Posted on 03/05/2014 7:38:49 AM PST by Kaslin
Dear Dave,
How do you feel about gambling at a casino, as long as you limit your spending and don’t expect to win big money?
Brian
Dear Brian,
I don’t really have a moral problem with it, but I don’t understand the concept. Call me crazy, but I do not get a thrill from losing money I’ve worked hard to earn. That’s not my idea of entertainment.
When someone tells me they gamble for fun or recreation, my first thought is they’re delusional enough to believe that they’ll actually win—that they think they’re the exception to the rule. Otherwise, there would be no thrill. You may see a news story once in a while about someone winning big money in a casino, but that rarely happens. Think, too, about how much money those people had flushed down the toilet previously while gambling. There’s a really good chance they didn’t really “win” anything. In most cases, they probably just recouped a small portion of their previous, substantial losses.
My advice is don’t waste your time and money on that stuff. One way or another, the house always wins. That’s how they’re able to build those giant, billion dollar places called casinos. Did you know that some of those companies are so big and expansive that they’re publicly traded entities? And guess what? The profits they make off people who are foolish enough to gamble their money away inside their fancy halls—and call that entertainment—drives their stock prices!
Think about it, Brian. Why do all the folks sitting at slot machines and card tables look like they can’t afford to lose money? Most of them look like sad, broken, lonely people. Maybe they change when they sit down. Maybe they were winners in life and with money before they walked through the doors, and their slumped body language and the look of stress and hopelessness they carry is just a coincidence or the indoor lighting. But I don’t think so.
—Dave
Dear Dave,
What happens to the money in an ESA if the child gets a scholarship and no longer needs the money?
Jonathan
Dear Jonathan,
In an Educational Savings Account (ESA), and in a 529 Plan, you are allowed to pull out money tax free in the amount of the scholarship. But very rarely do you find someone going to college completely free and clear. Often tuition is covered, and even tuition and a dorm room in some cases, but zero-cost college is almost unheard of. There are always living expenses, books and other miscellaneous items, and you can use the money in an ESA for any education-related expenses.
The chances of your money getting trapped and you as parents winding up in a situation where you’ve actually saved too much and a child has leftover money just doesn’t happen. This is a bunch of drama found only in the nightmares of nerds. Real human beings don’t have this problem, Jonathan, because nobody ever saves enough!
—Dave
Dear Dave,
I own a landscaping company, and recently I hired some superstar employees. One of them is really good, and I’d like to turn him into a salesman. How should I start this process?
Daniel
Dear Daniel,
The first thing I’d do is talk to some other landscaping companies outside your area that are about your size, while big enough to have a salesman or two, and pick their brains as to how they’re structured. You could go visit them personally, or it could be as simple as a phone call. Just let them know you’re thinking about hiring your first salesman, and find out how they pay their guys and if it’s working well for everyone.
What we’re talking about here is called best practices in business. Find something that works for someone else in your same industry, and apply it to your situation. Think of it this way. If you wanted to lose weight, you’d begin by doing what thin people are doing, right? You emulate behavior that generates positive results.
Another thing I’d tell you in this kind of situation is to make sure the person involved understands that any compensation agreement you initiate in the beginning is on a trial basis for a specific length of time. You’re venturing into uncharted territory here, and while you want to make sure your new salesman makes enough money to eat and have a decent life, you don’t want him to make more than the company.
Come up with a temporary compensation plan that’s agreeable to you both at the outset. Then, have an agreement to revisit the plan in 90 days, six months or a year down the road. There may be some time, and a little bit of give and take involved, but in the end you’ve both got to be okay with the upside and downside of the scale and the natural results. You’ll both be really happy if he’s busting it and making himself and the company financially successful. But as a business owner, you kind of want him to starve out (not literally) if he’s not making sales!
—Dave
Dear Dave,
My brothers and I will soon be taking over a 30-year-old company that belongs to our dad. Do you have any advice for us?
Dennis
Dear Dennis,
I could give you lots more advice than would ever fit in a column, or even in an answer on my radio show. So, for now let’s stick with some basics.
The first thing I’d suggest is to separate the ownership role from your operational roles. In other words, you need to decide ahead of time, and have a consensus, on who’s going to do what job. If you and your brothers are all going to be owners of the company when you “take it over,” but one of your brothers would function well in the role of CEO, then he’s in charge and everyone needs to know and respect that position. As a group, the owners should give the CEO direction, but they don’t make all the day-to-day decisions. In addition, someone needs to be in charge of finances, and you also need individuals overseeing sales and production.
