“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”

— Dave Ramsey

Source: The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Dave Ramsey 11

American financial advisor 1960

movie Fight Club (1999)

“Spending money you don't have for things you don't need to impress people you don't like.”

Walter Slezak (1902–1983) actor

Quoted as "Actor Walter Slezak's version of "keeping up with the Joneses"": in LOOK magazine, Vol. 21 number 14 (July 9, 1957) p. 10 http://books.google.com/books?id=-NERAQAAMAAJ&q=%22impress+people%22, in LOOK's permanent category of quotes "WHAT THEY ARE SAYING".
Already in 1905 W.T. O'Connor had stated that advertising was "The gentle art of persuading the public to believe that they want something they don't need" in "Advertising Definitions", in Ad Sense, Vol. 19, No. 2 (August 1905), p. 121 http://books.google.com/books?id=zPRKAAAAYAAJ&q=%22W.+T.+O%27CONNOR%22, and in 1931 one finds Will Rogers being quoted with advertising "as something that makes you spend money you haven't got for things you don't want." But this complete statement with the finale "to impress people you don't like" seems to have originated with Slezak. However, Quote Investigator https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/04/21/impress/ instead traces the quotation back to American humorist Robert Quillen, who wrote in 1928: "Americanism: Using money you haven't earned to buy things you don't need to impress people you don't like."

“Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

“Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.”

Will Smith (1968) American actor, film producer and rapper

Cf. LOOK Magazine 1957: Actor Walter Slezak's version of "keeping up with the Joneses": "Spending money you don't have for things you don't need to impress people you don't like." p. 10 books.google http://books.google.com/books?id=-NERAQAAMAAJ&q=slezak.
Misattributed

“The kibbutz way of life is not for everyone. It is meant for people who are not in the business of working harder than they should be working, in order to make more money than they need, in order to buy things they don't really want, in order to impress people they don't really like.”

Amos Oz (1939–2018) Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual

"The Great Disruption", In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, 17 Jun 1999, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545kh

“We don't want to make our money selling things that are bad for people.”

Charlie Munger (1924) American business magnate, lawyer, investor, and philanthropist

[Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Meeting 2021 featuring Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, May 1, 2021, Yahoo Finance, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx-OzwHpM9k] (quote at 4:32:01 of 5:42:25)

“We know all the people. We know all the good people. It's a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven't been used for many, many years, and if we ever need them, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money — I'm a businessperson, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need 'em, when we need 'em, we can get them back very quickly.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Asked about his consistent budget cuts to the CDC, the NIH, and the WHO.

White House press conference, , quoted in * 2020-02-28

As the World Reaches for Face Masks, Trump Buries His Head in the Sand

Jonathan Chait

New York Magazine

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/trump-coronavirus-response.html
2020s, 2020, February