Reacting to Random Things People Used Their “Emergency” Fund For

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Nothing screams emergency fund like a full-scale raccoon home infestation. In this episode, Rachel and George share the weirdest things listeners spent their emergency fund on and the lessons we can learn from these scary stories. Next Steps: 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour. 🏅 Help us make the show better! Please fill out a quick survey. 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Cubanada Recipe: Difford’s Guide Ingredients: 1 2/3 ounces Caribbean blended rum aged 6–10 years 3/4 ounce lime juice (freshly squeezed) 1/2 ounce maple syrup Instructions: Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass. Prepare garnish of lime wedge. Shake all ingredients with ice. Fine strain into chilled glass. Garnish with lime wedge on rim. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  Today, we're talking about emergency funds and more importantly and more entertaining, the weird things people have spent their emergency fund on.

• 0:12Rachel Cruze?

  I used the emergency fund because I had to bail my brother out of jail.

• 0:16George Kamel?

  Ooh, raccoon removal. It costs $99 per raccoon.

• 0:26Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:28George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:30Rachel Cruze?

  And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:38Rachel Cruze?

  Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 0:44George Kamel?

  We're sipping on a Cubanada.

• 0:46Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh.

• 0:47George Kamel?

  And we're gonna give you the rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode, so stick around for that.

• 0:52Rachel Cruze?

  That sounds so fun. Okay, so this episode kind of started because one of my friends got in a car wreck. Not about one, everyone's okay. But it was on this like highway in Nashville in 96, if you're a Nashville person, off, you know, in Franklin, and at a stoplight, and she gets hit. Well, the guy keeps going, so she's like, "No, no, no, you just hit me, you just hit me." And so she ends up at a stoplight, and he's like a car ahead of her, so she gets out of her car, out of the stoplight, like taps on the window, she's like, "Oh, it's not loud." I thought that was gonna have a sound effect.

• 1:28George Kamel?

  It's a gentle tap.

• 1:29Rachel Cruze?

  Just a, yeah, she taps, and it's like this kid, and he like looks at her, and she's like, "Roll down your window, roll down your window." And he rolls away, and she's like, "What are you doing? You hit me." And he's like, "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do." And she was like, "You need to pull over, and we have to do insurance and call the police, like we have to do a police report? Like, you can't just drive off." This poor kid, like, had no clue what he was doing, and so anyways, it was this whole thing about like, when you're in an emergency, you don't always know what to do, right? And as an adult, it's like, that's a very adult-like thing, and if that's your first wreck, and this poor kid like panicked, I guess, uh, she was like, "I felt like a mom, like I felt like the old woman in the scenario."

• 2:09George Kamel?

  She's having a guac Came through this and hold his hand.

• 2:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know. So anyways, we were just talking about emergencies and then like the things that she had to pay for. Right. You gotta claim insurance and all of it. She didn't like to pay for much, but he had to. He didn't have a lot of money. So we're just talking about emergency funds and all of it. And I was like, man, it is so good, great when you have an emergency fund. Like there is a level of just calmness and peace. We're like, I just have cash in the bank because 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency.

• 2:35George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 2:35Rachel Cruze?

  In cash. So there is something to be said about having money in the bank. And again, it's peaceful, but sometimes when we have money sitting in the bank, George, we end up spending it and sometimes some weird emergencies come up.

• 2:47George Kamel?

  And some of them may not be emergencies by my definition, so I'm excited to, uh,

• 2:52Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 2:52George Kamel?

  Yeah, get into that.

• 2:53Rachel Cruze?

  A little strict about that one.

• 2:54George Kamel?

  Well, here's some stats, because you know, I love a good stat to set it up.

• 2:57Rachel Cruze?

  Did you see my stat earlier? Did you see I just threw in that 40%?

• 2:59George Kamel?

  I noticed that. I was like, I hope she didn't steal one of my stats. I've been waiting to do these for a long time.

• 3:03Rachel Cruze?

  I've been so excited about this.

• 3:04George Kamel?

  No, you didn't. You didn't encroach on my stats.

• 3:06Rachel Cruze?

  I'm so glad.

• 3:07George Kamel?

  Here's one. More than 25% of Americans have less than $1,000 saved.

• 3:11Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 3:12George Kamel?

  So there you go. The average car repair is between 500 and 600 bucks. Average urgent care visit is between 100 and 300 bucks.

• 3:19Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 3:19George Kamel?

  I don't think I've ever gotten out of urgent care for 100 bucks. That feels cheap. Urgent care feels like they always charge you way more than you want.

• 3:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Don't you do insurance though for that?

• 3:29George Kamel?

  Yeah, but I feel like urgent care is always more expensive. Like insurance doesn't cover enough of it.

• 3:34Rachel Cruze?

  It's so urgent. Right.

• 3:34George Kamel?

  So urgent.

• 3:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. So some of those, again, those are pretty common emergencies that pop up or things in life. So that's why we recommend starting out with a $1,000 emergency fund. Cause us can usually get kind of these ankle biter things, right? As you're getting out of debt, having that $1,000 is so important. And again, it covers these, not the big emergencies, but these little ankle biter ones.

• 3:54George Kamel?

  Yeah. And my last few emergencies were all well under 1,000 bucks. So I can attest to this. But for more expensive ones, like replacing an HVAC system, I mean, that's like six grand, you know, or paying 3,500 to meet a deductible for an ER visit. That's why you want to get to that fully funded emergency fund fast. It's one reason to get out of debt fast so that we can get the emergency fund fast.

• 4:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's good motivation in that way, right?

• 4:16George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 4:16Rachel Cruze?

  Keeps the progress going. So again, there's always something that comes up in life, but again, we're going to react to this episode. I'm kind of excited about it.

• 4:23George Kamel?

  This is gonna be a good one. Can we, can we get into some of the listener submitted stories?

• 4:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Oh, I can't wait.

• 4:29George Kamel?

  Sad, but real. The last week of our golden doodles life cost us $9,000. Like end of life care for a dog.

• 4:37Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh.

• 4:38George Kamel?

  I guess the surgeries you do to like, to try to save the dog?

• 4:42Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 4:42George Kamel?

  That's super sad.

• 4:44Rachel Cruze?

  We've talked about this on the show, about, do you have a number?

• 4:47George Kamel?

  I do have a number in my head of like, here's how much you'd spend. Like, let's say that the doctor said it's gonna be 12 grand.

• 4:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 4:54George Kamel?

  To attempt to save the dog.

• 4:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we can't.

• 4:57George Kamel?

  You're saying no.

• 4:57Rachel Cruze?

  No, oh, for sh- 12 grand, George?

• 5:00George Kamel?

  I'm putting a number out. I'm not saying that's my number.

• 5:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, 12 grand. I mean, the dog's been great, but I, yeah, we're not, I'm not doing that. You would spend 12,000 dollars?

• 5:08George Kamel?

  I'm not saying I would or wouldn't. I do think, here's my thing. I'm okay having like a, you know, we have a high deductible healthcare plan? That covers like, hey, this is worst case scenario.

• 5:19Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 5:19George Kamel?

  I'm okay with that for dogs.

• 5:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right. You talked about this. Pet insurance, you're not mad at.

• 5:23George Kamel?

  Pet insurance, like, I try to get the lowest, lowest cost possible. This is my kind of like, just, I want it for peace. Knowing that if there was a medical event and a surgery that had to be done for my dog that was $10,000, my out of pocket max would be a fraction of that.

• 5:36Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair. Okay, PETA's gonna probably cancel us for this next question, but I'm gonna ask you.

