The Ramsey Show - App - Taxes Go Right to the Top of Your Debt Snowball (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 9, 2019

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🎵 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us. Open phones as we talk about your life and your money. It's a free call, 888-825-5225. And some say the advice is worth what you pay for it. Ricky is with us in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hey, Ricky, welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? All right. So my wife and I have been drilling tents.

We went through FPU back in August, and we started with $80,000 worth of debt. We currently only have $14,000 left. And so we are almost in baby step three and will soon be in four, five, and six. And so I recently found out that... Yes, sir. Way to go, man. You're killing it. Thank you. Thank you. four, five, and six. And so I recently found out that my work retirement plan, TIA CREF, has a brokerage window option. There's no fee to use the brokerage window or transfer funds there. The current plan that I've been using don't have all the specific types of mutual funds that you

recommend. So I currently have about $170,000 in retirement funds. So my question is, should I meet with a smart investor pro and use the brokerage window to invest my current retirement and future contributions? Yeah, to the extent you're going to use your 401K, you're going to use TIACREF, which is fine. And there's no problem with that. But for your overall investing, your kids' college funds, your Roth IRAs, or any of the old 401ks that you roll over from old jobs into new IRAs, and that way you're controlling all of that and doing that investing, that's what you'd use your SmartVestor Pro for.

And they can look over your shoulder and give you some advice about your 401k, but obviously they're not implementing the 401k. That's managed by CREF in your case. Okay. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. So I should just stay in the current plan that I'm in and use the funds that they have there?

Well, for their 401k, if you've got good mutual fund selections there. And if you don't, you don't have a choice. You've got to either go to Roth IRA or your 401k. These are your two options. And does your wife work outside the home? She does. Okay. And so what does she make? She makes $95,000.

What do you make? I make $70,000. Very good. Okay. Well, between the two of you, we've got to take $165,000 times 15%. So we want a total going in of $25,000, basically. Okay? That's where you're going to end up. Now, how are we going to get that $25,000?

Well, you can put it all at your place and all at her place and do some Roth IRAs, and that will get you up over $25,000 probably. So you're probably not going to want to put it all in any one of those places. Does she have a 401k option? She does. Does hers match? Yes, they do. Does yours match?

Yes, my match is 10% and hers matches 5%. Perfect. First thing we do is take the match. Are either one of them Roth options? Yes, my retirement off is Roth. Hers does not. Excellent. Well, put yours in a Roth and take it up to the match for sure.

Put hers in and take it up to the match for sure. And then look and see how much, how close that gets you to $25,000 because that's what we're trying to get to. To the extent it doesn't do that, then you can look at your Roth 401k and say, are my options there reasonably good? If they are, you can just finish it out there. If not, you can go do your Roth IRA on your own, and each of you can do $6,000 unless you're over 50 years old,

and you can do $7,000 each. But that's still only going to be $12,000, so that's still not going to get us up to $25,000 probably. So you may end up going back to that craft and doing some non-matching there. Or if Hearst has got great options, you may want to do some non-matching. No, you want to do your 401K Roth first. So, okay, so here's the order of attack. Matches first, Roth is second, Traditionals third.

Okay? So that says we're going to do both matches, and then we're going to do either your CREF Roth or Roth IRAs. If those three things together don't get us to $25,000, 15%, then we're going to go finish up in hers because she's got traditional. The only place you've got traditional is in hers. Okay. Does that make sense to you?

Yes, sir, it does. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Yeah, matches first, then Roth, then traditional. And you'd use CREF only for the non-matching portion, only to the extent it's got great mutual funds. And CREF has some good funds. Generally speaking, a 401k run by them is generally a pretty good 401k.

So you may find good funds in there, and you may not need to do as much in your Roth IRAs, your individual Roth IRAs. But you also have kids' college and other stuff. So, yeah, you'd be meeting with a SmartVestor Pro and help you coordinate every bit of what we just talked about. And that's what they do. So, perfect question, man. Thanks for the call.

Whitney is in Salt Lake City. Hi, Whitney. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Hey, what's up? So, I just have a question. So my husband is going to be starting a doctorate program here in the fall, and we've got about $10,000 saved up, so not very much.

