Dave Ramsey Answers Your Most-Asked Questions
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Okay, are there any large purchases that you've ever regretted? The worst one was 2003. What was it like raising Rachel? What is one financial principle or piece of advice you've changed your mind about over the years? Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Campbell. And I'm Dave Ramsey. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers.

Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And today we've got the one and only Dave Ramsey in studio. You guys asked, we delivered, and he's going to be answering your questions. That's right. Well, welcome. Well, it's good to be here. What a fun world. Long time listener, first time guest. I get to come on the show where they drink. It's the first time. It's actually a very fun show.

It's a very exciting show. Took a long time to get me here. It's crazy that we had your wife on way before you. Yeah, it is. But she was a fan favorite. I hope you beat her. It's crazy that she's way more popular than me. I think she might be. We'll see what your count is of the episode. We'll compare it to Sharon's and let you know. I think Sharon will be watching the view count on this one. That is true.

So in this episode, we're going to be actually answering, having you answer some questions from the fishbowl that people have submitted that they want to know about you. Oh, good. Not the original stuff. Not how to get out of debt. Get excited. Way more. My favorite subject, me. Get excited. It's going to be...

Fantastic. And while we learn about Dave, we're sipping on a great cocktail. What are you sipping on, George? This is a Black Manhattan, which is mixologist Michael Reddish's signature cocktail. He made it extra special. Oh, it's a signature. Brings out the signature drinks for you, Dave. Exactly. We don't always get that. It's one of my favorites. Sometimes we get cocktails with milk in it. Disgusting. So we didn't do that.

Do that for you. I missed out on that. You chose a good day. You did. You chose a good day. Yeah, yeah. This was good. So stick around until the end. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. All right. So we are going to lean into some of that like fangirl energy is what they call it out there. We asked the people, if you could ask Dave Ramsey one question that is not a financial question for the Ramsey Show, what would it be? Yeah. So it's going to be great. There's some family questions in there. There's some purchasing questions. Dave likes to spend. Yeah.

That's actually a misnomer. People really do think... You're still rice and beans. If you're an average... Oh, no. If you're like a Ramsey person, then you have to drive a crappy car the rest of your life, and you always have to have coupons. George still loves a good deal. Me and Sharon Ramsey, I think, are holding it down in that department. We like frugality. But yeah, you love to spend, so there'll be some good spending questions in there. But it's going to be a good time, George. Let's get to the fishbowl. Oh, are we going? Okay, okay. Um...

All right. What does it look like to treat yourself? So what do you do to treat yourself? So many things, but the biggest one would be luxury travel, like Uber luxury travel. Like the coolest thing I ever found in my life is when we go international for somewhere around four or 500 bucks, sometimes a thousand bucks, you can have someone meet you at the gate and

a personal customs escort. They do this at Crazy Rich Asians on that movie. And they walk you past everything. It's a fast pass, but for travel. Straight through, like you own the place.

And boom, one of them we went to in Egypt, they sit you in a lounge and bring food while they run all your stuff. And then you go get in the car and leave. Oh, wow. I mean, that's bougie travel right there. I mean, that was... That's crazy rotations. That's money well spent when you're living like no one else. So yeah, that kind of like just make my life good when I'm traveling. I don't want travel stress anymore.

I enjoy the whole thing and stuff like that where I'm not standing in line, life is good. Do you do the flights that have like their own bathroom and like when you go international? I haven't done that. I saw that one on Emirates. Yeah. Yes. You get like your own apartment or something? Yes. I've got to do that one of these days. But I understand it's pretty expensive. I might not be willing to spring to that. It's more of a willingness though at this point. Yeah. It's pretty cool though. But that kind of stuff, I mean, we want to...

We don't want to go travel, you know, halfway, 24 hours or 20 hours on a plane and then stay in the freaking Motel 6 just to say we got to go to X country, right? So, yeah, we spend money on travel. You know, that is an interesting thing because growing up, we never really, when we were little, we didn't really travel. We camped and did all of that. But then when, the only memories I have of like when we actually, like we never went to the beaches, kids. Like it wasn't like, oh yeah, we have an annual beach trip. Like we never did that. But then when we started traveling-

We started traveling where it was like, oh, like Disney World. I think Disney World was my first trip, which wasn't cheap, right? You could do the beach cheap and like do all of that probably before that, but y'all wouldn't. So that is funny because that is probably still consistent on how you were growing up. You know, we did not do vacations until we had the money and to do it right. To do it right. That's what I'm saying. A lot of times when people are doing stuff like that in my world anyway, I don't know about necessarily our customer or the viewer of this, but the

In our world, growing up, people going to the beach couldn't afford it. It's like they're buying a car they couldn't afford. Yeah. And they needed to be home working. They didn't need to be dropping that three or four grand or whatever it was. And to get their dad to live like no one else, you can travel like no one else. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but that's been...

That's what we spend money on. Arthur Brooks talks about experiences. When you spend money on experiences with people that you love and you and mom travel together really well. We do. And y'all do it with friends a lot too. We do. You bring us once a year, so thank you. Still haven't got the invite. Have a drink, George.

But like that is not just like piling on more and more and more stuff. Like you guys experience it and that's, yeah, a great way to spend your money. And again, you're right in that, you know, 43 years of marriage, we are both planners. We don't,

And some couples, like we've got some friends that enjoy just going somewhere and they land in Europe and they have no idea what they're going to do and they come home two weeks later. Oh, that would drive me nuts. No, you would die. You need an agenda. Like we're doing something. Every single, if we do something spontaneous, it's a change in the said agenda. We get PDFs emailed to us.

before our Christmas trip every year with exact times of every detail that you need. Patty, my assistant, lays out exactly who's going to be where, the confirmation number. And that's not a type A OCD thing. You just want to know we're doing something. No, he's type A. If I have to plan it on the go, it's not relaxing.

