A worried mother from Toronto called “The Ramsay Show” with an unusual question: Her 15-year-old son might be too obsessed with working and saving money.
Teenager ditches football for landscaping job
Joanne said her son had been paying attention Dave RamseyAdvice over the years, use the 60/30/10 principle to manage his money. Now, he works 50 to 60 hours a week landscaping, earning $19 Canadian ($14) an hour. He was so focused on making money that he sometimes neglected his favorite sport.
“He would rather work than go to a football match,” she said.
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Personal Finance Expert Ken Coleman and george carmel Initially impressed. “You don’t have to worry at all,” Coleman said. “You have a 15-year-old kid who has discovered the value of working his butt off and accumulating cash. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry, Joanne. I’d throw a party.”
The teen was already planning to buy a house by the time he was 20 and dreamed of starting his own landscaping business. College was not part of the plan. Instead, he accelerated homeschooling over three years so he could start working sooner.
Coleman said the boy sounded like a future entrepreneur. “I wrote a book called ‘Finding the Job You’re Meant to Do,'” he said. “This kid is so excited. I’m so excited. I can barely stand it.”
Kamal also praised the teen’s discipline but raised concerns: “The only concern is that he has skipped childhood and gone straight to adulthood.”
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That’s when the other shoe dropped, with Joanne revealing he’d been left with “a lot of trauma.” The teenager lost his brother when he was 7 years old. A year later, his parents divorced. Coleman’s mood immediately changed and he told Joanne that his intense work habits might be his way of coping.
“He couldn’t control losing his brother. He couldn’t control your divorce,” he said. “But he can control how much money he makes.”
The presenter recommended therapy to help him process the trauma and encouraged Joanne to promote balance.
“I think as long as he has some hobbies, a little balance is good,” Kamal said. “I don’t want to work 60 hours a week, let alone a 15-year-old kid.”
Joanne said her son had always been ambidextrous and loved the outdoors, which made landscaping a natural choice. However, both hosts cautioned her not to let money be the only focus.
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Although teenagers are taught to follow a 60/30/10 budget—60 percent save, 30 percent spend, 10 percent give—Joanne admits he rarely spends the 30 percent. “Remind him, hey, use this money to have a little fun,” Coleman said. “Force him to give some too,” Kamal added.
Coleman ended it all with a reassuring message. “Mom, come closer and love him. Don’t worry because he’ll understand. I just don’t think you need to worry right now.”
“From a 60-hour-a-week perspective of playing video games or working,” Carmel added, “I’d rather he gravitated toward work.”
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In this article Dave Ramsey Caller says her 15-year-old is obsessed with work and works 60 hours a week. The host cheers until he hears the full story originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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