And so obviously we're looking at doing some loans. We have a baby, and so I don't really want to take all of our money and just put it into school and live with no savings. But also, I'm wondering if there's anything we can do with that money while we kind of have it in savings, but still be like making more money with it, you know? Like, would you recommend putting it into some kind of account? Would you recommend just holding on to it and just having a safety net? Yeah, okay. Well, Whitney, you're new to our program, obviously.

What we teach folks is to avoid debt, period. Yeah. And what we teach folks is to work through a process of getting out of debt and building up your savings to put together a financial plan towards becoming wealthy. What's your husband studying for his Ph.D.? Chiropractic. So it's like similar to medical school, not quite as expensive, but we're looking at like $200,000 to $300,000. Okay.

Well, you're going to do what you're going to do i can tell you that i have counseled in 30 years a lot of chiropractors that really wished that they were not two hundred thousand dollars in debt because they don't make anywhere near what a medical doctor makes on average and they take on and they take on about the same amount of debt when you're doing that and so i don't think a chiropractic uh degree is worth two hundred thousand dollars in the marketplace because a lot of them make fifty or sixty thousand dollars a year for the first five years they're out building their practice and that's not the case with an md and i can't tell you to go two hundred thousand dollars in in debt to that. As a matter of fact, I think that's stupid. So I wouldn't tell you to do that. I would find another way to get at becoming a chiropractor.

I'm not saying no one should be a chiropractor. I'm saying it's not worth $200,000 to be one. Because by not worth it, I mean it doesn't pay enough. Because there's a few of them make $150, but it's a handful. The number that make over $200 is just none almost versus MDs. And you're going almost as much in debt as you are for an MD. And so I just can't recommend that. I just made a whole bunch of enemies and it's just one of my gifts.

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Hey, how's it going, Dave? Thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? Not much, so I just wanted to get your advice on something. I recently got a new job where I'm making a lot better income than I used to. And my question is, right now I'm saving up for a house. I still live at home with my parents. And I'm also investing very heavily in the market. So I just want to get your opinion on what do you suggest that I should lean more towards, like saving towards a house or investing in the market? because right now I'm investing way more in the market than I am saving for a house. How old are you? I'm 25. Okay.

Well, I think your first goal is to get out of the house. Okay. That may be my first goal, get out of your parents' house. And then how much money are you making? Last year I made $165,000. And your hold? $25,000. $25,000, yeah.

And you have how much money? I have some basic debts. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, that's okay. I have basic debts. I just have my vehicle debts. Other than that, I really don't have any debt. I paid off my student loan last year.

Okay. How much do you owe on your car? About $35,000. And how much do you have in savings not counting retirement? $11,000. That's what I was kind of saving towards the house. Okay. Where I'm at so far.

Okay. Well, I mean, what I would do, and you can do whatever you want to do, but if I woke up in your shoes, my son is 26, and he's one of the vice presidents of this company, and he just got married this year. And if he walked in and gave me your exact situation, here's what I would do. The first thing I would tell him to do is move out and get an apartment yesterday. You're 25 years old. You make $165,000. You don't need to live with your mother, okay? That's the first thing I would do.

It's just a dignity thing, man, seriously. And I would get that going. And the second thing I would do is I'd get this car paid off as soon as possible. And I would use some of that $11,000. You'll need some of it to move out and buy you a couch and a TV and deposit on the apartment and that kind of stuff. Get you a little one-bedroom apartment or whatever you get. I don't care.

Something inexpensive. Don't spend a bunch of money on rent. But get out. Get on your own. Get your own bills set up. Get things going. And then let's get the car paid off. Then let's build an emergency fund.

You don't need to be doing any investing while you have a $35,000 car debt. Okay. Then let's build an emergency fund. You don't need to be doing any investing while you have a $35,000 car debt. So step one is to have at least $1,000 after you're settled into your apartment. Everything else goes towards the car. Step two is we pay off all debt, which is your car in your case. You're going to do that very fast because you make a lot of money. Maybe step number three then is you build an emergency fund of three to six months of money. Baby step number three, then, is you build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. In your case, that's probably $15,000, okay?

