10 Questions with ... Dave Ramsey

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

America's trusted voice on money and business, Dave Ramsey, is the author of three New York Times best-sellers and the host of an extremely popular nationally syndicated radio talk show. "The Dave Ramsey Show" is heard on more than 450 radio stations by 4.5 million listeners weekly. In 2009, Dave was honored to be named Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year at the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Radio Awards.

1. Your personal journey back from bankruptcy has been well-documented, but when and how did you decide to take your talents to radio? What brought you to radio?

After we lost everything, friends started coming to me and asking, "How did you put your financial house back together?" After a while I started a private financial counseling business and then I wrote and self-published Financial Peace. It was really fun and satisfying to help people with their money problems. Around that time WWTN-FM in Nashville filed Chapter 11 and one of its hosts quit because he wasn't getting paid. I thought I could reach more people with my Financial Peace message on the radio so I agreed to take a time slot for a month at no pay and do a show about money and finances. That was 1992 and I've been the show ever since.

2. You've achieved great success with a show that didn't fit the usual mold when it arrived on the scene; it wasn't, and isn't, like the other shows available in syndication or locally. Do you think that unique nature helped or hindered you? Was it hard to overcome resistance on the part of General Managers and Program Directors? What was that sales pitch?

Yes...being different has helped and hindered us. A lot of radio people told us we would never make it but others thought the show was great from the beginning. We chose to learn from some of the criticism but not listen to the negative comments for the most part. For some programmers they needed to see success in other markets before taking the show. That was frustrating because we knew that we had a good product that we could provide them ratings and great revenue opportunities. I run a business myself so I understand wanting to minimize risk but now after scratching and clawing for each and every of our 450 clears we have a solid track record. Once we had some success stories in markets across the country the objections that we were getting ("He is too Southern," etc.) went away. We're the tortoise and not the hare. We've stayed on track and grown slowly and nearly 20 years later I'm an overnight success.

3. In talking to your many callers, is there something you look for in each that determines how successfully they might pull themselves out of financial trouble? Is there a common trait among people who are able to get back control of their finances -- and their lives?

Les Brown, the great motivator, says, "People change their lives when they say 'I've had it!'" I can hear in a caller's voice when they've reached that point and I know they are ready to do whatever it takes to get out of their mess.

4. How did the response you get from listeners change, if at all, when the economy collapsed? Did the calls get more panicked and intense? Did your advice change?

When the economy was great, there were hurting people calling my show. And, when the economy went south there were hurting people calling my show. Over time I heard a little more hopelessness in the voices of some people who began to believe the doom and gloom the media was reporting but not a lot changed for the most part. My advice never changes. My plan works in a good economy and a bad economy because it's all about getting control of your money. That's smart anytime.

5. As the economy takes tentative steps towards recovery, do you think people have learned their lesson? Are you concerned that the public is susceptible to plunging right back into the same mistakes that they made before the economy fell apart? How confident are you that the economy WILL be recovering quickly enough to avoid another dip?

For some people this will be their Great Depression. I can remember my granddad pulling out a nail and straightening it to use again. That generation learned to be wise with money from the Great Depression. Some people learned that same lesson in recent years but there will always be people who do stupid with money. It's going to take some time but I'm very confident the economy will recover. We've had bad times in the past and we've always recovered. I'm an optimist!

6. There have been other financial talkers over the years, but your success has been on another level, and you've broken through to do it on a weekday basis rather than in a weekend slot like most. What do you perceive is the difference between the way you approach talking about finances as opposed to the hosts who came before you?

Our show works because we help people and people are entertaining. We don't do a money show... we do a show about people through the lens of money.

7. What would surprise people most about you?

Nothing. I'm just Dave. They hear exactly who I am on the radio every day. Sometimes people are most surprised by the fact that there is nothing surprising. I do barefoot water ski almost every weekend of the summer. Does that count?

8. You're not generally an advocate of using bankruptcy as a way out of personal debt. Why? Are there people for whom you'd say bankruptcy is a viable or even preferred option?

I never recommend divorce or bankruptcy. It's a myth that bankruptcy is a painless way to wipe-clean the financial slate and start over. I've been there. Bankruptcy is a gut-wrenching and leaves deep wounds to the psyche and the credit report.

9. You've established high school, college, and even elementary school curriculum programs teaching financial responsibility. It's a given for many people that schools have done a poor job teaching kids how to handle their money; do you see that changing? How receptive do you find educators to the idea?

Ever since I wrote "Financial Peace," people have been telling me, "I wish I'd learned this when I was a kid." It just makes sense to teach kids about money before they have a chance to make serious financial mistakes. Our curriculum is in more than 10,000 educational institutions and we hear great reports from teachers and students.

10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?

Best: Slow down enough to enjoy the ride, it is over way too soon. Slow down enough to take sure steps so you don't fall. Slow down enough to insure excellence. The tortoise beats the hare every time I read the book.

Worst: Anytime someone tries to convince me to do anything that conforms just because it conforms.