The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Let Your Parent Be a Travel Agent for Guilt Trips! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 15, 2019

Budgeting, Taxes Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. It is a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Sarah is with us in Albany, New York. Hi, Sarah, and welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my husband and I are recently debt-free, and we are in baby step number three. And this led me to sort of ask my mom about how her finances are because she's 60 years old, and I know someday we might have to help her. So I found out that she only has $200,000 in savings,

and she brought up that she wants to give us fifty thousand dollars of that money for her to put it towards a house that she can live in with us or she expects us to pay for fifty percent of her rent for an apartment she lives in and i was sort of taken aback by that and i told her no and i just wanted to make sure that that was the right response to her request. I'm confused. She just stands up and says, you're going to pay my bills? That's pretty much how it went, and I let her know that. What was her basis? I mean, she's obviously been thinking about this,

and somehow she got it in her head that that was an okay thing to do. I mean, what if I called her up and said, I just want you to pay my bills? I mean, that's just so illogical. Yeah, so she's on disability and Social Security and all that kind of stuff, and she thinks that she's not able to work, which I think she can, but she's sort of relying on the disability. And I think she thinks that because she can't get a job for the rest of her life and because my husband and I are now financially stable, that it's our responsibility to take care of her for the rest of her life.

And where did she get this information? I don't know, but it makes me... What is the nature of her disability? She has fibromyalgia. And how long ago did her depression start? My parents got divorced about 15 years ago, and she hasn't really recovered from that. She struggles with depression. That makes sense.

Yes, for sure. All right. Well, you know, so, you know, I think you're dealing with someone who's got issues. And so we're going to be kind. My initial reaction is just sarcasm. But, like, you've got to be kidding me. But, no, I mean, it's like, but, no, I mean, the, I think you just say, Mom, that's not really in our plan. You've got $200,000, and you've got your disability. And if you need some help, I can coach you on your budget to where you can live within the disability.

But you've not really done anything in 15 years to get better. Yeah. For 15 years, you've wallowed in this, and you haven't taken the active steps to defeat your depression and it can be worked on i mean counseling and pharmaceuticals and there's i mean it's not it's not a hundred percent but there's a process where any kind of uh uh mental uh deficiency like that can be worked on and so uh and i've tried to get her to go to therapy and take medication. Yeah, exactly. And she's not doing anything. She's just wallowing in the mud hole. So, mom, we love you, but it's not our job to get you up out of the mud hole. It's your job. And I'll be your biggest

cheerleader. I'll stand beside you, but this idea that you think I'm going to write you checks is somewhere you got confused on that, and that's not going to happen, Mom. It's not because I don't love you. It's because it's your responsibility to do this. If she gets angry or hurt about that, will it come to the point where my husband and I have to not cut ties,

but decide if we sort of want that influence in our life? Because I feel like it's going to come to the point where she's just maybe asking for money all the time and making me feel bad about it and I don't know if I want something like that in my life. It would have to be pretty extreme to completely cut ties over it but I can cut the conversations off. Got it. Okay. Mom, love to talk to you about the grandbabies. Love to talk to you about the sunshine outside. Not going to have any more conversations about me giving you money. If you need something else, you call me anytime, hon.

I love you. And click. Okay. You know. All right. Got it. Got it. But I don't know that you would have to set up because she's not abusing anyone around you.

She's just bothering you. Yes. And you can just end that and just go hey anytime you want to talk about anything except that i'm here for you and i'm here to help you get if you want to get back on track you know we would even pay for you to go through financial peace university uh we might participate in some of your therapy bills uh we might you know things where you're working to get better fine where you uh are just attempting message is, you wouldn't say this, but where you're just attempting to be a parasite, no, that's not an option.

Right. Okay. All right. That sounds good. Yeah, you can draw your lines there. Have you read Boundaries yet by Dr. Henry Cloud? I almost picked it up at Barnes & Noble the other day, and I was like, no, I don't need this. Yeah, you need this.