Okay. And we build that up. We have $15,000 and zero debt, and that covers you if you have a little bump in the road, right, as you're going along, okay? Now we're sitting in an apartment with $15,000 and no debt. That feels pretty good, doesn't it? It does. Now we start saving for a house, if you want to save for a house,

or you can start your investing, one of the two. I don't care which one you do at that point. There's no rush to buy a house. You'll get around to buying one, and you probably should buy one sometime in the next five years or so. And that may be when you meet that perfect someone, or it may be when you decide i'm going to be classically single i don't care but uh but sometime in the next five years or so i don't want you renting long long term and so you can start saving up your down payment at that point above your emergency fund and no more borrowing and um

then you would start you could start investing i'm going to send you a copy of our book, The Total Money Makeover, which will walk you through exactly what I just talked about. We call those the baby steps. Baby step 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. One is $1,000. Two is debt-free. Accept the house. You don't have a house, so it's debt-free.

Three is an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Four is when you start putting 15% of your income away for retirement. Five is kids' college. You skip that one. Six is pay off the house early. So baby step 3B between the emergency fund and the investing is where you would save for a house, and that's where a lot of people do. All of that is outlined in the total money makeover, and I'll give you a copy as my gift.

Thanks for being a new listener, sir. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Ashlyn is with us in Sacramento. Hi, Ashlyn. How are you? I'm great. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Okay, so I had a question. In the next, well, by Friday, I'll be getting laid off from my current job. Why? Um, you know, they cut the, we lost the contract for the program that we have here. Oh, okay. So, yeah, I've been there for about a year. Um, and good news is I do have a job lined up, uh, to start actually on the following Monday.

But, um, I wanted to know what I should do with my severance package that I'll be getting. It'll be about, well, before taxes, it's supposed to be like $8,900. I'm expecting maybe after that a few, six grand or so, give or take. So let me get this straight. You're losing a job on Friday, and you have your new job set up for Monday. Yes. You're a rock star. I, and you have your new job set up for Monday. Yes. You're a rock star. I love that. Thank you.

Well done. So what are you making now, and what will you be making at the new job? So this year, 2018, I made about $36,000 before taxes. And what will you make next year? What will you make at the new job before taxes? Well, I took a small pay cut, so I'll be making around $34,000 to $35,000, depending on, you know, overtime and such like that, but at least $34,000. I got a feeling you're going to be making more because that's just kind of the person you are. Well done! So this severance package just becomes like a signing bonus.

Basically, yeah, I've been really excited about it. Yeah, ding, ding. Well, you're going to put it wherever you are on the baby steps. Where are you? I'm nowhere on the baby steps yet. I'm actually going to be – I signed up for it at my church to start on the 20th. Okay. So I don't know if I should – well, I know I can give $1,000 and save,

but I don't know if I should just pay off. I would just put it all in savings and sit on it right now until you get into the class. You would? Okay. Yep, you're going you get into the class. You would? Okay. Yep, you're going to get into the class, and the class is going to teach you then, once you have the $1,000 to start working your debts off, smallest to largest. Do you have any debt? Yes, I do. How much?

Well, calculating it, I have about, well, my own debt, I think I have about 25, or no, like 22, 25. My own debt? Who else's debt would you have? Well, I have my mom's car that I'm driving and paying for monthly. She let me have, well, she didn't let me have it, you know. She's letting me drive. Yeah, how much is your car payment what you're paying for your mother so originally i was putting down two hundred dollars a month for it um and then

recently she wasn't able to cover the other part of it so i'm paying 351 a month for it yeah i don't think you need a 351 car payment do you i i don't but i you know i don't really know what else i should do about it i think we're gonna going to take $2,000 of your severance pay and buy a car for cash. No payments. And let your mom sell her car. Okay. Talk to her about that. Let's see what she says.

Well, I don't really care what she says, darling. It's not your responsibility to pay for her car. That's true. I mean, I guess I just feel obligated because she did help me out with the car, but... She bought it for you? No, originally it was her car. Okay, then it's her car again. She didn't buy it for you.

