What the Top 7 World Religions Believe About Money

💸 Uncover extra cash in your budget with the 24-Hour Money Finder Challenge. Find some pearls to clutch because we’re talking religion and money. Today, we’re looking at beliefs and practices around finances in the world’s major religions. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Unique Money Traditions You Won’t Find in the U. S. 🍸 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: 🍹 Freezer Door Tart Cherry Margaritas Recipe: @servedbysammy 2 cups blanco tequila 1 cup tart cherry juice 1 cup lime juice 1/4–1/2 cup agave nectar (depending on how sweet you like it) Instructions: Combine all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice and shake—enjoy! 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?

  Why cover one taboo topic when you can cover two? Find some pearls to clutch because today we're talking religion and money.

• 0:12Rachel Cruze?

  Like, it's not a thing.

• 0:13George Kamel?

  You can still get into heaven.

• 0:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, you can. If you have student loans, you can still go.

• 0:17George Kamel?

  But Sally Mae will follow you there.

• 0:19Rachel Cruze?

  And suffering is part of it, George. Like, there is a part of like...

• 0:23George Kamel?

  Have I not suffered enough?

• 0:29Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys. I'm Richard Cruz.

• 0:31George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:33Rachel Cruze?

  And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:41Rachel 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.

• 0:48George Kamel?

  And I assume everyone's talking about religion and money whenever they hang out with their friends.

• 0:52Rachel Cruze?

  Always. It's the number one topic, I feel like.

• 0:55George Kamel?

  But before we get to that, let's talk about something that is not taboo or controversial, which is this wonderful drink. It is a tart cherry margarita. We're going to give you the rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode, so stick around for that.

• 1:07Rachel Cruze?

  All right, George. Well, Tom Cruise's Scientology walked, so The Secret Life of Mormon Wives could run. Religion

• 1:15George Kamel?

  Well said.

• 1:16Rachel Cruze?

  is so woven into our culture today. It's amazing. Like, it's everywhere.

• 1:21George Kamel?

  It is becoming like less taboo, but in a weird way where we're like, is it a dark curiosity, would you say?

• 1:27Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe with some. I don't know.

• 1:29George Kamel?

  But then everyone's like, well, that's not how we really are. And it's like, we get it.

• 1:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:32George Kamel?

  It's a reality show. It's a documentary. Like, you know, there's

• 1:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 1:37George Kamel?

  There's an agenda here.

• 1:37Rachel Cruze?

  And I do think there's stereotypes, right, as well. And so you don't lump everybody into one stereotype. But it is fascinating because I do think your religion or spirituality does shape, or probably should shape if it's something you worship, you know. What you think about life and all these different topics, including money, George.

• 1:56George Kamel?

  That's right. And Rachel, I need to call out, you've been on your own eat, pray, love journey.

• 2:01Rachel Cruze?

  Stop.

• 2:02George Kamel?

  Is the only way to frame it up.

• 2:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 2:04George Kamel?

  But you've been really researching.

• 2:05Rachel Cruze?

  Because, yes.

• 2:07George Kamel?

  Tell the, can you tell the people what you're looking into?

• 2:10Rachel Cruze?

  It's nothing crazy. And I, I mean, I don't know. It's just church history has been fascinating because I am a Christian and I think I just never really knew George. I thought like, you know?

• 2:21George Kamel?

  Like, where did this come from?

• 2:22Rachel Cruze?

  The book of Revelation, you know, was the last book to be written by John in 96 and then?

• 2:27George Kamel?

  Not 1996, by the way. Just want to make that clear.

• 2:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, not 1996, you know? And then Martin Luther came on the scene, right? But there was like a-

• 2:34George Kamel?

  And not King Jr., by the way.

• 2:35Rachel Cruze?

  But there was like a, you know?

• 2:37George Kamel?

  Lot of caveats.

• 2:38Rachel Cruze?

  1500 years, you know, of-

• 2:40George Kamel?

  Just this gap.

• 2:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. And I didn't know about it. So I have been, I have been in a deep dive and it's been fascinating. But I have, we, we work with a lot of smart people that know a lot, I feel like. So it's fun conversation. So I probably bring-

• 2:54George Kamel?

  You can call me out. It was me.

• 2:55Rachel Cruze?

  So I probably do bring a lot of my findings to people at work and the way our offices are all situated. We end up chatting a lot if we're all in there. And so I'm telling them about my new findings.

• 3:06George Kamel?

  And Rachel's known for like-

• 3:07Rachel Cruze?

  Ecumenical councils.

• 3:08George Kamel?

  You, you like find a little rabbit trail and you go deep.

• 3:10Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Oh, yeah. So I'm always, and I'm pretty like hyper about stuff too. So I think people are just, my energy behind it is probably what people laugh about too. But you know, we're not experts on religion though. Let's be honest. On all religions, like, we're not.

• 3:23George Kamel?

  Let's make that clear.

• 3:24Rachel Cruze?

  Did you take any like world religion class in college?

• 3:26George Kamel?

  You know, I took one at University of Mobile.

• 3:29Rachel Cruze?

  You did? You took a world religion?

• 3:30George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 3:31Rachel Cruze?

  Do you remember?

• 3:31George Kamel?

  Don't remember anything. I, you know, I remember going like, oh, these are like cool, like on paper, I'm like, yeah. I can vibe with most of these on like on principles.

• 3:40Rachel Cruze?

  Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 3:41George Kamel?

  But, uh, growing up Christian, actually Arabic Baptist, to be very specific.

• 3:45Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I love that about you.

• 3:46George Kamel?

  My favorite sect of the Baptist people. Uh, so I have that faith background. But it's also, I grew up with friends of all different backgrounds. Like I went to my friend's bar mitzvah growing up.

• 3:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 3:57George Kamel?

  And we had a great time.

• 3:59Rachel Cruze?

  I bet you did.

• 3:59George Kamel?

  Have some Muslim friends. And so it's just, it's fun to get to know the people behind it instead of just assuming things about them.

• 4:06Rachel Cruze?

  Totally. And I think the fun thing about this, even though we're not experts on all these religions, we like to see the commonality through some of them, which we found when it comes to money, which I thought was interesting. So we did one episode kind of about money around the world. And you guys loved it. And so we're like, okay, what are some other fun things that we can like, it's kind of a comparison too of like, what do people, how do people do things differently? And through my deep dive into the early church, I think I was like, we should do all the religions and see the different, the pros and cons or the differences or the similarities, all the things. Because I don't know, I don't know much about it. So it's been a fun.

• 4:43George Kamel?

  It was for us to learn. And so I hope everyone watching and listening can learn something along with us without making any judgments. And if we get it wrong, and you are of this religion, feel free to call us out in the comments section. Just know that I'm gonna get it wrong.

• 4:57Rachel Cruze?

  We're gonna get it wrong.

• 4:58George Kamel?

  Just don't be offended when it goes, he's not understanding it correctly. You're right.

• 5:01Rachel Cruze?

  It's probably true.

• 5:02George Kamel?

  I cannot get all the nuance of the world about every religion in a 40 minute podcast episode. I'm sorry.

• 5:07Rachel Cruze?

  We're gonna go high level though. So this will be fun.

• 5:10George Kamel?

  So we had some fun with this. We had chat GPT give us the top seven religions around the world, including the approximate number of followers they have.

• 5:17Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh, this will be fun.

• 5:18George Kamel?

  So Kim Kardashian came out number one with hundreds of million, no, I'm kidding. Not Instagram followers, guys, religious following. You claim this religion. Okay, can you guess the top seven?

• 5:29Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna try. Christianity.

• 5:33George Kamel?

  That's the number one answer. How many people?

• 5:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, gosh. Okay, how many people are on the, in the world?

• 5:38George Kamel?

  Seven or eight billion? Okay, how many of those are?

• 5:40Rachel Cruze?

