I’m Scared to Invest My Savings in the Market

Summary

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Ramsey Everyday Millionaires

Episode: I’m Scared to Invest My Savings in the Market
Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Dave Ramsey (with a Ramsey Solutions co-host, possibly Chris Hogan)
Caller: Daniel, Kentucky

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Overview: Facing Fear and Building Wealth

In this listener Q&A episode, Dave Ramsey takes a call from Daniel, a 56-year-old recent retiree, who shares his anxiety and reluctance to invest $400,000 in savings. With a pension covering his expenses, Daniel feels paralyzed by fear and uncertainty about investing, worried about market risks and loss. Dave and his co-host address Daniel’s concerns, break down the psychology of financial fear, and offer practical guidance on how to overcome inaction—highlighting simple steps ordinary people can take to build wealth confidently.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Daniel’s Financial Snapshot and Anxiety

• Daniel’s Background: 56, wife (retired, 55), 16-year-old son, Daniel just retired two months ago.
• Finances: Pension covers living expenses; $30k in 401k, $70k in emergency fund, and $400k in cash savings earning minimal returns.
• Concern: Retired early, but is unsure what to do next and is afraid to invest the lump sum.

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2. The Cost of Not Investing

• Dave’s Math:
  • “In 2023…you would have made 23% and 26% those two years. Now, that’s not normal…but just to point out, okay, here’s what that means. That’s $50,000 a year. You’ve lost $100,000 by having that $400k sitting…in a bank account instead of invested.”
    – Dave Ramsey [01:26]
• Key Insight:
  • Keeping large sums in cash can have a significant opportunity cost, especially over years of potential compounding growth.

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3. Understanding and Overcoming Fear

• Two Kinds of Fear:
  • “There’s fear of something that will hurt you and that’s a real fear... The other thing that we’re afraid of is things we don’t understand and don’t know about.”
    – Dave Ramsey [02:24]
• Analogies:
  • Real danger: Standing in the road with an 18-wheeler.
  • Unknown: Learning to ride a bike or drive a car for the first time.
  • Investing is like learning a skill—not inherently dangerous, just unfamiliar.
  • “Investing is not the 18 wheeler or the hot stove. It’s. You don’t understand it, right? …it’s not rocket surgery.” – Dave Ramsey [03:09]
• Advice:
  • Education is the antidote. It’s normal to be nervous at first, but learning and engaging with trustworthy advisors turns fear into confidence.

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4. Practical Steps to Start Investing

• Professional Guidance:
  • “Jade and I are going to send you to the smartvestor pros at ramseysolutions.com. Click on the website, get one of those.”
    – Dave Ramsey [03:47]
• Relating to the Newbie Experience:
  • “You came at this the very first time…You didn’t know beans?” – Dave Ramsey
  • “No.” – Co-host [04:22]
  • “It’s intimidating…and there’s lingo and jargon…but if you sit down with the right person, they can help you understand.” – Co-host [04:25]
• Mutual Fund Example:
  • Choose investments with a long track record, just like buying a house in a stable neighborhood. History helps you make informed choices.

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5. The Importance of Staying Productive

• Encouragement to Work:
  • “There’s no dignity in sitting on your butt…Go do something big, man. Go make twice as much money as you’ve ever made in your life. Start you a business…Act two.”
    – Dave Ramsey [05:24–05:52]
• Host Reflection:
  • Dave ponders what he would do if he wasn’t in finance or real estate, emphasizing the value of teaching, leading, and entrepreneurship, suggesting Daniel—and listeners—find purpose in a “second act.”
    – [06:01–06:43]

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6. How Understanding Grows Over Time

• Learning Curve:
  • “When you first hear and learn about investing…the first time you hear it, it’s just like…when you wake up in the middle of the night and you turn the lights on…I don’t remember. Where was it? And then when you hear it the second time, it sinks in a little bit more…So it’s okay if the first time you hear it, you don’t fully understand it. That’s normal.”
    – Co-host [07:14]
  • “The point is, learn about it…You need to learn about it and get comfortable with it.” – Dave Ramsey [07:52]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You’re 56. You’re probably gonna live to 96. You plan on sitting on your butt for 40 years?”
  – Dave Ramsey [01:01]
  (Humorous, direct encouragement to take action and find purpose)

• “Investing is not the 18-wheeler or the hot stove. ... It’s not rocket surgery. You can do it. Everybody can understand this. It’s not that hard.”
  – Dave Ramsey [03:09]
  (Breaking down investment fear with relatable analogies and humor)

