The Ramsey Show - App - You CAN Become a Baby Steps Millionaire! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 24, 2021

Baby Steps Millionaire Theme Hour As heard on this episode: Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/3rZTUAx Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2Q64HME Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/3sXwUn5 Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/3utmVXi Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3fHhbVE

I'm Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the fact that you're a Baby Steps millionaire has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. A paid off home mortgage could be an indicator that you're a Baby Steps millionaire, that you're an everyday millionaire, that you're a millionaire. We're going to talk about all three this hour. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host. If you are an actual millionaire, regardless of how you got there,

whether you're a Baby Steps millionaire, meaning you followed the Baby Steps to get there, you're an everyday millionaire, meaning you started with nothing and you got there, which is a type of Baby Steps millionaire, and or maybe you just hit the lotto last week or your grandmother left you $10 million. I don't care. I'll find one. That'd be neat. I don't care how you got there. Call up and tell you tell us how you became a millionaire now we need to define this

for you because some people don't understand what a millionaire really is an actual millionaire there's only one definition well that's your definition no there's only one it's not just mine it's a financial planning accounting mathematics arithmetic thing you don't get to reinvent crap because you had a feeling once okay so someone that makes a million dollars a year could be a millionaire but that does not make them a million a millionaire a millionaire is a net worth statement it means that you have a million dollar or greater net worth. Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Assets minus liabilities on the balance sheet is a net worth statement. Until you have a million dollars in that bottom right-hand corner after you do that calculation or more, you are not a millionaire. You're not a billionaire unless you have a billion

in that corner. You could make a billion dollars. The company that you own might have a billion dollar top line, but it doesn't make you a millionaire. It doesn't make you a billionaire. It's very important to know definitions. Thank you for clearing that up, Dave. There's a lot of mythology out there around this. And, you know, I've been doing the man on the street segments. And you go and you ask people, hey, what do you think when you think millionaire? They think celebrities. They think athletes.

They think CEOs of huge companies. And the truth is they're probably thinking closer to billionaires. And you talk about this in your new book, Baby Steps Millionaires, defining the difference. Because in people's minds, they just kind of get a little squirrely and they don't think straight about really what it takes. And it's all about what you own minus what you owe. It's that simple. Well, money's not that important. Okay. But this is not a moral construct. It's an arithmetic thing. Well, a million dollars isn't enough. Probably. But it doesn doesn't matter you're still a millionaire a millionaire is a millionaire is a millionaire it's not a moral construct it doesn't it's not

about what i don't feel rich i don't care that doesn't mean you're not a millionaire you're feeling it's not a measure of your feelings if we got into that good lord in this culture all we would do is be we'd have to have a feelingometer i just feel like a millionaire dave feel like a million bucks today there you go there you go i feel like a million bucks well it's fun to celebrate it's a big milestone for a lot of people well it is a good milestone because it's not super rich but it's richer than most people it feels unattainable to the average person there's about 13 million millionaires in America today. Wow. 13 million. So there's a lot of them. And there's less than about, less than 1,000 billionaires.

So it's very rare to be a billionaire. It's not that rare to be a millionaire. And you can't spot them in the grocery store, hardly. Nah, you can't tell them because they don't look any different. Because they're not, they're not, they don't have enough money to buy a private jet. They don't have enough money to buy a Lamborghini. It's not that much. I mean, a Lamborghini is $250,000, man.

Private jets, millions of dollars. They got $1 million. You know, so you need to understand this is what we're dealing with. Anyway, it's still a great milestone. It's still something to be celebrated. You're still very unusual. You still have built a level of wealth most people never get to think about, and it's still a great, great target,

and we want to celebrate you if you are a millionaire this hour. Call in and tell us how you did it. We want to interview you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Jeff is in Chicago. Jeff, what's your net worth? My net worth is $3 million, and Dave, if I may say quickly from the outset that I came across your videos just a couple years ago on YouTube,

and I saw real fast that you were giving great advice. But two things that you said that I really liked was that if you don't retire a millionaire, it's your fault. And if you're buying things that you cannot afford, that's not a signal that you're wealthy. That's a signal that you're stupid. Those two things really stood out for me. Yeah, it sounds like something I would say. When you repeat it back to me, it sounds harsher than when I say it in my head. Yeah, you said it pretty harshly, but I liked it. It was a little more entertaining when you said it. I like it. All right. So what's the mix of this $3 million? Give me some category breakdowns of where this wealth is.

