Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:02]
A
Brought to you by Y Refi Refinance your defaulted private student loans today@yrefi.com Ramsey.
- [00:10]
B
Today's question comes from Victoria in Texas. My 14 year old son wants to allocate some of his earned money to online gambling. He says, everyone, and this is in all caps at school. Does it? Please help me explain to him why it is 100% wrong. Aye yai yai.
- [00:28]
A
How old is your son, your youngest?
- [00:30]
B
My youngest is 17. I got a 17, 17 and a 19. So I will answer it as if they came to me and said, dad, everyone is doing it. First I'd start with I can't help but my hear my nanny's voice right now. He used to say to us, if everyone's jumping off of a bridge, would you do it too? You know, that's just old school, you know, and I'd start with that. Then I would say, all right, let's look at gambling. And I actually would come to it with numbers. I'm a little bit of a data geek and so I would actually go pull real numbers on this particular type of online game. Let's say it's sports, okay? And I would show the rates of success on this and let the numbers talk for you to some degree. Second, I would explain gambling as a whole and how it does not pay off. And I would say, just because they live in your house, if they're going to do something that you are philosophically or spiritually or whatever you want to say, opposed to what I, what I would tell them, my son, is if you're going to do that and you're going to go around me and not honor the advice I'm giving you and do something so stupid, then you are not going to receive these blessings for me. Now that may be too harsh, Dave, you may disagree with that, but I would take a pretty strong stance after I've made the numbers case and make it very clear I don't believe in this. I think this is foolish and this is against the values of my home and therefore there are going to be consequences if you do this. And then they got to learn the hard way.
- [02:05]
A
Yeah, Everyone at school that is male and 14 is looking at pornography. Not everyone is gambling.
- [02:20]
B
That's a good point.
- [02:21]
A
He's lying. He's overstating. He's being a 14 year old using hyperbole. Okay. And 14 and 15 year olds are interesting beasts. They're very interesting. I raised a few of them at our house with teenagers, we went with the Andy Andrews approach that we are not trying to raise great kids. We are trying to raise kids who become great adults. And so at that stage of their development, the process that Sharon and I used was pretty simple. Because inside of every 14 year old there are two people. A 34 year old and a 4 year old. And so I would ask them, which one am I speaking to? Sybil? Y' all don't remember Sybil with multiple personalities? It's an old show from the 70s. Okay. But yeah, which one am I Speaking to? The 4 year old or the 14 year old? If I'm speaking to the 4 year old, I'm simply going to tell you what to do and you're going to mind because I'm older than you and I can make another one that looks just like you. You will behave, Period. You will do exactly what I say for your own good. Because I love you. I don't care if you have a feeling, it doesn't matter to me. You're simply going to do what I say if you're four years old. That's how we deal with it now. Be gentle and kind. But at the end of the day, I'm in freakin charge. You're not. The inmates don't run the asylum. I'm bigger than you. I have more power than you. You're simply going to mind me for your own good. You're not going to play in the street, you're not going to touch hot stoves, you're not jumping off of waterfalls. You're four. You're not driving cars. You're four. We're not having a negotiation with a four year old. However, if you want to be an adult and sit here and talk about this, I will talk to you like an adult instead of a four year old. If that's the case, then I would do exactly what Ken's saying. Here's the data. Since the Internet opened when I started this show, people used to call me with addictions all the time. When we started doing financial coaching in 1992, we've been dealing with addicts ever since. 100% of addicts have money problems. There's no exceptions. That's the nature of being an addict. Okay? When I started, addiction was alcohol and drugs. The number one addiction in America today being treated is pornography online has exploded it, it's huge. Porn online makes more money than all professional sports put together in America today. It's vastly profitable and it's everywhere. It's ubiquitous. Keeping a 14 year old away from porn if they have a phone is impossible. If they have connection to the Internet and it is the fastest growing addiction. It's destroying the sexual function of young men for an entire generation. The second. And we see them in our office every day, day here, where they've lost everything. They've lost their families, they've lost their homes, they've lost their jobs, they've lost their careers because they're addicted. Just like when they were doing cocaine. Same thing. And son, this is the truth. And son, here's the other truth. The second fastest growing addiction in America is online gambling. Do you think DraftKings can afford all of those ads because everyone that's on DraftKings won? No, they can afford all those ads because everyone that bets on DraftKings loses. That's why the bookie always wins, the house always wins. Period. It's a statistical fact. It's how gambling works. And if you're so stupid that you don't understand that, then you can understand this. Gambling is a tax on people who can't do math. Walk into the lobby of the Bellagio, Walk into the lobby of the MGM grand and you will see some of the greatest architecture. You'll see light fixtures that cost millions of dollars. And it's all built on house money. You people gave them the money to build it. That's how it works. It's a mathematical fact. So, son, if you're 14, I'm gonna explain these facts to you. And so I don't want you to be involved in it. By the way, honey, I'm not involved in online porn and I'm not involved in online gambling. I sadly spoke with a 32 year old the other day that's run up $600,000 in sports betting. He makes 180 a year. He's going to lose his marriage and his two little babies and his beautiful wife are going to leave. And there's nothing he can do about it because he can't stop himself. He's addicted. So why would I let someone that I love be engaged in that? Sweetheart, I love you. There's no chance I'm gonna let you be engaged in things that will destroy your life. By the way, you're not doing cocaine either. Even if everyone's doing it. By the way, you're not doing crack either. Even if everyone's doing it. By the way, you're not gonna drive 110 miles an hour and act like you're Speed Racer or something out here because everyone's doing it. You're going to do things in this house because I love you that benefit you. This does not benefit you. And so you're not doing it. Now, if I can convince you and persuade you as an adult, I will persuade you as an adult. Like I just did.
- [07:58]
B
Yeah. Here's some data.
- [08:00]
A
Here we go.
- [08:01]
B
UC San Diego new study. 96% of over 700,000 online gamblers. That's a big sample size. 96% lost their money.
- [08:12]
A
That's all of them. Yeah. I mean, nobody wins.
- [08:16]
B
You want to play the 4% game. It just doesn't add up.
- [08:20]
A
That makes you as an idiot.
- [08:23]
B
And that's what I.
- [08:24]
A
6%.
- [08:24]
B
Yeah. If you want to be an idiot, if you want to join the 96 of losers. That's how I talk to a teenage kid.
- [08:30]
A
Entertainment from it. That's the. That's a glass.
- [08:33]
B
Yeah, whatever.
- [08:34]
A
Yeah. You.
- [08:34]
B
You know, they're all trying to work all week.
- [08:36]
A
And you get entertaining. You get entertainment from losing the money that you worked all week for.
- [08:40]
B
At those rates, you might as well buy a donkey. Mine for gold. Get yourself a pan.
- [08:46]
A
So the deal is I'm going to try to convince you you're not doing it, but I'm going to try to convince you and persuade you. If you're willing to talk this through with an adult with me, and you're going to understand why you're not doing it, if you don't want to do that and you want to just throw a fit and be a 4 year old, I'll just simply tell you you're not doing it. We don't negotiate with idiots. Not when they live in my house. Why? Refi. Refinances delinquent private student loans for struggling borrowers. Learn more at Y r e f y.com Ramsey.