The Ups, Downs and Lessons of 2024
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Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Man. Happy 2025 almost. 2025 in a cup.

Well, this is the podcast where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And today, we are revisiting the highs and lows of the year of our Lord 2024. That's right. And boy, were there some highs and lows. There are highs and lows in the world.

Highs and lows here on Smart Money Happy Hour. Highs and lows of drinks and cocktails. Like, we got it all, people. We have it all. And we're about to jump in because this is a good year recap. That's the fun part of ending a full calendar year. You get to look back. We all need to do that. It's good for us. And if you're wondering why there are six drinks on this table, 2024, absolutely.

has been a year. But there's a better reason why we have so many cocktails. I mean, we're talking about best and worst. Rachel, why not do the same with our cocktails? Yeah, so we're just sampling a couple of our cocktails from the past year. And yeah, pretty good. We'll have some fun with it. We're going to guess what the drink is, what it's called, and we'll see if the rating we give it today aligns with our original reaction. Yes, and we actually have some faithful signature drinks that fans have submitted as well. So

Make sure if you're watching and listening, you know, be thinking, huh, did I submit that one or not? Yeah, and drop your favorite in the comments if you've tried any of them. All right, George, let's start off with the first drink, shall we? Let's go here. Here we go. Delicious. That is a classic, delicious margarita. Definitely, Mark. Do you remember the episode?

Could not tell you the episode. I think we've done a few Margs, but this one I think was Michael Reddish's, our mixologist, his best margarita recipe. That's my best guess. I'm going to say I gave it a 10 out of 10. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. New rating, still 10 out of 10. It hits. I know. I'm going 10 out of 10. I mean, just that's a classic Marg. Sometimes you just need a classic Marg. I don't remember the name though.

Michael's Margarita? Michael Rita. Reddish Rita? Reddish Rita. Reddish Rita? Oh, you did it! That was really sad. Wow. Ow, that hurt my ear. Third time's a charm.

All right, let's talk about category. Was it with ratings, correct? So this is a reddish Rita. Booyah. Yep, this came from the Financial Realities You Learn as an Adult episode. Great episode. Yep, you both gave it a 10 out of 10 originally. You're so consistent. Nice. And this has...

Roposado tequila. Yep. Blanco tequila. Orange liqueur, lime juice, and agave nectar. Okay. Beautiful. And we'll put the recipe in the show notes if you want to check out some of these all-time favorite drinks. And our episodes we'll put there, too. And the links to the episodes. Yeah. If you missed it, just in case. Because those are some solid episodes. Yep. Okay. All right, George. Category number one when we look back is pop culture moments. Best and worst pop culture moments. All right. Top one. It's got to be Taylor Swift.

because she is still on her heiress tour, and her romance with Travis Kelsey, which some people thought was an absolute, like, conspiracy. Like a publicity stunt or something. And look who's made it this far. How long have they been together now? Look what you made me do. Take another sip of my cocktail because they are still going. That's right. And Taylor's net worth is sitting at approximately $1.6 billion. Travis's at $90 million. And we want to know when they're inviting us over for dinner. Yeah.

Question mark? It has nothing to do with the money. I just think it would be a good time. I had a dream I was friends with her. Like, genuinely, I was like... Wow. Do you ever have celebrity dreams? No, I think it's literally just you. Okay, next up on the list is...

Paris Olympics. Oh, the Olympics. I forgot that this existed and then Halloween happened and there was all of the ray gun break dancing. And the break dancing from Australia. That was a memorable moment for sure. So Simone Biles now holds the record for longest gaps between gold medals won in individual, all around, and vault. Eight years. And we got Steven who was on the horse. Love Steven. He made nerds cool again. And he was on Dancing with the Stars. Oh, I did not know that. Yes. Was he good? Yeah.

Yeah, I think he made it pretty far. I don't know. I don't follow that show very much, but I kept seeing it. But he'd like take off his glasses and like all this stuff. I mean, just so great. But he was like the specialist and he won the bronze for that event. Yeah.

And he got them like all in the all around to like actually, yeah, get the bronze for the whole team too. So, so great. A lot of other athletes here. Alona Maher. Oh yeah, she's funny. Female rugby star, won the internet over with her comedy about having a crush on other Olympic Village athletes in 2020. Very relatable content there. Yeah, so good. And Tara Davis Woodall won gold in long jump and her sweet embrace with her husband Hunter, who also won gold at the Paralympics, went viral. Just precious. Yeah.

