Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too is Dave Ramsey’s argument that his Baby Steps do not just get you out of debt, they make you a millionaire. Ramsey Press published it in January 2022.
A correction first. The previous version of this review said the book has Scripture references reinforcing the financial lessons, budgeting templates, prompts for family discussion, and a focus on tithing and biblical money principles. I could not verify any of that. This is a wealth-building book from a company with Christian roots, not a book of biblical stewardship teaching. Do not buy it expecting Scripture study.
What is actually in it
Two things, mainly.
The first is stories: people who worked the Baby Steps, dug out of debt, and crossed the million-dollar mark. Teachers, plumbers, ordinary earners. Ramsey’s point is that none of them inherited it.
The second is data. The book leans on Ramsey Solutions’ National Study of Millionaires, which they describe as the largest study of millionaires done in North America. The headline finding is the one Ramsey wants you to take away: the overwhelming majority of millionaires did not inherit their money, and most of them are not doctors or lawyers.
That finding is genuinely worth hearing if you have decided the game is rigged and there is no point starting.
The honest problem with the argument
This is worth thinking about carefully, and no review that just cheerleads is doing you a favor.
The book profiles people who followed the Baby Steps and became millionaires. It does not, and cannot, tell you how many people followed the Baby Steps and did not. A study of successful people asking what they did in common will always find things in common. That is selection, not proof of cause.
Plenty of what Ramsey teaches is sound regardless: spend less than you earn, kill your debt, invest steadily for decades, do not try to get rich quickly. Those work. Just hold the promise in the title a little loosely.
The usual Ramsey caveats
You are getting Ramsey’s framework whole. Debt is treated as categorically bad, including at low interest. His investing guidance favors actively managed mutual funds over index funds, and his long-run return assumptions are optimistic compared to what most advisors would use. Those are contested positions, not settled ones.
If you want a Christian finance author who teaches low-cost passive investing instead, our review of Nate James covers one.
Note on the format
The listing this post links is the Kindle edition. Print is available under a different listing.
Who should read it
A man who believes wealth is only for people who started with it, and needs that belief challenged with examples. Someone partway through the Baby Steps who needs proof the back half is worth finishing.
Skip it if you want biblical teaching on money, or if you are at the beginning and need the mechanics. The Total Money Makeover is the book for that stage. This one is about the destination.
Baby Steps Millionaires on Amazon