Pod Insights Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel These “Get-Rich-Quick” Schemes Will Topple Your Financial Progress About this episode 📈 Learn how to invest the smart way using Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Investing.
Building wealth is actually pretty simple (when you do it the right way). But there are some risky strategies out there that can topple your financial progress overnight. Join us for a live game of Jenga and some commonsense financial advice along the way.
Next Steps:
🎙️ Catch our episode Reacting to People’s Money Fails So You Can Feel Better.
🍸 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 free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar.
📕 Grab a copy of George Kamel’s book, Breaking Free From Broke.
Connect With Our Sponsors:
Check out the FAIRWINDS Credit Union exclusive account bundle.
Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe.
Get 20% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth.
Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥂 Lemon Ginger Mocktail Spritz
Recipe from Join Jules
1/2 ounce honey syrup
3/4 ounce ginger juice
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
2 ounces sparkling water
Instructions: Blend ginger with a little water and strain. Add honey syrup to a glass. Add ginger juice and lemon juice. Add ice and top with sparkling water.
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
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:05 George Kamel? Today, we're talking about the worst and riskiest ways to build wealth, and we're playing a game of Jenga to keep things interesting. I think Jenga is how I created my anxious attachment. It's a very anxiety-inducing game.
0:15 Rachel Cruze? No, stupid. Don't do that, guys. Don't waste your money.
0:20 George Kamel? Oh, this is not looking good for you.
0:27 Rachel Cruze? Hey, guys. I'm Rachel Cruz.
0:29 George Kamel? I'm George Kamel.
0:31 Rachel Cruze? And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George.
0:36 George Kamel? Cheers.
0:39 Rachel Cruze? This can't be our table. No, no, we got a little game here.
0:43 George Kamel? Occupado.
0:44 Rachel Cruze? Yes. All right. 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.
0:52 George Kamel? But first, let's talk about what we're sipping on. It's a lemon ginger mocktail spritz.
0:58 Rachel Cruze? It's amazing. And I'm not a big ginger fan, but already, it's so good.
1:02 George Kamel? This is a winner. So stick around. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode and know earlier. Don't ask. So when it comes to building wealth, Rachel, there are proven methods that are guaranteed to help you reach your goals responsibly. And then there are, shall we say, get rich quick schemes that can topple your financial progress overnight.
1:21 Rachel Cruze? Hint, hint. Our game of Jenga.
1:24 George Kamel? We love a Jenga.
1:25 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, throwback to a little childhood. Are you gonna play with Mia when she gets a little bit older?
1:31 George Kamel? I don't know, because I think Jenga is how I created my anxious attachment. It's a very anxiety-inducing game. I don't know that I need to introduce trauma.
1:39 Rachel Cruze? Are you an anxious attachment?
1:40 George Kamel? Yeah, 100%. I don't need a therapist to even tell me that.
1:45 Rachel Cruze? You're not avoidant? I would have thought maybe avoidant.
1:46 George Kamel? Well, that's hurtful. Can you be both? What are you?
1:50 Rachel Cruze? I'm avoidant.
1:51 George Kamel? Oh, I can see that.
1:52 Rachel Cruze? Winston's anxious attached. I'm avoidant attached.
1:54 George Kamel? Anything that makes me more like Winston is fine with me. Yeah, I just feel like it's an anxiety inducing game.
2:01 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, it is.
2:01 George Kamel? Many games can be, but there's a physical thing that happens.
2:05 Rachel Cruze? It's true, yes.
2:06 George Kamel? And it's your fault, you know what I mean? I don't like any of that part.
2:09 Rachel Cruze? Right, the moment the tower falls, it's all on you.
2:11 George Kamel? Yeah.
2:12 Rachel Cruze? It's like tennis.
2:12 George Kamel? No one else to blame.
2:13 Rachel Cruze? It's like tennis, there's no team, it's just you. If you fail, you fail. Oh, man, were y'all competitive game nights growing up?
2:19 George Kamel? Um, I wouldn't say so. I don't remember playing a lot of games with like my whole family. I don't know if it's because we were like Middle Eastern and so there was a little gap. We had a lot of board games.
2:28 Rachel Cruze? Do Middle Eastern people not play board games? What are you saying?
2:31 George Kamel? I don't know. It was probably like some, you know what? My grandpa played, uh, backgammon.
2:36 Rachel Cruze? Oh, yeah, that's a fun one.
2:37 George Kamel? Big backgammon guy.
2:38 Rachel Cruze? Yes, that's good.
2:39 George Kamel? Maybe some dominos here and there.
2:41 Rachel Cruze? For sure.
2:41 George Kamel? Some marbles.
2:42 Rachel Cruze? Hey, Mexican trained dominos.
2:44 George Kamel? That hits.
2:44 Rachel Cruze? Fun game, fun.
2:46 George Kamel? That's a good one. But yeah, we had Monopoly, Game of Life.
2:49 Rachel Cruze? Yeah.
2:49 George Kamel? Trouble. We had all the, sorry.
2:51 Rachel Cruze? Yes, yes, you got it.
2:53 George Kamel? All the classics, how about you guys?
2:54 Rachel Cruze? I love it. Yeah, the Ramses are a family game, family.
2:58 George Kamel? Family game, family.
3:01 Rachel Cruze? The Ramses are a family of...
3:03 George Kamel? To this day.
