Things to Stop Doing With Your Money in 2025

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! If you want to have a “new year, new you,” you have to do new things. In the first episode of the new year, Rachel and George share bad money habits you’ll want to ditch in 2025. Next Steps: 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour. 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. 🎥 Watch our video How to Start Becoming a Millionaire in 2024. Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off at Cozy Earth with code SMARTMONEY. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🧊 Frostbite Tequila Cocktail Recipe: The Spruce Eats 1 1/2 ounces tequila 1 ounce blue curaçao liqueur 1/2 ounce white crème de cacao liqueur 1/2 ounce cream Luxardo Cherries, for garnish Instructions: In a cocktail shaker, pour the tequila, blue curaçao, crème de cacao, and cream. Fill with ice. Shake well. Strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a cherry. Serve and enjoy. Listen to 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.

• 0:05Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:06George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:07Rachel Cruze?

  And this is

• 0:08George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:11Rachel Cruze?

  Cheers, George.

• 0:12George Kamel?

  Cheers.

• 0:15Rachel Cruze?

  Delicious.

• 0:16George Kamel?

  Amazing.

• 0:17Rachel Cruze?

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

• 0:23George Kamel?

  And today's vibes are excellent already, Rachel, because it's the first episode of 2025.

• 0:27Rachel Cruze?

  I know. You guys, Happy New Year.

• 0:29George Kamel?

  We made it. The haters doubted.

• 0:31Rachel Cruze?

  And thanks for being here. You know, maybe it's a fresh start. Maybe people think, hey, we want to listen to a money podcast and start a new trail.

• 0:39George Kamel?

  A new journey.

• 0:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 0:40George Kamel?

  We're all on a journey, as we are. And today, we're talking about money habits you should leave behind in 2025. But before we get to 2025, all things good and bad, let's share what we're sipping on, Rachel.

• 0:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 0:51George Kamel?

  It's a Frostbite.

• 0:52Rachel Cruze?

  What a fun drink name. And it's really good.

• 0:55George Kamel?

  It looks like the milk after you eat Lucky Charms.

• 0:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, it does. That's so true.

• 1:00George Kamel?

  And I'm gonna call this drink Oops All Booze. It's a boozy one for being such a fun color. It looks like you'd just be drinking blue milk, but it's not.

• 1:08Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my goodness. Well, for those of you that don't know, George and I, we are in the personal finance space when it comes to what we talk about in life. And one of the best parts of our job when it comes to this is just new beginnings, fresh starts, clean slates, a do-over, whatever you want to call it.

• 1:24George Kamel?

  Yeah, getting out of debt, maybe investing for the first time, getting that emergency fund in place. We love to cheer people on as they take control of their finances and to start rewriting a different story.

• 1:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and the new year, it presents itself in that way, right? Everyone's looking for the fresh start.

• 1:38George Kamel?

  For some reason, January 1st is just a day, but it feels like a blank slate.

• 1:42Rachel Cruze?

  It really does.

• 1:43George Kamel?

  Who knows what's possible?

• 1:44Rachel Cruze?

  Who knows? We have, we have all of 2025. Can you believe 2025? I remember Y2K. Do you remember Y2K?

• 1:51George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:52Rachel Cruze?

  Man, and that was 20-

• 1:53George Kamel?

  I think I still have trauma from what they said was gonna happen.

• 1:55Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. Dave and Sharon may have had a few cases of water in the basement.

• 2:00George Kamel?

  I don't doubt it.

• 2:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we didn't know.

• 2:02George Kamel?

  I was too young to even know.

• 2:04Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, you were?

• 2:05George Kamel?

  Well, I mean, I was in like, 5th grade.

• 2:07Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 2:07George Kamel?

  So I wasn't like, a prepper at that point.

• 2:09Rachel Cruze?

  I just remember everyone being like, "The computers can't take a 2,000. They can't take it. It's gonna crash."

• 2:14George Kamel?

  Yeah, the banks are gonna shut down.

• 2:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's all gonna crash. Yeah.

• 2:16George Kamel?

  And here we are.

• 2:16Rachel Cruze?

  Here we are, 25 years later.

• 2:18George Kamel?

  The world crumbled for different reasons.

• 2:19Rachel Cruze?

  25 years later, a quarter of a- Century.

• 2:23George Kamel?

  Yeah. I was real nervous about what you were gonna say.

• 2:27Rachel Cruze?

  A decade, and I was like, that's not the right word. That's not the right word.

• 2:31George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 2:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. Well, we're gonna talk about, you know, some habits, good and bad, to look at in 2025 when it comes to your money.

• 2:39George Kamel?

  Well, when you leave behind a bad one, you gotta pick up a good one.

• 2:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, and you know.

• 2:43George Kamel?

  I'm sure James Clear's talked about that. I'm sure he invented that somehow. Father of the habit.

• 2:48Rachel Cruze?

  Father of the habit. He birthed it, birthed the habit. Uh, yeah, so we are going to talk about habits in this, in this episode. It's gonna be fun, George.

• 2:57George Kamel?

  Yeah, we'll call out a few non-money related habits and behaviors that we'd like to see each other leave in 2024. I've got some bones to pick with you, Rachel.

• 3:05Rachel Cruze?

  All right, I can't wait to hear about it. Okay, George, what's one habit you wanna see leave in 2025?

• 3:11George Kamel?

  People who are putting their financial goals on the back burner.

• 3:14Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's a good one.

• 3:14George Kamel?

  It's always a, you know, this is like with investing. Well, I'll just do it next year. I'll get to that later on. I'll save when I'm older, right? That's, that's what people say to themselves. And it's like when you're scrolling Instagram on your couch after dinner and you're like, I'll get up, I'll go to bed at 8:30. 8:31 hits, you're like, make it 8:45. Then before you know it, it's midnight and your spouse is waking up to feed your infant child and you're still.

• 3:37Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 3:37George Kamel?

  Rotting on the couch like a lowlife.

• 3:39Rachel Cruze?

  It is weird how time just evaporates when you scroll. It's not good.