• “There’s always risk.”
  – Co-host [04:57]
  (Acknowledging honest realities about investment without fear-mongering)

• “Go do something big...Start you a business…and you go, wow, I’m so glad I quit that ugly job.”
  – Dave Ramsey [05:43–05:50]
  (Inspiring listeners to find a fulfilling “second act” in life)

• “When you first hear and learn about investing…that’s normal.”
  – Co-host [07:14]
  (Reassuring listeners that confusion at the beginning is expected)

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• [00:20] – Daniel shares his background and financial situation
• [01:26] – Dave illustrates opportunity cost with recent market returns
• [02:24] – Dave explains “two kinds of fear” and the learning process
• [03:47] – Advice to find and work with a SmartVestor Pro
• [05:43–05:52] – Motivation to keep working and find a second act
• [07:14] – Co-host normalizes the learning curve in investing

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Final Takeaways

• Don’t let fear—or lack of knowledge—paralyze you from making your money work.
• Seek education and professional guidance to turn financial anxiety into action.
• It’s never too late to reinvent yourself, find purpose, and let your savings grow.

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For more, visit ramseysolutions.com/smartvestor to connect with an investing professional.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Foreign.

[Podcast Announcer]

This episode is brought to you by SmartVestor. Connect with an investing pro near you at RamseySolutions.com SmartVestor all right, Daniel's in Kentucky.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hi, Daniel. How are you? Good.

[Caller (Daniel)]

How you doing, sir?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Caller (Daniel)]

Hey. I'm 56 year old. My wife is 55. We have a son that's 16, and my wife's been retarded about two years. I retired about two months ago. And we bring in enough for all of our expenses on a pension. Our pension does that. And I've got 30,000 in a 401k at my company previously and 70,000 in an emergency fund and about 400,000 just sitting in the bank like a dummy. I just didn't invest anything. Everything knows. Well, we're fine right now, but inflation and any kind of buying a vehicle, we're going to have to go into that nest. Nest egg.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're 56. You're probably gonna live the 96. You plan on sitting on your butt for 40 years.

[Caller (Daniel)]

Well, no, I'm. I'm gonna do. I wanted to do something I wanted to do because I'm away from home about two weeks with two days a week with the job I had. So.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Okay. So what you want to do?

[Caller (Daniel)]

I don't know yet.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'd be a good thing to figure out yesterday.

[Caller (Daniel)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Let's get with it. I'm 65. I can't believe you're sitting on your butt at 56. Yeah, you need to go do something, man. Make some money. And that solves a lot of these problems. The second thing solves a lot of these problems is investing the 400k, please. So in 2023, if you had it in an index mutual fund called an S and P that reflected exactly what the stock market did in 2024, you would have made 23% and 26% those two years. Now, that's not normal, but just to point out, okay, here's what that means. That's $50,000 a year. You've lost $100,000 by having that 400 sitting on its butt in a bank account instead of invested. Well, a hundred grand.

[Caller (Daniel)]

Yep.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Why didn't you do it, Daniel? Were you risk averse or were you just never got around to it?

[Caller (Daniel)]

Fearful? I've been conservative all my life and conservative.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, that's good. I can. I can work with that one. All right, so here's the answer. There's two kinds of fear, and we've all got them. There's fear of something that will hurt you and that's a real fear. And you should stay away from something that will hurt you. The other thing that we're afraid of is things we don't understand and don't know about. Okay, you're standing in the middle of the interstate, 18 wheelers coming at you. You should be afraid and you should move. You, you're going to die. You're going to touch a hot stove. You should be afraid you're going to get a third degree burn. Okay, don't do that. That's a real fear. If your 7 year old son, when he was 7, he's 16, but if he was 7 is learning to ride a bicycle and he's afraid, well, he might fall over and scratch his knee, he isn't going to die and he's going to get the joy of learning to ride a bicycle. So he's afraid of something he hasn't learned to do yet. When I drove a car the very first time, I distinctly remember, I was 10 years old, my dad tossed me the keys and gave me no instruction, which was a really dumb idea. And all I can remember is it was a gravel driveway. And when I pushed down on the accelerator all the way to the floor, I just about emptied the driveway with the back tires throwing gravel everywhere until the screaming stopped from all the neighbors, my mother and my dad and I let off the accelerator finally. But now I've learned to drive a car and I'm not afraid of cars anymore. But I was afraid that day of cars. Okay, with good reason. Because I didn't know what the heck I was doing. Right? So that's where you are with investing. Investing is not the 18 wheeler or the hot stove. It's. You don't understand it, right? And it's not. The good news is it's not rocket surgery. You can do it. Everybody can understand this. It's not that hard. So Jade and I are going to send you to the smartvestor [e-mail]. click on the website, get one of those. And Jay, I mean, you came at this the very first time. I had a finance degree, so I had a, I had a jump start. But you and Sam sit down with a smartvestor pro the very first time. You didn't know beans?