  Let's go 1.4 billion.

• 5:44George Kamel?

  Actually, pretty close. 2.4. You were only a billion off.

• 5:47Rachel Cruze?

  I'm only a billion off. Okay, that's great.

• 5:49George Kamel?

  That's pretty good.

• 5:50Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 5:50George Kamel?

  Next up.

• 5:51Rachel Cruze?

  Next.

• 5:52George Kamel?

  Next biggest religion.

• 5:53Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, Islam?

• 5:55George Kamel?

  Correct.

• 5:56Rachel Cruze?

  Ah, okay, with, let's go 1.1.

• 6:01George Kamel?

  1.9.

• 6:02Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, 1.9.

• 6:03George Kamel?

  Only 800,000 off now. You're getting closer with each one.

• 6:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, my margins are going smaller.

• 6:07George Kamel?

  All right, next. What is the next biggest?

• 6:09Rachel Cruze?

  Judaism?

• 6:10George Kamel?

  Ooh, far off, actually.

• 6:12Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, gosh. Hindu?

• 6:14George Kamel?

  Yeah, Hinduism.

• 6:15Rachel Cruze?

  Hindu, okay. Let's go, uh, I'm gonna go less than a billion there. Oh, shoot, 1 billion, Bob.

• 6:22George Kamel?

  Perfect, 1.2.

• 6:23Rachel Cruze?

  1.2, okay.

• 6:24George Kamel?

  All right. And then we do have a drop from there. What's the next one?

• 6:28Rachel Cruze?

  Judaism.

• 6:29George Kamel?

  Nope.

• 6:29Rachel Cruze?

  Man, Buddhist?

• 6:31George Kamel?

  Think close, yep.

• 6:32Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 6:32George Kamel?

  Buddhism.

• 6:33Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, let's go, uh, you said big drop, so I'm gonna go 200 million, 500 million.

• 6:39George Kamel?

  That's it.

• 6:40Rachel Cruze?

  500 million, okay.

• 6:41George Kamel?

  Half a billion.

• 6:42Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 6:43George Kamel?

  And then you're not gonna guess this next one. You want me to just tell you? I wouldn't have, you can try. How about that? There's only so many left.

• 6:51Rachel Cruze?

  New age. Is that a religion?

• 6:53George Kamel?

  Nope.

• 6:53Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, go tell me. I don't know. I don't know.

• 6:55George Kamel?

  Sikhism.

• 6:56Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 6:57George Kamel?

  Sikh, S I K H.

• 6:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. All right. How many there?

• 7:00George Kamel?

  Twenty-five to thirty million.

• 7:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wow. There's a good chunk of them.

• 7:03George Kamel?

  And then?

• 7:04Rachel Cruze?

  Judaism.

• 7:06George Kamel?

  Fifteen million.

• 7:07Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 7:07George Kamel?

  Didn't you think it would be more?

• 7:08Rachel Cruze?

  Well, apparently, because I was getting it out here on the list. Okay.

• 7:13George Kamel?

  That's shocking to me.

• 7:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that is.

• 7:15George Kamel?

  And then, this one actually is number seven, but it has a lot of millions, and it's just folk religions. So think indigenous, tribal traditions, rural religions?

• 7:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 7:26George Kamel?

  Rural regions. That's a tough one to say.

• 7:28Rachel Cruze?

  Rural regions, yeah. Won't be able to say that quick, especially after this margarita.

• 7:33George Kamel?

  Good job, though. You did great.

• 7:35Rachel Cruze?

  I did feel pretty great about that. Those would be the top ones, I would think. Okay. So, out of all of those, George, what are we gonna dive into first? Should we go Christianity?

• 7:45George Kamel?

  Yeah, let's go into that one. We know the most about that one.

• 7:48Rachel Cruze?

  For sure.

• 7:48George Kamel?

  And I think that one will be a good sort of barometer. That'll be the index.

• 7:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. So, just kind of some, like, high-level themes throughout Christianity when it comes to money. Not idolizing money is a big one.

• 8:01George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 8:02Rachel Cruze?

  There is a lot of, you know, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. A lot of warning signs around wealth and money, because I think it, I think it's pretty easy to say that it can easily replace God in your life. It's the thing that you go to to find safety and security and all of it. And at the end of the day, as we all know, it's not the thing that satisfies. You know, we talk about on this show a lot, we want you to get control of your money. We're okay with you building wealth, right, and passing it to the next generation, changing your family tree. It talks about. But when it gets to the wrong place of prioritization in your life, that is the yellow flag's blinking. And I feel like that's what Christianity teaches.

• 8:41George Kamel?

  Yeah, and I think it's important to call out a lot of people think, well, money is the root of all evil, Rachel. And you're going, no, it's read it verbatim, the love of money. And so that's the obsession, the greed that comes along with that. Where you, it does become a god in your life. So yeah, loving it too much can lead to bad things.

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:58George Kamel?

  And we've seen throughout history, to be fair, religions have used this as a sort of weapon.

• 9:04Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 9:04George Kamel?

  And money has been a, you know, controlling thing.

• 9:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, a dangling.

• 9:08George Kamel?

  Yeah, or give us all of your money because that's what you should do.

• 9:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 9:12George Kamel?

  Or else. And so there's some gross parts to it that I don't want to gloss over, but the key is money as an idol, bad.

• 9:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, giving and generosity is big, the tithe.

• 9:22George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 9:23Rachel Cruze?

  So giving your money away is a big message as well, the generosity.

• 9:27George Kamel?

  To your local church, to those in need, to charities, the widows, the poor.

• 9:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes. I mean, to the point that what Jesus says, that he'll separate the sheep and the goats of, you know, did you clothe me? Did you feed me? Did you visit me? I mean, it's a pretty bold.

• 9:43George Kamel?

  That's the checklist.

• 9:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. So like, how do we do those things? Our time, our money, but part of that is you're, you're, you're living a life of service.

• 9:51George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 9:52Rachel Cruze?

  Um, which is why we teach too, to be giving at wherever you are in your financial journey. And we say that very consistently, even in the EveryDollar app, the very first line is giving. So that is, it's a principle of, yeah, of truth, because it, it, it changes not only the world and situations, but it changes you too. And it helps it not become the idol, the thing that you're worshiping as you're giving, and there's like a flow there.

• 10:15George Kamel?

  It's sort of the antidote to.

• 10:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 10:17George Kamel?

  It's hard to be greedy when you're always giving.

• 10:19Rachel Cruze?

  A very generous person, yep.

• 10:21George Kamel?

  I think of old Scrooge.

• 10:22Rachel Cruze?

  I love that. Yeah. Now, one thing I would be giving to everyone I know, or Cozier's products.

• 10:28George Kamel?

  That's outrageous generosity.

• 10:30Rachel Cruze?

  And specifically the cuddle blanket. George.

• 10:33George Kamel?

  If I could give everyone in my life a cuddle blanket, I would.

• 10:36Rachel Cruze?

  You and Whitney love it.

• 10:37George Kamel?

  Yes, it's the best. Cause we have a new couch and we, I was waiting for the new couch to then use the cuddle blanket.

• 10:44Rachel Cruze?

  Let it, let it be.

• 10:45George Kamel?

  It deserves, it deserves a new couch.

• 10:46Rachel Cruze?

  I will say, you want a, you want a deep couch because that thing is massive.

• 10:51George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 10:51Rachel Cruze?

  And it's weighty too. I mean, it is legit. Like if you're looking for quality, that is it. And not just in the blankets, but all their products.

• 11:00George Kamel?

  All of them. And when I have the, like the joggers and the athleisure with the blanket.

• 11:06Rachel Cruze?

  You've never been cozy.

• 11:07George Kamel?

  Put a fork in me, I'm done.

• 11:08Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, never been cozy.

• 11:09George Kamel?

  I'm not getting up for nothing.