The Coca-Cola company is the longest standing sponsor of the Olympic Games and a relationship dating back to, wow, when Coke still had cocaine in it. Simpler times. I mean, that is a fact. Ask your parents, kids. They remember. If you needed that, yeah. But yeah, they spent almost $20 million for advertising. It's got to be worth it. I mean, these companies are smart. They're not doing this without ROI. Totally, yeah, yeah. And the average cost of a ticket for smaller events is,

for the Olympics is in the 300 to 800 range. But for finals events or opening and closing ceremonies, you're looking at a couple thou. Okay. Per tick. The Golden Bachelor became a thing. So I used to watch, I was a big Bachelor fan. Did you know this about me? I did not know. I watched, golly,

Golly. Golly. Shucks. The Bachelor. Golly. I watched from probably 2007 to 2007. I bet I watched a solid 13 years of The Bachelor. That's impressive. Every season. I have never dedicated my life to anything. But I stopped. I fell off the wagon. I fell off the wagon. Wow. I'm not back on. I'm still on The Real Housewives.

They're on my prayer list. What about the Mormon wives? Are they on your prayer list? Never went there. Never went there. Yeah, no, I don't know. I hear about them. It feels a little youthful for me. Interesting. I need older 60-year-old women on the OC. I'm guessing. Spending money they don't have. That's what I enjoy. Wow. That's your cup of tea. Well, you saw what happened with the Golden Bachelor couple. They broke up, right? Filed for divorce three months after publicly tying the knot on national television. Oh, hell no.

So receipts for this wedding are hard to find, but we do know that Trista and Ryan had the first Bachelor TV wedding back in 2003, and they were paid a million dollars to get married on camera. I watched it. He was a firefighter. We all loved him as high schoolers. What's he doing now? I don't know what they're doing now, but they're still married with kids and living their life. They are a success story. It's what they hang the whole franchise on, I think, is Trista and Ryan. Wow. It's hanging on by a thread then. All right. Okay. You Know What Came Out was one of the best movies ever.

Inside Out 2. Did not see it. What? Jesus. Are you serious? You acted like, I mean. George. I father a one-year-old. I haven't been able to go to the movies. Oh my gosh. Anxiety comes and literally it is so good. I think every millennial. They really made this for millennials. This is not for kids anymore. I think we all cried. I think we all cried. And you know what? I'm going to be honest. You know, I have my issues. Anxiety is not at the top.

I know it is for a lot of people. Yeah, you're not a super anxious person. It's not at the top, but I relate. And you go there and you see, wow, that's how anxiety and joy try to coexist. And then they can't find Riley's self. Like they couldn't find her sense of self. Oh, oh my gosh. That I could relate to. Where's your identity? Where's it going? And now your long-term memories are...

Did you take the kids? So good. Yeah, we did. Did they get it? Amelia, our nine-year-old kind of did. Yeah. But Charles, none the wiser. No, Charles and Caroline, I don't think really got it. He's just excited to get out of the house and get some popcorn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not. And then Caroline is definitely not our anxious kid either, so she probably didn't relate as much.

Wow. But yeah. Well, you contributed to someone making a lot of money because it earned more than $1.6 billion worldwide. Oh my gosh. That has to be one of the highest grossing movies, right? Yeah, that's up there. I would think, yeah. But the healthy messaging about emotions and childhood development, that's priceless. Okay, how about this? This gives me claustrophobia.

What is it? The astronauts that got stuck in space. Oh. When I read about that, I was like, oh, I can't. I can't breathe. I saw the headline. I was like, no, thank you. No, thank you. I'm good. So Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are just vibing at the International Space Station until early 2025. Uh-huh. But we can go to the moon, walk around, and come home, but we can't go get them. That's all I'm saying. She has a point. That's all I'm saying.

She has a great point. How long would you last without getting in maybe a floating fist fight? Being stuck in close quarters like that? And like these people are married with kids. I mean like they have lives obviously on earth. Yeah.

And then you get stuck with this person that you may or may not even get along with. I think you'd have to learn how to get along. Now, that would be a better reality TV show. I would talk your ear off if we were in space together. I'd be like, hey, George, what you doing? What do you think? Are you doing good now? Can you breathe right now? I would pray to God that I brought my AirPods Pros to put noise cancellation on.

Sorry, I'm listening to my audio. What could you say? And I'd let you talk. I think you would need to get the energy out like a dog before bedtime. I would have to let you talk in order to just so we could just pipe down.

