The Ramsey Show - App - You Can Become a Millionaire WITHOUT Inheriting Money! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

Chris Hogan, Everyday Millionaires Theme Hour Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

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 a paid-off home mortgage probably means you're an everyday millionaire. This is an Everyday Millionaire theme hour. We're going to take calls only from people who have a net worth of a million dollars or greater. Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author of the book Everyday Millionaires. Chris Hogan joins me to talk to these folks. So, Chris, when I'm not here, do you all do the intro?

Absolutely, we do. So you say, like, when debt is done? No, sir, absolutely not. You make up your own intro? There is no way I'm touching that. What's his sacred ground? That's an iconic statement and i'm not allowed so what do you say we hey i'm here no i actually have my own i tell you got your own

i have my own and i tell them i used to say that i'm filling in for the big man in the big chair oh but now i tell people you're listening to the dave ramsey show i'm chris hogan filling in for dave and i move on that's better than big and big well thank you for that i appreciate that yes yes yeah you've been talking to my wife too much about me being big not at all making fun of my my chocolate chip cookie habit that's what he's doing i'm just saying uh we're gonna take calls from those of you that have a million dollar net worth or greater because we want to learn how real millionaires became that and a net worth is defined chris as taking what you own minus what you owe and it's real simple and once you walk through that you look at it and again what you own that's your car cars your vehicles

your bank accounts your 401ks 403bs subtract out you owe on. And if that number is a million dollars or more, congratulations, you're an everyday millionaire. There you go. Took a call in another hour before you got in here from a guy worth $1.7 million. Said he'd worked a lot of 60-hour weeks. And he was trying to get, like, emotionally comfortable with blowing $15,000 out of $1.7 million on just a nothing item. I mean, just a luxury item, right? But it's hard to do that. It's hard once you've worked, once you've lived like no one else,

so later you can live and give like no one else. Sometimes it's hard to let go. And so that's one of the things these guys that started with nothing suffer from. Now, if you actually inherited your money, that's fine. We want to hear from you. I don't care how you got the million dollars maybe you hit the lottery maybe you uh took a company public or something or something like that we don't get many of those but i would love to talk to you we have talked to a few a handful yeah that inherited it but you know they and in in every case they honored their parents

yeah as to how they did it you know to be able to hand it to them. And so they were second-gen money in most cases. But this mythology that everyone inherits their money, we have found to be not only with our research but just on this everyday millionaire hour, we've just found it to be a complete and utter lie. Yeah, it really is, Dave. And I think it's easy for people to look at someone that has worked hard over time and built wealth to just rationalize and say, well, they must have just had it handed to them. Because then you can say, well, no one's given it to me. And so we debunked that myth. We did the largest study that's ever been done. We talked to over 10,000 millionaires all across the country. And it's just not true. 79% of the millionaires didn't inherit a dime, nothing.

And what that means, America, is that you have an opportunity to be able to build wealth yourself. And we have to stop making excuses and really get to work. You know, I think that's why people get mad about this message and give you and I so much hate mail on it, is if it is true that 90%, 79% got nothing and 90% did not get enough to become a millionaire. In other words, they became millionaires on their own, starting from nothing, basically. If that is true, then that means if you haven't done that, it's your fault. And that makes people mad because they don't like to be told it's my fault that I haven't won. And so it's healthy, though, to be told that because it makes you change.

It gives you a chance to change what you're doing and go win. And that's the beauty of this. All right, let's start with Russell. Russell's in Florida. Russell, what is your net worth? 1.6. Good for you. Well done.

And break that down for me. What's the mix on that? About $900 in cash because we're getting ready to buy a new house. $250 in mutual funds, $120 in Roth IRAs, $50 in a 529, and $260 in our current house, which is paid off. Way to go. Excellent. How old are you? I am 34, going to be 35 this year. Goodness. Early. So how much of this did you inherit? None.

Zero. I inherited a good work ethic from my mother, but that's about it. So what has been your income, sir? You've killed it by 34. Well, I'm a little bit out on the edge there because I actually sold a company recently. Okay. So you built a company and sold it is where this came from? Correct. Most of it, correct. But i was well on my way way before then my goal was to be millionaire status by 45 you whipped

that yes so okay so what has been your range of income in your working lifetime then so yeah between 40 when i first got out of college and 200. And 200. Okay, so you built a company doing what? Software engineer. Okay. I'm a software engineer, and we sold a technology company. Okay, and then you sold it for obviously a million plus dollars. Yes.