She wasn't helping you out. You were helping her out. You took over her payments because she didn't want her payments anymore. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that is true. She needs to sell her car. Okay, so now you've got no car payments. That's good news.

Now, how much other debt do you have? You said $25,000? Yeah, $20,000. Well, I think it might be actually a little bit less than that, but I have about $20,000. Well, I think it might be actually a little bit less than that, but I have about $20,000 in student loans, and then I have about a little over $800 in credit cards, and then I do have some stuff in collections that I'm going to pay off as well, and I'll have some back taxes too. Cool. I'm going to take care of the credit cards and the taxes probably next,

and we're certainly going to cut the credit cards up, but you can wait until after you get in the class to do all of this if you want, but it sounds to me like what we're certainly going to cut the credit cards up but you can wait until after you get in the class to do all of this if you want but it sounds to me like what we're probably going to do is set a thousand dollars of the severance aside as baby step one we're going to start getting rid of your debts which is we got to you know we got to get you a car for two thousand dollars and get rid of your get your mom to get rid of her car for her so she can get out of those payments you can get out of those payments because y'all are stuck in a mess of that car and then um and then start listing your debts smallest to largest but taxes always go right at the top of your debt snowball anyway so you're gonna pay off those little credit cards those student loan or

those um taxes and then work your way through the rest of it sounds to me like but do it all after you get in the class. I had a conversation with a friend recently and he told me about a young man in his late 20s who died suddenly with no life insurance. Now, I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but this drives me crazy. What are people thinking? I don't understand how taking care of your family isn't a top priority. Most of you probably just spent a bundle on Christmas on things you didn't really need, and now you're making New Year's resolutions that are focused on yourself. But have you taken the time to do something really important like protect your family? If you want to use the New Year as a reason for doing something right, then do it. Term life insurance is something every family

needs, and that's why I talk about it every day. It's not complicated, it's not expensive, and you need to do this right now. Zander Insurance is the only place I recommend. Visit Zander.com or call them at 800-356-4282. Please learn from other people's mistakes and get this taken care of. Zander.com. Thanks for joining us, America. We're glad you're with us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Diana is in Orlando. Hey, Diana, welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up in your world? Well, I just had a baby six months ago. Yay. Yay. Yes. Thank you. And we bought a house a year ago without those specific plans. And now I'm considering leaving my job to stay home with a baby. And that puts us $2,000 upside down on our budget. However, the only debt we have is mortgage. And I have saved up $80,000 just in my accounts.

So my question is, should I use those money? Because I'm planning to go back to work in a year or two. Or should we sell the house and downsize? Because that's the biggest expense we have right now. And what is your household income now? Well, right now we both bring $7,500 after tax. Each? A month.

Each? Together. Oh, together. Yeah, so each is $3,800 a month. I got you. Okay. And about half of that is you? Correct.

Half is exactly me, yes. Okay. All right. And so you make about $45,000 a year. And your house payment is how big? $1,800. Okay. We have a five-bedroom house because I have two stepchildren as well,

so they live with us part-time. So we've got a bigger house, a different sex, you know, boy and girl, different rooms, almost teenagers. So we made a decision a year ago to, instead of living in a townhouse and renting, to buy a house. So, and my husband is also up to his ears in alimony and child support. I'm already accounted for that without giving you that number. So after all this, that's how much we bring. How much other debt do you have other than the house?

You said none, right? None. Okay. Card is paid for. Credit cards, we pay off every month okay if you quit your job and come home this house payment is now roughly half of his take-home pay yes and obviously that's absurd yeah and so you've got $80,000 saved, and you're going to subsidize you not working out of that $80,000, right? Correct, yes.

Okay, so you're going to burn through that in order to keep this house. Exactly. Okay. Or you're going to sell the house and move down the house dramatically, okay? Either rent or buy something smaller okay so we need to set your emergency fund aside and we'll call that uh twenty thousand of the 80 just for round numbers okay so hey you don't do you have an emergency fund in addition to the 80 no that's it. All right, so now we have $60,000 to burn through. At $2,000 a month, that's 30 months. Okay.