• 5:39George Kamel?

  I don't wanna be involved in your cancellation. And you can do that yourself.

• 5:44Rachel Cruze?

  You ready for this question? If your dog had to have a wheelchair?

• 5:48George Kamel?

  100%.

• 5:51George Kamel?

  You kidding me?

• 5:53George Kamel?

  I'd have like, you, they would go ballistic on Instagram for a dog in a wheelchair?

• 5:58Rachel Cruze?

  What are you gonna do with that on Instagram? Just content? Are you gonna make money off your dogs?

• 6:01George Kamel?

  I'd quit my job and go full-time, dog in wheelchair Instagram content.

• 6:05Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Have you seen these though, dogs that are in like little mini wheelchairs? And that's, I draw the line. I'm sorry. You've had a great life. That is a terrible life.

• 6:13George Kamel?

  What if they could have a totally normal life?

• 6:15Rachel Cruze?

  And you are dreaming of running fields and you're like, in a wheelchair? No, I can't.

• 6:20George Kamel?

  Why can't they just be on a sidewalk? Why do they gotta be going through a field?

• 6:23Rachel Cruze?

  Cause I actually have a real dog, George, that likes to run and hunt and just.

• 6:28George Kamel?

  I thought you were gonna get cancelled for breeding dogs, not the whole wheelchair situation.

• 6:33Rachel Cruze?

  We do that too, only once.

• 6:34George Kamel?

  No, I had 100%, I'd get a wheelchair for my dog.

• 6:36Rachel Cruze?

  You would?

• 6:37George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 6:37Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, well.

• 6:38George Kamel?

  That's a tough one though. That's what I need to know. That's one you feel like I'm willing to sink a lot of money, because this is a family member.

• 6:42Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, here's one, that I feel like I have more of the right to say out loud than you do.

• 6:47George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 6:47Rachel Cruze?

  Got an epidural without planning on it. For uninsured people, the cost of an epidural during childbirth can range from $1,000 to over $8,000.

• 6:58George Kamel?

  Woo.

• 6:59Rachel Cruze?

  For an epidural, again, this is for uninsured people, so, this person was not planning on getting it, make up a story in my head, natural childbirth, going in with the birth plan, what they want, you know, and then all of a sudden, it's like, phew, we're getting the epidural.

• 7:13George Kamel?

  There's no other option, essentially.

• 7:14Rachel Cruze?

  And then, there was a Ramsey show called, do you remember this, a few years ago, of, it was a woman calling in and saying that her boyfriend was making her pay for...

• 7:22George Kamel?

  I remember that.

• 7:23Rachel Cruze?

  The epidural bill.

• 7:24George Kamel?

  He was like, "Well, that's something you chose to get, therefore, you gotta pay for it."

• 7:26Rachel Cruze?

  You gotta pay for it, oh my gosh, unbelievable.

• 7:29George Kamel?

  I pray for that couple every day.

• 7:30Rachel Cruze?

  If you ever had to have a baby, George, would you get an epidural?

• 7:33George Kamel?

  I hope that man is still alive.

• 7:34Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 7:35George Kamel?

  Would I pay for an epidural out of pocket? 100%.

• 7:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you would do it.

• 7:39George Kamel?

  And of all the human experiences that I'm gonna shell out money for, I feel like delivering my human child is the one thing I should be like, "Yeah, let's go ahead and make sure this goes well."

• 7:48Rachel Cruze?

  We're gonna make sure this is covered.

• 7:49George Kamel?

  It's insane.

• 7:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know, I know.

• 7:51George Kamel?

  I'm Team Epidural, I'm willing to say it. Bravery.

• 7:56Rachel Cruze?

  Oh man.

• 7:57George Kamel?

  Now, there's some crunchy moms that I'm sure would come after me.

• 7:59Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think dog wheelchair people and non-epidural people are the same? Or do we think these are like all different camps?

• 8:05George Kamel?

  Let us know in the comments.

• 8:06Rachel Cruze?

  You will let us know?

• 8:08George Kamel?

  I didn't know that was like, we're separating the Team Epidural or Team Wheelchair for dogs.

• 8:11Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I feel like you're like, fall on one of them.

• 8:13George Kamel?

  Pitting them against each other. All right, how about this one? Here's an emergency, $3,400 IRS bill in the mail.

• 8:20Rachel Cruze?

  Ouch.

• 8:21George Kamel?

  It's not the mail you wanna get.

• 8:22Rachel Cruze?

  That's not what you want.

• 8:23George Kamel?

  IRS, that's a scary one, though.

• 8:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh yeah, oh yeah, and that moves up in the debt snowball. If you have debt and you're paying off debt, but you get an IRS bill, that's the first thing you pay off.

• 8:32George Kamel?

  Number one thing that gets paid off. You don't mess with them.

• 8:34Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, gosh, I'm so controversial today, here's another controversial stance on this one. I think I would rather owe...

• 8:41Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, that's a lot, but like, I would rather owe than

• 8:45George Kamel?

  Get a refund.

• 8:46Rachel Cruze?

  Get a refund.

• 8:46George Kamel?

  Yeah, I'm with you on that.

• 8:47Rachel Cruze?

  And I'm saying from like a small, a small amount.

• 8:49George Kamel?

  Not owe like 25 grand.

• 8:51Rachel Cruze?

  Gosh, no, no, no.

• 8:52George Kamel?

  But just, I'd rather owe a thousand than have a refund of a thousand. Cause that means you didn't give the government your money all year long.

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Depending on where you are in the baby steps, would that be true? But to get to that point would be, yeah.

• 9:03George Kamel?

  And for reference, we recommend trying to get as close to zero as possible.

• 9:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, not getting this massive refund.

• 9:08George Kamel?

  You didn't pay too much, you didn't underpay.

• 9:09Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, yeah, for sure. Um, alright, how about this one? Covered a family member's funeral costs.

• 9:14George Kamel?

  Oof.

• 9:15Rachel Cruze?

  So the median cost for a funeral, get this, is $8,300, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

• 9:24Rachel Cruze?

  That's, that's a hefty bill.

• 9:25George Kamel?

  I kinda think funeral homes are a scam.

• 9:27Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, well, tell me more.

• 9:28George Kamel?

  I just feel like, what are we, what are you paying for? You know what I mean? Like, they can charge what they want, cause you're going through all this grief and you have no other option.

• 9:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's true.

• 9:37George Kamel?

  So that part, I'm not saying funeral homes shouldn't make money, but...

• 9:39Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I think the burial, the casket, like, all of that's very expensive. And people get like, very nice, beautiful...

• 9:44George Kamel?

  Just go to Costco.com, they have some beautiful options. They sell them.

• 9:48Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 9:49George Kamel?

  They sell caskets.

• 9:50Rachel Cruze?

  They do?

• 9:51George Kamel?

  I'm not buying it from the funeral home, I'm getting it in bulk. Get one for the whole family while I'm at it. I don't know.

• 9:58Rachel Cruze?

  George.

• 9:58George Kamel?

  But do you think it's, it's wild to get like a fancy casket? That part always throws me off.

• 10:04Rachel Cruze?

  Rachel's so bougie, dead or alive, there's just something about like, going out well.

• 10:09George Kamel?

  I want it, it dazzles.

• 10:11Rachel Cruze?

  It just feels right, it just feels right. Like, me and a Costco casket, just...

• 10:16George Kamel?

  Why are we dogging the Kirkland casket? You want a name brand casket, name one brand of casket.

