Revisiting Our Most Viral Financial Advice
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What's up, guys? This episode is brought to you by our favorite budgeting app, EveryDollar. Rachel and I love EveryDollar because it is the easiest way to take control of your money, build the right habits, and make progress on your goals. You can download it for free on the App Store or Google Play today. Hey, guys. I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Cheers.

Delicious. Heaven in a cup. Beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. Gospel gorgeous. 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're just here to deliver a long-awaited follow-up episode to one of our most popular episodes in Smart Money Happy Hour history. This one's for you guys. Yeah, we heard, we saw, we're delivering. Wow. We really sold that pretty hard. Yes.

Wait, what are we sipping on, George? We are sipping on a French blonde. Okay. Do you know whose favorite drink this is? Well, I saw it in the notes and I'm a little bit like, what? Apparently, it's Taylor Swift's new favorite drink.

I mean, is this true? Taylor, if you're listening or watching, let us know. I did not personally see this. Mixologist Michael Redders said he saw this. I know. Y'all, it's pretty fun. It's fun if you kind of have a cocktail from like a celebrity to be like, oh, that's an interesting, right? It does make you feel better than everyone else. I will agree. Just, yeah. And I wonder, is it just a twist on a French martini? Or a French 75. Yeah.

We will see after at the end of the episode. We're going to give you our rating, reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode, and as always, the recipe is in the show notes. So great. Okay, so in one of last year's episodes, we decided to confront the haters head on. And not to be dramatic, but you guys listening and watching were kind of obsessed with that energy. They loved it. I guess it's the self-awareness of it all. I don't know. It was a highly rated episode. We don't always say the right thing. I mean, the infamous horse call comes to mind.

Don't forget horse girl. But we do try to meet people where they're at and give them proven principles to stand on. And it brings us joy when we get to share something that resonates with you guys. And so this is about viral money advice, not the most hated financial advice. So we're switching it up today. Yeah, a little switcheroo. So viral could be good, it could be bad.

We're not sure. Could be some shock and awe. Could be both, but it's the ones that went, wow, this is crazy. This is not us. The team pulled the clips that got the most views from Ramsey Show, from TikTok, from our social media, and we're going to react to them. And sometimes when you're in the heat of the moment and a clip gets pulled and they put it out to the world, you look back on that clip on yourself and you're like, huh, I may have said that better. Maybe I could have said this other additional fact a little bit better.

along with it. So we may even have some commentary to this of what we would have said different. I don't know, or different, right? Or something to add on as well. That is something I think about. Most people's jobs, they're not like live streaming forever on the internet and it's stuck there and they can't go back and edit what they said. Forever, never, amen. So that, you know, say what you will about how easy Rachel's job is. There's a level of pressure that comes with that. It's all because of the editors, the great editors. Yeah, they can edit anything. They could edit this out.

They won't. Yeah. And viral is a, it's a relative word. Sure. Some TikTokers are like, that's cute. You got 3 million views on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because Taylor, you know, Taylor Swift, her views are a little bit higher than ours. That's fine. We're not bitter. And we're going to save the most popular clip at the end. So if you want to find out what 21 million people could not look away from, stay tuned. Okay, let's do it. Are you going to, you're going to be the tech guy? I guess so. Apparently you can't be trusted to show the clips. No, you just love Apple.

What does that have to do with it? I don't know. You know how things work, George. Producer Lindsay did all the work. I have all the links right here. Are you ready? Okay, so this first clip is featuring George and Ken Coleman, and it got almost 3 million views on Instagram. Way to go, Ken. All right, let's check it out. I'm nervous. How absurd is the statement that $100,000 salary is the new watermark for middle class? If you're drowning in payments...

You'll never have enough. Right. If you have the average car payment, which is over 700 bucks, you got the average student loan payment over 400 bucks. You're drowning in credit card debt, which could easily be 100, 200 bucks, 300 bucks for the minimum payment. You start to add all of this up on top of a mortgage that you weren't ready for.

Right. Because you said, well, I'm paying two grand in rent. Why not pay two grand for the mortgage? Right. Except it's not apples to apples. Home ownership has a lot more expenses built in that make it wildly expensive. So when you add in all that, all of a sudden you go, a hundred grand is not enough. And we see the stats. Yeah. You know, people making six figures, a third of them live paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. And you're going, if I made six figures, I would never...

Listen, lifestyle creep is real. Because guess what? You have to play the part of the six-figure salary. There we go. Okay, can I say... What do you think about that face value? Not knowing what the comment said. Totally agree with you. Okay. And you add daycare in. I mean, the expenses in the world today, they are just, they are high. And I do think for some people, and especially because of debt, I think that those payments, you know, we see it when we do ever dollar budgets for people and all of it. Like if you didn't have payments...

the margin would, there would be more margin, obviously. But I do think in our world today, it's just expensive. It is more expensive. So, I mean, a hundred grand, I think some people would be like, well, that'd be nice to have that, right? But I can see if you're a family, multiple kids, all these expenses, how that goes quick. So I'm on your team. Well, my point was, you're right, a hundred thousand isn't enough if your lifestyle creep is,

is absurd and you have payments up to your eyeballs. Average or median income in America, do you know what's up here? Householding is 71. Individual I think is closer to 60. Yeah, okay. So a lot of people were angry. The comments were vicious, Rachel. Oh my gosh. Number one, they didn't understand my sarcasm. I was being sarcastic when I said, you have to play the part of a six-figure salary earner. You got to have the...

