Rachel Cruze Says Dad Dave Ramsey Put Her and Siblings on ‘401 Dave Plan’ as Kids

In a TikTok video, the 'Smart Money Happy Hour' host recalled her finance expert father's money-conscious parenting strategies

NEED TO KNOW

• In a TikTok posted last month, Rachel Cruze shared four of her dad Dave Ramsey’s money-conscious parenting strategies, which she said she’ll be using with her own kids
• The podcast host recalled how her parents framed concepts like allowances, savings and generosity while raising her and her two siblings, Daniel and Denise
• Despite the fact that Cruze’s three kids are between the ages of 6 and 10 years old, she is already planning to have them pay for half of the cars they’ll want one day, once they obtain their driver’s licenses

Dave Ramsey's daughter Rachel Cruze is looking back on some of the benefits of being raised by a financial expert.

In April, the Smart Money Happy Hour host, 38, took to TikTok to list out four things her parents practiced with her and her siblings, Denise, 40, and Daniel, 34. Despite the somewhat unconventional methods utilized by their dad, Dave, 65, Cruze noted to her followers that she does plan to repeat the same money-conscious lessons with her own kids.

First, she recalled how her parents framed compensation for chores as being "on commission, not allowance" to properly convey the "correlation between work and money." That means that some household obligations are expected to be done for free simply because the kids are part of the family, as Cruze explained, but there are also tasks that can be completed in exchange for cash.

Despite the fact that her kids are only ages 10, 8 and 6 years old right now, Cruze has already started to think about the fact that she'll require them to pay for half of the cars they might get after obtaining driver's licenses. It's the same rule her dad enforced, but the Ramsey Solutions CEO named it with a punny twist on 401(k) plans.

"We had the '401-Dave' plan, meaning whatever money we saved, they would match. And this is a great lesson for your teenagers to learn. Not only delayed gratification, but saving up for a big purchase that they're very invested in," Cruze said in her TikTok. "We will match whatever money they have and that will be the amount of money they have for their first car."

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She also said she will teach her children about "prioritizing generosity." The mom of three invoked a rule her mother and father instilled in her from a young age: "After we were paid, my parents always told us that you give first, save second, spend third," Cruze shared.

"Understanding generosity, experiencing generosity, even as a kid, it shapes who you are. It really does," she continued. "The character building you're gonna do with your kids — not just the tactical side of money — is as important."

The fourth tenet — which Cruze noted she and her siblings were only told about later in — refers to how her parents' mindset "was always that more is caught than taught." She reminded parents viewing her video that their kids are watching them, and it's crucial to demonstrate good habits, not just talk about them.

"You can preach all day to them, but what you're doing with money, how you experience money, how you handle money, your thoughts around money, your value around money, all of that is being said without you saying anything," Cruze concluded. "So the healthier you are with money as a parent, I think your kids take that on as well."

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