Interview With Ryan Thompson, Amy and Tal Elliott
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Older Americans are watching their retirement dreams become nightmares. So what about young investors? Well, like Ryan Thompson, who's been saving since he was 15-years old or couples like Tal and Amy Elliott, who both join us from Houston. Good evening, guys. Thanks for joining us tonight. Well, since you've been so successful, we thought we'd tap into some of your secrets. Ryan, let me start with your first.</s>RYAN THOMPSON, YOUNG INVESTOR: OK.</s>LIN: You actually are on the road to wealth. You plan on becoming a millionaire, what by the age of 42?</s>THOMPSON: Hopefully, if everything goes well.</s>LIN: And this whole plan started with a dare from your dad. Why don't you tell me about it?</s>THOMPSON: Well, it really wasn't a dare, it was more like -- it was an offer that he made to me. We had an '87 Mustang that was in the garage. And it only had, I think, roughly 13,000 miles. And he told me that if I put $7,000 into my IRA by the -- over the period of a few years, that I could have the car. And I did that and the car was mine. I no longer have the car, but that's how it all got started.</s>LIN: That's called the incentive plan. I think you were only 15-years old at the time, is that right?</s>THOMPSON: I was, yes, roughly 15, going on 16.</s>LIN: So how did you save the money?</s>THOMPSON: Cutting grass.</s>LIN: Cutting grass?</s>THOMPSON: Cutting grass, yes.</s>LIN: How much can you make doing that?</s>THOMPSON: Depends on how many yards you have, I guess.</s>LIN: Or how many customers.</s>THOMPSON: How many customers you have.</s>LIN: Because you actually started a lawn business, right, or a landscaping business?</s>THOMPSON: Yes. And my dad also bought me the first push mower for that. And I started mowing a neighbor's lawn. And now we have roughly about 30 customers right now that we do -- provide a variety of services for.</s>LIN: And you make how much money a year doing this?</s>THOMPSON: It varies with season. I mean, right now, we have like -- virtually no rainfall out here, but we have made a little bit above $30,000 before...</s>LIN: $30,000?</s>THOMPSON: Yes.</s>LIN: Not bad for a college student, because you're in school right now, right?</s>THOMPSON: That's correct.</s>LIN: All right, and at school, you've also taken on some additional work?</s>THOMPSON: Yes, that's correct. I'm a resident assistant at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. And I pretty much just keep my floor under control there.</s>LIN: Floor under control.</s>THOMPSON: Yes.</s>LIN: OK, for $3500 a year...</s>THOMPSON: That's correct.</s>LIN: I think you're underpaid. Let me bring Tal and Amy Elliott into this.</s>THOMPSON: OK.</s>LIN: You guys, take a look at the values that Ryan has started with. And that's really something that you've tapped into also, right?</s>AMY ELLIOTT, INVESTOR: Yes.</s>LIN: Tell me about your story. Tal, you started actually also with a dare from your dad? Tell me about it.</s>TAL ELLIOTT, INVESTOR: Well, he basically put me to work at 60 cents an hour. And I quickly found out that I didn't want to work for 60 cents an hour. And I -- a lot like the other guy, started to mow some lawns, dove for golf balls, and had other odd jobs, and started to save my money. And my father told me if I could get to $10,000, I could go talk to an Edward Jones office in our town and open up an investment account. And when I was a senior in high school, I turned 18. And just a month later, I was able to open up my investment account, and start investing ever since.</s>LIN: That is amazing. And Amy, do you subscribe to this philosophy, too, in your marriage?</s>A. ELLIOTT: Pretty much when we first got married, we decided that we really wanted to try and do and our best to save. And so kind of between us, we talked about, we have a five year suffering period, so to speak, that we'd tried to save everything that we could. And hopefully, that would give us some freedom or financial security if later on down the line, we wanted to travel, spend time with our families, our parents, change jobs, not work. It would allow us to that.</s>LIN: Yes, and you guys, you're 34-years old now. And you -- I don't think you have any debt. You paid off your mortgage, right?</s>T. ELLIOTT: Well, my dad told me a long time ago that you would never go broke if you paid everything off. So I took pretty good heed to that. And we have tried to keep our debt as low as possible, and keep really concentrating on what was going to move us forward. And that was making sure that our IRAs, our 401(K)s and other types of investments and goals that we wanted to have, we treated them like a bill. And we had to pay. It had to get done. And we had to find a way to get it done and make it happen. And I think it's given us a lot of opportunity because we've done that and at an early age.</s>LIN: So Amy, when you talk about years of sacrifice, I mean what sort of sacrifices are you talking about?</s>A. ELLIOTT: Pretty much trying to save everything that we could, think about what did we really want to spend our money on, pretty much coming out of college, we didn't have money anyhow, so it was easy to say we can put this away. Is this something I really need or is this something I really want? Maybe for instance, going to the show, you could still go to the show, but go to the dollar show instead of paying what, $6.00, for a regular show. Just -- we tried to do simple things.</s>LIN: Right.</s>A. ELLIOTT: And to still live and do the things we wanted, but really tried to decide what's most important.</s>LIN: Right. Ryan, when you're hearing this, I mean, you're 22- years old. And you're getting ready to get married. It seems like, you know, what's wrong with borrowing a little bit of money or tapping into that IRA? You're only 22-years old. You've got years to make up for it. How do you explain that to your generation?</s>THOMPSON: I really don't know if I'm the person that should be explaining that to my generation. I'm...</s>LIN: You're working all the time.</s>THOMPSON: Yes, I'm working all the time. I'm trying to. I just really think that exactly like that woman just explained it, I mean, if it's something that's not setting you forward or pushing you forward, you know, it's setting you back. And I just have kind of always had the philosophy that I've that my parents have set into me, just -- I want to have that forward motion.</s>LIN: Yes.</s>THOMPSON: And both, you know, my dad and my grandpa, they are the ones who motivate me by watching them and seeing them, and their work ethics, and how they constantly move forward, which is natural for me to want to take the same course of action.</s>LIN: And you're going to be a millionaire by the age of 42, at your rate.</s>THOMPSON: Hopefully.</s>LIN: I don't know if you guys feel the pain and suffering we're all feeling in our portfolios these days. You guys still believe in the stock market. Ryan?</s>THOMPSON: Pardon?</s>LIN: You still believe in the stock market?</s>THOMPSON: I believe in the stock market, yes, but it kind of scares me a little bit. My brother and I have kind of talked about recently maybe switching to a more sound type of investment, maybe like rental property or something like that, something that's tangible rather than something that we, you know...</s>LIN: Right.</s>THOMPSON: ...rather than something that we can't put our hands on, except for a piece of paper.</s>LIN: Right. Good Lord, I might have you as a landlord someday. All right, Amy, Tal, I guess you guys are still sticking with the market, too, huh?</s>T. ELLIOTT: Well we definitely are. But it's a matter of finding the appropriate investment for the type of goal that you're looking for. The stock market is not an appropriate investment if you're needing cash in six months. But if it's for some longer time goals, such as retirement or you're looking at a little bit longer time horizon...</s>LIN: Yes.</s>T. ELLIOTT: The stock market can definitely fit in there with a well balanced portfolio.</s>LIN: OK. Well, thank you all very much. In fact, we did a little research ourselves. The cost of Starbucks coffee, $1.75. If you were to invest that at 8 percent interest, you'd have almost $8,000 in 10 years, caffeine free. Thanks, folks. Ryan, good luck.</s>THOMPSON: Thank you.</s>LIN: Tal and Amy, good luck, too.</s>A. ELLIOTT: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com