So they said, you don't have to play the part. I was like, thank you. You've got my point. Wonderful. They didn't know you though. But people were angry because they thought the $700 car payment example was bogus. I'm like, yeah, I agree, but it's data. I'm not making this up. No, that's fact. Yeah. So a simple Google search will confirm people are drowning in monthly payments and interest just to pay off their debt. And so the bottom line is, my point was $100,000 doesn't have to be the new middle class standard.

That's right. You don't need $100,000, but largely with our obsession with debt, yes, you're going to need more. It'll never be enough. That's right. Because you're always going to find more ways to increase your lifestyle and live on more than you make. Yep.

Amen, hallelujah. That was my point, guys. Man, okay, so this was a clip that went probably quote-unquote viral. For the wrong reasons. For the wrong reasons. People were angry. Oh, George, how does that feel? How do you feel when that happens? It feels good. Because here's the thing. It does not feel good. No, it does, because I don't regret anything I said. I regret that they didn't understand my sarcasm when I said, well, you got to play the part, Ken, of the six-figure salary. So my comedic timing was not great, apparently.

Oh, so as a comedian, your heart's a little sad. But I don't regret anything I said. I said what I said. It was factual. Okay. So I'm okay with that going viral for the wrong reasons. Okay, I like it. All right, next up, we have a fan favorite from Rachel's Instagram. Let's see what she said. Oh, no.

He makes about $250,000 a year and refuses to give me access to the finances. We've been married for eight years. I've been a stay-at-home mom for two. I'm not on his account. He does give me X amount of money each month.

Dang, Angela. Why won't he put you on the account? What does he say? I know. I know. Because that's where the difficulty comes in. Yeah, I mean, it would be. It's a level of this splitting of finances to the point that you don't have access to it.

I mean, that borders line financial abuse, that you don't have the ability to access money that is coming into your household, regardless of who makes it or not. The idea that he's withholding that, that's a big red flag. Of course, I can ask him for $20 or $50, but he wants

You're not his daughter. This is bothering you because it's wrong. And so let me just confirm for you, this is wrong. It sounds to me like it's a whole lot more toxic and bad than you actually think it is. You've kind of normalized this. And no, I mean, this is like weird, okay? This is strange. It's at that level. That's good. Dang. Oh, Papa Dave, just telling it like it is. That's why it went viral. I know. I'm like, hmm, why do you

They're like, this is weird. This is weird. Well, this topic always gets attention for you when we're talking about financial transparency, combining finances, the lack of communication. So what is your take on that clip now that you've been able to sit with it for a little bit? Yeah, I wish I probably like went a little harder on her just to say, not on her specifically, just meaning the situation of...

I'd want her to see the seriousness of it. Because that's very dysfunctional. When you listen back to that, a husband that's doing that to a wife, like that's... Those kind of manipulative... As Dave would say, that's weird. Like that's... Yeah, I don't like it. So I'm glad I even said borderline financial abuse. If I were to say, I would probably take out borderline. That is financial abuse. If you don't have access to money in your household... And you get treated like a child. Yeah, that is financial abuse. That is. So I wish I hadn't been as...

careful with my words. I wish I had been a little bit more blunt, George, if I were to be honest. Yeah, I feel like it takes a while for you to get there, but when you do, it's like, oh, dang, you know? Usually you err on the side of kindness and being gentle. Well, I like to be neutral because I did think too, and I remember, I do remember this call, thinking...

I don't have access to the account. And I do have calls from the husband on the flip side who's like, my wife has racked up a hundred grand in credit card debt. I can't trust her. You know what I mean? Like there's always two sides of the story. Yes. So I always play that in my head as well. What would the husband be saying right now? But as I'm listening to her, I'm like, I need her. I didn't pick up on any of those patterns in the call.

That's why the whole like financial abuse conversation happens. That's real. And we got so... That was a... That was heavy. That was a heavy one. And I will say for those that are stay-at-home spouses, there's a lot of this that can come up when you're not transparent, when you're not communicating, when it's not combined, where you make the stay-at-home spouse feel lesser than because they don't provide a traditional income. Which is insane. Because when you actually... It drives me crazy. When you actually add up what childcare would cost...

you know, a cleaning person, I mean, you add up everything a stay-at-home mom does and I think it ends up being like 300,000. I mean, it was crazy. It's something insane. Yeah, of the value that you bring to the household and you have as much value

I was going to say or more, but I'm a mom and I just love a good mom. Then the spouse that's bringing in an income. And so you both have equal rights to that money. And yeah, I'm big on that for sure. And if you give your spouse an allowance, you're a trash person. Yeah. And when we talk about... That's my hot take.

