Apr 26, 2024
When Rachel Cruze recently came across a statistic, she couldn’t wait to share it with her dad, Dave Ramsey — on camera for an episode of their radio show.
Famous for his straight-shooting and skeptical approach to financial advice-giving, Cruze seemed confident Ramsey, as a baby boomer, would give her a big reaction to the major findings detailed in the story.
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The statistic in question came from a CNBC article, Cruze explained, where a Cash App Taxes survey reported that 1-in-4 Gen Z tax filers “need a therapist to deal with the stress of tax filing.” Another 54%, she continued, said they’re been brought to tears from filing their taxes in the past, or expect to cry over them this year.
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And while Cruze might have anticipated Ramsey would call these young adults soft, his response seemed to surprise her when he instead said he’s “calling BS on the survey.”
“That survey says the entire generation’s a bunch of wusses,” Ramsey says in a clip of his show. “That’s just not true. That’s not my experience with Gen Z.”
In fact, Ramsey says if there’s a generation that needs to brush up on their financial hygiene, it’s his own — baby boomers. Here are some money lessons he thinks older people can learn from younger generations.
Taxes are universally disliked
Getting back to the matter of tax anxiety, Ramsey admits that he’s no fan of filing his taxes either — he just has a different reaction to the experience.
“I don’t cry, I get angry,” he says. “I’m perpetually angry in April.”
Heightened feelings around tax time is something all generations share, with 64% of respondents — of all ages — reporting that tax season “introduced a level of stress to their lives.”
One thing that Gen Z is doing right is planning to forge ahead through these tax anxiety issues. Sure, going to therapy might seem extreme, but there are other ways to actively manage this stress.
For example, you can educate yourself about the tax process. Most people’s taxes aren’t overly complicated, so knowing the step-by-step process could help you feel more confident in doing them.
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If you’re still finding it stressful to do your taxes, ask for help. Accountants are experts in this very area and can do the heavy lifting for you.
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Financial transparency
The Ramsey Show is primarily a call-in show, with people calling in for financial advice. Ramsey hears from people of all ages — from Gen Z to the silent generation. And he says that boomers are often the hardest to talk to.
“Boomers come in and they lie. They fake it,” Ramesy says to Cruze. “They care so much what you think that they put on the chameleon. It’s a donkey dressed up like a thoroughbred.”
Whereas millennials and Gen Z don’t put on any airs when they call in.
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“They are what they are,” Ramsey says. He adds that many younger people are “very mature, very serious, very focused, very missional.”
This may be because younger generations are more open to talking openly about their challenges. In the past year, 35% of Gen Z and millennials had received mental health treatment, whereas only 8% of baby boomers had done the same, according to a 2023 YouGov survey.
Therapy has also crossed over to finances, as many more Americans seek the support of financial therapy address the number-one stressor in their lives: money, according to the recent Stress in America survey from the American Psychological Association.
Ramsey himself is one of the boomers who preaches this kind of financial transparency. He himself has long been open about his bankruptcy and poor financial decisions.
His whole show is based around speaking openly with people about their finances. As Ramsey says on his website: “It's time to face the storms of life head on.”
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Sabina Wex is a writer and podcast producer in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, Fast Company, CBC and more.
