Dave Ramsey
par faheem muaviaYou are broke because you keep buying stupid things. I know that hurts to hear, but it is the truth. You want to be rich, but you act like someone who wants to be broke forever.
I spent fifteen years coaching people out of debt. I have sat across the table from thousands of families who were drowning financially. And you know what I learned? The problem is not your income. The problem is your behavior. You keep spending money on things that make you poorer, and then you wonder why you cannot get ahead. Today, I am going to show you exactly what those things are.
This video is going to make you uncomfortable. You are going to feel attacked. Good. Because comfortable people stay broke. Uncomfortable people change. And change is what you need if you want to build wealth.
Here is what we are covering today. Seven specific things you need to stop buying immediately if you want any chance at financial freedom. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Today. I am going to walk through each one, explain why it is destroying your financial future, show you the real cost, and give you the disciplined alternative that actually builds wealth.
If you are serious about changing your money situation, stay until the end. If you just want to feel good about your bad decisions, leave now. This is not that kind of video.
Let's get into it.
Number one. Stop buying new cars.
This is the single biggest wealth killer for middle-class Americans. You drive past the dealership, you see those shiny vehicles sitting on the lot, and you think that is what successful people drive. You are wrong. Successful people do not lose thirty percent of their money the second they sign paperwork.
A new car loses value the moment you drive it off the lot. Not over time. Immediately. You pay forty thousand dollars, and before you even get home, that car is worth twenty-eight thousand. You just lit twelve thousand dollars on fire because you wanted that new car smell.
But it gets worse. You did not pay cash, did you? No. You financed it. You took out a six-year loan at seven percent interest because the payment fit your budget. The payment fit your budget. Listen to how stupid that sounds. You are paying interest on something that loses value every single day. That is the definition of financial insanity.
Let's do the math. Forty thousand dollar car, financed for six years at seven percent. Your payment is six hundred and sixty-four dollars per month. Over those six years, you pay forty-seven thousand eight hundred dollars for a car that is now worth eighteen thousand. You lost almost thirty thousand dollars. Thirty thousand dollars that could have changed your life, gone forever because you needed everyone to know you could afford a new car.
Here is what disciplined people do. They buy used cars with cash. A three-year-old vehicle costs half what it did new, but it drives exactly the same. It gets you to work. It gets your kids to school. It does not impress anyone, but it also does not steal your future.
You save up three months of income, you buy a reliable used car outright, and you never make another car payment again. Then you keep saving that six hundred dollar payment every month, and in two years, you have fourteen thousand dollars. In four years, twenty-eight thousand. You can upgrade your car with cash whenever you want, and you never lose money to interest again.
But you will not do that, will you? Because you care more about what people think than what your bank account says. And that is why you will stay broke.
Number two. Stop buying stuff on credit cards that you cannot pay off this month.
Credit cards are not free money. They are a trap. And most of you are caught in it right now. You swipe that card for dinner, for clothes, for things you do not even remember buying, and you tell yourself you will pay it off later. Later never comes.
The average American carries over six thousand dollars in credit card debt. The average interest rate is twenty-two percent. Do you understand what that means? If you only make minimum payments, you will pay that debt for decades. A six thousand dollar balance at twenty-two percent with minimum payments takes thirteen years to pay off and costs you nine thousand dollars in interest. You paid fifteen thousand dollars total for six thousand dollars worth of stuff you do not even own anymore.
You are working for the credit card company. Every hour you spend at your job, a piece of that paycheck goes straight to Visa or Mastercard. Not for things you need. For things you already bought and probably threw away. That is slavery. Financial slavery. And you signed up for it voluntarily.
Here is the truth. If you cannot afford to pay cash, you cannot afford it. Period. That is the rule. No exceptions. I do not care if it is on sale. I do not care if everyone else has one. If the money is not in your account right now, you do not buy it.
Cut up the cards. All of them. Yes, even the one with rewards. The rewards are not worth it. The average person spends twelve to eighteen percent more when they use credit instead of cash. You are not beating the system. The system is beating you.
Use a debit card or cash. When the money is gone, you stop spending. Revolutionary concept, I know. But it works. It forces you to live within your means. It forces you to make choices. And choices are how you build wealth.
Pay off those credit cards starting with the smallest balance first. Attack it with everything you have. Then move to the next one. It will take time. It will hurt. But on the other side of that pain is freedom. And freedom is worth more than anything you could ever buy on credit.
Number three. Stop buying subscriptions you do not use.
Fifteen dollars here, ten dollars there, twenty-five a month for something you signed up for two years ago and forgot about. It does not feel like a lot, but it is bleeding you dry.
The average household pays over two hundred dollars per month on subscriptions. Two hundred dollars. That is twenty-four hundred dollars per year for streaming services, meal kits, apps, memberships, and boxes of stuff that show up at your door that you did not need in the first place.
