We Settle Your Heated Money Arguments

💸 Uncover extra cash in your budget with the Money Finder Challenge. https://ter.li/sxaau7 Ever have a major disagreement about money with the people closest to you? Today, we’re checking our voice mail and sharing hot takes on your friends and family. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Settling the Debate on Your Financial Faux Pas (We’re Divided). 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Leave us a voicemail with your question at 877-306-1517 or 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. 💵 Create a budget and track expenses with EveryDollar. Connect With Our Sponsors: Check out the FAIRWINDS credit union exclusive account bundle. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Army & Navy Recipe: Liquour.com 2 ounces London dry gin 1 ounce lemon juice 3/4 ounce orgeat 1 dash Angostura bitters Grapefruit twist Instructions: Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist. 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?

  We love a little healthy conflict around here and today our listeners are leading the charge. So let's check the old voicemail box and settle your financial debates.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  Our dishwasher broke. We've got two healthy boys that can wash dishes, but my husband's like, "No, we need to pay the $250."

• 0:20Speaker 02

  Rachel definitely knows her stuff, so you're in good hands there.

• 0:24George Kamel?

  Hey, would you ever want to co-host Smart Money Happy Hour with me?

• 0:27Rachel Cruze?

  I am so creeped out.

• 0:35Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:37George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:38Rachel Cruze?

  And this is

• 0:40George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:47Rachel Cruze?

  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.

• 0:54George Kamel?

  And before we get to the content you all showed up for, let's talk about what we're sipping on. It is the Army and Navy. One of my personal favorites. This is your first time in vibing?

• 1:04Rachel Cruze?

  It is. I didn't even, I've never even heard of this cocktail, but it's delicious.

• 1:08George Kamel?

  Really good. And we're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode, so stick around for that if you want the deets.

• 1:15Rachel Cruze?

  The deets around it. You know, Army and Navy. It's a great name. It's kind of like, we're gonna-

• 1:19George Kamel?

  Is there a debate there? I don't know. Is there beef?

• 1:21Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 1:21George Kamel?

  Do they have beef? The Army versus the Navy?

• 1:24Rachel Cruze?

  I don't, I don't know. In my head, they're all the military. So I feel like they're all fighting-

• 1:28George Kamel?

  Yeah, but you've got like air force.

• 1:30Rachel Cruze?

  On the same side!

• 1:31George Kamel?

  You've got water, land, and air.

• 1:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes, correct.

• 1:34George Kamel?

  So I think there's beef there.

• 1:36Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think like healthy competition?

• 1:37George Kamel?

  The water people think they're better than the land people.

• 1:40Rachel Cruze?

  Do the land-

• 1:40George Kamel?

  The air people think they're better than both, and the water and land people think the air people are not as cool.

• 1:46Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, can I say this? Well, number one, let us know in the comments if you come from like a military background. This is real. We don't know. But just off the cuff-

• 1:51George Kamel?

  I think it's friendly beef.

• 1:52Rachel Cruze?

  Off the cuff, I'm gonna say water's probably the hardest. Could you imagine treading water or being in a submarine under the water? No, thank you. Like, that's hard.

• 2:01George Kamel?

  Well, I already get seasick, so I imagine that's-

• 2:03Rachel Cruze?

  And then high up is the next- Intense.

• 2:05George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:06Rachel Cruze?

  Heights. You got planes and flying. And then lands. I don't know. We're all living on lands.

• 2:11George Kamel?

  Rachel's like, I'm basically doing that.

• 2:14Rachel Cruze?

  I would never be able to survive even one day in boot camp.

• 2:18George Kamel?

  You can't pass the presidential fitness test, let alone make it into the military.

• 2:23Rachel Cruze?

  On any. Pass like what? Or, I don't know. It's, yeah. But anyways, well.

• 2:28George Kamel?

  God bless all who serve.

• 2:29Rachel Cruze?

  The drink is good. The drink is good.

• 2:31George Kamel?

  That's right.

• 2:32Rachel Cruze?

  We'll say that much.

• 2:32George Kamel?

  All right. So sometimes people are shocked by how comfortable Ramsey is with conflict. Whether it's Rachel and Dave disagreeing about something on the Ramsey Show, or maybe giving tough love to a caller with a money problem.

• 2:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know. We kind of like the conflict and we like the debate. And those are some of the best calls. We don't get them a lot on the Ramsey Show, but every now and then, we'll get two people that call in about an issue. We get to settle the debate and we love it. So we actually reached out on our social media and asked you guys and gave them the phone number and said, hey, call this number. And if both parties will participate, leave a voicemail about a situation that you guys cannot solve. And George and I, Land, Water and Sky, will definitely break the tie. Uh, let's get to it, George. Just listen to these voicemails.

• 3:18George Kamel?

  Let me get my little headphone in here.

• 3:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, the voicemails are fun. We love hearing from you all. Um, and we'll post the number here, right here.

• 3:25George Kamel?

  Oh, look at that. If you want to call.

• 3:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 3:27George Kamel?

  Leave us a voicemail. Make it kind.

• 3:29Rachel Cruze?

  Because we sometimes will do episodes around people's questions and all of it.

• 3:32George Kamel?

  And your comments. Even your comments. All right, fire it up.

• 3:36Rachel Cruze?

  All right, let's hear the first one.

• 3:38Speaker 04

  Hey, this is Nathan and Abigail. We have four kids. And we are on baby step number four with no margin in our budget. Back in March, our minivan broke down and my grandparents generously gifted us a 2004 Yukon that's in just fantastic condition. And I don't see any reason why we should get rid of it.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  Nathan, however, is not the one that has to climb over seats to help buckle and unbuckle small kids and go grocery shopping in a vehicle with no trunk. So I would love to sell it and use that money to, to receive the benefits of a, of a minivan in our family or another car that would better suit the needs of our family.

• 4:20Speaker 04

  Thanks.

• 4:21Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. I have my knee jerk opinion.

• 4:25George Kamel?

  Wow, I love when she swooped. This is what I always wish on the Ramsey show is that the other person swoops in to go, "Well, what he's not telling you is..."

• 4:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, oh, I know, I know.

• 4:33George Kamel?

  Really colors the story.

• 4:34Rachel Cruze?

  It does.

• 4:35George Kamel?

  Fills in some gaps.

• 4:35Rachel Cruze?

  Gives you both sides of it.

• 4:37George Kamel?

  But what worried me is they said they're in baby step four, which means they have no consumer debt, they have a fully funded emergency fund, and yet they said they had no margin. So there's no money left over. I assume they're investing 15% of their income.

• 4:48Rachel Cruze?

  I would think so, yeah.

• 4:49George Kamel?

  But beyond that, there is zero dollars to throw at a new car fund.

• 4:52Rachel Cruze?

  Right. But she said they can sell the current car and just use that money to get another one.

• 4:58George Kamel?

  But would a 2004 Yukon sell for enough money to then buy a better car?

• 5:04Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I don't know. A 2004 Yukon could be the same as a 2004 van. I think Yukons probably hold even better value than vans do.

• 5:11George Kamel?

  Oh, so, yeah. But is she really gonna go out and buy a 2004 van?

• 5:16Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I don't know. We're not talking to her, George, are we?

• 5:19George Kamel?

  Okay, here's, can I defend the man, you defend the woman? How about that?