You're trash. When we talk about the budget. That's financial abuse. We do have line items and say like, you know what I mean? Rachel's fun money, Winston's fun money. Yeah, so you do designate, hey, as a budget and us being intentional for where our money's going, we are going to have a dollar amount that we can all spend, but it's not like I'm going to give it to you. You have full access to it all, right? My wife stays at home. That's different. It's not that she doesn't have access. I don't go, well, Whitney, you have $400 and that's all I can trust you with and don't,

that's ridiculous. Treat them like an adult, like a partner, like a team. Amen, hallelujah. You want a kid, go have a kid.

Don't treat your spouse like one. You're disgusting. Oh my God. I'm trying out my Dave era. I know. How are you feeling? It feels good. It feels good. I like it. I like the energy. Maybe this clip will go viral. That's what I'm trying to do. That's what it is. I'm trying to be meta and create more viral clips within it. Oh my gosh. Well, a lot of issues, Rachel. And one big issue out there is internet safety. Can we just talk about how creepy the internet can be these days? Very, very creepy. And Rachel's always accepting cookies in real life and on the internet. She doesn't turn down a cookie.

And can I just tell you, scammers are lurking in every corner. Stalkers, spammers, they're all out there waiting to steal your personal info. And it's why I love Delete Me, one of the sponsors of today's show. Yes, when I signed up for them, you go through their whole process of signing up and you do your whole profile, everything. And then you get your first report and you see how many websites your information is on. It is wild. So making sure that they will take your information off those data broker websites and...

And I think I added my hours up today, actually, George, before this shoot. Okay, what is it? I think I'm at 32 hours. Congrats. Yeah. I'm at 44. I've been at it longer. You have been. And that's hours of them researching and finding where my information is and removing it. Time saved. Love it. That's wonderful. And so if you want to clean up your digital footprint, they're giving all of our Smart Money Happy Hour listeners a sweet discount of 20% off any of their plans online.

All you got to do is go to joindelete me.com slash smart money or click the link in the show notes. Okay, the next clip, George, my notes say here that it didn't go as viral, but it did get a massive amount of hate comments. How nice. It didn't really, it wasn't popular, but a lot of people hated it. I can't wait.

Pull it up. It's not making me feel good. Pull it up. We can't see it. That's TikTok for you. My wife and I just got married about a month ago, and together we have about $165,000 worth of debt. We're getting ready to tackle that, but I'm about to be eligible for benefits at my job, and we're trying to figure out if I should go ahead and do the 401k match if I contribute 6%.

then the company contributes 10% on top of that. And what kind of debt is the 165? It's mostly student debt. We got about $10,000 of a car loan and pretty much all the rest of it is student loans. Together, we bring in about 95K before taxes. Though we're looking to do side hustles, work overtime, hoping to get that more up into the 120, 130 range. Well, the answer to your question is no.

You do not enter into the 401k, even though it is ridiculously wonderful and generous, because it's just a temporary thing. And if you don't focus on this debt exclusively, and you try to do three things at once, you're not going to get there. So I hate it, because I'm a math nerd, and I know what that match will do for you, but it's a temporary thing. Because what I like about pausing the 401k match is it gets you a little bit angry.

Like, oh my gosh, I'm missing out on the match. Good, let that fuel you to get rid of your debt faster to get back to the match faster. That's the power, really, the psychological power of positive. Okay. I said what I said. Well, at least you and Dave got hated on. Can I just tell you, the post got like a little over 3,000 hearts. It got over 1,000 comments of hate.

Pure hate because people want the match. People really disagree with us on this. This is a Ramsey principle that you pause investing when you're trying to get out of debt. Yeah. Even if you have a match and people hate it and I get it. And like I said in the clip, this sucks and it should make you angry and you should be angry at the guy in the mirror and go, I'm gonna get out of this debt so I have more margin to invest. Because the truth is,

We know when people are in debt, they don't have 15% to invest like we recommend. They're lucky to have 3% to invest after they make all their debt payments. Well, and that's the problem too, is when you're investing and living a life in debt with payments, you are investing, you know, 3% to 4%, and that's it. Versus actually 15% is going to get you a great retirement, and that's what we want for you.

But you can't do that mathematically usually when you have all these payments. So you're going to catch up with the 15%. Because again, on average, people are not investing 15%. They're investing 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%. They wonder why they retire broke. That's right. The other piece here I want to emphasize, if people don't know the baby steps, when do you invest?

well, baby step one, $1,000 starter emergency fund. Baby step two, we're going to pay off all consumer debt using the debt snowball method. Baby step three, save up three to six months of expenses for the emergency fund. Then we invest in baby step four. And so this, on average, we found takes people 18 to 24 months to get out of debt. It takes another six to 12 months to get that emergency fund in place. So you're talking about, you know, two or three years of sacrifice. Right. Which is a blip in your career. Yes. I was going to say, at the end of the day, you're going to be okay. Because again,

You're going to invest 15%, like a lot of money. So you'll catch up. You'll be fine. You will catch up and be fine. And you're going to never touch that again. It's more about the focus of winning in a certain step, which is so key because that's part of the behavior change where personal finance is so much about your behavior change. And that's why you want to focus on it. Well said. All right. Next clip. Is this me? It is. Yeah, this is a classic, what I call Rachel's iPhone pep talks in the green room, as you tend to do. Yes, I will do that. It's good lighting. So I give you that.