• 10:22Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, I don't know.

• 10:24George Kamel?

  Does Louis Vuitton make one that you'd like to have?

• 10:25Rachel Cruze?

  No, I wouldn't do a designer casket.

• 10:27George Kamel?

  That's a thing too?

• 10:28Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't know, you just said Louis Vuitton, I'm like, I wouldn't do that. Um, I don't know, there is something, God, it's so morbid, but like, people you love, that you're like, I don't know, you just wanna like, honor, there's like an honoring, there's a, I don't know, there's something to it. I, I mean, I understand the practicality. Yes, you are not alive, you're not gonna know. I get it, but I do think there's something about laying to rest. I don't know, would you get cremated?

• 10:52George Kamel?

  I'm still iffy on that one. Although I like the idea of me like turning into a tree that then gets made into a guitar. Like that kind of thing that's very intriguing to me. You know what I mean? That's a thing. You can like plant it and then it becomes a thing and then you can use that thing to make things. I like being useful. I feel like I haven't been useful for most of my life, so after I'm gone, I want to contribute.

• 11:16Rachel Cruze?

  You can keep me reused.

• 11:18George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 11:18Rachel Cruze?

  A pipe, smoking.

• 11:20George Kamel?

  Yeah, that's beautiful. I think that's great. Keep it in the family.

• 11:24Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 11:25George Kamel?

  How about you?

• 11:25Rachel Cruze?

  George, I would get a memorabilia.

• 11:28George Kamel?

  Thank you. Yeah, I could sell, I could sell it as merch. Get a piece of me. You want a piece of me? $9.95.

• 11:38George Kamel?

  To all my haters.

• 11:39Rachel Cruze?

  And Mia.

• 11:39George Kamel?

  You can now get a piece of me. I would want to monetize, I think I would want to monetize my funeral.

• 11:45Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair.

• 11:46George Kamel?

  That feels, go out with a bang.

• 11:48Rachel Cruze?

  That feels right for you. I think that feels right for you.

• 11:49George Kamel?

  Pay for the livestream, you pay for some ashes, you know, I think that's a beautiful way. I want to go out with comedy.

• 11:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, George.

• 11:56George Kamel?

  But that is an expensive one. I hope family can all chip in or, you know. I want to make sure my family's not worried about that.

• 12:01Rachel Cruze?

  And you know, we say to have life insurance for people that are dependent on your income, but I have heard people say, I'm going to get life insurance as a single person, a very, very small coverage to cover, you know, funeral expenses. But I think I would say instead of going through that, kind of all that process, just.

• 12:16George Kamel?

  Have the money in the bank.

• 12:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, have a, have a separate fund for that if you really are, you know, concerned about that.

• 12:21George Kamel?

  That's beautiful. All right, next one. Unexpectedly went into labor and had my baby at home.

• 12:26Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my goodness.

• 12:27George Kamel?

  Emergency fund covered the ambulance bill.

• 12:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my dear. Could you imagine? Now, there are home births, right? All about it, whatever, you go, girl. But an unexpected one is scary.

• 12:36George Kamel?

  Well, you weren't planning for that.

• 12:37Rachel Cruze?

  You were not planning for that.

• 12:39George Kamel?

  No doula, no midwife, just, oh gosh, here it is.

• 12:42Rachel Cruze?

  That's a, that's a, that's a scary one right there.

• 12:44George Kamel?

  I got scared that was going to happen to us.

• 12:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah?

• 12:47George Kamel?

  Because Whitney woke me up in the middle of my slumber.

• 12:51George Kamel?

  She claims it was very calm, but she was like, hey, I just need to know, like, I think, you know, you should get up and shower. She knew that was a big thing for me. I wanted to be showered.

• 13:01George Kamel?

  I don't want to be unshowered for seven days on end. I want to be in a bad mood. So she said, hey, get up and shower, get ready. I think we need to go. And I jumped out.

• 13:12George Kamel?

  All right, let's go.

• 13:13Rachel Cruze?

  Like George Banks on Father of the Bride 2.

• 13:16George Kamel?

  Just like that.

• 13:16Rachel Cruze?

  I know, just all panicky.

• 13:18George Kamel?

  So that's a, that's a real scare, but luckily we made it in time, but not making it and then having to go, you know, to the hospital. Once the baby's delivered safely, we got to get right to the hospital and do all the things they do there.

• 13:27Rachel Cruze?

  It's a lot.

• 13:28George Kamel?

  That's stressful.

• 13:28Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh. Yeah, Caroline came about an hour after I got to the hospital, which is cutting it.

• 13:33George Kamel?

  Good timing.

• 13:33Rachel Cruze?

  Too close to me.

• 13:34George Kamel?

  Yeah, that is scary close.

• 13:35Rachel Cruze?

  I need, I need a few more buffer hours there, just making sure no one's not coming out where they shouldn't be.

• 13:40George Kamel?

  That timing is very difficult. I got a lot of, a lot of empathy for people stressed out about the timing.

• 13:44Rachel Cruze?

  It's a lot. It's a lot. All right, next, my 48 year old hot water heater.

• 13:51Rachel Cruze?

  Died. Sorry, the sentence was all jumbled in my eyes.

• 13:56George Kamel?

  Thank you. Yeah, no, it was perfect on paper.

• 13:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, 48 year.

• 13:59George Kamel?

  When it went through your brain and through your mouth.

• 14:01Rachel Cruze?

  48 year old and then died. I thought, no, we're going back to funerals. But no, it's just the hot water heater. Uh, and paid $1,353 for a new one without batting an eye.

• 14:11George Kamel?

  Are water heaters that cheap? Can anyone verify? Okay, I thought they were way more expensive in my head. I guess I'm thinking more HVAC, but water heaters are cheaper. 48 years old, that's a heck of a run.

• 14:21Rachel Cruze?

  That's, well, well, well done. You know, they don't make them like they used to.

• 14:23George Kamel?

  In water heater years, that might as well be 170.

• 14:26Rachel Cruze?

  Um, amazing, amazing.

• 14:28George Kamel?

  All right, how about this one? Surgery on my wrist cost 3,500 bucks, but I play instruments for a living, so I had to.

• 14:35Rachel Cruze?

  Now that is fair.

• 14:36George Kamel?

  I didn't think about that.

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, have you heard this? That musicians will insure parts of their body for more?

• 14:42George Kamel?

  Oh, like my hands, because I need that for work?

• 14:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 14:46George Kamel?

  So if something happens to my hand, I need it to replace my income?

• 14:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, so like guitar, yep, that's exactly right.

• 14:50George Kamel?

  It's kind of like a living life insurance.

• 14:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that if you literally can't work anymore for the job that you have.

• 14:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, it's a very specific version. Would you ever do that for like your voice? Cause you need your voice to do your job? Think about it.

• 15:03Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe I should.

• 15:04George Kamel?

  With pipes like that, you should be insured. 100%. You and Adele, you and Adele both have insurance.

• 15:12Rachel Cruze?

  All up there. I bet Adele does. I bet those singers do. Can you get like, can you get insurance on like speci- I know you're like, but is your voice considered, I guess your vocal cords is part of your body?

• 15:21George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 15:22Rachel Cruze?

  Your voice isn't. It's.

• 15:24George Kamel?

  You got there.

• 15:25Rachel Cruze?

  Sound.

• 15:27George Kamel?

  Yes. Closer, warmer, Marco?

• 15:31Rachel Cruze?

  Marco?

• 15:32George Kamel?