Wow. Can they talk to people on Earth? I think so. I don't know that people on Earth want to be talked to 24-7. Oh, man. I don't know what the time change is. It's so rough. And I think Elon— Is it on mountain time? Oh, my gosh. I don't know. How do you know? Asteroid time. And Elon tried to get them because SpaceX is like advancing above NASA right now. Did you know that? Oh, yeah. Crazy. But their spacesuits, something wouldn't be compatible with—

That takes a lot of science. Come on, Apple makes a dongle for that. A lot of science to get up there. And yeah. All right. Well, according to NASA, the average salary for astronauts in space is more than 152 grand a year. Seems cheap. I think you'd have to pay me more. I think I'd have to have double that to consider it. Knowing that like I could die at any moment. Yeah. Or never come back to Earth. You'd have to pay me... What's your number? I'm going five million a year. I mean, I would need like...

Yeah. I would need to come back and retire. Like I did one, I'm good, we're out. Yeah, if someone's like you get half a million, I'm going to say I'm good. Not because I don't need half a million, but like to get up in space, no. The risk is just too much. No. Yeah, nothing about that. Would you rather go up or down? I feel like going up feels safer. Okay, versus scuba diving.

Oh, you're saying down in the water. Go like Titanic. No, I have water. I have issues with deep water. Okay, so that's more scary than space. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why. I would agree. I feel like the technology is better when I'm in a capsule going up than a capsule going down. I would agree with that. Don't know why. That feels right.

Okay, here's a social media thing that went viral. And I honestly heard it here first. The team introduced me. And now, I don't even follow them, but they come up in my feed. It's Pookie and Jet. Pookie. And she's pregnant. Probably had her baby by now. But they became like this whole thing. All based on one phrase. Yeah. They would just post videos. They'd both be dressed up, looking nice. And he would say, Pookie's looking absolutely fire tonight. Mm-hmm.

And he's kind of this bro-y guy. He probably went to Knoxville with him, I imagine. Yeah, I think he went to like Harvard. That makes sense. I think he actually went to like a legit law school. Not that UT law is not legit. But he's got like a cool uppity guy vibe, but seems like a really nice guy. Okay, here's a question for our world today. And this is not...

I'm not judging them by any stretch of the imagination. But, you know, people like this that are on social media and they're just putting outfits on and having funny names like Pookie and all that. And they make merch. They get advertised. I mean, they're probably making, these people can make millions. I mean. Oh, absolutely. Make a ton of money. Brand deals, sponsorships. So the question is, is there like a weird thing in society? I was talking to a guy, he's a lawyer for a firm that helps with like,

within like a lower income, like does like really good work as a lawyer and makes obviously nowhere near that. Yeah, people think lawyers just automatically make six figures. Yeah, and we were talking about it and it's like, man, is it like, is there a weird thing in society that like people that are doing really good work and helping the world-

don't naturally make as much as people that like put out like... Go viral on social media. Dancing videos, yeah. Like is it fair? Do you think this is like where like Rome collapses, you know, that phrase? Wow. That's a strong...

Pendulum swing. But I see where you're going. Are we doing well as a society based on who we value? Because being online, it's tough. And we have to be online a lot for just life, right? And what happens is our information is online as well. That's true. And we have to be careful with that. You've got to protect it. Because there are spammers, there are scammers, there are online thieves that take our information and they sell it to data broker websites. And these data brokers then sell your information again online.

And then they trade your information. I mean, all this stuff, you guys. And then you end up getting spam texts. You get part of data breaches. All of the stuff that we are really annoyed by and sometimes can really hurt our financial life. For sure. Especially if you ID theft, all of it. So getting your information off the internet is very important. That's why we love Delete.me. Delete.me is a great service, you guys. Make sure to check them out. If you go to joindelateme.com slash smartmoney, you get 20% off.

a subscription with them. Click the link down below. But for real, protecting your information in our world today, so important. And they send you a report showing you exactly where they found and removed your information, how much time they saved you. And it's one of my favorite reports that I get in my life. And I get a lot of reports. Probably top three reports. Top three. Check them out.

All right, let's move on to drink number two, George. And we're going to talk about the best and the worst of Smart Money Happy Hour. There was worst? There were some worst. There were some episodes y'all just did not click on. Are we ranking worst based on least amount of views? I think it's on viewership. Yep. Or how much they liked Rachel. All right, let's do the middle drink. All right, switching. Switching gears.

Does it have licorice in it? I don't know if I like that one. Okay. I'm going to go three out of ten. What is that? I know this liqueur. I just can't put my finger on it. Or four. I'll give it a little higher. I'll go four out of ten for me. What has a licorice flavor? Is it absinthe? Okay. I'm close. Okay. Good job, George.