• 3:44George Kamel?

  And doing it, I was up late last night watching a Netflix series. And I was like, I'm gonna regret this in the morning, but I just wanna finish it and be done with it.

• 3:51Rachel Cruze?

  See, I don't do that. I don't have that issue. I, I'm, I'm so.

• 3:53George Kamel?

  Are you like, the clock hits eight and you're.

• 3:56Rachel Cruze?

  I'm physically tired. I'm like, I can't, even if I wanted to try to stay up late, I really can't.

• 4:02George Kamel?

  Does your body just know? Or do you have like an alarm set on your phone?

• 4:05Rachel Cruze?

  No, my body. No, my body. My body's like, good night, Rachel.

• 4:10George Kamel?

  Good night, Moon.

• 4:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, good night, Moon.

• 4:12George Kamel?

  Good night, Rachel. Is Winston the night owl?

• 4:14Rachel Cruze?

  No, neither of us are.

• 4:15George Kamel?

  He's out.

• 4:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we both go to bed in an embarrassing early time sometimes, but we get great sleep, which is why we're so healthy. I'm just kidding.

• 4:23George Kamel?

  Didn't we just do an episode about your Sonic and McDonald's runs?

• 4:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we did.

• 4:28George Kamel?

  Okay. But you know what? You make up for that with your other healthy habits.

• 4:31Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. That's right. So, healthy habits are great. Okay. You know the one I hope stops in 2025?

• 4:37George Kamel?

  What's that?

• 4:38Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, this whole like, kind of cool factor of like, not really knowing what's in your bank account.

• 4:42George Kamel?

  It has become trendy to sort of-

• 4:44Rachel Cruze?

  It's like a trendy to be like, "Oh my gosh, I don't really know, but we're just gonna go for it." Or like, whatever the excuse is. But some people, it's like, ignorance is bliss. Their head is in the sands. They don't even wanna know what is going on with their money. We gotta stop that, y'all.

• 4:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, I saw the video. The girl said, "I don't wanna look at my bank account because I don't need that negative energy in my life." Or, "It's none of my business." Like, it's literally your business.

• 5:06Rachel Cruze?

  It's literally your business.

• 5:07George Kamel?

  If you are the business, your business is about to be bankrupt, girl.

• 5:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 5:10George Kamel?

  Let's do something about this. So, people like to make light of it, cuz I think it's a coping mechanism.

• 5:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And again, money's not everything in life. Like, we're okay to take some lighthearted approaches, for sure, right? But when it starts to like, become a pattern, and that's really how you function, you're not just kinda like joking about it with your friends. Yeah, we, we, yeah, we're gonna raise a little red flag.

• 5:30George Kamel?

  If it's like your personality trait to make fun of how broke you are-

• 5:32Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 5:33George Kamel?

  Maybe you need a new personality.

• 5:35Rachel Cruze?

  George, stop that.

• 5:36George Kamel?

  That's all I'm saying.

• 5:37Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-mm.

• 5:38George Kamel?

  Just like people who make CrossFit or veganism their personality. I think we need a better personality.

• 5:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but there are people that like, work hard, and it's like, yeah, it all goes. And then they just like, kinda have fun with the fact of like, "Oh, well, look at so-and-so over there doing that."

• 5:52George Kamel?

  But usually, there's some toxic habits that they're sort of just like, "Yeah, but I'm gonna keep my toxic habits."

• 5:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, if it's justifying it. But some people are wise with it. Come on, George, don't be grumpy.

• 6:02George Kamel?

  I'm a fuddy-duddy.

• 6:02Rachel Cruze?

  Don't be grumpy. So grumpy.

• 6:04George Kamel?

  I don't wanna see that in my feed. Okay? We get it.

• 6:07Rachel Cruze?

  We get it. Um, okay, uh, other things to stop doing in 2025. Using your credit card as an emergency fund.

• 6:14George Kamel?

  This one grinds my gears.

• 6:15Rachel Cruze?

  I bet it does, George. You tell us.

• 6:17George Kamel?

  The fact that you think the credit card company is your friend and your saving grace and your little security blanket, and they're gonna charge you 25% APR on that purchase when you're in an emergency?

• 6:28Rachel Cruze?

  Here's my theory.

• 6:28George Kamel?

  Terrible.

• 6:29Rachel Cruze?

  I don't think people think, I don't think people always are like, "Oh yeah, the credit card companies are for me." I don't think they always think that. I think they believe, "I have no other option." And this is it. Like, this is my option.

• 6:39George Kamel?

  I don't have 10,000, so if I needed to spend 10 grand for an emergency, I could swipe the card.

• 6:43Rachel Cruze?

  I could just swipe the card. Yeah, they see it as kind of like the last line of defense, where we want you to be the last line of defense. And to actually say, hey, let's have some goals around this, so that the credit card doesn't become the safety net. Because what ends up happening is, you have a car issue, and then you gotta fix it with a credit card. Well, your car issue's fixed, but now you have a money issue, versus getting the car fixed with money you've saved. And then you're done. No more issues. No more issues, right?

• 7:11George Kamel?

  And I found there's a correlation between people who get ahead with money, and people who aren't getting all these ankle-biter emergencies, always dragging them down, using the card to swipe. And that's why the starter emergency fund is key. Getting a thousand bucks saved, while it may not sound like life-changing money, it really does cover those little ankle biters that keep throwing you off the wagon.

• 7:31Rachel Cruze?

  Well, 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency in cash. So, for less, a little less than half of America, a thousand bucks is pretty good.

• 7:40George Kamel?

  Which means you're swiping that card if you have a $450 emergency.

• 7:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you're swiping it probably a lot, so.

• 7:46George Kamel?

  So, a thousand bucks to start, get that done really fast. Takes most people 30 days or less to do this. Probably next paycheck, if you can just hunker down, cut some expenses, sell some stuff. And then you want, long-term, a fully-funded emergency fund, once you're out of debt. And that's three to six months of expenses.

• 8:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 8:00George Kamel?

