The Ramsey Show - App - You Can Create a Solid Plan for Your Future (Hour 2)

Episode Date: July 24, 2018

The show about you

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 leads you to being an everyday millionaire. Did you notice that change, Chris? I did. Chris Hogan is joining me today. We are for this hour, we are doing an everyday millionaire theme hour, and one of the things that leads people to being everyday millionaires is getting their house paid off.

Yes, it is. So there it is. Where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage leads you to being an everyday millionaire. I see what you did there, Dave. I'm pretty smart that way. You are a smart man. I'm a creative dude.

I love it. We're talking to millionaires today, real ones, not your broke brother-in-law with an opinion. Real millionaires. If you want to be a real millionaire, you should ask them how they did it, who they are, how they act, and then do some of the things they're doing, and you have a better chance of being one. It's not any harder than that. We have a political rhetoric and a social rhetoric, if you will, going around the culture today that all wealthy people are evil and inherited their money and their crooks. And the only way to be rich is to strike the lottery or strike the lottery in the form of being a rock star, an NFL player, an NBA player.

Or you have to be brilliant and make a 4.2 GPA, which I definitely didn't do, and rumor has it neither did Hogan. So it turns out that regular guys like you and me can be everyday millionaires, and that most millionaires, well, not many of them are crooks. Very, very few, less than 1% are athletes, entertainers, household names, actors, Hollywood types. And we're finding that, well, less than 10% of millionaires inherited their money. So it turns out that stuff that they're telling you with a political agenda is a straight-up lie. I mean, there's no other way to say it. It's a lie. No, it really is. And what we found out in doing the largest study that's ever been done on millionaires is that they were focused.

They were intentional. They utilized 401k. They got themselves out of debt. There's this man I know that tells people about that. Heard the rumor. Paid their house off. And guess what? With time and compound interest, they built a net worth of a

million dollars or more now a millionaire is not someone who makes a million dollars a year a millionaire someone has a net worth of a million dollars here's how you calculate your net worth what you own minus what you owe if you're debt-free it's simply what you own, assets, things that you own, your home, your 401K, money in the bank, other investments that you have, your vehicles. They're not worth much, but they could be sold. I mean, if you sold every single thing you own and put a pile of cash in the middle of the table after you paid off your debts, if you had a million dollars, you'd be a millionaire. That's a net worth millionaire, and that is really the only definition of millionaire. That is correct. It's also the only definition of billionaire. So we're going to talk to real millionaires today. The phone number here is 888-825-5225.

Tylene is in Tampa, Florida. Hey, Tylene, what's your net worth? $1.3 million. Love that. Very cool. And break that down for me. How's that invested or broken up? Okay, we've got about $920,000 in retirement, 401ks, IRAs, Roths, that kind of stuff. What's that invested in? What's that? What's that in? Tylene? Yes. What's that invested in? Like mutual funds? Oh, yeah, mutual funds. Okay, gotcha. All right, retirement and mutual funds. Okay, $920 in that, and then what?

Our house is worth probably about $260, and it's paid off. And then we have a condo that we're renting out, and that's worth probably around $160. And it's paid off? And it's paid off. Good for you. How old are you guys? 51, and my husband is 52. Good.

Very cool. All right. Excellent. Excellent. Which, actually, Chris, is the average age of an everyday millionaire. That's exactly right. That is fantastic, Tylene. Thank you.

Yes, yes. So tell me, did you all ever, what was the average, the highest income year you ever had as a household? I'd say probably about $130,000 when we were both working. Okay, all right. And did you all inherit any money? Yes, probably around, I think around $100,000 or maybe around $130,000. And how long ago did you inherit that money? Four years.

Okay, so with a net worth of $1.2 million, that $100 didn't cause you to become a millionaire. Yeah, you were already millionaires. Correct. Yeah, okay. What did you guys do for a living? Well, hey Dave, I'm in the wonderful world of insurance claims. Ah, gotcha. Okay. Cool. And I used to be in insurance, but now I stay home and homeschool our kids. I'm in the wonderful world of insurance claims. Ah, gotcha. Okay, cool. And I used to be in insurance, but now I stay home and homeschool our kids. All right, neat.