And I was like, I think i need to go pick up that book yeah you need this because you need to learn to set gentle kind strong boundaries because otherwise you're just going to get pissed off and your boundary is going to be extreme yes for sure and so you but it'll give you because what it one of the things that book does is it lets you know you're not crazy that you're dealing with people that have issues yeah because you start to think you're crazy. I mean, I'm not taking care of my own mother. What kind of daughter am I?

You know, her tapes start playing in your head because this woman's a travel agent for guilt trips. Yes. Yeah. So, hey, hold on. I'll give you a copy of Henry's book. We'll send you a copy of Boundaries out. It's a wonderful book. And you just got to have boundaries. I mean, it's a normal part of and you just gotta have boundaries i mean there's there

it's just it's a it's a normal part of the process of the rhythm of life and i think that's why his book has been so popular it's been a perennial bestseller seth is with us at morgantown west virginia hi seth how are you i'm good dave how are you better Better than I deserve. What's up? I just had kind of a quick question. Me and my wife recently got married. We're both 25 years old. She's currently in her last year of medical school. So we were kind of looking to buy a house, and I was kind of looking at, I didn't know how to go about doing that. Currently, I have about $50,000 in retirement,

and we have about $50,000 just kind of waiting in a savings account that we were wondering whether we should put that towards a house or put it in a mutual fund or how to go about buying the house. Okay. Do you have any debt? No, we are debt-free. Awesome. No medical school debt?

No medical school debt, no. How'd you do that? God. We've just been really... Hello? I think God just hung up on you. Oh, my gosh. Hello.

There you are. Okay. So how did you do that? She got a scholarship for med school to be completely paid for. From who? From the college. Wow. That's awesome.

Okay. So, well, I would get her out of med school, get her graduated, get her past her bar, let her get established in practice before you bought a house. You're premature to buy a house. Wow, that's awesome. Okay, so, well, I would get her out of med school, get her graduated, get her past her bar, let her get established in practice before you bought a house. You're premature to buy a house. So I'd leave the money sitting in a CD right now waiting, and I'd continue to add to it to become your down payment fund. But you're okay to rent for a year while she finishes up, gets her bars passed,

and gets established in a practice. That's going to inform you a lot better on which house to purchase. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org.

That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Sonny from San Diego, California, dropped by and had a question. Hey, Sonny, what's up? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. First of all, it's such a great honor to speak to you. And my question is, I've just immigrated to the United States, and I've lived a frugal life, like saved my money, been careful with it.

But since I've arrived in the United States, I've had some of my acquaintances tell me that your frugal living will make your social outcast here if you do not buy an expensive watch, an expensive car, and all of those status symbols. You will be treated as a social outcast here if you do not buy an expensive watch, an expensive car, and all of those status symbols. You will be treated as a social outcast, and I'm keen to understand what would be your take on that. Love it.

Where did you immigrate from? United Kingdom. United Kingdom. Okay. And where did you grow up? I was born in India. I immigrated to the UK when I was 17. Okay.

And you're how old? 29. Okay. And how long did you live in the UK? 11 years. Were you a social outcast there? No. Okay.

Well, where did you live in the UK? A city called Bath. Right. A pretty good-sized city. It's a nice city. Yeah, a very legitimate city. And you weren't a social outcast there for being frugal? No, but I was like...

Where do you live in the United States? I live in San Diego. Oh, there it is. You might be a social outcast there. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. There are people in San Diego that have common sense as well. So I don't know what crowd you're running with there,

but it's different than the one you ran with in India or the one you ran with in Bath, for sure, because they have been bitten by the bug of consumerism. But plenty of Americans in any city will not consider you a social outcast for having good common sense values. Now, that's assuming, you know, if your clothes are not necessarily expensive, but they're at least clean, and your watch, I'm worth well over $10 million. This building's worth $20 million that you're standing in. It's paid for. And that's my watch. It's pretty unassuming. I think it costs about 150 bucks

