The Ramsey Show - App - YOU Control Your Destiny! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 18, 2019

Chris Hogan, Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour, Savings 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 the paid-off home mortgage is a really good indicator you might be an everyday millionaire. It's an Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour with the author of the number one best-selling book, Everyday Millionaires, Chris Hogan. Ramsey personality joining me this hour as we're talking to real millionaires, not broke people with political opinions, but real millionaires, people who actually have a $1 million or greater net worth are welcome to call this hour. The phone number is 888-825-5225. We want to talk to people who have real wealth and learn how they did it, because everybody

seems to have an opinion on this subject, and most of them are wrong, Chris. Oh, absolutely, Dave. You know there are crazy people out there that truly believe that their American dream is dead and gone. And you know what? We have to just not only prove them wrong, but make them be quiet, which is why we reached out and did the largest study that's ever been done, talked to over 10,000 millionaires from all across the country to get to the truth. And so regardless of what your crazy uncle says or your disturbed next-door neighbor that tells you you can't do it,

I want you to look them in the face and tell them that they're wrong. We know the facts. We know what's available. And, Dave, it's possible for people to still do it. Well, again, you said we did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America. Yep. My friend Tom Stanley did a wonderful book way back in 1992 that became a household name, The Millionaire Next Door.

I read it. I recommended it for years recommended his daughter sarah's books now they've tom passed away a few years ago they've got some wonderful materials so check their stuff out too but he found the same a lot of the same conclusions we did his original study was 750 millionaires and a lot of the people who don't like the idea that people like you and me tell people they can win, say that that sample size wasn't large enough. And so 750 wasn't enough millionaires to come to accurate conclusions.

So I said, well, let's do 10x. Let's do 7,500. Which, if you've ever had a statistics class, you know that actually 750 is technically statistically significant. That's right. But we went ahead and 10x'd it anyway just for the PR value of it. Oh, and then we just got out of hand and went ahead and did 10,000 instead of 7,500. So we've talked to 10,000 millionaires. No one else has ever done a study with this much detail of this large a body of actual wealthy people to learn how they got there.

So we really do know how you get there. Yeah. And what's amazing is not only the statistics that are available to show you what they did and how they went about it, but the stories are absolutely amazing. That's why I love doing the Everyday Millionaire Theme Hour, because you're going to hear from actual millionaires, not people that thought about it or people that want to do it. These are people that have done it. If you're a millionaire, call us at 888-825-5225.

Tom in Pennsylvania, what's your net worth, Tom? About $1.45 million, Dave. Good for you. And break that down for me. How's that broken up investment category wise? About $900,000 in IRAs, $200,000 in cash, about $400,000 in real estate, $65,000 in an HSA, and then $170,000 in, oh, that's our annual income. So that's it. Okay, cool. And how old are you?

It's like 49. Wow, young millionaire. Good, okay. And how much of this 1.45, almost $1.5 million did you inherit? Nothing. Zero. Didn't inherit anything. Zero.

And you said your current income is 170. What was the worst year of your working life? Household income. Lowest year. The year my wife and i got married about thirty thousand dollars okay cool good for you we went we went from making about ninety thousand to uh we decided to become self-employed so we went from at the time we got married to 90 and we dropped voluntarily to 30. Okay. And now back to 170 over years. What do you do for a living?

Sales reps for some national brand of food. Okay. What's your degree in? You have a four-year degree? Yeah, a degree in communication, and my wife is in fashion retailing. Got it. And what was your GPA? I think, I knew you were going to ask me that. It's been a long time. I graduated back in the 90s, but I think it was about a 3.3, something like that. Okay, that's pretty good. Did you all ever work with an investment professional, Tom? Yes. For the past couple of years, actually, we did have an investment professional. I didn't prior to that because my father has always been my key advisor. He has a background in finance. Okay.

And do you all as a family do any giving? Oh, yeah. While we were on hold, we were talking about some of the places that we like to give. We give to our church. We love to give to veterans' causes, historical things. I love history, and we live in Pennsylvania, which is loaded with history, so there's local historical organizations. Animal causes and the local food bank are kind of our top five.

