Personal Finance Expert Dave Ramsey For anyone feeling financially strapped, here’s a straightforward message: Your income is not the problem.
“You don’t go bankrupt because you don’t make enough,” he said in a post on X last year. “You are broke because you gave your income to someone else,” he wrote.
Ramsey pointed to credit cards, car payments and student loans as culprits. “Every payment is money you can use to create wealth for yourself, not to make other people rich,” he said. In a video accompanying the post, Ramsey doubled down, calling the habits “stupid on steroids.”
You’re not broke because you don’t make enough.
You go broke because you gave your income to someone else.
Credit cards, car payments, student loans… every payment can be used to create wealth for yourself instead of making someone else rich.
This is how… pic.twitter.com/KvfVZ6e36u
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“Credit cards, stupid. Student loans, stupid. Car payments, stupid steroids,” he said. “Lending money to put granite countertops in your house – someone should hit you. That’s stupid.”
His larger point is that Americans are surrendering their futures to paying down debt, often for things they don’t need. “When you give your income to someone else, you no longer own it,” he said. “When you give up your income, you completely give up your financial future.”
Ramsey said the path forward starts with creating a zero-based budget to make every dollar count. From there, he recommends using the snowball method to aggressively address debt, starting with the smallest balance first. Finally, he urged people to stop relying entirely on financing and buy goods in cash.
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“Your income is your number one wealth-building tool,” Ramsey writes. “If you keep it, budget for it and invest in it, you can break the paycheck cycle and ultimately be successful.”
He also takes aim at a culture that rejects finance. “We’re fat and broke because we don’t have the ability to think critically,” he said. “Think about it, think about it, really think about it.”
If you’re having trouble making these changes on your own, WiserAdvisor offers a free tool that matches you with a vetted financial advisor that meets your specific needs. There is no obligation to hire anyone, and it is designed for families earning $100,000 or more.