Okay, so $3 million, my house is paid off about $350 in value, and the $2.65 million is spread out between my 457B, my Roth, and I have a taxable account at Vanguard. Now, I also, I just retired after 29 years and four months, so I also have a pension of $104,000. I don't know how you factor that into your analysis. Oh, pension is the income. Correct.

So it's just the income stream. So I don't know if it's irrelevant, but I just figured I'd let you know. We'll cash the check. That's for sure. How old are you? I wish I could. 51. 51 years old.

How much of this $3 million did you inherit? Zero. Zero. And your range of income, household income during your working life, what was your best household income, your worst household income so far? So when I started at 21, I would say probably around $35,000. And then, of course, over the years I got raises, and I culminated this year when I retired at about $130,000.

So I guess the mean would be around $90,000, $95,000. Okay. And what did you do for a living? I was a Chicago police lieutenant. Oh, awesome. Very cool. All right. And are you married?

No. Okay. And your degree is in what? So I finished my college degree when I got on a job, and then several years later, I went and got my law degree. And then after that, I went and I got my LLM after that, which is basically an advanced law degree. Wow. But I never really practiced it.

I just did. You know, I taught some. I published some articles, like on the Second Amendment. I'm a big pro-Second Amendment guy. And some estate planning stuff. But I never really used it, parlayed it into a source of revenue. Okay. And what was your GPA back in college?

High school and college, I was a CC minus student. It wasn't until I got into law school that I took it seriously, and then I got good grades. Okay, cool. So how much of this $3 million of net worth that you have is there because you borrowed money to create wealth? Zero. I have had a credit card since i was 18 and i've never paid a nickel interest on it my dad always said you know there's a difference between what you need and what you want and and by the way he retired as a police officer six years old with a million dollars following these principles so he's in the club too but no i didn't i never borrowed anything other than my mortgage okay so you got a young brand new person on the police force

that's listening and they're listening to this guy who's 50 something years old who's a retired police lieutenant in chicago has three million dollars in net worth zero debt of any kind tell them how to do that and can they still do it well absolutely they can do it and my first advice would be which i've told younger guys over the years is firstly it's a mindset forget all the fancy cars the fancy clothes the watches it's not important nobody cares as a matter of fact most people who have that stuff actually can't afford it it reminds me of the millionaire next door that that chapter um big hat no cattle it's all fake oh yeah but. But as far as implementing it, then I would say

maximize your 457, your Roth, stay out of debt, live below your means. And by the way, stay away from those cash value life insurance policies. You know, I heard a sad and touching story recently. Zander Insurance has set up a scholarship for children whose parents died without life insurance. Last year, they gave away over $165,000 to help kids avoid debt and go to college to pursue their dreams. It's touching, but also sad since it's a situation that occurs all over the country and can be avoided in so many cases. This is the reason why I talk about Zander and term life insurance every day. It's not expensive or complicated, and it's gotten even easier with many companies no longer requiring medical exams. Zander shops and compares all the top term life plans and stays

with you the whole time to make sure your family is taken care of. That's why I've used and recommended them for over 20 years. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282. So I don't have to keep talking about these sad stories. happy thanksgiving america george camel ramsey personality and i are here to talk to you about millionaires this hour and we're talking with real millionaires not your broke brother-in-law with an opinion people who have actually done it how did they do it did they inherit their money did they steal from someone are all rich people evil are they all nba stars or nfl stars or actors or uh music icons no no and no and. All the data tells us that, but there are a lot of political opinions and jealousy. There's a lot of sadness. There's a lot of anger. There's a lot of socialism out there floating around in America, and we're here to defeat all of that with actual facts.

