Dave Ramsey Bought A New Car After Bankruptcy. When His Son Got Excited, Ramsey Saw It As A Problem—'I'm Doing Pretty Good, You're Broke'

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey remembers the moment vividly. After going bankrupt, he and his family finally bought a decent car, one without dents. During the celebratory drive around the neighborhood, his young son leaned back in the seat and said, “We’re doing pretty good.” Ramsey immediately stopped the car.

“We aren’t doing good at all. I’m doing good. You got nothing,” Ramsey told his son. “You’re broke. You just need to know that’s where you’re starting from, b-r-o-k-e, buddy.” He explained that his son’s excitement showed signs of attaching self-worth to material upgrades. Ramsey wanted to make it clear that the car didn't represent his child's financial success; it represented the result of parental hard work and recovery, not a signal that everyone in the family had “made it.”

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That story came up during an episode of “The Ramsey Show” as a way to help a caller named Brett, a small business owner wrestling with the emotional weight of success.

A Fear Of Losing Core Values

Brett called in from Charleston, South Carolina, explaining that he grew up poor. His family briefly tasted wealth when both parents started earning six figures in his senior year of high school, only to fall apart after a divorce. Now in a much better financial place, Brett owns a successful business and makes good money. But instead of feeling proud, he confessed: “I’m finding myself feeling fearful about the money that I’m making.”

Brett was clear that he didn't want money to pull his family away from what truly matters. “I don’t want the lifestyle of money to be able to tear away the things that really matter to me,” he told Ramsey and co-host Ken Coleman. He was especially concerned about repeating the past, a family dynamic that was once fun but eventually fractured.

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Ramsey responded with encouragement and a dose of perspective. “You’re not going to have a problem because you are watching for it,” he told Brett. “It’s the people that don’t watch for it that it gets.”

Ramsey explained that kind of thinking—like his son’s reaction to the new car—is a red flag. “We did not allow money to be the value of, ‘OK, now we’re okay,'” he said. “Money is a fabulous slave; it's a horrible master,” he said, paraphrasing a quote often attributed to P.T. Barnum.

Coleman backed him up. He said Brett's fear came from believing that more money might tempt him into a lifestyle he doesn't want. Instead, Coleman advised Brett to use boundaries to stay grounded. “Any wealth that comes is going to allow me to do more of what I believe we should do,” he said.

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Ramsey also addressed a deeper belief that many people grow up with: that rich people are inherently bad. “Most rich people I know are no more crooked than the poor people I know,” he said. “The amount of money you have doesn’t make you a crook or righteous.”

The key, both hosts said, is teaching kids that money comes from hard work, and maintaining routines that reflect a family’s real values. For example, Ramsey encouraged Brett to protect time around the dinner table and not let success crowd out connection.

As Ramsey put it, “As for me and my house, money is a tool. It’s not the master.”

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