Wow, you guys are very serious about giving, which is common in what we see amongst people that have built wealth. Now, I know you're here with a net worth of $1.45 million, but along the way, we all can do some financial stupid. So what was your biggest financial mistake on your journey? The biggest financial mistake that I think we have made, we're very fortunate because I was raised by a family that really embodies Dave's principles. So I never made any big mistakes with a lot of zeros on them. It was kind of like the kid who's born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

I knew never to get in debt. I've never once in my entire life borrowed money for anything other than a house. But the biggest mistake we made as we reflected on that was that we did not start a business that would be easy for us to sell when we want to retire. So the equity that we have developed in our business is kind of us. We're the business. The business is us. And so one day when we're ready to be finished with our work career, we're not going to be able – the business has been very, very good for us. We're not going to be able to reap that equity from the time. So

I think that the type of business that we started was probably our biggest financial mistake. As far as how to become worth one and a half million by the time you're 50 years old, what piece of advice would you give to a 25-year-old listening? Oh, that's the easiest one. Start and be consistent. I've always been a saver. Even before my wife knew me, she was a saver. And no matter how little we made, we always saved something, whether that was a hundred bucks a month or $50, we consistently saved a small amount of money, which has gotten much bigger as we've gone on without having debts. We've of our income, we're able to save a significant amount of it every year. The thing my father told me when I was 25, because I was frustrated, I was saving, saving,

saving, and saving. And I went to him and I said, it just doesn't seem to be growing very fast. And he said, you need to be patient. One day you will hit this point of critical mass and it will grow faster than you can imagine. And that happened for us a few years ago. The markets have been very good, but our savings have gotten bigger and more consistent. And all of a sudden, one day, we looked up, and the day that we crossed a million dollars, I sent my wife an email, and I said, you're not going to believe this. It was a crazy thing. We did this. Millionaires.

How much you inherited? Nothing, Dave. Nothing. Say it again. Nothing. Say it one more time. Nothing. Yeah, that's what they say.

That's what I said. All the millionaires inherited their money. That's a lie. Horse crap. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. No matter what time of year it is, focusing on your family's financial plan is always a smart move. I get questions all the time about where to start and what to do first. One of the most crucial and affordable first steps to take is to protect your family and get term life insurance.

I know it's not glamorous, but all the other steps mean a lot less if something happens to you and your family has no financial protection. Getting term life insurance needs to be a top priority. I recommend 10 to 12 times your income and lock in rates for 15 to 20 years. This gives you plenty of time to get out of debt and build wealth, and I've been recommending Zander Insurance for over 20 years. They understand and live this strategy, and they will take the time to help you find the most affordable term life rates.

Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. It's not that expensive, it's not complicated, and you need to do it right now. That's 800-356-4282. Everyday Millionaire theme hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show. The author of the book Everyday Millionaire's number one bestseller, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too. The book is on sale in our store at DaveRamsey.com and certainly at ChrisHogan360.com and certainly in any other place fine books are sold. And we're taking calls from people who are

actual millionaires this hour. Chris, before we dive in the next call, let's make sure we circle back for someone who's new to the Everyday Millionaires theme hour, because some people don't know the definition of a millionaire. Ah, okay, Dave. That's a good point. So here's the deal. What you want to do is to look at all your assets. So it's what you own minus what you owe on.

So you think of your assets, the money in the bank, your 401K, your IRAs. Add all of that up and subtract out anything you owe on. And so if that in number is a million dollars or more, then congratulations, you're an everyday millionaire. Now, everyone wants to track their journey and know where they stand. Go over to ChrisHogan360.com. I've got a net worth calculator, a free tool at my website that'll help you track your journey.

It'll help you follow that net worth because, you know, a net worth or an income are actual measures of wealth. Yes. Yes. The FICO score is not a measure of wealth. It's a measure of how much you play kissy face with the bank. You know what? And I have to tell you this. You know, I started in the banking world before I joined this team.

And everybody would, Dave, jump through hoops to protect or build the FICO. And it was when I don't know what their net worth is. That's right. They'll have no clue. And so by the time I joined the team here 14 years ago, it was the first time of seeing and understanding the FICO score has nothing to do with your wealth capability. It has everything to do with you and your relationship with debt. And so you have definitely helped redefine that for people so they can know the truth.

All right. Let's talk to some real millionaires. Tim is in Virginia. Hey, Tim, what's your net worth? Yes, sir. Good afternoon, Dave and Chris. I'm at 1.8. Very cool.

And break that down for me by category a little bit. Sure. 1.4 in IRAs from various jobs over the years, 200 equity in the house, and 200 equity in the rental we have. Okay. Very good. How old are you? 59. I hit millionairehood about 52, 53. Okay. Yeah, way to go. Good. And how much of the 1.8 did you inherit? About 60,000. Okay.