Very fun. So what were your degrees in? I have a degree in psychology, which I use every day with my kids. I bet. What about you, Bill? I have a two-year degree in business management, just an AA. Okay, an AA. Good.

All right. Cool. And do you recall your GPAs? I think mine was around 3.7. I'm sure mine was not that high, but I don't recall. That's a good answer, Bill. I like you. I graduated. There you go.

So how much of this wealth, guys, do you have because you borrowed money to create wealth? Zero. Cool. Very cool. All right. So if you were going to talk to the 25-year-old version of you 25 years ago, number one, can this still be done? And number two, what should the 25-year-old out there listening to you right now go do if they want to be you when they're 52? It can absolutely be done because the majority of our wealth is in retirement, and that's from starting early.

When we were probably 21, 22, and that's how we met, we both started working at a large company. And I remember when I came home from orientation on day one, my dad, when he was still living, he was looking over all the package of benefits and that kind of thing, and he saw the 401K with the company match, and he said, listen to me, put every penny you can put into this before you ever get a paycheck, because you'll never miss it. And it's the best advice I ever received because I was making $7 an hour probably. And you can see over time and just with consistency, it pays off. So I would also say you have

to learn to be content. That would be one thing I would tell myself. And I was thinking if I could tell my 45-year-old self something, I would probably say to be sure to balance. It's not all about being thrifty, thrifty, thrifty, because that can get old. But you have to learn to have some fun and budget some fun in there. Good. Very good. Talk about giving. What part has giving played in your finances?

We've been consistent givers to our church, and also through Compassion International, we sponsor a child. Ah, very good. Okay, cool. Cool. So, how many books a year do you two read? Jim doesn't even read, I don't think. I do. I read probably, I probably read a book every six weeks or so. Okay. What's the best nonfiction book you read in the last year? Oh, Clearly Radical. Oh.

By David Platt. Yeah. Very cool. Good for you guys. Well, congratulations, guys. We're proud of you. Very well done. Very well done.

It's an everyday millionaire theme hour. And regardless of how you got your wealth, if you're a millionaire, we want to talk to you. It's hard to find one that inherited it because there's not that many that did. The phone number is 888-825-5225. If you want to call in and you've got the answer to that equation, this is The Dave Ramsey Show. With more frequency than you know, I get calls and emails from people dealing with the recent loss of a spouse or a parent. You can hear the struggle and the heartache that they've been experiencing. And at a time they should be grieving, what breaks my heart the most is the strain and tension that they're going through because of money, especially when it's a situation

that could have been avoided. If you have a family, it is your responsibility to have term life insurance. It's one of the things you do to say I love you. And yes, this is an ad for Zander Insurance. But since this is one of the most effective ways I have to get my point across, so be it. For over 20 years, I've been telling you about the importance of term life insurance and protecting your family. Listen, you need to check out Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. I can't say it enough.

Protect your family. It's what you're supposed to do. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's an Everyday Millionaire's Theme Hour. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality and Millionaire Expert joins me as we talk to real millionaires. Not about theory that you hear on the news or read on somebody's blog, but real people who really did this. Jan is in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Hey, Jan, what's your net worth?

Our net worth is about $2.8 million, Dave. Cool. Write that down for me. What's it invested in? How's it broken out? Well, we have about $700,000 in real estate. That includes our home and a couple of pieces of timberland property that we have. And we have about a little bit over $2 million in equities.

Most of it is in gross stock mutual funds. Okay, and your 401Ks or what? Didn't have a 401K. Husband is self-employed. I was a teacher and we didn't really have that opportunity. So my husband, being the smart man that he is, started at an early age and said, I'm going to make my own retirement. So he started with growth stock mutual funds in the early 80s.

Okay. Wow. Very well done. Cool. Good for you guys. And so how old are you guys? I'm 60, and my husband is 66. Cool.

And we've been probably millionaires for about, oh, we tried to figure it out, maybe 13 to 15 years now. That sounds about right. Very good. And so what was your range of income? What was your worst year financially and your best year financially as far as income goes? Probably the best year that we had was around 140. and i think about the worst year was around 30. okay cool you know we've we've kind of had up and down years with self-employment and my husband being a forester in the forestry market ever changing okay cool and uh how much of the 2.8 million did you guys inherit well Well, this is a big number here, Dave.