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

How's that? That's pretty intimidating.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

It's intimidating and I, I will say I think it's helpful if you can engage with a show like this or do a little bit of research on your own. So at least you Can. Because there's lingo and jargon, and you want to feel like you understand that, but if you sit down with the right person, they can help you understand it a little bit more.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's really. I mean, because here's the thing. You buy a house, well, that's an investment. There's no guarantee. The federal government does not get. You know, there's no FDIC for your house. You could lose the house. You could lose the. The neighborhood could go up in a sinkhole. You'd lose everything.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

There's always risk.

[Dave Ramsey]

I mean, there's. You know, there's a. But the neighborhood could go bad. Sure. You know, and instead you go, okay, I'm buying a house in an area that has a long track record.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

The trees are big enough. I can predict the future based on the past.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And that's what you do with an investment. You pick out something that's got a long track record, and then you got to understand how to do it. Like you had to understand how to buy that first house.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And there's 19 moving parts. But they're really not that complicated. Once you do it, once you go.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Eh, you start to figure it out.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's doable. So, you know, I think if you move that 400. Daniel into some good investments and then get back to work and. Because you're going to have a better life, man, it's just more enjoyable. There's just no. There's no dignity in sitting on your butt.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

You got to use your skills in your mind.

[Dave Ramsey]

Go do something big, man. Go. Go do something big. Go make twice as much money as you've ever made in your life. Start you a business, and you go, wow, I'm so glad I quit that ugly job.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Act two.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. Here we go.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Dave, you know, this is my favorite question. If you didn't do finance and real estate, what would you do if you had to make yourself have an act, too?

[Dave Ramsey]

Finance and real estate. Well, that's the only things I do.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

I know, but I'm saying if you didn't do that, if tomorrow you had to pick something else, what would you pick?

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't have any idea. But before I decided. Yeah, I mean, before I decided to not do this, I would have an idea, but I would go straight to the next thing.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

No. I mean, I'm a teacher at heart, but I'm not going to the classroom.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

No.

[Dave Ramsey]

So. But I'm going to teach something. I'm going to lead. I'm going to. I'm a. I love business. I love running a business.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I would open.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Open something.

[Dave Ramsey]

Open something. Helping people some way. And it would probably involve teaching in some way or another. But teaching is part of leadership too.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Yeah, that's true.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. But yeah.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

I thought you might have something off the wall.

[Dave Ramsey]

No.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

A pilot.

[Dave Ramsey]

Never. Never wanted to be a pirate or a secret agent. No. Never did. So. So just don't have any. I don't have any. Busted. Busted Dave dreams None at all. It's all good. So none at all. No. Busted Dave dreams. Oh yeah. That's it. Anyway. Yeah, that's what I would do. I would sit down with a good smartvestor pro and get it going that way. And you know, I think that'll show you, begin to teach you they've got the heart of a teacher.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And having the heart of a teacher is the big thing.

[Co-host (possibly Chris Hogan or another Ramsey Solutions team member)]

And I do want to say this because you asked the question when you first hear and learn about investing the first time, it doesn't sink in. The first time you hear it, it's just like, it's like when you turn the it's like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you turn the lights on to go to the bathroom and then when you turn the lights off, you're like, you can't see anything. That's like what it is. When you hear about investing for the first time, you're like, what was that? I don't remember. Where was it? And then when you hear it the second time, it sinks in a little bit more than the third time it sinks in. And before you know it, you've heard it several times. Now you're like, oh, I get it now. I understand. So it's okay if the first time you hear it, you don't fully understand it. That's normal.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, I'll go with it. That's good. The point is, learn about it because it's not going to kill you. You need to learn about it and get comfortable with it. And that'll get you there.

[Podcast Announcer]

Thanks for tuning in to Ramsey. Everyday millionaires. Need help with your investments? Connect with a smartvestor [e-mail] smartvestor or click the link in the show notes. Ramsey Solutions is a paid non client promoter of participating pros. Learn [e-mail] SmartVestor.