Here are five frugal habits to help you cut your expenses in half.

First and foremost, subscriptions. You guys, the average millennial has 17 subscriptions. If you just want to save some money, just cut the ones you don't need. That'll save you money automatically. Two, shop strategically. Shop around, especially if it's a big purchase. Look at multiple stores, do price comparison, and be strategic about these big purchases because even just having some thought around them, even waiting 24 hours to see if you really want it, it's

We'll save you. Number three, going out to eat. This one hurts my heart a little bit, but you guys, you spend so much money going out to eat versus grocery shopping. So if you want to save some money, just cut that out to eat budget. Number four, say no to extras during the month. This is like my downfall. I'll see like a lipstick or some clips or something. And I'm like, oh, I love this. Just add them on. If you just say no to those things and you really stick with just your basic needs,

It's amazing how much money you can save. And number five, it's more of kind of a heart issue, but it's comparison. Okay, we all naturally are going to compare. We're going to size each other up and see kind of where we are in the pack. But listen, overall, don't let other people's lives dictate what you spend. Buy things because it's what you want and not just because of what everyone else is doing. And your life is great. And if you believe that and live in that, that's going to give you more peace than wanting someone else's life.

Man. So good. Wow. Some of your best work. Just listed out five off the top of my head. Did you just have that off the top of your head? How did you say all that perfectly? I don't remember. I'll be honest. That was really impressive. And great points. Thank you. Yeah, I don't think I got a lot of hate. I'm sure people loved it. Like yours short. It's because Rachel's so nice, so relatable. And she was like, guys, I do this all the time. Yeah.

I don't even know what clips are. What clips? Like hair clips? Yeah, the claw clips. There's so many fun ones. I've never seen you wear a claw clip. Not around here. Oh. That's when I'm in my athleisure. You switch into athleisure when you get home?

Immediately. Do you not? I do get into like gym shorts, if that's what you mean. But I have no intention on going to the gym. Yeah, I was going to say, you're like a yoga. You're like me with yoga pants. I don't really do yoga. Oh. I wear them. Do people actually wear yoga pants to yoga? Is that the goal? Yeah. Is that what you're supposed to do? Yeah, I think so. Because I recently went to a yoga class for the first time. No, stop.

That's the clip that would go viral. How was the downward dog? We didn't even get to do the downward dog. Why? That's like a... It was the most annoying class of all time. I will never go to yoga again. Tell me, give me two seconds. First of all, I wanted more, like, give me some action. Let us do something. What did you do? You're just like laying down in this like slightly more... Wait, did you go to like relaxation yoga? I don't know what it was. It's called like vinyasa. I don't know the words. Okay.

I just know it was not. You need to go to power flow yoga. Oh, power is the word I was looking for. Anyways, we laid on the ground and then she would make, she never told us to do anything. She would make suggestions. She'd be like, and maybe you find your arm raising over. I'm like, just tell me what to do, lady. So you like literally didn't do warrior, downward dog, like a runner's stance. I think eventually we did a child's pose. Okay.

Which is where you lay on the ground like this. Yeah. George, you got ripped off. I got ripped off. It was part of my gym membership that I paid too much for, but I still feel like I got ripped off. Oh my gosh. Anyways. Yeah. How did we get there? Yoga pants. That's how we got there. My clips. Back to your great advice though. Which of these tips do you think is the most effective?

I mean, subscriptions can be big because that's a monthly expense. Okay, I'm going to go out to eat. And I think you got hated on social about this. We went out as a family, y'all, to hibachi. Can I just tell you how much our bill was? Please, how many people? It was five of us. Okay. Five of us. It was $176 after tip. Aren't the kids cheaper? You would think. I literally, we walked out of the restaurant and I was like, how much was that bag? Because he'll usually like pay it.

And he was like, it was $176 off your tip. And I was like, no, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. Do you know what I'm going to eat tonight? Are you ready for this? Hibachi. No, no. A bag salad. I do like the pre-made salads that they have, right? You can do the Caesar and all of it, right? We have chicken from last night that we saved. So Wednesday, I'll do a chicken Caesar salad. Kids, a frozen Costco pizza. Our whole meal tonight is going to cost maybe $18.

Wow. Versus 178. Was the experience worth it, though? Was a memory made for the kids? No, because Charles has this thing about fire. He's been scarred by a thing. It was not good. What happened with Charles and fire? You know, they did a fire drill in preschool, and he asks every night, is there going to be a fire and if dinosaurs are real? It's his two questions. Are those two things connected? What does he know that we don't know? I don't know.