You think it is fine because each one is small. But small leaks sink big ships. Those subscriptions add up, and they take money that could be building your future and hand it to corporations that are betting you are too lazy to cancel.
And they are right. You are too lazy. You know you do not watch half those streaming services. You know you have not been to that gym in six months. You know that software subscription auto-renewed and you have not opened the program since last year. But canceling feels like work, so you let it ride. Month after month. Year after year.
Here is what you do today. Right now. Pull up your bank statement. Go through every single recurring charge. Ask yourself one question. Did I use this in the last thirty days? If the answer is no, cancel it. Not later. Now. Pause this video and do it.
You do not need seven streaming services. Pick one. Watch everything on it. Cancel it. Get a different one. You are not missing out. You are being smart.
You do not need that premium app. The free version works fine. You do not need meal kits. You need to learn to cook. You do not need monthly beauty boxes or snack subscriptions or any of that garbage. It is all designed to separate you from your money in small enough amounts that you do not notice.
Cancel everything that is not essential. Take that two hundred dollars and put it toward debt or savings. In one year, you will have twenty-four hundred dollars. In five years, twelve thousand. That is real money. Money that could change your situation. But only if you stop letting companies steal it from you every month.
Number four. Stop buying food you do not eat.
You go to the grocery store without a plan. You grab whatever looks good. You buy in bulk because it seems like a deal. You hit the drive-through three times a week because you are too tired to cook. Then you throw away thirty percent of the food you bought because it went bad before you used it.
The average American family wastes fifteen hundred dollars per year on food. Food they bought, paid for, and threw in the trash. That is insane. You are literally taking your money and putting it in the garbage.
And then there is eating out. You spend twelve dollars on lunch because you did not pack anything. Forty dollars on dinner because you do not feel like cooking. Sixty dollars taking the family out on the weekend. It adds up to hundreds every single month.
Food is one of the biggest budget categories you control, and most of you have zero control over it. You spend emotionally. You spend impulsively. And you wonder why there is nothing left at the end of the month.
Here is the disciplined approach. You plan your meals every single week. Sunday night, you sit down, you write out what you are eating for the next seven days, and you make a grocery list based on that plan. Then you go to the store, you buy only what is on the list, and you come home.
You cook your meals. You pack your lunch. You eat leftovers. You stop treating restaurants like they are part of your regular routine. Restaurants are for special occasions, not because it is Tuesday.
When you plan, you waste less. When you cook, you spend less. A home-cooked meal costs three to five dollars. A restaurant meal costs fifteen to thirty. The math is simple. Cook your food and keep your money.
If you are spending more than ten percent of your take-home pay on food, you are doing it wrong. Track it. Cut it. Control it. This is not about deprivation. This is about discipline. And discipline builds wealth.
Number five. Stop buying things to impress people.
The designer handbag. The expensive watch. The name-brand clothes. The latest phone. The upgraded trim package on the car. You know what all of that is? Insecurity wearing a price tag.
You buy things because you want people to think you are successful. You want them to see you and assume you have money. Here is the problem. People do not care. They are not thinking about you. They are thinking about themselves and what they can buy to impress you. It is a cycle of stupidity, and everyone loses except the companies selling you the stuff.
Real wealth is invisible. The actual millionaires I worked with did not look rich. They drove paid-off cars. They wore normal clothes. They lived in reasonable houses. They were not trying to prove anything to anyone. They were too busy building wealth to worry about looking wealthy.
You are doing the opposite. You look rich and you are broke. You have the image with none of the substance. And that image is expensive. It is costing you thousands of dollars per year that you do not have.
Stop it. Stop buying things because of the logo. Stop upgrading your phone every year. Stop shopping for clothes you do not need just because they are on trend. Nobody cares. And the people who do care are just as broke as you are.
Buy what you need. Buy quality when it matters. But stop buying status. Status does not pay your bills. It does not fund your retirement. It does not get you out of debt. It just makes you poorer while you pretend to be rich.
Wear the same jacket two years in a row. Keep your phone until it dies. Buy the store brand. Save the difference. In ten years, you will actually have money. And you will not care what anyone thinks because you will have something they do not. Freedom.
Number six. Stop buying convenience when you can do it yourself.
You pay someone to mow your lawn. You pay for car washes. You pay for oil changes. You pay for house cleaning. You pay for someone to walk your dog. You outsource everything because your time is valuable.
No. Your time is not that valuable. Not yet. Not when you are broke.
You know what is valuable? The hundred dollars you just spent on things you could have done yourself. Mowing the lawn takes an hour and costs you zero dollars. Paying someone costs forty dollars. Washing your car takes twenty minutes. Paying for it costs fifteen dollars. Changing your oil takes thirty minutes and costs twenty-five dollars in materials. Paying someone costs seventy-five.
You are spending thousands per year on convenience, and you do not have thousands to spend. You are in debt. You have no emergency fund. You live paycheck to paycheck. And you are paying people to do things you are fully capable of doing.