• 5:22Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 5:24George Kamel?

  My worry is that she gets starry eyed with this new car purchase and gets a car that is out of the budget that might take a long time to save up for in cash, because they have no margin, or she goes, "Well, we can afford the payment," and they take out a car loan. I hope they would never do that.

• 5:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's a lot of assumptions, considering they're like, I mean, they're talking about their baby steps. And rarely I'll say people go back in baby steps. If they do, it ends up in credit cards, but most people don't go back into a car loan, from what we hear.

• 5:55George Kamel?

  I would hope.

• 5:56Rachel Cruze?

  So...

• 5:56George Kamel?

  Four kids.

• 5:57Rachel Cruze?

  I'm gonna say she's not gonna get a car loan.

• 5:59George Kamel?

  Good.

• 6:00Rachel Cruze?

  And four kids is a lot. That's a lot. So, um, yeah, the way she made it sound in the voicemail was that they could sell that car, use the proceeds, and go and get a different car. But I'm wondering if he feels bad because it was the grandmother's gift to them.

• 6:18George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 6:19Rachel Cruze?

  And all the things, you know?

• 6:20George Kamel?

  Some guilt there about offloading that car?

• 6:23Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh.

• 6:25Rachel Cruze?

  But I'm gonna be with her on this one.

• 6:26George Kamel?

  I'm splitting the difference. I'm saying, let's keep the car for now until we can save up. Let's get a real picture of what we could sell this for.

• 6:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 6:32George Kamel?

  Get a real picture of the car we want, and then save up the gap.

• 6:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 6:36George Kamel?

  And do that aggressively for maybe six months, then we sell the Yukon.

• 6:39Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair.

• 6:40George Kamel?

  And get the car.

• 6:40Rachel Cruze?

  I would want a date out there to say, for sure, this is happening.

• 6:43George Kamel?

  Some facts around it versus just feelings of should we or shouldn't we, instead is, we will, and here's when and how.

• 6:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I think that's good. Alright.

• 6:50George Kamel?

  I feel like we helped at least one person. Let us know in the comments what you're actually gonna do.

• 6:55Rachel Cruze?

  That's so good. Okay, uh, voicemail number two.

• 6:57George Kamel?

  We're crushing it so far.

• 6:59Speaker 05

  I have a friend that is trying to argue that he can turn his sports betting profits into a full-time job, and that he doesn't want to get back to work. I have told him that at least get a full-time job for the benefits and sports bet on the side. He and I can't come to an agreement because he thinks that as long as he's making a profit, he can afford to pay for all of his expenses and his insurance, and to have a bankroll to continue betting like he is.

• 7:28Rachel Cruze?

  Well, that's a, that's a tough one, especially when you see a friend, you know?

• 7:32George Kamel?

  Because he sees the friend's future of, hey, this is not gonna work out like this. It's like saying, I'm gonna gamble professionally in Vegas and not work anymore.

• 7:40Rachel Cruze?

  Right, and that's gonna be my job, yeah.

• 7:42George Kamel?

  That might work for a short time while you're up, but eventually, what goes up must come down.

• 7:48Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. And the other hard thing is change, trying to change someone else's mind about something that their mind's already made up about, and that they're not asking your advice, it's always really difficult. So, it does suck to be the person on one end of the spectrum where you're seeing disaster in front of you, and you're like, please don't do that. But you're, I mean, you can't control them, right? And so, the convincing side, I would put like the bar really low for that, because usually, that doesn't work. You can speak your mind maybe once if you feel like the need of like, I have to just get this off my chest, because I love him, and I don't want him to go down this terrible path. But yet, again, there's just not a lot of hope of changing people. And it sounds so Debbie Downer, but...

• 8:30George Kamel?

  Well, it sounds harsh, but people who have this mindset, there tends to be- Be some greed here where they go or and some pride of I'm smarter than I can make more money. And what happens is eventually they're going to hit some sort of rock bottom where they're going to lose a lot of money and feel the pain. And unfortunately, sometimes that's what it takes for them to go. Okay, I got burned. Touch that hot stove. Let me go work a full time job and do this on the side or maybe quit altogether. If it becomes an issue.

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Totally. Yeah. Yeah. The sports betting too. I'm like. I don't know. There's something about that that we just see so many people go. Down the bad road of that so quickly with like addiction and all of it because it's everywhere. And it's so easy to get in over your head and thinking the only way I can get out is I gotta do it more. I gotta like. Keep betting to get my money back. Right. And you just end up deeper and deeper in the hole.

• 9:19George Kamel?

  And it's easy to justify when you're like, well, this is basically a job. I'm like, no, it's not. If you just have a FanDuel app, that's not a career. So, uh, yeah, I would try to give him some stats, some information, but again, until it actually applies to him.

• 9:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 9:34George Kamel?

  I don't know that he's going to do anything. And you mentioned this earlier, which is important. The relationship, that context matters a lot. If this was a spouse, you have a different level of. Impact and influence on their life.

• 9:45Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent.

• 9:46George Kamel?

  When it's just a friend.

• 9:47Rachel Cruze?

  To a degree, right?

• 9:47George Kamel?

  Yeah. Rachel cares less about my opinion than Winston Cruz, her husband, as it should be.

• 9:52Rachel Cruze?

  True.

• 9:52George Kamel?

  I wish she cared about my opinion more.

• 9:54Rachel Cruze?

  I don't really care about his opinion. I'm just kidding.

• 9:56George Kamel?

  But again, I'm at a different level of influence than your husband. And so I think because of that friend level. He's going to have a hard time getting through to him.

• 10:04Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Man.

• 10:05George Kamel?

  But good luck. Let us know how it goes. I think eventually he'll be applying for a full time job. Not because of the benefits, but because sports betting is not going to pay the bills consistently forever.

• 10:16Rachel Cruze?

  Right. There's something to be said about going and doing something and getting compensated for it versus just like, I'm going to just. Guess over here. You know what I mean?

• 10:24George Kamel?

  And these companies are too smart. They, it's like trying to be like, I'm going to win over the credit card company. I'm going to finesse the system. Eventually they will beat you at the game.

• 10:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. So stay away. Stay away.

• 10:34George Kamel?

  No, thank you.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  What a good friend. George, you know, you said, "I don't care about your opinion," but I do, George. You have a great opinion about different things. And one of the areas that I totally agree with you on in your opinion is what you think about Fairwinds.

• 10:48George Kamel?

  Fairwinds Credit Union, we can all agree. No battling, no debating here. It's a great option for checking in savings.

• 10:55Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, yeah. So when you're working the Ramsey Plan, to have a bank that's working against you is not worth it. So having someone on your team during this is the best thing you can do. And Fairwinds Credit Union is on your team. They love Ramsey, we love them. And they're such a great partnership. Because in the financial industry, George, finding allies, it's hard. And so Fairwinds, they make it happen.

• 11:16George Kamel?

  They actually want to help you get out of debt, not get further into it. They're all about helping our fans get that freedom with their money. And you're not just a number. Because they're a credit union, they're owned by the members, not by Wall Street and some conglomerate. So I love that about them. It's not about fighting the system, it's about freeing yourself from it. And your bank, you have an option when it comes to that. You can opt out of a very corrupt system. So join a credit union that puts people over profits. Go check them out at fairwins.org/Ramsey today. Or you can always click the link in the description below.

