i mean we talked to the

lady at md phd a minute ago which you know that's a serious program you go get your phd and then you're an employee of the university so you get free med school that's a great program and that's generally for the very very very very bright like 4.0 4.2 whatever and uh so she obviously was 3.4 the guy before 3.7 before that um all kinds of ages all kinds of areas of the country um i just really think when we're through doing this for a few years if you've been listening you'll have no excuse that they that's exactly what it boils down to and you know what happens when all the excuses get taken off the table what you're left with is looking in the mirror oh and you got to make a decision do i believe i can or do i believe

i can't and as henry ford regardless, it turns out you're right. And so believing you can and understanding, and that means even, you know, you're going to have to push against some family. You might have some crazy in your family. People like us. That mindset, Dave. People say that. They get the Eeyore spirit out.

And you start off, and imagine if parents are saying that around their kids, you start handing down limitations in your family tree instead of possibilities. So we've got to be careful and own our language. Deborah's with us in New York. Deborah, what's your net worth? About $1.1 million. Good for you. How old are you?

I'm 56. 56. Good for you. So give me the categories. How's that $1.1 million broken down? Well, I have probably $600,000 in a 401k. I have $300,000 or $350,000 from a sale of my home that I just did. I have another piece of property that goes for about $100,000, and then savings and just cash and stocks that go for about,

I think they're at $80,000, $85,000 right now. Okay. All right. Very good. Very cool. So how much of the $1.1 million is there because you inherited it? It was only my husband passed away, and I was left with a small $40,000 life insurance policy, which I pinned for my son's college education yeah so you're really not a millionaire because of inheritance okay and uh what's your best year household income while you've been working your best year and your worst year my best year um for i've been at the same place for 33 years, and my best years I was about at $130,000,

barring bonuses and all that, and presently I'm at probably $55,000. Okay, very cool. Good for you. What do you do for a living? I do accounting and some executive secretary type things. So you have a degree in accounting? I do not. I do not. I do not.

I never finished college. I took some classes, and I was pretty much self-taught, or I would be the sponge to whomever had the knowledge, and I'd take it all in. So that was the way I found it. I just couldn't afford it back in the time that college was available to us to do it, so I just kind of just went for the classes that I needed to learn my trade. Good for you.

So what was your GPA back in high school or in those classes you took? I was a good 3.5. Okay, cool. And did you ever work with an investment professional, Debra? I do work with one. Actually, they used to run my 401k, which was stopped once I had this drop in salary and change in job duties. So I do work with them, and they take care of the money that I have in my 401k and also

the money that I made with the sale of my house. Okay, good, good. And do you do any giving? I do. I try to do the, you know, I go to church every, you know, with my church. And when I sold my house, I could not believe what I had masked in things that I didn't need but were still probably good for someone. So a lot of things I sold, but a lot of things these people would come by, and I'll never forget the one couple. They couldn't even afford the couch for a couple hundred dollars.

I said, you know what? Take it. Take it. He's in a good family. They had an awesome little child with them, and I'm like, how can I take any money from these people? So if I can, I do. So what advice do you give to people that want to be you

when they grow up financially what should they do it was funny because i heard you say something about your family feedback and they're like you always are concerned about you know what you're spending i'm not afraid to spend money but i do try and spend it as wisely as i can and i tell my son um just stay away from the f wordswords, finance, charges, and fees. And you'd be amazed at how much money you're going to save just on those small things. I said, if you can't afford it, you don't buy it. If you can afford it and if it's a luxury, if you have the extra money, don't deny yourself the luxury. But by all means, make sure whatever you want or whatever you're looking to get, don't put yourself out on the wind.

Uh-oh, lost her. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, hey, you did a great job. Congratulations. Very, very well done. Excellent. Don in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, what is your net worth?

Dave, it's about $2.1 million. Cool. Very cool. Good for you. How old are you? I'm 62. Good, good. And break that down for me by category. How's that invested and so forth? Well, it's about $1.2 million in retirement accounts, probably about $600K in real estate, $100K in other investments, and then $100,000 in just emergency fund. Never know what happens. All right. Very cool.

Very cool. So how much of this did you inherit? Dave, I grew up in a farmhouse with eight kids and one bathroom, and I inherited $0. But I inherited hard work and good work ethic. Very cool. Very cool. So what was your best year household income and worst your household income and all your working years well all my work years my uh worst year was when i first joined the navy i had a take-home pay of 120 every two weeks and my best year my

wife was running her own business and after i retired from navy probably about 170k okay very cool very good all right so what was your career through your lifetime navy I hired for Navy probably about $170,000. Okay. Very cool. Very good. All right. So what was your career through your lifetime? Navy? Well, 21 years in the Navy and then 10 years for the government and then 15 years working for a private contractor. Gotcha. Thanks for your service.

