You hear Dave talk on The Dave Ramsey Show about risk vs. reward. You'd be doing the smart money thing to invest your cash in a mutual fund instead of high-rolling it in Vegas on the roulette wheel, because the mutual fund isn't as risky as red 40. Well, if you don't get that comparison, try this one on for size. The Coast Guard boys just turned up the biggest drug bust in U.S. maritime history when they seized 40,000 pounds of cocaine from three ships off the Central American coast. Street value? About 500 million ... and change. Pretty big score, even for drug traffickers.

It's a bad comparison to make, but it makes the point crystal clear, baby. If these drug dopeheads had just said no and done something honest instead of risky, they wouldn't have to worry about getting busted with 20 tons of blow in their back seat and facing 20 to life in the cooler. Don't be risky with your dough, either. Invest smart, but only after learning how to make a budget, then getting that emergency fund in place, then get out of debt. Take a hit of that, jack.