Okay. About 30 years ago, we inherited about $740,000. About three years ago? Mm-hmm. Not quite three years ago. Gotcha. Okay. So this didn't get us to where we are, but it sure was a nice topping for all of this.

Yeah, I mean, it took you from 2.1 to 2.8. Right. Yeah. Wow. Right. Cool. So who passed away that left you that kind of money? My parents, Dave.

They were what you always talk about. They were thrifty, great investors, self-taught, self-made millionaires, and they taught us how to be frugal. And as a consequence, my brothers and I, all three of us, are self-made millionaires. Wow. Very cool. All three of you are everyday millionaires. It's become a family thing. Every day.

Love it. So your husband is a forester, and his degree, I assume, was in forestry? It is. And he may not want me to say his GPA. That's okay. What was it? But he got out. It was about a 2.0, and he was proud to have that.

Graduated. Thank you, Lottie. I like it. That's good. Exactly. Works for me. That's fun. So how much of the 2.8 million of your wealth is there because you borrowed money to do it?

Absolutely not one penny. And, you know, we don't like debt. In fact, Dave will be real proud of me. I actually purchased me a new used car yesterday. Oh, my goodness. What did you buy? I bought a Honda CRV, top of the line, three years old. I figured you would accept that, okay?

I accept brand new if you've got a 2.8. If you've got over a million dollars net worth, brand new is okay. But you're incredible. That's fun. I figured so. But we decided to, we've been driving our cars for 16 and 18 years, and we decided that maybe I might want to step up and get a little technology in it. Yeah, I think you needed to, like about 14 years ago.

Probably. Well done. Good for you. So new cars, how many new cars did you all buy in your working lifetime? Well, we bought several, but again, we're still driving them for the most part. Okay. So you buy them and then you drive them. One of the last things he bought, he drove for 21 years.

Yeah, okay. My choice. Love it. And Jan, do you all do any giving as a family? Oh, yes, Chris, we do. We give to our church. We support, we sponsor a child. We like to give to others and help, you know, just to help them in different situations as needs arise. And it allows us to do that without even stopping to question. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. And I know the answer to this because you said you grew up thrifty and you've been focused, but I'm curious.

What's the most you've ever paid for a pair of jeans? Well, first of all, I don't wear jeans, so I'd have to go zero on that. But my husband, being a forester, does. But, you know, he really sweats it when we go over about $15. He's had splurged, you know, with $20. He's splurged a few times on about $20. So what advice would you give the 25-year-old version of you?

Exactly what you say. First of all, start young. They all need to see your chart and financial piece. They all need to see that. Start young. Live below your means.

And I sweat the small stuff. Now we don't have to, but we were very careful about what we spent on. And then if you want something big, it's no big deal. You want a car? Go get it. Not a big deal at all. Way to go, Jan. Proud of you.

Excellent job. Marla is in Chicago. Marla, everyday millionaire. What's your net worth, Marla? Hi, Dave. It's $2.5 million. Break that down for me. Okay. We have approximately $1.5 million in our retirement nest egg, and that's in 401K and IRAs.

And our primary residence just got appraised around $700,000. We have about $175,000 in cash and $125,000 in a 529 for our only child. Ah, very good. That's beefed up. Excellent. How old is your child? Our child is 15 now. Ah, going to go anywhere he wants at that rate.

Very good. You bet. Love it. And what was the income range of your household? Our child is 15 now. Going to go anywhere he wants at that rate. Very good. You bet. Love it. And what was the income range of your household, your lowest year and your best year, Marla? Well, we started around $20,000 and we worked our way up to $160,000. $160,000. Okay.

And how much of your $2.5 million was inherited? Not a dime. We're actually first-generation, super-duper weird people. And what are your ages? I am 51, and my husband is 52. All right. There we go again. It's the same thing.