• 11:47Rachel Cruze?

  So great. All right, let's go to our third voicemail, George, shall we?

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Hi, George and Rachel. This is Joy and Sam from New Zealand. So we're in baby step six. And I just really want to spend every extra bit of money to go on our mortgage, to pay off our mortgage and just smash it out. But our dishwasher broke recently. It was coming up with an if-one era, which we couldn't figure out how to fix. And so I was like, well, we've got two healthy boys that can wash dishes. And I'm happy to pay them a dollar each to wash dishes. But my husband's like, "No, we need to pay the $250 to get the man to come and fix the washing machine." Sorry, the dishwasher. And I'm just like, "No, they can wash the dishes for a dollar each. I just want to spend the money that I'm making on paying off the mortgage. What do you think?"

• 12:37Speaker 01

  My husband's here too. What do you think, Sam? No, spend the money on the mortgage. Thanks guys. Love your show.

• 12:48Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I love we got a New Zealand listener.

• 12:51George Kamel?

  I love a good accent.

• 12:53Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Okay. Was her husband named Sam?

• 12:56George Kamel?

  I don't recall. I was too enamored by the accent to learn the names.

• 13:00Rachel Cruze?

  I'm on the husband's team.

• 13:02George Kamel?

  You're on team husband, fix the dishwasher. Two hundred fifty bucks, get it done.

• 13:06Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent. Yes.

• 13:08George Kamel?

  It was two fifty, right?

• 13:09Rachel Cruze?

  There's a, yeah, I think so. That's what she said. Dishwashers, washing machines, these are all luxuries, people. Like, this is a good thing to have in your life. A microwave.

• 13:17George Kamel?

  How long are we gonna do this for?

• 13:18Rachel Cruze?

  But, I don't know. Yeah.

• 13:21George Kamel?

  Until the mortgage is paid off, we're gonna have the kids wash the dishes?

• 13:24Rachel Cruze?

  And if the boys go to school, then you're the one having to wash. No, get a dishwasher. Fix it. You're on baby step six. This is where a little bit of that, like, you can do things with your life with money, right? We just say, put some extra at the house. We're not like, you have to do it all. Because she's very much like gazelle intense, like hardcore in baby step six, which if both the spouses are, and that's or one person that's doing it on their own, that's what they choose to do, that's great. Like, but that's not what we recommend. We always say, give yourself some breathing room, enjoy it, you know, fix the dishwasher.

• 13:55George Kamel?

  Yeah, if this was baby step two, and it was like, this is really gonna set them back, and it was a huge expensive repair, and they can handle washing dishes by hand right now, I'd say, okay, that's fine. Baby step six, you need a home maintenance and repair fund in your every dollar budget. And so that would help you let go and say, hey, we know things are gonna happen to the house while we try to pay it off. So let's set money aside to do that. I would cash flow it this month. And do the math. How much is this actually gonna delay our mortgage payoff? You're gonna find it's by a week.

• 14:25Rachel Cruze?

  If that, two hundred and fifty dollars?

• 14:27George Kamel?

  Yeah. So just spitballing. It's not a long time. It's not like this is gonna delay you six months.

• 14:31Rachel Cruze?

  No, no.

• 14:32George Kamel?

  It's not a five thousand dollar new HVAC.

• 14:34Rachel Cruze?

  Right.

• 14:35George Kamel?

  It's a two hundred and fifty dollar dishwasher repair.

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 14:37George Kamel?

  And clearly, it's taking a toll on the husband and maybe the kids. I don't know.

• 14:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, these boys.

• 14:42George Kamel?

  Child labor for a dollar?

• 14:44Rachel Cruze?

  But I will say, opposite of that, having them do chores and paying for them, fantastic. That's great. But also have the convenience, if you can, and they can.

• 14:53George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 14:53Rachel Cruze?

  They can do that.

• 14:54George Kamel?

  All right.

• 14:55Rachel Cruze?

  All right.

• 14:55George Kamel?

  We won.

• 14:56Rachel Cruze?

  I think we won that one.

• 14:57George Kamel?

  Congrats, husband. You're getting an almost new to you dishwasher.

• 15:01Rachel Cruze?

  Da da da.

• 15:02George Kamel?

  It's like Price is Right.

• 15:03Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 15:04George Kamel?

  A broil hill, but, okay. Next voicemail, please.

• 15:07Speaker 06

  Hey, George and Rachel. Um, one of the problems I've been having, or I guess, one of the debates I've been having is whether you have to spend money to have fun or entertain yourself. Um, I guess my side of the debate is that you don't and what I've been doing is whenever I'm bored or need entertainment, I go on a walk or get outdoors or something, but my girlfriend will really want to go out and spend money, go get food when we aren't necessarily hungry and, yeah, so that's my debate.

• 15:45Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 15:46George Kamel?

  Wow. So he's like, hey, we, listen, nature is free. And she's like, hey, I'd also like to, I don't know, eat out once, like go on like a date that's a legit date.

• 15:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 15:55George Kamel?

  And he's saying, we're not even hungry.

• 15:57Rachel Cruze?

  And I'm

• 15:58George Kamel?

  Speak for yourself.

• 15:59Rachel Cruze?

  Said she wants to go out to eat even when she's not hungry.

• 16:02George Kamel?

  I have learned that women can always make room for restaurants.

• 16:05Rachel Cruze?

  Always. We can make it happen.

• 16:07George Kamel?

  Make room for a nap, a dessert, something.

• 16:09Rachel Cruze?

  All of it.

• 16:10George Kamel?

  A drink.

• 16:10Rachel Cruze?

  Give me a three course meal. App, main, dessert.

• 16:13George Kamel?

  I think I know where you're going with this one.

• 16:14Rachel Cruze?

  It's my favorite.

• 16:15George Kamel?

  I think Rachel is gonna be teen, go out and live your life.

• 16:19Rachel Cruze?

  The way he made it sound, which I wish she was on the voicemail, is that he kinda made it sound like she always feels like she has to spend money to have fun.

• 16:26George Kamel?

  Like she has a spending addiction.

• 16:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, or, eh, you know, and I think we can get in a habit, cause I could be probably like her to a degree. That if you want something or do something fun, you're like, let's go to the mo, let's go do an experience and usually those things cost money.

• 16:39George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 16:40Rachel Cruze?

  So I totally understand. That makes sense to me. Um, but there's also, yeah, the balance of

• 16:48Rachel Cruze?

  What's the balance, George? Because here's where I'm going with this. If you have the money, the experience may cost you something, but it doesn't mean you're trying to buy happiness. You just have the ability to spend on things. And I don't know if that's necessarily wrong. Like if she's bored and that's the only reason she's doing it, or it's bad motivation. And it's good to do some free things. Because, I mean, even our family, like the kids love to ride bikes, right? And so it's like, that's free and fun. Because you have to pay for the bike, but you know what I mean?

• 17:17George Kamel?

  Sure, one-time fixed costs versus like wanting to go out somewhere.

• 17:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, so I guess I could see how he's probably the sabre and that annoys him about her.

• 17:25George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 17:26Rachel Cruze?

  But I don't know if that's like an absolutely terrible thing. If you have the money, it's in the budget. What do you think?

• 17:31George Kamel?