Okay. Way to go, man. Congratulations. So what's the next adventure? That's the question. So giving is probably going to be the next big thing, right? So part of the deal of selling the company is I have to work a little bit to close it out. But once that's done, traveling, giving, that's my plan for me and my family.

I recently had a daughter this year. Ah, that's fun. Okay, good for you. What's your degree in? A software engineer, so computer information systems. I hope so. Okay. And your GPA?

3.9. Good for you. Okay, cool. Russell, have you ever worked with an investment professional? I have met some, but I always say in my second life I would have been a CFO or an accountant. I love numbers, and so i kind of been doing it myself cool gotcha but now that i'm at this point that the money that i have i'm definitely going to start seeking some advice yeah now you mentioned you and your family the

giving is the focus uh what do you all do you give now so basically it's the family and friends now and so basically we've given a couple cars away, stuff like that. And when we have it, we give it. Wow. Did you buy the cars to give away or did you give them the money to buy a car? No, no. We were getting a new car and they were in a place where they needed a car, so we just gave it to them. That is fantastic.

In your journey, and you've been an entrepreneur obviously for a while, what was your biggest financial mistake you made on this journey? So that would be not going to a state school. I went to a private school. It was very expensive. If I would have went to a state school, it would have saved me a lot of money. So how much do you estimate you overpaid for your degree? Probably double what I should have paid.

Okay. Wow. He does know numbers. Oh, this is great. Yes. This is amazing. Okay, so now you come home from travel, and you've got a million six, and you're 35 or 36 years old at that point.

Things are calming down. What do you think your next career is? That is a good question. I don't know yet. Like I said, I want to spend some time to relax running a business the last it took 10 years to get here running this business and so i need some time to relax yeah you've been pouring you've been burning a lot of hours haven't you yes i would say hard work but the thing i had that i was lucky i found a good mentor um he of gave me guidance, and he was actually the partner in the business that we sold. And so that's one thing I was very grateful to have is a good mentor.

That makes a lot of difference. Congratulations, Russell. Very proud of you, man. Congratulations. A million six at 34 years old. You're a millionaire. We want to talk to you this hour. It's an Everyday Millionaire theme hour.

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What are the real statistics about where money really comes from and who really is a millionaire? Michael is a real millionaire in Texas. Michael, what is your net worth? 1.3 days. Good for you. And break that down for me. How's that allocated? Uh, 850 mutual funds, including, uh, retirement costs and, uh, 401k, 450 in a house and 50 in

vehicles and just other insurable items. Okay, cool. All right, cool. And how old are you? 39. Gosh, two young ones here. All right, and so how much of this 1.3 did you inherit? I inherited $10,000 in 2010. So you're not a millionaire because of inherited money? Nope. Mathematically, we know that. So what's been the range of your income in your working lifetime? $24,000 right out of college as a second lieutenant and just under $200,000 this year

and average $61,000 a year lifetime. Cool. What do you do for a living? I'm in law enforcement. Okay, but you were military before that? Yes, sir. For how long? Five years.

Okay. Thanks for your service. Okay. You're welcome. All right. So you're obviously on up the ranks in law enforcement and or your wife makes great money. Which is it? I've moved up the ranks.

Okay. Cool. Good for you. So your degree in criminal justice? Bachelor's in criminal justice and master's in national security. Gotcha. Oh, master's. Okay, there we go. Now I'm understanding. Okay. And your GPA during those times? 3.9. Okay, cool.

Oh, wow. Okay. Well, have you ever worked with an investment professional before, Michael? No, I haven't. Okay. And do you as a family, do you all do any giving? Yes, we give to our church and several local charities. Church and charities. That's fantastic. Looking back in your journey, obviously even through law enforcement and in the military, what would you say is your biggest financial mistake that you made? New cars.