Wow. What were your careers? Actually, we both started out serving our country. We were in the Navy, and we were hospital corpsmen which are basically the medics for the navy and the marine corps and then after civilian life we studied ourselves and we worked in civilian hospitals i was a pharmacy technician and my husband was a radiology technician and i'll tell tell you what, we hit the ground running. All hands on deck, give or take. We were working two, three jobs.

Nothing was below us. We were taking extra shifts, overtime, weekends, holidays, you name it. And we eventually worked our way up to executive level management positions within our hospital. Wow. So I've been a stay-at-home mom for the last 14 years. Wow. Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. What were your degrees in?

Did you just do the military or what? Oh, okay. Very good. And your GPAs? My husband was 2.2, and he married up to a 4.0 girl. I love it. Very good. And did you all borrow any money to invest or to get you to millionaire status?

Not a dime, sir. Okay. And do you do giving as a family, Marla? Oh, you bet. We support several local charities, the veterans organizations. And for what he did, we found it really fun to give people a copy of your book, The Total Money Makeover, and a generous amount of emergency funds. Wow.

Way to go, Marla. Thank you for talking to us. You guys are incredible. Well done. Well done. Well, the trend continues, Mr. Chris Hogan. This is not a surprise, Dave. No, it's not. I mean, it really, really isn't.

It's what we find in the study. The data always points to this. But we'll talk to anyone. That's right. If you won it all at the blackjack table last night, you can call. We don't care where you got your money. We want to talk to real millionaires and find out how people can do it. So far, it's kind of predictable. That's why we do the Everyday Millionaires Hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show. Okay, I need you to listen to this.

Because one normal routine that everyone does can cause total chaos in your life. I'm talking about the simple act of using Wi-Fi. When you're on Wi-Fi anywhere in public or at home, you're at risk of hackers easily seeing every site you visit and every search you're doing online. It doesn't matter if you're on your cell or your laptop. They can see you visiting websites, streaming or downloading, uploading photos, files, and more. I'm not telling you this to scare you, but I want you to be aware and take action. You need to download an app called Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield helps keep your connection on your own Wi-Fi and any public Wi-Fi secure. 600 million people worldwide have downloaded Anchor Free's Hotspot Shield.

Download it right now. Just search Hotspot Shield on iTunes or Google Play or go to hotspotshield.com. You can be secure in seconds. Download Hotspot Shield by Anchor Free today. It's an Everyday Millionaire's Theme Hour with Ramsey Personality, Chris Hogan, Millionaire Expert with us. And Chris and our team have just completed a very large research project that we are turning into a book. The largest study of millionaires ever done. Over 10,000 millionaires where we did detailed research with.

And the conclusions are both predictable and amazing. Yes, it really is, Dave. For people to be able to understand really what can happen, people are paying off debt. They're getting intentional with their investing and utilizing 401ks. And they're paying off their house. I mean, those are the things that, you know, when you look at what we teach people and how we guide people, that's the path. And it doesn't matter where you come from at all. We talk to people from all kinds of backgrounds, from farmers to technicians, managers, teachers, and they all did it because they were focused and they were very intentional.

Two-year degree just a minute ago you know and um uh you know million three net worth so and it's it's interesting to me and one of the things i mean i'm i'm shocked but i was not shocked i mean i'm as shocked as i have what the the vast majority a huge percentage of these millionaires that we've studied, never made over $200,000 household income. I was really shocked by that. I was, too. I figured the incomes would be at least one thing that was kind of like, oh, well, of course. Right.

But today, even, the three we've talked to so far, $130,000, $140,000, $160,000. Right. Biggest income they ever made. Household income. Pretty amazing. Eli or Ellie? Is it Eli? Eli. Eli, correct. Eli

is with us from Atlanta, Georgia. Eli, what's your net worth? My net worth is about $1.75. Cool. And how's that invested? Break that down for me. In my retirement, I have about $780.

In non-retirement accounts, I have about $660. And $60K in cash and real estate, about $250, $260. What did you say the $780 was in? In retirement accounts. Oh, you're $60,000. Okay. What did you say the $780,000 was in? In retirement accounts. Oh, you're in your retirement accounts. Okay. And how's that invested? Like mutual funds or what?

