Take Back Your Money in 2026

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Please welcome to the stage, Dave Ramsey. What's up? How you guys doing? Wow. Well, obviously, obviously we're having a party here at Franklin, Tennessee in the Ramsey Event Center, and welcome to all of you here in the audience, and welcome to all of you at home that are watching all over the world. Yeah, we're glad you're with us. Thanks for hanging out with us. Welcome to Take Back Your Money 2026. Yeah. Let me tell you about my friend, Larry. Larry's 22 years old, one year out of college. Is walking along the sidewalk on a cold winter's day, kind of like maybe today. He looked up at the house in front of him on that street he was walking on, and he thought to himself, I don't think I'll ever be able to get one of those. I think the housing market has left me, my generation behind. House prices are the highest they've ever been in American history, he thinks to himself. Interest rates are the highest they've been in a decade or maybe ever. Car prices, you looked at a car. Have you tried to buy groceries after you pump a tank full of gas? You looked at the pump prices. Then he turns on a screen and a talking head tells him how bad it is. He changes the channel and another talking head tells him there's a easy get rich quick way to get around all of these problems that he's facing, and he's beginning to feel the hope drain out of his body. Doesn't feel like this president can fix it, doesn't feel like the last president can fix it. Is the system broken, are the glory days all behind us? Are we stuck? Will I be able to work my way through this? Is the great American experiment over, the great American dream unattainable for somebody like me, Larry thinks? A lot of noise, a lot of chaos out there coming into his ears, a lot of opinions. Does that sound familiar? By the way, my name is David Lawrence Ramsey the third. That was 1982, and I'm Larry. It's easy to feel like the deck is stacked against you. We've heard it in every generation and we hear it every day. There's always been a hope stealer out there. There's always been someone telling you that it can't be done. There's also someone always telling you there's a shortcut that's a lie based on greed and deception. There's always been a huckster, and there's always been a naysayer, and a negative nanny. Most of them are in your family. We hear it every day. House prices are through the roof. Inflation's killing the American dream. Job market. You know, you can't get a job in America today. And if you did get a job AI, it'd steal it from you. Wages are stagnant. Tariffs are toppling the …