Radio host and author Dave Ramsey offers some pointed words to people trying to figure out the way to financial success.
His main message involves one central theme.
DON'T MISS: Dave Ramsey Explains Why Now Is a Great Time To Buy a House
Ramsey explained it in an exclusive interview with TheStreet's Editor-in-Chief Sara Silverstein (video above).
"You are the bestselling author of eight books. Is there any piece of advice that shows up in all eight of your books?" Silverstein asked.
Ramsey replied with a recollection of the longevity of his personal finance expertise before getting into his philosophical take on the subject.
"You know, I've been doing radio now. We've been doing the various versions of the show. These days it's called The Ramsey Show, which started out being called The Money Game, a million years ago," he said.
"But for 32 years now, we've been on the air and you know, most people, I would say a ton of the things that come out show up in these eight books all the time, is, if you just pay attention -- be intentional with your money."
Ramsey explained more about what he means about being intentional.
"Very few people intentionally go do something stupid, but it's when we're not paying attention, we're not thinking about the money," he said. "We're not saying, what's this going to do to me five years from now, ten years from now?"
Ramsey continued with a couple questions that he believes people don't think about enough.
"How's this new car purchase that I can't afford going to affect me long term? How's this $100,000 of student loan debt that's been hanging around so long?" he asked rhetorically. "I think it's going to affect me long term."
Getty/TS
The personal finance personality talked about how people separate their lives from their money habits.
"We tend to go into denial and just live over here, separate from the money, like the money's going to behave or something," he said.
"Money doesn't behave unless you make it behave," Ramsey added. "And so this idea of just simply being intentional -- do money on purpose. It shows up in everything we do at Ramsey."
Once people are able to get themselves out of debt, they can begin looking toward the future and planning for it.
Ramsey believes one great investment is in real estate.
"Well, buying a new home right now -- this is a great time to buy," Ramsey has said. "Interest rates are up and the real estate market has slowed down. It's still increasing. There's still a shortage of housing. And so it's tough to find a really good house and a really good deal."
"But if you can find one, regardless of the interest rate, I want you to go ahead and buy now, if you're out of debt and you have your emergency fund in place," he continued.
People who are interested in the stock market have options as well.
Current prospects for new investors frequently include tech stocks such as Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta (META), and Nvidia (NVDA).
"Do this stuff in the right order," he said. "Get yourself free of car payments, free of student loans. Now you've got money to invest."
Get exclusive access to portfolio managers and their proven investing strategies with Real Money Pro. Get started now.