  I call this like the never-go-in-to-debt insurance policy. Because when you have that, you never have a reason to go swipe the card.

• 8:07Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. That's right, yes. And that's a great place to be. Like, when you get to baby step three and it's done, it's like, oh my gosh, I have no payments, and I have a fully-funded emergency fund. Huh, I'm good. Like, that's where really the stress dies down.

• 8:21George Kamel?

  In my early 20s, I had the Amex SkyMiles card.

• 8:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you did, George.

• 8:26George Kamel?

  I had the Discover Cash Back card.

• 8:28Rachel Cruze?

  Did you get a lot of cash back?

• 8:30George Kamel?

  No, I was broke. It's like, when you think about this, when you're, you know, 20 years old, you're making no money, and you're thinking like, well, this is, I'm gonna get a great credit score, I'm gonna get some sweet cash back. So I was in credit card debt. And finally, when I cut up the cards, and I took debt off the table, it was amazing what happened. I just made very different decisions.

• 8:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 8:48George Kamel?

  And I got the thousand bucks saved, got out of my debt about 18 months, got a fully-funded emergency fund, and I never looked back. No credit card since.

• 8:54Rachel Cruze?

  You know, that's a really good point. It's almost like, even though the quote-unquote "I pay it off every month" credit card idea...

• 9:00George Kamel?

  We see you.

• 9:01Rachel Cruze?

  We know you're out there. We know you're out there. If other parts of your money are not great either, like we don't really have a big savings account. We do have some other debt over here. You know, you're kind of just like, uh, you kind of got all these like, what do they call it, rods in the fire? Sticks in the fire.

• 9:16George Kamel?

  Irons?

• 9:16Rachel Cruze?

  Irons in the fire. There's a lot of irons in the fire.

• 9:19George Kamel?

  Been waiting to use the word irons. That's great. I was like, rods in the fire? Is this biblical? Spare the child, burn the rods?

• 9:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 9:32George Kamel?

  That's the line.

• 9:33Rachel Cruze?

  You got a lot of irons in the fire that aren't great, right? Like, you're kind of just managing your money, like, barely getting by. It's like, oh, my gosh, we got all this stuff. So to completely turn your whole perspective around money, do something drastic, like cut up the credit cards. And it's not even the fact that, like, you had to depend on the credit cards, because I think some people don't, but they're still paying car loans. They're still kind of like managing everything else just to keep their head above water. When you do something drastic with your money, it forces everything else to change.

• 9:59George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:59Rachel Cruze?

  So it's kind of a good, like, shock the monkey. There's another phrase for you.

• 10:02George Kamel?

  There we go.

• 10:03Rachel Cruze?

  I got that one, right?

• 10:03George Kamel?

  So irons in the fire, we're shocking them. How about this one?

• 10:06Rachel Cruze?

  Go.

• 10:06George Kamel?

  Burn the ships. That's one of my favorites.

• 10:08Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, wait, don't burn them, right? We don't...

• 10:10George Kamel?

  There's some story about they burned the ships so they couldn't turn back.

• 10:14Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 10:15George Kamel?

  So there's this, like, I'm never going back moment. I don't know. It probably, it was a great historical thing.

• 10:20Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 10:21George Kamel?

  Read the book about it. I'm not gonna give you a history lesson.

• 10:24Rachel Cruze?

  The emergency phone, the emergency fund is the lifeboat on the burning boat. So, burn the boats, get in the lifeboat, and then you're good. You're sailing, sailing away to new heights.

• 10:37George Kamel?

  Wow, we have analogied this to death. The four people that are left listening are just hanging on for dear life to their little life raft at this point.

• 10:47Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 10:48George Kamel?

  Gonna keep it going.

• 10:49Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, the next one's for me.

• 10:50George Kamel?

  This is for you.

• 10:51Rachel Cruze?

  Stop buying things on sale just because they're on sale. This is one of my downfalls, you know? You see a great sale, so you throw in an extra sweater in the cart because it's 50% off.

• 11:02George Kamel?

  Do you get a little dopamine hit just seeing the word sale?

• 11:05Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, yeah, and mine's not because I get to save more money, it's because I get more stuff.

• 11:09George Kamel?

  Oh, thank you for your honesty.

• 11:11Rachel Cruze?

  It's not just like, ooh, I'm playing this great game. It's like,

• 11:14George Kamel?

  She's happy to pay full price.

• 11:15Rachel Cruze?

  I get more for the same amount of money I was gonna spend.

• 11:17George Kamel?

  More bang for the buck.

• 11:18Rachel Cruze?

  I'm a, I'm a quantity over quality. I know it's not like the minimalism cool thing, but that is Rachel. All day, all day.

• 11:25George Kamel?

  Yeah, this is a big one. Just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's a good deal.

• 11:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 11:30George Kamel?

  Everything's 100% off if you don't buy it, and you can go broke while quote unquote, saving money. Right? I bought it because it's on sale, I put it on the cart. I am Winston.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

• 11:40George Kamel?

  A lot of people mistake me for Winston when I'm walking around the streets. I have to explain to them. He's a little bit taller. No, this is a good one.

• 11:48Rachel Cruze?

  That's true, though, I know.

• 11:48George Kamel?

  Probably the hardest one to pass up, especially holidays and sales and emotional spending, retail therapy. And now that the phone apps, like, they go to you. The notification pops up letting you know.

• 12:00Rachel Cruze?

  See, I don't do notifications.

• 12:01George Kamel?

  What about emails? Do you get the emails? I feel like you're old school.

• 12:03Rachel Cruze?

  I do, but I do try to subs-

• 12:04George Kamel?

  Unsubscribe?

• 12:05Rachel Cruze?

  I'm sorry, hold on. You feel like I'm old school?

• 12:08George Kamel?

  You just seem like an email newsletter kinda gal.

• 12:14Rachel Cruze?

  No, I don't know why that's offensive.

• 12:16George Kamel?

  How else would you-

• 12:16Rachel Cruze?

  I think, I think that's great, but like-

• 12:18George Kamel?

  Would you rather me say, will you wait for the J. Crew catalog to arrive by pigeon?