That adds stress. So it's all done. I just show up. I'm checking in, and I'm already checked in when I get there most times, you know, because, again, I'm doing luxury stuff, and it's like they just meet you at the front door and go, here's your keys, Mr. Ramsey, you know, because you came through the gate, and the little guy with the thing in his ear talked into his sleeve and all that junk, you know. And that's life. That's, again, that's like what you love. But Mom and I are both planners, and we're both detail people, and we're not –

I don't know what you would call it, impulsive. No. Just go for a Sunday afternoon drive and have no idea where we're going. Not a chance. All right. You would be terrible in The Amazing Race. I would be terrible. Don't think that was ever on his bucket list. There's so many things about that I would be terrible at. What is one financial principle or piece of advice you've changed your mind about over the years? Churchill said when you're young, if you're not a liberal...

You don't have a heart. And when you're old, if you're not a conservative, you don't have a brain. And part of that is part of the thing that kind of goes with that idea is when I first started this stuff, I was a Pharisee about it. Everything exact and hardcore. And so, you know, one thing we've changed is it's not a principal change, but it's tactical changes. We forced people like at threat of being reprimanded to carry weapons.

envelope, lots of envelopes with money in them, actual cash envelopes. And we don't push that anymore. One of the famous financial people came out years ago and said, well, here's what I do, but my advice for everybody else is something else. And I'm like, I'm never going to do that. That was so hypocritical to me. And so I'm not going to do that. So if I pay for my gas at the pump,

with a debit card instead of cash out of a gasoline envelope, then I'm not going to scream at somebody else for doing that. But in the old days, we did. Sharon and I, we had stinking envelopes everywhere.

The tactical implementation of the principles, we have changed. And they are more convenient and easier now. The stuff you can do in every dollar is so much better than what we did on a piece of paper and pencil with envelopes with cash in them. Did the down payment change to 5%? I feel like that was somewhat lowered. I feel like it was always a hard 20%.

But now for first-time homebuyers, we went down, you know, the advice is now down to fine. Yeah, we push 20 really hard. I still push it hard because you save the PMI. Sure. You save the private mortgage insurance, which is stinking $75 a month per 100,000 borrowed. Yeah. So you talk about 400 grand, that's $225, I mean. A month, yeah. 300 bucks a month just for the stupid insurance that you don't even need. Yeah. And so it's costing you a lot of money.

lot of money to not put that down. So I really encourage it. But yeah, I think some things like that, that might be one, that might be true that we lightened up a little bit on that. But it's not because of house prices. It's more because we've just learned, you know, getting involved in real estate and being an owner is more important than some of the ticky tacky details. Yes. Because you do want to ride these waves up as these prices go up. Yeah, for sure. It's good. All right, next. Next.

How do you balance family and work? You can go back to like high school days when you actually had us living in the house because I feel like that's probably more. Or maybe now. Yeah. They just travel. They just travel. So I don't really see them anymore. I just leave. They leave. Because you love work. But when you're in play mode, you go hard. I don't do, yeah. I do not sit on a beach and read ever. Okay.

Under no circumstances. Don't look for him. You won't find him out there. Nope. Not going to happen. So my sitting still mode is I got two speeds of sleep and moving. One of my favorite stories in this, like this is him. 24-7, seven days a week, when Winston and I were dating, Winston came to the lake house.

And we had some friends, college friends over that weekend. And I guess maybe the night before you asked if anyone wants to ski or barefoot in the morning. Because if you're going to get good skiing or barefooting on the lake, you've got to get up like... Dawn. Yeah, at dawn. Really, really, really early. Bang on the door. Dave, it's 5.30. Fellas, you ready? Winston was like, yes, sir. Yes, sir, I am, I am.

Wait a minute. That sounds like they didn't approve this. At the lake. You signed up for this. You signed up. You said, yes, get me up. So I got you up. Why is this a hard thing? I'm just saying, it's that mode everywhere in the morning. It's 530. And yeah. So anyways. So the question was what? Work and family. Oh, balance. Balance. The great mythology of, and it's really come on lately, like a big time thing.

There is no such thing as balance because as soon as you're balanced, one second later you're going to be out of balance. It's impossible. What is this perfect moment in time? You have to take a picture of it because it's going to tip. I mean, it's ridiculous. So instead of trying to balance, sometimes work-life balance is code for I don't want to work much. Sometimes it's that. But the answer to the equation is...

be where you are a hundred percent. If you're at the lake and you're going to go skiing, get your butt up. Let's go. Don't be checking emails. We're not, we're not sitting there, you know, I'm not writing a blog instead of doing that. I'm doing that. And so when I'm at work, I'm at work. I'm game on. It's what I do. And I'm not doing 63 other things. Then when I go home, I turn it off. I'm not going to sit. I don't take 73 emails during dinner with my wife.

The problem I think people have is they get all this anxiety because they're trying to do two or three things at one time. They're trying to be a great mom or dad while simultaneously working at home on their computer. Or they're supposed to be working at work

Instead, they're on the dadgum Facebook page trying to be a friend to somebody. So you ought to be where you are. Wherever you find your feet, be plugged in there. Be 100% on that. And then what we did tactically in the old days, because I drive so hard, I had to learn, I actually learned this at a marriage conference we went to, to stop at the bottom of the street before I go home and just sit and listen to a praise and worship song.

I just got to change gears. To reset. I got to change gears because I can't use the same tonality, energy level weapons on my family that I've been using to fight battles all day long. So I need to reset. And the guy said, the other thing he said was when you get home in the olden days, the warrior would take his musket or his sword off and put it above the mantle.