Yeah, I love what you say about this. Money makes you more of whoever you are. So are there some evil wealthy people? Sure. There's some evil poor people out there too and so it really is not a reflection of character uh but there is a piece of this where you've interviewed so many of these millionaires and it turns out just work ethic and consistency over time will make you a millionaire that's how you do it sure fire away and we've started seeing so many of them that were baby steps millionaires that actually followed the baby steps millionaires that actually followed the baby steps because i've been teaching financial peace university and the seven baby steps for close to 30 years now and so lots and lots of people because the average millionaire

takes about 17 years to get there and so um lots and lots of people have followed the baby steps and so they're literally baby steps millionaires. And so people kept asking about that, and there was all this pushback. Well, you know, you only follow Ramsey until you're not broke, and then if you really want to be wealthy, you don't follow Ramsey. Well, it turns out a lot of wealthy people became wealthy because of exactly what we teach at Ramsey. And so I wrote a new book. I haven't done one in eight years, but I thought it was time to do one. We had a Ramsey personality named Chris Hogan who did a wonderful book here called Everyday Millionaires. We've sold quite a few of those, half a million of them or so. And that book is all about the research study that we at Ramsey did and the conclusions of that study.

We'll reference it this hour as well. And all about the largest study of millionaires ever done in north america over 10 000 of them and so chris did that book when he was here and uh that came out a couple of years back and did very very well and then i'm doing a follow-up book um that is not the same thing but it is about the same subject in a sense because it's about millionaires only it's baby step millionaires and so what i've done is gone through and said okay if you don't think you can do it here's why you don't think and here's where you're wrong and here's what the math says and here's what happens when you follow the baby steps exactly what you will do and how you will get

there so if you've heard all about the baby steps you're going to hear about them again there's nothing in here that's new insight it's just showing you it's proof positive that if you follow the baby steps, you will become a millionaire and then some. And I love on the website when I went to check out this book, it said the quickest right way to become a millionaire. And I love that because we don't do get rich quick. We do get rich slow and get rich on purpose and get rich where you stay rich and you don't lose it all. Like I did the first time I did this. So Baby Steps Millionaires is on sale now at ramsey solutions.com you can pre-order the book you'll get the baby steps millionaires audio book ebook and you'll get the legacy journey audio book and ebook you'll get the baby steps millionaire live stream which comes out in january with the

book uh the ramsey smart tax you'll get to file your taxes free with that, and you'll have the Ramsey Plus 30-day free trial. All of these are upgrades and free things coming to you, almost $200 worth of items when you buy a $200 book pre-ordered. It comes out and will actually be shipped on January the 11th, but you can see it on Amazon. You can see it on our website, and it all came out of the Everyday Millionaires Movement with Chris Hogan. The everyday millionaires movement came out of me doing this hour. We're talking with real millionaires and discovering who they really are. Gracelyn is a millionaire.

Gracelyn is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gracelyn, what is your net worth? In $85,000. Say it again. $1,085,000. Okay. I'm going to call it 1.1. Good for you. All right. Give me a little breakdown on your 1.1. What's the categories? For retirement, I have $875,000. In my house, I have $60,000. And then in taxable investments and other savings, I have $150,000. Good for you. How old are you? I'm 37. Whoa, a young millionaire. Good for you. Okay. How much of this did you inherit? Well, that is unique to me, I think, and why I wanted to call because starting in my 30s,

I have been gifted $180,000 from my parents at $30,000 a year for six years. Okay, so $180,000 of the $1.1 has come to you, and so they're using the gift tax law to transfer some out of their estate, right? Correct. Okay, that's very cool. I love that some out of their estate, right? Correct. Okay. That's very cool. I love that. And you're right, this is unusual.

