Dave Ramsey’s Net Worth
By Will Lipovsky, August 12th, 2015 | 7 Comments »
You’ve heard of Dave Ramsey. He’s the guy who preaches, “Debt is dumb. Cash is king!” on his nationally syndicated radio show. It’s aptly named The Dave Ramsey Show. He is perhaps the country’s most famous personal finance guru – right up there with Suze Orman and Clark Howard.
But just a few short decades ago, he was broke. He lost all his money in real estate. However, just last year, he bought a new house. Brace yourself for the following stats. The living quarters are 13,307 square feet with a garage space of 1,454 square feet. This means his garage is bigger than most homes in Sweden, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy… I could go on.. The house is rumored to have a wall of whiskey barrels in the basement, 18 shower heads in the master bathroom, and an impressive media room. Leann Rimes used to live in the neighborhood.
Dave bought this new house for a cool $5 million. It’s a massive chunk of change. But he stayed true to his beliefs that “Debt is dumb.” The house has no mortgage.
What Dave Ramsey often preaches is that buying nice things isn’t a sin – if you can afford them. He encourages people to buy Tesla’s, Yacht’s, etc. if they can afford to (while still tithing to their church). He says instead of looking at the cost of an item, look at your net worth. Think percentages.
Think of it in terms of vehicles… according to the famous personal finance book, The Millionaire Next Door, most millionaires spend about 2% of their net worth on cars. That’s $20,000. Dave says that a $20,000 is perfectly appropriate for a millionaire. However, a college student shouldn’t dare consider a $20,000 car.
To put Dave’s house into perspective, Dave Ramsey has a net worth of about $55 million. That means his house is less than 10% of his net worth. It’s just over 9%. This means he can easily afford the house. According to Bloomberg, US homeowners have 67 percent of total wealth wrapped up in housing.
How Dave Ramsey’s Net Worth Will Increase
Dave Ramsey’s net worth is $55 million. His home is worth $5 million. We don’t know how much of his worth is wrapped up in his business. We don’t know how much income it generates. But we know his benchmark when it comes to investing. According to Dave, anyone can invest in the stock market and expect a 12% return on their money. For more information on that, read his article titled The 12% Reality.
We can assume that Dave makes at least 12% annually on his money invested in his business, The Lampo Group, Inc. Using 12% as our figure, let’s see what his net worth will be in the future. After all, we want to keep this article up-to-date:
By the year 2016: $61,600,000
2020: $96,928,792.58
2025: $170,821,651.46
2030: $301,046,116.77
2035:
Ah, the beauty of compound interest. The rich get richer. Of course, keep in mind this is back-of-the-napkin math. It simply uses his current estimated net worth + gains of 12%.
Bottom Line
Dave Ramsey is VERY rich. He’s a far cry from his listeners who are typically swimming with sharks. Some say he is profiting off the poor. He charges them money to take his classes or join his forums, for instance. Surely he realizes they shouldn’t be spending money they don’t have. Or, is this okay?
Finally, if you want to get a better sense of what kind of advice Dave Ramsey is selling, consider picking up a copy of The Total Money Makeover
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“Some say he is profiting off the poor. He charges them money to take his classes or join his forums, for instance. Surely he realizes they shouldn’t be spending money they don’t have. Or, is this okay?”
It might defy logic until you consider human nature. If someone takes a class they could really use, but they do not have a stake in it, they lose interest quickly and never finish, losing all the benefits the class has to offer. Making them pay something for the class forces them to examine the cost and commit to the class so they have a stake in it. A much higher percentage of participants finish and implement the practices the class teaches. It has been an excellent guide for me and I highly recommend taking Financial Peace.
Now that is interesting, Tallaman. People will pay attention better if they have skin in the game. I never thought of it that way.
Another thing to consider is the fact that everything Dave Ramsey teaches *can* be learned ABSOLUTELY FREE. You can go to the library and check out the book, listen to his radio show, read online forums…. There are a host of options outside of paying for the class.
The classes, though, are around $100 and if you purchase the materials you can attend any class anywhere for the rest of your life. It’s not $100 a class. You purchase the materials, and people who truly believe in the system volunteer to coordinate it (and yes, I’m one of those people!).
I have absolutely no concerns with Dave’s net worth, just like I wouldn’t expect someone to have concerns with mine. Now, if someone were doing morally reprehensible things to gain that net worth? Perhaps. However, Dave practices what he preaches, and my financial portfolio says it works and that I’m well on my way to wealth!
The Dave Ramsey show and the books are not a charity. Dave made his money by helping people. And he continues to do so. He actually has a family charity that gives away most of his paycheck each year. Furthermore, the company gives away free books, free tickets, and free classes all the time. The radio show, podcast, and live online Stream of the show are all free. The website is free, as are the tools like everydollar.com. With millions of followers on social media, 5 million copies of his main book sold, abs being the third largest syndicated talk show in the country, I’m surprised his net worth isn’t higher. You could be as successful if not more so by staying with his principles and working your butt off like he and most of his listeners.
Much of his material is provided for free (radio show/streaming, website, etc.). Plus you can check his books out from the library. It seems like the big money maker is probably all the live events the do. Tickets for some of those multi-day workshops aimed at business owners can be a few thousand dollars. I think Financial Peace University is only about $100 or less.
There is no shame in charging people to help them manage their money.
There is two lines below from the bible that concern me. Not for Dave’s sake but for his readers. I feel that Dave is doing fine because he loves his neighbor as himself. He learned how to get out of debt, and find financial stability and genuinely wants to help others do the same (my opinion). However his readers, including me, might take it to far and start to put money before God. Gaining the world and losing their soul so to speak. By all means get out of debt and be at financial peace, but be careful about excess. (See bible verses below) What do you think about the below bible verses?, im certainly no biblical scholar.
Proverbs 30:8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, 9That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.
Luke 12:15-21
Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”