• 11:10Rachel Cruze?

  Nothing.

• 11:11George Kamel?

  Could be a fire in the house. I'm like, just take me.

• 11:13Rachel Cruze?

  Just let it happen.

• 11:14George Kamel?

  Take me, Lord, take me.

• 11:15Rachel Cruze?

  I'm happy, I'm happy where I am.

• 11:16George Kamel?

  It's my time.

• 11:17Rachel Cruze?

  A hundred percent.

• 11:17George Kamel?

  So, go check it out. They're giving our viewers and listeners a sweet discount, forty percent off, when you use the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout, or go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney. You can also use the link in the description.

• 11:30Rachel Cruze?

  Beautiful. Another point within Christianity, it talks about stewardship, meaning who owns what you have. And there is this belief and practice that you don't own anything, God owns it all. And so, there's that mentality too, that is talked about throughout Scripture. And that helps with your perspective when it comes to your money.

• 11:51George Kamel?

  Yeah, when you think about, you know, even the parable of the talents, and as you build wealth, you gotta think of it like, I'm managing this money for someone else. And that honestly, is very freeing to me, because it takes the pressure off of me, because it's not my stuff. It's just, hey, I'm managing it for someone else. I want to treat this stuff well. I want to build the wealth, and not just let it squander it.

• 12:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 12:12George Kamel?

  Or, you know, bury it. And so, I think that helps me invest differently, spend differently, give differently, with that awareness.

• 12:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Also, avoiding debt is very heavy in Scripture. So, it never, I will say, the Bible never calls it a sin. Like, it's not a thing that it's like...

• 12:29George Kamel?

  You can still get into heaven.

• 12:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, you can. If you have student loans, you can still get into heaven.

• 12:34George Kamel?

  But Sally Mae will follow you there.

• 12:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. She'll be right behind you.

• 12:38George Kamel?

  That would be wild.

• 12:39Rachel Cruze?

  Wouldn't that be crazy, if you like, turned into a person? What do you think Sally Mae looks like?

• 12:43George Kamel?

  Not pretty.

• 12:44Rachel Cruze?

  You don't think she's pretty?

• 12:46George Kamel?

  No. Bad haircut.

• 12:47Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 12:48George Kamel?

  Poor hygiene.

• 12:49Rachel Cruze?

  All right. Kinda just eh.

• 12:51George Kamel?

  Moth breath, for sure.

• 12:52Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, gross.

• 12:53George Kamel?

  Yeah, you know what I'm talking about?

• 12:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Is she probably like, what, late 50s, early 60s? What do you see her as?

• 12:57George Kamel?

  Yeah, she, you know what? She's probably early 50s, but looks like a late 60s. Not aging well.

• 13:03Rachel Cruze?

  Didn't take care of herself.

• 13:04George Kamel?

  No.

• 13:04Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair. All right.

• 13:06George Kamel?

  Smokes in the house.

• 13:09George Kamel?

  That's what it's giving.

• 13:11Rachel Cruze?

  It's bad.

• 13:11George Kamel?

  But she's got money.

• 13:13Rachel Cruze?

  Jesus, I'm doing great.

• 13:14George Kamel?

  But no taste.

• 13:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, Sally Mae. Well, we don't want her following us into heaven. That's for sure.

• 13:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so yeah, there is. It is funny, though, because every time debt is mentioned in the Bible, it is in a negative fashion. So everything is negative towards debt and building wealth quickly, like through Proverbs, it's like major, major, like red light.

• 13:35George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 13:36Rachel Cruze?

  So it is interesting, the slowness of how we think about money and handle money and even grow our money versus like things being so quick. And people use debt to try to build wealth quickly, right? And that ends up in disaster.

• 13:49George Kamel?

  That actually is the most shocking part. Like, I'm fine, you do you. But if you're a Christian and you are saying, hey, debt is the path, that it's okay to use this, that's the part I have issue with. I'm like, it's so clear.

• 14:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 14:02George Kamel?

  That it's not a sin, but it's not a good thing and that you should avoid it.

• 14:04Rachel Cruze?

  It's not wise. Yes, that's right.

• 14:06George Kamel?

  And you know, the language is strong. The borrower is slave to the lender.

• 14:09Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:09George Kamel?

  Proverbs 22:7. Again, in Proverbs, it says, "Wealth gained hastily will dwindle; whoever gathers little by little will increase it." So again, get rich slow with the right motive versus get rich quick, which is what culture tells you to do. So that's a big one, avoiding debt and greed.

• 14:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, so good. And then lastly, which we kind of talked about, is helping the least of these. So being that generous person and being aware of the needs of people around you, I think is big. So I love it. Well.

• 14:37George Kamel?

  Beautifully said.

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  That kind of sums up.

• 14:38George Kamel?

  Way to go, Chad GBT.

• 14:39Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, the high level of the Christian faith. I'm sure there is more, obviously, y'all. But again, high level here. And we dove into a few other religions, George, to kind of figure out from a high level perspective. And we'll start with Islam, shall we?

• 14:57George Kamel?

  It's the second biggest, according to Chad GBT.

• 14:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Okay, so here's interesting about Islam. Charging or paying interest is forbidden.

• 15:05George Kamel?

  This one was fascinating to me because we've gotten questions about this.

• 15:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 15:09George Kamel?

  On the Ramsey Show at live events and they're like, hey, how do I live my life in this way? When interest is forbidden.

• 15:16Rachel Cruze?

  We've gotten questions like for a mortgage with this, right? And what did you find?

• 15:20George Kamel?

  I found out that there's Islamic financing. So there's specific lenders that will run this through their financing operation to essentially sort of like bake in a fee, but not interest that's ongoing.

• 15:33Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. So it's very tactic, I think that's a very like fine line.

• 15:36George Kamel?

  By the book, you have to go through Islamic financing companies.

• 15:39Rachel Cruze?

  I wonder how many like live by that in America today. Like is it like the debt thing in Christians? You know what I mean? Like a lot of Christians take on debt.

• 15:46George Kamel?

  Then if you're Muslim, you can't have a credit card because technically.

• 15:50Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:50George Kamel?

  There's interest involved. Now that's if you carry a balance.

• 15:52Rachel Cruze?

  Sure, sure.

• 15:53George Kamel?

  But I've heard.

• 15:54Rachel Cruze?

  Any kind of debt.

• 15:55George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 15:55Rachel Cruze?

  Car loans, all of it.

• 15:57George Kamel?

  I've heard you have to go through Islamic financing if you want to do it kind of by the book.

• 16:00Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so interesting.

• 16:01George Kamel?

  Very fascinating. And Judaism has a similar principle as well.

• 16:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, okay. Are you ready for this one? On Judgment Day, people will be asked how they earned and spent their money.

• 16:13George Kamel?

  What is that interview like?

• 16:14Rachel Cruze?

  Man.

• 16:15George Kamel?

  That's gotta be like an interrogation.

• 16:17Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man, that that would be wild. Okay, how would you feel? How, okay, question, George. If on Judgment Day, everything of how you spent your money, how would you feel?

• 16:26George Kamel?

  They, I don't know, the courts, the judge and jury, they would just be like, tell me about these dogs. How does one spend that much on dogs? Because they were only alive for 10 years out of your whole life. You managed to blow most of your money on the dogs.

• 16:43Rachel Cruze?

  And then the next question is, when the dogs do pass away, are you getting more French Bulldogs?

• 16:47George Kamel?

  We've already talked about it. I've, I've, I've becoming a no dog person after these, yeah.

• 16:53Rachel Cruze?

  Wow. Okay. I was gonna say, because what would be funny is if you died at 80 and you had like 16 French Bulldogs in your lifetime, two at a time.

• 17:02George Kamel?

  I gotta go back to the part where you said it would be funny if you died at 80.

• 17:04Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, I just, I'm like.

• 17:07George Kamel?