Did that cause you to become a millionaire? No, it didn't. It did help us buy my first house, which I've turned into a duplex, you know, turning it over. That rental. No, it was just a lot of work and saving into my 401K over the years. Gotcha. What was your worst year of household income and your best year of household income since you've all been working? Sure.

16K was my best right out of school in 1982, and then the highest is what we're making now is 280. Okay, cool. What do you all do for a living? I'm an IT management consultant, and my wife Annie is a speech pathologist. Got it. And what's your degree in? I've got two, mechanical engineering and systems engineering. Cool. And what was your gpas oh two three uh undergrad and then i got a little bit more focused in grad school i was about three seven

okay all right yeah you actually cracked a book open yes i mean i understand i was actually paying for that oh there it goes yeah that changes the study habits yes it does hey tim let me ask you have you all ever worked with an investment professional? We didn't until the last year. So I was just lucky and through different investment strategies I was using, we lucked out. But I've been using one now. Just listening to you guys, there were some things that we just were concerned about that we might be missing. So we've been working with one for about a year now.

I think that last statement's right. The first statement about being lucky is not true. You obviously did a great job. You're just doing a little bit better with some advice, right? Yes, sir. Okay. And you, as a family, do you all do any giving? Yes.

We actually go through our church, and we took Financial Peace University through a friend's church, and we donate money there also. That is fantastic. How long ago did you all do Financial Peace University? We've done it in the last year, so we still have access to all the stuff online. We did it, went through the summer, May, June. Okay. And as a millionaire, why did you go through that? Oh, because we kind of did it the opposite way of the baby steps. So we still have about $700K in school loans for the kids and paying off the house and paying off the rental.

So we did things a little bit in reverse. Okay. So you still got some debt you're cleaning up then Okay, good Yes, sir Good, so you're talking about the equities have got you to the 1.8 Even though there's a debt there still So what's your advice to the 25-year-old version of you?

The kind of the compound of time thing I wish I'd put more money in And I wish I'd found you guys earlier to get the baby steps in the right order. Yeah, well, you're on track, brother. You're doing good. Very, very proud of you. Very well done. Congratulations. Susan's in Texas. Hey, Susan, what's your net worth? Hi, it's an honor to talk to both you and Chris. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's your net worth? Our net worth is $1.4 million.

All right. Break that down for me by category, please. About $350 is our paid-off home, and then the majority of it is 401Ks. We've got our emergency fund and then a little bit in IRAs and mutual funds, but the bulk is in 401ks. Gotcha. How old are you guys? I'm 55, and my husband's 53.

Perfect. And how much of this $1.4 million did you inherit? Oh, absolutely none. Zero. Okay. Isn't it funny how they always laugh when I say that? Like, how absurd that is. Okay.

I love it. And your income, your lowest income working year, your highest income working year, household income? Oh, probably right out of school. I think my first job was around $16,000, and then our combined highest income was about $240,000, and then it's now actually gone down to about $160,000. Okay. And what's your careers? So my husband was a business analyst in IT, and then I was an IT manager. However, I had a blessing to be able to retire at 53, and so now I'm a full-time Ramsey Preferred Coach here in Dallas.

Wow, good for you. Okay. And what was his degree in if he's a business analyst? It was in business, and so was mine. Oh, that was you. Okay. All right. All right, cool.

And your GPA? Mine was about 3.6. Gotcha. Cool. Gotcha. Cool. Very good. And so looking at this, did you all ever work with an investment professional? Funny you should ask. We visited with one not too long ago, and all he kept talking about was fixed rate annuities.

And we just had some big red flags. So no no we have not found an investment advisor yet okay yeah those are beyond red flags uh do you as a family do you all do any giving oh absolutely chris um we do monetary giving to some charities that we you know um really like and then also i do do a lot of giving of my time. I volunteer for the Elder Financial Safety Center here in Dallas, and then also I just signed up to help do taxes for ARP this coming tax season. What's the dumbest thing you ever did with money as an adult? Oh, goodness. So our dumbest thing, so don't laugh at us, but while we were going through financial peace,

we got a little bit too gazelle intense and decided that we wanted to downsize in our house. So the biggest thing we did is we went and bought another house before our original house sold. And it sat on the market for about three months. And no offers. I mean, very little showings. And so we just decided we're going to give it to God. And we put both homes on the market. And believe it or not, the new house that we've just moved into sold within an hour.