It's got absinthe. It's got lime. All right, what is it, Kelly? This is called a Corpse Reviver. Corpse Reviver. Sorry, Corpse Reviver number two. We loved Corpse Reviver. This is my favorite cocktail of all time. Yeah, you both gave it a 10 out of 10. Oh, no. It doesn't taste... You know what? I think the margarita skewed our taste buds. And the ice has melted. And the ice has melted, which watered it down. Shoot. Okay, what's my rating now? This was the one I asked Michael to make. Okay.

And I said four out of ten. I'm still going to give it a six out of ten. No, I should have had you rate it before you heard how great it was. I said six out of ten. Yeah. For the new rating right now. Let's blame Michael. Maybe this wasn't his best work. I think it's still a ten out of ten drink. I just think— Yeah, the Corpse Survivor is amazing. Yeah, we love it. So this came from our Are You Guilty of These Financial Turnoffs episode. And this has Jen, triple sec, three.

Lilit Blanc, Fresh Lemon, and Absinthe. Literally love all of those things. You love Lilit Blanc? I do that in my Vesper martinis. Yes, I do. I have Lilit Blanc in my house. That is really impressive. Thank you. Don't you talk down to me. I'm just impressed. George. I don't know many people that just have Lilit Blanc. Yeah. It's a life of luxury. Isn't that the part in a Vesper? Yeah.

You tell me. I'm pretty sure it is. It must be. I think you're making them. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry that our rating changed. Man, that makes me sad. I'm going to drink it just out of solidarity. I still think it's a great drink. Yeah, don't let that sway you. I know. I think the licorice came real quick on the tongue. Maybe that was from the tequila from the earlier drink. Yeah, the absinthe came out of the mouth.

Let's talk about, okay, so our best episode, George, are you ready for this? And this is all on YouTube. So podcasts, we love you, but they ran it on YouTube, was why short-term rentals are no vacation. So we talked about hotels versus Airbnbs and how the Airbnb quality is really declining because lots of fees, you got to clean it yourself. Like there's just so much work involved now with Airbnbs. It's not as turnkey anymore.

And man, people, they love the episodes. They clicked on it. But we had some love-hate to it, always. Always. With some high-viewing episodes. But that was one of our top ones, George. Wow. I still think it holds up. You know, everyone's traveling. Everyone has thoughts about vacations and hotels and Airbnbs. And their one story of why they'll never do one of them again or whatever it is.

But there's also the investing part. A lot of these desirable city homes are getting snatched up by hedge fund investors. And our take was we're kind of more hotel people in most situations. Yes. And not just financially, but from an experience standpoint. That's right. Yeah. Having someone come in, make up your bed. I mean, so nice that it happened in my house. She's not trying to live like a local taking out her own trash. Or go to the grocery. To the grocery. To the grocery store.

Now, I will on a beach trip. I don't think I said that in the other episode. There's certain vacations that like... But if you're going to be gone for like a long weekend, give me a hotel. All day. All day.

All right, one of our other best ones was harmless purchases that will drain your bank account. So this was Evu's favorite episode. Yes, one of our producers. Yep, and it's like the little treats. Little treat culture. Yeah, just have me a little treat. You can do anything. You could do your own laundry. They teach us these. You know what, just have a little treat. And you get an $8 latte because you did laundry. That's the energy of little treat culture. Celebrate yourself. Just a little treat. Just a little treat. And here was our take on this.

I still think you should go listen to it because it was great. But here's the TLDR. Little treats are great, but you got to plan for it in the budget. And so if you want to know the best budgeting app out there, be sure to check out EveryDollar. You can even have a little treat line item in EveryDollar and put 50 bucks in there. Yeah. And when you spend it, that's it. That's right. You got your little treats. All right. One of the worst. Man, this was my idea. Money motives hidden in shocking true crime stories. Yeah.

Listen, I love a good murder, you know? It just like, when there's a story about a murder, I'm in. Give me a 2020, give me a book, give me a whatever it is, but I am listening. There's that new one with Anna Kendrick. She's directed it. I have not seen this. On Netflix. Yep. Serial killer.

Anyways, that was the most recent murder. So people love true crime. They just don't want to hear about it on a money podcast. That's what I'm realizing. I hear you. And I will take your non-watching that episode to hearts.

What if there was a true crime podcast that was like, hey guys, today we're going to talk about the murder of your bank account and why you should do a budget. They're like, I'm out. I'm out. That's not fun. No, but there were some murders like for money and murder for hire and how much they paid. It was interesting. We talked about the true crime industry. Should it be profiting off of these tragic stories? Yeah, because these podcasts and stuff, y'all, they're making talk about...