• 12:23Rachel Cruze?

  By pigeon.

• 12:24George Kamel?

  How do you find out about sales?

• 12:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, email.

• 12:28Rachel Cruze?

  But I do try to unsubscribe. I will go through and unsubscribe because it'll, man.

• 12:32George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 12:33Rachel Cruze?

  It's a crazy thing, amount of emails you get.

• 12:34George Kamel?

  I love doing that, like, right before Black Friday, November 1st hit, and it was like every company decided, "Go, go, go, descend, descend," and I just started unsubscribing en masse.

• 12:43Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 12:44George Kamel?

  On November 1st, all, because I was like, they're starting their campaigns.

• 12:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, they're, oh, and you'll get so much. So, yeah.

• 12:49George Kamel?

  So if it's tempting you-

• 12:50Rachel Cruze?

  And you taught me this, George, that sometimes these stores, it's the same price, but they like- Just say it's on sale or something. I feel like that should be illegal.

• 13:00George Kamel?

  Well, they have the MSRP or retail price. And so they go, well, it's 40% off. And you go, it's still $78 for this cardigan, even 40% off. And next week, when the sale's over, they're gonna have a new sale and it's still gonna be $78. So they use a lot of tomfoolery to trick you, Rachel. Don't fall for it.

• 13:16Rachel Cruze?

  Don't fall for it.

• 13:17George Kamel?

  Don't fall for the scams.

• 13:18Rachel Cruze?

  All right, another habit to leave behind, George, talking to myself, comparing yourself to others. Can I just add with a little asterisk, on social media?

• 13:27George Kamel?

  That's the big one.

• 13:28Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, man, social media, we always talk about it, but it's just true.

• 13:33George Kamel?

  You think it's mostly Instagram? Or do you see like Facebook and other places?

• 13:37Rachel Cruze?

  I don't get on anything else.

• 13:39George Kamel?

  I think Instagram is the place you flex.

• 13:41Rachel Cruze?

  Me too.

• 13:42George Kamel?

  I don't think Facebook, there's a lot of flexing. It's mostly venting. Mostly Facebook groups. That's where I hang out.

• 13:48Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 13:48George Kamel?

  Like the neighborhood Facebook group is, I'm like...

• 13:51Rachel Cruze?

  See, we have a group me, Facebook. We have a group me, the app, for our neighborhood.

• 13:56George Kamel?

  That's pretty hip.

• 13:58Rachel Cruze?

  Well.

• 13:59George Kamel?

  You think the guys are in there too?

• 14:00Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 14:02George Kamel?

  What are the guys posting in the...

• 14:04Rachel Cruze?

  Well, they have a guys group. And a girls group. Well, that was the overall.

• 14:09George Kamel?

  So they split up?

• 14:10Rachel Cruze?

  There's a lot of different groups. There's like referral group, there's um...

• 14:14George Kamel?

  Wine.

• 14:15Rachel Cruze?

  Social group, there's book club group, there's...

• 14:17George Kamel?

  Are you in any of the groups?

• 14:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I'm in all of them.

• 14:21George Kamel?

  Are you like mayor of your neighborhood? What are you doing?

• 14:24Rachel Cruze?

  No, I just like to go to, I go to everything I can.

• 14:26George Kamel?

  Wow. I didn't know you were like a social butterfly in your own neighborhood.

• 14:30Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah. I started a Bible study in my neighborhood. Got 12 ladies coming.

• 14:35George Kamel?

  That is actually shocking.

• 14:37Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 14:39George Kamel?

  I mean, you're a busy mom, you know? Like, that's a lot on the plate.

• 14:43Rachel Cruze?

  It's just per semester. It's like six times a semester we get together.

• 14:46George Kamel?

  Do you come up with the curriculum?

• 14:47Rachel Cruze?

  Are you ready for the title of it?

• 14:48George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 14:49Rachel Cruze?

  Jesus and Wine.

• 14:50George Kamel?

  Oh, wow.

• 14:51Rachel Cruze?

  So we bring wine and we go through like a study or a book or, yeah, whatever it is. We went through, are you ready for this? We just finished last night was our last one for the semester.

• 15:02Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, what's the book of the pile that I just went through for the last semester? That I'm blanking on, but you love it.

• 15:08George Kamel?

  Ecclesiastes?

• 15:09Rachel Cruze?

  Nope.

• 15:09George Kamel?

  Oh, Ecclesiastes.

• 15:09Rachel Cruze?

  Ecclesiastes. I was supposed to say Ephesians. It wasn't Ephesians. We did Ecclesiastes.

• 15:13George Kamel?

  What'd you think?

• 15:14Rachel Cruze?

  We went through a book with it. Uh, it was, yeah, it was good.

• 15:17George Kamel?

  I need to read the book.

• 15:19Rachel Cruze?

  It's called, um, Living Life Backwards.

• 15:21George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 15:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. You'll like it.

• 15:23George Kamel?

  Any favorite verses or takeaways from Ecclesiastes you'd like to share with the group?

• 15:27Rachel Cruze?

  Um, yeah, since we're talking about like comparing others. I like the level of like moodiness of Ecclesiastes that like kind of gets you down to like, what's really like, what's, I'm all gonna die.

• 15:36George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 15:36Rachel Cruze?

  You know, but then, then it'll, then it'll flip around and be like, but, but be merry. Enjoy your hard work. So I love that too.

• 15:44George Kamel?

  Yes. It's like Bon Iver into Michael Buble.

• 15:47Rachel Cruze?

  It does, yeah.

• 15:48George Kamel?

  It's a very different vibe. It's like the Titanic is going down. Let's have a good time.

• 15:54Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

• 15:55George Kamel?

  Let the band play.

• 15:56Rachel Cruze?

  That's exactly it. Dance, be merry. Don't worry about trying to be in control. Like, just enjoy life. Yeah.

• 16:02George Kamel?

  So, everything is meaningless, so stop comparing your life to someone else's.

• 16:05Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. It's all back into, stop comparing yourself to others.