So I love your call. Thank you for joining us. Okay, so you got $180 since you were 30, six years, or 31 years old, $30,000 a year, $15,000 from mom, $15,000 from dad to meet gift tax guidelines. And you've done what with that money it was always agreed upon that i would use it to max out my uh roth ira 401k i love your parents i love your parents they're changing their family tree so well done so what is your income so my income currently is about 61 000 and what do you do

for a living i'm a civil engineer okay so you're good with numbers too then and um and so do you feed do you resent your mom and dad putting all these guidelines on this no i. I mean, I know that the reason I'm here is because I'm guided and gifted by my wise parents. And it's always an agreement with them. We had a wedding this year. I just got married. And it was a big negotiation how much to spend on the wedding. But I always appreciate their generosity wow did you ever think you'd be a millionaire at 37 years old no you know five years ago i was halfway here and i felt so free but i did not know what happened so fast i mean the market returns you just you you might question whether you should leave it

in mutual funds in the market but it's i don know, I don't think it's a question anymore. So when did you get married? I got married this month. Hey, congratulations. So how does he fit into all of this from a relationship standpoint? Is he bought in on this whole program, obviously, or you wouldn't have married him? We did FPU together before we got married and he didn't come uh from the same kind of understanding of money nobody did his main fear yeah um and so we agreed no credit cards he cut up his credit cards and he just got on board he sees what i've been able to do and is

um ready to be a partner in that what a dreamboat there it is this is everything every parent wants is you and who you married this feels like i mean my kids are your age and so this is like perfect thank you thank you for proving that what your mom and dad did can be done what is their net worth would you guess well it's it's over probably over five million yeah i was gonna guess that yeah good awesomeness very very cool all right so your 180 that you've collected since in the last six years is probably close to half of your net worth. Is that fair? That it grew?

Yeah. I don't know. I'm just guessing. I was doubling it. Yeah, so probably 500,000, double it or triple it, and then the rest of it you've done. Mm-hmm. That's so neat neat that is so powerful this is how the parents listening this is how you change your family tree you raise a graceland

and listen to what graceland did she respected her mom and dad she respected and understood their their their process she embraced it she became it. She wouldn't marry outside of it. She taught her new husband how to do it as part of the agreement. This is how you do it. This is how you change your family tree because you can't dump enough money on dumb kids to straighten them out. You are awesome, kid. I'm loving you. Thank you so much for joining us.

I love your story. I love your mom and dad. I love your new husband. I love you. You're the whole package. I love your story. I love your mom and dad. I love your new husband. I love you. You're all, you're just, you're the whole package. I made my day. So much love. So much love.

This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. It's a Baby Steps Millionaire theme hour. You may have become a millionaire using the Baby Steps. You may have become a millionaire on your own without the Baby Steps. Or you may just have become a millionaire. Maybe your parents gave you some money. Maybe you inherited some money. We don't care how you got your million dollars we want to talk to you because we want to talk to real millionaires not people with an opinion that are broke because jealousy and envy are not mathematical formulas

and then we'll talk about the real statistics of millionaires the reason we do this is we want to let you know that it's possible for you to get there that's what the book statistics of millionaires. The reason we do this is we want to let you know that it's possible for you to get there. That's what the book Baby Steps Millionaires is all about. It is the I have proven through every possible lens that you can analyze it to you by the time you finish this book that it is not only possible, it's probable that you will become a millionaire if you do the stuff we teach. Brooks is with us in Oklahoma City. Hi, Brooks. What's your net worth? Hey, good afternoon, Dave.

Our net worth is $1.1 million. Good for you. Give me a little breakdown on that by category. Yes, sir. $600 in IRAs and the Thrift Savings Plan, $155 in some real estate investments, $130 in a taxable brokerage, $30 in college funds,

and then the rest is some equity in the house and cash. Good for you. How old are you? 39. All right. My wife is 40. Excellent. Excellent. So how much of this 1.1 did you inherit? None of it. Zero. And what's been the range of your household income since you guys started working, best year and worst year? Worst year was $20,000 right out of college, and then last year we were fortunate to be at about $140,000. Good for you.

And what do you guys do for a living? I'm an officer in the Air Force, and my wife has a small business she runs. Thank you for your service. Excellent. Do you have a four-year degree? Yes, sir, and a couple of masters. As my wife said on our very first date, I'm a huge nerd. I love it.