  Yeah, I mean, I would, I would consider surgery on your wrist, that's, that is an emergency.

• 15:36Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, for sure.

• 15:37George Kamel?

  I don't know what level of like, you know, if it's just,

• 15:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 15:39George Kamel?

  You know, is it, what's it called, carpal tunnel? Like, is that surgery, I don't know.

• 15:44Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 15:44George Kamel?

  Don't mind a judge.

• 15:45Rachel Cruze?

  Man, we are moving on. Are you ready for this one?

• 15:46George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 15:47Rachel Cruze?

  We are on the same theme. Dog broke a leg chasing a bone in the yard. Six thousand dollars. Six thousand dollars, y'all. That's a lot of money. It's like a really-

• 16:01George Kamel?

  So the dog broke a bone chasing a bone? That's interesting.

• 16:05Rachel Cruze?

  Broke a leg chasing a bone, yes, broke a bone chasing a bone.

• 16:07George Kamel?

  The irony is not lost on me.

• 16:08Rachel Cruze?

  Man.

• 16:09George Kamel?

  We gotta get rid of the bones in the yard.

• 16:12George Kamel?

  Six grand?

• 16:13Rachel Cruze?

  That's a lot. That seems like a lot, doesn't it?

• 16:15George Kamel?

  I feel like they got ripped off on that. Don't you just put them in a little cast?

• 16:18Rachel Cruze?

  And vets, wouldn't you, I would go get like multiple opinions. Do you feel like vets are one of these like industries that a kid, depending on who you go to?

• 16:25George Kamel?

  There's a wild spectrum of prices.

• 16:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, who you go to of what, yeah, of what it costs?

• 16:28George Kamel?

  And like an emergency vet is forty-eight times more than your normal vet.

• 16:32Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, that's right.

• 16:33George Kamel?

  Like, have you ever been to those emergency animal hospitals?

• 16:36Rachel Cruze?

  Hmm, no, I don't think so, George. I'm trying to think. I don't know if we ever had to.

• 16:41George Kamel?

  I have very few fears in life. My, one of my greatest fears is paying the bill at an emergency animal vet.

• 16:48Rachel Cruze?

  Cause it, oh yeah, I could see that, yes. Because a lot of them, it's like 2:00 a.m. when something happens, and you're like, who's open?

• 16:54George Kamel?

  You can't go anywhere.

• 16:54Rachel Cruze?

  It's like 1:00.

• 16:55George Kamel?

  Can I tell you why we went? My dog Olive ate a dryer sheet. And apparently, they can just die from eating a dryer sheet.

• 17:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no. Did you Google it?

• 17:05George Kamel?

  Yeah. Should never Google it. It's like going to WebMD when you have an ailment.

• 17:09Rachel Cruze?

  Never Google.

• 17:10George Kamel?

  They're like, you got two hours, bucko.

• 17:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 17:13George Kamel?

  So, yeah, we went and they said, hey, not worth it. Like, just see if it will pass.

• 17:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 17:17George Kamel?

  And this too shall pass.

• 17:19Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, and you paid a ton of money for it?

• 17:20George Kamel?

  No, no, they said like, we're not even gonna let you in the door.

• 17:23Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's nice. How nice of them. So great.

• 17:25George Kamel?

  They spared us. Very kind of them. Here's one. Husband got laid off and applied for 260 new jobs before he found one. Lived off of the emergency fund.

• 17:34Rachel Cruze?

  Wow. That's a...

• 17:37George Kamel?

  How unqualified or overqualified was this man? 260? Who has the time?

• 17:43Rachel Cruze?

  And I think what's hard these days, when people apply for jobs, they just put in applications in where truly King Coleman would be proud of us for talking about it, but honestly, one of the best ways to get your foot in the door in a company is knowing someone. Like that personal connection is huge.

• 17:56George Kamel?

  Even posting in your neighborhood Facebook group or texting, does anyone know someone who, it doesn't have to be someone you're already friends with.

• 18:02Rachel Cruze?

  Because a lot of companies, they do that. They just get filtered in all these resumes. Not all of them look at them. So I think that's what's tough.

• 18:07George Kamel?

  If you can just get to the top of a stack, have a real person look at it, you've just increased your chances.

• 18:11Rachel Cruze?

  So much. And when you're filling out applications like this, your personal data is now going to 260 more places, right?

• 18:18George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 18:19Rachel Cruze?

  All over the internet. And all of our data is all over the internet and our information because we live in 2025 right now.

• 18:25George Kamel?

  That's the new currency is data.

• 18:27Rachel Cruze?

  It is. So protecting your data should be one of the top priorities. And that's why we love and we both use Delete Me. So Delete Me goes in and removes your information. This is like your home address, your phone number. I mean, they have stuff with like your bank. I mean, like all of the information that's out there, they will go and remove it from data broker websites that honestly have your data and then they sell your data to other sites.

• 18:52George Kamel?

  So whenever you're like, why am I getting all this spam? Why am I getting all these robocalls and spam texts? It's because of that. And so Delete Me does the work for you. You can do the work on your own, but it's exhausting to go through every single site, do all the research. They've already saved me 66 hours. It shows you in your report how much time they've saved, where they removed it. And so I love getting my, my report every few months and just sleeping easy.

• 19:13Rachel Cruze?

  Love it.

• 19:14George Kamel?

  And they're giving our listeners a discount. If you go to joindeleteme.com/smartmoney, you'll get 20% off any of their plans and it is well worth it. We'll also put the link in the description of the show.

• 19:26Rachel Cruze?

  All right, next. I used the emergency fund because I had to bail my brother out of jail.

• 19:31George Kamel?

  Ooh.

• 19:32Rachel Cruze?

  Kind of sounds exciting.

• 19:34George Kamel?

  So Rachel loves the drama.

• 19:36Rachel Cruze?

  I don't have a jail story. Do you have a jail story?

• 19:38George Kamel?

  Have I been to jail?

• 19:40Rachel Cruze?

  Not you or someone you know, how to bail anyone out?

• 19:42George Kamel?

  No, I don't roll with those crowds. I don't know if you've seen me. I don't even have friends that could commit a crime.

• 19:50Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all would be like hacking.

• 19:52George Kamel?

  Really?

• 19:53Rachel Cruze?

  It's like you'd be on a-

• 19:53George Kamel?

  We're hackers?

• 19:54Rachel Cruze?

  It's like you'd be on a computer.

• 19:56George Kamel?

  No, the worst crime-

• 19:56Rachel Cruze?

  That'd be your crime.

• 19:57George Kamel?

  I'm trying to think of a crime that I, that my friends would commit. You know what I mean?

• 20:02Rachel Cruze?

  That's a fun game.

• 20:02George Kamel?

  Skateboarding. We almost got, yeah, we almost ended up, we'd had to go to the police station a few times because of that.

• 20:07Rachel Cruze?

  You did?

• 20:07George Kamel?

  Yeah, because you're trespassing illegal property-

• 20:10Rachel Cruze?

  George, this is exciting.

• 20:10George Kamel?

  Destruction of property.

• 20:11Rachel Cruze?

  You went to the police station?

• 20:12George Kamel?

  We were part of a sting operation. They popped, I, they popped up out of the bushes.

• 20:16Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 20:17George Kamel?

  Stormed us, took our skateboards.

• 20:19Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 20:19George Kamel?

  And we had to pick it up from the scariest police station in the Boston area at like 11:00 PM at night.

• 20:24Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 20:24George Kamel?

  So you'd come after 11:00 PM to get your stuff.

• 20:26Rachel Cruze?

