While stopping over in Nashville on a recent Harley trip, I was looking over my map and noticed Franklin, Tennessee, was just 12 miles south of me. Well, hell, that’s the studio home of Dave Ramsey and Ramsey Solutions. Dave is always mentioning coming by for the cookies, and I had the afternoon off, so let’s go.
The backstory is that I started regularly listening to Dave’s radio show at least 20 years ago, long before it was Ramsey Solutions. He is one of my heroes. He’s also one of America’s most prominent personal financial coaches and has built up a following of millions of listeners. His program, including the “Seven Baby Steps,” budgets, and a debt-free lifestyle, supposedly culminate in financial freedom, security, and for many, millionaire status.
What’s always amazed me about Dave is that it’s not like he invented the wheel or anything with his financial teachings, but how he simply put some common sense and understandable structure to the age-old money principle of spending less than you earn and investing the surplus. Charles Dickens wrote back in the 19th century, “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty-pound ought and six, result misery.” Debt is dumb, according to Dave, and debt is misery, according to Dickens, so why are so many folks in debt?
This question gets us, in my opinion, to Dave’s true talent: that he’s a legendary coach, motivator, and great entertainer. Day in and day out, he fields and responds to calls from indebted listeners with fundamentally the same problems. Callers are basically broke but want more, bombarded by peer pressure or advertising for the latest and greatest. Happiness means material things, and most folk just don’t want or can’t legitimately earn the lifestyle they think they deserve. They seem to want Dave to say, “Hey, it’s OK, it’s not your fault you’re broke.” Then BOOM, what they get is the unvarnished truth and a pat on the head after. For those who genuinely want to get on the right path, Dave is there. He genuinely cares about people and wants you to be debt-free, secure, and financially successful. That’s why he’s survived the last 20+ years and continues to grow and gain more followers.
So, I pulled into the parking lot at Ramsey Solutions, walked into the building’s lobby, and was absolutely gobsmacked. It was like a visit to the personal finance Vatican. Dave was not more than 20 feet from me in his studio doing his afternoon show. It’s an absolutely gorgeous facility as well, cookies and all. When he came out at break, I was able to meet him and spend a few minutes thanking him and talking about personal finance. It was like meeting the Pope or some other enigma that had been a big part of my life for so long. He was extremely gracious and genuine, and he gave me his coin.
Does his plan work? It sure as hell does, and he turned my ass around a long time ago. However, Dave is a coach, and his program is only as good as your own determination and level of commitment to reach an outcome. Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else. Why do I still listen to him? As I said above, it’s the coaching and grounding he continually gives that keep you on track and financially focused. You might be a debt-free baby steps multi-millionaire, but the truth is you likely need Dave in your ear just as much now as you did when you were eating beans and rice, rice and beans. Thanks, Dave.
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