um problem is i don't care what you think and if you think if you think i'm cool because i have a watch i don't really think you're cool so um you know that's the thing you got to decide who you want to influence you um and where you want to end up so what brought you to the united states why did you come here it was a childhood dream that i had um i read somewhere that um because this country guarantees freedoms to all people the supreme court had ruled that no one can be forced to uh recite the pledge of legions and that just got hold of me i was about 12 years old and i tried to uh apply that in my school in india's getting naive i was I didn't realize the American Constitution doesn't apply in India

and I actually got the teacher pulled me out I got sent to the principal and I said to the principal one day when I make it to the United States you won't be able to do this to me anymore so freedom that is correct and now people are trying to take

your freedom from you with forcing you to conform to something using a social pressure but not a law. Okay. And so I would treat it exactly the same way. As hard as you have fought through 29 years of your life to get to be standing here, I wouldn't surrender my freedom to stuff. All in the name of someone being impressed. Generally speaking, here's a good rule of thumb. People who are impressed by things that you have or wear are not impressive people when you get inside of their hearts and inside of their minds.

They're what we would call shallow. And so the very people you might attract by having some bling, by having some jewelry or some watches or the proper clothing are the people that you really don't want influencing your future and your character in your life you've paid a huge price to get to be here and enjoy this freedom and so you're a man of character and um the uh and the the so the people that are telling you that are probably not people i would want um to be influencing me i might want to influence them and try to help them but if i were in your shoes i would say that doesn't need to be your inner circle that are teaching you how to live mentoring you discipling you and so forth

and so you know check out uh folks that have a little more depth of character and aren't judging you based on what you drive. Now, again, it needs to be. If you drive an old car while you're trying to achieve a financial goal or something, well, it needs to be clean and maintained. Take good care of it. But it doesn't need to be dirty. It doesn't need to be the same thing with your clothing or your hair or whatever else.

You take care of the things that you have and manage them. But most wealthy people do not buy expensive things to impress other people. A few do, but most don't. That's how they became wealthy. Now, they do buy some expensive things. I buy some expensive things, but they're for me and for my family and for my wife and that kind of thing. They're not for what someone thinks. I've got a really nice home, but I didn't buy it for somebody else.

We live there. What you think about it, good or bad, doesn't really matter to me. I don't know. Is that helpful? Is that a helpful part of the discussion? Is that what you were looking at? Yes, sir. I think I needed to hear that.

Okay. What are you doing for a living? I work in IT. In IT. Okay. What do you do? A developer. You're a developer.

Okay. All right. Well, you probably need to come to Nashville and work for us. Sonny, it's an honor to meet you, sir. It's a pleasure to speak to you. You've got quite a story, brother. Quite a story. Well done.

Thanks for stopping by. Thank you, sir. Open phones at 888-825-5225 this is the dave ramsey show d is with us in atlanta hi d how are you hi i'm well thank you for asking sure what's up um i wanted to ask if i should sue my tax preparer since she reported false information um on our, and as a result, we are being charged that $10,000. You're being charged $10,000 in penalties?

Yes. Not taxes? I want to say they're taxes and penalties. Yeah, okay. So it shows like a percentage on the information as well as the cost. False information? She lied intentionally and you can prove that? Yes.

Why would she do that? I guess to get us back more money. I don't know. Like, for instance, she claimed that we have a business that we don't own. She claimed that we are paying for cars that we don't own. She claims that we were paying for mileage for this business again that we don't own that's weird yeah i mean did your husband have something to do with this no he doesn't he he says we should sue her no i mean just randomly out of thin air she dreamed

up a business that you don't have and cars you don't have and mileage that you don't have. Right. Now, we have a church, but, you know, churches don't get taxed. So there was no, there's nothing in the documentation that mentions anything about the church. It doesn't use our IEN number. It doesn't use our 501C3 number. It's just this random. Are you doing work outside the 501c3 as evangelists that you're being paid outside of the church?

