# Dave Ramsey

David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American conservative radio personality and personal finance commentator. He is the owner and CEO of Ramsey Solutions and co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio program The Ramsey Show. He has written several books, including The New York Times bestseller The Total Money Makeover.

## Early life

Ramsey was born in Antioch, Tennessee, to real estate agents and developers. He attended Antioch High School. At age 18, Ramsey took the real estate exam and began selling property, working through college at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and real estate.

## Career

By 1986, Ramsey had purchased property worth over $4 million. However, Ramsey was unable to service the loans and filed for bankruptcy in 1988.
Shortly after filing for bankruptcy, he founded The Lampo Group, a financial advisory service (now known as Ramsey Solutions), and in 1992 he wrote and self-published his first book, Financial Peace.
Ramsey began as one of three alternating hosts of The Money Game on radio station WWTN/Nashville in 1992. The show eventually became The Dave Ramsey Show, Ramsey's daily three-hour call-in financial advice talk show.
Financial Peace University, Ramsey's nine-lesson, video-based personal finance course, debuted in 1994. The Gannett newspaper group ran his financial column, though dropped it when the newspaper realized that Ramsey had changed the names on the letters to which he was responding. He offered to pay them their money back. The Dave Ramsey Show aired on the Fox Business Network from 2007 to 2010.
In 2014, The Daily Beast reported Ramsey had criticized former employees that he said were discussing working conditions at the company on Facebook and Twitter. At company staff meetings, Ramsey recounted conversations from a private Facebook group of former employees that he had infiltrated, offered cash rewards for the identities of some members. Once they realized Ramsey had joined the private group, some anonymous Twitter accounts who alleged to be those workers and tweeted that he "pulled a gun out of a bag to try to teach a lesson about gossip". The incident prompted an increased backlash, a meeting Ramsey set up to confront critics, and the eventual deletion of several of the critical Twitter accounts.
On his radio show and in staff meetings in 2020, Ramsey railed against face coverings and other COVID-19 pandemic precautions, calling them "a sign of fear". On his March 2, 2020, show, he mocked concerned ticket holders for his upcoming live events, calling anyone who wanted a refund a "wuss" and stated that he would attend the "Live Like No One Else" cruise "by my freaking self" if necessary.
In February 2021, Ramsey appeared on Fox News, where he said, "I don't believe in stimulus checks, because if $600 or $1,400 changes your life you were pretty much screwed already. You got other issues going on."
Ramsey has written five books for adults, three of which were New York Times bestsellers, and six children's books.

### Teachings

Ramsey advises listeners to reduce debt using the debt snowball method, where debtors pay off their lowest balances first, regardless of the interest being accrued. Ramsey opposes the use of credit cards. At live shows, he sometimes takes out his wallet to show audiences the "only four pieces of plastic" he carries: A business debit card, a personal debit card, a driver's license, and a concealed-carry permit. Ramsey encourages the use of cash and advises families to utilize an envelope system, putting a cash allocation for each month's food, entertainment, and other expenses in separate envelopes and then spending only what is in the envelope. Ramsey encourages people not to take on student loan debt and calls the idea that student loans are required for college "a myth".

#### Criticism

Some of Ramsey's financial advice contradicts economic theory and work by mainstream economists. For example, Ramsey's advice against taking on debt, in particular during difficult times ("The worst time to borrow is when times are bad"), runs counter to consumption smoothing. Since income tends to be hump-shaped across an individual's life, economic theory suggests that individuals should on average have low or negative savings rate at early stages in their life, high in middle age, and negative during retirement.
Critics of Ramsey's core teachings have said that they are often a "one-size-fits-all" approach that disregards income disparities, investment horizon, and ignores financial emergencies. The debt snowball method is frequently debated, and studies have returned results that both support and oppose its efficacy. Ramsey's investing advice has also drawn criticism over its reliance on stock investment, as opposed to bonds, using mutual funds with load fees, and its frequent claim of 12% annual returns on investments.
Helaine Olen criticizes Ramsey's financial advice in her book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, writing that many of his stratagems "don’t even work on a base, mathematical level."

## Personal life

Ramsey married his wife Sharon in 1982. The Ramseys have three children: Denise Whittemore, Rachel Cruze, and Daniel Ramsey. All three work for Ramsey Solutions.
Ramsey was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2015.
Ramsey had an estimated net worth of $55 million as of 2018. He sold his custom-built home in the Nashville, Tennessee, area for $10.2 million in 2021 after living there for over a decade. A spokesperson said he was having another home built in the area.
Ramsey is an evangelical Christian who describes himself as conservative, both fiscally and culturally. He has blamed politics for what he considers Americans' economic dependence, and has said presidents should do "as little as possible" about the economy. Ramsey publicly stated he would vote for Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, but also said that people should vote for which candidate best aligns with their political values.