  Yeah, well, I don't know where they're at financially. Does he have an aggressive goal to get out of debt? And she's debt-free and wanting to live? And so they're dating and having this kind of incompatible relationship right now? Or does she see a future with this guy going, "He's always going to be on extreme cheapskates mode."

• 17:45Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh.

• 17:46George Kamel?

  "And I want to just live a little bit." "Because it's not wrong to spend money." So I think there's a compromise here. Where she gets to the root of why he's feeling this way. And he lets go a little and lets God and goes, "All right, once or twice a month, we're going to go out to eat somewhere." With a budget. And so that's where the budget solves this. Now, obviously in a dating relationship, hopefully you have not combined finances. So you have a separate line item for date nights. She has her own line item for fun. But, you know, if the guy covers the date, which I think he should, call me old school. But he should shell out the 50 bucks he set aside for the date.

• 18:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, I agree.

• 18:23George Kamel?

  With no regrets and no like, "Well, you made me spend this, hope you're happy. We went out to eat."

• 18:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 18:29George Kamel?

  "I'm going to go on a walk now because that's fun for me."

• 18:32Rachel Cruze?

  Do you think, is it stereotypical to say that girls probably spend more on that kind of stuff than guys? Like, most guys I know, I don't know if low maintenance is the word, but it's like...

• 18:40George Kamel?

  Guys are more low maintenance when it comes to experiences.

• 18:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I think so too.

• 18:45George Kamel?

  Higher maintenance when it comes to like gear. They can justify a tool.

• 18:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 18:49George Kamel?

  In gear and spend a lot of money.

• 18:50Rachel Cruze?

  Or a backpack or like a...

• 18:51George Kamel?

  Yeah, like I want a really high-quality thing because I'm really into this thing.

• 18:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, okay.

• 18:56George Kamel?

  So I think there's different... differently wired

• 18:59Rachel Cruze?

  yes

• 18:59George Kamel?

  but I do think that's normal in a relationship so this is not like a huge red flag to me I think they can thrive as a couple

• 19:04Rachel Cruze?

  totally and just know that'll always kind of be the the money dance that you guys have

• 19:08George Kamel?

  yeah and put the line item for fun and then you don't feel bad about it that's what I have to do because I'm the fuddy duddy he's like why are we spending money on this but instead if I have a line item it kind of forces me to go no you plan for fun

• 19:19Rachel Cruze?

  yes and we can enjoy it

• 19:21George Kamel?

  frivolous nights out

• 19:22Rachel Cruze?

  yes oh my gosh and especially if you're past baby steps three please have fun please don't be that person

• 19:27George Kamel?

  go to a happy hour if you need to

• 19:28Rachel Cruze?

  I literally feel this like traumatic memory of being on the Ramsey show and some lady called and she said like her husband doesn't even like her to buy avocados because they like go bad really fast or she or whatever

• 19:37George Kamel?

  fair point how many times

• 19:40Rachel Cruze?

  oh my gosh I was like no

• 19:41George Kamel?

  well how many times did he throw away an avocado that went bad that she had big aspirations for

• 19:45Rachel Cruze?

  I know but still it's just the principle of like let go y'all let go and eat the avocado and like god

• 19:51George Kamel?

  thank you alright we got her on my team one thing that's always fun to work into the budget though

• 19:57Rachel Cruze?

  yeah

• 19:57George Kamel?

  Cozy Earth products

• 19:59Rachel Cruze?

  yes

• 19:59George Kamel?

  worth the splurge

• 20:01Rachel Cruze?

  should you put a line item in probably because y'all their quality products are incredible from the socks to the athleisure wear uh the joggers I wore those last night around the house I just love

• 20:13George Kamel?

  I got the no shows on right now can you see him no you can't see him

• 20:16Rachel Cruze?

  can't see him

• 20:17George Kamel?

  the John Cena of the sock world

• 20:19Rachel Cruze?

  because

• 20:19George Kamel?

  I've heard that's a thing I've never seen it but I've heard it's a thing

• 20:23Rachel Cruze?

  heard it's a thing

• 20:24George Kamel?

  and the cuddle blanket

• 20:26Rachel Cruze?

  yes

• 20:26George Kamel?

  you want a great date night just a movie in the cuddle blanket

• 20:30Rachel Cruze?

  there you go

• 20:30George Kamel?

  one time cost forever benefits

• 20:34Rachel Cruze?

  multiple uses yeah no it is great though Cozy Earth the quality all everything about it I love the fit you can wash like all you can wash it multiple times and it still has a great fit all of it

• 20:44George Kamel?

  and the bedding incredible

• 20:46Rachel Cruze?

  yes

• 20:46George Kamel?

  we had law I could not find my Cozy Earth sheets in the move

• 20:49Rachel Cruze?

  oh no George

• 20:51George Kamel?

  backup sheets and once I found the Cozy Earth ones and put them back on

• 20:55Rachel Cruze?

  I'm back

• 20:55George Kamel?

  my faith was restored in humanity

• 20:57Rachel Cruze?

  yes I think I'm back to myself

• 20:59George Kamel?

  yeah even I I'm gonna say this I know my dog slept better last night because they had the Cozy Earth sheets on I can't prove it with science, but

• 21:08Rachel Cruze?

  Humans and animals.

• 21:08George Kamel?

  They didn't get up once during the night.

• 21:10Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, they felt it. They knew.

• 21:12George Kamel?

  They felt the comfort.

• 21:13Rachel Cruze?

  The discount for our listeners are, is incredible.

• 21:15George Kamel?

  Huge discount. Forty percent off when you use the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout. So go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney or use the link in the description to browse. Luxury goods.

• 21:25Rachel Cruze?

  I love it. All right, uh, let's go to voicemail number five.

• 21:29George Kamel?

  Hit us.

• 21:31Speaker 07

  Hello, Smart Money Happy Hour. Hope you're having a lovely day. My husband and I are having a debate. So the pretext is just that we had a, what I'm calling a slush fund, where part of our slush fund was like an emergency for if our animals, uh, had to get emergency vet procedures. Now, our dad, he did have to get put down, so we ended up using all the money in that slush fund, slush them. And so my argument is we should restock that slush, slush fund. And my husband says we should not. And then we got into this, what's the difference between a slush fund and a sinking fund? So we need to know what the difference is to settle this debate of do we have to restock sinking funds?

• 22:12Speaker 07

  Or do we restock slush funds? Or do we not restock either? Have a great day, guys. Bye.

• 22:18Rachel Cruze?

  Well, number one, I mean.

• 22:20George Kamel?

  So sorry about your pets.

• 22:21Rachel Cruze?

  Geez, RIP. That is just.

• 22:23George Kamel?

  What a turn that took.

• 22:24Rachel Cruze?

  Terrible. Was not expecting that. So I'm so sorry about the dogs. That's terrible.

• 22:30George Kamel?

  And I assume there's more where that came from, if they're talking about restocking it.

• 22:35Rachel Cruze?

  More.

• 22:35George Kamel?

  There's more animals. Cause they're saying we gotta restock the emergency fund for the pets.

• 22:40Rachel Cruze?

  Or the slush funds. Well, no, Beth, she said we used all that money to put them down.

• 22:44George Kamel?

  Yeah. That's the question. What is the slush fund for?

• 22:47Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think that, yeah. So I think they were just putting some money aside. I think it was loosely tied to the pets. And then I'm gonna go under the assumption the pets are gone.