In two and a half years, you're going to have to sell this house or go back to work, and you will have burned through $60,000. That's the thing. I want to go back to work when my baby's three i feel like the very first years is important and the job we work is very demanding so it's a big decision well you got you're you're not going to have the money to wait that long because you got 30 months that's not three that's two and a half yeah when'd When did you have the baby? Six months ago.

Oh, there will be three. Yeah. Okay. So on their third birthday, the house is either sold or you're back in the saddle, kiddo. Or your husband has doubled his income. I don't care. He is working on it. He's been in interviews, and he's looking for it very but you see what i'm saying here's the thing you cannot plan you you have to have an end date to this because this car is going to hit the wall and it's going to disintegrate mathematically

suddenly when this money runs out and then you're going to look around and wonder what happened and there's no reason to wonder what happened. We can predict it. It's a very predictable thing. 30 months from today, you're going to be broke and have a house payment that's 50% of his income. So if one of three or four things hasn't happened, you're going to sell the house, he's going to double his income,

or you're back at work 30 months from today. Your child's third birthday, hee-haw, right? Something is going to double his income or you're back at work 30 months from today your child's third birthday hee-haw right something is going to happen so let's just go and put that on the calendar and put it on the refrigerator and let's keep talking about it and working towards it and thinking about it because i don't want you to start looking for a job 30 months from today you have to start looking for a job two years from today. I agree. Or put the sign in the yard two years from today. That way you got six months of pad

here and this thing doesn't melt down on you. You see what I'm doing with this math? Yeah, I understand your math. My question I guess is you know, when is that? Do you love the house? Do you love the house this much? Not really. No, I don't. You might want to sell it move down it would change

these numbers dramatically that's what i'm thinking when is you know the good time to sell it now my husband doesn't get the income well i mean again again how much are you willing to fight to keep the house how much do you love it if you love it a lot you got 30 months i don't love it a lot just talking to you right now right now i don't love it at all if i'm you i'm moving down in house because i want more margin than this i don't want to burn up 80 grand it's too hard to put 80 grand in the bank and you're just going to set fire to it here just going to put it out in the middle of front yard and have a little bonfire with 80 000 bucks and. And that's what you're doing. That's okay if that's your choice, and you're doing that in order to be home with the baby and keep this house.

But you can be home with the baby and be in a different house, and the whole thing takes a lot of pressure off of this because these numbers are really – if you didn't have the $80,000 in the bank, it'd be over. We'd be putting this house up for sale right now. It wouldn't really be a question anymore. The only thing that gave you that option is do you want to burn up $60,000, in this case $60,000 of the $80,000.

So, hey, interesting question. Good to talk to you. I'm glad you're making the decisions on purpose before it blows up on you. So you're being very wise in that regard. Good job. Chris is with us in wise in that regard. Good job. Chris is with us in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hi, Chris. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Good to be here. Good to have you. How can I help? Yeah, so I've been listening to your radio show for about six weeks here and got your book, Total Money Makeover, and very excited about all this. But I do have one question regarding my circumstances. I'm a Christian pastor, and so I live in a church-owned parsonage.

Sure. That's part of my compensation is that they have a home for me to live in. Cool. And then, in addition, my denomination has a very strong pension plan that's fully funded, fiscally sound, that'll pay me 80% of my income when I retire. Fabulous. So, yeah, it's wonderful. So, given those two facts, what does Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6 look like for me?

Well, 5 is kids' college. We haven't discussed that. Are they furnishing college at your denomination? They do not, no. Okay, then you're going to be saving for your kids' college. Baby Step 4 is saving 15% of your income. I would still do that because in addition to your pension, you need some other monies, an additional nest egg. And the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, it says in Proverbs.

Wise people save money. And then as far as Baby Step 6 goes, obviously you don't have a home to pay off, and we don't want you to go buy a house when you've got a parsonage. But someday you're going to retire and you're not going to be in that parsonage, and you're going to need a house, right? Right. So I might make baby step six, saving to pay cash for my house fund in the future out there somewhere. Okay.