I'm changing gears from warrior to dad or warrior to mom. The other thing we did tactically was we just said, okay, there's some things that are important and we're going to signal to the family that they are more important than work by doing those things. So in the high school years, Rachel referenced that, you know, 100% of the prom dates were on the calendar before we started booking live events. And we just simply, well, we have a venue and the only time it's available is then. Well, we're not going.

Because I'm going to be home cleaning my gun when that young man picks up my daughter. And so we're going to have a discussion here. You were much nicer than that. Not much. You were. But the, I mean, I'm going to be having a thing. And, you know, Daniel, I coached his ice hockey team growing up. And, you know, we just put the ice hockey schedule on there and I worked around it.

Because it generally was in the evenings and weekends, and so only an event or speaking gig or something would come across some of those things. We just can't go. I've got nine-year-olds that are counting on me, so I've got to be down there. I can't take that gig. And so we just set things on the calendar. But then when I needed to go work, you know, on a weekend, and I might have missed a— I made no attempt to make every stinking softball, soccer, hockey— Imagine with three kids, there's always something happening. No, it's impossible. It's impossible.

It's impossible. I made no attempt to be that guy. But that's not work-life balance. That's out of balance. If you have 73 sports for your kids and you make every single game, you are not in balance by definition. And so, you know, that's the kind of stuff. So anyway, that's, but we just said prioritize, be where you are 100% and prioritize some things to where we're setting the bar that

Marriage is first, kids are second, work is third, and above all of that is God. And that's a priority. And so, you know, we're gonna lay it out that way and we're gonna actually live our lives in a way that indicates that that's true. Well, I'll say as a Brentwood middle school,

I remember basketball games. You had mom coming to watch us cheer. I did. Oh, wow. Y'all did come. I was not at every game. No. I remember you were, what did they call you, a flyer? I was a flyer. A flyer. Wait, that mean you were in the air? That mean she was the little kid and they would toss her. I was. That's the most frightening one. But here's the thing. Here's the secret to it all.

I can't touch my toes. My hamstrings are very tight. I'm not a very flexible person. So when they started advancing the flyers where you had to like do the thing where you like hold your leg up or the scorpion, I got kicked out. I wasn't a flyer anymore. Yikes. Didn't hurt your confidence, so that's good. That's a little Rachel background on you. It's my turn. May or May didn't know.

What? It's my turn. Oh, it is your turn. True confessions. That's right. So we talked about what you are willing to splurge on to treat yourself. What's one thing you still refuse to spend money on? You're just like, I'm not going to spend a dime on that. It's not worth the upgrade or the charge or whatever. What I learned from watching rich people, I want to model off that, is that if I'm going to spend what feels like money, a lot of money on something, whatever that means, I'm

I want to get something of high quality that's going to last maybe even generationally. So what I refuse to spend money on is cheap stuff that's not going to last. Instead, I'll double the amount

And buy one good one instead of five bad ones. Quality over quantity. Yeah. That's where we're opposite. That's great. Yeah. I guess your Amazon history is pretty light compared to Rachel's. I don't have an Amazon history. That's how light it is. There we go. My wife has one and I participate in hers occasionally, but that's about it. We pay good money to see it. I don't even have an account. Wow. Oh, man. Yeah.

You're missing out. It's a fun life on the other side. There's a lot of... There's so much stuff on Amazon. You should check it out sometime. That's a fun one. Okay, are there any large purchases that you've ever regretted? Probably more than...

in the early days, you know, before all this stuff happened. I mean, I bought a Jaguar when I was broke to a save. Well, soon then, in the last like five years. Was there something really expensive? No, that's five years, no. That you really bought that you were like, eh, I shouldn't do it. The worst one was 2003. Okay. When we signed the... It's like a spade.

21 years ago with five scores. You can't go back five years. I'm sorry, I don't have one. But I remember it distinctly because it was, you know, it's a problem. And so we did the total money makeover deal, and I got this massive check with the publisher we were working with at the time. The check hit my account the day I got to New York City to start the book tour.

And I had been researching an expensive watch. And I thought, okay, I'm going to celebrate this largest check I've ever seen in my freaking life. And this big deal and the launch of this book and the start of this 43 days I'm going to be on the road pushing this book. I'm going to celebrate. I'm going to go buy that dadgum watch. I've been looking at it, looking at it, looking at it. And all these people got Rolexes and got super whatever nice watches, all these cool watches. And the watch was a Breitling Rolex.

watch. Uh, and gold, solid gold, solid gold band with a diamond bezel. And I knew it was like in 2003, it was like 60,000 bucks or something. And so I go up on, um, it's 52nd or whatever, where all the pawn shops are in New York, right? You bought it from a pawn shop. It's about four blocks down. Yeah. I bought it for 13,000, same watch. And, um,

And the thing weighs like 73 pounds. That's solid gold. It's heavy. And it's probably pretty gaudy, right? It's bad. And, you know, the fabulous watches, the expensive ones, they wind when you move them. They're not quartz movement. They're not digital. And so you've got to maintain the dead gum thing. It doesn't even keep time.

You know, it's like this super expensive thing, and then if you don't do it just right, the timing, the time's off. Versus something like, you know, my golf watch, it's just automatic. It's GPS. It sets itself with the phone and everything else. I don't think about it again. It's the right time. Who knew? And, you know, so I got disgusted with the thing and put it. It's gaudy. Doesn't keep good time. It's heavy. I put it in the safe, and then I thought, well, I'll trade it for something. I'll at least get a Rolex or something else. I'll trade it. I can't give the stupid thing away.