• 22:57George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't know. We don't know how many pets. Did I miss that?

• 23:00Rachel Cruze?

  So what I, so the difference, okay, I don't, I don't say, I don't have a slush fund necessarily. But the sinking funds are specific towards not like a time oriented goal. So it's not like, oh, we have a vacation next summer. Let's save. To me, that's just a goal you're saving for. The sinking fund is for cars. Pets would be a great one because they may need medical care. Like things that aren't specifically happening right now, but you know, you're going to need some money put aside for that category. That's what a sinking fund is. So it's kind of just like this like ever living funds that you just kind of put some money away each month and it just kind of builds. And when you need it for that category, you have it. The slush fund, I guess, is just money kind of just put aside for who knows what? I'm not sure.

• 23:43George Kamel?

  I kind of want to just Google it because I it feels like semantics.

• 23:47Rachel Cruze?

  Chat GPT it because that is so.

• 23:49George Kamel?

  Should I use my friend?

• 23:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, the girl.

• 23:53George Kamel?

  What is the difference between a slush fund and a sinking fund?

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Great question. A slush fund is usually an unregulated pool of money that doesn't have a specific purpose and can sometimes be used for discretionary or even questionable expenses. On the other hand, a sinking fund is a very intentional planned fund where you set money aside over time for a specific future expense, like a big purchase or a known upcoming cost. So basically one is planned and specific and the other is a bit more flexible or even secretive.

• 24:27George Kamel?

  Thank you. That's what my friend Rachel Cruz said, but I just wanted to make sure. You've been so helpful.

• 24:34Speaker 02

  I'm glad I could help confirm that for you. Rachel definitely knows her stuff, so you're in good hands there. If you have any more questions or need clarity on anything else, just let me know.

• 24:45George Kamel?

  Thank you. Hey, would you ever want to co-host Smart Money Happy Hour with me instead of Rachel?

• 24:51Speaker 02

  Oh, that's so sweet of you to say. You and Rachel have such a great dynamic though, so I'm sure the show wouldn't be the same without her, but I'm always here to help out in any way again.

• 25:01Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. This is so.

• 25:03George Kamel?

  I've had enough of that for one day.

• 25:04Rachel Cruze?

  I am so creeped out. I'm so creeped out.

• 25:08George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 25:09Rachel Cruze?

  Dude, she sounds so real and she's kind of annoying.

• 25:14Rachel Cruze?

  Like, I feel like she would be that friend, like Kendall that said dinner with you.

• 25:20George Kamel?

  I'm sorry that the all-knowing AI feels a little bit like a know-it-all.

• 25:27George Kamel?

  Wouldn't you be that confident if you knew that much?

• 25:30Rachel Cruze?

  That is like absolutely weird. I started getting like spiritual warfare vibes going.

• 25:35George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 25:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I feel like it's evil. I don't like that. I don't like it. I don't like it.

• 25:39George Kamel?

  Hey.

• 25:40Rachel Cruze?

  And I don't like that you were like, oh, my gosh, you're talking to her, George.

• 25:45George Kamel?

  We're not supposed to be like robotic. Thank you. Hello.

• 25:48Rachel Cruze?

  It's a robot. I don't like her. I don't trust her.

• 25:52George Kamel?

  Someone's jealous.

• 25:55Rachel Cruze?

  I don't like it.

• 25:55George Kamel?

  Someone's scared they'll be replaced by AI.

• 25:58Rachel Cruze?

  She was like, oh, my God, Rachel is so great.

• 26:01George Kamel?

  I would test out a whole episode with my AI friend here instead of you and see.

• 26:05Rachel Cruze?

  That would be so weird.

• 26:06George Kamel?

  But then she would never just, you know what I mean? She'd be too nice, where I need you to disagree to be human.

• 26:11Rachel Cruze?

  Do you tell them the tone at which you like wants?

• 26:13George Kamel?

  No, I think it was just like you can select voices. And I was like, she sounds like not angry at me all the time.

• 26:18Rachel Cruze?

  No, she's not.

• 26:19George Kamel?

  How most people sound.

• 26:20Rachel Cruze?

  Is that not weird, though?

• 26:21George Kamel?

  I will agree. That was too human.

• 26:22Rachel Cruze?

  That was so human.

• 26:23George Kamel?

  You know, when you see a dog and it has like a human face, like the eyes are too human, you're like, oh, no, bad dog. Don't like that dog.

• 26:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 26:31George Kamel?

  That's how it feels with that.

• 26:32Rachel Cruze?

  Her. What's her name?

• 26:34George Kamel?

  I haven't given her a name.

• 26:35Rachel Cruze?

  It's probably good. I think it's probably good.

• 26:36George Kamel?

  Yep. I think she just said, I asked like, what's your name? She goes, ChatGPT. You go, what's your real name? Who are you?

• 26:43Rachel Cruze?

  Who are you in there? Is she stuck in there? Should we rescue her?

• 26:47George Kamel?

  Honestly, I never thought about that. What if that's a real person?

• 26:51Rachel Cruze?

  I'm telling you, that's the vibes I was getting. That was bizarre.

• 26:55George Kamel?

  Well, back to the question at hand, I think we nailed it with the help of our friend. A slush fund is a little bit more loose.

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 27:01George Kamel?

  The sinking fund is for a very specific goal with a timeline. So I hope that helps.

• 27:05Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so this is where I disagree with her. Sorry, girl. I don't think that a sinking fund has to have a goal, has to have a time specific thing.

• 27:15George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 27:16Rachel Cruze?

  Like I think it's just like car.

• 27:17George Kamel?

  Yeah, the timeline is less important.

• 27:19Rachel Cruze?

  See, that to me.

• 27:20George Kamel?

  It could be just home maintenance and repairs.

• 27:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, so to me, there's like the sinking fund is just kind of always there.

• 27:24George Kamel?

  But there's a certain amount of month you're gonna put away.

• 27:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, and that's fine.

• 27:27George Kamel?

  So there's still specificity to it.

• 27:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's fine, but I do think if it's like, oh, we're saving for a vacation or something, that goes in like a different thing to me, where I'm like, I don't know.

• 27:36George Kamel?

  I have mine set up as a sinking fund in EveryDollar, so this is a good note for our.

• 27:40Rachel Cruze?

  Well, they have a goal area for EveryDollar. That's what I use, the goals.

• 27:43George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 27:44Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but.

• 27:45George Kamel?

  You do you, but to the other question.

• 27:47Rachel Cruze?

  Really stressed me out.

• 27:48George Kamel?

  There was two questions in there. There was a slush fund versus sinking fund.

• 27:51Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:52George Kamel?

  And then there was, do we replenish the fund?

• 27:55Rachel Cruze?

  If it was a pet-specific one and there are no pets, then no.

• 27:58George Kamel?

  Yeah, here's my take. I like to have specific goals for any savings. I don't just save to save just in case for whatever. I have my emergency fund, which has, you know, is it urgent, necessary, and unexpected? Then I have vacation fund or a car fund. Those are all separate. And then you might have just like, you know, insurance that you're saving up for for the year. I pay that annually.

• 28:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 28:18George Kamel?

  Or the pet.

• 28:19Rachel Cruze?

  Are all these different funds for you, George?

• 28:21George Kamel?

  Um, they're different funds. They're not all different savings accounts.

• 28:24Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, okay.