The second thing is you need to decide together how to handle things if someone wants out. If one of you misbehaves or incurs a disability, or if someone simply wants out of the business completely, you have to decide on a fair and equitable way to handle possibilities such as these. So, you’ll also need good ownership documents and a top-notch attorney to help put it all together.
—Dave
Slots KEEP 97-98% of the money they take in.
No, in fact people that win too much tend to disappear...
I bet on the House when buying stocks back in mid 2009. Made a large amount of my “crash” loses back by year end.
Try again. They pay out 88-95%. Source: http://www.americancasinoguide.com/slot-machine-payback-statistics.html#Nevada
They make a lot of money on that 5-10% margin. Other table games have similar payout rates in the long run.
This news?
Don’t know why this was a Dave Ramsey question. I never personally got the whole gambling thing. I do believe that our brains and their pleasure centers(Dopamine receptors) are wired differently for pleasure. Some find pleasure and a rush in sex, some food, some gambling, some booze, drugs. Mine is NOT gambling and I have won at the blackjack table, but was able to walk away once I had more chips there than when I started.
I went to a casino exactly TWICE
Both times I figures I would spend about $100, the usual amount I would spend for dinner and a movie
One time I came home with $46, the other I came home with about the same.
So, I had a couple of hours of fun for less than a normal night out. If you look at it that way you are probably OK
But if you go there to win and solve your money problems, you are probably doomed
I've been to plenty of casinos around the country. I've lost money & won money. Play the right games, be disciplined about your money & don't get greedy.
It's funny how many anti-gambling fundamentalists think no one EVER wins ANY money. I suspect most of them have never set foot in a casino.
I like to play blackjack. Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose. But I always have fun, and the cost of that fun is however much I wager in an evening. Whether I make any of it back, or not, is immaterial.
More than a few Blackjack players have figured out how to win. They are then banned for life. Some resort to disguises to play. Once they are caught doing that, something worse could happen, especially so when the mob ran Las Vegas.
One of our So Cal equipment operators went off to one for the weekend after a friday of work. He arrived, took his bag up to his room, went to eat dinner, pulled a slot and won $10,000 on the way there, ate dinner, went upstairs and got his bag and checked out. He knew how to stay ahead on that one ;-)
Thank you Captain Obvious.
Casinos gladly comply w/ all L/E directives---b/c they value their licenses which are easily lifted if they screw-up.
FOR EXAMPLE---Most casinos will not accept wire-transfers of monies from gamblers in govt locations----since they feel the monies are a result of stealing.
However, it is conjectured money-laundering takes place---when large amounts of untraceable chips are bought---but not cashed in. The purchase can be listed on tax returns as a loss. (The chips can be cashed in casinos worldwide.)
The MIT blackjack team of the early 90s was able to win—but even they got identified eventually. However, their system of playing was amazingly sophisticated. The only other successful effort from that era of which I have information was also a sophisticated team organization and it was also staffed with university students. These teams literally are more scientifically advanced than the casinos.
It's worse than that. It's not mob thugs who punish the winners. It is legitimate state legislators in the legitimate state capitol writing legitimate state laws voted-in by legitimate voting citizens who authorize the jail and fines and punishments for casino customers who learn how to consistently win.... And these same legislators, etc., codify legitimate law allowing the casinos to literally take money out of your hand and put it into their pocket, and give you literally nothing in return except loud noise and loud lights. State regulated casinos and state lotteries are the epitome of unjust, immoral, state activity.
Not propaganda. In Nevada payout rates are set by law. In Indian Casinos, the payout rates may or may not be regulated depending on the state.
Did you even read the source I linked to? I thought not.
You literally took money out of your pocket and placed it into a collection pot of some other guy. And got NOTHING.
You saw no movie. You got no burger and fries. You had to pull a lever. You were assaulted by noise and lights. You participated in an industry which destroys marriages and families by preying on the unhealthy urges and addictions of men.
I've done this too. It's not fun. It's wicked. And the state endorses it.
Just how do you “count cards” with SIX deck black jacK. With six decks that is 24 aces to keep track of. It is ridiculous.
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