Broke People Love To Give Financial Advice, Says Dave Ramsey. They're Scared You'll Outpace Them By 'Doing Smart Things With Money'

Personal finance personality Dave Ramsey says one reason broke people hand out so much financial advice is because they fear getting left behind.

“Broke people care deeply about what you think,” Ramsey recently posted on X. “That's why broke people are always giving you advice: They're afraid that you're going to outpace them because you're doing smart things with money.”

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Ramsey went on to say that people with real wealth typically don’t waste time trying to look rich. “Most people who aren't broke don't give a crap what you think,” he said. “Because the way they achieved that first layer of wealth ($1–10 million net worth) is that they didn't do it for you. They were not living their life to impress others.”

He added that once people stop caring about outside opinions, their financial behavior usually changes: “You tend to make completely different purchases and live a completely different lifestyle.”

It Takes Money To Make Money?

On a recent episode of “The Ramsey Show,” a 25-year-old caller named Nathan asked for guidance after inheriting just over $200,000 when his father passed away. Nathan, who earns $35,000 a year, asked whether he should invest the money in a business to become a millionaire by his 30s.

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Ramsey told him to slow down. “You’re calling very wisely to start to gather some wisdom about something you don’t know anything about,” he said. “You have never driven a car before and someone just gave you car keys.”

He said the idea, which Nathan referenced, that “it takes money to make money,”  is flawed: “That’s a statement that broke people say as an excuse to not become broke people.”

Ramsey continued, “Can you make money using money? Sure. But actually, the vast majority of people who build wealth do not build it because someone handed them $200,000. They build it because of their habits and their character.”

Ramsey’s advice to Nathan was simple: shift away from excitement and toward more measured, even boring financial decisions. “Your job is to manage this money as if it’s someone else’s money and you’re managing it for them. Your job, first, is not to lose it. Your job, second, is to maximize it.”

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You Don't Need A Six-Figure Salary To Become A Millionaire

In a 2023 Facebook post, Ramsey said that “69% of millionaires did not average $100,000 or more in household income per year – and (get this) one-third of millionaires never had a six-figure household income in their entire careers.”

So how did they do it? Ramsey says it comes down to two major things: consistently investing in retirement accounts and owning a paid-for house.

His 2024 study found that eight out of 10 millionaires participated in their company’s 401(k) plan, and 75% also invested outside of it. They avoided risky single-stock investments and instead stuck with diversified mutual funds, contributing regularly and letting compound interest do the heavy lifting.

The second major factor is a paid-off house. Ramsey noted that most millionaires had $500,000 to $600,000 of their net worth in a home they owned outright.

Broke people often stay broke because they focus on appearances and bad advice instead of long-term habits. Becoming a millionaire has less to do with income and more to do with discipline, patience and ignoring noise from those who aren’t where you want to be.

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