No. You don't do speaking engagements and get paid for that on the side? No. Everything's through the church, 100%. Yes, and even for the church, we don't make any money for the church it's its own entity we both work independently through another company i see you have your bivocational pastors okay yes okay um well i i think if there are i don't know you need to see an attorney is the answer to your question, because I don't know whether you have grounds to sue someone or not.

This is a very bizarre thing that someone would do this just out of the blue. It's not a mere mistake. I mean, it's a complete fabrication. And so, I mean, this is a fraudulent activity on your behalf. Now, you signed the tax returns, though, didn't you? No, everything was digital. Yeah, but you had to see the tax return. You didn't allow someone to send in tax returns that you didn't see, surely.

You may have trouble. I don't know. You need to see an attorney and ask them. My guess is the most you could hope to get back would be the penalties, the taxes you already owed and you still owe. The penalties are due to them not being paid on time due to this. And I think that's the most you might right back. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Chris and Lydia are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

We're awesome. Great. Welcome. Where do you guys live? Springfield, Missouri. Wonderful. Welcome to Nashville. And here to do a debt-free scream.

Yes, sir. How much you guys paid off? $161,000. Wonderful. Welcome to Nashville. And here to do a debt-free scream. Yes, sir. How much you guys paid off? $161,000. Woo-hoo! And how long did this take? 24 months. Yo! You got after it.

And your range of income during that time? We started at $192,000, and then this year we'll probably finish around $225,000. Great income. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a nurse anesthetist, and then Lydia finished grad school and works with visually impaired and orientation and mobility and works with the school districts. Okay. Very cool.

Well, great careers. Obviously, great income. And I'm going to guess 161 might have had a student loan or two in it. It did. It also had our house. You paid off your house? Yes, we did. We're weird.

I'm looking at weird people. We did, yes. I love it. What's this house worth? 200 to 225. Excellent. How old are you two? 31.

And I'm 39. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. You have a paid-for house. Yes, sir. Did you ever think you'd have a paid-for house? No, not until we started listening to you. No, we didn't. It wasn't something that we even thought would be normal, or we just assumed.

We even thought 15 years was probably, you know, we probably should have done a 30 year loan. So no, it's, um, yeah, we, we came out here in 2015 to see you, uh, when we were engaged and, uh, we just kind of, you know, then if, you know, being back here now, it's kind of surreal. We didn't think we would be where we are, but, um, the, the hard work is absolutely worth it. That is so fun. 24 months you did this. Yes, sir. From the time. So what happened two years ago that made it game on then? We got married.

Oh, there it is. Okay. We got married August of 16. And literally on the way home, we cash flowed our wedding on the front end, not counting the 161. And Lydia did an amazing job of, you know, getting the wedding set up. We did a beach destination wedding. And we did it and cash flowed it. On the way home, we were planning on how we were going to attack it and pay everything off.

And we found out within probably a month or two of being married that we were going to have this guy here. And so that kind of put some gas on the fire. And we just went after it. We got home, we put it on the dry erase board. We did everything that you guys teach, and it just came on. We didn't look back. Yeah.

That's fun. We did. We got the first part of everything, but the house paid off, and we kind of caught our breath, and we knew he was coming, and we cash flowed those expenses. And then we kind of looked at each other, I think kind of that summer and, and, you know, I was going to maybe buy a new truck and with cash, but we were just, it's just something felt wrong about it. And my mom always said to follow peace. And I just, um, it was like, you know, if I'm going to be a husband and I'm going to be a father and, you know, and this is a team and we need to put, you know, her and him first. And we just, I was like, I had the, I had sold my truck, and so I had the money sitting in my account. And I was like, you know, I had $18,000.

And I was like, she thought I was going to buy a truck, and she supported me. And she was like, you know, we've worked hard. And I was like, that almost made me not want to do it. It was like, you know what? But because of the team part of it, you know. She was just too nice to you. You know, she supported, and I think that's what makes a team work. And it made me that much more unselfish.

