I inherited over $1.5 million and called Dave Ramsey to ask if I should get a prenup – this is what he told me

Financial management guru, talk show host and author Dave Ramsey has built a following of over 20 million weekly listeners on 600 radio stations across the US to The Ramsey Show. The podcast estimates 10 million downloads per month as well. 

Ramsey’s common sense, debt averse philosophy, and financial oversight principles, combined with his insights on human nature, humility, and Christian faith principles, have propelled his popularity to nationwide recognition. 

Unlike some of his peers, Ramsey has listeners and callers from all ages, and his sage advice, delivered with the sincerity of a trusted older uncle, rarely becomes argumentative or adversarial.

Is A Prenup The Right Answer?

A 22-year caller from Texas was several months away from her wedding. Some recent events had occurred in her life that prompted her to ask for advice as to if a prenup was warranted. The details were as follows:

• Her grandfather, a successful businessman, had recently passed away and left her an inheritance.
• She was inheriting a $500,000 stock portfolio, $500,000 cash, and ongoing recurring payments on her grandfather’s $1 million hardware business. 
• The caller herself only has $10,000 in savings.
• Her relationship with her fiance started when she was 17, and she recently also lost her father to an early death.
• The fiance just graduated from college, and stands to eventually inherit a Mosquito Joe’s restaurant franchise outlet from his parents. 
• The caller is concerned that his future inheritance is creating a lack of work ethic motivation for her fiance. 

Money Exposes, Not Causes Problems For People

Dave Ramsey quickly assessed the situation and sagely noted: “Money exposes, not causes problems for people. It exposes problems that they already have; it magnifies the good – and the bad – in both you and him.”  Although the caller and her fiance had seen a pre-marriage counselor for a single session, it appeared that matters were still unresolved. 

Although he normally doesn’t like them, Ramsey said that he advised a prenup for the caller – but with the understanding that it would not fix her fiance, but help her to escape him if things went awry in their marriage. 

Ramsey went on to summarize that getting on the same page about relationship goals is 90% of what constituted her problem, with the prenup only being 10%. The prenup was not going to fix the relationship any more than a contract with a crook would make a crook turn honest. 

Touting the benefits of pre-marriage and family counseling, Dave Ramsey even went into how his own family relies on it for all of the children’s and grandchildren’s relationships when planning to join the Ramsey clan. 

Ramsey stated that his advice on a prenup was not so much for the marriage of the caller and her fiance, but to mitigate any “weird” influences from extended family, such as her future in-laws. The prenup would thus serve as safeguard from any schemes that a financial inequity might create on the part of the fiance’s family to try to access the funds. 

This article is written solely from an informational perspective. Should one require more comprehensive counsel, a meeting with a financial professional is advised. 

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