  Hilarious.

• 17:09George Kamel?

  I mean, I guess that's a pretty good, it's a pretty good life.

• 17:12Rachel Cruze?

  I just, I'm trying to do easy math in my head.

• 17:14George Kamel?

  Like I consistently had French Bulldogs.

• 17:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 17:17George Kamel?

  Yeah, that's a lot of French, no, they're, they're the most maintenance. So I think that after this, I need a break. That's good. Give me like a, just a boring, like golden doodle hypoallergenic humanoid of a dog.

• 17:29Rachel Cruze?

  And you're good.

• 17:29George Kamel?

  Forgettable. That's what I want for my next dog.

• 17:31Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know, I think the cringey of my spending, because it's getting bougier the older I get.

• 17:35George Kamel?

  What's that?

• 17:36Rachel Cruze?

  Is our travel.

• 17:37George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 17:38Rachel Cruze?

  I travel. I mean, I'm like, it is, it is where I put a lot of my money. Like, we joke about my Amazon, but it's like $20 earrings, or like $15 shoes, or whatever. I, it's like, pretty, but I do, like, from a total amount, yeah.

• 17:52George Kamel?

  You value experiences over things.

• 17:54Rachel Cruze?

  So I do wonder if that would be a bad judgment on what I spent.

• 17:58George Kamel?

  I gotta wonder, what are they looking for here? You know what I mean?

• 18:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 18:02George Kamel?

  Like, are they hoping that you gave it all to the poor?

• 18:04Rachel Cruze?

  And I hope our giving is up there.

• 18:06George Kamel?

  Oh, that's true.

• 18:07Rachel Cruze?

  Because, yes, that is a big consistent part of my life. I don't know.

• 18:09George Kamel?

  You'd get points back.

• 18:10Rachel Cruze?

  I'm trying to justify.

• 18:12George Kamel?

  It would all balance out.

• 18:13Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 18:15George Kamel?

  That's an interesting one.

• 18:16Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, another one within Islam is wealth must come from a pure source. So not deceit, theft, gambling, anything like that. And Hinduism has the same type of idea.

• 18:28George Kamel?

  I like that.

• 18:28Rachel Cruze?

  Which is great, because I mean, it's, it is coming from a pure source. So it's coming from your work, your hands. You're not, you're not, um, taking advantage of anyone or a system.

• 18:39George Kamel?

  In the making of your wealth.

• 18:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, which is great. That's great.

• 18:43George Kamel?

  Yeah, I like that one. Well, the truth is gambling isn't the only thing you can do digitally today, even if you're being as responsible as possible online, your info is still out there, getting leaked and sold to spammers and scammers through these data broker sites, which is why we love Delete Me, regardless of what religion you are. Your information's out there and Delete Me will go out on hundreds of these data broker sites, find your info, remove it, and send you a report of what they've done and how much time they've saved you.

• 19:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, you guys, your family's information, your security online, your financial security is way too important just to leave exposed out on the internet. So go and take action. Sign up for Delete Me because they are an incredible resource. Winston and I use them. And it is, it is so encouraging when you get these reports and you see how many websites your data has been removed. That means you are at less risk of getting scammed, you know, phishing, PH, you know, these like texts randomly, like all of this on all these sites and all these lists, they're going in to help remove it, which we love.

• 19:43George Kamel?

  So go check it out. We're giving you guys a sweet discount of 20% off their annual plans when you go to joindelete.me/smartmoney or use the link in the description.

• 19:53Rachel Cruze?

  All right. Next is extravagance is discouraged and one must spend wisely and avoid waste. So that's with an Islam and then also Hinduism has the same kind of take on it as well.

• 20:06George Kamel?

  So they're, they're anti loud wealth.

• 20:07Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. So yeah. So my traveling, they would not appreciate.

• 20:11George Kamel?

  That's extravagant, Rachel.

• 20:12Rachel Cruze?

  That would not be good.

• 20:13George Kamel?

  Avoiding waste is a big one, though. I feel like Americans, like we waste a lot. And if you go to another country, like, wow, would you, that's perfectly good.

• 20:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 20:21George Kamel?

  Even me, I just threw away a perfectly good pack of green beans.

• 20:24Rachel Cruze?

  I was gonna say food.

• 20:25George Kamel?

  It was a day past the Best Buy and I went, I'm not risking it.

• 20:27Rachel Cruze?

  George, man, I, I do, I'm, I am embarrassed. I would be embarrassed by that. If there was a PowerPoint and you saw the amount of food that we have thrown away, I'm like, oh, I hate it so much. But you know, you get a pack of three romaine stalks for lettuce and you just make two salads. There's always one left and it always just ends up all wilted and sad in the fridge. I'm like, I don't know, I can't eat it now. Right? Like there is a point that you're like, I can't, it's old.

• 20:54George Kamel?

  And the worst is having a toddler because at one moment they're like, I want that banana. And then one bite and then it's gonna go bad.

• 21:01Rachel Cruze?

  And then they're done. Okay.

• 21:03George Kamel?

  Or they just throw it on the floor.

• 21:04Rachel Cruze?

  You know what we used to do? We stopped. I say we a lot. This is more Winston.

• 21:09George Kamel?

  Thank you for throwing him under the bus.

• 21:10Rachel Cruze?

  10% Winston. We used to compost.

• 21:13George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 21:14Rachel Cruze?

  So we have a garden and he was like very in, especially for the first year or two of the garden, to use compost soil. So we would take all of our food that we didn't use, we didn't throw it away. We like composted it. And that did make me feel good, you know, inside. Maybe I should go back to that.

• 21:29George Kamel?

  Is that you like repenting for atoning for these sins?

• 21:32Rachel Cruze?

  This romaine.

• 21:33George Kamel?

  Like, here's a banana peel, Earth.

• 21:35Rachel Cruze?

  I know. And then it goes back in and then we get a cucumber later, you know?

• 21:39George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 21:40Rachel Cruze?

  And it's great.

• 21:41George Kamel?

  Makes up for all the airplane rides you've taken destroying the earth. You're like, well, I recycled a banana peel, so.

• 21:47Rachel Cruze?

  No, those planes would have been going anyways. That Southwest jet was still gonna go to Fort Lauderdale, whether I was on it or not. And I happened to be on it.

• 21:54George Kamel?

  That, she makes a good point, guys. You can't argue with that.

• 21:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Uh, but yeah, that, that would make me feel better.

• 22:00George Kamel?

  That's a good one. Okay, last one for Islam. Give two and a half percent of qualifying wealth to the poor every year. That's a minimum.

• 22:08Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 22:08George Kamel?

  It's just a minimum of two and a half percent. That's interesting. How did they come up with that exact percentage?

• 22:13Rachel Cruze?

  I know. Cause the tithe in Christianity is 10%.

• 22:16George Kamel?

  It's a clean 10.

• 22:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, straight there.

• 22:18George Kamel?

  Two and a half, that takes some math.

• 22:20Rachel Cruze?

  It does. I don't like the point five.

• 22:21George Kamel?

  Were they doing that on like tablets back in the day?

• 22:23Rachel Cruze?

  Should we just round up to three? Just to be safe?

• 22:26George Kamel?

  You gotta have the abacus.

• 22:27Rachel Cruze?

  We'd like that to cover my Amazon spending.

• 22:29George Kamel?

  Yeah. But I do like that. It's, they make it a point to say, hey, you gotta give a percentage of your wealth to the poor every year.

• 22:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Yep.

• 22:37George Kamel?

  I don't know how that plays out. I don't know how you define poor. Is it charities? Is it just people on the street? I don't know. But I like it as a principle.

• 22:44Rachel Cruze?

  I do too.

• 22:44George Kamel?

  Let, let us know in the comments.

• 22:46Rachel Cruze?

  We love a generosity point.

• 22:47George Kamel?