• 16:08George Kamel?

  That is a good one. And it's difficult because even as you, you know, you get better in your career, you get better with money. Well, there's always someone who's nine steps ahead of you that you're like, but we don't have that kind of money.

• 16:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 16:19George Kamel?

  And we live in this county where Ramsey is, it's like the 11th wealthiest county in the nation. So the level of wealth here is just mind blowing.

• 16:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. People are, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just, uh...

• 16:30George Kamel?

  Don't compare. And you talk a lot about contentment. That's a great way to fight the temptation to compare.

• 16:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 16:36George Kamel?

  You wrote a book about it. You've got a kid's book about it. You've got a journal about it. You're all about it.

• 16:40Rachel Cruze?

  I need more of it. That's why I write about it. No, no, but there is a level of peace in life that is so worth chasing and to have and to rest and be like, oh, life is good. Like, life is fine. Why do I feel like I have to just keep going and going? And having goals and striving for stuff, it's not bad, but it's out of the motivation and where that's coming from.

• 17:00George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 17:00Rachel Cruze?

  Is what is, is so important.

• 17:02George Kamel?

  As someone who's goal oriented and futuristic, it's harder for me to pause and be grateful and be content.

• 17:07Rachel Cruze?

  And you know, my, my level of like, oh gosh, keep going, keep going. It's not because I want everyone else to think I'm great. It's not that. It's this feeling of like, oh, but if I go there or get that or do that, accomplish that, something is, in my life is gonna be better because of it. And that's just.

• 17:23George Kamel?

  And it rarely is.

• 17:24Rachel Cruze?

  Rarely is.

• 17:25George Kamel?

  You go with you. That was, it's one of my favorite quotes.

• 17:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, it's so true.

• 17:28George Kamel?

  So like get yourself to a healthy place internally.

• 17:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 17:32George Kamel?

  Before you accomplish any external goals.

• 17:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know. I remember.

• 17:35George Kamel?

  So deep.

• 17:36Rachel Cruze?

  We were building our house and we were moving in. I was like nine months pregnant with Charles. We had a two-year-old and a four-year-old.

• 17:44George Kamel?

  Woo.

• 17:44Rachel Cruze?

  And we were in the kitchen of our old house and I, it was like a few nights before we moved into our new house. And I remember telling Winston, I mean, you're, we're like feeding the kid in the high chair and there's food. It was just, I mean, everything is just like a mess. And I was like, I cannot wait to get to the new house.

• 17:59George Kamel?

  It'll all be better.

• 18:01Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah. And he like looked at me. He was like, babe, just like pick this up and set it in a new kitchen.

• 18:06George Kamel?

  Move this mess into a nicer kitchen.

• 18:07Rachel Cruze?

  It's gonna be the exact same scenario, maybe with a, you know, a different countertop.

• 18:13George Kamel?

  There you go.

• 18:13Rachel Cruze?

  But that's it. But like, but for real, you kind of have this belief of like, oh my gosh, if I just had that, something else is gonna be fixed within me. And it is an empty promise, an empty promise, not fulfilling.

• 18:23George Kamel?

  Who knew from a Smart Money Happy Hour podcast, you'd be getting such deep life lessons.

• 18:28Rachel Cruze?

  George, this isn't deep. This is life.

• 18:30George Kamel?

  Oh, wow. Sorry. This is just vanity then. It's all vanity. She's been reading Ecclesiastes clearly.

• 18:36Rachel Cruze?

  This is, this is where we go. No, no, no. I mean, like this is the level at which.

• 18:39George Kamel?

  This is a normal level of depth for you.

• 18:41Rachel Cruze?

  This is a good.

• 18:42George Kamel?

  This is very deep for me.

• 18:43Rachel Cruze?

  George, you're not that.

• 18:44George Kamel?

  This is shallow waters for Mrs. Cruz. I am deep sea fishing.

• 18:49Rachel Cruze?

  Cause your ship is burned.

• 18:51George Kamel?

  I don't trust.

• 18:52Rachel Cruze?

  Come with me.

• 18:53George Kamel?

  I don't know where you bought that boat.

• 18:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, row us to deeper waters, George.

• 18:56George Kamel?

  We're rowing? We're in a rowboat?

• 18:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that is, yeah. No, let's have a.

• 18:59George Kamel?

  You should have went to Rick's Boats and got a nicer boat. What are you doing? You can afford a better boat.

• 19:05Rachel Cruze?

  Thanks for the call back.

• 19:06George Kamel?

  I'll sell you one.

• 19:07Rachel Cruze?

  Thanks for the call back.

• 19:08George Kamel?

  All right. Next habit to leave behind in 2025, paying for subscriptions you rarely use. This one is close to home and I have an, I have an honest confession that is also on growth.

• 19:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, cool.

• 19:20George Kamel?

  I finally quit my gym. Stop paying for the membership.

• 19:26Rachel Cruze?

  Good job, George. How's that feel?

• 19:27George Kamel?

  Dave talks about, you know, when it's time to quit. Like quitting is good if you're quitting the wrong things. And for me, it was the wrong thing in the wrong season.

• 19:36Rachel Cruze?

  Totally, totally.

• 19:36George Kamel?

  And so now we got a workout bench. I'm gonna start working out with Whitney at home in the garage.

• 19:41Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh, that's what Winston and I do.

• 19:43George Kamel?

  I said the Cruises do this.

• 19:45Rachel Cruze?

  You'll love it. Yes.

• 19:46George Kamel?

  And so she's been trying. I found that Whitney is the type that needs like the supportive spouse who's also doing the thing.

• 19:51Rachel Cruze?

  It is a game changer. Yeah, okay.

• 19:55George Kamel?

  I'm like, you should commit. I don't wanna have to commit because you're, you know what I mean?

• 19:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 19:58George Kamel?

  But she loves the accountability of both of us doing the thing.

• 20:02Rachel Cruze?

  It'll feel great, too. Yeah, that's great, George.

• 20:05George Kamel?

  It feels good to cut that.