  Unbelievable.

• 20:26George Kamel?

  To teach us a lesson. Would you bail your brother out of jail?

• 20:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 20:31George Kamel?

  What's the number? We all have a number.

• 20:33Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, this is good. What's bail?

• 20:35George Kamel?

  Is, what if bail's 10 grand? What if it's 100 grand?

• 20:38Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, for brother?

• 20:40George Kamel?

  For brother.

• 20:41Rachel Cruze?

  For brother. I would go high. If I had the cash available.

• 20:44George Kamel?

  What if you knew he wouldn't pay you back?

• 20:45Rachel Cruze?

  I would get a family member out of jail.

• 20:46George Kamel?

  As just a gift?

• 20:48Rachel Cruze?

  As a gift. Oh, wow.

• 20:50George Kamel?

  I don't know. I think I'd want him to really sit in whatever it is they did for a little bit. I'd probably do it eventually.

• 20:56Rachel Cruze?

  I would try to help them post bail. It's, I mean, I think I, I think, yeah, if I have a family member in jail.

• 21:02George Kamel?

  I don't want them going to one of those bail bond places. That place is scary.

• 21:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, for sure. They're like the payday lenders of-

• 21:08George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 21:08Rachel Cruze?

  Criminals.

• 21:09George Kamel?

  So I guess I would do it just to help them avoid a predatory lender.

• 21:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and I guess I would have to believe that they weren't, I mean, we're talking about my brother.

• 21:17George Kamel?

  Who is the least likely to commit a crime.

• 21:20Rachel Cruze?

  Out of all of us, for sure.

• 21:21George Kamel?

  You're number one.

• 21:23Rachel Cruze?

  100%. I think, and, and again, I think if you had a family member, though, that you were worried about them in society.

• 21:29George Kamel?

  Maybe keep them out of society.

• 21:30Rachel Cruze?

  I wouldn't want to be the responsibility of, you know, getting some people out of jail.

• 21:33George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 21:33Rachel Cruze?

  Some people, you know?

• 21:34George Kamel?

  That's the key. Depends on what they did.

• 21:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think that's fair.

• 21:36George Kamel?

  Here's one. Bought grandma a new car battery because I left it running all night when I borrowed it.

• 21:42Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 21:42George Kamel?

  First time with a push-to-start engine, oops.

• 21:45Rachel Cruze?

  Ah, you know, what a great grandson. That's very responsible.

• 21:49George Kamel?

  Yeah, it's the least you can do.

• 21:50Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 21:50George Kamel?

  And a new car battery, it's not that expensive too, which is nice.

• 21:53Rachel Cruze?

  See, I don't even know. Couple hundred bucks?

• 21:56George Kamel?

  You've never had to replace a car battery and it shows.

• 21:57Rachel Cruze?

  And, okay, geez.

• 21:59George Kamel?

  It's not, you can get it at like Walmart for like, you know, 100 bucks, 150 bucks.

• 22:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, there you go.

• 22:04George Kamel?

  Yeah, the men are nodding.

• 22:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah. Plus sign, minus sign. Oh, and the batteries, that's what I know.

• 22:11George Kamel?

  I usually have the AAA guy do it.

• 22:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 22:13George Kamel?

  It's a little more, but he's already there. He's got the battery.

• 22:16Rachel Cruze?

  He knows what he's doing. Helped my best friend pay for her marriage license.

• 22:20George Kamel?

  That's sweet, but how much are these?

• 22:22Rachel Cruze?

  Now, that's inexpensive, though. Marriage licenses are not that expensive.

• 22:25George Kamel?

  It's like a hundred bucks? Someone Google that. That can't be a lot of money.

• 22:29Rachel Cruze?

  I gotcha. Love Google.

• 22:30George Kamel?

  It's a weird thing to be excited about. Do you not get to Google a lot outside of work?

• 22:37Rachel Cruze?

  No, it's all-

• 22:37George Kamel?

  This is my chance to show them I can Google.

• 22:39Rachel Cruze?

  This is all I do. Okay, around a hundred dollars.

• 22:41George Kamel?

  Is it just a gift, like, hey, I'm excited for your marriage?

• 22:44Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but a hundred dollars, like, okay, we're getting married.

• 22:47George Kamel?

  And it says helped. I don't know, I mean, the fact that you had to use your emergency fund to help a friend to cover a hundred dollars scares me.

• 22:53Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I'm wondering. I'm scared a little bit for everyone here. We're getting married here.

• 22:57George Kamel?

  Everyone's guilty.

• 22:58Rachel Cruze?

  We're getting married. We're doing grown-up things.

• 23:00George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 23:01Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 23:02George Kamel?

  But we're back on track with this next one.

• 23:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 23:04George Kamel?

  Raccoon removal.

• 23:07George Kamel?

  It costs ninety-nine dollars per raccoon.

• 23:10Rachel Cruze?

  Per raccoon? How many raccoons were there?

• 23:12George Kamel?

  Apparently enough to say per raccoon.

• 23:17George Kamel?

  They don't say it costs ninety-nine bucks to remove a raccoon.

• 23:19Rachel Cruze?

  What would be the worst ro- what would be the worst animal that you would have to remove?

• 23:22George Kamel?

  I could tell you, because it happened to me. It was a snake in the garage.

• 23:26Rachel Cruze?

  Gross.

• 23:26George Kamel?

  I had a four-foot gigantic snake in my garage. Four.

• 23:31Rachel Cruze?

  I guess that's pretty, I mean, gigantic.

• 23:32George Kamel?

  Like, double this mic stand. Think about that.

• 23:35Rachel Cruze?

  Gross, yeah.

• 23:35George Kamel?

  And, like, pretty sizable. And so I called the, I found, like, a wildlife removal guy.

• 23:40Rachel Cruze?

  Hundred percent. This is so fun, too.

• 23:41George Kamel?

  Well, I called him, and he said, I sent it, he said, "Send me a picture." I went, "All right, here's the photo." From zooming in, like, you know, like a boomer, I'm zooming in from far away.

• 23:49Rachel Cruze?

  Well, getting the stripes, because it could be poisonous. Who would even know what it is?

• 23:52George Kamel?

  And he said, "Ah, you're fine." I went, "What do you mean, I'm fine?" He's like, "Ah, I don't think it's worth coming all the way over there." "I'm about twenty minutes away, meh."

• 23:59Rachel Cruze?

  Like, I'm George Campbell. I don't do animals like this.

• 24:01George Kamel?

  You'll be all right. So I had four neighbors over there, all trying to coax this thing out.

• 24:04Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it.

• 24:05George Kamel?

  We had to dismantle the entire garage to get it out of there.

• 24:08Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 24:08George Kamel?

  So, it was free. Didn't have to pay the wildlife guy.

• 24:11Rachel Cruze?

  There you go, there you go.

• 24:12George Kamel?

  Who knows what his charge would have been, but that was an emergency.

• 24:14Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, so terrible.

• 24:15George Kamel?

  Well, how about you? What rodent?

• 24:16Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I'm trying to think if we've, at our old house, we had some, I can't remember. It was under the house, though. And they had been, like, a raccoon kind of thing. Now, my sister-in-law, are you ready for this? Had a rat, y'all, a rat in her kitchen. She had the pest control guy out there, like, they could not-

• 24:33George Kamel?

  Couldn't find it?

• 24:33Rachel Cruze?

  Couldn't get this rat, because of where it was, it was all behind, everything, like, I mean, it was like, they couldn't, they did all the tricks and stuff. For like, probably two to three weeks. She would like try, I mean, she did everything, but this thing, and they caught it on camera. I mean, it was like every, oh.