Is he scared of the dinosaurs? No, he loves dinosaurs. He just doesn't want them to be real. So he's scared of the fire, but very excited about the idea of dinosaurs. Yeah, but he just wants to know, are they still real? I mean, every night he asks it. Yeah, so the fire thing. So then they do the fire and he jumps out of his seat, climbs into my lap like an infant again, which I'm not going to lie. It's kind of sweet. So I just held him.

And they're like doing the onion thing, but he can't watch it because it's freaking him out. It was just so, it was a mess, y'all. It was an absolute mess. And we paid $176. For him to have more trauma. And our kids didn't really even eat it. Isn't half the point of hibachi the fire? I know. It was anyways. All that to say eating out. Eating out, eating out, eating out. If you cut that alone, it'll save you so much money. Yeah. Tonight versus hibachi. Yeah.

That's legit. Saves a lot of money. You could probably hire a hibachi chef to come to your house for $175. I know.

I'll come do a little, you know, a little onion tower, a little choo-choo. I'm like, George. Slip an egg. The kids don't know any different. What did George just do? A little hat, a black apron. I could make it happen. Can you do the rice into the mouth? They did that. I could attempt it. That's all you need to do is throw it. They don't have to catch it. It's on them if they don't catch it. So true. Okay, there's your side hustle, George. I do birthday parties. A hundred bucks. I'll come do hibachi.

Wow. Oh, man. All right, next clip. That's a good one. Let's look. This is from TikTok, and it features the vice president. Oh, my gosh. Juicy. What is happening? I don't remember interviewing the vice president. You're so political, George. You know me. As a parent, then, as a homeowner, if you have some equity in your home, you can say to your child, you know, don't take out the loan. I'll take out some of the equity.

to help you pay for tuition so that you don't graduate with extraordinary student loan debt. And so that when you graduate, you can do your dream job and not worry about those hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

and you can go on and prosper. No, no, no. Stop giving financial advice, Kamala. This is a nightmare. What she's saying is, hey, adults, parents, don't put on your mask first. Go backwards into debt and put your home at risk with a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit in order to send your kid to college debt-free. Do I want your kid to go to college debt-free? Absolutely.

This is not the way to do it. Avoid this at all costs. Put your own mask on first. Dang, George, that's good. That one I feel like people agreed with. They did, okay. That it was a terrible idea. So I finally won over the internet. Wow, I'm so glad. Took about 11 years.

So there were people hateful simply because they identify with a different political party. And I truly was not trying to make a political statement here. No, no, no. It was just the advice. Against the Democrats. It was just, this is terrible advice. It could have been anybody. If Trump said it, I would be like, Trump, don't give financial advice. This is terrible. Yes, totally.

So election drama aside, this is bad advice because of the risk that comes along with HELOCs. And you're going to let parents take on additional crazy amounts of debt. That's what I was going to say, yeah. So they retire broke. Yeah, which is interesting because age-wise, right? You're in your, you know, what, late 40s, 50s?

Maybe 60s. When your kids are going to college, yeah. And you only have that much time left and you're taking on more debt versus, again, we're not pro-student loans, but if anyone's going to take it on, at least it's a 21-year-old who has their whole life ahead of them to be able to pay it off, right? Versus an adult who's on the cusp of retirement a decade from now. I mean, seriously, and your house is your biggest asset. Yeah, yeah, so good. Well, well done, George. No, thank you. We should send you to Washington.

I could fix some things. Next up, we have Rachel's thought on a shocking statistic, and people agreed. Would you look at that? What kind of magical fairy dust are you waving around that makes everyone love Rachel? All right, here we go. George, they like you. Your YouTube grew so fast.

That's true. Thank you for mentioning that. A recent study came out that 47% of Americans who make $150,000 a year to $200,000 a year are living paycheck to paycheck. Now, some of you are thinking, how in the crap does that happen? If I was making $200,000, I would be fine.

And it just proves the point, you guys, that so much of personal finance, it's your behavior. It's your habits. I mean, lifestyle creep, it's a real thing. When you're used to living at 100 grand and then you make 120, you get used to that. And then you get used to 140 and it keeps going up regardless of how much money you make. Your habits are

really do form around your income. And so that's why you have to be so, so careful. So don't always have hope that just because my income goes up, I'm going to be okay. Because the truth is, if you have bad habits and you make more money, you're just going to make bigger and bigger mistakes. But if you have great money habits and you make more income, then that's a blessing because it's going to be used to your advantage. Woo!

I agree. What was it, 200,000? What was the original stat? 150 to 200K. Okay, because yours was 100. Yes. So I don't want to talk out of both sides of my mouth because originally I did say it is expensive to live today, right? Yes. Especially if you have debt payments, but I'm making sure I'm consistent on my advice. Wow. That was two for two. That was the same day you filmed that. That was the same shoot. Man, I was just on a roll. You know what? That's the algorithm. Is it? I'm sure we put it out close to the same time. You know those people that control...