• 20:06Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, another habit to drop, justifying little treats.

• 20:11George Kamel?

  This one's the easiest to justify because it's a little treat, Rachel. It's five bucks here, seven bucks there, and it adds up.

• 20:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I was telling some of the girls today during content meeting where I was like, man, I missed, because of my age, I think, the brunch era. Like, you know how brunch is really cool right now?

• 20:28George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 20:29Rachel Cruze?

  Like, it wasn't 10 years ago, like when I didn't have kids, like...

• 20:31George Kamel?

  No one was going to brunch 10 years ago?

• 20:33Rachel Cruze?

  I didn't know. Maybe I wasn't cool and people were doing that.

• 20:37George Kamel?

  Nobody was inviting you to brunch.

• 20:38Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe that was it. I don't know. But now I see via Instagram.

• 20:42George Kamel?

  You sent her your whole week around.

• 20:44Rachel Cruze?

  People like, girls going out to brunch with their friends. I don't know. And I'm like, man, I miss the brunch era. And I'm like, that's where I would, like, it's those things that I'm like, oh, my gosh, I would justify that. Like, if I had the time and the bandwidth, all day. Like, give me a social situation in a restaurant. That would be my little treat.

• 21:01George Kamel?

  Or like when you're running errands.

• 21:02Rachel Cruze?

  Just bottomless mimosas. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 21:05George Kamel?

  Go for it.

• 21:05Rachel Cruze?

  Just add it to the tab. It's just a little treat. It's been a big week. We're gonna just enjoy this. That's a, yeah, it's real.

• 21:12George Kamel?

  Do you do this when you're running errands? You're like, well, should stop and get a little treat? A little Starbucks or a little something on the way?

• 21:18Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I'm not...

• 21:19George Kamel?

  Or out, let's get lunch?

• 21:20Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so mine's food. I'm not a Starbucks person.

• 21:24George Kamel?

  I've never seen you darken the door of a Starbucks. I wouldn't even know your Starbucks order.

• 21:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, you ready? Either just a medium Pike's Place, black...

• 21:33Rachel Cruze?

  Coffee or a chai tea latte. That's it.

• 21:36George Kamel?

  Pike Place?

• 21:37Rachel Cruze?

  Well, I don't know.

• 21:38George Kamel?

  It's the best you can do?

• 21:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's what they have on tap. So the only time I really eat it is in-

• 21:42George Kamel?

  Get there before noon, get a blonde roast.

• 21:44Rachel Cruze?

  Is an airport. So give me the bacon gouda sandwich, breakfast sandwich.

• 21:49George Kamel?

  Oh, that is a good one.

• 21:50Rachel Cruze?

  And a Pike's Peak medium black coffee.

• 21:52George Kamel?

  Pike Place. You just keep changing the name on us. But I respect that you drink black coffee. Is that true?

• 21:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, no cream.

• 22:01George Kamel?

  Look at that. That's on growth.

• 22:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I did that because of-

• 22:04George Kamel?

  That's a habit to leave behind. Just pouring all of the dairy and sugar you can into your coffees.

• 22:09Rachel Cruze?

  I do black coffee and Keurig, George.

• 22:12George Kamel?

  That I think you need to cover up.

• 22:15George Kamel?

  That's worth putting some cream in.

• 22:17Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I, uh, yeah. So no, so my, my little treat is not Starbucks. Mine would be grabbing lunch out. A little Shlattskis run through, if you know what I mean. Uh, little drive-through action there. Number one without black olives.

• 22:33George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 22:33Rachel Cruze?

  Cracked pepper chips.

• 22:34George Kamel?

  I feel like you keep saying it as if you're hoping someone's gonna like ship you this order or something like, be disgusting.

• 22:40Rachel Cruze?

  People that like Shlattskis appreciate this. Um, yeah, that would be mine. And/or if I was like at Target, I'd like pick up a sweater or something.

• 22:49George Kamel?

  Hmm.

• 22:50Rachel Cruze?

  That'd be a little treat.

• 22:51George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 22:51Rachel Cruze?

  So I don't know if that's considered little treats, but those are mine. Those are mine.

• 22:55George Kamel?

  I went to this local coffee shop, very hip, thinking like, well, I gotta try it out. And of course, the lattes are, you know, six something, then you get the non-dairy milk, that's an extra dollar. So I walked out of there and I was spending like, for two drinks, fifteen dollars.

• 23:09Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my, jeez.

• 23:10George Kamel?

  And they were fine. Not fifteen dollars worth.

• 23:15Rachel Cruze?

  Sure, totally.

• 23:15George Kamel?

  And it just made me a little disgusted at myself for falling for this little treat culture.

• 23:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I get that.

• 23:21George Kamel?

  But it was our anniversary.

• 23:22Rachel Cruze?

  I get that, yeah.

• 23:23George Kamel?

  So I thought, treat, if there's ever a day, the treat shows up to a little treat, it's our anniversary.

• 23:27Rachel Cruze?

  Go get the nice coffee.

• 23:28George Kamel?

  But let us say that we are pro treats. As long as it's in the budget, it's not impulsive, and you actually wanted to buy it, and you know what it's doing to your other financial goals.

• 23:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 23:38George Kamel?

  The problem is like, where'd my money go? And I look at your bank statement and it's just little treat, little treat, little treat, big treat, little treat, little treat.

• 23:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

• 23:46George Kamel?

  That's really the worst kid's book ever. It's like the worst Dr. Seuss book.

• 23:49Rachel Cruze?

  Little treat, little treat. Okay, uh, last one. Letting FOMO control your financial decisions.

• 23:56George Kamel?

  Woo.

• 23:57Rachel Cruze?

  So.

• 23:58George Kamel?

  This is real.

• 23:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, this is a habit of like, oh my gosh, I just don't want to miss out. So I'm going to go into debt for this thing. I'm going to use my emergency funds to go here or there, like whatever it is. And it's affecting your financial foundation, we'll call it.

• 24:14George Kamel?