Influencers on social making a lot. These other people are making a lot too. It is weird. It's just weird. Yep. Another worst one was explain investing like I'm a five-year-old. I thought that was a good one. You know, we were really trying to like, you know, be boots on the ground, cookies on the bottom shelf. We really tried to be like, hey, we're going to explain it in a way everyone understands. Not to talk down to people, but just like, hey, give me like that. Just simplifying some of the jargon. Yep. Give me the easy version. And they just did not appreciate it, George.

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed in you guys. I'm not offended. I'm going to be honest. Might be a little offended. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Okay. But I moved on. Thanks, Dad. And if I, I don't check the stats on these. You know, the team sends it once a month. They'll update us. Hey, here's what the people liked. Here's what they didn't like. But I don't lose sleep over it. So you can't hurt me. I want you to know that. Oh my gosh.

But hey, you know what? Sorry we let you down with these episodes, listeners. We don't think they're all that bad. And we're going to put the links in the show notes for you to find out for yourself if you didn't listen or if you want to listen again. Yeah, you can't win them all. But George, what was one of your favorite parts of an episode? Maybe the funniest part. Tell us that. Oh my goodness. Like where did you laugh the hardest? I think you're... I've had a couple of like... Your Miley Cyrus impression with the French bulldog. Attorney is usually the part that you remember anyways. I love it.

Is that a fridge? That one has stuck with me. I don't know if it's good or bad still. I'm working out with my therapist. But it really stuck with me. I was tickled by it. Yeah. Anytime you attempt almost anything, singing, accents, impressions, it's the best. It's because I don't hear tone. I've decided that. I can't. My voice sucks.

Is that tone to you? We've talked about this. Yeah, where you go like up and then low. I'm not good at the range. I'm pretty like, not monotoned, but like my range is... You're a great talker. My range is limited. But people that can do impression... I mean, it's impressive and I can't. But anyways, Miley, I see you girl. And I was praying for her too. She's been on my prayer list. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Yes. She's doing great. I love that you're taking credit for these people's lives based off of...

A single? I don't know how often you're praying for these people. The Lord is good. Is it daily? Is it monthly? Just whenever the spirit moves. When they come to mind? When the spirit moves. George, you should pray for people. It's just good for you. I do, just not celebrities. All right. Okay, let's go. Maybe I should. Let's go to our next drink. We got this one right here. Okay. And this is in the fancy glass. This is a sugar-rimmed glass. I can tell because my hands are already sticky. This is a good one. This tastes like a...

Maybe with some sparkling water? Yeah. Am I close? It's very refreshing. Yeah, you're close. You want to go ahead and give it a rating? I'm going to give this, I think for a mocktail, if the ice hadn't melted, I would probably say 10 out of 10. Yeah, 10 out of 10. Awesome. Well, you both gave it a 10 out of 10 originally. Wow.

And this is the Lemon Drop Mocktail. Lemon Drop. That's it. So not a margarita. Right. Lemon Drop. Lemon Focus versus wine. But you're right in the fact that it does have club soda. Yes. And lemon juice and simple syrup. And this came from our Why Nothing is Enjoyable Today episode.

Oh, that was yours. That was mine. So that came from my sort of emo, Eeyore spirit. Yes, very ecclesiastic. I'm going like, why don't I just enjoy things anymore? And we explored it. We talked a lot about the financial aspect of why we don't enjoy things anymore. That's right. Inflation's part of that. But it was so expensive. What do you enjoy these days? What do I enjoy? Yeah.

Oh, we have puppies. Oh, that does bring joy. Yeah. That's been like a part-time job, the dogs. I didn't realize that.

Like when you're, I mean, you guys, how many puppies did she have? Six. Six puppies. And you have to take care of them after she's, you know, given birth. There's still another, how many weeks? Yeah. Well, that's controversial depending on how attached. Seven, eight, twelve? The attachment theory. But it's about eight to nine is what we're doing. The vet said that was okay. Some people keep till twelve. The vet said it was okay. Yeah. That's a fun one. Yeah.

So I would say that's how I'm enjoying that right now. Yeah, I've realized having kids is secretly enjoyable. Okay. That's my hot take. Well, you know, I mean, people out there, there's this vibe of like, oh, like kids, it's a lot of work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ruined your social life. I'm like, didn't have one to begin with. I'm doing fine. We're good. But no, truly, like making her laugh is my favorite thing and only thing I want to do. Sweet George. I love that. It's the best. Because honestly, no one else will laugh.