Is this a conspiracy theory? Information, social media. I don't know what the algorithm was. I think people just like you more. When you say things, if we had the same exact thing to say, you would win because you're more likable when you say it. You know what, George? That would be a really funny test. We should have a script that we have to memorize because we've got to make it authentic. Okay. And we put out the exact same wording.

But in our own flair, in our own tone. And see what the comments say, see how the post does. And yours would be like, Rachel, you're spot on. Oh my gosh, love all your content.

And then mine would be like, look at this idiot beta male giving terrible financial advice again. Dave needs to fire this guy yesterday. That's literally all of my comments. Oh, my gosh. I'm sick of it. No, this is good, though. What you were saying is true. And people like to complain that if they just made more, that their life would be better. And we know that's not the case. No, it is your habits. Money magnifies. That's right. It just shows more of what you are and more of your habits. Exactly, yep. All right, George, let's finish up with your question.

clip you got one more this is the big one it is I think this one got 21 million 21 that's like a percentage of the America is this a meme or is this you am I a meme do you remember the meme that you had about the guy with the yard signs and you got like tens of millions of views oh I remember that no this is not it this is not it okay okay

Oh, George, I'm so excited for you. I don't even know what to say, truthfully. I'm so excited. I'm 19. What would you do if you had 100K and you wanted to invest that and turn that into a million? By when? 25. You want to make $900,000 in six years on an investment? Well, I'm... Just a question. I'm not angry. I'm just truly wondering. So what's the actual goal there of, like, I want to have a million bucks by 26? So right now, I...

I work for a company where I sell roofs through insurance companies and I make pretty decently. I was wondering how can I start at my own type of situation where then I can invest in other things and gain passive income from those with assets. So this idea of passive income is actually a myth. It's so much harder than it looks and almost nobody can actually achieve it. And so if I'm – do you actually have $100,000?

I have about $30,000 right now. Okay. And is that all the money to your name? Liquid, yeah. Do you have any debt? No. You are crushing it, my man. 19 years old with $30,000, no debt. This is a great starting point. How much of that would you call a six-month emergency fund if you added what one month of expenses are times six? Yes.

Um, that would probably be like two, three K. I don't really spend much. Okay. So let's call it 20 K is your fully funded emergency fund. You've got 10 K to play around with. And then do you have any, uh, investing options through your employer currently? Uh, no, no, I don't. Okay. So you're on your own for investing. Yeah. So the start, the first place I would go is open a Roth IRA and I would fully fund that. That's going to be about 6,500 bucks.

Okay. So you could do that. And the end goal is start investing 15% of your income because we still have other things we've got to do with our life. We've got to go on vacation. We've got to upgrade the car. You want to be a homeowner one day? Spend your George. Yeah, of course. No, I'm looking at that next year. So then we've got to save up a down payment. So we can't do everything all at once. And so I love 15% as a starting point because it allows us to focus on other goals like saving up that down payment. Okay.

So I love the goal of like, I want to be a millionaire one day. But the idea that I'm going to turn 100,000 into a million six years from now, that tells me you're more likely to lose it than you are to gain anything. Yeah. Because most of the strategies involved to turn money that quickly involve a lot of risk. That's it. George, are you a philosopher? I'm a poet and I didn't even know it. Yeah, that was really good advice. I realized I didn't mean to come off as strong in the beginning when he was like, I'm

I'm 19. I was like, you want to make 900? And he was like, it's just a question. I was like, oh gosh, I didn't mean to spook him. So sorry. But there was kind of like, is he saying what I think he's saying? Right, right. And there's no, it feels arbitrary. A lot of young people out there, they're just like, well, I need to make a lot of money quick because inflation or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just go, what is the goal? Like they don't have a goal for the money. It's just, I want to make a lot of money quick.

because it sounds great. It sounds great. I want to have freedom to do things I want to do, whatever. And so that was my line of questioning. And I wanted him to understand there's more to life than just making a million dollars in six years. And what is that going to do for him? Totally.

even if he could. George is so good. I agree. I don't like to get rich quick. I think a lot of young people, I don't want to misunderstand them because I think what they're really wanting is they don't want to be like their parents and wait till 65 to have some measly retirement. That's right. That's right. And I think that's what they, yes. And I hear that. And I do think that there are ways and because of the internet, you get this picture into other people's lives with their money. Yeah.

of saying, oh yeah, I'm doing this and this and this and this and this. So they do think, oh my gosh, there's something else out there that's gonna get me rich really quick and I don't have to live this crazy life where I work a job five days a week. And you know what I mean? Like you start to kind of dream a little bit in that way where the truth is,

Slow and steady wins the race. That's right. Every time. Be the cry part. We talked to a guy today on the Ramsey Show. He lost 80 grand in a cryptocurrency scam. Oh, no. Terrible, terrible. He has his father-in-law, $25,000. I mean, it's just like, it's this whole thing. And it was terrible. These are young people. Yes. And again, it's this idea of like, oh gosh, I just want to do this quickly. And this is not like exciting and fun and like cool. But when you are just steady in what you're doing...

