Dave Ramsey earned the BS in finance and real estate in 1982. Four years later, he had accumulated a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio, but when the bottom dropped out of the real estate market, Ramsey was forced to take bankruptcy. He then studied biblical principles for money and worked his way out of debt by working 18 hours a day, selling everything that didn’t matter, and shopping at consignment sales and garage sales. Ramsey paid off his debts in three years. He then began counseling individuals.
In 1988 he formed the Lampo Group, a collective force of Christian professionals that provides bankruptcy avoidance counseling. In 1994 he began teaching financial practice classes in Nashville, and in 1997 the courses became available on videotape.
He is the author of the New York Times bestselling books Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. He hosts the syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show, which is broadcast on more than two hundred radio stations nationwide and heard by more than two million listeners each week. He also writes a syndicated column.