Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. <\/p>\n
Americans keep hearing that the economy is doing well, yet plenty of people look at their bank accounts and feel like they missed the good part.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Personal finance personality Dave Ramsey says younger generations may have a reason for feeling squeezed, although he believes their monthly debt payments explain a big part of the disconnect. <\/p>\n
Ramsey was asked in a recent interview with Fox News<\/a> why people remain uneasy<\/a> about their finances while the stock market continues hitting record highs<\/a>. “The problem is feelings aren’t facts,” Ramsey said. “They create facts in our head, but they are not facts.” <\/p>\n Don’t Miss: <\/p>\n Monthly Payments Are Eating Up People’s Money <\/p>\n Ramsey pointed to the enormous amount Americans owe on cars, credit cards and student loans. He argued that Gen Z and millennials have been hit especially hard because so much of their income is already committed before they have a chance to save or invest. <\/p>\n “They are jammed up in their budget regardless of what the S&P 500 is doing,” Ramsey told Fox News. “They don’t have good feelings right now because Citibank has stolen all their stinking money<\/a> with what’s in their wallet.” <\/p>\n He then pointed to what younger Americans could have gained from the stock market during the past several years. <\/p>\n “The market is up 13% year to date. That’s awesome,” Ramsey said. “If you had money in S&P, your money would have doubled in the last four years, but no, we are not participating in any of that because all we are doing is paying payments.” <\/p>\n Ramsey connected that same debt burden to another major frustration for younger Americans: buying a home. “The truth is a lot of people feel boxed out of the housing market right now,” he said. Yet people are carrying roughly $1 trillion in auto debt, $1 trillion in credit card debt and close to $2 trillion in student loans, he added, asking, “Guess who’s carrying that? These last two generations.” <\/p>\n Trending: Colorado’s Growth Story Is Creating New Real Estate Opportunities. Here’s How Accredited Investors Can Explore Avenue South.<\/a> <\/p>\n Ramsey’s larger argument was that income becomes a powerful wealth-building tool once fewer dollars are tied up in monthly debt payments. Investing can then become part of the budget instead of something people hope to start someday. <\/p>\n Real estate has helped many people build wealth over time. Buying and managing an entire rental property can require a large upfront investment and plenty of hands-on work. Arrived<\/a> offers another way to get involved by allowing you to buy fractional shares of professionally selected rental properties.<\/a> <\/p>\n Arrived handles tenant interactions and maintenance while selecting properties with the goal of generating rental income and growing in value over time. You can earn dividends on a monthly basis without becoming hands-on landlords. Start investing in real estate<\/a> through Arrived with just a few clicks and let the company handle the rest. <\/p>\n See Also: The AI Boom Needs More Than Chips. Explore The Infrastructure Company Building For The Next Wave Of Compute Demand.<\/a> <\/p>\n ‘You Can Afford a House in America Today’ <\/p>\n With the median price of a single-family home approaching $450,000 and mortgage rates around 6.66%, Ramsey said many first-time buyers feel priced out<\/a>. <\/p>\n He acknowledged that home prices and interest rates are genuine affordability problems, but also believes debt makes the problem considerably harder. <\/p>\n “If you don’t have any student loan debt, you don’t have any credit card debt and you don’t have a $1,200 car payment,” he told Fox News, “you can afford a house in America today with an average household income.” <\/p>\n Ramsey pointed to the Midwest, where he said the average home costs around $329,000. He argued that someone earning $80,000 could afford that price if their budget wasn’t already weighed down by payments. <\/p>\n Ramsey encouraged people to think carefully about how much of their spending is driven by appearances. <\/p>\n “If you buy an item and no one ever saw you with that item, would you be OK and would you still buy that item?” he asked on Fox News. “You can’t be driving a $1,400-a-month Escalade and wondering why you are broke”. <\/p>\n Read Next: Wall Street Traders Pay Thousands For Market Data. This Platform Gives Everyday Investors Access To Advanced Tools.<\/a> <\/p>\n Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market <\/p>\n Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry. <\/p>\n Arrived <\/p>\n Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can <\/a>buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100<\/a>. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly. <\/p>\n Realberry <\/p>\n Institutional-quality real estate has traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access. <\/a>Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities<\/a> backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company. With a portfolio spanning 13 million square feet across seven U.S. states, Realberry focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing real estate with an emphasis on long-term value creation while its principals often invest alongside clients to help align interests. <\/p>\n FarmTogether <\/p>\n Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors, <\/a>FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000<\/a> \u2014 fully managed, with no landlord headaches. <\/p>\n Fundrise <\/p>\n Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio. <\/a>Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate<\/a> and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth. <\/p>\n Mode Mobile <\/p>\n Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day.<\/a> Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte’s fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream.\u00a0 <\/p>\n EquityMultiple\u00a0 <\/p>\n For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000<\/a>,<\/a> with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process. <\/p>\n Image: Shutterstock <\/p>\n This article Dave Ramsey Says Gen Z and Millennials’ Feelings About the Economy ‘Aren’t Facts.’ They Could Have Doubled Their Money in the S&P 500<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a> <\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. 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