He Became a Millionaire by 35 Following the Baby Steps—Here’s How

Summary

Podcast Summary: He Became a Millionaire by 35 Following the Baby Steps—Here’s How

Podcast: Ramsey Everyday Millionaires
Date: September 15, 2025
Host(s): Dave Ramsey, Chris Hogan
Guest: Don from Grand Rapids

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Episode Overview

This episode features Don, an ordinary man who achieved millionaire status with his wife by the age of 35 by following Dave Ramsey's "Baby Steps." Don shares their detailed financial journey—paying off debt, building wealth through discipline, and focusing on family values over lifestyle inflation. The conversation highlights practical steps, intentional living, and the power of teamwork in a marriage for achieving financial independence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Don’s Wealth Breakdown & Background

• Net Worth: $1,773,412 (00:27)
  • $652,000 in 401(k)
  • $161,000 in Roth IRA
  • $35,000 in a 529 account (for kids’ college)
  • Assets: Paid-off home ($446,000), Paid-off cabin ($385,000), $91,000 in cash
• Age: 38; became millionaires at 35 (01:02)
• Income Range:
  • Lowest: $45,000 household (beginning of career)
  • Current/Best: $315,000 household (02:39)
• Professions: Don works in supply chain analytics (food manufacturing), wife is a manager for Michigan state; both have MBAs (01:49–02:16)
• Inheritance: $90,000 in 2018 from wife’s grandmother. They hit millionaire status in 2022; inheritance not a significant driver (01:11–01:24)

The Path to Millionaire Status

• Lived below their means after college (02:37)
• Paid off:
  • $60,000 in student loans within 2 years
  • First house paid off in 4 years
  • Cabin paid off in 1 year (purchased 2023)
• Don’s Approach: “We just pretended like we had no money and put all of our income towards getting our debt paid off.” (02:39)
• Focused on paying off debt aggressively (“we would pay four or five times the minimum payment on the mortgage every month”) (04:33)
• Avoided lifestyle inflation: “We have a pretty average house with pretty average vehicles, and we wear pretty average clothes.” (03:56)
• Consistent retirement contributions alongside debt payoff (03:38)

Values, Discipline, and Teamwork

• Unity in Marriage:
  • Both were equally committed (“we both legitimately get angry at the debt that we had”; “we were spending thousands of dollars towards our mortgage, and it was awesome”) (04:33)
  • Dave and Chris highlight how vital shared vision is for couples building wealth (07:29–07:45)
• Prioritized family, security, and future over image or luxuries

Life After Financial Independence

• Spending time with family and kids (7 and 4 years old), using the cabin, surprise vacations, planning future experiences (05:32–05:56)
• “Being in a position to where we could do those things without really needing to worry about impacting our personal lives is very enjoyable and freeing.” — Don (05:59)
• Still drive simple cars:
  • Wife: 2014 Chevy Sonic, paid off 3 months after purchase; “She can hear you, she’s laughing at you right now.” (06:26–06:59)
  • Don: 2020 Ford F150, paid in cash

Timeless Lessons & Projected Future

• Dave underscores how discipline and teamwork can rapidly multiply wealth—projecting Don’s net worth to $3.4 million by age 44, $7 million by 51, and possibly $28 million in their 60s, “if they do nothing else.” (07:45–08:48)
• Dave’s rallying point: “Don’t tell me you can’t do it. Don’t tell me the American dream is dead. I talk to people like Don every week… This free enterprise system stuff works.” (08:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Living Below Their Means:
  “We just pretended like we had no money and put all of our income towards getting our debt paid off.” — Don (02:39)

• On Attitude Toward Debt:
  “We both legitimately get angry at the debt that we had when we first started paying off our mortgage.”— Don (04:33)

• On Lifestyle and Appearances:
  “We have a pretty average house with pretty average vehicles, and we wear pretty average clothes. You wouldn’t see us and think we’re millionaires, but we are. Pretty awesome.” — Don (03:56)

• On Joint Effort in Marriage:
  “You heard the unity all the way through that… when we’re trying to get you couples to combine your finances… this is where it takes you. You’re 38 years old with a million seven.” — Dave Ramsey (07:45)

• On Future Wealth Potential:
  “When they’re 44… $3 million 4. When they’re 51… $7 million. You want me do it again? $14 million… $28 million. In their 60s, that’s where these numbers are going.” — Dave Ramsey (07:45–08:48)