Mostly mutual funds, except that last year I made kind of probably not the right decision. I used to manage it myself. I went into managed accounts, and I'm not happy about a portion of it that did not get the return that i was expecting okay i'm going to switch back to mutual funds gotcha okay cool and so what is your range of income household income in your working lifetime what was the most you guys ever made and the least you ever made uh gosh the least would be too low it would be like 30 40 000 but i went for a stretch about 10 to 12 years making between 140 to 160 okay and your single household income uh now this year is going to be about 100k, I mean, you're a single household income, only one income? You said I made.

Yeah, I mean, yes, my wife is a homemaker. I got you. Okay, cool. What do you do for a living? I have my own company. I have my own software development company for the last five years or so. Prior to that, I was in the professional services in the computer industry. Gotcha. How old are you?

61. How much of this $1.75 million did you inherit? Zero. Zero. And do you have a degree? I have an MBA degree. Okay. And do you remember your GPA? I think it was 3.4. 3.4.

All right. And did you borrow any money to help you get to millionaire status? No. Okay. And do you or your family, do you all do any giving as a household? I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question? Yes, sir. Do you do any giving in the house, as a household?

Do you all give to a church or charity? Yes. We target between 5% to 10%. Okay. Every year. Very good. And prior to reaching millionaire status, did you ever own a new car? A new car, yes.

Okay. And I'm curious, Eli, the most you've ever paid for a pair of jeans? Oh, $25. Okay, all right. So what advice do you have for the younger version of you that's listening? Can this still be done, and what should they do? I think that, you know, if they can, towards the retirement, if they can save 10% to 15%, that would be fantastic.

And I learned one thing the hard way is anything, any good or service that I get, I always try to get that good or service at the cheapest cost to me. Cool. Very cool. And the interesting thing about that, it was kind of my personal experience. I was walking one time in the mall and I got interested in a book. I bought it right there. It was $14.95. The next day I went to Walmart and that same. It was $14.95. The next day, I went to Walmart, and that same book was for $6.95.

Now, that upsets you. Definitely. And then, kind of like, it was a two-by-four that just hit me on my head, like, okay, wake up and always do the right thing for yourself. So, where did you grow up? I grew up in Lebanon. Lebanon. Okay. Very cool.

So did your parents have an influence on you that caused you to be able to do this, or what? They did. I was raised by a single parent, and my mom was very strict about, you know, and very conservative about spending money. But more important, and I think if there's one thing that to learn in the business world is honesty and integrity are key factors. And companies look for people who are hardworking people who want to get the job done. And that's what really I learned from my mom,

and that's what carried me through my entire career. That's one of the things that Tom Stanley found in his study of decamillionaires, people with $10 million and higher net worth. He found a fanatical level of integrity. They were fanatics about integrity. That's a good word, Eli, good word. Thank you for calling in. Lynn is with us in Indianapolis.

Hi, Lynn. What's your net worth? Hi there. Good afternoon. $2.1 million. Very good. And break that down for us. Seventy-five percent of it's in mutual funds, and the rest of it is spread over cash and bonds.

Okay, so like $1.5 million is in mutual funds? Yes, sir. And then like $600 in cash and bonds. No real estate? House. What's it worth? About $150. Okay, cool.

How old are you? 68. 68. Good, cool. How old are you? 68. 68. Good for you. Cool. And what was your range of income, household income in your working life? What's the most your household ever made and the least you ever made? The least with my wife and I was probably 55 to 60, and the most was about 110, 115.

Okay. All right. And, Lynn, did you inherit any money? I have to say that I did. My mother passed this past March, and it was about $575,000. Okay. Sorry for your loss. Yes.

But you were already a millionaire before then. Yes, sir, I was. Okay, cool. And I never calculated any of that in ever coming to me. I wanted her to live it out and spend it all. Yes, sir. It didn't happen. Absolutely.

And what's your career field? My career field is in manufacturing operations, production control, and logistics. Gotcha. And do you have a degree? I have a degree. I got a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. And I have worked on a Master's, but I never finished it. Yes, sir.

