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Dave Ramsey has shared some sage advice for Americans striving for entry into the millionaire club: stick to your plan and be process-oriented to grow your nest egg.
Speaking with Theo Von on the This Past Weekend podcast, Ramsey noted that, per a a national survey from his firm Ramsey Solutions, the millionaires studied were most likely to be in the following professions: Engineering, accountancy, teaching, management, and law.
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Ramsey said that at first, his researchers couldn’t figure out what these professionals had in common. But they soon realized “they are process people.”
“They learn the rules,” Ramsey said. “That’s the way [their] brains work. They do process, and that’s the secret sauce.”
He also noted that 33% of the survey respondents made less than $100,000 per year.
“They are not earning their way into it,” Ramsey told Von.
This is heartening news for Americans at every income level who want to build long-term wealth. Here are some key takeaways from Dave Ramsey and his study for those who want to join the millionaire’s club.
Busting a million-dollar myth
The Ramsey Solutions survey busted the myth that, in order to be a millionaire, you need a big six-figure income or to come from a rich family where you’re set to inherit a pile of cash. Instead, most of the millionaires surveyed got rich through consistent investing, avoiding debt like the plague and smart spending.
Retirement accounts and real estate
The two main items that helped these people hit the million-dollar mark: investing in their company’s 401(k) plan and buying a house and paying it off. Not every employer offers a 401(k) plan, but there are alternatives out there that can offer similar tax advantages.
For instance, if you opt for a gold IRA you can benefit from the tax advantages of a traditional IRA alongside the inflation-hedging properties of gold.
Typically, gold is more stable than stocks during economic downturns and recessions. In fact, gold has increased in value sevenfold over the last 100 years.
These days, you don’t even have to go to a bullion shop to buy precious metals. Plenty of online platforms offer a wide selection of gold and silver bars and coins and fair pricing.
An example is Priority Gold, an industry leader offering physical delivery of gold and silver. Plus, they have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 5-star rating from Trust Link.
If you’d like to convert an existing IRA into a gold IRA, Priority Gold offers 100% free rollover, as well as free shipping, and free storage for up to five years. Qualifying purchases will also receive up to $10,000 in free silver.
To learn more about how Priority Gold can help you reduce inflation’s impact on your nest egg, download their free 2025 gold investor bundle.
To Ramsey’s second point: paying off, or even buying, a home is more difficult for many Americans right now. While the real estate market can be prohibitive for first-time buyers due to still-cooling mortgage rates and rising home prices, there are still options for would-be real estate investors.
For accredited investors, Homeshares gives access to the $36 trillion U.S. home equity market, which has historically been the exclusive playground of institutional investors.
With a minimum investment of $25,000, investors can gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top U.S. cities through their U.S. Home Equity Fund — without the headaches of buying, owning or managing property.
With risk-adjusted internal returns ranging from 12% to 18%, this approach provides an effective, hands-off way to invest in owner-occupied residential properties across regional markets.
Read more: Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
Diversification and risk
Smart investors also look for ways to diversify and spread their risk with their investments.
In the Ramsey Solutions study, the researchers wrote, “They didn’t risk their money on single-stock investments or “an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.” In fact, no millionaire in the study said single-stock investing was a big factor in their financial success.”
Instead, prudent and diversified investments are the name of the game for the millionaires surveyed.
The team of former hedge fund analysts and experts at Moby spend hundreds of hours each week sifting through financial news and data to provide top-tier stock and crypto reports to keep you up-to-date on what’s moving the markets — so you have access to extensive research, broken down into simple, easy-to-understand formats.
The platform has already helped over five million users uncover stocks before they deliver multibagger returns.
Moby’s success speaks for itself. The platform’s stock picks have outperformed the S&P 500 index by an average of 11.95% over the past four years. And that’s on top of the S&P’s already consistent annualized returns — about 10% a year, on average, since the index’s 1957 inception.
Learn from the best and get advice you trust
When asked by Von if he felt that the American Dream was dead, Ramsey noted that nine out of 10 of the millionaires they surveyed did not inherit their wealth, but instead earned it.
“That’s good news for everybody,” he said. “We’ve all got a shot.” To shoot your shot at millionaire status, you may need financial advice catered to your specific financial goals.
With Vanguard, you can connect with a personal advisor who can help assess how you’re doing so far and make sure you’ve got the right portfolio to meet your goals on time.
Vanguard’s hybrid advisory system combines advice from professional advisers and automated portfolio management to make sure your investments are working to achieve your financial goals.
All you have to do is fill out a brief questionnaire about your financial goals, and Vanguard’s advisers will help you set a tailored plan, and stick to it.
Once you’re set, you can sit back as Vanguard’s advisors manage your portfolio. Because they’re fiduciaries, they don’t earn commissions, so you can trust that the advice you’re getting is unbiased.cumstances.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
