Dave Ramsey

Ramsey married Sharon Ramsey on June 26, 1982. The couple have three children: Denise Whittemore, Rachel Cruze, and Daniel Ramsey, all of whom graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and went on to work for Ramsey Solutions. His daughter Rachel Cruze also became an author and financial speaker, co-authoring the 2014 book Smart Money Smart Kids with him.

Ramsey is an evangelical Christian and frequently incorporates biblical principles, such as passages from Proverbs regarding the burdens of debt, into his financial teaching and broadcasting. Politically, he is socially and fiscally conservative.

Ramsey was born in Maryville, Tennessee, to parents who worked in the real estate industry, and grew up in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville. He began his first venture at age 12 by launching a neighborhood lawn-mowing business called Dave's Lawns. After graduating from Antioch High School, he took the real estate exam at age 18 and obtained his Graduate, Realtor Institute designation at 19.

While attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and real estate, Ramsey worked 40 to 60 hours a week and used property sales commissions to pay for his schooling. After graduation, he began buying, selling, and flipping properties, accumulating a real estate portfolio valued at $4 million by age 26. However, when his primary lending institution was sold to another bank, the new owner demanded full repayment of his loans within 90 days. Unable to meet the sudden calls, Ramsey filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on September 23, 1988.

Following his bankruptcy, Ramsey began studying money management and offering informal financial counseling to members of his local church. In 1991, he established a financial counseling firm called The Lampo Group, named after the Greek word for light, which eventually operated from a card table in his living room before expanding and rebranding as Ramsey Solutions.

Ramsey self-published his first book, Financial Peace, in 1992, initially selling copies directly from the trunk of his car. In 1994, he created a structured personal finance class originally titled Life After Debt, which evolved into Financial Peace University, a nine-lesson curriculum taught worldwide. His subsequent books include More Than Enough (1999), The Total Money Makeover (2003), EntreLeadership (2011), and Baby Steps Millionaires (2021).

In 1992, Ramsey launched a local radio call-in show called The Money Game on a Nashville station alongside co-host Roy Matlock. The program grew rapidly in popularity, becoming the top-rated show in Nashville within two years before transitioning into a solo project renamed The Dave Ramsey Show and later The Ramsey Show.

Around 2000, the show established its signature on-air tradition known as the Debt-Free Scream, inspired by an ecstatic caller who shouted the phrase after eliminating her debts. From October 2007 to 2010, Ramsey adapted his radio format for television on Fox Business. In 2020, he introduced a group of co-hosts, known as Ramsey Personalities, to share hosting duties on the broadcast. Ramsey was inducted into the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2013 and the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2015, having earlier received the NAB Marconi Award in 2009.

Ramsey's core financial curriculum is structured around the 7 Baby Steps, an incremental plan that prioritizes establishing a $1,000 emergency fund, eliminating non-mortgage debts using the debt snowball method, building a multi-month reserve, investing 15 percent of income into retirement accounts, funding college savings, paying off mortgages early, and accumulating wealth. His debt snowball strategy advises paying off balances from smallest to largest regardless of interest rates to generate psychological momentum. He strictly rejects the use of consumer credit cards, publicly carrying only debit cards, a driver's license, and a concealed-carry permit.

His methodology has drawn scrutiny from economists and financial journalists. Critics have pointed out that avoiding all borrowing conflicts with mainstream concepts like consumption smoothing, and have questioned his long-term investment projections of 12 percent annual returns from stock-based mutual funds. Author Helaine Olen argued in her book Pound Foolish that elements of his financial guidance do not hold up mathematically, while others have criticized his advice for failing to account for broad income disparities and emergency disruptions.