Dave Ramsey

David Lawrence Ramsey III (born September 3, 1960) is an American personal finance personality, radio show host, author, and businessman. An evangelical Christian, he hosts the nationally syndicated radio program The Ramsey Show. Ramsey has written several books, including The New York Times bestseller The Total Money Makeover, and hosted a television show on Fox Business from 2007 to 2010. 

Ramsey was born in Antioch, Tennessee, to real estate developers. He attended Antioch High School, where he played ice hockey. At age 18, Ramsey took the real estate exam. He began selling property, working through college at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Real Estate.

By 1986, Ramsey had amassed a significant portfolio worth over $4 million. However, when the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987 took effect, several banks changed ownership and recalled his $1.2 million in loans and lines of credit because he was over-leveraged. Ramsey was unable to pay and filed for bankruptcy in 1988.

Ramsey experienced several years of financial recovery and began offering financial advice to couples at his local church. In 1988 he founded the Lampo Group, a financial counseling service, and in 1992, he wrote and self-published his first book, Financial Peace.

Ramsey began as one of three alternating hosts of The Money Game on radio station WWTN/Nashville in 1992. The show eventually became The Dave Ramsey Show, Ramsey's daily three-hour call-in financial advice talk show.

Financial Peace University, Ramsey's nine-lesson, video-based personal finance course, debuted in 1994. The Gannett newspaper group ran his financial column, though it was dropped when they realized that Ramsey had changed the names on the letters to which he was responding. He offered to pay them their money back. The Dave Ramsey Show aired on the Fox Business Network from 2007 to 2010.

In 2014, The Lampo Group, Inc. was rebranded as Ramsey Solutions. The company's headquarters are located in Franklin, Tennessee, and a new 47-acre campus opened there in 2019. Ramsey has written five books for adults, three of which were New York Times bestsellers and six children's books. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2015.