• 24:50George Kamel?

  Did they get it out?

• 24:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 24:53George Kamel?

  They didn't just burn it down?

• 24:54Rachel Cruze?

  Burned up the house?

• 24:55George Kamel?

  Yeah, we tried.

• 24:57Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Isn't that terrible? It's, it's the worst rodent, um, story I've heard, like from, like firsthand. I mean, this thing, it was a saga for like two weeks. I mean, we were getting rat updates.

• 25:07George Kamel?

  What's the other ones that will, uh, they'll destroy your garden?

• 25:10Rachel Cruze?

  A mouse is like, a rat's like, whoa.

• 25:13George Kamel?

  Yeah. What's the one that destroys gardens? Are those moles? What are they called? Moles? Armadillos, moles?

• 25:19Rachel Cruze?

  Gross. Armadillos are nasty. Skunk is a bad one.

• 25:24George Kamel?

  Yikes.

• 25:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yikes. All right, pick your animal.

• 25:27George Kamel?

  I got snake. I'm going, I'm sticking with snake.

• 25:29Rachel Cruze?

  Is the worst?

• 25:30George Kamel?

  No, it could be deadly.

• 25:32Rachel Cruze?

  It's true. Fair.

• 25:34George Kamel?

  All right.

• 25:35Rachel Cruze?

  Fair, fair, fair. Ooh, uh, brown recluse.

• 25:37George Kamel?

  Oh, I didn't think about that one.

• 25:39Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going that one. Worst.

• 25:41George Kamel?

  That's a good bet. And they can procreate like wildfire.

• 25:44Rachel Cruze?

  Like really quick, yes.

• 25:44George Kamel?

  No, thank you.

• 25:45Rachel Cruze?

  And you can never catch them because, yeah. All right, we're done.

• 25:49George Kamel?

  Moving on.

• 25:50Rachel Cruze?

  Gross. Um, okay. Insurance rep called and told me I had 30 days to get a new roof. I don't trust them.

• 25:58George Kamel?

  Insurance rep? But is insurance covering the roof? They said they'd use their emergency fund, maybe for their deductible? I don't know what's going on there.

• 26:06Rachel Cruze?

  I don't like, or I don't like urgency on, well, I guess if it's the insurance rep. It'd be different if a roofer was like, you gotta get a new roof in 30 days and use me.

• 26:14George Kamel?

  Yeah, I guess they were saying it's in such disrepair. We're not gonna cover it. You gotta get this thing done now. Versus waiting for it to, I don't know, fall through?

• 26:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, possibly.

• 26:22George Kamel?

  Who knows? There's more risk there?

• 26:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. I don't like urgency with money, though. Always remember that. If someone's like really, really urgent and trying to sell you something, red flag.

• 26:30George Kamel?

  A hundred percent. Our writer Savannah decided to put herself into this. Here's her story. She bought a house, used equity from the sale of the previous home. Love that. To cash flow a six-month renovation. Also love that. HVAC went out the week she moved in. And she's currently nearing the end of her pause investing era. So she paused investing while this was all going on. Very wise. But she's excited to get back to being a wealth girlie.

• 26:56George Kamel?

  That's how I pictured her saying all of this.

• 26:57Rachel Cruze?

  It is. It's very good, Sav. That's a very, that's a very...

• 27:00George Kamel?

  Great story.

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  You know what Sav needs for her new renovated condo?

• 27:05George Kamel?

  I know where you're going.

• 27:06Rachel Cruze?

  A big Cozy Earth blanket. A big throw on the couch?

• 27:10George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 27:11Rachel Cruze?

  It's one of the best.

• 27:12George Kamel?

  That's what makes a house a home.

• 27:13Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, seriously. But Cozy Earth, the blankets, the sheets, the joggers, the socks. I've gotten a lot from Cozy Earth. Lounge pants. I mean, all of it, you guys. They make the best products. The pajamas, it's amazing.

• 27:27George Kamel?

  Coziest products on earth. I guess that's where they got the name. I don't know.

• 27:29Rachel Cruze?

  It should. It's true.

• 27:30George Kamel?

  Who am I to judge?

• 27:30Rachel Cruze?

  Hashtag truth. But no, this is a really great company because we do talk about a lot, you know, saving money, budgeting, all of it. But when you get quality things, there is a difference. And you feel certain things like, oh my gosh, this is, this is what heaven's gonna feel like. Just this little...

• 27:45George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 27:46Rachel Cruze?

  The sheets, it's incredible, you guys. So make sure to go to Cozy Earth, get some great stuff. And they're giving an incredible discount to our listeners.

• 27:53George Kamel?

  Yeah, up to 40% off. Up to 40% off if you go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney or use the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout. And let me tell you, this is your living like no one else era. When you get Cozy Earth, obviously do it on a budget, do it with cash, get out of debt. But if you want to upgrade your life, check out their products. It will elevate you. You'll feel just luxurious. You deserve that.

• 28:15Rachel Cruze?

  When Winston had socks, Cozy Earth socks delivered. One foot says cozy, the other one says earth.

• 28:21George Kamel?

  He was a new man.

• 28:21Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, it's amazing. It really is.

• 28:22George Kamel?

  Changed his family tree.

• 28:23Rachel Cruze?

  Make sure to check it out.

• 28:24George Kamel?

  We'll put the link in the description as well.

• 28:26Rachel Cruze?

  Well, those are some good testimonies, you guys. Okay, George, what's the last thing or one of the big things that you guys have had to use your emergency funds for?

• 28:33George Kamel?

  Oh my gosh. Our most recent one, we had, we had one of the classics. We had a water heater situation.

• 28:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 28:38George Kamel?

  The expansion tank on the top started leaking and just spraying water at the wall.

• 28:43Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, not good.

• 28:44George Kamel?

  And of course, when does this happen? On a Sunday. And what do they do? They charge you double on Sundays for Jesus. I don't know what they're doing out here with these emergency calls.

• 28:53Rachel Cruze?

  The weekend stuff is tough.

• 28:54George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 28:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 28:55George Kamel?

  So that was 360 bucks gone.

• 28:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 28:58George Kamel?

  And not soon after that, an HVAC situation, it would not blow cold air. This is the summertime. And so had a bad capacitor, needed to be replaced. That was another 300 bucks right there.

• 29:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 29:08George Kamel?

  So it could have been worse.

• 29:09Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 29:10George Kamel?

  But still not a fun thing to deal with.

• 29:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Ours have been like medical stuff. Amelia chipped her tooth a few weeks ago.

• 29:16George Kamel?

  Oh, how do you do that? Falling?

• 29:18Rachel Cruze?

  She, yeah, she like hit, uh, yeah, hit it on something. But it wasn't even that hard. She was like, I don't feel like I even hit it that hard. But man, she screamed. And I was like, what is going on? And she was like, it was like a little shattered tooth in her hand.

• 29:29George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 29:30Rachel Cruze?

  But she looked like just, you know.

• 29:32George Kamel?

  Did she get a little like veneer thing? What do they do?

• 29:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 29:34George Kamel?

  That's amazing that they can even do that.

• 29:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Well, and they did it pretty quick the next day. She's in fourth grade. So she's at the age where she's like aware that people, you know what I mean? Like when you're little, little, you don't even know. Yeah, well, yeah, she's like, I don't want to go to school like this, mom. And I was like, oh, man, I'm poor little tooth. So, yeah, so we got her in. We had to do that. Uh, Charles broke his leg.