All right, let's do some rapid fire rounds. We're going to do the highs and lows, you know, the hills and the valleys of our year. George, you ready? I'm ready. Wait, personally? Yep. Oh, wow. Here we go. Okay. Best meal of 2024. Go. Leroy and Lewis in Austin, Texas on a work trip with none of these people are in the room, but some of the best barbecue Texas has to offer. So good. So good. Man. How about you?

I'm going to go... I don't remember the name, which is so not fun. It was a place in Dallas of sushi. Both Texas. You know what I loved about it? What? This is so funny. We drank the Corpse Reviver on this episode because it's a really hard drink to find. And I asked the waiter. It was kind of a high-end sushi restaurant, great bar. And I was like, hey, can y'all do a Corpse Reviver, number two? And he was like...

shoot, no, because we don't have like whatever this thing, but I can do something really close. And he made me a great cocktail. I like remember it. It was great. But I love sushi and it was... That's a good one. All right, next. Best album of 2024. Taylor Swift. Wow. The Dead... Torture Poets Society? Yeah, Torture Poets. Yeah. Did I say that right? You say Dead Poets Society. That's a movie. Also great. Torture Poets. Some of Robin Williams' best work. Yeah. Yeah, man. I would say...

Oh my gosh, I'm blanking, but Haunted, what's the Haunted song? Some would say you have a blank space. Welcome back, guys. Thanks for bearing with us through this episode. I did, in fact, drop my mocktail, but it was because...

The drink was so sticky, yet slippery, that I could not grab it. And it just fell right out of my hand. So I apologize. Are you dry? I'm great. I think Taylor Swift's Ghost from Who's Afraid of Little Old Me. May I come in here? And I said, how dare you not remember the name of my song? Way to bring us back. Okay, I'd say that one. Moving on to Rapid Fire. Best purchase of 2024 for you. Can I go bougie? Please.

Please do. I feel like we're very like, oh my God, we get everything on sale and we get dupes and like we'd love to save money, which we do. That is who we are. But also there is a time to spend money. Yeah. So I got a purse.

For my birthday in April. Can you mention the... I will. Because the ladies who know purses want to know. Okay, so it's a... And people all pronounce it so differently. So it's either Goyard, Goyard, Goyard. I don't know. People have different pronunciations. You know, I can't do like... I can't. I was waiting for a French accent. I assume it's French. I know, I know. Yeah, so it's out of... Yeah, it's like an old...

French designer, I guess. Yeah, but it's not very known and can go super bougie. You can only buy it in the store. So you can't buy it online. And they only have four stores in America.

So... Where'd you go? I was in LA and for work, and Winston met me out there because it was close to my birthday. And he surprised me. He said, babe, we're going to Rodeo Drive. Like classic, like the stereotype of just shopping, you know, pretty woman style. That's amazing. And...

But I'm married, so it's definitely Pretty Woman. A little different. I think that's clear. Well, there's a lot of reasons why it's different than Pretty Woman, but yes. But yes. So it's a green purse. Yeah, a green Goyard purse. Wow. And it's worth it. Worth the splurge. Sure. And I like it because it's a little understated. Not everyone recognizes it. It's not like a Louis Vuitton where it's like, oh my gosh, everyone knows, you know, that print. So it's like a little bit... We call that quiet luxury. Stealth wealth. A little stealth wealth, yeah. Even though the, like...

Like, I wouldn't know. You could be like, I got this on Amazon. I'd be like, oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not a very well-known. Someone with poor taste like me would not know. Stop, stop. Okay, how about you? Give me a bougie purchase you made or one that you like. I mean, okay, one thing I did that is very not like me, I would say, I wouldn't call it a purchase because it was inherited, but then I spent a lot of money to get it fixed, was this watch. It's this old Rolex from the 90s, inherited from my wife's grandfather who passed a few years ago. And...

Grandma said, hey, would you take this watch? You can't sell it. And I said, yes, and I'll get it fixed up. Little did I know, fixing it up is still 10 times more than I've spent on any watch in my life. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this was the splurge purchase of the year. How fun. And it's cool because number one, it's like a family heirloom. Yep. And number two, this is not, you know, people know me as like Apple Watch guy.

So to be wearing like a bougie luxury watch, I feel elevates me. Yeah, and it puts some years on you, some wisdom on you. I'm a dad now. Yeah. What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing? So there we go. Yep. I will say another great purchase. Winston bought a hoodie from Cozy Earth.com.

And it was one of his favorite purchases of the year because Cozy Earth is amazing. Absolutely incredible. We have their sheets. I have some joggers. We have blankets from them. I mean, they are an amazing company. Like the quality is unreal. Yes, I've had a lot of sheets in my life. But my wife consistently, whenever we put those Cozy Earth sheets on, she was like, wow.