Oh, ouch. Got to move back to the old one. Yep, got to learn. It's an Everyday Millionaire's Theme Hour. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. It's a millionaire theme hour. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225. We're talking with real millionaires and with Chris Hogan,

author of the book Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth How You Can Too, the largest study of millionaires ever done. We put 142 of the statistics is that right that is correct from the study into this book if you want the uh white paper the super nerd thing it's available as a download on our uh at daveremsey.com i think we charge like nine bucks or something for a downloadable a pdf or whatever it is on the thing but it's all the into intricate detail of the research if you're actually interested

in that because sometimes people read this book and they say well where's all the research which means you're a big nerd because there's 142 stats in there but it's full of stories too and the purpose of the book is to make you believe you can do it yes based on actual facts uh it is not a white paper we do have the white paper though at, for $9 at DaveRamsey.com. You can get it there. Yeah, if you need help sleeping and you want to read that dry statistical stuff, go ahead over there and grab it. Yeah, well, I mean, nerds get all excited about it. They do.

But it put me to sleep. I'm pretty nerdy, but it put me to sleep. Yeah, that's kind of true. I like math and nerds stuff. But one of the stats in there was, what was the percentage, do you remember off the top of your head, that you was a financial advisor of the millionaires? Oh, it was almost 68% of them worked with an investment professional. Which is good news for our smart investor pros. Yes.

And good news for those people that are using our smart investor pros, which would be the smart investors. That's right. Because there's a high correlation between working with somebody that knows what the flip they're doing and you actually ending up with some money. Well, that's shocking. Yeah, exactly. And you want to work with somebody you can actually trust. And these are people that have been vetted by us.

So if we put the stamp of approval on them, that means they're teaching people the right way. You know, they're reliable and trustworthy and all that kind of stuff. And so you can find the SmartVestor Pro in your area by clicking SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. It'll drop down a – or ChrisHogan360.com. It'll drop down a list of them in your area. You select which one you want, and you meet with them, and then you decide. Talking with real millionaires this hour.

Dennis and Christy are next. Hey, guys, Merry Christmas. christmas to you dave what's your net worth uh 1 million 33 000 just broke it baby i love it broke it right over thanksgiving i love it break it down for me what's the uh allocation on that that's about 85 percent in the 401k and the other most of the other is in the house and then some savings got it okay how old are you guys i am 54 and my wife is uh 47 very cool and how much of this 850 or 1 million dollar net worth did you inherit? None. Zero. Okay. All our parents still living, so I haven't inherited anything. Okay. All right. And what was your best working year household income

and your worst working year household income since you guys have been working? Well, when I was in grad school, it was in about 6,000. Best has been recent, and I think I have co-workers listening, so I'm a software engineer, so I'm doing pretty well, but I'd be reluctant to. I got you. I mean, you're probably a couple hundred or so, give or take. Yeah, getting there. Okay, all right, good all right good good okay that's normal for software engineer what's your degree in uh master's in computer science ah okay master's degree good and what was your uh gpa in undergrad or grad either one uh grad school was 3.7 okay very good and have you all ever worked with an investment professional, Dennis?

We have not yet. Okay. And do you all do any giving as a family? Yeah, we tithe to our church and then we give donations regularly to charities. Very good. What was your biggest financial mistake along the way of reaching everyday millionaire status? I think just getting involved with credit cards, because I think that kept me from getting to this path earlier. It's because I only got deep about $6,000 at one time, but just having to carry the balance and then never feeling like I could catch up because I was paying a lot of monthly bills on credit cards to get the points.

Right. And I always felt like I was a month behind because, well, I was. What was your aha moment when you said enough of that? When I just needed to get a car repair done. It was about $500, and I said I couldn't really afford that. So that's kind of when I said things needed to change. So when you opened up the account the other day, it's Thanksgiving, little turkey on the table,

and you add it up and you go, Dad blame old Dennis and Christy are millionaires. How did that feel? That was a great feeling that's pretty cool i mean you inherited nothing you've worked your butt off you've saved you've been very diligent in spite of mistakes you've still overcome them and you're a millionaire exactly can it still be done in amer today? Yes. You sure? I am positive. All you have to do is just pay attention to your money. Act instead of react.

Good word. I like that. Good word. Thank you, sir. Merry Christmas. We appreciate you calling in. Jake is in Iowa. Jake, what's your net worth?

Dave, Chris, 1.6 mil. Cool. And break that down for me. What's the mix? We have about 485 in our Roths, in our 401K, 300,000 in our house's equity, and then between my commercial real estate investments, about $800,000, and then probably $60,000 in cash and other miscellaneous stuff. Gotcha.