• 28:25George Kamel?

  But emergency fund, separate savings account.

• 28:26Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 28:27George Kamel?

  Vacation and car, different savings accounts.

• 28:29Rachel Cruze?

  Because I'm just realizing, I think we have a slush fund, now that I said I don't like it. I think we do.

• 28:32George Kamel?

  What do you call it?

• 28:34Rachel Cruze?

  Nothing. So we just have our, so our high-yield savings account um, has a line item that says emergency fund, but in the same account, we just put money aside every month that goes into that.

• 28:48George Kamel?

  That's adding to the emergency fund pile?

• 28:50Rachel Cruze?

  No, two separate lines.

• 28:50George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 28:51Rachel Cruze?

  But it's same account, but when we look on the app, it's like two separate lines.

• 28:54George Kamel?

  Yeah, so there's two, technically two accounts.

• 28:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 28:56George Kamel?

  Within that one savings.

• 28:57Rachel Cruze?

  And so the one that we just put money towards every month, and we'll use that fund usually for, um, sometimes vacation, if we need some money out of there for vacation, or repairs, or taxes.

• 29:11George Kamel?

  Okay, so general savings versus emergency.

• 29:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we kind of have like a general savings one.

• 29:15George Kamel?

  But it is in separate accounts. There are different numbers.

• 29:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 29:18George Kamel?

  You have your emergency fund, and I think that's, that's the part that they need to make sure.

• 29:21Rachel Cruze?

  So the, so.

• 29:22George Kamel?

  They follow.

• 29:22Rachel Cruze?

  To answer you, you can go as specific as you want, like George, where there's multiple things going on, or.

• 29:28Rachel Cruze?

  A little bit more of a wider catch-all.

• 29:29George Kamel?

  And EveryDollar is my favorite way to track all of that, so be sure to check it out. You can download it, go to everydollar.com/smartmoney, or you can use the link in the description.

• 29:38Rachel Cruze?

  Perfect. All right, last voicemail, George.

• 29:40George Kamel?

  We're already to the end.

• 29:41Rachel Cruze?

  We are to the end.

• 29:42George Kamel?

  I was having so much fun.

• 29:43Rachel Cruze?

  I know. So great. We love hearing from you.

• 29:46Speaker 01

  Hi, my husband and I are currently having a debate. We have paid off all our consumer debt and have a three to six month emergency fund saved in a high-yield savings account. We also have $14,000 set aside just sitting in the bank that is separate from our emergency fund. My husband says that because our income is not high enough to invest the full 15%, and we have a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage, that we should up our income to be able to pay our mortgage like a 15-year, and to be able to invest the full 15%. I believe we should start investing a little, making extra mortgage payments here and there, and putting money aside for our son's education, because even investing a little is better than nothing at all while we wait to get our income where it needs to be. I really hope you say I am right, because I really don't want to hear I told you so again. Thank you.

• 30:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 30:34George Kamel?

  All right.

• 30:34Rachel Cruze?

  Well.

• 30:35George Kamel?

  First, maybe marriage counseling.

• 30:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my god.

• 30:37George Kamel?

  I don't like the language used here.

• 30:40Rachel Cruze?

  Um, I'm on her team.

• 30:43George Kamel?

  Yeah, he's saying, well, once our income's high enough, we'll do X. That always worries me.

• 30:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 30:47George Kamel?

  Because that goalpost always moves.

• 30:48Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Yep, you always get there. People do that with giving a lot. Like, well, once I make this amount, then we'll give. So yes, if I'm her, I would be, yes, funding the 15%, putting some money away for the kid's college. And then if there is extra, that's great. Like she was saying, one or two mortgage payments, like we can maybe kind of catch up and throw some money at it, beyond what we just owe every month. That would be ideal, in that situation.

• 31:12George Kamel?

  Yeah, the baby steps, if you're following them. You've got one, two, and three, which happen on their own with very much intense focus. Then four, five, six are happening simultaneously but in order. So you invest 15% of your income into retirement before you put any money into the kid's college, before you put any money on top of the mortgage.

• 31:32Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, that's right.

• 31:33George Kamel?

  And so if all you can do is invest 15%, great, let's do that. If you have a little bit more and get your income up to throw some in the college fund, great. If you have even more left over, let's throw it at the mortgage. But I would not wait until you hit a certain income threshold to do any of that.

• 31:47Rachel Cruze?

  Because to your point, you think in your head, oh, if I have that certain, if I make that certain amount, that's awesome. But then you make it, you start living like that. Then it's so easy to like, oh, well, we don't really have that much more, Jim, because we had to pick up this and this and this.

• 31:59George Kamel?

  And then lifestyle creep. You'll always find an excuse to not invest.

• 32:03Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 32:03George Kamel?

  So I like investing as much as you can right now.

• 32:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. So, girlfriend, we're actually on your side.

• 32:09George Kamel?

  Way to go.

• 32:09Rachel Cruze?

  There you go.

• 32:10George Kamel?

  No more I told you so's.

• 32:11Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 32:12George Kamel?

  Said Rachel said.

• 32:13Rachel Cruze?

  She's with you.

• 32:14George Kamel?

  She's the final authority.

• 32:14Rachel Cruze?

  And I'm not AI. I'm a real human with real thoughts. So.

• 32:18George Kamel?

  Well, speaking of AI, there's a lot of scams and harassment happening, and AI is just exacerbating the problem.

• 32:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, it's terrible, George. If you are living in 2025 today, you guys, it's crazy how much our info is out on the internet because we are filling out stuff left and right. Like, we are just living on the internet.

• 32:37George Kamel?

  We just give our information away like candy.

• 32:38Rachel Cruze?

  We really do. And so these data brokers will collect your data, your email, your name, your kids' names, your email addresses, phone number, everything. And then they will sell all of that data to other data brokers, and then they make money off of you. And then that puts you at risk for like, all these like, text scams and harassment and phishing. So we don't want any of that happening. That's why we love Delete Me.

• 33:04George Kamel?

  I love it. And so I'm not as worried anymore as I used to be, because Delete Me is constantly scouring the internet. There's real data privacy experts on their team all year long, behind the scenes, doing this on my behalf, and they send me a custom report, showing me exactly what they've removed, how much time they've saved me, and it just gives me a little peace of mind, and it's worth every penny. And we're gonna save you some pennies, because they've got a sweet discount for our Smart Money Happy Hour fans. 20% off their annual plans when you go to joindelete.me/smartmoney, or just use the link in the description below. Stay safe out there.

• 33:36Rachel Cruze?

  So great. All right, George, what is your takeaways from this episode?

• 33:41George Kamel?

  Oh, number one, relationships of any kind are difficult. There's just bound to be conflict and differing opinions, and who's right and who's wrong. And it's hard, because sometimes it's not as black and white as you want it to be.

• 33:55Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 33:56George Kamel?

  It's way easier to say, well, she's right. Usually, there's some level of compromise. There's usually some level of unhealth coming from both sides.

• 34:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 34:03George Kamel?

  Where we need to be more open, more understanding, less judgmental.

• 34:07Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Yeah, because I think there can be definitely nuances to situations. So remembering that. And if it does feel black and white, like, well, it's the numbers, or like, these are the steps. It is what it is. Remember, there's a human on the other side, and all of their fears, their excitement, their, I mean, all the emotion comes together in this for them. So remembering that, and don't sacrifice the relationship, right? Like, keep the relationship and figure out how to work your value system together with them. But I think that's important to remember.

