Baby Steps Millionaires by Dave Ramsey

Author:Dave Ramsey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Keywords
Publisher: Ramsey Press
Published: 2021-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Wealth and the Wealthy Are NOT Evil

Big, white clouds of steam rolled out from under the hood of my car—the latest in a long line of noble, terribly unreliable junkers I drove after Sharon and I went broke. I was on my way to a speaking event with one of my VPs, and now we were stranded in a gas station parking lot watching my car have a spectacular meltdown—and I was angry. Not about my car overheating. I was angry at myself.

The fact was it was past time for me to get a new car. It’s true, the last ten years had been hard. Sharon and I had worked like crazy to get out of debt and pay off the bankruptcy. We fought our way out of that mess by following biblical principles, and God had blessed us. By this time, we were building wealth again and our net worth was over a million dollars. The money was in the bank for me to get a nicer car. But I was used to driving junkers. And honestly, I was focused on more important things than buying a new car. But my VP didn’t let me off the hook. As we dug through the trash for a jug we could use to pour water into the radiator to cool it down, he pointed out the ridiculousness of our situation: “You seriously have to get a better car. This is crazy! You have the money.”

There was no point in arguing. He was absolutely right, and I knew it. So, I shopped around until I found a great deal on a two-year-old Jaguar. It was sweet! I drove a Jag right before I went broke, and that made this car even more special. The first day I drove it to my office building, I took a minute to just admire my “new” car as it gleamed in the sunlight. The moment couldn’t have been more perfect. After all, I’d done things right this time. I paid cash for that car, and it was a completely reasonable purchase for my family. To me, it was a physical symbol that God’s ways of handling money actually work—that I could build wealth the right way. But that’s not what I was thinking about. Standing there in that parking lot with my beautiful car, I was suddenly questioning my decision: Did I do something wrong?

The problem with the Baby Steps is that they actually work. If you do the things we teach, you will build wealth. And the last thing I want is for you to end up standing right where I was, on your way to becoming a Baby Steps Millionaire and feeling some weird sense of guilt about your wealth.

I didn’t do anything wrong when I bought that car. In fact, I believe God smiled at me when I wrote the check. Trust me, I know how shocking that sounds. That’s because we’re surrounded by loud voices in our culture today who constantly beat the drum that wealth is bad.

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