These are really something. And my dogs love them. I know that's not saying much, but they are cozy for the pups too. And they have a 10-year warranty on their bedding. So those sheets. That says something about their confidence in the product. For sure. And if you guys go to CozyEarth.com, you shop, use the code SMARTMONEY at checkout and you'll get up to 40% off.

Which is amazing. I mean, that's pretty incredible. That's very generous of them. If you're above a two with another number percentage-wise, that's a great discount. Well, we told them. We said, hey, this is a money podcast. People are watching their money. And so they said, hey, we're going to give them a really, really steep discount. Yep. And their products are absolutely worth it. So go check them out. CozyEarth.com. Use promo code SmartMoney. And if you get a post-purchase survey, let them know you heard about Cozy Earth on Smart Money Happy Hour. So great.

Okay, George, what's the worst purchase you made in 2024? Oh, gosh. Regrettable purchases. That's a really difficult one for me. I would say I got a bed jet, which I talked about. A bed jet. And it shoots air into your sheets to keep it cool under there. Wow.

But I've got a weighted blanket. I've got the dogs. There's a lot going on. We've got cozy earth sheets. And I just couldn't, yeah, the cozy earth sheets are great. I just could not get the bed cool enough with this product. Yeah, just failed you. So that was a return for me. Okay. Use the return window. That's fair. How about you? I know, I was trying to think. Honestly, top of mind, which is kind of lame, Caroline got a Halloween costume that was one of those blow-up ones, and it was a...

I love the blow up costumes. Flamingo with like a leash like she's riding the flamingo. It was hilarious. And it broke within 15 minutes. Boo. I know. They don't make them like they used to, the blow up flamingo costumes. Yeah, still bitter about it. Best book of 2024. Oh my gosh. I'll let you go first because you read a lot more than me. Well, I got to get my good reads out. You're a true reader. First Lie Wins was a great one.

The Boyfriend was actually really good, too. Ooh, The Only Plane Left in the Sky was September 11th. That was really good, too. So we get some historical novels there. Yeah, The Women. The Women was about the Vietnam War. That was good. Okay. Yeah, I'd say that. And then, like, from a spiritual sense, Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer. Oh, yeah. I just finished that, like, a few weeks ago. Author of Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. Yes. So good. I'm a fan of him. I need to check that out. I'm a fan of him. He's great. Just, I love it. Okay. That's mine. Yours? Uh...

It's an audio book. I don't know if that counts. That's great. But it's Michael Richards who plays Kramer on Seinfeld. He did a memoir called Entrances and Exits. Oh, funny. And yes, at times, but also like very deep and...

heart-wrenching and poetic and like he's just i'm like did he how did he write this it's very poetic really good the way he and he narrates it which i love yes always so that's why i did the audiobook and i really enjoyed that i love that as a big fan of seinfeld okay uh favorite live event of 2024 at ramsey money and marriage getaway that's mine was it really yes oh my gosh what'd you like about it

I just think the spirit of that event is infectious. I agree. You know, it's an event where we're helping people become stronger spouses, get better communication, intimacy, all the things. And just to play a role in that with my talk and then see you and John Deloney do your thing, it just feels like a special event. And all of our events are special. This one feels like the transformation is palpable in the room. Yes, yeah. It's so true. I agree. Yeah.

I'm with you, yeah. Money and marriage. There's one coming up February. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Some tickets probably still available. So check it out. Come see us in Nashville. Favorite family memory of 2024? I'm going to say we got a play set for Mia. Cute. And she goes down the slide. Cute. It's my favorite. She squeals every time and then claps for herself. Love. Mine's puppies. Worst financial trend 2024? Go. Oh, my gosh. Crypto. Go. Sports betting. Okay. Best TV show or movie watched in 2024? Yeah.

Nobody wants this. Nobody wants this. I'll take it with you. So good. Adam Brody, Kristen Bell. Not a rom-com guy, but really enjoyed that. Not kid appropriate, but funny. So good. Okay, real quick, money topics. One mistake that people should leave behind in 2024. Oh, this one's going to be controversial. Go. Using the credit card, even if you pay it off every month. Yeah.

It's just that one has irked me all year long because I've been just debating people and I'm like, it's a useless task. They think they're winning, but I truly think you would do so much better to cut up the car to stick to using your own money and save up for the things you want. I'm going to go car loan. I think like the, it's just the dumbest piece of debt. I mean, genuinely, you know. That we justify. Yeah, you get a $40,000 car when you could have gotten a 10. I mean, like, it's just that, like, you know, that idea that man, you know.