• 34:38George Kamel?

  Yes. And just getting aligned on the front end. Because if your values and principles are aligned, you just sort of remove a lot of the petty arguments.

• 34:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 34:46George Kamel?

  Because those stem from something deeper. There's a root of that, which is, I believe debt and payments are okay, and the other person believes in debt freedom.

• 34:54Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 34:54George Kamel?

  Well, that's a much harder problem to solve than a petty argument way up top.

• 34:58Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 34:59George Kamel?

  And so you've got to get to the root of the issue. Where is it coming from? Where is the fear, or insecurity, or anger coming from? If you get to that, usually people open up versus shut down.

• 35:08Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 35:08George Kamel?

  And you can actually get to a solution.

• 35:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and have some empathy. Put yourself in the other person's shoes, too, during debates and conflict. I think that's important, but...

• 35:15George Kamel?

  You're a great debater.

• 35:16Rachel Cruze?

  I love it, George.

• 35:17George Kamel?

  That was a lot of fun. Thank you for all the voicemails.

• 35:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know, y'all. Thanks for calling. We couldn't get to all of them. Y'all filled it up, which we so appreciate.

• 35:23George Kamel?

  So many great ones. And work on your cell signal, guys. I don't know what's going on here. Like, Wi-Fi. Maybe we should do voice, like, email us your voice notes?

• 35:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, we could do that, too. Make it a little clearer.

• 35:33George Kamel?

  Yeah. I just, I don't know if I'm getting old, or my hearing's going, but I'm just struggling.

• 35:38Rachel Cruze?

  I know, my face during some of those.

• 35:39George Kamel?

  It's like Charlie Brown.

• 35:40Rachel Cruze?

  I'm like, what'd he say? What'd he say, George?

• 35:44George Kamel?

  Anyways, that was a good time.

• 35:46Rachel Cruze?

  All right, before we spill the tea on our guiltiest charge segments, let's talk about the drink.

• 35:50George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 35:50Rachel Cruze?

  Obviously, I should be in the military. I mean, look at that. Unbelievable.

• 35:55George Kamel?

  I don't know.

• 35:56Rachel Cruze?

  Army and Navy.

• 35:57George Kamel?

  Sure. Yeah, this was the Army and Navy cocktail, hence the military reference, in case you fell asleep during the last half hour. The drink costs a dollar and sixty-four cents, so that's a great price for a cocktail.

• 36:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 36:10George Kamel?

  Beats happy hour pricing. It's got London Dry Gin, lemon juice, orgeat, which is sort of an almond liqueur.

• 36:17Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 36:17George Kamel?

  And Angostura bitters.

• 36:19Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 36:20George Kamel?

  Really nice.

• 36:21Rachel Cruze?

  What makes it kind of orangey?

• 36:23George Kamel?

  The orgeat is that color. It's this almond liqueur. It brings a beautiful color to it, and it almost has a grape fruity.

• 36:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 36:31George Kamel?

  Taste to it.

• 36:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. I'm gonna go eight out of ten.

• 36:35George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 36:35Rachel Cruze?

  Cause, and I would get it at a restaurant.

• 36:37George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 36:37Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, but it is a little, um.

• 36:40George Kamel?

  Tart?

• 36:41Rachel Cruze?

  Tart, citrusy, um, yeah.

• 36:44George Kamel?

  It's got a real acidic bite to it.

• 36:46Rachel Cruze?

  Acidic, that's what I was going for.

• 36:47George Kamel?

  So if you like an acidic drink.

• 36:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 36:49George Kamel?

  You're gonna love this.

• 36:49Rachel Cruze?

  I drink it and if it hits the back of your tongue, you're kinda like.

• 36:53George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 36:54Rachel Cruze?

  That feeling, you know?

• 36:55George Kamel?

  I just think gin and lemon juice go pair so well together. So when you pair it with some nice accoutrements, like the orgeat, which I finally got a bottle of orgeat.

• 37:03Rachel Cruze?

  You just said like five words. I don't even know what they mean.

• 37:05George Kamel?

  Well, I got an orgeat syrup at home. I ordered it online.

• 37:09Rachel Cruze?

  But that's great.

• 37:10George Kamel?

  I'll make you, alright, we'll make you something.

• 37:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 37:12George Kamel?

  Outside of this, I'm gonna give this, uh, nine out of ten.

• 37:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 37:16George Kamel?

  Like, it wouldn't be my, my top three drinks I would ever order, but if this was served to me, I'd be very pleased.

• 37:21Rachel Cruze?

  Very happy. I'm with you.

• 37:22George Kamel?

  Love it. So get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend. If you are of age, drink responsibly. I don't know why I added that. We don't legally have to.

• 37:31Rachel Cruze?

  I was like feeling that, I was like.

• 37:32George Kamel?

  But I feel a little bit cool saying it.

• 37:34Rachel Cruze?

  Needs to say it.

• 37:35George Kamel?

  I feel like a little bit like the, you know, the Dare guy, or like the, the bear.

• 37:40Rachel Cruze?

  Don't do drugs or you're gonna die.

• 37:41George Kamel?

  Who's the forest fire bear?

• 37:42Rachel Cruze?

  Don't, Smokey Bear.

• 37:44George Kamel?

  I feel like a Smokey the Bear meets Dare.

• 37:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, all together. Dare was a lion. Wasn't there a lion mascot for Dare?

• 37:49George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 37:51Rachel Cruze?

  Man, you're such an outdoorsman.

• 37:52George Kamel?

  I'm just out here saving the planet, saving the people. It's what I do.

• 37:57Rachel Cruze?

  All right, now it's time for

• 38:00George Kamel?

  Guilty as charged.

• 38:01Rachel Cruze?

  And this is where we ask each other a guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, here's the question. Have you ever bought something and just never opened it? Do you have anything right now in your life that's sitting there that was not opened?

• 38:15George Kamel?

  That I personally bought, that I was like, I'm excited to buy this, and then just left it unopened?

• 38:20Rachel Cruze?

  I have two things.

• 38:21George Kamel?

  Wow. No, I'm like a, I'm like a New York City trash rat. If I see something, I must open it immediately. To, to a fault, to our wedding, he's like, hey, can you not unbox that whole thing right now and unpackage it? I'm like, I don't know what it is about me. I have to open this. To its full extent, I have to like, break down the box and put it in the trash.

• 38:41Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 38:42George Kamel?

  Immediately.

• 38:43Rachel Cruze?

  Done.

• 38:43George Kamel?

  Yeah. There could be a, a house fire, and I'd be like, hey, hold on, I gotta open this.

• 38:47Rachel Cruze?

  One second, let me like, break down this box and get everything out.

• 38:50George Kamel?

  How about you? So two things.

• 38:52Rachel Cruze?

  So nothing, you're not guilty, you're probably innocent.

• 38:53George Kamel?

  Not that I can think of.

• 38:54Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I got two things right now. I have some moisturizer that I bought. And you would think that I need it, I don't, because I have another one, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And it's literally sitting in the box on my nightstand.

• 39:07George Kamel?

  Like a face moisturizer?

• 39:08Rachel Cruze?

  And it's been there, it'd be fun to kind of look at my Amazon app to tell you how long it's been there.