And I put it on the house that night, mom just said you know hey follow peace that's that kind of covers a lot of things in life and so um that we just we went all in and we wanted to have it done by his first birthday but it was a little bit longer but yeah in august uh we paid our house off changed your family tree yes sir now you can drive any truck you want right i mean you're making you're making two and a quarter you can get you a truck i promise no payments in your house way to go man way to go how does it feel to not have a payment in the world at 31 years old lydia amazing absolutely and it really hasn't hit me yet just because it's still so fresh we just did this last month so oh wow well congratulations pretty amazing so who were your biggest

cheerleaders? Each other. Yeah, we were. Absolutely. We were in your guys' ministry, hands down. Awesome. Very cool. Well, we're glad we're part of it because you guys are heroes. Man, what a great story. You're absolutely incredible. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I'd say there's a few things. Obviously, 100%, if you're not a team with your spouse, there's no way you're going to get out of debt. I don't see how. There's enough troubles and trials in life that if you guys aren't working together, if there was days when I was struggling that she wasn't and vice versa, and then obviously the plan that you guys set forth, and then you have to be real with yourself and I think not live the entitled lifestyle that you're going to borrow

other people's money to live. I mean, you know, we talked about this. And if you make $30,000 in this country, you're more blessed than probably 99% of people in the world. And I think you just kind of have to square your shoulders and say, hey, this is what I want. And it wasn't fun. You know, she was working literally three jobs. She had three different jobs. Really? I got credentialed at another university.

And I would go because I have a lot of time off with my job. And I didn't want to. I didn't want to drive three hours and stay the night on my days off at a university and work extra. But, you know, seeing them in the rearview mirror made me want to do it that much more and just get it done. So what did you make at that gig? My average income was probably, you know, without working extra, was probably $175. So you picked up how much on that extra? Probably another $10 or $15 just in a short period of time.

And then I started getting more opportunities at my institution. And I got the only lease that I think you would approve of. This is a Dave Ramsey lease. When I sold my truck, I was going on Craigslist, and I was going to buy a beater for $1,000. And my dad's got more cars than he knows what to do with. And I said, hey, I'll give you $1,000 if you let me drive the Pontiac for the next year. And it's an old beat-up Pontiac, and I'm driving two miles to work. And he said, yeah, sure, absolutely.

So, you know, I leased it from him for a year. So, Lydia, what was the best-paying part-time job you had? Probably with what I do now. I work for different school districts within the area that we live in, and I'm able to just set my schedule. And being with my child the majority of the time is nice, so I have that free time with him. You get the flexibility and you got good pay out of it.

Very good. Excellent. Good job, you guys. Very cool. Very cool. Well, congratulations. Thank you good pay out of it. Very good. Excellent. Good job, you guys. Very cool. Very cool. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Proud of you.

Very well done. I love it. I love it. And we got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Retire Inspired. And, of course, that's the next chapter in your story. And you brought Elias with you. We did. Yes, sir.

We did. Yes, sir. And he is now officially one years old. He was one in May, so now he's 16 months. He kind of got this thing going, and he was kind of part of our motivation. We got our reasons the right way. All right. I love it.

All right. Chris and Lydia and Elias. Springfield, Missouri, $161,000 paid off in 24 months, making $192,000 to $225,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Boom!

I love it! Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Home ownership can be expensive. The average single-family homeowner spends around $2,000 a year on maintenance alone. And when you buy a house, you can expect Murphy to come for a visit. You know Murphy, if it can go wrong it will and you should spend no more than a fourth of your take-home pay on your

mortgage on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage that way you got room in your budget for unexpected maintenance costs and other stuff if you're looking to buy a home our mortgage calculator can help you work out the monthly payment, and look at that. Just go to DaveRamsey.com slash mortgage calculator. It's completely free to use. No salesman will call. And if you're looking for an agent to buy or you're thinking about selling your home,

check out our ELPs, our endorsed local providers. They are in the top 10% of real estate agents in your area, and they'll help you find a home that fits your budget. So check it out, DaveRamsey.com slash agent, or just go to DaveRamsey.com on the front page and click ELP for real estate, and you'll be set up to go. Very cool stuff. That mortgage calculator is kind of fun. You can jump on there and figure out what your payments are on different houses.

