Who is Dave Ramsey?
By age 26, Ramsey had a net worth of more than $1 million
Personal finance guru Dave Ramsey has helped millions of people get out of debt and balance their budgets — but only after learning the hard way when he made big money mistakes in his twenties.
By age 26, Ramsey had a net worth of more than $1 million and was making $250,000 a year, but he and his wife Sharon were in major debt.
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"The short version of the story is that debt caused us, over the course of two and a half years of fighting it, to lose everything," Ramsey says on his website. "We didn't tell anyone what was going on, but if we had to do it again, we would learn from the wisdom of others who have been through it."
Dave Ramsey speaks to a crowd of thousands at his event 'Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover LIVE' at Cox Convention Center on February 19, 2011 in Oklahoma City, OK. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)
Now, Ramsey shares the wisdom he's gathered through books, his radio show and his Financial Peace University program, which more than 5 million people have participated in.
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One of the main tenets Ramsey preaches is delayed gratification.
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"If you live like no one else now, later you can live and GIVE like no one else," he wrote on Twitter in June.
He's also advocates for teaching kids about money when they're young. Ramsey is the author of "Smart Money Smart Kids" and roughly 4 million high school students have taken his Foundations High School Program.