  If you are, if you're Muslim and you wanna let us know how this plays out, I'm interested to learn.

• 22:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. And right next, Hinduism. First point here. Wealth is one of the four life goals.

• 23:00George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 23:00Rachel Cruze?

  So we're shooting for wealth here.

• 23:02George Kamel?

  Now I know, I wanna know the other three.

• 23:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I wonder what they are. Wealth, health? Probably shouldn't guess. Ooh, this would be fun. Let's guess and then chat GPT it.

• 23:12George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 23:13Rachel Cruze?

  Health? Wealth, just because they rhyme. Um, I'm gonna go peace.

• 23:20George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 23:22Rachel Cruze?

  Like.

• 23:22George Kamel?

  Sure.

• 23:23Rachel Cruze?

  World peace, relational peace, peace.

• 23:28George Kamel?

  All right, you're a true pageant queen now.

• 23:31Rachel Cruze?

  You go four. Well, I chat GPT. Let's see.

• 23:34George Kamel?

  The fourth, yeah, I feel like one's gotta be inward of like a spiritual sort of enlightenment type thing.

• 23:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 23:42George Kamel?

  Health and wealth are up there. And then there's gotta be something that is others focused. So I'm guessing something generosity.

• 23:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Okay, that's good.

• 23:50George Kamel?

  That has to do with giving because of the whole like karma thing, you know?

• 23:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because there is, um, you are reincarnated, right? Within Hinduism?

• 23:58George Kamel?

  I think that's Buddhism.

• 24:00Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't think Buddhism is. I think it's Hindu. See, this is.

• 24:03George Kamel?

  Everyone's laughing at us at home now.

• 24:03Rachel Cruze?

  This is why we need our world religion.

• 24:05George Kamel?

  They don't teach this in schools.

• 24:07Rachel Cruze?

  They don't. Okay, you ready?

• 24:08George Kamel?

  All right.

• 24:09Rachel Cruze?

  Righteousness and duty is number one.

• 24:11George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 24:11Rachel Cruze?

  Prosperity and livelihood, which is what we were talking about, number two. Pleasure and desire, number three. So like love, art, music, relationships, fulfilling your desires without harming others. And then number four is liberation. So freedom from the cycle of rebirth. Oh, that's what I was just talking about.

• 24:26George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 24:27Rachel Cruze?

  And union with the divine.

• 24:30George Kamel?

  So that one is sort of a spiritual.

• 24:32Rachel Cruze?

  Spiritual knowledge. Okay, so that was your, you said you're right there. Pleasure and desire.

• 24:36George Kamel?

  That one was not on my bingo card.

• 24:37Rachel Cruze?

  Was peace? I like that one.

• 24:39George Kamel?

  I, it's like, hey, have a good time as long as no one gets hurt.

• 24:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 24:43George Kamel?

  I think, yeah.

• 24:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And then number two again, that prosperity, earning wealth, maintaining health. Health, that's me.

• 24:48George Kamel?

  Health is on there.

• 24:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 24:50George Kamel?

  Way to go. That's part of the prosperity is health and wealth is.

• 24:53Rachel Cruze?

  Kind of under one of the points.

• 24:53George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 24:54Rachel Cruze?

  But we got there.

• 24:55George Kamel?

  That's pretty good. That's hard to argue with.

• 24:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 24:59George Kamel?

  I mean, even Ecclesiastes in, in the Christian Bible, it's like, hey, have a good time. Life is meaningless. Let's enjoy it while we're here.

• 25:05Rachel Cruze?

  You love Ecclesiastes.

• 25:07George Kamel?

  I love it so much.

• 25:08Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh.

• 25:09George Kamel?

  It has it all. It has the drama. It has the arc, you know? It has the rich guy telling us all money's not everything.

• 25:16Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. We appreciate it.

• 25:19George Kamel?

  We do. All right. Next up with Hinduism, giving is a sacred duty and it purifies the giver's karma.

• 25:26Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. Hey, there's the giving part.

• 25:29George Kamel?

  So, yeah.

• 25:29Rachel Cruze?

  And I like the word sacred there.

• 25:31George Kamel?

  The sacred duty.

• 25:32Rachel Cruze?

  I like that because I feel like it's not flippant. When you hear the word sacred, it's like very important, very holy.

• 25:38George Kamel?

  Contentional.

• 25:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, it has deep meaning. It is very, very, very significant and special. You know what I mean?

• 25:44George Kamel?

  Yeah. It's not just a thing to check off your list.

• 25:46Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I do feel like sometimes, yeah, it's like, hey, make sure you give. I don't know. It can be, it can seem flippant. But I like the seriousness of that word.

• 25:53George Kamel?

  Well, I gave a dollar at checkout for the kids.

• 25:54Rachel Cruze?

  You know where I do round up? Firehouse, because it goes to the fire departments.

• 26:00George Kamel?

  You know, you do that through your taxes, Rachel, but I love that.

• 26:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, I guess I do. There's something about firemen that is like if you round up, I'm like, you know, I'm drinking out of this big jug, this big gulp of a fire, you know, the fire.

• 26:16George Kamel?

  The firehouse subs cup? Is that what you're talking about?

• 26:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because they give it to you. I eat at Firehouse a lot.

• 26:22George Kamel?

  Yeah, you know a lot about this, except for what the name for a cup is.

• 26:25Rachel Cruze?

  And they take the big cup and as you're checking out, it's all happening. So you got your, you know, and you're like, oh gosh, I feel like I should round up to, and all the memorabilia around, you know, you see the hardworking firemen. So I do give to them.

• 26:39George Kamel?

  What about the police? What about the teachers?

• 26:41Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 26:42George Kamel?

  All right. Last one for Hinduism. Wealth is temporary and attachment to riches leads to suffering. Wow, that's a strong take at the end there.

• 26:51Rachel Cruze?

  Buddhism has a similar principle.

• 26:55George Kamel?

  So the.

• 26:55Rachel Cruze?

  The attachment to riches leads to suffering. You know what? I don't disagree.

• 26:59George Kamel?

  That plays out in real life.

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  If you're, if you are attached to how much money you have, what you make, all of that. You know, I don't want to say everyone because that may not be true, but I would say majority of people eventually in their humanity hit a wall and it doesn't get them where they want to go.

• 27:16George Kamel?

  Well, usually if you're that person, you don't have true relationships.

• 27:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 27:20George Kamel?

  Everyone in your life is a transactional thing. They're friends with you because of your money. You're flaunting it.

• 27:25Rachel Cruze?

  Or you're friends with all the same kinds of those people and you just have no like real relationship. It's all just like, we're all patting each other on the back. I don't know.

• 27:34George Kamel?

  Something to it.

• 27:35Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? Not mad at that point. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. All right. Next up, Buddhism. Okay. Ready for this first point? Earn a living without harming others.

• 27:48George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 27:48Rachel Cruze?

  Is one of the major points. So.

• 27:51George Kamel?

  That's a tough one because I would imagine a lot of industries and companies, you could make the argument that they actually harm people, especially when you go into the, you know, lending industry, for example.

• 28:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 28:01George Kamel?

  So if you're Buddhist, you can't work at a, at a car dealership, putting people into car loan. You know, does that count? I don't know.

• 28:08Rachel Cruze?

  That's a good point.

• 28:09George Kamel?

  What counts as harming others?

• 28:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Um, like junk food, not good for you. You know what I mean? Health. Um, tech, I don't know, technology. Uh, we could, we could argue that at points that they are setting up and trying to create people to be addicted to their app.

• 28:27George Kamel?

  Facebook or something and it's causing a generation of.

• 28:29Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh.

• 28:30George Kamel?

  You know, tech addict. I don't know. Let us, again, let us know in the comments, if you are Buddhist, how does this play out? I'm interested. Another one from Buddhism, wealth should support compassion. So giving to family, workers and those in need. So again, seeing a thread here.