Ah. How many did you buy? I think four. I haven't bought one since I found a bald-headed guy in Tennessee named Dave Ramsey. But if I had known that back then, that would have helped me out a lot quicker. Yes. Yeah. It is good to get knowledge, buddy. Well, congratulations. So what advice do you have to the younger version of you? You're talking to younger police officers, younger folks in law enforcement that are 15 years behind you. What are you telling them to do? If you never get out of control with your money,

you never have to get back into control with it. So just stay the course. That's a good one. So are you guys TV people or book people? You read or watch TV? I'm new to a blended family with five children, so right now I don't really do a whole lot of either except parent five young kids. Okay.

You haven't got time to do either one. I'm more of a book person in general. Okay. All right. What's the last non-Ramsay book you read? Extreme Ownership by Jocko Wellington. Yeah, Jocko. He's been around here a couple times and doing our podcast.

He's a character. That's a good book, too. It's worth a read. Very good. Good stuff. Good stuff. Hey, man, congratulations. We're proud of you.

Very, very, very well done. Good stuff. And, again, thanks for your service. Chris is in Ohio. Chris, what's your net worth? Hi, Dave. My net worth is about $1.9 million. Okay, perfect.

And give me a breakdown on that. How's that allocated? That's about $1.3 in retirement and qualified accounts, mostly in mutual funds, about $100,000 in CDs and savings, $350,000 in our house, and then about $150,000 in an RV, some cars, and just personal property. Gotcha. Cool. How old are you? I am 57. All right. And what's been your range of income in your working lifetime? Well, my working lifetime's long, but I'm a second marriage with my wife since 2007. And in that span, our income's been between about $140,000 and a little over $200,000.

What do you all do for a living? My wife's an administrator, and I am an IT manager, just retired recently from a large corporation. Cool. So how much of this $1.9 million did you inherit? I have not inherited anything, Dave. Okay. Cool.

And what was your degree in, Chris? Well, I do not have a degree. I'm in IT, and I was self-taught back in the 90s, and I've lived the tough life of not having a degree. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you made it, buddy. Didn't look like you needed it. What was your GPA in high school?

My GPA was about 3.5. Okay, 3.5. And have you ever worked with an investment professional in your career? Yes, I have worked with investment professionals, and actually that was one of my careers before IT. So I have a lot of depth in that area, good stuff. Fantastic. And you and your. And do you and your wife, do you all do any giving as a family? Well, tithing is the first thing on our budget each and every month. And then above and past that, we try to give a lot. We try to give with

our kids and family members just to make it part of our lifestyle. Okay. So you're a high school graduate. You come out. You're in a society that tells you you can't win without a college degree. You're 57 years old, and you're worth almost $2 million. What's the secret? What do you tell the young version of you? Well, strategically, I tell people to tithe and live below your means. And tactically, I tell them, make use of your 401ks,

don't borrow money, and more than anything, be intentional. You know, the things that you talk about more often than not in life, you win at. And as a society, we just don't typically talk a lot about budgeting and money and how are you doing, and you really need to do that. What's the biggest mistake you made along the way money wise probably um i i asked my wife about that the other day because we've uh we've been pretty conservative for most of our stuff but probably the worst thing we've done is is we did not leverage roths at any um at any level so we're we're're pretty leveraged into the 401k side of the world, which is good, but I think we'd be looking better in the next few years if we were a little more even Roth and 401ks.

Yeah. Well, they came along later. I'm about the same age, and for us to have a high percentage of our money in Roth would be unusual at our age because that started the that started hitting the forefront of the financial world a little bit later. But I'll let you off the hook a little bit. If that's your worst mistake, you're a dead gum genius.

So well done, man. Very well done. We're proud of you, Chris. Excellent, excellent, excellent job. You know, the interesting thing is, Chris, we find that that that even on these informal surveys, like taking these calls on the Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour, that the vast majority of these people are not lawyers. They're not doctors. We almost never talk to a professional athlete or an actor.

Maybe they wouldn't talk to you and me. I don't know. But I know several of them, but they didn't call in on this. And a lot of them that are less than 1% of the millionaires are in what we would call famous jobs. So, I mean, they're like professional athlete, doctor or lawyer are on the list. But the professional athlete, the actor, the music star, you know, I'm going to make it in my garage band, and that's how I'm going to become a millionaire. It's very, very few of them do. No, no. Most of the people that are millionaires are, you know, these guys, police, you know, law enforcement, software.

