Sam Primm has built a real estate investing career centered on the St. Louis market. When Sam Primm joined Sean Kelly on the Digital Social Hour, the conversation went straight into his debt strategy, a public disagreement that made headlines, and his plans to grow beyond his home market.
It's a candid conversation rather than a pitch: Sam Primm explains why he carries tens of millions in debt on purpose, walks through a well-known disagreement with a mainstream personal-finance voice, and talks about what it's cost him to be this public about his numbers.
About Sam Primm
Sam Primm is a real estate investor and educator who built his business around the St. Louis market before setting his sights on expanding beyond it. He's known for being open about his numbers, including carrying around $25 million in debt as part of a deliberate leverage strategy, by his own account, rather than a warning sign.
That candor has also put him at the center of a well-publicized disagreement with personal-finance figure Dave Ramsey over how to think about debt and leverage, a divide that reflects two different schools of thought rather than a simple right and wrong. Sam Primm has also spoken about the death threats that followed.
What Sam Primm and Sean Kelly Talked About
- Why Sam Primm carries $25 million in debt as a deliberate leverage strategy
- How his approach to leverage differs from more conservative personal-finance philosophies
- The two schools of thought behind his public disagreement with Dave Ramsey
- What it's been like to face death threats over a public financial strategy
- His plans to expand the real estate business beyond the St. Louis market
- How he thinks about risk differently than mainstream debt-payoff advice
- Lessons from building a real estate business around a single regional market
- Why he's willing to be public about numbers most investors keep private
Why This Conversation Matters
This is a candid, firsthand look at an aggressive approach to real estate and debt, not a recommendation to copy it. For anyone curious about different schools of thought on leverage and risk, Sam Primm's account, including his very public disagreement with Dave Ramsey, is a useful listen on its own terms.
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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About Sean Kelly & the Digital Social Hour
Sean Kelly is an entrepreneur and the host of the Digital Social Hour, one of the fastest-growing interview podcasts in the world, where he sits down with entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, and cultural voices for candid, long-form conversations. The show draws over 100 million views a month across platforms. Explore more guest features on SeanKelly.io.
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