She's got a degree as well. Okay. What's some of your degrees in? I have a mechanical engineering undergrad, an MBA, and then a master of arts and military operations. Perfect. What's your average gpa across all that uh around a 3.8 to a 4.0 somewhere in there okay phenomenal well done sir well done and you're millionaires starting from nothing as an air force officer and a small business owner

by the time you're 40 years old can that can that's not all by ourselves. We had help along the way from family as far as opportunities, but we've been blessed, very blessed. When you say opportunities, what do you mean? My dad's done real estate, and once I got out of college and thought it was a good idea at the time to take out some money to invest, He gave me some opportunities to make money that I had not necessarily earned at my young age at the time. And they worked out really well. But looking back, you know, if I hadn't had my dad there to help me. So did he kind of kickstart? So you had some guidance, but he didn't give you money?

Yes, sir. All right. That's what I was trying to figure out. Excellent. Well, well done. Very well done. Okay. All right. That's what I was trying to figure out. Excellent. Well, well done. Very well done and very well played. Okay, so you're talking to a young enlisted man or woman. Can they still do this?

Absolutely. What do they need to do? They just have a plan just ahead of time. Don't look back at your money. Look at what it's doing for you in the future, and you have to become comfortable with living below your means. And you can't necessarily go out and buy all the flashy stuff that your friends are doing. And you need to be okay with that.

And, you know, the math all makes sense to me. I'm a math guy. But there's an emotional component that's tied up in finances. And you've got to kind of come to terms with that as an individual, and my wife wanted to say you can't, you got to be looking ahead, and you can't focus on the near-term benefits if you want to have some long-term paybacks. Agreed. Now, have you all had a life during this 15 or 20 years, or have you just lived in a cave and collected Lenten coupons? No, we've had a fantastic life. We've had some great vacations and good opportunities,

and we've had a lot of fun. But I drive an 8-year-old car that's paid for, and I have no desire to get something new because I want to spend that money on the family and trips and experiences. I drive 15 minutes to work every day. I don't really care what I drive. Wow. So your priorities shifted as you began to build wealth and you decided what's important for you and your family. Yes, we did. As a team, we talk every month a couple of times about the

budget and about quarterly or half a year, we'll kind of sit down and see if our priorities have changed and if we need to shift where our emphasis is and and things like that because and life happens things change and so we're flexible but we have some guidelines we're both baby steps folks um and so it's gotten us to a fantastic place where we can have a lot of fun and know that our future is pretty secure well thank you for sharing your story and thank you again for your service we're very proud of you 40 years old 1.1 million dollar net worth liz is up next and liz is in lansing michigan liz what's your net worth uh our net worth is

four million dollars cool give me a little breakdown on that by category yeah okay so uh we have one son left in college and so he has 100 grand in his 529 uh we have 300 000 in cash uh and then the rest is investments for retirement uh a 600 000 paid for house um yeah so i think i think that's it okay so you got about three million in your 401k and iras yeah yeah a little bit a little bit over that i think okay very cool how old are you uh 54 54 all right and how much of this did you inherit uh i i received an inheritance about six months ago for fifty five thousand dollars for my aunt uh and you were already millionaires yes so you're not millionaires because of an inheritance is that correct no no no no okay my husband and i helped us just lay out the steps that we needed to take, and we just followed them. And it's amazing, absolutely amazing what it's done.

I'm blown away. So what's the range of your income since you guys started working? Best household income and worst household income? Best, 310. Worst, probably about 170. Wow. What do you guys do for a living? So my husband was a stay-at-home dad for a long time. He now works for, he's a project manager and i'm a sales manager okay for who or for what kind of an industry yeah for medical device industry okay very lucrative good

for you you've been killing it well done so great incomes but also made that great income go to work yeah i mean it really the plan that you laid out for us we're great at following a structure and a plan and it's it's it's been so just it's given us peace so we we have paid for all of we have three children grown uh two kids done with college all paid for uh our, it made it possible for her to go to Notre Dame and for us to pay for it all. We've gone on European vacations every summer for, oh gosh, 10 years. I met my father for the first time 11 years ago. Wow. And he's European and it made it possible for my kids and our family to get to know our European family and spend, you know, a couple weeks every summer with them because we had the money to do it.

Wow. We drive paid-for cars that, you know. What's your degree in? Engineering. Okay. And what was your GPA? 3.4. Cool.