I am not talking about specialized work. If your roof is leaking, hire a roofer. If your transmission is broken, take it to a mechanic. I am talking about basic tasks that require zero skill and minimal time.
You are not too good to clean your own house. You are not too busy to wash your own car. You are lazy. And lazy people stay broke.
Do it yourself. Learn basic maintenance. Spend the hour. Keep the money. It is not glamorous, but wealth is not built on glamour. It is built on discipline and sacrifice and doing things that are uncomfortable.
Every dollar you keep is a dollar that can work for you. Every dollar you spend on convenience is a dollar that is gone forever. Make the choice.
Number seven. Stop buying lottery tickets and gambling.
This one is going to make some of you mad. I do not care. If you are buying lottery tickets, you are taxing yourself for being bad at math.
The odds of winning the big jackpot are one in three hundred million. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning. Twice. But you stand in line, you hand over your money, and you buy a dream that will never come true.
You spend five dollars here, ten dollars there, twenty when the jackpot gets big. You tell yourself it is just for fun. It is not fun. It is a waste. And if you are doing it regularly, it is an addiction.
Same with casinos. Same with sports betting. Same with scratch-offs. You are not going to win. The house always wins. That is how gambling works. It is designed to take your money and give you nothing in return except a fleeting moment of hope.
I worked with a guy who spent three hundred dollars per month on lottery tickets. Three hundred dollars. Over ten years, that is thirty-six thousand dollars. He won maybe two thousand back in small prizes over that time. He lost thirty-four thousand dollars chasing a dream.
You know what thirty-six thousand dollars could have done for him? Paid off his car. Built an emergency fund. Changed his entire financial situation. But he gave it to the state lottery instead.
If you want to be rich, you do not get there by luck. You get there by discipline. By working. By saving. By investing in things that actually grow. Not by hoping your numbers come up.
Stop buying tickets. Stop gambling. Take that money and do something real with it. Put it in a savings account. Pay off debt. Build something. Because hope is not a financial strategy, and luck is not coming to save you.
Those are the seven things. New cars. Credit card debt. Subscriptions. Wasted food. Status purchases. Convenience. Gambling. Every single one of them is stealing your future. And every single one of them is a choice you make.
Let's bring this home.
You want to be rich, but you are not willing to act like it. You want wealth, but you keep choosing comfort. And that is the problem. Comfort is expensive. Comfort keeps you broke. Discipline is uncomfortable, but discipline builds wealth.
Every dollar you spend is a choice between your future and your feelings. Your feelings want the new car. Your future needs you to buy used. Your feelings want to swipe the credit card. Your future needs you to pay cash. Your feelings want convenience and status and instant gratification. Your future needs sacrifice and patience and delayed gratification.
You cannot have both. You have to choose. And right now, most of you are choosing wrong.
I am not telling you this to be mean. I am telling you this because I have seen what happens when people make the right choices. I have watched families go from drowning in debt to completely debt-free. I have seen people go from zero savings to six months of expenses in the bank. I have watched normal people with average incomes build real wealth by doing simple, disciplined things over and over again.
It works. But only if you do it. Only if you stop lying to yourself about why you are broke. You are not broke because you do not make enough money. You are broke because you spend too much on stupid things. Fix the spending and you fix the problem.
This is not complicated. Stop buying the seven things I just listed. Cut up the credit cards. Cancel the subscriptions. Plan your meals. Buy used. Do it yourself. Stop trying to impress people. Stop gambling your future away.
Start living on less than you make. Start saving the difference. Start paying off debt. Start building an emergency fund. Start making choices that your future self will thank you for.
It will not be fun. You will miss the new car. You will miss eating out whenever you want. You will feel the discomfort of saying no when everyone else is saying yes. Good. That discomfort is the price of wealth. Pay it now or pay the price of being broke forever. Those are your options.
Here is what I want you to do right now. Pick one of these seven things. Just one. The one that hit you the hardest. The one you know is your biggest problem. And fix it today. Not tomorrow. Today.
If it is subscriptions, cancel them right now. If it is food waste, plan your meals for this week before you go to bed tonight. If it is credit cards, cut them up and make a plan to pay them off. Pick one thing and take action immediately.
Then come back to this video in thirty days and pick another one. In six months, you will have addressed all seven. And your financial life will look completely different. Not because you got a raise. Not because you won the lottery. Because you changed your behavior.
Wealth is not about income. It is about behavior. And your behavior up until now has kept you broke. Change the behavior, change the result. It is that simple.
If this video made you uncomfortable, good. Share it with someone else who needs to hear it. Leave a comment telling me which of these seven hit you the hardest. Subscribe if you want more straight talk about money without the nonsense.
And remember this. You are not a victim of your circumstances. You are a product of your choices. Make better choices. Build better habits. Create a better future. The power is yours. Use it.
Now stop watching videos and go fix your money.