• 28:45Rachel Cruze?

  The generosity portion.

• 28:47George Kamel?

  It's okay to build wealth. You should build wealth and you should do it with the spirit of giving in mind.

• 28:53Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. Next in Buddhism, contentment is the greatest wealth.

• 28:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 28:59George Kamel?

  Now they're speaking your language.

• 29:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Right? There is something about that. That is so true. Cause there is like this, like inner peace. And, and I do feel like Buddhism, like they, they, I feel like what I've read that a lot of it is opposite of, especially the Western world. Like they see suffering as almost a gift because of like what you learn from it. Like they, I don't know. They don't have a lot of high expectations of like an easy, they don't, they don't run towards easy.

• 29:28George Kamel?

  Yes. Like comfort is not a thing you're aiming toward.

• 29:32Rachel Cruze?

  Right. Yes. Yep. That's not like a goal where like the comfort crisis was a great book about how Americans, it's all we want. We just want to be comfortable in every aspect of our lives.

• 29:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I do feel like they're a little bit different. So that contentment piece obviously would be a result of that mindset where it's like, I'm good. Like.

• 29:50George Kamel?

  How long would you make it as a Buddhist monk?

• 29:53Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 29:56Rachel Cruze?

  Are you silent? Or no?

• 29:58George Kamel?

  Let's go with silence. Cause I think that would really shorten your lifespan.

• 30:03Rachel Cruze?

  Shorter.

• 30:03George Kamel?

  As a monk, they'd kick you out.

• 30:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. I probably should do like a silent retreat to try it out, but I'm gonna go with solid five days.

• 30:11George Kamel?

  Okay, that's pretty good.

• 30:13Rachel Cruze?

  I think I could go five days.

• 30:15George Kamel?

  Let's prove it.

• 30:16Rachel Cruze?

  You?

• 30:17George Kamel?

  We're sending Rachel.

• 30:19Rachel Cruze?

  And an all expenses paid trip, too.

• 30:22George Kamel?

  I could definitely do two weeks.

• 30:24Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 30:24George Kamel?

  Yeah. It depends on like the hygiene, like can I bring my hair products? Do I have to shave my head? You know what I mean? Like what it, what's required of me?

• 30:33Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. What if you didn't have your hair products, George?

• 30:36George Kamel?

  I mean, I'd be fine.

• 30:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 30:37George Kamel?

  But can I shower every day? I don't know what the hygiene, you know?

• 30:40Rachel Cruze?

  I know. There was a show that...

• 30:43George Kamel?

  Like what's the mattress like? I want to know that ahead of time.

• 30:46Rachel Cruze?

  And I don't think greats, like you're not at the Four Seasons, you know?

• 30:50George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't expect, you know, memory foam. I just need something that isn't going to give me back pain. Cause I'm going to complain all day to the other monks.

• 30:58Rachel Cruze?

  You're going for contentment, remember?

• 31:00George Kamel?

  It's hard to be content.

• 31:01Rachel Cruze?

  And suffering is part of it, George. Like there is a part of like...

• 31:05George Kamel?

  Have I not suffered enough?

• 31:08Rachel Cruze?

  You wipe your dog's butts. You do suffer some.

• 31:10George Kamel?

  Thank you.

• 31:11Rachel Cruze?

  I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you.

• 31:12George Kamel?

  That's a good one. Okay, moving on to Judaism.

• 31:14Rachel Cruze?

  Judaism, so rest from commerce on the Sabbath. I wish we did more of this.

• 31:20George Kamel?

  We love the Sabbath.

• 31:21Rachel Cruze?

  We love a Sabbath. Give me a Sabbath. And I wish we like did it more, you know?

• 31:26George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 31:27Rachel Cruze?

  We don't participate in a hardcore Sabbath. Like hardcore, they don't even cook. Like they prep all their meals. I mean, it's like...

• 31:33George Kamel?

  Oh, that's amazing.

• 31:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, like they do know.

• 31:35George Kamel?

  And they don't go anywhere, right?

• 31:36Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think so. I don't, yeah. But I mean, it's a very, very, like it is true rest. Like you literally are not doing anything. And I think that is so good. Now, people do the Sabbath like from technology and things I've heard families do, which I love that.

• 31:49George Kamel?

  That's a great one.

• 31:49Rachel Cruze?

  But I do like the change of pace on a day of the week, you know?

• 31:53George Kamel?

  I'll be honest, I think Christianity, I feel like Sundays can be chaotic. Like trying to get ready, get the family ready for church, like that doesn't feel restful.

• 32:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I agree. What's, what time is your service that you go to?

• 32:04George Kamel?

  11?

• 32:05Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, I was gonna say you should go to an 11 o'clock all morning, but...

• 32:09George Kamel?

  I know.

• 32:09Rachel Cruze?

  Never mind.

• 32:10George Kamel?

  But it still feels like, it's not, I wouldn't call it restful.

• 32:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I would agree.

• 32:16Rachel Cruze?

  Which begs the question, are we doing that right? You know?

• 32:18George Kamel?

  That's what I was getting at.

• 32:19Rachel Cruze?

  Early church history.

• 32:21George Kamel?

  What did the early church do?

• 32:23Rachel Cruze?

  Well, it depends on what time period you're talking about, George.

• 32:26George Kamel?

  More small group vibes, like a Thursday night?

• 32:28Rachel Cruze?

  Well, once Constantine came into power, then Christianity became legal. So then churches came out of like home churches, which is what we read through the Bible, out to actual like public displays, like in like the third, is it the third century?

• 32:40George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 32:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, when Constantine was like a big pivotal moment for the legalization of Christianity, but we don't get into all of that now.

• 32:49George Kamel?

  No, that's fascinating.

• 32:50Rachel Cruze?

  But yeah, but I think they became weekly, but communion, the Eucharist was big. They always took that, yeah. It's very fascinating, George, I should get into it.

• 33:00George Kamel?

  Ancient traditions.

• 33:01Rachel Cruze?

  We can edit that all that out.

• 33:03George Kamel?

  Speaking of ancient traditions, you're gonna love this one, Rachel. Judaism, debts are canceled every seven years.

• 33:09Rachel Cruze?

  What? Between, like?

• 33:14George Kamel?

  It says within the community.

• 33:15Rachel Cruze?

  A Jewish person to a Jewish person?

• 33:17George Kamel?

  Yeah, I think the context is in the community. This does not apply to US debt laws, for example.

• 33:23Rachel Cruze?

  Right, right, I was gonna say, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 33:24George Kamel?

  It's not like, well, I'm Jewish, so I'm just gonna let that credit card debt just roll out after seven years. It doesn't work like that. But I think within the Jewish community, debts are canceled. Again, I'd love to know more about this, how this actually plays out.

• 33:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 33:37George Kamel?

  But I imagine if the debt is with a company, you're out of luck.

• 33:41Rachel Cruze?

  And there was an interesting book that Dad, Dave, loves called Thou Shall Prosper by?

• 33:47George Kamel?

  Rabbi Daniel Lapin?

• 33:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, by a rabbi. But he does talk about how the Jewish people, from a financial standpoint, they do prosper.

• 33:55George Kamel?

  They have a tendency to prosper.

• 33:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, because a lot of their mindset around money, which I think is just fascinating. Like, they, they always do really well. Like, they're pretty conservative when it comes to.

• 34:05George Kamel?

  Like throughout history?

• 34:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%, yeah, yeah, thousands of years.

• 34:09George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 34:10Rachel Cruze?

  When you look.

• 34:11George Kamel?

  Well, hey, we love when getting out of debt is actually a value and priority for the people keeping our money safe, which is exactly why we love Fairwins, which is one of our new sponsors. And most places, most banks that handle your money, it just feels like you're an account number. You're lucky to get ahold of a person. They're actively marketing to you to get you further into debt, not to help you manage your money. And Fairwins is the opposite. They're not a bank, they're a credit union, which means they're owned by their members, not Wall Street. And so every decision they make is about your financial freedom, not their bottom line.