And as you're looking around, it keeps you from buying too much house and kind of helps you say, okay, this is on my 15-year fixed rate. Here's what I'm going to be. And just go to DaveRamsey.com slash mortgage calculator. It's completely free to use. We'd love for you to have it as our gift to you to help you make better, wiser choices. It'll cause you to have more money. It will cause you to have more money. It will cause you to live your dreams.

You live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. We'll be right back. So you want to know why you need to get your financial act together? Is it so you can buy some cool stuff? Well, sure, if you want to. But stuff won't make you happy. I've never seen a rider truck following a hearse. That's not your legacy. You put yourself in a position to change your family tree. You put yourself in a position to help others in a way that you never dreamed you would

or could. You put yourself in a position to be generous. So I walk out of the commercial break, and I got to meet Reagan. Now, that was probably the greatest privilege of my day today. Reagan is 11 days old. She was just born. And she was with her new mom and dad, who just stopped by after they finalized the adoption.

She just got to meet her new mom and dad a couple days ago. And they come by the Dave Ramsey show. Who goes to a radio show after they just adopt a baby? That's just one of the greatest honors of my day. Because they wanted to stop by and say they were able to do that because they had the money. Touchdown. Touchdown.

You just won the Super Bowl. You get to give a little girl a home because you were grown-ups and you had your act together. Touchdown. Touchdown! Doesn't get any better, y'all. What's your big thing? That's a big thing right there.

Now, Reagan's not a very big thing. She's 11 days old. She wasn't much bigger than a good-sized loaf of bread. Tiny little girl. Wow. What's your thing? See, if you want to do something that is noble, if you want to do something that is of, if you want to do something that is of scale,

you want to do something big, then it's first going to require that you address the person in your mirror and grow up and start handling your money so that you have some. And then you can do stuff like that. Or maybe you can pay for someone else to do something like that. You say, I'm old. I'm 58. The chances of me adopting a child are zero. Absolutely zero.

I'm not even sure I want a dog. I love grandbabies because they have this feature to them that you send them home when you're through with them. Adopted babies don't have that feature, and I won't be adopting a child. But wow, what a place to be in financially that you could cause someone else to be able to do that. Now, I didn't pay for that adoption. That's not what I'm saying. I didn't do that.

They paid for the adoption, but they were able to because of Financial Peace University, because they learned how to handle money, and because they chose to be grown-ups. Adults devise a plan and follow it. Children do what feels good. Great honor of my day to get to meet Reagan. Elizabeth is with us in Boise, Idaho. Hi, Elizabeth. How are you?

I'm fantastic, Dave. Thank you for speaking to me. Sure. What's up? I have kind of a two-part question. I have a kid that is old enough now that he's making a little bit of money during the summer. And I was wondering, firstly, what should we teach him as far as what percentage of it he should save versus giving and spending? And secondly, what can I do to help him invest what he has saved, even though it's not that much? How old is he?

He's eight. Oh, cool. And how much is he making? Probably about $500 a summer. Great. What's he doing? Well, we have a farm. He works a little bit about around the farm and he does some stuff for the neighbors as

well. I like this kid. He's going to be somebody. Yeah, he is. Here's the thing. The amount of money that we're fooling with is small enough that if we completely screw it up financially, it doesn't't matter so the money is not what's important it's the lesson that's learned that's important there are three things that

everyone if you're going to be successful financially needs to learn to do you need to learn to work because that's where money comes Well, your son's already got that figured out. And that's the beauty of growing up on a farm. You learn hard work, not just work, but hard work. You know, at eight years old, this kid can work more than some of the 50-year-old snowflakes that are out there complaining about not having a job. I mean, it's unbelievable, you know. This kid can work. So he's already got that one.