How old are you? 37. Wow, good for you. Young millionaire. Thought he sounded young. Yeah. Wife is 38. She runs the house.

There you go, man. And what's the – how much of this did you inherit? Zero. All right. go man and uh what's the uh uh how much of this did you inherit zero all right and uh your income range what's your best year and your worst year in your working lifetime oh best year probably around 180 uh worst year you can tell my wife loves me she married me when i was making like 20 000 so there you go um 20 to 40 you didn't need a prenup did you all right no i didn't sharon did but oh my gosh uh so uh you're in the real estate business then uh i i actually work in a call center as a frontline supervisor manager. I have a bunch of young kids under me that just run and grind,

and I'm not the CEO of anything or anything like that, just hustle and grind. Okay. Have you got a four-year degree? Yes, sir. What's it in? Business marketing. Okay. All right.

And what was your GPA? 2.9. it okay so i'm guessing you did you we always ask her sometimes we ask that you'd use debt to build wealth and i'm guessing you kind of did because you bought some real estate with debt it sounds like well it's funny the you asked about mistakes and i think that's that's where I kind of got in trouble was I started buying real estate investment properties when I was young. And, you know, I did the math one day with my wife and I said, honey, if I lose my job, we are literally going to be bankrupt. And so it was no more than a week later that you were introduced to us by a family member. And I read the book and we were on board a hundred percent. Well, I should say 90%. And, uh, we started doing the

dead snowball and everything kind of Dave ish. And then we got, we figured out, man, if we get serious with this budget, we can pay off these rentals. She can be a stay-at-home mother with our then third child. And that's what we did. We really bid in and just started going crazy and paid everything. As soon as we got rid of all of our consumer debt, the field opens way up. Yeah. And then you begin to work on the real estate debt after that. Absolutely. Then we're buying commercial properties with cash. I love it. And those are some big cash flows right there.

Yeah, that's some sweet stuff. You get rid of consumer debt, America, you get to keep your money. And then you can start to build wealth when you've got a real plan for it. There's a method to this madness, Dave. 37 years old. That's amazing. Well done, sir. Yes, it is. Merry Christmas, Jake. This is old. That's amazing. Well done, sir. Yes, it is.

Merry Christmas, Jake. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Our Scripture of the Day, Ephesians 4.32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Chuck Swindoll said, we are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. It's an Everyday Millionaire theme hour this hour. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. Chris Hogan, number one best-selling author of the book Everyday Millionaires and the book Retire Inspired, both number ones. Ramsey personality joins me this hour. And we've been talking with, and this hour, we always see a few trends in the people we talk to.

We've talked to five millionaires, none of them over two million. That was interesting. Usually we have a five or a ten in there and these are all one to one point eight not even over two uh they're all all in that one to something range and uh all of them fairly young uh meaning they're right around the median age which we found in the study was what 51 years old 52 years old something like that was the median age, which we found in the study was, what, 51 years old, 52 years old? Something like that was the median age. So we had a 49, a 59, a 55, a 54, a 37. So it averages out about the median age of the study. So that worked out about right.

Not any flashy careers, no doctors or lawyers, no NFL players, no NBA players, which never call in anyway for this. But, you know, all the misnomers are out there that you have to be famous, you have to be an athlete, you have to be a crook, you have to inherit the money to become a millionaire in America, and once again, the statistics this hour prove otherwise. That's exactly right, Dave.

We look at this, and you had nobody, number one, only one inherited some money, and that didn't cause them to become a millionaire. We have a broad range of GPAs from 2.3 up to 3.7. All of them were givers, Dave. All of them were intentional and giving, and that's very consistent with the study as well. But sales rep, business analyst, IT software engineer, and call center manager. No doctors, lawyers, no Indian chiefs, nothing really super. They didn't steal any money.

They didn't inherit any money. They didn't inherit any money. They didn't hit the lottery. And so, folks, the bottom line, what you need to take away from this is fairly simple. Number one, you can do this. You can build a level of wealth, a level of comfort in America today without being a famous athlete, without being a country music artist. That's right. Without being, you don't have to make $17

million a year to do it. Nope. None of these people were making over $300,000, not one of them. Most of them were making, you know, anywhere from your high incomes were all in the $100,000s, except for one guy made $280,000. But, you know, there was nobody making $500,000 a year. You don't have to, so, you know, this idea that you can out-earn your stupidity or that you have to have a huge income is not true. The idea that it can't be done is not true.