So it's like, it's like sits in my safe glaring at me. Do you still have it? Yeah, I've still got it. It sits in my safe glaring at me. You need to wear it. We need a photo of this. We need this watch. That's amazing. Will you hand it down to your kids as a generational heirloom? I just think I'm going to hand my mistakes down to my kids. I don't know. It glares at me and says, you're stupid every time I open the safe. Wow. That's good. But you never bought like a massage chair that was like, I don't know, never used the dang thing or a sauna, which you guys love. Yeah, you have a sauna too. We use the sauna. We use the sauna.

So no regrets. You've learned over time. No, I don't have many. If something is quote-unquote expensive in ratio to your life, I spend enough time thinking about it. I don't impulse that stuff and studying it to where I generally don't. This watch was closer to an impulse, like this celebration that should have never occurred.

That's good. All right. We've got a few minutes, George. Let's go lightning round. Okay. Let's get a few more in there before we close this out. Best meal you've ever had? Fine dining with wine pairings is like my favorite sport. So like a lot of best things in your life, things are relative. So I remember some of the first few times that we did like a chef's tasting with pairings, and I had never done that before. It was out of my league.

It was like 13 tiny courses? Yeah. Well, or just really well done eight courses or whatever, seven courses. But I mean, the first five or six times I did that, my mind was just, it was like the best thing ever. Every bite. But you can get used to it like anything else. And so now I'm a little bit more selective with that, I guess. But I'm not like a foodie, but I do enjoy that stuff. And I enjoy the quality and the experiential, again, part of it. But yeah, that's...

We did one of those in Paris one time at the Four Seasons and dropped some serious coin on the wine and stuff, and it was memorable. Wow. Well, paired with that, what is your kind of guilty pleasure, like just fast food, late night, no one needs to know about this? Where are you rolling through? What are you getting? Are we going Sonic? Are we going Taco Bell? Are we going Shalotsky's? Filet-O-Fish, perhaps? No, no, no.

A McRib, good sir. I might eat a Jesus chicken. I might eat Chick-fil-A. Ooh, what's your order of Chick-fil-A so the people know? Oh, just a sandwich, chicken sandwich. But probably pizza is probably it, actually. Okay. Yes. Good pizza. That's where you get it from. I know. It comes by it honestly. It's genetics. Honestly, I got in the way. I just hate general fast food. Oh, it's so good. It just makes me sick. You should try a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. I don't know. It's not good. It's just bad. Mozzarella sticks from Sonic. Oh, God.

Those things are 73 years old. Cheese curds from Culver's. Phenomenal. Wow. All right, real quick. Most influential person that you've met that you were a little bit starstruck? You know, I guess from going broke, I lost my fear of man. Um,

It's not that I'm, like, arrogant about it. Or I just don't. Okay, but who's, like, one person that you... I'm trying to think somebody... Just somebody that you met that you're like, that was crazy. Okay, George W. Bush. I interviewed him twice. Mm-hmm. And had lunch with him. And...

Yeah, my pulse rate probably changed on that. But I wasn't, I don't know if I was, starstruck is a bit much. It's okay, you can say it. It's fine. That's good. That's a good one, though. I mean, for any sitting former president, to me, is like a, that's a bucket list for me. I would love to meet a president. Not just anyone, just any president. Make it happen, Dave. Come on, you've interviewed many now. Let me know. I feel like it's time. Just let me know. Bring Rachel along. Just let me know. All right, what's your drink of choice? Bourbon.

Or on ice? No, on the rocks. Favorite bourbon, though? A big rock. Give your favorite. What was my favorite child? Oh, so many. What about the Angels Envy Unicorn? Is that up there for you? Yeah, it's in the top ten, but it's a barrel pick we did that will never happen again. Which is the ultimate flex, I feel like. It's kind of like, yeah, it's a band you can never listen to. It doesn't exist. I went through some, and I wanted this one. Selfish. What was it like raising Rachel? Yeah.

Did you put this one in? Nobody asked that. No, I didn't put this one in. How do you raise a child that's so humble? I don't know what I'm doing. How do you do it? How do you do it? How do I do it? Self-proclaimed. You know, Rachel, she was fun. She was a fun kid, obviously. More fun than the others, we could say. No, she was wide open. More fun and more trouble. But I remember she was about four.

And we took the youth pastor. We were broke. But we got this neighbor of ours owned this little restaurant. And we decided, he said, here's some cards. Come over and eat. And we don't get to go out and eat because we had no money. So we're going to go take these cards. And we grabbed the youth pastor at church after church and said, hey, jump in. So David jumped in the car with us.

And the three little kids. And we're driving along in this old beat-up car going out to eat. And, you know, when you've got little kids, yours aren't old enough yet to know this, but before you get to the restaurant, you have to give a speech. I'm going to kill you. Here's what's going to happen. If you do not behave inside this restaurant, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to pull. It was the Olive Garden, wasn't it? No, this wasn't Olive Garden. This is a different story. We're pulling into the parking lot.

And I said, "All right, you guys got it. We're gonna go in here, sit. You're not wild animals, you're humans. You're gonna sit here, you're gonna say please and thank you." You know, I gave him the speech, the dad speech, right?

And I left out something. So Rachel pops up from the back seat and says, and no fiets. And David, that youth pastor for the rest of our lives said it. Rachel said, and no fiets. No fiets. With that good Southern accent. Don't you throw a fiet. Because Rachel might have thrown a fiet in a restaurant. Don't throw a fiet. That was your thing. It was your signature move. Don't throw. It's a flex. So much happening. She always loved the drama.

