How Rich Is Dave Ramsey?
When you think of personal finance advice, Dave Ramsey is one of the most popular influencers in the business. The financial guru has made a name for himself as a radio personality, television host, and author, while also wearing many more hats. His SiriusXM radio show, "The Dave Ramsey Show," paved the way for his own channel on the streaming service, Ramsey Network, where listeners and fans can call in to get their own advice right from Ramsey's mouth.
So why do people trust Ramsey so implicitly with their financial health? He comes from humble beginnings and practices what he preaches, while doling out advice that is easy to understand. "The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge," the mogul once shared with the Christian Broadcasting Network. Let's dig into his financials and see just how much this money man is worth...
Was he born rich?
While Dave Ramsey, born David Lawrence Ramsey III, didn't come from money, he did come from entrepreneurial parents who instilled hard work in him at a young age in his home state of Tennessee. Ramsey opened up to the Nashville Scene back in 2007 and reflected on his childhood, sharing that his parents were both busy real estate developers. His mom and dad often made him listen to motivational speakers like Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie at a young age. In his documentary, "Live Like No One Else," Ramsey recounted a story that upon asking his dad for money at age 12, his father replied, "That means you need a job, you don't need money ... What could you do to earn some money?" From there, Ramsey's father took him to a print shop and helped him make cards for his own lawn service, Dave's Lawns, and his first business was born.
This yard business sparked his entrepreneurial curiosity, and made Ramsey a self-proclaimed "nerd," but "not in the pocket-protector sense." He told Nashville Scene, "I was a nerd in that I was entrepreneurial and I had my own yard-cutting service and I did all the accounting and I was a detail person."
When did he become rich?
After finding his entrepreneurial spirit at the age of 12, Dave Ramsey continued to dive into other fields. In his documentary, "Live Like No One Else," Ramsey recounted getting his real estate license early, sharing, "When I graduated from high school at 18 years old I sat for and passed my real estate exam. Mom and dad owned a real estate company, so I started selling real estate when I was in school... I worked 40 to 60 hours a week while I was going through school."
After graduating with a finance degree from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Ramsey ventured into flipping houses, sharing, "I ended up with about four million dollars worth of real estate, about three million dollars worth a debt ... At 25, 26 years old I was making $250,000 a year." Despite the initial success, in his documentary Ramsey revealed he ended up getting into trouble with the banks after they were sold, resulting in losing it all.
How did he lose it all?
Dave Ramsey opened up about losing his wealth in his late twenties, after running into trouble with banks while flipping homes. In his documentary, "Live Like No One Else," Ramsey shared what he had to do, explaining, "We sold everything as fast as we could ... I remember being so scared." Though he was able to pay many of these loans back from owing $4,000,000 to $378,000, but one of the smaller lawsuits proved troublesome. Ramsey shared, "One of those little lawsuits decided that they were going to execute on the judgment and they arranged for the sheriff's department to come take the furniture out of our house on a Friday morning."
Ramsey eventually met with a bankruptcy attorney to save his house and family. After hitting rock bottom like that, it's hard to believe Ramsey would bounce back and end up with a multimillion dollar net worth. But he found his footing by helping people avoid exactly what he went through.
How did Dave Ramsey bounce back financially?
After filing for bankruptcy, Dave Ramsey leaned on what he learned in school to start getting his life back in control. He explained in his documentary, "I started applying new ideas, like a budget, and like an emergency fund, and like getting out of debt and staying out of debt." He had a friend from church ask him shortly after if he would be able to help him get out of a financial crisis, which he credits as the start of the new phase of his life. "I guess that was my first financial counseling session, probably ... I'm sitting there trying to look at his numbers and I thought man this could really work, I could really show people how to win with this," Ramsey shared.
He would go on to self publish his first book, "Financial Peace," a few years later in 1992. According to Nashville Scene, Ramsey "gave most of his 1,000 copies away and sold some out of the trunk of his car." Writing the book led to a fortuitous break when a local radio station offered him a radio spot for free. "The Money Game," which Ramsey hosted alongside his friend Roy Matlock, was then born, marking the first step in Ramsey's media empire.
He makes money from his radio show
Dave Ramsey got his start on local radio back in 1992 with "The Money Game," and though he originally set out with a co-host, Roy Matlock, he would eventually go solo. "The Dave Ramsey Show" was eventually born, a three hour call-in talk show during which Ramsey handed out financial advice. Ramsey started self-syndicating the radio show in 1996, which the Radio Hall of Fame revealed would go on to be "the country's third-largest nationally syndicated talk show, heard on over 550 radio stations in the United States."
In 2016, Ramsey took his show even further — signing a contract with SiriuisXM that November to become a voice on the popular radio streaming service. He's been with the streaming giant ever since, eventually scoring his very own channel, Ramsey Network, on the platform. Ramsey Network currently airs The Ramsey Show and The Ken Coleman Show on channel 792.
He makes money as a successful author
Though he kicked off his career as a published author by self-publishing his first book "Financial Peace" back in 1992, Dave Ramsey would go on to have an illustrious career as a writer. He wrote over a dozen books over the last three decades, with one of the most popular being "The Total Money Makeover." This self-help book offers a practical plan he often touts on his popular radio show, a seven-step method that can help people get out of debt. He's also written other helpful financial books, including, "Dave Ramsey's Complete Guide to Money," "More than Enough: The Ten Keys to Changing Your Financial Destiny," and "Dumping Debt."
