10/16/2005
Advice from Nashville's leading Financial Aid Advisor Dave Ramsey
Dave Says
By Dave Ramsey
Author of:
Financial Peace and
The Total Money Makeover
"18-year old confused about newfound fortune!"
Dear Dave,
My cousin, who is 18, just won $500,000 in the lottery and the creeps are coming out of the woodwork! We live by your plan, but she is young and now even more confused. Could you lend some advice for her protection?
Jason via email
Dear Jason,
There’s a real likelihood that she’s going to lose the money because she probably doesn’t have the maturity and the character to carry it. But here’s the best piece of advice I can give you – she should never invest in anything if she can’t explain how it works. The second piece of advice is that she doesn’t need to go into debt at all – period – under any circumstances.
The third thing is that if she’ll get with a simple mutual fund broker, someone like one of our Endorsed Local Providers, and invest the money, she could live on $40,000 or $50,000 a year for the rest of her life and never touch the principal. But somebody’s likely to come along and sell her on some best-of-the-best plan and create a nightmare for her. Then, the money will be gone before she knows it if she’s not careful.
If I were her cousin, I would buy Financial Peace University and put her through it so that she learns about money. She should be required to do that before she gets the check.
- Dave
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