You've always said, what was your, you've said if we didn't aim her at something. We had to aim her at something because she was going to go off. Me? Yeah. It was like you were such a wild child that we had to like give her some structure. A lot of energy and a lot of talent and a lot of, it was either going to be used for the devil or it was going to be used for God. So you got to aim it at something. End up in jail or this chair. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Just be glad you end up with a chair. We have one of those. We have one of those. I think every family does, right? Where you're like, all right, this one is like the... That's how God teaches us. It's the one, and it's usually the middle child, which is so funny. So you had the bowling bumpers so that you didn't end up in the gutter. They turn into something. That's why. This or this or this. I've got one. What are you most proud of personally and professionally? Maybe and or professionally. Personally, it's easy. I didn't grow up in a Christian family.

And so God's intersection with my life and how much it's changed how I do everything, how I view everything, and then how it's changed my marriage and how it's changed my kids and now my grandkids. Because we're weird. I mean, we actually have all three kids that we like, and they all turned out.

and we like their spouses. We like their spouses so much, I actually do stuff with their spouse's parents. Wow. So like Winston's dad, Buddy, and I go hunting together. I mean, we hang out together. I like Buddy Cruz without Winston around even. It's not a requirement, you know, so it's not like mandatory. So we're really, really, really blessed that way. I'm very, very proud of that. Of course, nothing is perfect, but it's...

Compared to other people that we know and the families we see torn asunder by whatever craziness, we're really blessed. I'm very proud of that. It turned out it worked. God's ways of doing things, including family, work. And so professionally, it would be our team. We have an incredible team at Ramsey. And I have, and the leadership team, the other people here have worked very, very hard to

very hard with a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of hours, a lot of tears, a lot of anger to form that team and get the right people on the bus, as Jim Collins says, the wrong people off the bus, the right people on the right seats on the bus. But the quality of human being all through Ramsey, it's unparalleled. And that's a professional accomplishment.

Again, it's God's blessing, but it's a professional accomplishment, and I'm very proud of him. Well, I can speak to that because I met my wife here, and my joke was if she's good enough for Dave, she's plenty good for me. If you can make it through the interview process. You can get through Ramsey's interview. You can join the FBI, the CIA easy. Exactly. A person of high character right there. I know. It is a good team. I was thinking about all of you guys. The people that we're looking at. It's not just Rachel. It really is.

She's part of the team. Technically, you're part of it. I am part of it, yes. I know. Technically. But that is one thing I do tell people is I'm like, you know, I don't know, something we'll be talking about work and I'm like, I do feel like I live in a bubble here.

And maybe it's, you know, the 50 people that I'm like surrounded with. I mean, I'm sure there's others, but like genuinely the people that I interact with, I'm like, I genuinely enjoy our team. Like we laugh. It's funny. It is enjoyable. We like fight hard, even in meetings that there's like a disagreement. That's even fun where it's like, okay, let's fight. Like we really do fight for the customer. Yeah.

and like what we're doing. So yeah, I agree with you. When you have co-stars like me, I imagine it's easy to enjoy your job. George, you make everything so easy. I was,

So lucky. I couldn't even get co-star out in Menin. It was that. Wow. No, it's true. People ask me what my favorite part of my job, and I'd say it's not a thing I do. It's the team I work with. I mean, seriously. It's the meetings behind the scenes more than in front of the cameras. I'm not kidding. That is like a yes, because there's a lot of miserable people out there. We call it rare air. A lot of people work with miserable people. Yeah. We breathe rare air. We've had a few, but they just don't get to stay.

They just don't get to stay. Are you out of questions? I think we're done. I don't know. Should we keep going? Are you emotionally done? Well, I went through a bunch of them. How about the scan through and choose a fun one? I know. I just, well, my fun one was me. I asked about raising me when I saw. There's the humility showing. Drink of choice. When in doubt. What's the best piece of non-financial advice that you could give? You know, I was in my 20s and Sharon and I had just gotten married and I went to this sales conference.

And the speaker was incredible. He really did a good job. And he got up at the end of the talk and he said, each of you in here, there are four components to your life. And if you want to be successful, if you want to have a high quality, rich life, you have to feed your intellect. So you need to read good books.

non-fiction books and add to your knowledge base not like murder mystery like kidnappings i read fiction books they make airplanes flat fast but then um what i'm talking about you need to add to your knowledge base if you're going to be successful you have to grow your intellect you take care of your body you get one garbage in garbage out i mean you take care of your body um

You need to deal with your past and your emotional state and figure out how you navigate forward based on where you came from. And everyone's got something there that they get to deal with. And so the emotional, the intellectual, the physical. And the fourth one is the spiritual. And he said, if you don't know this man named Jesus...

You need to get introduced. It'll change everything. It'll change the way you do relationships. It'll change the way you walk out with your spouse, with your kids, with your business, your leadership, your sales technique. It'll change everything. And it changes your eternity because you get to spend it with him. And so if you don't know him, you need to get introduced. And so I think that's probably a pretty good plan.

And that was in your early 20s. That was the first introduction to Jesus for you, right? I came home and told Sharon, we're going to church. And she said, who are you? And what have you done with my husband? Wow. Who are you? She's like, now.

Pick the Baptist church or the Methodist church. Flip a coin. We're going somewhere. All right. Wait, wait, hold on. Before we get to that, can we just talk about our world today online and how much of our information is out there? Put that down. Yeah, we can talk about it. It's fine. It just really bothers me, George. I just feel like I'm everywhere on the internet. That's how you know you're getting older. And not because of like the fact that we have a podcast like this and a YouTube show.

But everyone's info is out there on the internet because of how often, you guys, we are filling out forms. We are creating accounts on different websites. And did you know that hackers love that? I knew it. Yeah, that makes sense. Not good. That is why I love and I use Delete Me because they go through and they go to all these data broker websites and remove your information because people are making money off your information.