We've got two IT guys here so far out of this today. But it's not unusual to hear that. No, it really isn't. And thus the reason the book was titled Everyday Millionaires, because you're not talking about these famous people. You're not talking about high-end careers. You're talking about regular, everyday, hardworking men and women all around the country. You go to church with them. You live beside them.

And the thing is, is they're not flashy because they're focused and they're doing the things that count number four in our detailed research number four career not number one not number two number number three but number four was teacher yes highest probability to be a millionaire think about that yeah put that in your pipe I can't believe 2020 is here. If you're paying attention, you're already planning your new budget. For most of you, your mortgage is your single biggest line item. Lowering that payment could have a dramatic effect. My friends at Churchill Mortgage want you to save big. So if you get a free Churchill

checkup this month and it makes sense to refinance, you'll get an extra $200 off your closing cost. It's a no-brainer for all my listeners who have a mortgage payment, and it doesn't matter which mortgage company you've used in the past. Go to churchillmortgage.com forward slash checkup to activate your $200 discount this month or call 888-LOAN-200 and reference promo code CHECKUP for $200 off. This is a paid advertisement. NMLS ID 1591. NMLS consumeraccess.org. Equal housing lender. 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 100. Brentwood, Tennessee 37027. For a limited time only, this offer is applicable to closing costs and is not combinable with other offers it's an everydayaire on the Dave Ramsey, Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour on the Dave Ramsey Show. Number one best-selling author Chris Hogan is with us.

He's the author of the book Everyday Millionaires, which is a series of stories and 140 of the statistics that we gathered in the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America. No one has studied as many as we did, and the research process that we used is airtight for those of you that have some kind of a crazy butt leftist syndrome and you think that people can't get ahead and you think we made all this up. You cannot defeat the research process that we used. It's solid. It's airtight. And, you know, we've got proven statistics.

And this is not merely statistically significant. The conclusions were so off the charts. It wasn't like we had 51% of anything. You know, it was like, you know, it was 79%, 100%, 92%. 96% of millionaires said that they believe they control their own destiny. When doing the control group with the public, we said, how many of you think you control your own destiny? 69% do. Big difference.

That's not like a two-tenths of a point or something. It's not like a presidential election where four votes made a difference, right? It's not what it is. This is like every freaking body. Yes. You know, it's like everybody. Yes. And it's just nuts how far off it is.

And so the numbers in this book are absolutely amazing. Now, some of you are super nerds, and you wanted just the white paper off of the research. You can buy that on our website. It's a downloadable PDF for like $9 or something. If you have trouble sleeping, you should get it because it's a research paper and it will put your butt to sleep. But if you're a super nerd, you like combing through all the data from it, it's the National Study of Millionaires PDF download. It's $9 or it's $10, $9.99, at DaveRamsey.com. It's the only place you can get it. We don't really care if you buy it or not. But it's just more to satisfy some of you that were whining about only 140 stats being in your book.

Yeah, no, they wanted more information. And so you've got access to it. But I want to encourage you to read it. Read the book. I love the information, and the facts from the study are amazing. But I'm going to tell you something. The stories about these everyday people that took this extraordinary journey is absolutely mind-blowing.

Where you think of hearing of people that were homeless, get this, homeless at some point, but yet they were able to work their way through and reach everyday millionaire status. And it's not an accident. And I talk about the five characteristics of these millionaires inside the book. were able to work their way through and reach everyday millionaire status. And it's not an accident. And I talk about the five characteristics of these millionaires inside the book. And so looking at this and you digging in, you've got an opportunity to make a decision to have those five characteristics right now. Get the book and read it.

It'll open your eyes. Michael is with us in Rhode Island. Michael, what's your net worth? $1.5 million, Dave. Excuse me. Cool. And break that down for me by allocation, please. So $1 million between the retirement and brokerage accounts, probably about $5 in each, about $100,000 in cash, and a home that's paid for worth about $400. Gotcha. Very good. And how old are you? 54. Perfect. And how much of this did you inherit? Zero, Dave.

Okay. And your range of income since you started working, household income to now? Wow. Started working in 87 for about $19,000 a year. I'm in technology. Till now, the household, $170,000. Good. What do you do for a living in technology? Like more of a system administrator type, Dave. Okay, cool. So what's your degree in, tech? Yes, computer science.