• 29:53George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 29:54Rachel Cruze?

  This was a few summers ago.

• 29:55George Kamel?

  I remember that.

• 29:56Rachel Cruze?

  Tough. He was like three at the time, at the beginning of the summer, y'all. He couldn't go in the pool or anything. It was terrible.

• 30:02George Kamel?

  And he's, he loves to be on the move.

• 30:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. So he had this like little, we call it his big boot. He's like, my big boot. And he just would have to like walk around. He kind of crawled. It was terrible. But I did not, okay, I'm, I, this is where I'm not a great mom medically. I always like, I always, uh, lean towards the like, we're gonna be okay. We don't need to go to the doctor. We don't need to go to the emergency room. Like, that's where I lean. Winston's a leaner the other way. He's like, just take him in, just take him in. And I'm like, I think they're fine.

• 30:29George Kamel?

  He's just to be safe. Let's just go ahead and do that.

• 30:31Rachel Cruze?

  But yeah, so after it happened, Charles like wasn't walking. Winston was like, I think he broke his leg. I was like, he didn't break his leg. Look at him.

• 30:38George Kamel?

  And you're like, he's fine. Get up.

• 30:40Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 30:41George Kamel?

  Take a hike.

• 30:41Rachel Cruze?

  For about an hour, I was like just watching. I'm like, he's gonna get up and walk.

• 30:45George Kamel?

  You really just said, walk it off, bud.

• 30:47Rachel Cruze?

  I really was like, I mean, it didn't look that bad the fall. And then after about an hour, Winston's like, we're taking him in. I was like, oh, man.

• 30:54George Kamel?

  And then you felt bad.

• 30:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, he broke his leg, poor little thing.

• 30:57George Kamel?

  What a trooper.

• 30:57Rachel Cruze?

  I know. But that's the stuff that's like, man, just boom, boom, boom.

• 31:01George Kamel?

  Yeah, that's life. It's going to happen. The question is when and what is it gonna be?

• 31:05Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 31:06George Kamel?

  You gotta be prepared with this emergency fund.

• 31:08Rachel Cruze?

  So that thousand dollar emergency fund we talked about earlier, that's your starting point. And then when you're out of debt, you bump that up to three to six months of expenses.

• 31:15George Kamel?

  That's your fully funded.

• 31:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And that's like a, that's a good marker, marker to have because that's if, you know, big medical emergencies come up, you can cover that. I think job loss is a big one. Like, well, just to know if income doesn't come in, you have that three to six month marker there is just, it's great. And a lot of people, that's happened, right? Throughout the years, you know, people lose their jobs and they actually end up living off of that emergency fund, just like our friend who applied for 240 jobs.

• 31:41George Kamel?

  Two sixty.

• 31:42Rachel Cruze?

  Two sixty.

• 31:42George Kamel?

  An extra twenty just to get there.

• 31:44Rachel Cruze?

  Excuse me.

• 31:45George Kamel?

  Yeah, so let's talk about where to put it, when to use it. So where to put it, I recommend a high-yield savings account. The goal is not to like make money, so don't invest it into the stock market, but it's good to let it at least grow at the, you know, rate of inflation.

• 31:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 31:57George Kamel?

  So park it in a high-yield savings account. You want it to be liquid, FDIC insured, no monthly maintenance fees and junk fees, all that good stuff.

• 32:05Rachel Cruze?

  For sure.

• 32:06George Kamel?

  And then when to use it, I like to ask three questions. Is it urgent? Is it necessary? And is it unexpected?

• 32:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 32:11George Kamel?

  So someone said they bought a new iPhone because I was trashing Android. So they spent a thousand bucks on an iPhone because I mean, don't blame that on me. That's not urgent, that's not necessary. It is necessary in the long, the grand scheme of life. If you want to have friends, but it's not urgent, it's not unexpected.

• 32:27Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, yep. Those are good filters too. I mean, that is a true emergency when things come up and it's like, wow.

• 32:32George Kamel?

  So let's talk about what's not an emergency.

• 32:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 32:34George Kamel?

  A vacation.

• 32:35Rachel Cruze?

  Travel funds, oh, man.

• 32:37George Kamel?

  Christmas.

• 32:38Rachel Cruze?

  It's tough.

• 32:39George Kamel?

  You knew it was coming. They haven't changed the date.

• 32:41Rachel Cruze?

  What's the date of Christmas? One, two, three.

• 32:43George Kamel?

  December twenty-fifth.

• 32:45Rachel Cruze?

  But we could all say it together. We know it's coming. Pregnancy and childbirth, like that is childcare even when it comes after.

• 32:53George Kamel?

  You've got a nine-month lead time, guys, come on.

• 32:55Rachel Cruze?

  We know it's happening, so again, we're gonna prep for it.

• 32:57George Kamel?

  Routine car maintenance.

• 32:58Rachel Cruze?

  Can I say though, if you are pregnant and expecting, pause the debt snowball and then like build up a big emergency fund because the epidural, right? Things cost during this process, so making sure you have money for it.

• 33:08George Kamel?

  If things go perfectly, you're probably fine, but until mom and baby are home safe, just stack away some cash. Last one, routine car maintenance, this is a big one. You know you're gonna need an oil change, you know you're gonna need new tires at some point, so set up sinking funds in your budget in EveryDollar to get these going. And EveryDollar is my favorite app to budget for all things, investing, saving, giving, emergencies, and you can set up these sinking funds to where you go, alright, I know tires cost twelve hundred bucks. I need them a year from now. I'm gonna put away a hundred bucks into the sinking fund for new tires so that when that time comes, it's not a surprise. I'm not stressed.

• 33:41Rachel Cruze?

  And it's all there. It's a beautiful thing. Planning ahead of time, this is like far out thinking, right? So good. Well, before we spill the tea on our guiltiest charge, um, what's in our drink, George?

• 33:51George Kamel?

  This is a Cubanata, which is a fun name, and it's, I think it's delicious personally.

• 33:56Rachel Cruze?

  You love it.

• 33:57George Kamel?

  One man's opinion, I think it's a perfect drink.

• 33:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. I'm going nine out of ten.

• 34:02George Kamel?

  I'll agree.

• 34:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, look at us.

• 34:04George Kamel?

  Nine out of 10 on this one. Here's the cost breakdown. $2.78.

• 34:10Rachel Cruze?

  Not bad.

• 34:10George Kamel?

  Pretty affordable. It's got aged rum, lime juice, and maple syrup. So these are things that are very simple. You could make this at home.

• 34:17Rachel Cruze?

  That's a great one.

• 34:17George Kamel?

  Give it a try this weekend. We'll put the recipe in the show notes for you to make it easy.

• 34:21Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for

• 34:24George Kamel?

  Guilty as charged.

• 34:26Rachel Cruze?

  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?

• 34:33George Kamel?

  What do you got?

• 34:34Speaker 02

  All right. Have you ever caused an emergency?

• 34:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, shoot.

• 34:39George Kamel?

  Like it was our, we were at fault.

• 34:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was your fault.

• 34:42George Kamel?

  This emergency could have been prevented by us not being involved.

• 34:45Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 34:46George Kamel?

  Got it.

• 34:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 34:48George Kamel?

  Yeah, I guess I'm guilty.

• 34:51Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I want to hear yours, George.

• 34:52George Kamel?

  Uh, mine involves driving.

• 34:53Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm. Mine too.

• 34:55George Kamel?