It's crazy. And try this at home. Google your name, your email address, your phone number. You're going to be shocked at how many weirdo websites have your personal info. And I love knowing that my info is secure and safe. And Delete Me is constantly protecting me from the risks of online scams and data breaches. So check them out. They're going to give you a crazy discount as a listener. 20% off any of their plans. They're already crazy affordable. Go to joindeleteme.com slash smartmoney to get the deal. Yeah, and it's very inexpensive. So just for, you know,

Not a lot of money a month. It's amazing how you can protect your information, which is so important these days, you guys. So you must do it. So again, click the link below and check out Delete Me. All right, you can draw. Thank you. I'm gonna end on a fun one. Okay. What has been your most awkward or challenging moment as a consumer? So maybe Dave's out in public and he's buying the thing.

I imagine you've had some awkward interactions. Oh, yeah. We've had some fun ones. You know, in general, if somebody has a Dave thing when I'm dealing with them, they either go one of two ways. They think I'm going to cheap them out.

And they have to give me the best bargain and sell me the stuff at half of what they paid for it or I'm going to be mad. Because you're a hard-driving salesman. I'm going to beat them down to nothing. Or they think, well, this guy's got so much money, I'm going to mess him over. And I'm going to charge him triple. Charge the day tax. Would you just be normal? So in general, people fall into one or two camps a lot of times there. And they're like, you know, I didn't say anything. I'm just standing here and trying to, you know. But, yeah, the price is triple. But the fun one was we—

There was a place that's closed now that was an electronics store. And Sharon's washer and dryer went out, and we went down there on Saturday morning to get one of those new, at that time they were new, those front load big deal washer and dryers, right? $2,500 or whatever the thing was at the time, I don't remember. And we go in there, and I'm like, okay, that's the price. I'm like, have you got last year's model?

And he said, yeah, I think we got one back here. Let's go look. I said, then I want a deal on last year's model because it was towards the end of the year. It's got a dent in it. That'd even be better. You know, I want a deal on that. And I wasn't trying to just beat the guy up. You're being George. A little haggling. Yeah, a little George. I thought I was just asking, just pleasantly asking. And I thought, pardon my ego, that the guy had wrecked it. I thought he knew who I was.

And I was just being kind and, you know, nice and whatever. Let's go. He takes me back there and he goes, okay. He goes, well, it'll be, this one will be $1,800 or whatever the number was, less, right? And Sharon said, well, it's not exactly the color I want. And I said, well, what's the price on it? What's the best price if I cash right now? I'm going to pull out $100 bills and lay them on you. And he goes, well, you need to add the extended warranty. Oh, boy. And I went...

No, dude. I was positive he knew who I was. Because you hate extended warranties. I hate extended warranties. For those of you listening, yes. I've been railing on them for decades. They're in all the classes, all the books, everything. Don't buy extended warranties. So I thought this guy was like trying to be funny, bad funny. But I'm like, no, I don't buy extended warranties. He goes, oh, no, you really need extended warranty. I'm like, no, dude. Not funny. I don't buy extended warranties.

And he goes, well, Dave Ramsey shops in here. And everything he buys, he puts an extended warranty on. And I went, no, pretty sure he doesn't. Oh, no. Because now I'm starting to realize this guy does not know. And Sharon's looking at me like, oh, God, this is not going well. Because my blood pressure is starting to go up. Because this guy is not only saying that. He's been telling every customer.

You're not the first. I'll guarantee you he tells everybody this to sell these ticket extended warranties as if I endorsed it. And I'm like, no, I know Dave pretty well. And he does not buy extended warranties ever. I don't believe you.

And the guy's like, I can show you in the file. I'll guarantee you he buys extended warranties. And I pulled out my driver's license and I handed it to him. And he looked at the license and he looked at me and he looked at the license and he said, oh, expletive. About passed out. And I said, Sharon, we need to go to the car because I'm angry and I'm going to say something more that I don't need to say anymore.

And we're just walking out. And he's chasing us towards the car because I've got to get away from him because I'm afraid I'm going to go off on the guy. And then he's going to have a real Dave Ramsey story. Yeah. You know, that's not good. So I can't do that. I don't have that as an option being me. So I have to escape. And he's like chasing me. Look, I'm sure we can work out a deal. I'm sure we can work out a deal. I can get you the best deal ever. I can get you the best deal ever. And I got to the car and we went to Lowe's and bought it. And yeah.

And the next morning, I got up and told staff meeting because when I was happening, it wasn't funny. But the next morning when I woke up, I thought this poor guy, he is melting in his shoes right now. This is hilarious. And by now, I'm just like, this is funny. This is funny. The poor guy, I mean, he really just got caught with his pants down completely. And so I get up and tell the story of staff meeting and everybody's laughing. And

On the way walking across the parking lot back to the office, seven people stopped me and said, oh, yeah, they told me that. They told me that. So now I'm mad again. What a rollercoaster of emotion. Yeah, it's like, oh, my God, this guy. So I picked up the phone and I called them. I said, let me talk to the manager over there. And I said, hey, man, I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but we got a problem. And he goes, I'm so glad you called.

please don't talk about this on the radio. He knew. It's a mistake. He goes, there's another Dave Ramsey in another town adjacent to here. I can show you the file. He does buy extended warranties and it's not you. And we have called every store and we've emailed every store and told them to never say Dave Ramsey buys warranties again. It was part of our sales pitch. We took it out of everything. He goes, we're so sorry. We're so sorry. Don't yell at us. And I said, okay, that's all. That's good. So we ended up buying a bunch of stuff from him later. Wow.