Computer science, all right. And your GPA in that? 3.5. Okay, cool. Nice Cabo shot you sent us in there. When were you in Cabo? That was May of last year, Dave. We travel a lot and enjoy that.

That's a beautiful spot right there. I've dove in that spot a couple times. It's some beautiful stuff. That is amazing. Good for you. That's living well, brother. So if you started with nothing, how do you end up being a millionaire at 54? My wife is the key, Dave, right? The saver. Like you said, being on the same page, she's the saver. I was more the spender. We got married a little later in life, but

we've done well. We've saved. We've lived within our means. Our newest car is a 2010 right now. I drive a 2002 Accord with 200,000 miles on it on a daily basis. And, you know, we take a couple vacations a year, but we might spend $10,000, $12,000 on that. And that's really the only thing we kind of, you know, allow ourselves. Very cool. It's very important. It is, Michael. Do you work with an investment

professional at all? We have Fidelity, but I actually manage the money myself, Chris. I actually do some trading and some options. I've been doing that since the late 80s. Gotcha. And do you all do any giving as a family? Yes. That's something I wanted to ask Dave. You you say 10 percent of you is that your gross or net i've never really heard you specify on what tithing when you're giving oh i tithe as a christian 10 of my gross uh and i give more than that total but that's tithing to my local church as a as a person of faith the guideline but uh if you as long as you keep giving somewhere in that range whether you're a person of faith or not that. But as long as you keep giving somewhere in that range,

whether you're a person of faith or not, that keeps the rhythm and the ratio of giving moving out there for you. Okay. My wife wanted me to ask you quickly, she wants to do a home addition for $60K. Is that okay, she says. If you're paying cash for it, sure. Okay. All right.

I had to get it on the record, Dave. You got the money. You got the money. You're in good shape. I mean, you can spend $60K if you got a million and a half. Absolutely. But should she take it out of the $100K in cash that's getting less than 1% or should it come out of the brokerage where I'm doing pretty good with it?

That's the question. I'd probably take it out of that $100K. You're a little thick on your emergency fund. I would agree. Just this is all for her, for the record, Dave. Yeah. I mean, a 40 emergency fund, that brokerage fund's fully liquid. If you had a big blow-up, you could get to that money.

That's true. That's true. How about the vacations? $12K a year, is that right, for two vacations? I don't think it's enough. Okay. All right. Good.

He wasn't expecting that answer. I took notes. I wanted to make sure. I'm He wasn't expecting that answer. I'm spending all your money, brother. You just added to the house. You drained down your dadgum savings account, and now you're spending more on vacations. Upped his giving. You're going downhill on this call, man. You're losing traction here, brother.

You're going to wish you hadn't called in. He tried to sneak in three questions. He didn't sneak them in. He just did it. He did them. He walked them in. Yeah. That sneak in three questions. He didn't sneak them in. He just did it. He walked them in. It was good, though. That's really good. Very good. Congratulations, sir. Very well done. Very, very proud of you. Very good. Very, very good. It's about as good as it gets.

All right. Let's check in with Keith. Keith is in Minnesota. Keith, what's your net worth? Net worth is about $1.1 million. Very good. Okay. And break that down for me. Allocated? Just a little under $700 in the 401K and the Roth IRAs investments. About $40,000 in savings.

$350 in a house and property, and the rest is vehicles and tools. Okay, cool. And how old are you? 53. Okay, cool. And how old are you? 53. Okay, cool. And how much of this did you inherit? About $5,000. Okay, so you're not a millionaire because of that.

And your range of income in your working lifetime, household income, worst year, best year? Household income worst year is probably around $18,000 back in 1985, and now household income is about $97,000. Cool. So never made over $100,000? Not over $100,000 yet. Okay, cool. What do you do for a living? I am an engineering specialist. I have a two-year degree at a Vo-Tech from 1985, and my wife is a school teacher. Okay, cool. And what was your GPA?

3.995. So we're going to call that four. All right. I like it. Congratulations. Keith, did you ever work with an investment professional? We are working with one, and we are blessed to have him because he's made wonders in the last few years with our accounts.

So we really appreciate him. That's fantastic. And do you all do any giving as a household? We do. What do you give? We pick our special. Well, I don't know the number exactly. Oh, no.