• 34:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, which I love. And they really do care about the person. You are not just an account number out there. You're a person to them. And their customer service is phenomenal. Like even their process to sign up and to get an account with them is so easy. And it was so quick, too. I was shocked by it.

• 34:59George Kamel?

  I knocked it out in five minutes on my phone during my lunch break.

• 35:02Rachel Cruze?

  It is so fast. And then they call the next day.

• 35:05George Kamel?

  Yes, just checking in. A real person checked in with me.

• 35:08Rachel Cruze?

  Making sure everything's good. And you're like, oh, my gosh, yes, thank you. I don't know. I just, I love, I love them. So Winston, I've been so happy with our Fairwins account. And they're incredible.

• 35:19George Kamel?

  And they're huge fans of Ramsey, which means they're not going to hit you with the junk fees. They have better rates, better dividends. So I would go check it out if I were you guys and join a credit union that is all over the nation. Go to fairwins.org/Ramsey today and see how fast you can sign up. See if you can beat Rachel's time.

• 35:36Rachel Cruze?

  Five minutes and 45 seconds.

• 35:39George Kamel?

  She's quick on the phone. I wouldn't, I wouldn't go against her in a competition.

• 35:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't use a laptop, rarely, ever.

• 35:45George Kamel?

  I've never seen you use a laptop. That is a claim to fame for you.

• 35:48Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I do everything on my phone.

• 35:50George Kamel?

  Very impressive.

• 35:51Rachel Cruze?

  It's pretty crazy.

• 35:51George Kamel?

  So millennial of you.

• 35:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 35:53George Kamel?

  Hey, we'll drop a link in the description to that as well, in case you don't want to type out fairwins.org/Ramsey. That's fine.

• 35:59Rachel Cruze?

  We get that.

• 36:01George Kamel?

  You ready for this next one?

• 36:02Rachel Cruze?

  No, I can't say the word. Can you?

• 36:04George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 36:05Rachel Cruze?

  Go.

• 36:06George Kamel?

  Sadaka.

• 36:08Rachel Cruze?

  Sadaka.

• 36:08George Kamel?

  Final answer.

• 36:09Rachel Cruze?

  Man, you're really great at phonics, George.

• 36:11George Kamel?

  Thank you. Well, I do speak Arabic as a.

• 36:13Rachel Cruze?

  That is true.

• 36:14George Kamel?

  So not that the words like translate very different.

• 36:17Rachel Cruze?

  But close.

• 36:18George Kamel?

  But when I watched Passion of the Christ, I was like, I'm getting some of these words. Now, Aramaic, very different than Arabic, but.

• 36:27Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, enlighten me. Wait, what?

• 36:29George Kamel?

  Well, Aramaic is like the original language.

• 36:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Did it, did it turn into Arabic?

• 36:34George Kamel?

  I think it kind of like a Latin, like a lot of words stem from the Aramaic.

• 36:38Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, but not like.

• 36:40George Kamel?

  Not word for word.

• 36:41Rachel Cruze?

  Not word for word.

• 36:41George Kamel?

  But it always felt good. When the subtitles were on, I was like, didn't need them.

• 36:46Rachel Cruze?

  Didn't need them. I could figure that out.

• 36:47George Kamel?

  I know what he said. He said God.

• 36:49Rachel Cruze?

  That's, oh my gosh. That is impressive, George.

• 36:52George Kamel?

  So this one, this word sadaka, um, in Judaism is about charity is justice. It's not optional. It's a requirement.

• 37:00Rachel Cruze?

  Hmm. You know what? Yes. I think it should be.

• 37:04George Kamel?

  Yes, and is what Rachel said.

• 37:06Rachel Cruze?

  And amen. Uh, be honest in business and have fair ethical scales.

• 37:12George Kamel?

  I like that.

• 37:13Rachel Cruze?

  A point too. So again, making sure that you're not taking advantage of people is a major principle within Judaism and your money, which I love. Gosh, George, there was a lot of common threads.

• 37:25George Kamel?

  Yeah, like it's weird because they're all so different. We can agree on that.

• 37:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, for sure.

• 37:30George Kamel?

  But the actual principles, if you had a Venn diagram, shockingly similar.

• 37:36Rachel Cruze?

  None of them were like, get wealth and hold it to yourself.

• 37:39George Kamel?

  So what are the common threads you noticed? That wealth is not evil unless you get obsessed and make it a god.

• 37:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right. Yeah. If it becomes the number one thing in your life, warning signs, I feel like from a lot. Um, but majority of these, yeah, not, yeah, not evil. Like you're not going to be damned because of it.

• 37:58George Kamel?

  Yep. There's not a threshold where, well, if you have this much, now you're a bad person.

• 38:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no, no, no. Uh, the generosity piece, I love that.

• 38:06George Kamel?

  Almost every single one had a piece about generosity and others focused.

• 38:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, like that.

• 38:11George Kamel?

  Selfless, not selfish.

• 38:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's, that is why it is so important. And I love that. Yep. Everything's agreed upon. Because I think that we, I think we all know in our, in our human selves, that generous people. Are so much better to be around. Like, you're just a better person when you're a generous person.

• 38:29George Kamel?

  You draw people in. It's just a more attractive way to live.

• 38:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and it's good for you. It's good for people, the world, you know? So, I like that.

• 38:36George Kamel?

  So we got, well, and we have debt, too. None of them spoke positively of debt.

• 38:40Rachel Cruze?

  No, they didn't.

• 38:41George Kamel?

  Even one is, hey, it's, you can't pay interest.

• 38:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you can't even do it. Don't even do it.

• 38:45George Kamel?

  Don't even think about it.

• 38:47Rachel Cruze?

  Don't do it. Love it. Stay away, y'all. Hey. That's a lot of good takeaways, George.

• 38:53George Kamel?

  I like it. Which, uh, which money principle is the most challenging?

• 38:57Rachel Cruze?

  For me, or just like, we think like-

• 38:58George Kamel?

  I think for you.

• 38:59Rachel Cruze?

  Just in general?

• 39:00George Kamel?

  Or if you had to go live out this principle?

• 39:02Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, on Judgment Day, if I had to take it into account for everyone, I spent my money.

• 39:09George Kamel?

  You think it's like honor system? Do they just ask you and hope that you tell the truth?

• 39:13Rachel Cruze?

  That just feels like-

• 39:14George Kamel?

  And how do you sum up an entire lifetime?

• 39:15Rachel Cruze?

  Like, Christianity, let's be honest, it's mostly like, your sin, right? Like, there's like, you know?

• 39:20George Kamel?

  Especially the Catholics. We didn't get into that, but could've spent a whole episode on that.

• 39:24Rachel Cruze?

  Protestant, Orthodox, Catholicism, under the Christian umbrella. And that's true. Um, yeah. So I think it would make me, I, yeah, that one, that one would be hard for me. Again, not that I'm doing anything illegal, but you're just like, oh, man, do I suck?

• 39:38George Kamel?

  But it's like, you could have been doing better for the community, Rachel.

• 39:40Rachel Cruze?

  I could, right? I know. So that, okay, how about you?

• 39:44George Kamel?

  Oh, the one I would struggle with the most? I mean, I think the giving is a sacred duty kinda challenges me a little bit. Cause it does sometimes feel like when it's on auto pay and it's, alright, I paid the tithe. It, it can feel like just another thing that came out of the bank.

• 40:01Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 40:02George Kamel?

  And so it's hard for me to grasp the, you know, gravity of it.

• 40:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 40:07George Kamel?

  And to be, feel connected to the giving.

• 40:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's fair.

• 40:10George Kamel?

  So that challenges me to think differently about how I can be more connected.

