Dave Ramsey thinks people need to stop obsessing over how rich people spend their money and start worrying about their own financial situation instead. And he's not exactly sugar-coating the message.
The whole thing started with Jay-Z dropping $110,000 in a single night at a bar for a friend's birthday. That kind of spending naturally got people talking on social media, including one millennial who decided to drag both the rapper and Ramsey into a Twitter critique. That turned out to be a mistake.
Speaking on "The Ramsey Show," the financial guru pointed out that context matters when you're judging someone's spending. For someone at Jay-Z's income level, $110,000 might as well be pocket change. While Ramsey admitted the amount "blows my mind," he said Jay-Z did nothing wrong. The rapper was celebrating with friends, being generous, and probably promoting his brand while he was at it.
When Twitter Gets Personal
Then Ramsey addressed the social media post that name-checked him. "Guy tweets, 'I'm up to my elbows in every day making a third of this in a year,' $30,000 I guess, 'and I'm the lazy, self-entitled millennial for wanting to make more money,'" Ramsey recounted. "I clearly have a different definition of lazy, self-entitled than the Sean Hannity and Dave Ramsey crowd.'"
Ramsey didn't hold back in his response. He said the poster was griping about Jay-Z's spending purely out of jealousy and envy over the rapper's wealth. According to Ramsey, that kind of bitterness doesn't just feel bad, it actually keeps people stuck in financial failure. Rather than complaining, people should celebrate others' success and practice gratitude.
Ramsey made it clear he has nothing against millennials as a generation, but he does have issues with what he called "whiners" who live in their "mother's basement."
The Real Problem, According to Ramsey
"What you're saying in your tweet is you want somebody to give you more money because you breathe air," Ramsey said. "That's lazy and self-entitled. Griping about Jay-Z's bar tab and indicating that you don't make enough because he has a bar tab that makes us three times what you make in a year is not an indication of a societal problem, it's an indication that you are jealous, worse than that, you're envious."
Ramsey went on to describe envy as an "evil spirit" that's become widespread across all age groups in America. His philosophy is straightforward: people have the right to earn money based on their talents and skills, and nobody should automatically assume wealthy individuals did something wrong to achieve success.
"I'm not mad at Bill Gates, I'm not mad at Warren Buffett, I'm not mad at Oprah," Ramsey said. "They all got more than I got, I'm happy that they have succeeded and every one of those by the way started with nothing. Most of those I just mentioned are billionaires, if not multi billionaires."
The underlying message in Ramsey's rant is pretty simple, even if the delivery was harsh: spending energy resenting other people's wealth doesn't build your own. Instead of focusing on Jay-Z's bar tab, that $30,000-a-year millennial would probably be better served figuring out how to increase their own income. It's classic Ramsey tough love, wrapped in a financial philosophy that says your bank account is your responsibility, not anyone else's.