Okay. Last thing, in 20 or 30 seconds, can this still be done and what should somebody do if they want to do it? Yeah, it can be done. I mean, really on any income. It's amazing listening to the callers in your show. That's inspired me the most. The people that they make $40,000, $50,000 a year, and they pay off this debt, and they win. So just follow the plan. Buckle down for the brief amount of time that you have to be gazelle intense, and then you get to live.

Live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. It's not a theory. You can do this. Wow. It's a Baby Steps Millionaires Theme theme hour all about talking to real millionaires regardless of how they got there we want to hear your story at 888-825-5225 Thank you. Our scripture today, Colossians 3.17, And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. William Arthur Ward said,

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings it's a baby steps millionaires theme hour meaning we are talking to millionaires regardless of how they became a millionaire we want to know what really happened did it re where'd your wealth really come from there's a lot of mythology out there that people think that you have to be famous an entertainer a rock star an athlete to become a millionaire less than one percent of millionaires are those people statistically that's the actual data uh millionaires have to be to become wealthy you have to be a crook. I've been doing this theme hour for years,

and I've never talked to anyone that became a millionaire by being a crook. And so that's just jealousy and immaturity and envy speaking. This idea that wealth comes from thievery is ridiculous in the culture today. Who would continue to do business with a thief? No one. You have to be brilliant you have to have a 4.2 gpa uh i seldom talk to a millionaire that's got a gpa that has a matter of fact most of them are in threes pretty average yeah most of them most of us are you know mine's a 2.97 i'm still pissed about that three one hundreds of a point but yeah um so so it's not all about intellect and it's not all about i mean i seldom run into somebody's got a 1.6 gpa so i mean you have to have a certain amount of gray matter right to get there but um

but this idea that that you know that that unless you're unusually brilliant, you don't have a chance. Unless you, you know, you strike it rich with, you know, a record deal when you're 18 years old and you're a one-hit wonder, you're not going to get there. These are just mythology. And here's the last one and the worst one of all. That the average millionaire, the typical person that's wealthy in America, inherited their money. And it's simply not true. that the average millionaire, the typical person that's wealthy in America, inherited their money. And it's simply not true. Out of the 10,000 millionaires that we interviewed for the Ramsey Millionaire Study, and it really bears out on who we talked to here on the air as well,

79% of those that we interviewed received zero inheritance. 5% received a very small inheritance, like $5,000 from their grandmother, which does not make you a millionaire, okay? And another five percent, like our last caller, received some money after they were already millionaires. Last caller had a $4 million net worth, and last year got $55,000, which was a substantial amount of money, but it was after they were already millionaires last caller had a four million dollar net worth and last year got 55 000 which was a substantial amount of money but it was after they were already it didn't cause that if they'd have

gotten a million dollars last year it didn't cause it they already had a three million dollar net worth and so they didn't become millionaires because of that so here's the point the point is you can do it you can do it so. So 5%, you know, small inheritance, 5% after, and 79% nothing. That's 89%. So that's 9 out of 10 millionaires. That's almost all of them did not become millionaires because they inherited their money. So there's some Thanksgiving dinner trivia for those of you when you're home with your left-wing family that thinks that the only way you become wealthy is liberal policies because wealth must be redistributed.

Because it's not fair to the little man. Nine out of ten millionaires are little man. This is the best system ever in the history of mankind, literally, to become a millionaire. Today. In America today. the history of mankind literally to become a millionaire today in america today with all of its problems and all of its isms and all of its systemic problems that are really there there's so much stinking opportunity out there if you will just pay attention we can get you there yeah and i love hearing the stories of the debt-free screams on the stage. They say, Dave, we paid off our house. And they whisper to you when you meet them, and they say, oh, and we're everyday millionaires.

We're baby step millionaires too, Dave. It's amazing. And they always do whisper it. They don't cheer that one. It's like unassuming. It feels like a humble brag. It is a humble brag, because it's weird. Because we have a culture that tells you to go be successful and then curses you when you are.