The idea that you have to inherit it is not true. Less than 1% of the 11 million millionaires in America today are household names, meaning they're athletes or they're artists or they're actors. So they're not famous. They're teachers. They're software engineers. They are IT managers or sales reps. Yeah. These are people you're living right beside and you don't know

because everyday millionaires aren't flashy. They're not driving super fancy cars. They're doing all these things. Well, they don't think of themselves as uber wealthy. No, they don't. They are focused people that have had a plan for their money. And so the idea that you can do it is very real. But here's the key.

Don't waste any more time. Don't delay getting serious about your financial situation right now. This is the time of year that people call themselves coming up with resolutions. And I say take it a step further. I want you to make yourself a promise for you and your family and your legacy. And that promise is you're going to get more serious about your money than you ever have before. Be careful.

The next several days, people are going to do more financial stupid than they do all year, Dave, for the sake of the holidays. And that's an excuse. Be intentional. Make a list of people you can shop for, spend what you can afford to spend, and then call it a day. Spend time with your family. Kathy is with us in California. Kathy, what's your net worth? 1.8.

1.8. Break that down for me a little bit. How's that allocated? The majority is in 401ks. Some of it is in Roths and a couple of houses. Okay. How old are you? I'm 60. My husband is 65, almost 66. How much of this $1.8 million did you guys inherit? None.

Zero. Zero. And what was your all's best working year and your worst working year since you guys have been working? Household income. Household income, probably the worst was around $6,000. Way back when and about $110,000 now. $110,000. And what was your careers?

My husband is a process engineer without a college degree, and I am a seasonal swimming pool business family job. Okay. All right. Very cool. Very cool. And so what do you tell people? If someone said, how do you become a millionaire, what do you tell them they need to do? Live below your means um with but i've just i just heard of you about two months ago my daughter told me about you i've not followed your steps that's okay um you listen we you

know i'm not gonna argue with you you. You've got $1.8 million. Yeah, I haven't done it the normal way, but I've done it well for us. And just invest as soon as you can, and don't touch it. Don't touch it. Very cool. I love it. I love it. Do you think people can still do this?

I do. do you think people can still do this i do i think they need to learn to not to want so much because it's not worth having yeah there you go don't buy so much stuff i love it well chris thank you for calling kathy and merry christmas to you thank you for joining us and giving us one more set of data for this hour. Data for this hour. It's absolutely amazing. So, you know, the thing I keep hearing over and over, and the one that rings in my ears from that study, was that 97% of the millionaires said that it was necessary to believe you could. Yes.

And that they did believe that they could, that they control their destiny. And when we studied the general public and asked the same question, only 62% believed they control their destiny. And so the reason we do this theme hour, guys, is to remind you you control your destiny. It's not perfect. Yeah, there's things stacked against all of us. All of us have struggles. All of us have things we do wrong.

All of us have wicked people in our lives. All of us have people that don't like our skin color or our accent or our hair color or whatever. There's all that stuff is out there. It's all real. But you know what? People do this anyway. That's exactly right, Dave. And it's a matter of us not subscribing to the victim mentality, not having this thought that I can't do it or someone else can put limitations on you. We ultimately get to decide. And I think when you make your audio match your video, which means your words match your actions, you can start to do this right now. And for a lot of you listeners out there, you may be the first person in your family to begin this journey. But I'm going to tell you, take this journey for the sake of your legacy and your kids' kids one day.

You gain in control of your financial situation and starting to do the things that we talk about day in and day out, that Dave's talked about for almost 30 years. You have to understand it works, people. Don't doubt the recipe. Do it in your life and get started right now. The good news about the holidays is you're going to be with your family. The bad news is you're going to be with your family. And for some of you, your family is the one that tells you you can't do stuff.

Yes. And, you know, your crazy mother-in-law says, oh, no, you know, everybody knows that you can't get rich in America today. The little man can't get ahead. I heard that my whole life growing today. The little man can't get ahead. I heard that my whole life growing up. The little man can't get ahead. Didn't hear it in my house, but I heard it in my neighborhood. Right.

My parents never said that. They said you can do it. And you know what? I believed them. Isn't that weird? Yeah. There you go. It's an Everyday Millionaire theme hour in the books.

Thanks for joining me, Chris Hogan. Well, thank you for having me, Dave. That puts this hour in the books. Thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener. I am Dave Ramsey, your host. 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. You made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe today.