Like when I retire, I'd like to have $500,000 sitting there to just write a check and buy a house. Got it. That'd be the same as paying off a house, only you're paying it to yourself and it's easier to do that because you're living in the parsonage as part of your current compensation plan. But good question, and it sounds like you got some wonderful benefits as a part of that particular denomination. Very well. Very well done.

Very good stuff. Hey, thanks for the call, sir, and thanks for serving the Lord. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. If you haven't heard the Everyday Millionaire book came out, Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too, by number one best-selling author Chris Hogan. And guess what? He has another number one on his hands, I'm sure. We'll know in about a week the official tally of that.

But this book is on fire. He's on book tour. He was in New York on Monday and Tuesday. Today is Chicago, and we're going to check in with Mr. Hogan. So, first three days, man. How's it going? Oh, Dave, I am still rocking and rolling. High energy, loving meeting the people, talking to people about this book, getting the information in their hand.

I'm still fired up and ready. Very cool. So you got to do some really good shows there in Chicago today, I saw on the media list. Yes, sir, I did. I had an opportunity to do Good Day Chicago, which was a fantastic hit this morning. Then just finished up Windy City Live, did a couple of segments with them,

took some audience questions. It's a live studio audience there, so the energy was high. And I've done about five radio interviews with a few of our affiliates all around the country. And I think the Rachel Ray episode that you taped is airing today. It did. I've seen some comments coming over on Twitter.

And, of course, I heard from Mama Hogan. She was proud. So that's always a good sign. Yeah. Yeah. If Mama Hogan isn't proud. And Sharon watched you. My wife the other day, for those of you who don't know Sharon, he knows Sharon's my wife.

But Sharon watched you on Fox and Friends. And the staff was laughing because I told them Monday morning at a staff meeting. Sharon, after watching that, she goes, you know, I'm going to read that book. As opposed to when I write one, Hogan. So there you go, man. All right? So, hey, pass the Mama Hogan test.

Pass the Sharon test. This book's going to be big. I'm just saying. These are both good signs, Dave, for sure. Love it. Very cool. And you've got a book signing tonight there in chicago barnes and noble at skokie old orchard we're going to be giving away a thousand dollars they're sponsored by the smart fester pros in the area no purchase necessary must be present to win what time's the book signing uh the book signing is going to be at uh 6 pm. right there at Barnes & Noble

and Dave, we're going to be giving away money. Yep, $1,000 there and there's 100, 200 people or so in the New York signing on Monday night and so tonight is Chicago. Tomorrow night you'll be back, well after tonight when you finish that you guys are going to jump on the plane and fly

down here to Nashville and do media here and then we'll do a signing. You'll do a signing tomorrow night at our town hall. And the town hall is the Everyday Millionaires Town Hall Meeting from our conference center. There will be about 400 free tickets that have been given out to the public here in our office space here tomorrow night. And then you'll be signing books with those guys. That's going to be broadcast live on Facebook, live on YouTube, and to about 63 television stations all over America.

And so we're working with the Fox 17 people to cause that to happen, and it's going to be very – the Sinclair people, it's going to be very, very, very cool. I'm excited about that town hall. I am too, Dave. I'm excited for us to have an opportunity to tell more people about this. It's just making people aware, getting them to believe that it's available to them. The American dream is still alive, and it's available. The largest study of millionaires ever done. Over 10,000 millionaires. Chris and our team

put this together. We used airtight research techniques outside a research firm to help us put it together. And we have the absolute data points on what millionaires really look like. That's important if you want to be one. Chris, out of the stats, and there's a bunch of them that we got out of that study, when you're quoting them with the media and you're quoting them in these book signings and when you're meeting people out here, what do you think is most shocking to people? Well, Dave, I think, you know, the fact about the inheritance, you know, this is something that is truly blowing people away, you know,

that it's not something that they inherited. These are people that built their wealth themselves, first generation. I think the fact about income, you know, that you're not talking about people that are making big incomes. You're talking about regular, everyday, hardworking men and women that have stayed focused. Well, absolutely. 79% of the millionaires in the largest study ever done did not receive a dime of inheritance. And 5% received less than $100,000. So mathematically, 85% to 90% of America's millionaires are first-generation rich.