• On the American Dream:
  “Don’t tell me you can’t do it. Don’t tell me the American dream is dead… This free enterprise system stuff works.” — Dave Ramsey (08:49)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Introductions & Don’s Net Worth: 00:16–01:00
• Careers, Education, Income Story: 01:39–02:16
• Strategy for Becoming Millionaires: 02:37–03:49
• Avoiding Lifestyle Creep: 03:49–04:11
• Attitude Towards Debt & Sacrifice: 04:33–05:20
• Life After Financial Freedom: 05:32–06:19
• Discussion on Living Simply & Cars: 06:22–06:59
• Discussion on Marriage & Unity: 07:29–07:45
• Wealth Projections & American Dream: 07:45–09:00

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Tone

Encouraging, practical, and slightly playful—particularly as Dave and Chris both congratulate Don and nudge him about upgrading his wife’s car. There is a strong emphasis on teamwork, personal discipline, and the power of following the proven “Baby Steps” process.

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Summary Takeaway:
Don and his wife are living proof that with unity, sacrifice, and intentional financial decisions, building significant wealth is achievable in a single generation—even starting with debt and modest incomes. Their story is relatable, practical, and inspiring for listeners at any stage of their journey.

Transcript

[Don]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host (Ramsey Solutions Announcer)]

This episode is brought to you by SmartVestor. Connect with an investing pro near you at RamseySolutions.com SmartVestor Don's in Grand Rapids.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hey, Don. How are you?

[Don]

Good. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. I see on my screen that you are a baby step millionaire. Congratulations.

[Don]

Thank you. Appreciate that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well done. So what's your net worth?

[Don]

It is $1,773,412.

[Dave Ramsey]

Way to go, man. Way to go. Give me a little breakdown on that. By category, what's it invested in?

[Don]

Sure. It's 652,000 in 401k, 161,000 in a Roth IRA, 35,000 in a 529. Our mortgage, our house is paid for, home value of 446,000. We have a cabin that's also paid for, valid at 385,000. And then we have 91,000 cash.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right. How old are you?

[Don]

38. My wife and I are 38 and we became millionaires when we were 35.

[Dave Ramsey]

Way to go. You did early. Congratulations. How much of this did you inherit?

[Don]

We inherited about 90,000 from my wife's grandma when she passed away.

[Dave Ramsey]

How long ago was that?

[Don]

2018.

[Dave Ramsey]

Were you already millionaires by then?

[Don]

2022 is when we became millionaires.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so you shot up, man. Way to go. Okay, so mathematically though, you did not become a millionaire because of inheritance.

[Don]

No, no.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is all you saving and dipping. And what's been your range of income since you started working? Best year, worst year.

[Don]

Worst year, 45,000 household. The max is going to be this year. We're expecting it to be around 315,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

You do for a living.

[Don]

So I work in supply chain analytics in the food manufacturing industry. My wife is a manager for the state of Michigan. We've both had incremental progress throughout our careers.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, right. Cool, cool. So you got a degree in supply chain logistics.

[Don]

My degree is actually in general management and I have an MBA in marketing.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Don]

My wife has a degree in environmental science and biology and she also has an mba, but that's in consulting.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so how do you attribute the high of a 315? But that's just recently. So most of this time you've been making probably between 100 and 200. And you get to a net worth millionaire status at 35 years old. Somebody's 22 is listening to us right now. Tell them how you did that.

[Don]

We graduated college in 2011 living on nearly nothing. And once we got into our careers, we just pretended like, we had no money and just put all of our income towards getting our debt paid off. So I graduated with $60,000 in debt, student loans. We got that paid off in two years, and we just really focused on putting our whole household behind getting out of debt. That's what we did. We bought our first house in May 2015. We paid that off in four years, and then we paid off. We bought our cabin in 2023. We paid that off in one year. So I think really the big secret for us was being extremely focused on getting out of debt, putting our entire household behind it.

[Dave Ramsey]

When you've been systematically dumping money in this 401k and Roth like crazy, too, because you got about 900 in that.

[Don]

Yeah, we've been fortunate enough that we've been able to contribute to our retirements, but also have a high enough income that we've made, you know, got our debt paid off, too. So.

[Chris Hogan]

Yeah, lifestyle creep is not what I would say for you guys. You guys have stayed very intentional.