  It involves my car. And I was trying to be a hero, trying to pick up our friend Dr. John Deloney from his house, which is in Narnia, apparently. And my car told me, so first of all, what you need to know, John had multiple cars. He had zero keys to any of these cars. He let us know way too late on our way to the Blink 182 concert in downtown Nashville that he does not have the keys to these cars. I did not plan for this.

• 35:21Rachel Cruze?

  You gotta pick me up.

• 35:23George Kamel?

  Didn't plan for all this driving. And as you know, I have an older Tesla. The mileage, you know, it doesn't have a crazy high range. And I went, I'm gonna be a hero and try to get John and get back in time to charge. The car let me know. Let me tell you, this is not Tesla's fault. As soon as I was on my way to John's, it was like, hey, you're going to Narnia. There's no chargers nearby. You're gonna run out of juice. And I went, I'll risk it for the biscuit. I got John on our way back. We were one mile from Ramsey, where there's chargers. And it just just completely died.

• 35:54Rachel Cruze?

  So what'd you do? I think I've heard this story before.

• 35:56George Kamel?

  Well, what I didn't know is that when a Tesla completely dies, you can't even get back into the car because the battery is dead and it needs electronics to then open the car door because it's stupid. So I ditched the car. I called the police and I said, hey, I'm gonna leave this car here for a day. I gotta go to a concert, but rest assured, I'm gonna come back and get it towed.

• 36:19Rachel Cruze?

  You like wanted to go to this concert so bad.

• 36:20George Kamel?

  We couldn't miss Blink 182. This is the concert of my lifetime.

• 36:23Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh, yes.

• 36:24George Kamel?

  And so we ended up getting a ride from my third friend who was going to the concert. He picked us up. We got to the concert just in time, got the car towed to my house, had to get it jumped, just so I could open the charging port to get it charged up.

• 36:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 36:37George Kamel?

  And then I still had to pay to get a new battery installed. Because once that happens, once that thing goes on the fritz, you got, it's safer to get a new battery.

• 36:45Rachel Cruze?

  No way, I didn't know that. Good to know.

• 36:47George Kamel?

  Now, it's a new like 12 volt battery, not like the big battery underneath the car. Don't freak out, people.

• 36:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 36:51George Kamel?

  So it was, you know, a few hundred bucks, totally.

• 36:53Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, tough, tough.

• 36:55George Kamel?

  I learned my lesson. When it hits zero on your Tesla, there's not an extra secret 25 miles in the tank.

• 37:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, it's like on empty, you can ride on empty for like a solid 15 miles and you're fine.

• 37:04George Kamel?

  No, Elon loves math. He says zero is zero.

• 37:08Rachel Cruze?

  He's a precise man. He's put people in space.

• 37:12George Kamel?

  That's my most embarrassing.

• 37:13Rachel Cruze?

  Not on the moon yet, but in space. I'm just making the point.

• 37:17George Kamel?

  Thank you.

• 37:18Rachel Cruze?

  We're all up there.

• 37:19George Kamel?

  Why aren't we going on the moon?

• 37:21Rachel Cruze?

  Around the outer space place.

• 37:23George Kamel?

  The outer space place.

• 37:25Rachel Cruze?

  We haven't yet. Anyways, mine's a car one too, George.

• 37:31George Kamel?

  Oh, good. What'd you do?

• 37:32Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, we bought a minivan.

• 37:35George Kamel?

  Was that your first, is that the problem?

• 37:37Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, a little bit. My soul died, but we bought a minivan. And we had it for literally not even 48 hours, George. We bought it on a Monday night, and this happened Wednesday morning. And I am pulling out of the garage to take our kids to preschool. And I just hear this like crunch, and I thought, oh my gosh, no, no, no, no, no, no. You know, it's that feeling where you're just like, oh no. So I get out and I go to the back, but I'm like, the back was fine. I thought I hit, I thought I like ran into the garage. The back was fine. And I was like, what was that? I was like, that is so bizarre. So I'm walking around and my, I, I step on something and it just cracks. And I was like, well, that was weird. And I looked, it was a computer chip.

• 38:20Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, well, that's weird. And I was like, and then I look again, there's pieces all over the garage. And I'm like, What is happening? Like, what happened? And then I look up, George, and there are wires sticking out of the roof of the van. I had sliced that fin thing that's on the top of the car. Yeah, that's not for like decoration.

• 38:45George Kamel?

  I didn't think it was.

• 38:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it has stuff in it.

• 38:47George Kamel?

  No one thought, oh, that makes it look cool.

• 38:49Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. I just always thought, like, when? You know how people have like spoilers on their back? I thought, my whole spoiler at the top of my van.

• 38:55George Kamel?

  I think that's like antenna and like internet and all the.

• 38:57Rachel Cruze?

  And GPS and all the technology of cars is in this little thing.

• 39:02George Kamel?

  It's the entire brain.

• 39:04Rachel Cruze?

  And so then I looked up in the garage and there's a little hole in the bottom of our garage that I had just, I didn't let the garage go up all the way. And I was like, oh my God, oh my, and the hole, and I got a ladder because I went and looked. There's like a hole in the top of the van like this.

• 39:16George Kamel?

  Oh, gosh.

• 39:17Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, oh my God, oh my God. And I called Winston and I was like, babe. He was like, what happened? And I was like, I think I hit something. I think nothing happened to the van. And I told him he was fine. He was like, oh my God, we just gotta take it to a body shop. But it's like a full on.

• 39:31George Kamel?

  That's an expensive repair.

• 39:33Rachel Cruze?

  It was the whole technology of it. I mean, it was just, it made me sick.

• 39:36George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 39:37Rachel Cruze?

  You're just so mad at yourself. You're like, if I had waited two seconds, Rachel, two seconds.

• 39:40George Kamel?

  So the garage hadn't fully opened yet.

• 39:42Rachel Cruze?

  Hadn't fully come up. Yeah, like it was down, right? So I opened the garage.

• 39:45George Kamel?

  And you started backing out while it's still.

• 39:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I mean.

• 39:48George Kamel?

  Lesson learned.

• 39:49Rachel Cruze?

  Man.

• 39:49George Kamel?

  Can I say props to Winston for handling it with, I would not have, I would have lost my cool.

• 39:54Rachel Cruze?

  Would you have? Yeah. I don't know. He was actually kind of chill. I mean.

• 39:57George Kamel?

  Well, he's always a chill guy, which I respect about him.

• 39:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 40:00George Kamel?

  He's not easily shaken up by something.

• 40:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but I think he probably was like, this is why we don't rush, Rachel. And I'm like, what do you mean we don't rush? What do you mean we don't rush? We're not a rusher. I don't rush. I rush. I don't rush. Do you rush? I don't. Rushing, urgency.

• 40:14George Kamel?

  No car accident since? Not even a scrape?

• 40:17Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, no car accident since? No.

• 40:20George Kamel?

  I'll jinx it.

• 40:21Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 40:21George Kamel?

  All right.

• 40:22Rachel Cruze?

  I've gotten, no, not since that.

• 40:23George Kamel?

  I'm proud of you.

• 40:24Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you.

• 40:25George Kamel?

  Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable with us. You're so authentic. Love that about you.

• 40:30Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, make sure to DM us your ideas for Guilty as Charged. We love to get your ideas. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out this other one coming up here. Harmless Purchases That Drain Your Bank Account. That's coming up next. If you're listening on podcast, we'll put a link below. Make sure you guys subscribe to Smart Money Happy Hour and we will see you next Thursday on an all new episode of

• 40:52George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.