Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey has a message for anyone who spent the last three years glued to apocalyptic market predictions: you probably left a lot of money on the table. While news outlets obsessed over every economic hiccup, the stock market was quietly doing what it does best—going up.

The Numbers Tell a Different Story

On a recent episode of "The Ramsey Show," Ramsey laid out the case with his usual no-nonsense approach. "The stock market was up, the S&P in 2023, 26%. The stock market was up in 2024, 25%," he said. "The stock market was up in 2025, 16%. That's a total of 67% in three years."

Here's the kicker, according to Ramsey: "That's not on the news." He pointed out that a simple $100,000 sitting in a growth stock mutual fund inside a 401(k) would now be worth around $170,000, even without adding another cent to it.

The math gets even more interesting at scale. "If you got a million dollars in there during this time, it's looking nice. That means you made $700,000 in three years on your million," Ramsey explained. "If you got 10 million, you just made $7 million on your 10 million in three years."

That's the kind of wealth creation that doesn't exactly make for dramatic television. "You're not going to hear this on the news," Ramsey said. "The only thing you hear is when the whole world's coming to an end."

According to Ramsey, countless investors likely sat on the sidelines precisely because they were too focused on headlines screaming about government shutdowns, tariff wars, and artificial intelligence bubbles that may or may not materialize.

The Tortoise Beats the Hare (and the News Cycle)

Ramsey's investment philosophy isn't flashy, and that's exactly the point. His tried-and-true approach centers on steady, consistent investing regardless of whatever chaos dominates the news cycle. "I'm just the tortoise. I just keep investing every week, every day, every month," he said.

He even threw in some perspective for the skeptics. Even a mediocre mutual fund that returned half the S&P 500's gains over the past year would still outperform the best high-yield savings accounts available. "Smoke on that for a second," he quipped.

The lesson here is pretty straightforward: don't let fear-based reporting scare you away from long-term wealth building. "This is why you start investing, you keep investing, and you don't stop investing," Ramsey said. "And if you need to turn off the news, it's not a bad idea."

Building a Strategy That Actually Works

For investors who want a more structured approach and personalized guidance, working with a certified financial planner can help keep emotions in check when markets get choppy. The key is finding someone who looks at your entire financial picture—investments, taxes, insurance, real estate—and builds a plan that matches your actual goals, not just what's trending on financial Twitter.

The bottom line is simple: market timing based on scary headlines is a losing game. The investors who tuned out the noise and stayed invested are the ones sitting on 67% gains right now. Sometimes the best financial advice is also the most boring—keep contributing, stay diversified, and let compound growth do its thing.