And they still went out of business. And they still went out of business. That was an awkward experience. A little bit of a long story for your clock, but yeah, there we go. Oh, man. I'm sweating thinking about that. I know. Those front load washers. Watch out. They'll get you. I was thinking Sharon probably was like, Mom was probably like, but it's a good deal. Yeah, she's like, David, let's stand here and talk to him. I'm like, no, if I stand here, this is not going to go well. Just take the deal.

Wow. Oh my gosh. That was fun. Too good. Too good. All right, George, you know one thing that needs to be put in the budget though? What's that? It is so worth it. It's a cozy earth product. Anything that they have, sheets, blankets, pajamas, anything.

worth everything. It might be worth its own line item in your every dollar budget. I mean, probably, George. I feel like you need something, do you? I'm a man who's now willing to spend on luxury goods. And I like getting a discount on said luxury goods, which is what you get from Cozy Earth because you're a Smart Money Happy Hour listener. You know what? I think George needs something right now. And just like that, I'm a tiny king. But listen,

I will just hold your hand. I feel loved. I feel seen. I feel known. I feel like you... There's not a lot that a big, giant, luxury blanket can't fix. And it is so heavy as well. So the fact that it brings so much comfort to your life, it is unbelievable. You ever just like hug a big, fluffy dog and it just gives you so much joy? That's what this feels like. It's unbelievable. But it's not made of dog at all. Just to be very clear. No, it is not.

No, but seriously, their stuff is incredible. Absolutely incredible. Sheets, PJs, hoodies, blankets, you name it. The socks? That's what Winston likes now. The Cozy Earth socks. I haven't tried the socks. Threw the socks in last minute. Worth the purchase. Worth the purchase. And Cozy Earth is giving our listeners an incredible deal. Up to 40% off when you use the code SMARTMONEY or go to CozyEarth.com slash SMARTMONEY because we love a good deal and we love nice things. That's right. We can do both. I know. Well, George...

You may have to say goodbye to the blanket. You're right. This would be awkward to wear for the rest of the episode. Are you ready? Yeah. And we're back. So sad. I feel cold and lifeless without my blanket, but we have a guest here, Rachel. Back to the conversation. Well, thanks for answering all the viewers' questions. There we do. Hopefully it didn't feel like an interrogation. How does it feel? How's Smart Money Happy Hour for you? Oh, it's awesome. Best show you've ever been on? Oh, yeah, definitely. This week.

Best show I've ever been on today. I'm sure you're proud. It's on the Ramsey Network and one of the best shows on the Ramsey Network. I fully agree. Because the other ones are like our shows, so we're kind of competing with ourselves. Well, before we spill the tea in our Guilty as Charged segment, Rachel, let's share the drink details and reveal our ratings. Yes, so we're sipping on a

Is it a Black Manhattan? Black Manhattan. Okay. And the difference here in the Black Manhattan, the Michael Reddish mixologist's signature, it's got rye whiskey and amaro instead of sweet vermouth, and it's got black walnut bitters, orange bitters, and of course a brandied cherry. And it costs $4.52 for each of these. So drink up. We paid cash for these, Dave. Come on. Bring it.

That's a high-priced cocktail. I'm going to rate this. I mean, I would order this at a fancy cocktail bar and happily pay good money for it, so I'm giving this a 10 out of 10. Whoa. I could not improve on it. Wow. I can't make a better Black Manhattan. I'm going 9 out of 10 just because it's not my—a bourbon-based cocktail is not my favorite anymore. Not your thing these days. No. Do you remember Manhattan used to be—when we would all travel for live events—

After a long event, we would, you know, a lot of us would go out. Old fashions in Manhattan. But old fashions in Manhattan. That's all we would order. If you can't get good bourbon, you got to mix it with something. And now it would be different. I would do a dirty martini. Oh, wow. I know. I've switched. Look at you. I've gone, yeah. I've switched. That means you're becoming middle-aged. Stop it. That's what happens. It's a rite of passage for all moms. No, really? Eventually, they switch to dirty martinis.

It's fine. All right, what's your rating, Dave? Did you give it a rating? You don't have to be generous. You know Michael very well. Be honest, yeah, because you just like bourbon. You're not really a cocktail guy. I'm not liking the black walnut in there. Okay. It's hitting you weird. I didn't like that. That bitters through it for me, but yeah, probably six or seven, somewhere in there. That's pretty good. 6.5. We'll tell him.

He texts us after every episode. What'd you rate it? What'd you rate it? He wants to know. So we will let them know that, we'll let Michael know. He knows I don't want to mix my bourbon with stuff. Yeah, he knows. He should have known better. Michael, unbelievable. Well, hey, if you want to see who's right, is it me or Dave? It's Dave. But you can get the recipe in the show notes. If you want to try it for yourself, you decide.

All right. Now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer, Kelly, gives us a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. Kelly. All right. Whatever it is, I'm taking a sip. Okay, go ahead. Have you ever been awkward around someone famous or someone that you really respected? Yes. I have a story. Oh, no. I know this story. Do you know my story?

Oh, this is so bad. Have I heard this story? Don't tell it. Don't? Oh. Now you have to. We have to hear it. This is my worst. This is one of my worst. If I could ever veto Dave, I'm going to use that card right now to say, please tell this story. I know. We're going to, yeah, this is an honest show. It can be edited out later. Oh, stop it. Stop. It's not that bad. It's not that bad. Yeah. My worst celebrity experience. We were in Las Vegas because...

dad, Dave, was being inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, which was a really big deal. That's amazing. Yeah, it was incredible. Yeah, so we all flew out as a family because we all went as a family and went to this, like, you know, they had a big ceremony. The night before, we were eating at a restaurant and everyone was talking about the guy that owned the restaurant. And I don't watch the Food Network. I don't watch cooking shows. I don't know famous chefs. Like, that's not my thing. Yeah.