[Don]

Yeah, if. If you look at us, we have a pretty average house with pretty average vehicles, and we wear pretty average clothes. So, you know. You know, walking down the street, you wouldn't see us and think we're millionaires, but we are so pretty awesome.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, you weren't trying to impress anybody walking down the street. You're trying to impress the people in your house, you and your wife. That's all we're. That's all we care about impressing. And so that sets it up. Wow. Very cool, man. So you think in today's world, the current economy sitting right where we are, that if you came out of school, you could do this again the same period of time or faster?

[Don]

I mean, if I graduated right now, we had to do it all over again. We could probably do it as fast. We're just. That's just the kind of people we are. We both legitimately get angry at the debt that we had when we first started paying off our mortgage. We don't even know what the minimum payment was because we would pay four or five times that every month, so. And then every time we paid it down, we would get kind of excited by it. So we were spending thousands of dollars towards our mortgage, and it was awesome because our cost of living was so low that we could do it and it wouldn't hurt us. So. But now we're set up for life and hopefully continues this way.

[Dave Ramsey]

So. Great.

[Chris Hogan]

What are you guys doing now for fun? Now that there's. You guys make a great income, you're doing everything. You have no mortgages on both property. On either property. What does life look like now?

[Don]

Well, we've got two kids. We have a seven year old and four year old to keep us busy. We really enjoy going to our cabin. It's a good way to unwind and relax. We spend a lot of time with our families. We just took our kids to a surprise vacation over in Wisconsin. And I think we're planning possibly going on a cruise next year.

[Chris Hogan]

So fun. That's great.

[Don]

Being in a position to where we could do those things without really needing to worry about impacting our personal lives is very enjoyable and freeing.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Wow. Very cool. Good for you guys. Well done. Well, we're getting ready to announce another Ramsey cruise, so be listening.

[Chris Hogan]

Join us on that one.

[Dave Ramsey]

We'd love to have you. Way to go.

[Chris Hogan]

I'm so proud of you in your 30s. That's incredible.

[Dave Ramsey]

What do you. What do you drive?

[Don]

My wife drives a 2014 Chevy Sonic. We bought that in 2014 and we bought it new, but it was a pretty inexpensive car. But we paid that off about three months after we bought it. And then I drive a 2020 Ford F150 that we paid cash for. Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You need to upgrade your wife's car. A car sucks.

[Don]

Yeah, I know. We've.

[Dave Ramsey]

You have $2 million.

[Don]

She's laughing at you right now. She can hear you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, your wife's car sucks. You need to go get her a car, dude.

[Don]

I will try. She likes her car, though.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't. Hey, Don. I'm proud of you guys. Way to go, y'.

[Don]

All.

[Dave Ramsey]

We're so proud of you. Way to go. Baby steps. Millionaires at 35 years old. We're talking to him here. He's 38. They are 38. They together. You did hear that very clearly. We talk up to couples about the correlation between the ability to build wealth.

[Chris Hogan]

And working together and the speed at which you do it. You're both all in change.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Chris Hogan]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're going. We both were mad at debt. We both agreed to put thousands of dollars on our mortgage.

[Chris Hogan]

We both were excited when we seen the numbers go down. It's like they. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

That you heard the unity all the way through that. So when we're trying to get you couples to combine your finances, we're trying to get you couples to be in agreement on where you're going and how you're going to get there. This is where it takes you. You're 38 years old with a million seven. And I'm griping you out to buy your wife a better car. That's where it gets you. Yep. Okay. Because you guys Understand, when they're 44, if they do nothing else, this is 3 million 4. When they are 51, if they do nothing else, this is $7 million. This is where this is going. You want me do it again? $14 million. You want me do it again? $28 million. In their 60s. That's where these numbers are going. That's how this works. And so when you. Once you get this thing going in the right direction and you quit supporting life insurance companies and banks and car companies, instead start supporting your own stinking family, you become this guy. This guy's a this unbelievable. This couple's a rock star power couple.

[Chris Hogan]

And the values align.

[Dave Ramsey]

Don't tell me you can't do it. Don't tell me the American dream is dead. I talk to people like Don every week. I just think you've been listening to your communist college professor too much. This free enterprise system stuff works. Boys and girls, go do what Don did.

[Podcast Host (Ramsey Solutions Announcer)]

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