And that's not an estimate. That's a statistical, dialed-in, absolute freaking fact. And that just blows people away because the media has told you over and over and over again nowadays with their ideology that, you know, the only way you can get rich in America is be born with it or have a rich uncle, right? That's right. And those are just myths. Those are lies.

It's not the truth. And another stat that people are actually gasping at, Dave, is when I tell them that 97% of these millionaires feel that they control their own destiny. So that means they don't have victim thinking. These are people that are goal-oriented and hardworking, and when they set a goal, they look to achieve it. 97%.

That's all of them. That's right. Let's say they control their own destiny. You know, what the sad thing is, is we did do research as well, asking the same questions on some of those types of questions with the public, and if I recall, it was 56% of the public felt the same way. That is correct. Yeah, 56% of the public feel like they control their own destiny. 97% of millionaires felt like they did.

See, if you think when you plant corn that corn's not going to grow, you won't plant corn. That's what that's saying, right? That's exactly right. So you've got to be aware of what you're doing. And listen, Dave, we've been helping people with money for many, many years. We know for a fact when you do certain things over time with focus, you get results. Yeah. Why would you go to the gym and sweat if you thought you were

going to get fatter you know nobody would right nobody would but you go there because you expect a certain result you think you control your destiny and you act on the fact that you think you control your destiny and you plant corn because you think you're going to grow corn that you put money in investments because you want to build wealth and you're not waiting on someone else to fix your financial situation and that this self uh it's kind of a bootstrap kind of a thing where i'm in control of my destiny the belief system was one of the things that we found that we really didn't think it would be as strong as it is but it's very very strong among these people it really is. And not only do they have the

belief, Dave, but they also are gaining their knowledge. 68% of them are using an investment professional to be able to build their million-dollar network, and they're taking actions, their personal actions, on something that they're serious about and very intentional. Very cool. Very cool. Well, a great book signing tonight. Chicago, Illinois. Skokie Old Orchard area. They're on Old Orchard Center,

I guess it's called. And 6 o'clock tonight at the Barnes & Noble. $1,000 will be given away at that book signing. No purchase necessary. Must be present to win. Must be 18 to be able to meet all the legal guidelines. We didn't make those up. The law says that. So that's how that works, and that's the way it'll be.

So jump in there, see Chris tonight. Get your book signed if you're in the Chicago area. If you're in the Nashville area, come by our conference center tomorrow evening. He'll be signing books there before we jump on the plane after that is over and head to Dallas, Texas. And, of course, in Dallas, Texas on Friday night, Chris will be signing books there at the Lincoln Park Barnes & Noble, giving away $1,000. Saturday is the Smart Conference. Monday he'll be running down through Texas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio.

Thursday is Colorado Springs. Friday is Phoenix. A week from Friday that is And then Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Seattle That is the book tour So this man's got two more weeks to go He's halfway through the first week Out here running and gunning

Making this happen Chris we're proud of you We can't wait to hear that this is another number one for you You are getting after it This is a great subject And you are a great person to carry this message. We're very proud of you. Well, thank you, Sam. I'm honored to be able

to do this with the team, and I'm excited to be able to do this for the people out there that need to hear that it's possible for them. Absolutely. Alright, Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author and author of the book, Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too.

Safe travels, Chris, and we'll see you tomorrow. He'll be in the house tomorrow. And then we'll be with him all weekend as we do. All of us, all the Ramsey personalities are going to be at the Sold Out Smart Conference there in Dallas. And thank you, by the way, over 6,000 tickets sold for that and completely sold out. Can't get a ticket now. It's gone, man. It's a done deal.

So we're glad. It's exciting times around here, people. Hey, you control your destiny. I love that message. I sure don't want to be a victim. I sure don't want to be a victim. I sure don't want to be stuck. I don't want to be stuck.

No, no, you can do this. 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 Brant's, and so much more. Go check it out.