And Bobby Flay owns the restaurant. And this was a pairing, exactly like you're talking about. And sweet Rachel, in her early 20s, that didn't get these experiences, is very excited. I talk a lot. I'm having my dirty martini. Probably my Manhattan. And you get wine pairing, all of it. So anyways, I think it's fair to say, toward the end of the dinner, I was like, oh wow, I probably didn't eat enough for...

the whole pairing situation. That's how we explain it. So I am, yeah, so it's a, yeah. So I'm just like, oh yeah, okay. So we're getting out of the restaurant.

And everyone's like chattering in our group. And they're like, oh my gosh, he's here. He's here. He's actually in town. He's coming up to like say hi and congratulations. I was like, what are y'all talking about? And they were like, Bobby Flay is coming. He's coming up. He's coming up to say hello. And everyone's freaking out. And I'm like, oh my God, I don't know who he is. But Rachel is very like, I want to meet him. You don't even know who this guy is. You go, I want to meet him. I do. Because everyone's freaking out. His name's on the front of the restaurant. I got to meet him. Yeah. So it's like, I don't know.

And so he comes up, he's talking. This cannot end well. It's not good. It's not good. Yeah. Well, I first walk up again. Rachel's. Yeah. You're not seven. You're in your mid twenties. I was just a mere child. She's kind of bashful. The first thing I said, I said, hi, Bobby Flynn. Ready for this? I don't know why.

Hi, I'm, oh, I'm Dave Ramsey's wife. And mom and dad were like, Rachel? And I was like, oh my God, I'm his wife, I'm his daughter. Sorry, Bobby Flynn, I'm his daughter. I said his name wrong twice. Twice.

And Amy Severson, who's on our team, was there. And she grabs my arm and she says, hey, let's go over here, Rachel. And we walk out and they said his name is Bobby Flay. This was so painful to watch. It was terrible. But I really want to know. I want to hear Bobby Flay's version of this story. He probably doesn't remember it. But in my head, it was my worst interaction. Wow. Yeah. Bobby Flay. Some overly excited chick at the restaurant. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Well, Rachel, if it makes you feel better, I'm guilty too. Mine's way more recent. I was in my early 30s. Okay, tell us. And Dave was there, and Dave reminds me of this story all the time. I was at an event that Dave put on. Dave put on an event for guys. Okay. Men that he respects. I happened to get... I was a late addition to the list. Say that. No, George. Not true. And there's some big-time people there. You know, I'm not going to name drop. This was a famous comedian. He's got a big podcast, and...

I was filming a magic trick that was happening that he was involved with. I thought this will be a cool moment. Oh, I heard this story, George. To see this magic trick, you know, come to life. We're four and a half minutes into this trick. Things aren't going as planned. And he sees me filming and goes, hey, are you filming? I'm like, oh, I'm just, anyway, I got to get out of here. And I, apparently to Dave's version, I forced him to leave the party because of how uncomfortable I made him.

And to this day, I think about it every night before bed. And I feel terrible. I didn't know that it was going to make him uncomfortable. You know? Yeah. We're used to cameras. He's used to cameras. This particular incident, he wasn't having it. And you're just filming him right there. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. So I haven't lived that one down. Don't know if I'll make it back on the invite list. Oh, you're fine.

I'm just going to take your phone away from you at the door. Yeah, I've learned. I've learned. Ask for consent before pulling out the phone. Okay, that's good. That's a good one. That's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. And Dave has never been awkward around anyone. I'm awkward around everybody. It's just a problem. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, the first time I was on the Today Show, Matt Lauer was on and Katie Couric was on. And I'm just like...

And me and Matt are sitting right there, and we did the little interview thing. And my little scissors, I'm chopping up credit cards. And it was the, you know, a classic routine I'd done a bazillion times, but never done on a Today show. So I'm like, oh, this is cool. I'm just happy to be here. Life's good. And so Katie's over there at the desk, you know, across the room. They had like three sets in the room, big, big studio. And so I'm like, hi, Katie Couric. And she says, hi, Dave Ramsey. So I start walking towards her to say hi and shake her hand.

And, like, three security guys jumped between us. And I'm like, okay. Not shaking her hand. Goodness gracious. You were a guest on the set. It's not like you were a stranger. Yeah, but those morning shows, it's a, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not in a bad way. I mean, they were the stars of the show in those days. I mean, they were the hot commodity. Actually, Matt wasn't. He was just starting then. But Katie was a big deal. Wow. Yeah.

And, yeah, I mean, I'm sure they worried some weird guy from Tennessee with a huge set of scissors is coming towards Katie. You were holding the scissors. Maybe put the scissors down. The scissor hands attacks Katie Couric. Don't approach Katie with scissors. Katie. Katie.

Those are big scissors you have there. Wow. All right. This is the first time we're all guilty. We're all guilty. Cheers to that. Cheers to the guilt. We're in enough rooms with famous people. We got lots of things to be guilty about on that one. Bobby Flay, never forget you. Wow. Never forget.

Never forget. Bobby Flynn. Oh, so fun. Well, if you guys enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out that we actually have an episode about Cheapskate or Resourceful with Sharon Ramsey, his better half. So we'll make sure to leave that episode. You can check it out here. Or if you're listening on podcast, we'll leave a link in the description because that's a fun one for sure.

Dave, Dad, thanks for being here. Being a great guest. This was a lot of fun. One of my favorites. Not the favorite, but one of my favorites. We had Sharon on. You'll be careful with that. It'll get you in trouble. It was so good. All right. I don't get to drink on other shows, so this is interesting. Yes, it's good. A real treat for him. This is so fun. So fun. All right, you guys. Make sure to like and subscribe, and we'll see you next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.