Yes. So what was your four-year degree in? Do you have one? Yeah, I have a bachelor's in education. Okay. All right. And what was your GPA? Probably about 3.9.

Okay. I was older, so I was a little more dedicated at it. Yeah, you were on the ball. Did you work at all, Don, with an investment professional? With a financial advisor, not necessarily a professional investment professional, but somebody did advise me on finance and helped me how to set up college funds and UGMAs and such. Very good. And do you do any household, do you all give as a household right now?

Oh, yes. If somebody comes to our church and is starting a home for something where my wife can't get the checkbook out fast enough, and if I find somebody going on a mission trip, I'm on my way to the ATM to give them some money to get going. So, yes, we do a lot. And I get to a lot of veterans' causes. That is fantastic. And, Don, I'm sure along the way of you amassing this $2.1 million, you had to have made some mistakes. What was your biggest financial mistake?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, there was the new boat, a few things like that, the rainbow vacuum cleaner. I did that, too. I probably paid about $1,200 for that vacuum cleaner. Oh, man, I don't even want to talk about it. Oh, God. And my wife was dying over that stupid thing. Oh, I forgot about that.

That was 30 years ago man yeah yeah wow unbelievable well congratulations what's your advice to the younger version of you that's listening if they want to do this i would say just just like resist when you're in that uh as chris said when you're in that 40 year age and then uh i deserve it type thing that you just resist that temptation when your friends have new cars new boats houses, timeshares. Just keep your eye on the ball. Pay off your house. Invest in the kids' college.

Invest in your retirement. And then you can, I mean, it's great now. Way to go, dude. Proud of you. Again, thank you for your service. Very, very well done. This is an Everyday Millionaire's Theme hour on the Dave Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, 1 Peter 4.8, Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Pastor Craig Groeschel says that you will never be a leader that others love to follow if you aren't a leader that loves people well there you go open phones at 888-825-5225 we're talking only to millionaires this hour it's an everyday millionaire theme hour chris hogan the author of the number one bestseller everyday millionaires which is an inspiring book it has 140 of the in it, but it is not a book of statistics. If you're looking for a white paper on the study that we did, we have that for $9 on the website at DaveRamsey.com. If you want to go into Nerdland and see all that stuff,

you can take the full visit to Nerdland. And I read it because I was having trouble sleeping one night, but it's there, and it will give you every detail you want about the study that we did but if you just want to have a good ride and learn what's really happening on the millionaires and be inspired to be one everyday billionaires book will do that for you too phone number 888-825-5225 both of those available of course at davramsey.com. Adam is in Seattle. Adam, what's your net worth? About 2.2.

Closely approaching almost 2.3 because of the stock market right now. Love it. How old are you? 42. Ah, a young millionaire. Good. Good for you. So break down the 2.2 for me.

Give me the categories and the amounts. Yep. About $90, 000 in cash and then we have um millions a little over a million uh in 401k and then 1.1 in investment property between investment properties into my primary residence okay good good for you well done how much of this 2.2 is there because you inherited it? We got it. We were gracious enough to get about $10,000 from an aunt that had deceased about probably 10, actually 9 years ago that we just saved, my wife and I.

Okay. So safe to say you don't have $2.2 million because of a $10,000 investment. Nope. Nope. It's really safe to say. We just kept saving like we've been doing all our life so very good i love it way to go so your best year income household and your worst year household income uh right around 136 and then i was looking back and uh this is our highest was 136 and then our lowest is probably about 60 uh when my wife was off work, our kids were born. Okay, cool. Good.

And what's your career? I work in buying in one of the larger companies in Seattle. Say it again. You're doing what? Buying, so procurement, like the source product. Gotcha. Okay. All right.

You're a buyer. I got you. All right. So your degree is in what? Actually, I have a source product. Gotcha. Okay. All right. You're a buyer. I got you. All right. So your degree is in what? Actually, I have a two-year degree. I just went to a local community college, general, associates of arts. Okay. That's it.

Very good. What was your GPA? I believe it was like maybe 2.9, maybe. That's probably, I don't remember it being an all-star, but, you know, I tried. That's fantastic, Adam. Did you ever work with an investment professional? I have not. I've actually been doing this all my life.

I've been kind of a knack for numbers, and I've been just doing charts and creating things that can show us how we can save money and kind of live successfully without debt. Fantastic. And do you all do any giving as a household? We've been tithing to our church for several years now. And then prior to that, we also gave regularly. We're donating, but we've been at least tithing and then also giving a bit more here and there when we feel it's necessary. That's fantastic.