Hey, man, thank you for calling in. We appreciate you joining us. Another everyday millionaire. He also inherited the gene. Mom was a saver, obviously, and an investor. Well done, sir. Thank you for sharing with us, Lynn. We appreciate the info. Chris Hogan and i this is the dave ramsey show

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Call 844-999-EXIT. It's free to talk. 844-999-EXIT. TimeshareExitTeam.com. Ramsey personality and millionaire expert Chris Hogan joins me this hour for an Everyday Millionaires theme hour. If you're an everyday millionaire, you have a net worth of $1 million or greater, and you want to share your story, we would love to hear your story and share your story on the air here. What you can do is go to everydaymillionaires.com. That's with an F. S.

Everydaymillionaires, as in there's more than one of you. Everydaymillionaires.com. And there's a chance there for you to fill out the contact and everything, get in touch with Ms. Kelly, our associate producer here. She'll get you set up for the next Millionaire Theme Hour to participate with us. Because what we learn when we talk to real millionaires here on the air is the vast majority of them did not inherit their wealth. The vast majority of them are not crooks.

The vast majority of them are not famous. And the vast majority of them are not inordinately brilliant in terms of their GPA. Now, we do want our kids to all study hard and get the best grades they can, but it turns out success, financial success, is not the result of academic brilliance. It's the result of character and steadiness and regular people continually investing. One of the most important things all these millionaires do is invest, invest, invest, invest, invest, invest, invest.

And their 401Ks, their Roth IRAs, their mutual funds, they're rolling over. And they're not, none of them say, you know, I saved on the expense ratio on my mutual funds, and that's how I became a millionaire. None of them say, Dave, you know, I got all my money from airline miles using my credit card. None of them say, I got 1% back from Discover, Dave, and that caused us to be millionaires. None of them say, I bought a lottery ticket, and I became a millionaire. I've never talked to anybody that became a millionaire with a lottery ticket. I'm sure it's happened, but, you know, we've talked to 10,000 of these millionaires.

None of them say, I used whole life life insurance as an investment product, and that made me a millionaire. None of them say these things, do they, Chris? No, not at all. They didn't say they took out a home equity line. They didn't walk through. They didn't take out nine car loans to help them build their wealth. They didn't buy rental houses and flip them on a credit card. Oh, those infomercials. They didn't do it. They didn't buy rental houses and flip them on a credit card? Oh, those infomercials.

They didn't do it. They didn't fall for it. And ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you, talking to over 10,000 people, we saw a trend. A trend of people that were focused, intentional, and they weren't swayed. They didn't have the next little craze cause them to get knocked off their plan. Bitcoin. Didn't hear about it. Nope. Didn't get knocked off their plan bitcoin didn't hear about it no didn't hear about gold no didn't hear about gold it didn't hear about any of these things

and so hear about a single stock no no i bought a single i bought apple and it made me and it made me not that none of this it could have oh i just haven't found them and we talked to 10 000 of them dave over 10 000 we would think it would surface, but it hasn't. Instead, what we're seeing is consistency and focus, as Dave was saying, using the 401Ks, 403Bs, being very intentional, budgeting, doing the things the right way. And so, anyway, I'm excited. I can't wait for you all to get this information, but we want to hear from you. So go to everydaymillionaires.com and definitely fill it out so we can talk to you. August 7th.

It's coming. Put that down. That's going to be the big announcement day from Chris. And you guys already know what it is. It's the book. But we're going to tell you all about it. And the actual pre-sale will begin then. And you guys be sure you tune in to the show that day.

It's going to be a lot of fun. Meantime, if you want to get your investing started, if you're at Baby Step 4, you've gotten out of debt and have your emergency fund in place, get in touch with one of our SmartVestor pros. Click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com, and it'll drop down a list of the people in your area. You can get someone with the heart of a teacher, because a lot of these guys say they handle the money themselves, and a lot of them do handle the money themselves,

but they have an investment pro in their corner that's coaching them and cheering them on. You don't want to hand over your money to someone, and you not understand what's going on, and you not be making the decisions, and we don't recommend that. But we do recommend you have an advisor in your corner. Meg is with us in New York City. Meg, what is your net worth? $1.5 million. Good for you. Very cool.