I said where. Do you give to charities? Yep. Church charities. And usually they're, you know, Christian related. Very cool. Very good. Congratulations, brother. We're proud you know, Christian-related. Very cool. Very good. Congratulations, brother.

We're proud of you. Very well done. Another millionaire. All of them under 60 so far this hour. Not a single one. We'll see what we get in the next segment. Right here, Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour on The Dave Ramsey Show. One of my favorite parts of this show is hearing your debt-free screams. You guys are our heroes.

You've kicked debt to the curb and you've saved for the future. Now we want to celebrate with you. If you have lived like no one else and are currently in baby steps four through seven, well, it's time to enjoy some money. And the perfect place to do that is on board our first ever Live Like No One Else cruise in March. That's right, just a couple of months away. But get this, it's not too late to book your cabin, so don't miss your chance. This Caribbean cruise is going to be an incredible seven days at sea on a stunning new ship with amazing experiences. I'm talking all of our Ramsey personalities and other world-class entertainers. We're stopping in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Turks and Caicos.

It's going to be an amazing, debt-free celebration designed just for you. Don't miss the boat. Head over to RamseyCruise.com today to reserve your room. Our scripture today, Matthew 8, 26. And he said to them, Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? And then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Henry Ford said, When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with the wind. So we are doing our SMART conference this year in Orlando, April the 4th.

And it will include Dr. Les Parrott on marriage, Dr. Mick Meeker on parenting, Chris Hogan on millionaires. Anthony O'Neill will be speaking on debt-free degree. And, of course, I'll be talking. Rachel Cruz will be back. And so will Christy Wright. So we have a full lineup. That's great. We've got everybody back.

Everybody's back. Yeah, it's going to be a huge event. If you haven't ever been to a Smart Conference, it's all day long. And what you pay for the ticket, you would pay for any one of these national best-selling authors thought leaders in their area it is a world-class event i sit in the audience and take notes i do too dave and i would be honest i tell people i can think of very few events across this country where you could bring your whole family and that's an opportunity for you to bring your parents uh your grandparents and really to have a day of really sitting down and learning about all these topics, all this information.

We've been doing it for years. And when I'm not on stage, I'm sitting out there taking notes. And I'm learning something from these thought leaders every single time. Yeah, it's not unusual to see three generations. Now, don't bring little kids. No. It's not a little kid event. But, I mean, if you've got teens and that kind of thing, there's a lot of teenagers at these events.

And it absolutely is a – you just come away smarter because these are some of the people that I have gone to. They're the books I have read that have impacted my life. And that's how we started putting it together. It's kind of like Dave's All-Stars in a sense. And, of course, a lot of them are Ramsey personalities nowadays. And the things that christy wright rachel cruz are covering are off the chain this is this is going to be an incredible incredible event so make sure you're lined up for this it's april the 4th in orlando

orlando is not a bad destination site ken coleman of course will be speaking on careers you won't want to miss that the ken coleman Show is exploding. The podcast is. His listenership on XM is going through the roof. So make sure you're tied into all of these things. April the 4th in Orlando, the Smart Conference. You can get your tickets at DaveRamsey.com. Our next millionaire up on the Everyday Millionaire is John. Hey, John, welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour.

What's your net worth? Hey, Dave and Chris, so good to talk to you guys. We love you here in Southwest Ohio. I'd say it's a little over 2, 2.2. Okay, cool. And give me a breakdown on that. So 401K and pension, 1.5. Other savings, about 300.

House, about 400. Okay, good,300, house, about $400. Okay, good, good, very good. How old are you? I am 56. Good. And how much of this did you inherit? None yet. I don't expect to inherit too much, though.

Okay. And your range of income, household income in your working lifetime, best year, worst year? Yeah. So when I started out about maybe 25K and that was 33 years ago, and I'm about 150 now. Okay, cool. And what's been your career? I am in the CPG industry. So sell consumer packaged goods to a large chain based in Southwest Ohio. Okay. Very good. Very good. I wonder who that might be. All right. Very good. And your degree is in what? Marketing degree. Marketing. What was your GPA? 2.9, 3.0 maybe. Okay, cool. And did you ever work with an investment professional at all, John?

I do now, yes. Okay. I value the advice that they give me very much. Right. And do you all do any giving as a family? Oh, my goodness. You know what? For me, I don't want to take too much credit for where I've ended up.