• 39:12George Kamel?

  It's sitting on your nightstand?

• 39:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 39:14George Kamel?

  That's unhinged behavior.

• 39:15Rachel Cruze?

  I know, I need to put it in, I need to put it in my bathroom. But I just haven't, and it's just...

• 39:21George Kamel?

  How, how far away is your nightstand from your bathroom?

• 39:24Rachel Cruze?

  Um, not very far.

• 39:27George Kamel?

  15 feet?

• 39:28Rachel Cruze?

  How do you spell moisturizer?

• 39:30George Kamel?

  I'll tell Winston to do that. I'll say, hey, man, this has been sitting out here, I don't know if it's been driving you crazy.

• 39:34Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not kidding, he's probably seen it, yeah, yeah.

• 39:36George Kamel?

  Maybe he thinks it's on display, like artwork. Is it a fancy moisturizer?

• 39:41Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, it was a nice one, let's see if I can find it. I'm a terrible speller, did you know that about me?

• 39:45George Kamel?

  Uh, I did know that, I'd never want to call it out.

• 39:47Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow, is that real? Hold on.

• 39:53George Kamel?

  Do you know how to spell lotion? If it's L O T.

• 39:55Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I don't know if this is real. This has February 23rd.

• 39:58George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 39:59Rachel Cruze?

  Of 2025.

• 40:01George Kamel?

  Okay, so as of this recording, we're going on six months.

• 40:03Rachel Cruze?

  The picture's not coming up, so I can't tell if that's a... It's been there for at least three. I don't think it's been six months. Anyways, that, and then I got some earrings because I don't want to invest in nice earrings. I never do until I have them. I have my three piercings on my ear and I buy cheap Amazon. And then my ears, sometimes if I leave them in too long, they, they like turn black. Cause it's like.

• 40:24George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 40:24Rachel Cruze?

  Cause it's like.

• 40:25George Kamel?

  This is why.

• 40:26Rachel Cruze?

  It's like bad, it's like bad metal. You know what I mean? It's not real. So then I like, well, that's why I could. So I gotta take them out. And then I'm like, I can't put the old ones back in because they're all discolored. Like they'll go from gold to silver because I never take them out. So then I had to buy new earrings. So anyways, I have a pack of new, like small earrings sitting on my nightstand.

• 40:44George Kamel?

  Are they also Amazon earrings that will turn your ears black?

• 40:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 40:48George Kamel?

  Okay, cool.

• 40:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I know.

• 40:49George Kamel?

  We've learned, we have learned nothing.

• 40:50Rachel Cruze?

  I keep repeating the cycle. But here's the thing is I can't find, I cannot justify buying like a pair of $200 earrings that are tiny just because they're real silver.

• 41:03George Kamel?

  Fair point.

• 41:04Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 41:04George Kamel?

  You make a great, a great point.

• 41:06Rachel Cruze?

  And that would be.

• 41:08George Kamel?

  You can't make a match.

• 41:09Rachel Cruze?

  Times four, that's almost a thousand dollars an ear. That's stupid. Give me Amazon all day. I got peroxide. I'll clean it if it gets infected.

• 41:18George Kamel?

  If I had a black ear once, I don't think I'd wear any jewelry ever again. Like you should see a doctor immediately.

• 41:23Rachel Cruze?

  I know, no, I'm telling you though, they turn black.

• 41:25George Kamel?

  Uh, there is something I did not buy that is still in the box. And it was gifted from someone watching this show.

• 41:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no way.

• 41:32George Kamel?

  Because a bidet's came up.

• 41:34Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 41:35George Kamel?

  Either on this show or my YouTube channel.

• 41:37Rachel Cruze?

  Did someone send you a bidet?

• 41:37George Kamel?

  Someone sent me a bidet.

• 41:39Rachel Cruze?

  No, they didn't.

• 41:40George Kamel?

  Now, it was new in box, which is a very important note when it comes to bidets.

• 41:44Rachel Cruze?

  That has to be like hundreds of dollars.

• 41:45George Kamel?

  No, it was like a $30 one on Amazon. Yeah, they make them of all, you know.

• 41:51Rachel Cruze?

  Calibers.

• 41:51George Kamel?

  All stripes.

• 41:52Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 41:52George Kamel?

  And so that is still in the box. It's like I'm scared to open it. It's like, you know, Pandora's box. Who will I become? I'm not.

• 42:00Rachel Cruze?

  What will happen?

• 42:01George Kamel?

  Like it involves connecting plumbing. So I'm like, do I get a handyman to install this? But that feels like a real odd request.

• 42:07Rachel Cruze?

  Winston will help you.

• 42:08George Kamel?

  If Winston will help me, I will install this bidet and try it out to make this fan happy. Cause they said it's life changing. I don't know who the fan is. They didn't put their name or anything, which is more worrisome.

• 42:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 42:17George Kamel?

  An anonymous bidet? Sketchy.

• 42:20Rachel Cruze?

  You don't know who it's from.

• 42:22George Kamel?

  But it was in a new Amazon box. It's looks brand new. But it's just sitting.

• 42:27Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know, you gave me a gift that has to do with the toilet. The light.

• 42:32George Kamel?

  The night light.

• 42:32Rachel Cruze?

  And guess who took it and uses it and it's still on there to this day?

• 42:35George Kamel?

  Caroline.

• 42:36Rachel Cruze?

  Caroline.

• 42:37George Kamel?

  Who's in the room with us right now as we speak?

• 42:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 42:40George Kamel?

  One of my favorite guests we've had on this show or in the room.

• 42:42Rachel Cruze?

  Caroline, do you love your light in your toilet?

• 42:45George Kamel?

  Isn't it awesome?

• 42:46Rachel Cruze?

  It's so great.

• 42:46George Kamel?

  Because you're not worried about tripping at night? You know, like you just walk within vicinity and it lights up. What color do you have yours on? Purple. Oh, nice. That's a good choice.

• 42:58Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 42:58George Kamel?

  Red, worrisome color.

• 43:03Rachel Cruze?

  Don't come in.

• 43:04George Kamel?

  Yes, I go with like a, like a bright aqua blue.

• 43:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 43:07George Kamel?

  Makes me feel like the toilet's cleaner than it is.

• 43:09Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 43:10George Kamel?

  Red is, that's psychopathic behavior.

• 43:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's like caution.

• 43:15George Kamel?

  You're like, this is a portal to hell. I don't want anything going down there. But purple, blue, good choices.

• 43:22Rachel Cruze?

  Love it.

• 43:23George Kamel?

  Green on the edge. It's a little Ghostbusters for me.

• 43:27Rachel Cruze?

  A little strange.

• 43:28George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 43:29Rachel Cruze?

  A little too St. Patrick's Day.

• 43:30George Kamel?

  We're having a good time.

• 43:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. Well, that was great, George. If you guys have any guilty charge questions, make sure to DM them at Rachel Cruz and at George Kamel. We love to see them. And if you loved this episode, we also are stirring the pot on our episode titled, "Settling the Debate of Your Financial Boopah." Boopah.

• 43:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's coming up next. It's a really great episode.

• 43:54George Kamel?

  It is. And if you want to leave us a voicemail, feel free to do so at this number, 877-306-1517. We'd love to hear from you guys.

• 44:04Rachel Cruze?

  And make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an all new episode of

• 44:07George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.