Let's read...

38 years ago, my wife and I got married. We were stupid. We didn't do any pre-marriage counseling. I was a hell-raising, beer-drinking hillbilly. Good salesman, though, so I sold her. And about the time I started buying and selling real estate, I left that other thing, and I grew up in the real estate business. My mom and dad were in the real estate business, so I thought I was going to flip this house, and that's back before there was cable TV to tell you how. And so, I'd buying houses and flipping them, and I got rich, starting from nothing. By the time I was 26 years old, I had about $4 million worth of real estate, a little over a million dollar net worth, and I was making about $250,000 cash taxable income a year. That's $20,000 a month. I don't know what neighborhood you grew up in, but the neighborhood I grew up in, we called that rich. It was fun, too, y'all. That car you always wanted, if you ever got some money, I want that car, mine was a Jaguar. I wanted to get me a Jaguar, because no one in my old neighborhood could even spell Jaguar. It was exotic, you know. So, I got me a Jaguar, man. Within 90 days, baby, I was a Jaguar. I was having fun. And Sharon and I, we had never traveled really much, other than a little bit of, I mean, we went to Florida on our honeymoon, and that was about it and... And we started getting some money, and we said, well, what do rich people do? And they found out they go to Hawaii, so we went to Hawaii. Rednecks in Hawaii, y'all, wow! The water's so blue! It was unbelievable! We loved it, too, man, it was a blast. We liked it so much, we got home and planned another trip, and two months later, we went back again. It was fun. And we got Sharon some of these sparkly things, and they weren't big enough, so we got her some more. It was fun, y'all. Sometimes I hear these people say, oh, those rich people are miserable. Mm-mm. Now, I am not here to tell you money will make you happy, because money will not make you happy.

Let's read...

Money will make you more of what you already are. If you're unhappy and you get money, you will be unbelievably unhappy. If you're depressed and you get money, your depression will darken. If you're a jerk and you get money, you become a big jerk. If you're sweet and you're generous, and you love giving and you get money, you become what we call a philanthropist, and you change entire communities, entire people sectors. You become more of what you already are when you get money. It doesn't fix your marriage. If you have a bad marriage, it'll make it worse. And the crazy that's in your family? So we're cruising along, everything's pretty good, and only I had done some stupid stuff. Nothing illegal, I didn't cheat anybody, I didn't lie, I didn't commit fraud, I didn't do anything like that. But I was just stupid. How many of y'all ever done something dumb with money? How many of you didn't raise your hand and have a problem with lying? I borrowed too much money, and we were doing a lot of it on 90-day notes because we were flipping these houses, and our bank, our largest bank, got sold to another bank out of state. And the guy looks down and goes, there's a kid, 26 years old, owes us a million two on 90-day notes. "Let's limit this relationship," which is banker talk for "Ruin his life." And we weren't late on a single note, but they called all our notes because under the paper I signed, they had the rights to do that if they just squirreled and they squirreled. I was the idiot to sign the paper that allowed that to happen, never dreaming that anybody would be that way. Our second largest lender heard we were in trouble and called another 800,000, so we got $2 million due almost immediately, and it's all tied up in real estate. We spent the next two and a half years of our life losing everything we owned. One year I made $250,000, the next year my taxable income was $6,000. Spent the whole year selling stuff, trying to pay my bills, because I was told you're supposed to pay your bills if you say you're going to. Two and a half years later, we were at the bottom. Our marriage was hanging on by a thread because the number one cause of divorce in North America today is money fights and money problems. We didn't get a divorce. Sharon said, I would've left, but I didn't have a car.

Let's follow David Ramsey...

Money/ will make you/ more of what you already are.// If you're unhappy and you get money, you will be/ unbelievably /unhappy. // If you're depressed and you get money,/ your depression/ will darken. // If you're a jerk and you get money, you become a big jerk. // If you're sweet and you're /generous,/ and you love giving and you get money, you become what we call/ a philanthropist,/ and you change entire communities, entire people sectors.// You become more / of what you already are/ when you get money. // It doesn't fix your marriage. If you have a bad marriage, it'll make it worse. // And the crazy /that's in your family? // So we're cruising along, everything's pretty good, and / only I had done some stupid stuff.// Nothing illegal, I didn't cheat anybody, I didn't lie, I didn't commit fraud, I didn't do anything like that./ But I was just stupid.// How many of y'all ever done something dumb with money?// How many of you didn't raise your hand and have a problem with lying? // I borrowed too much money, and we were doing a lot of it on 90-day notes because we were flipping these houses, and/ our bank,/ our largest bank, got sold to another bank/ out of state. //And the guy looks down and goes, there's a kid,/ 26 years old, / owes us a million two/ on 90-day notes. // "Let's limit this relationship,"/ which is banker talk for "Ruin his life." // And / we weren't late / on a single note, / but they called all our notes because under the paper I signed, they had the rights to do that/ if they just squirreled/ and they squirreled. // I was the idiot to sign the paper that allowed that to happen,/ never dreaming that anybody would be that way.// Our second largest lender heard we were in trouble and called another 800,000, so we got $2 million due/ almost immediately, and it's all tied up in real estate. // We spent the next two and a half years of our life losing everything we owned. // One year I made $250,000,/ the next year my taxable income was $6,000./ Spent the whole year selling stuff, trying to pay my bills, because I was told you're supposed to pay your bills if you say you're going to. // Two and a half years later, we were at the bottom.// Our marriage was hanging on by a thread/ because the number one cause of divorce in North America today is money fights/ and money problems. // We didn't get a divorce. // Sharon said,/ I would've left, but I didn't have a car.//