Dave Ramsey - Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth--and How You Can Too

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

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Published by Ramsey Press, The Lampo Group, LLC

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Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Editor: Rachel Knapp

Cover Design: Chris Carrico

Photography: Seth Farmer

Interior Design: PerfecType, Nashville, TN

Ebook formatting: Mark D'Antoni, eBook DesignWorks.

ISBN: 978-1-942121-59-6

Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to those who are Baby Step Millionaires
and those who are to come. Your diligence and success are often unassuming, but your example shouts HOPE and POSSIBILITY to the world and proves that ingenuity and hard work pay off.

I ts been eight years since I wrote my last book. In that time, our team has grown, gotten more agile, and published another handful of #1 national bestsellers. Even so, I will never take for granted that our books dont just happen without the hard work and support of some incredible people. An extra special thanks goes to...

Sharon Ramsey, for your unwavering commitment at the top and the bottom of our first million and your constant support since. Its been fun to stand together all these years and see so many others baby step their way to their first million.

Preston Cannon, for your leadership, guidance, and humor through every phase of this fast-paced project.

Jackie Quinn, Michelle Grooms, Rick Prall, Rachel Knapp, and Jennifer Day, for your commitment to excellent content and your outstanding research, developmental, and editorial support.

Tim Smith and the research team at Ramsey, for your diligent work to conduct TheNational Study of Millionaires and collect the stats and stories that powerfully normalize the concept of the Everyday Millionaire.

Chris Carrico, Seth Farmer, and Brad Dennison, for your creative genius on the cover design. You sure do know how to make an old, bald guy look good! More importantly, youve given this thing a chance to get into more hands and change more lives.

Amy McCollom and Michelle Dixon, for your impeccable project planning on our tightest timeline yet.

Caitlin Radecki, Jasmine Cannady, and Russ Sellars, for your marketing and sales know-how and your hearts to serve our readers.

Megan McConnell and the Ramsey publicity team, for expertly spreading this world-changing message far and wide.

Suzanne Simms, Jen Sievertsen, Luke LeFevre, Jeremy Breland, and Brian Williams, for your excellence in leadership and vision and your faithfulness in prayer.

T he rain ran down the kitchen window as Tiffany stood at the stove, boiling water to make what had become her regular, twice-a-day mealramen noodles. It was all she could afford. As a twenty-seven-year-old, Tiffany was recently divorced and figuring out how to be a single mom. She felt overwhelmed and afraidand completely confused about what to do next. She was working more than sixty hours a week but still struggling to support herself and her two babies on a $30,000 a year salary. Plus, she had a staggering amount of debt payments going out every month. She was hanging on by a thread until she decided enough was enough.

Tiffany had always believed God had a purpose and plan for her. But because her life was so chaotic, she couldnt figure out what that plan was or how to get it together. So she started researching ways to get out of debt and build wealth and found the Ramsey Baby Steps.

At first, Tiffany tried to do the plan Baby Steps-ishdoing some of it the way its taught by us at Ramsey Solutions and some of it the way she preferred. But she soon realized that to make progress as fast as she could, she needed to go all in. She couldnt count on child support, and she didnt have anything of value to sell to speed up the process, but she worked extra hours, made tons of sacrifices, and finally saved up enough for her emergency fund. Slowly but surely, she clawed her way out of $60,000 of debt. And with no debt payments, her income was hers to invest. As a young, single mom, Tiffany felt freer and stronger than ever!

Over the next twenty years, lots of life happened. Tiffany unexpectedly lost her dad in a tragic accident, and she battled and beat breast cancer. But she was determined not to let any hardship knock her off her plan. She kept scratching and clawing. She got promotion after promotion at work. Finally, she grew her net worth to $1.85 million! Her diligence resulted in:

• $1.3 million in investments and cash
• $450,000 in real estate
• $100,000 in other assets.

Today, Tiffany is a millionairea Baby Steps Millionaire!

Tiffanys now remarried and has become a Ramsey Financial Coach and Financial Peace University Coordinator. Her passion is teaching the Baby Steps to others so she can spread the hope and freedom shes come to know in her life. Tiffany is not just a Baby Steps Millionaire. Shes a hero!

When John and Maddi married, they brought together a blended family of five kids and soon had a child of their own. But one thing they didnt bring together was their finances, and John had no idea how much Maddi struggled with money.

Maddis prior marriage had been abusive and controlling. When she was angry, stressed, or in an argument with John, she would self-medicate by going on spending spreeshuge spending sprees, mostly on credit cards. As a result, she racked up thousands of dollars of debt until it all finally came to a head...