Over time, it's going to create the character in you, which is great. And your money is going to follow that. It really will. Amen. And I will say the comments on this one, shockingly, agreed with my approach.

Good. Because they said it felt moderate, reasonable. They were literally like, finally someone being honest on TikTok. Because think about it. What do you see on TikTok? It is. It's the flash sheets, all that stuff. It's some young guy saying like, bro, if you want to get a million bucks, like here's what you got to do. Just arbitrage it, bro. And I'm out there being like, invest in a Roth IRA. I'm like, it's not the cool advice, but I think the...

So wealth, boring wealth is the path. Yes. If it's exciting, you're doing it wrong. That's right. Your life can be exciting. Your wealth building should be boring. Yes. Amen. So good, George. I love it.

Oh, man. So one thing about all these viral internet moments is that it can feel like you have very minimal control over what becomes popular and what doesn't. So if you could control one financial concept or life lesson that could reach millions of people, Rachel, what would be the one thing you would want to share? If you knew 300 million people would see this post? Oh, man. I think what your debt payments are costing you.

Oh, that's good. Like interest-wise or what? The opportunity cost of not investing that. All of it, yep. And I think if everyone could see what their average credit card bill, car payment, student loan, instead of paying it out to other people, you had it for yourself to invest and do things for yourself and your family all day. That's good. All day. How about you? I was going to go more philosophical.

Since I'm a philosopher now. Give it to us. Poets didn't know it. Well, I just realized there's a theme with the things we say at Ramsey. The problem I'm finding with a lot of people out there is that they're focusing on all the things they cannot control. The economy, inflation, and this and that, and the other, if they just fixed their...

And I'm going, if you can just focus on things you can control, you will not only build wealth and fix your own life, but you're going to have so much more fulfillment and less frustration and more optimism and less cynicism. And I think that's really what we're after. That's what happens when you follow the Ramsey plan. Yes, you get out of debt and you can become a millionaire and all that good stuff.

What I just said. You will have like agency over your life. Yeah, totally. That's the best feeling in the world. It's the freedom aspect, 100%. So that's what I would tell people is that you can control a lot of things, including you, the way you spend your money, your lifestyle, your debt, your income, and you can't control inflation, the economy, and when the world ends. So don't worry about those things. Dr. Arthur Brooks, this is not a direct quote, but the concept of what he was saying is he said,

the ultimate satisfaction on what you can do with money. And he said, even when you pay off your house, I mean, when you pay off your house, there is something like within the scientific brain, he uses all these terms. And he said, the problem is, and I said, that's great because that's what we teach people to do. And people get mad at us because it's like, well, if my mortgage is at 2.3%, I could invest at 12%. I can make the spread of almost, you know, nine to 10%. That's crazy. And he said, yes, but our souls are not on a spreadsheet. Yeah.

Like you're looking at a spreadsheet and it is not the human. In the human, there's so much there. And so I love that. I love the idea of like, tap into who you are. Again, the math can show it. And my advice was the math part of like what your debt payments are costing you. Yes.

But what it does, though, is when you don't have that stuff, something inside of you rests. It really does from an anxiety stress level and you have autonomy over your life. And it's a beautiful thing. That is beautiful. Cheers, George. That's really good. I enjoyed this episode. Unbelievable. You've made some great posts in your day. You as well, George. For as much as I comment hateful things on those posts, I'm just jealous. That's what the haters are. They're just trolls who need a hug.

Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz. And George Camel. And George, I am so excited. That you just can't hide it. That's right, I can't hide it. Because I've got to tell our listeners about our money and marriage getaway on Valentine's Day. That's right, the fall getaway, they're already sold out. Yes, so quickly. So we actually added more dates so more of you guys can get away with your spouse to Nashville. So you'll join me and Dr. John Deloney for a long weekend focused on strengthening your marriage

while learning how to communicate better, win with money together, and deepen your connection. But tickets are going really fast. So they start at $799 a couple, and there's only a few special VIP tickets left. And if that wasn't enough, I have it on good authority that I will be speaking there as well. One more reason to join us. So don't wait. Get yours today. ramsaysolutions.com slash smartmarriage.

All right. Well, it's almost the end of the episode and we close out every episode with Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer, Lindsay, is going to give us a new Guilty as Charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, Lindsay, give us your...

You're with child. Give us your week. What week are you? If you're not watching on YouTube, you're confused. Baby boy is growing. Kind of hard to see in this chair, but. What week are you, Lindsay? I am 35 and a half weeks. Oh my gosh. God bless you that you're here. 36 over the week. Are we saying when this episode releases, we might have baby Heatherly adorning the set? Oh my gosh. I don't know about the set. Yeah.

First stop from the hospital. She'll be in my house. She'll be in her athleisure. In my arms. In her athleisure. That for sure is happening. But yes. How exciting. I know. I'm so excited. We're so great. Okay. We'll miss you while you're gone. Thank you guys. I'll miss you.