And then his mom's going to teach him the other three, which is perfect. And that's give, save, and spend. So my point is, how he saves is really unimportant except for the lessons he learns by saving. How he gives, how much he gives, is really unimportant except for the lessons he learns by giving and how he spends. You follow the track here, okay? Because if he screws the whole thing up, it's 500 bucks. I mean, it's not going to change his life. If he invested in the world's best investment and puts 100% of it in there,

it's not going to turn into a lot of money. Oh, it would, you know, 100 years from now. But, I mean, it's just that's not the point of this. The point of this is we're going to teach this kid how to be a saver. We're going to teach this kid how to be a giver. And we're going to teach this kid how to be a saver. We're going to teach this kid how to be a giver. And we're going to teach this kid how to be a wise spender, because this kid already knows how to work. Yes.

And if you teach him those three skills, if you help him build those muscles, and you can come up with the percentages. And here's an idea. Won't you let him what we call set his own poison in management or in leadership? We call it management by objectives. Set his own goals. What percentage do you think you ought to save? What percentage do you think you ought to save? What percentage do you think you ought to give?

And what percentage do you think you ought to spend? Because you have to do all three. I want you to do some saving. I want you to do some giving. And I want you to enjoy, by spending, enjoy some of the money you earned. And so just lay him out a little budget and go, okay, out of every $10 you get, we're going to put 10% into the giving if you want to. If you tithe, if you're Christians like we are, we always put 10% in giving.

That's at least what you're going to do, right? And we're going to put 30% in spending or 50% in spending or whatever. I don't care. Let him set the percentages. And then I would just start with a simple savings account. I wouldn't worry about going to investing yet. If a little bit later on you want to get a little fancier and start him into a mutual fund,

the reason for the mutual fund is not to invest it wisely. The reason for the mutual fund is to teach him how a mutual fund works. Because it's not going to turn into any money because it's not any money right and so but if you can get him going like our kids they didn't actually have a mutual fund that they put money in they always saved towards their car because we made them buy half their car we matched them we had 401 day for the car we did matching and so our kids did not personally their earned income that they earned did not go into a mutual fund, but I was investing in mutual funds for their college,

and so there would be a mutual fund come in the mailbox, a statement that says Daniel Ramsey on it. I get it out. Daniel, sit over here. Look at this, and he's eight years old, and I'm going, okay, here's the number of shares you have, and here's what each share is worth, the share price. Now, tell me what that total account is worth. You multiply the number of shares you have, and here's what each share is worth, the share price. Now tell me what that total account is worth. You multiply the number of shares times the share. You're eight years old, you know that.

You know more about a mutual fund statement now than most 40-year-olds. And he knew that at eight years old. It really wasn't rocket science. It's sixth-grade math, or fourth-grade math, you know. But just showing him to not be intimidated by investing. And so it was more the example that mattered. And then he got to where, hey, Dad, I haven't seen my college fund in a while. Let me see how much is in there and kind of gave him some confidence.

Plus, it brainwashed him that he was going to college. Right. So, you know, that kind of stuff. So that's the kind of thing you're looking for is that sense of investment, that sense of giving, and that sense of enjoyment that's more important than the actual function of what he's doing. Because you've got a little stud on your hands here. This little guy, he's going places. Hey, we've got a wonderful product to help teens learn how to start and run their own business. And he's already doing it,

but I'm going to help him. It's called the Teen Entrepreneur Toolbox, and I know he's not technically a teen, but I'm going to send you one anyway. The Small Business Guide for Teens. Anthony O'Neill, our youth Ramsey personality, is the one who put this together with our team. It's a whole box of teaching aids to help your teen get started and run a business. I'm going to send you one of these, and your youngster is going to really love this stuff because this guy is a little stud, man. This is The Dave Ramsey Show.

Hey, guys. This is Blake Thompson, senior executive producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 15 million people listen to The Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen to one of over 600 radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.