And then don't talk about it. Don't tell anyone. Yeah. Because you should be ashamed of yourself. Well, this hour we're encouraging humble brags. Yes, we are. We want to let people know it's possible. Yes, we are.

Because I want people to have hope that they can do it, too. That's the thing. Can you do it, too? Yes, you can. Bill is with us in Dayton, Ohio. Bill, what is your net worth? Hey, Dave, I'm at $1.46 million. Cool.

Give me a little breakdown on that by category. I've got about, I guess, $900,000 between my IRAs and TSP. I've got a home worth about $290,000, cash about $250,000, and then a couple cars. Okay, very cool. How old are you? 55. Good, good. And how much of this did you inherit?

Exactly zero. Okay, exactly. Not a penny more, not a penny penny less and what's been your best year best year working income worst year working income uh so also i guess when i when i first got in the uh military i was making about 17 000 a year um got uh you know the two to three thousand increases every year with promotion or whatever and uh now I'm up about 198,000, so it averages out to about 80,000 a year. Got you.

Cool. Thank you for your service. Very cool. Which branch are you in? I was in the Air Force active duty, and then I retired, and now I'm a civilian working for the Air Force. Ah, okay. Cool.

What's your degree in? Do you have a four-year degree? I do. I was an industrial distribution major in aerospace sciences for my master's. Cool. And your GPA? I was probably a 3.2 for undergrad and probably a 3.8 for graduate. Yeah, that's about normal. Okay, good for you. So you did all of this as a military guy. Your wife work outside the home? Well, so that was one of those things, you know, you have to be with somebody who matches your saving patterns.

And I was not married to someone who did that. So I started making more money after we split. Ah, okay. All right. So the pictures we got of you with your kids, I was trying to look down in the YouTube picture. Okay. All right. Yeah. Very cool. Good for you. Yeah, those are my kids. So yeah, as a matter of fact, my son just graduated with his master's last year, and he's now a financial planner working

for a no-fee company in the D.C. area. Very cool. Very cool. So, Bill, again, I had a military-owned guy a little bit earlier. Do you think you could talk to the young service guys and tell them it can be done? Oh, definitely. So the first thing you have to do is just, you know, pay yourself first, put that money away in IRA or some savings vehicle, and just pretend it's not even there. Yeah. And then pay yourself with every pay raise and then live below your means.

Sounds like you've avoided debt like the plague. Oh, well, you know, I did the thing for quite a few years where you're moving credit card balances around, and it was just ridiculous. And when I finally found your program, oh, I don't know, about 15 years ago, it woke me up, and I've lived by it ever since. And it's brought me where I am now. Very cool. Proud of you, Bill.

Thank you again for your service, and thanks for calling in, dude. You're a financial hero. You did it. You became a millionaire. It sounds like he put these investments on autopilot, no pun intended. $900,000. Nice catch, George. He's just an impressive guy. sounds like he put these investments on autopilot no pun intended 900 000 nice catch george he's just an impressive guy so we got a 51 year old 37 39 54 55 so none of them are 80 uh none of them are 27 right and gpas were 3.0 3.8 3.4 3.2 the net worths weres were 3 million, 1.1, 1.1, 4 million, and 1.46. These are the ones we

took on the day. And so you see the patterns evolve. And the patterns are repeatable. We see them all the time. We don't set these calls up, folks. We don't tell them what they have to say. We want to find out what's really going on. But you really can't break statistical averages. They show up. Yeah, and there's a lot of themes here. They lived on less than they made. They invested consistently over time. They got out of debt. They paid off their house.

And all of a sudden, you look at the numbers in the mix, and you go, oh, my gosh, I'm a millionaire. I did it. Well, happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving. And we hope this inspires you to go be a Baby Steps millionaire. That's your next goal. We want you to do it. George, happy Thanksgiving. You as well, Dave. James and Kelly and Austin in the booth. Thanks, guys. We want you to do it. George, happy Thanksgiving. You as well, Dave.

James and Kelly and Austin in the booth. Thanks, guys. Well done. Bobby, all of you, happy Thanksgiving. That puts this hour of the 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 Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit theramseyshow.com and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.