It's just a lot of money that's going out in interest with something that's going down in value. It's really tough. Okay, so what would you say to someone that's fallen off the wagon this year? How do we get them back on, George? Ooh.

I would say, number one, drop the shame and the baggage because usually when you fall off the wagon, you go, oh, that's so like you to do this. I knew you would never actually get out of that. You got to just put that down, get in community, and then take like a course that's going to keep you accountable like Financial Peace University. That is the best thing you can do to get back on the wagon and stick to it because it's nine courses. You know you got to do all nine weeks and you will make progress if you do that. It's good. It's good.

Yeah, I feel like money is such a reflection of who we are because we're the ones that are handling it. And so I think there's something to be said about like asking more of the why. Like what's causing me to continuing to go into debt? Why do I feel like...

I do overspend in this area. Why am I scared of the budget? Why am I scared to spend? Like I have so much savings, but like why am I scared to spend it, right? Like going underneath that and understanding why, because I feel like we can try to willpower our way. This is John Mark Comer in Practicing the Way. We try to willpower so much. And good intention is great. Putting good habits in place, not against that.

But we can't just like tell ourselves to do better. Just white knuckle it. Because human behavior, there's always an inflow. Something else is happening underneath that. And getting to that and fixing, well, fixing you sounds shameful. But you know what I'm saying? Like understanding why you are the way you are.

then the outflow of everything in your life is in a better spot. Well, my favorite question to ask is, and then what? You get to the thing and you do the, and then what? Yeah. And then you didn't actually solve the root problem of why you were striving for the thing. So I think it's good to be rooted in healthy motives and a healthy self. Okay, so before we get to go to discharge, we drank some good ones, 10 out of 10. Let's give some honorable mentions to the ones we hated. To the least of these. The drinks that were no bueno. Who could forget?

Lemon milk. This was a supposedly creamy lemonade mocktail that just tasted like weird curdled lemony milk. It was disgusting. We had the mocktail margarita. Not good. If you need a margarita and you got to do mocktail, just skip it. You go lemon drop. It was good. There was just so much salt that all we tasted was the sodium. It was a lot. Another one. I gave this a one out of 10. I called it harsh and viscous, which I reserved for my worst enemies. It was the pumpkin pie espresso martini.

All things that are good on their own, not great together. Not great together. And then last was the Dirty Shirley. So this was a melted red popsicle. Literally, right? Just sweet and syrupy and all that red 40. We don't need that. We don't need that. Get that out of here. RFK's not having any of it. We learned about that in 2024. Get those poisons out of here. Oh, that's funny. Oh my gosh. Well...

George, that was great. It's been a fun year of talking about money, making it easy to digest while enjoying some great drinks. And I think it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives the same new Guilty as Charged question every week. And if we're guilty, take a sip. Kelly. All right. Have you ever lied to get out of something with family or friends?

What if they're listening to this right now and they find out from this podcast? We gotta go real cryptic. Yes. Has anyone not done this? That's the question. If you haven't, you aren't living. You're not okay if you've just said yes to everything regardless of what it is. Yeah, no, but they could be healthy and say no and tell them the real reason. We're lying about it. Who does that? Okay, let's take it a step deeper. Okay. Did you get caught? Have you ever gotten caught? Oh, no.

Let's see. I've faked sickness. I've faked appointments. I have a doctor's appointment. Let's see what else. Okay, I'm going to say this. When I say friends, it's not like my close people. I can totally be like, I don't want to hang out. I don't need to lie to them. But it's like the one or two removed and you're like, shoot. Not your inner circle, but just slightly outer circle. It's been a crazy week and we're busy this weekend. We'll try it again soon. Yeah.

And then like, yeah, you put an Instagram story out there. You're out at a restaurant with cocktails. Do you do that? You're out there posting, trying to get caught? No, but I mean, I'm sure there's been times I'm like, we're just so tired. Oh, yeah. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Very guilty. But I try to be more honest these days. As I get older and more mature, healthier, I just need to be like, hey, can't make it.

Maybe not even a here's why. I've been trying to be less defensive. You don't have to give people a reason. It's very difficult. I feel you. And if they're a real one, they'll understand. Yeah. Oh, man. Well, if you want to stay connected to us, make sure to check us out on TikTok for more entertaining videos of what's happening when it comes to pop culture and finance.

Well, you guys, it's closing time. And if you enjoyed this episode, you should check out our episode about revisiting our on-air money advice from the past. One of the top episodes we did. I know. That was a fun one. So you guys, here's to 2024. Thanks for being here with us in the journey of life. And we will see you next year and next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.