My dad told me when I was just a kid, always give first. And I've done that my whole life. And I think I've avoided, you know, the Murphy's Law a little bit from that. And I think just a lot of the trouble that can come helps from just being generous. So that's probably the number one priority for me is that we do that first, and I think the rest of it kind of falls into place. I agree. Well said. Very well done.

So what do you tell the 25-year-old version of you? They look at you and they go, well, I don't know if you can do this anymore. Can you do it now? Yeah. That's so funny because I have a 25-year-old son and I do tell him this. I said, Mike, give first and then save and then keep track. You know, if you do those things, it doesn't take a large income. You just have to be deliberate with all those things and it does fall into place. I'm surrounded by a bunch of 25-year-olds in the office,

and the ones that are willing to listen, and there are a few, that's what I tell them. Yeah. A, it can be done, and B, it doesn't take a lot of income, and C, you've got to be very intentional with what you have. Yeah, Dave, one thing, the guy that led my group, his name is Jim from this area, and he had a crack in his kitchen granite. He called it Dave's crack, and you probably remember that. There's so many things like that.

Like around my house, I have Dave's wheelbarrow. We've got Dave's car, but someday I'm going to buy a nice car, maybe not new, but maybe new, but that's going to be Dave's car. Yeah, that's the Dave car. The junky one is not the Dave car. When you're successful and you get a good car, that's the Dave car. That's the Dave car, yeah. Well, congratulations.

So what's the biggest? Over the airwaves. It's so good for everybody. There's a lot of people out there listening, and I, for one, appreciate it so much. Well, thank you, and thanks for sharing your story with us. What is the biggest mistake you guys ever made with money? Well, oh, my goodness. So this was about the time that maybe I took your first class.

For about a month, I owned two houses. I had my house, and it was paid for, and I found another one. My wife and I found another one we liked. And instead of kind of taking the time to kind of drop the one and get the other for about a month, I had two, and it physically made me sick. I got over it, and it turned out okay, but for a little while there, it was so stressful. It was too much. Very cool.

Hey, brother, congratulations. We're very, very proud of you. Thank you for sharing. So, Chris, nobody over three today. No. A lot of ones and a lot of them all in the ones except him. So a million to two million net worth. So they're there.

But, you know, 57, 54, 53, 56, 34, unusually young, 39. The average millionaire in our study was what, 52? 52 years old. 52 point something was the average across the thing. So that kind of hits this today. Yeah. And I look at the careers, Dave. We've got a software engineer, law enforcement, an IT manager, a system administrator, someone in consumer packaged goods, and a teacher.

Wife was a teacher. Wife was a teacher, which goes along with, again, there is not a job. There is not a role that you have to have to do it. It's available to all. Yeah. Medical doctors did not make the top five. No. No.

In our research. So, because they're notoriously stupid with money. They really are. I mean, some of them are are smart but it's like a stereotype yeah and that stereotypes come from truth in some cases and so they're just notoriously dumb the guy that was a huge fan of yours i love this he acknowledged that he overpaid for school by double that was like 34 yeah he did the math on it and realized it was unnecessary to go to that private school. And so I love that knowledge of him talking, and I hope there's some young people out there listening to that where you don't go for that path to think that that's going to be your

way. That's not your ticket. That's just an opportunity to add to your education. Your path is being intentional with money, understanding the importance of investing and how compound interest can be your best friend, and avoiding the pitfalls, avoiding believing that debt is your friend, avoiding believing that you need a new car. You don't need those things. What you need is a plan.

You'll get them all later. Yeah. I mean, you get the car later. It's live like no one else. Later, you can live and give like no one else. These guys can drive whatever they want to drive now. I mean, you got a couple million dollars. You can drive whatever you want to drive. That mindset, it has to change, doesn't it? Yeah, you really can. It has to be broken, and it's live like no one else. So later, you can live and give like no one else.

The book is Everyday Millionaires. It's the number one bestseller. Of course, Chris Hogan is with me, the number one bestselling author of that, Ramsey Personality. Chris, thanks for hanging out on an Everyday Millionaire theme hour. Dave, thank you for having me. It can be done, folks. You can do it. That's what this is about. That puts this hour 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. have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything that is mentioned during this episode in the podcast show notes section. Thanks for listening.