And break that down for me. What's that invested in? $760,000 401k, $204,000 Roth IRA, $24,000 health savings account, which I do not use. I cash flow my medical and 235 000 taxable mutual funds which was 370 but i sold the difference to pay off my house which is conservatively valued at 350 000 good for you you're killing it excellent how old are you 50 50 years old cool and uh how much of this did you inherit? None of that. I did inherit some money, but spent it. Okay. Unfortunately. How long ago was that, and how much money? Okay, $35,000 in 3M stock in 2002 that was like old generations old,

and used that to pay off a car and buy some other stuff. And then in 2012, about $45,000 that I used to renovate my house to my liking. Gotcha. Okay, so what's your household income range been in your working lifetime? I can give you the total average of all the working years was $140,000, so high income had a lot to do with it. Right. What's the highest you've ever made, your best year?

180. 180. Okay. Well, 180 base. And then, you know, just a little more than that in bonuses. Gotcha. And what do you do for a living? I'm an attorney.

Okay. Very good. And in this, obviously, you got a degree. Do you remember your GPA? I only remember in college. I finished with a 3.4. Law school was a little higher, but funny story there. Two weeks into my freshman year, I was struggling with an economics class,

and a professor told me, not everyone's cut out for college. I ought to consider dropping out while the tuition was still refundable. Oh, my. Wow. Mr. Encouragement. Yeah. And he was wrong. Yeah. and he was wrong yeah he was wrong i love it that's fun and that just made you mad and you'd plow through right that's right i reckon my my god gave me the uh ability to recognize that advice when i saw it i like that that's good Keep his picture on your wall.

I love it. Meg, did you ever borrow any money that caused you to reach millionaire status? No, definitely not. I mean, I borrowed from my house. I borrowed student loans. I'm sure that played a role, but certainly not for purposes of investing. Okay. And do you do any giving?

Oh, yes. When I was young, my parents were poor and uneducated but smart and generous and i remember them writing out checks to local charities and i've always done the same thing even before i thought i could because they did it when they definitely thought they couldn't yes that's fantastic and what's the most you've ever paid for a pair of jeans bag i would it would be on the high end to say 30. Okay. That's probably the high. What was that phrase again?

They were poor and uneducated, but smart and generous. Is that what you said? Yes. That's a great phrase. I love that. Good. And did you, prior to reaching millionaire status, did you ever buy a new car? I was stupid once, but I rode that car for 265,000 miles.

What kind of car was it? Honda Accord. Honda Accord, 265,000. I've only bought four cars. One was that one. Two other Accords used, and one Mercedes used. I still have the last two of the four that I've ever bought. What advice would you give the younger you as opposed to your professor?

A few things. I would say the Joneses are broke, headed for divorce, and their kids are scared. I'd say the bad news is it's all on you. The good news is it's all on you. And then I would say seek out good advice, recognize bad advice, and tune out the noise. Ding, ding. Well done. Wow, she's a tweetable talker, I'm telling you.

Yes, she is. Good job, Meg. Thank you for sharing that. Very, very, very well done. So a $1.3 million net worth, $2.8, $2.5, $1.75, $2.1, $1.5 that we talked to, 51, 60, 51, 61, 68, and 50. No young ones today, and really none of them super old today. The average is 52 in our study that we found. Does that mean you can't do it if you're 72?

No, it doesn't mean that at all. Does it mean you can't do it if you're 22? No, you should do it sooner because you're smart enough to listen to this show. So you're on your way. Not a single household income today that ever got over $200,000 on any of those, and they all get millionaire status. So this idea that somehow other people can do it and you can't is just false. You can do this.

Yes, that is a lie, Dave. It is available. The American dream is alive and it is available for people that are intentional and willing to grab it. And to quote Meg, the bad news is, it's up to you. And the good news is, it's up to you. I'm tweeting that.

There you go. Chris Hogan, thanks for hanging out with us. Thank you for having me, sir. Chris Hogan, Ramsey personality and millionaire expert. Be sure you tune in August 7th. Big announcement coming on this subject. This is the Dave Ramsey personality, a millionaire expert. Be sure you tune in August 7th. Big announcement coming on this subject. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly Daniel, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million of debt? That's pretty

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