Most people see a new car as a milestone. For Dave Ramsey, it’s a money pit that can swallow an entire fortune. And he’s not speaking as someone who never made mistakes. In an Instagram post from 2023, the financial coach reminded his followers how easy it is to lose decades of wealth one car payment at a time.
“If you insist on driving new cars with payments your whole life, you will literally blow a life’s fortune on them,” Ramsey wrote. “If you are willing to sacrifice for a while, you can have your life’s fortune and drive quality cars.”
That sacrifice, he added, eventually paid off. “Today I drive very nice, very expensive cars, but it wasn’t always that way,” he admitted in the same post.
Don’t Miss:
- Would You Have Invested in eBay or Uber Early? The Same Backers Are Betting on This Vacation Home Platform
- Wealth Managers Charge 1% or More in AUM Fees — Range’s AI Platform Does It All for a Flat Fee (and Could Save You $10,000+ Annually). Book Your Demo Today.
Ramsey knows what the other side looks like. Long before millions tuned in to “The Ramsey Show,” he was a 26-year-old real estate hotshot with a Jaguar in the driveway, luxury vacations on the calendar, and a business empire built on borrowed money. He called it “a house of cards built on debt.” By 1988, when the banks demanded repayment, he had 90 days to pay back millions. He couldn’t. That September, he filed for bankruptcy on the very day a sheriff was scheduled to seize everything — including his infant daughter Rachel’s crib.
The fall was devastating. Ramsey described himself as “broke and broken,” with a furious wife, a newborn at home, and his confidence in pieces. His new reality wasn’t a Jaguar. It was a borrowed Cadillac with 400,000 miles, patched together with Bondo, and a vinyl roof so loose it puffed up with air like a parachute. “I drove the Bondo buggy for what felt like ten years during one three-month period,” Ramsey recalled. “This was not fun, but I knew that if I would live like no one else, later I could live and give like no one else.”
Trending: Kevin O’Leary Says Real Estate’s Been a Smart Bet for 200 Years — This Platform Lets Anyone Tap Into It
Those sacrifices became the foundation of his entire philosophy: temporary pain for long-term freedom. He credits those years — and those cars — with changing his life. “Today I am convinced that my wife and I are able to do anything we want financially partially because of the car sacrifices we made in the early days,” he wrote in the same post. “I believe, with everything within me, that we are winning because of the heart change that allowed us to drive old, beat-up cars in order to win.”
Ramsey’s comeback began with books, self-study, and a return to real estate. But this time he vowed to avoid debt and to teach others how to do the same. In 1992, he launched a small radio show called “The Money Game,” which evolved into “The Ramsey Show” — now one of the most popular finance programs in the world. His “Baby Steps” system has helped countless families pay off debt, build emergency funds, and move toward financial independence.
See Also: An EA Co-Founder Shapes This VC Backed Marketplace—Now You Can Invest in Gaming’s Next Big Platform
And yet, the Cadillac still hangs over his story like a reminder. Today he drives expensive cars again — but only after building wealth without payments. His warning is blunt: brand-new cars are depreciating assets that can wreck decades of financial growth if they’re constantly financed.
Ramsey’s story — from bankruptcy and a Cadillac with a parachute roof to building an empire — is why he pounds the same message over and over. Cars don’t make you rich. Sacrifice does.
Read Next: From Chipotle to Red Bull, Top Brands Are Already Building With Modern Mill’s Tree-Free Wood Alternative — Here’s How You Can Invest Too
Image: Shutterstock