Since he's so passionate about financial literacy, it made sense that Ramsey would dive into the world of children's books as well. He wrote "Financial Peace Jr." as the children's answer to his popular first novel "Financial Peace," as well as a series called "Junior's Adventures." Due to the success of his books, Ramsey has also established his own publishing company, Ramsey Press, which publishes both fiction and non-fiction books.
Video content is another money creator
After making a major name for himself in the radio field, Dave Ramsey made the jump to television in the '00s. He started with an appearance on CBS's "60 Minutes" in 2004, followed by appearances on that same network's morning show, "The Early Show," for segments every other week. CBS also filmed a pilot and short six episode run for a prospective reality show entitled "The Dave Ramsey Project" in 2006, according to Nashville Scene, which sadly never hit the small screen.
Though his stint on television was short-lived, Ramsey has carved out a niche for himself on YouTube. He launched "The Ramsey Show" YouTube channel back in 2013, which now boasts an impressive 2.73 million subscribers. The channel offers clips from his daily radio show, and has grown to include channels like Ramsey Everyday Millionaires, Entreleadership, and his daughter's imprint, The Rachel Cruze Show, among many others.
He makes money from his popular app
Like all good entrepreneurs, Dave Ramsey understands the importance of diversifying and venturing into new fields. He stayed in his lane while creating the app EveryDollar, which debuted for Apple users in March 2015. The app offers an easy option for budgeting, and boasts the ability to "cut your monthly expenses by 9%" and "find an extra $332 hiding in plain sight." Within the Apple App Store alone, EveryDollar has amassed an impressive 4.7 stars with 61.5 thousand reviews, and ranks in the top 100 finance apps.
In true Ramsey form, the financial guru took to YouTube to talk about his newest venture when it became available on Android devices in 2016. He also explained that the app is available for free with plenty of free tools, but that there is also the opportunity to take advantage of the Premium version for a small monthly fee.
Dave Ramsey makes money from online programs
Dave Ramsey offers many membership-based services in the financial world, including a learning platform called Financial Peace University. This online university currently costs a one time price of $79.99, and entails one class a week for nine weeks total, with the ability to choose to do it virtually or in person at certain locations. There are group discussion and activities after no matter which option you choose, and the program boasts that graduates of the online course "pay off an average of $5,300 in debt and save an average of $2,700 in just 90 days."
Ramsey also offers EntreLeadership online, a master class geared toward helping business owners expand their business. Taught by Ramsey himself, the course goes through the five stages every business goes through and shows students how Ramsey himself grew his own company into a successful brand. An elite membership currently costs $250 a month.
Dave Ramsey is married with children
Dave Ramsey has been happily married to wife Sharon Ramsey since 1982. In his documentary, "Live Like No One Else," Ramsey revealed that his wife has been with him since the very beginning ... long before he made millions. "Sharon and I got married and started literally with nothing ... I remember when we first got married we were so broke it was unbelievable," Ramsey recounted. The happy couple went on to welcome three children together, daughters Denis and Rachel, and son Daniel.
All of Ramsey's children are now grown up and working for Ramsey Solutions. Daughter Rachel Ramsey, who now goes by her married name Rachel Cruze, even penned a book with her dad, "Smart Money, Smart Kids," back in 2014, which went on to become a New York Times best-seller. She also has her own YouTube channel, "The Rachel Cruze Show," with over 300,000 subscribers.
He has an impressive car collection
On his radio show, Dave Ramsey is pretty steadfast about not purchasing brand new cars. He often gives callers advice on what type of cars they should purchase, with his response typically being to purchase a car that you can pay off in cash in full, like a "Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, a Chevy" and something with "absolutely no sex appeal." Despite consistently doling out that advice, when it comes to Ramsey's personal car collection he doesn't always take his own advice.
Ramsey's cars are definitely more "sexy" models ... though he does seem to follow his used car motto. He has a very impressive vintage car collection, which reportedly includes a Jaguar XK150 S, a Jaguar XKE 4.2, a DeSoto Airflow, a Corvette Stingray, a Mustang Convertible, and a Porsche 911 S. Aside from a fleet of vintage vehicles, Ramsey also owns three airplanes, a 1952 Cessna 1951, a 946 Cessna 120, and a 1978 Beechcraft Bonanza.
He owns multiple homes
Dave Ramsey's massive fortune has allowed him to purchase multiple homes over the years. He built his massive mansion in Franklin, Tennessee from the group up after purchasing the land for $1.5 million in cash back in 2008. Since then, he had a stunning "chateau-inspired" mansion created on the land, according to Realtor.com, allegedly right next to country singer LeAnn Rimes' home. He ended up buying two more lots nearby the hope over the years, bringing his total acreage to 14.38. But in February 2021, Ramsey decided to sell his massive 13,517 square foot estate, originally listing the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom property for $15.45 million. It eventually sold in November for $10.2 million. He and wife Sharon reportedly built a new home a little further south after the purchase.
Ramsey also owns a lake house, from which he broadcasts his radio show, "The Dave Ramsey Show," often.
What is Dave Ramsey's net worth?
So just how much is Dave Ramsey worth? We've covered all of the financial guru's revenue streams, but haven't dug into the specifics of exactly how much he's made over the years. Ramsey himself has discussed on his radio show, "The Dave Ramsey Show," how to calculate one's own net worth, explaining that to calculate it you need to determine your "assets minus liabilities," and offering a net worth calculator on his website.
Ramsey's net worth is reported to be around $200 million, thanks to his diversified income streams. Unlike many multimillionaires, Ramsey attempts to help others reach this goal. He has touted plenty of financial advice within his books and on his radio show, but he has a very specific path for those hoping to become millionaires that claims there are only seven steps you need to take to become a millionaire within 12 years.