Well, about kids. Oh, is this it? Yeah. What a lead in. I know. Way to go, prep. All right, Jordan, you didn't even know. I prep. Have you ever told your kids not to do something? This is kind of hard for you though, Georgie, but it's okay. Have you ever told your kids not to do something, but then they caught you doing it yourself? Oh. So maybe this could be like, George, maybe you've told someone else not to do something. What would I tell a child? Maybe have a drink?

You know? Do as I say, not as I do. Childhood consumption. Have you ever told your kids no? Oh my God. I didn't know if that was a... You know, some parents are like, we don't do that in our house.

George, if you saw the way I mother, like, I'm going to say I'm like a 1996 mom. Like, we're moving and going, and you know the rules, you know authority, but also, like, I want to hear a human, and I want to hear about you, and, like, I love you, you know? Like, your feelings matter, but they don't matter more than my discipline. But my, yeah, yeah, yeah. They, yeah, I do think boundaries and authority is important. Very important. Well, it's the reason Dave and Sharon didn't let you watch Rugrats growing up. Right? The kids don't run the house. You don't get to be a little jerk. We watched Forrest Gump.

but not Rugrats. Do you let your kids watch Caillou?

I've heard things about Caillou. Caillou's a little jerk and it turns your kid into a little jerk. Oh, okay, okay. Bluey turns your kid into a wonderful Australian human. We do love Bluey. Bluey is a favorite. Okay. And Fancy Nancy. The girl's like Fancy Nancy. She's cute. It's like a little girl on Disney. She's like pretending she's from Paris. It's a cute little cartoon on Disney. Back to the million dollar question. I mean, maybe the yelling thing. Yeah.

Are they ever jealous of things that adults can do? Like, you're yelling at us. And we're like, what? The kids must be jealous. Oh, they think being an adult is the coolest. The coolest. Oh, the no bed time. So what are the things that you guys get to do? You can eat whatever. Like, that's their big thing right now. You get to eat whatever you want. And you can have ice cream. Because no one's going to tell you no. Like, yeah, but when you're an adult, you don't want all that. Because it's going to make your stomach upset. And I don't want that. So it's that. They do think right now that being an adult is like the coolest thing. You have a late night snack. And you're like, no, you can't have a late night snack. But mommy can. No, I can. No.

Is that what you're saying? No, I'm saying like they do think being an adult is cool. Like they want to eat more like ice cream. And we're like, no, you get three scoops or two scoops, whatever it is. Three scoops? What a treat. I don't know. It's a five scoop maximum in this house. No more. You got seven Chick-fil-A sandwiches for dinner. That's it. Wow. Gosh. But you know what? I think that shows your integrity that...

I mean, the biggest thing would be the yelling. Yeah. Where we're like, don't yell at each other. But then through the house, like, Caroline, or if we get mean, we will yell. And we tell them not to yell. So that's probably the most hypocritical, I would say, for sure. Yeah, I haven't told Mia no yet. She's one years old. Oh. A whole one. It's coming, though. You're 18 months old. That 18 months, they start testing. I yell at my dogs, but that's different.

Yeah. I don't know if you're guilty. Yeah. I don't know if you're guilty. Okay, that was fun. Okay, who finished their drink first? You definitely. I did. Well, honestly, I carried this show on my shoulders by playing all these clips. I didn't have time to just have a good time. You know what I mean? Yeah.

You were working. I was working. What a working man. I earned a paycheck today for sure. Such a working man. All right. This drink was a French blonde. What would you rate this drink? You didn't hate it, clearly. 10 out of 10. I'd order it at a restaurant. You know, I'm going to say 9 out of 10. It's a little sweet.

Okay. But I liked it. So, nine out of ten. All right. I'll give it an eight out of ten. Okay. I love grapefruit juice. I wish it had a little more zip. It was a little bit just kind of like, eh. It was nice. Really nice. Eight out of ten is still a great review. Sure. But I almost wish it had a little like a seltzer, maybe a punch of something more bitter or more sour. What was in it? It's...

It's got Bombay Sapphire Gin, Elderflower Liqueur, Lilit Blanc, fresh grapefruit juice, and lemon bitters. So I really love the grapefruit lemon combo is beautiful on this one. Okay, so this is different than a French 75. It's more like a French martini. I don't know. It's a very gin forward drink with liqueur. So I feel like it's...

With the liqueurs, it kind of adds a different element to it. Yeah, okay. But the cost breakdown is $3.71. So this is a higher price drink, but it's meant to impress and still probably a quarter of what you would pay at a restaurant. Delicious. All right, find the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend, unless you are a child. There we go. Just had to make the disclaimer. Thank you. I'm so glad. 21 or older, folks.

Well, it's closing time. So thank you guys always for watching and listening to these episodes. If you have not subscribed yet, do that. Leave a review. Share this with your friends and your family. And make sure to check out our other viral episode on our most hated financial advice. And we will see you next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.