  This happens a lot socially. You know, like there's the bachelor trip, the wedding, whatever the thing is that's going to be really expensive. You're out to dinner and everyone's ordering this thing and it's going to cost you this much. And you're like, it's not, I don't have the money for this or I shouldn't be spending money on this. But you do it because of the, you know, the surroundings that you're in, your environment.

• 24:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it can happen very easily. And I would be guilty of this. This is where I'm like, ah, let's just go.

• 24:40George Kamel?

  In the spirit of the moment with everyone there, you're like, sure, why not?

• 24:43Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 24:43George Kamel?

  So you gotta have the boundary in place before you show up.

• 24:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 24:46George Kamel?

  Know what you're gonna spend, know what's in the budget and know how to say no.

• 24:50Rachel Cruze?

  I love it. Yep. Well, y'all, some good, uh, habits to leave behind in 2024.

• 24:56George Kamel?

  That's right.

• 24:56Rachel Cruze?

  Because 2025 is going to be a new, beautiful year.

• 25:00George Kamel?

  Wow. You said it was such confidence and ease. I believed it.

• 25:03Rachel Cruze?

  Like that was like 2024 me is what you can say. Like, oh my gosh, that was so 2024.

• 25:07George Kamel?

  Remember 2024 me?

• 25:08Rachel Cruze?

  I was so 2024. This is 2025 and we're doing something new. Okay, what, uh, what's, what's a habit you're gonna break, George?

• 25:16George Kamel?

  A habit I'm gonna break? Oh my gosh. I think phones is the new thing I need to break. Like it's just the, you just get used to just pulling out the phone. Anytime, anywhere, for as long as you want, just open app, close the app, scroll, tap the like button, get out of there, tap another app. I just need to put my phone away more and be more present and get outside more.

• 25:36Rachel Cruze?

  Before we get to guilty as charged, what is in this drink?

• 25:40George Kamel?

  This is called a Frostbite.

• 25:41Rachel Cruze?

  And why is it blue?

• 25:43George Kamel?

  Well, there's an ingredient that has the word blue in it, if that's any indication.

• 25:47Rachel Cruze?

  That's a good, that's a good hint.

• 25:48George Kamel?

  It's got Blanco tequila, blue curacao, creme de cacao and heavy cream.

• 25:54Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 25:55George Kamel?

  So it's a creamy tequila blue drink. I don't know the flavor of blue curacao.

• 26:02Rachel Cruze?

  Are my teeth blue?

• 26:03George Kamel?

  Not that I can tell, but thank you for smiling at me. That was very nice. What would you rate this drink?

• 26:10Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going 10 out of 10.

• 26:11George Kamel?

  Wow, it feels like I'm inside of the movie Frozen.

• 26:15Rachel Cruze?

  If I was out with friends and we were like, oh, let's get like a dessert drink. I'd be like, we should order the Frostbite.

• 26:21George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:22Rachel Cruze?

  Because it's such a fun.

• 26:22George Kamel?

  On a crisp night?

• 26:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 26:24George Kamel?

  It feels like this is what Elsa would drink on her 21st birthday. If I may. Whenever she gets there, when Frozen 9 comes out, I hope they're having Frostbites by the fire. It's very nice. So this.

• 26:36Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, do you think, do you know that they think that the ship of which Elsa and Anna's parents died in was actually the ship that the Little Mermaid was swimming around?

• 26:45George Kamel?

  Is that a conspiracy?

• 26:47Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. But they all connect. Did you know that all Disney movies, they like have connections to all of them?

• 26:51George Kamel?

  I didn't know that.

• 26:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Wild.

• 26:53George Kamel?

  I didn't know you could have real conspiracies for fictional movies. That's amazing.

• 26:58Rachel Cruze?

  I can find them anywhere, George.

• 26:59George Kamel?

  That's amazing. Thank you for that fun fact.

• 27:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you're welcome.

• 27:01George Kamel?

  Well, hey, try this drink. The recipe's in the show notes. It costs $2.27. My rating, in case you were curious. 8 out of 10.

• 27:11Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, why not a 10 out of 10?

• 27:12George Kamel?

  I'm just exhausted by the dairy drinks. I just.

• 27:16Rachel Cruze?

  Michael keeps giving us dairy drinks, I know.

• 27:18George Kamel?

  I'm just never like, mm, you know what I'd love is a cold glass of milk with some booze in it. So, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. But it is a good drink as far as dairy goes and.

• 27:27Rachel Cruze?

  Because I'm gonna say this, it may be the tequila, but there's like that aftertaste that's great.

• 27:31George Kamel?

  Yeah. It's nice.

• 27:33Rachel Cruze?

  It's nice.

• 27:34George Kamel?

  And I will say, mixologist Michael did an incredible job with the glass.

• 27:38Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, it's beautiful.

• 27:39George Kamel?

  It's got the like frosted cranberries with the sugar and simple syrup on there.

• 27:43Rachel Cruze?

  I ate some of.

• 27:44George Kamel?

  The coconuts that are glued on there somehow with Elmer's. I don't know what he did to this. It's impressive.

• 27:49Rachel Cruze?

  It's so great.

• 27:50George Kamel?

  So, go check it out in the show notes and make it for yourself.

• 27:53Rachel Cruze?

  All right, George, now it's time for Guilty as Charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new Guilty as Charged question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip.

• 28:03Speaker 02

  All right, have you ever made an ambitious purchase that went with one of your goals or resolutions that you didn't do anything with?

• 28:12George Kamel?

  This feels like a personal burn.

• 28:16George Kamel?

  Almost every goal that wasn't financial, I think. I mean, buying books that I didn't read, that I was like, I'm gonna read 50 books, I gotta buy the books.

• 28:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no, you bought books before.

• 28:25George Kamel?

  Didn't read 50 books.

• 28:26Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no, George, man.

• 28:28George Kamel?

  That's a tough one.

• 28:29Rachel Cruze?

  Man.

• 28:29George Kamel?

  The other one is literally any workout gear or equipment. I was like, well, if I get the right shoes, I'll work out better.

• 28:36Rachel Cruze?