What's the biggest mistake you ever made with money? Not investing earlier. I had an opportunity when I was young that I could have invested more money, and I decided to just as a teenager, you know, spend it. And I can imagine my net worth probably would have been double if I had not spent it in my young years. How much do you read? Not, I read a little bit. You know, I read maybe a nonfiction book every other month. Honestly, my kind of true passion passion just reading books about uh you know

people's life situations and how to make yourself better and so it's uh maybe six bucks six books a year okay very good very cool well done sir very proud of you excellent job okay so thanks for calling in adam appreciate you um mythology that's out there uh they inherited their wealth we almost never talked to anyone here on the air and um we talked to almost no one in the study that had inherited their money that made a millionaire 79 in the study inherited zero another five percent under a hundred thousand so they were not mathematically millionaires because of that. Another 5% under $200,000 and received it late enough that it was not. So somewhere right around 90% did not inherit their money. It's not the reason for their wealth.

I mean, one guy got $13,000. Another guy got $10,000. I mean, you know, that kind of thing. But it just doesn't show up. They're not geniuses. You know, you don't have to be some kind of a world-class intellect. You need to be bright. We usually don't run into people that are just dumber than a rock that did this.

And they're not famous. I think doing this show, I've talked to a few famous people that were millionaires, but not during a millionaire theme hour. Right. One guy I talked to was a restaurant guy that was a huge restaurant chain, and he had like $155 million net worth. But he wasn't a household name famous. He just had a big, huge business. Right.

I remember talking to him early, one of the first millionaire theme hours that we did. And they're not crooks. they didn't rip somebody off no you know and so the whining that goes on out there in some of you that are listening in your presence well you know rich people all got their money be ripping people off we all know that i mean that's just dumb because it's ignorant and not true that's right and you just can't allow these myths this mythology to just be perpetuated because it steals people's hope no it really does dave and i i want to encourage the listeners out there if you if you are around it i want you to like help people know the difference help them know the reality that they didn't all inherit it. This book is called Everyday Millionaires because these are everyday hardworking men

and women that have built the wealth. The top three professions were engineer, which we talked to today, accountant, which we talked to today, and school teacher, which we talked to today. And so when you hear that, I want you to correct them and say you know what maybe i used to believe that but that's just not true it's available to anyone and everyone that's willing to work the plan a large portion of them are debt free they pay off their homes average is 10.2 years they don't use debt they don't borrow money on credit cards they don't use credit cards if they do they pay them off every month um they don't they don't borrow money on credit cards they don't use credit cards uh if they do they pay them off every month um they don't they don't borrow money on cars and well they don't have to they're a millionaire no

stupid you got it backward that's right the reason they're a millionaire is they didn't do that stuff okay you just have to understand what's causal and what's not it really is dave and i think again it goes back to the victim mentality the excuses it's easier to tear someone else down than it is to just say, wow, they did a great job, and I'm going to start working for me and my family. And it's sad that the political landscape is feeding on the victim mentality. It's feeding on that, that you can't get ahead, so I'm going to help you, whether that's the left or the right that does that and um you know it's been a long time since we've had a presidential candidate or a for that matter a national figure that stands up and says uh i'm not going to be the hero i'm going to show you guys how to be the hero in your life because you can be you can win and uh that's just a different kind of you you know, of nobility to show people the way that they can do this

rather than say, oh, you're stuck and I'm here to help. Right. Well, we're going to hear that. And I heard you talking earlier, the whole student loan thing. We're getting ready to hear all the promises about the student loan forgiveness. And America, we have been hearing about these supposed programs for several years now, and nothing has ever materialized. And America, we have been hearing about these supposed programs for several years now, and nothing has ever materialized.

And so I don't want us to get bought into that hype that there's a magic bullet coming to just save the day. No, no. I want you to get your own cape. Yeah. I want you to take care of your own household and get focused. I'm old, and I've never gotten any money from Washington. They take.

Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour in the books. Chris Hogan, thanks for dropping by. Thank you for having me, my friend. You can do this, people. That's the moral of the story, and we're going to show you how if you'll hang out with us. We believe in you. We're not going to give you any money. We're not going to give you any promises. We just know you can do it. It's that simple.

Hey, thanks for listening. That puts us out of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer for the show. You know, you can listen or watch anywhere with the Dave Ramsey Show app on your smartphone. Catch the full show or watch the highlights and check out Dave's upcoming guests. Head to the app store and download it today.