• 40:13Rachel Cruze?

  I love that. That's good.

• 40:14George Kamel?

  When I do give.

• 40:15Rachel Cruze?

  That's so great. Well- If you need any level of taking some of these principles and actually organizing it in a tactical way, check out our EveryDollar app because it's a great app for not just budgeting, but even taking some of these principles and applying it to your life. It really does help.

• 40:31George Kamel?

  You don't need to hope you have money left over to give or to build wealth. It'll just be there because you planned for it. So go download the EveryDollar app or click the link in the description and we'll send you over there.

• 40:41Rachel Cruze?

  Love it. All right, George, before we spill the tea in our Guilty as Charged segments, what are we drinking? Give us the details.

• 40:49George Kamel?

  The tart cherry margarita. And yeah, you gulped yours down early. I'm still working on mine. It's about, I don't know, 38 ounces in here, it feels like.

• 40:58Rachel Cruze?

  There is a lot. I liked it, though. Okay, what's your rating?

• 41:02George Kamel?

  I'm getting a second opinion here. My rating is a 10 out of 10. If I was at a Mexican restaurant and this was the special of the day, sign me up for two.

• 41:11Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? I'm gonna say yes. I wish there was some salt on the rim.

• 41:15George Kamel?

  I was just gonna say that. Some salt would really...

• 41:17Rachel Cruze?

  Because it's like kinda tart-ish.

• 41:19George Kamel?

  The salt with the tart would have been nice. But I can't complain.

• 41:23Rachel Cruze?

  Bartender Michael, we will give you a note. We never give notes for him.

• 41:26George Kamel?

  Yeah, I will say the straw is a good move because trying to drink out of the chalice here would have been detrimental.

• 41:33Rachel Cruze?

  The chalice?

• 41:34George Kamel?

  Not to bring religion back into it.

• 41:36Rachel Cruze?

  I know. We're so holy.

• 41:39George Kamel?

  Wow, this has got the tart cherry margarita, tequila, tart cherry juice, lime juice, and agave nectar. So pretty simple to make at home. You seem to go buy some tart cherry juice, which is also great for sleep, by the way. Did you know that?

• 41:51Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 41:52George Kamel?

  Take a little shot of tart cherry juice before bed?

• 41:55Rachel Cruze?

  Where do you buy tart cherry juice?

• 41:57George Kamel?

  Store.

• 41:59Rachel Cruze?

  Store?

• 41:59George Kamel?

  You can get it anywhere. Now, the hard part is finding it not from concentrate.

• 42:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 42:04George Kamel?

  Versus from concentrate.

• 42:06Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 42:06George Kamel?

  But I mean, any...

• 42:07Rachel Cruze?

  Do you buy tart cherry juice?

• 42:08George Kamel?

  I've been known to purchase it.

• 42:10Rachel Cruze?

  Really?

• 42:10George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 42:10Rachel Cruze?

  For sleep?

• 42:11George Kamel?

  I was doing it for sleep, but then I found out you can make margs with it, which...

• 42:15Rachel Cruze?

  Now we're...

• 42:16George Kamel?

  Sleepy better. That's a good one. $2.56 if you want to make this at home per serving. Go check it out. Recipes in the show notes. Give it a try at your own leisure.

• 42:29Rachel Cruze?

  So great. All right, George. Now it's time for Guilty as charged. 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, are you guilty of being a little too obsessed with a Ramsey financial teaching?

• 42:49George Kamel?

  Oh, okay. I'm trying to think through the teachings and go like, which one am I obsessed with? I would say the one I went a little like hard in the paint, not to make a sports reference, was baby step six, the mortgage payoff.

• 43:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 43:04George Kamel?

  The early mortgage payoff. I had gazelle intensity, which we do not require or even ask for.

• 43:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 43:11George Kamel?

  We say, once you're out of baby step one through three, which is paying off debt, consumer debt, and getting the emergency fund, you move from intense to intentionality. And I just stuck with intense.

• 43:23Rachel Cruze?

  And you went all the way.

• 43:24George Kamel?

  So yeah, when people ask me like, what'd you do? I go, well, this is what I did. I'm not saying you have to do it this way.

• 43:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but you just took baby step six all the way.

• 43:30George Kamel?

  Yeah, the first time we paid off our home, we did it in 26 months and we went and we did our debt free scream on the show.

• 43:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I remember that.

• 43:37George Kamel?

  And it's, that's an insane timeline.

• 43:39Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 43:40George Kamel?

  To do it. But we just want, there was an intentional goal we had.

• 43:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 43:43George Kamel?

  Before we were even married, we were like, hey, when we get a house, we're going to pay it off quickly.

• 43:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. That's great.

• 43:48George Kamel?

  How about you? I mean, you've been inundated with the principles for 30 years now.

• 43:53Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I'm trying to think.

• 43:55George Kamel?

  Which one are you obsessed with? Which one haunts you at night?

• 43:57Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know obsessed, but like, I do find myself like correcting my kids sometimes, just in the words they use. Like they'll be playing and they'll be like, you know, they'll get like a kit with like a purse and it has like a mirror, a brush, and like a little plastic card and all this. And they'll be like, it's my credit card. I'm like, no, it's not. It's a debit card. We don't have credit cards. And I'll like find myself like, oh my gosh, we don't do that. Where they were watching Mr. Beast games.

• 44:24George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:24Rachel Cruze?

  And he was giving away all this money and it got toward the end. And a lot of them were using it to pay off debt. And I think one of my kids was like, oh, debt, that's cool. I was like, no, it's not. No, it's not. Or like, I find myself like very on edge. Isn't that terrible? I don't know.

• 44:39George Kamel?

  You know, I do get overly defensive. I find when it comes to that, especially the debit card. Like people are like, you can't. I'm like, but I have and I do.

• 44:47Rachel Cruze?

  Right, right.

• 44:48George Kamel?

  So that's where I think that kind of plays into it.

• 44:51Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know, but correcting like a little four year old when she's playing.

• 44:54George Kamel?

  Yeah, that's a little over the top.

• 44:56Rachel Cruze?

  I'm like, debit, say debit card. You know what's funny?

• 45:00George Kamel?

  Debit.

• 45:01Rachel Cruze?

  My mom, Sharon Ramsey, still will randomly be like, go get my credit card over there. And my dad is like me, like Sharon, it's a debit card. And she's like, why? We haven't had credit cards in over 40 years. And Sharon will still.

• 45:14George Kamel?

  But it's just like ingrained in her mind and she's just living her life.

• 45:17Rachel Cruze?

  Just saying the word, yeah, but it's not it. But yeah, anyways, maybe.

• 45:20George Kamel?

  I love that. I have noticed a lot of kids' toys are starting to come with cards. Like we got Mia, a little like pizza station, which you will love.

• 45:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 45:28George Kamel?

  It's a pizza truck.

• 45:29Rachel Cruze?

  Love a pizza.

• 45:29George Kamel?

  So she can make pizzas, has an ice cream station. But it has a little like card reader thing with a little red card.

• 45:36Rachel Cruze?

  Stop it. Oh, my gosh.

• 45:37George Kamel?

  And I'm like, I'm gonna write in debit on it so she learns early on.

• 45:41Rachel Cruze?

  You see how I feel?

• 45:42George Kamel?

  And I'm gonna teach her, don't do tap to pay. We're gonna bring cash. Cause it does come with cash as well.

• 45:48Rachel Cruze?

  We're not doing any level, yeah, no tapping, no Apple Pay here at Mia.

• 45:51George Kamel?

  I want you to feel the pain at purchase, Mia.

• 45:53Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. Well, if you guys have a guilty search question for us, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Kamel. And if you enjoyed this episode, you definitely want to check out our episode, Unique Money Traditions That You Won't Find in the U.S. So we'll put a link in the show notes for that. And we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all new episode of.

• 46:16George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.