  But you're about to start a home gym, so you gotta, you gotta use it.

• 28:38George Kamel?

  We did buy the bench. I have not used said bench.

• 28:41Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 28:41George Kamel?

  So far.

• 28:42Rachel Cruze?

  Do you have free, do you have free weights?

• 28:44George Kamel?

  I have some dumbbells.

• 28:46Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 28:46George Kamel?

  I need to, I need to up my dumbbell game.

• 28:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 28:49George Kamel?

  Not quite there yet.

• 28:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. Okay. It's good, George.

• 28:52George Kamel?

  How about you?

• 28:53Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I think the worst one for me, what, it was, it was a workout. This was like, I don't know, maybe two years ago. And I bought a workout app because of a girl I followed on Instagram, swore by it. And I was like, oh, yeah, this would be good. I could do this like by myself, like, you know. And I went to buy it, and of course, they give you a deal that they're like, if you buy it for a year, it's $149. Or if you buy it for a month, it's $20. So you get a better deal if you buy the year-long subscription.

• 29:21George Kamel?

  Look at you trying to save money.

• 29:23Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh. And I was like, well, of course I'm gonna use it for a year. Yeah. So I bought a $150 workout app. Yep.

• 29:29George Kamel?

  And?

• 29:31Rachel Cruze?

  Didn't use it.

• 29:32George Kamel?

  Ooh.

• 29:33Rachel Cruze?

  And then the worst part of it all. Say it, Kelly.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  Oh, no, it, it renewed.

• 29:39Rachel Cruze?

  Renewed to the next year, and I didn't know.

• 29:42George Kamel?

  I just home alone'd. Oh, my gosh.

• 29:44Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 29:45Rachel Cruze?

  But.

• 29:46George Kamel?

  That is awful.

• 29:47Rachel Cruze?

  Do you know what I did?

• 29:47George Kamel?

  The renewal hurts my soul.

• 29:49Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, it was, my stomach, I literally got, and I, my stomach dropped. I was like, oh, no, no, no, no. No, that was 2022, Rachel. Like, that's like, no, that's not good.

• 29:59George Kamel?

  Oh, gosh.

• 30:00Rachel Cruze?

  But you know what I did is I submitted it to the Apple Store.

• 30:03George Kamel?

  Oh, for a refund?

• 30:04Rachel Cruze?

  And they refunded me.

• 30:05George Kamel?

  Thank you. That is the most George thing you've ever done in your life. That is the life hack. If it charges you, as soon as it charges.

• 30:13Rachel Cruze?

  It was within 15 minutes.

• 30:14George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 30:14Rachel Cruze?

  Cause I got the like, the email. I got the email.

• 30:17George Kamel?

  Look at her getting emails.

• 30:18Rachel Cruze?

  I got the email and I was like, oh no, no, no, no, no. And yeah, and, and it was great. It refunded me and it was fine. So I felt good about myself.

• 30:26George Kamel?

  I'm really proud of you for even knowing that was a possibility.

• 30:28Rachel Cruze?

  And you know what else I did that was so great? This isn't guilty as charged. This is like amazing as charged because I did that. And then the other thing I did was I want to do my steps. I'm into steps right now.

• 30:38George Kamel?

  Oh, that's right. You just found out that the Apple Health app tracks your steps.

• 30:41Rachel Cruze?

  That's my story. Yeah. So I downloaded a step app.

• 30:45George Kamel?

  Did you pay for it?

• 30:46Rachel Cruze?

  Well, that was the thing. The step app was like, oh, you get 30 days free. But you know, whatever, whatever. So I bought it, but it wasn't going to charge me till after the like 30 day trial. Well, then I learned that Apple's been keeping my steps, which is another conspiracy theory. They know where I've been for like a long time. And I was like, oh my gosh. But they tracked my steps. So then I went through George and I canceled my trial of the other app. So I didn't get charged. I felt very responsible.

• 31:13George Kamel?

  Then it really is growth for you.

• 31:15Rachel Cruze?

  I know. I felt good. It felt good.

• 31:16George Kamel?

  Also, you should just text me before you make any life decision. So I can show you the better, easier, cheaper way.

• 31:21Rachel Cruze?

  And it's free on the Apple version.

• 31:24George Kamel?

  It is free on the Apple.

• 31:25Rachel Cruze?

  It's great. It's great.

• 31:26George Kamel?

  This is really good. Yeah. The other things are like, we bought a Peloton during COVID. Never used it.

• 31:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that was, that was the hot thing. Where are Peloton's gone? I feel like they kind of dropped off a map.

• 31:37George Kamel?

  Then there was the, uh, the portable treadmill. It's just like a flat, little, nice little treadmill.

• 31:41Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. I thought about doing that for the winter to get my steps in.

• 31:42George Kamel?

  I should have sold you the one that we never used.

• 31:45Rachel Cruze?

  Was it good?

• 31:46George Kamel?

  It was great. We just never used it.

• 31:47Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 31:47George Kamel?

  And so then I was like, we're going to sell it.

• 31:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 31:49George Kamel?

  And so there's a lot of things that we buy and then sell for a loss and then go, we'll never do this again. And then we go do it again.

• 31:54Rachel Cruze?

  Man, the workout industry, I bet, makes a lot of money.

• 31:57George Kamel?

  Oh yeah. Well, they can prey on your insecurities.

• 31:59Rachel Cruze?

  Good intentions.

• 31:59George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 32:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 32:01George Kamel?

  Good intentions is a great business model.

• 32:03Rachel Cruze?

  It's great. So good.

• 32:04George Kamel?

  All right.

• 32:05Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, George. Well, if you guys have any fun Guilty as Charge questions, send them our way. We're on social. Just DM us. We look for them because they're always fun when they come from you all. And make sure to follow us on social. Subscribe to this. Share the episode with friends and family. And make sure to check out our episode on how to start becoming a millionaire in 2024. So we're gonna go back a year, but all the advice still applies because we talk about timeless money advice, don't we, George?

• 32:32George Kamel?

  That's right. It still works year after year.

• 32:34Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. And so we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.