3:04 Rachel Cruze? Games, games.
3:05 George Kamel? What's the one we played with Dave?
3:08 Rachel Cruze? Oh, code names.
3:09 George Kamel? Code names.
3:09 Rachel Cruze? We get so...
3:11 George Kamel? If you want to get riled up.
3:13 Rachel Cruze? We get so competitive. We may yell and cheat and do what you gotta do to win, but you do it.
3:19 George Kamel? It was aggressive and I'll never forget. I've also played a board game with your brother Daniel.
3:24 Rachel Cruze? Probably.
3:24 George Kamel? That was also trauma inducing.
3:25 Rachel Cruze? I was gonna say, we are, we are a game family.
3:27 George Kamel? And very competitive.
3:29 Rachel Cruze? Yes, yes. Uh, it's, our volume goes up. It gets loud, it gets very loud.
3:34 George Kamel? Doesn't help with the anxiety.
3:36 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe, yeah, so maybe you're doing the smart choice in life, George, staying away from the games.
3:41 George Kamel? I think that's partially why.
3:42 Rachel Cruze? But this episode, we're gonna induce all the anxious, trauma induced...
3:46 George Kamel? If you're not watching on YouTube or Spotify, you should watch because these are aggressively large blocks. I'm not small, these are just very large blocks. I'll make that very clear.
3:54 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, so this is, it kind of represents your, um... If you built your financial wealth on some unsturdy habits, some practices that we would say not great. And as we pull them out, we will show you how unstable life can be.
4:11 George Kamel? The tower can crumble.
4:13 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, if you do not choose good habits. And some of these in here, George, are crazy.
4:18 George Kamel? So we're gonna pull them out. They have a label on them. If they have a label, we'll talk about it.
4:22 Rachel Cruze? Yes, and if not, we're gonna keep moving.
4:23 George Kamel? Respect to Jenga, though, for like, you don't really need rules. You know what I mean? Like, you don't need to know someone's language. There's no, it's just, you know, to get the block out, you don't want it to tumble. Settlers of Catan, so stressful, so many rules.
4:36 Rachel Cruze? Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is simple.
4:38 George Kamel? There's wheat, there's bricks, there's sheep, there's roads. I don't need games like that in my life. The game that I used to play with my wife? Ticket to Ride on the iPhone.
4:48 Rachel Cruze? Oh, yes.
4:49 George Kamel? We switched to the app because the board game was too stressful.
4:52 Rachel Cruze? Okay.
4:52 George Kamel? So many little pieces you're keeping up with.
4:54 Rachel Cruze? But the app is fun.
4:56 George Kamel? The app, we would just sit in bed and just play.
4:58 Rachel Cruze? Oh, we got cute.
4:59 George Kamel? Ticket to Ride in silence.
5:02 George Kamel? I miss those days.
5:04 Rachel Cruze? Oh, my gosh, all right, should we start?
5:06 George Kamel? Shall we?
5:07 Rachel Cruze? Okay.
5:07 George Kamel? You wanna go ladies first?
5:08 Rachel Cruze? Ladies first, all right.
5:12 George Kamel? I'll make sure you win.
5:15 George Kamel? Since you're very competitive.
5:16 Rachel Cruze? Oh, I got one. Ooh, buying aspirational real estate.
5:21 George Kamel? Oh, this is like debt-leveraged real estate.
5:24 Rachel Cruze? Yes, this is the whole, I see this on social media all the time, like, hey, oh, my gosh, you can buy 14 houses, put nothing down, put renters in there, make like a million dollars a month, then you can turn that.
5:35 George Kamel? They pay the mortgage, Rachel.
5:36 Rachel Cruze? Turn that, and then you can buy another house and all the things, all the things. But that buying aspirational real estate, that's real.
5:43 George Kamel? That's a tough one.
5:44 Rachel Cruze? People are doing it.
5:44 George Kamel? And it's, it's one of the...
5:45 Rachel Cruze? Oh, like, I put it on top, sorry. I forgot the rules already.
5:48 George Kamel? So, yeah, when you're, when you take the block...
5:50 Rachel Cruze? I'm gonna put it on top here so we can remember.
5:52 George Kamel? That's helpful.
5:53 Rachel Cruze? There we go.
5:53 George Kamel? Yeah, real estate is a tricky game because it seems like a reliable quote-unquote investment. But it also has one of the largest hassle factors. Because you're dealing with real people and dirt and construction and renovations, and things always cost more than you want, and the tenant doesn't pay. And so, no matter what hack you saw on social media, just know that it is maybe a quarter of the truth. If maybe you have to...
6:16 Rachel Cruze? You know, I talked to a lady last month. They bought a piece of property down in the famous 30A.
6:22 George Kamel? Oh, yeah.
6:23 Rachel Cruze? And they bought it, I think at the height, I think their interest rate was like 8% or something. I mean, and I think they pay like $20,000 a month more, I mean, like insane. And they're trying to rent it out, but there's so many properties now down there that.
6:41 George Kamel? It's saturated.
6:42 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, they don't always get a renter. And even if it is full, she told me, the rent rate for what you can charge for rent doesn't even now cover the mortgage because of the interest rate, like.
6:51 George Kamel? Oh, my goodness.
6:52 Rachel Cruze? It's really tough. So all I say, even, and we had a caller on the Ramsey show last week and she bought like a mountain property. And fixed it up, but like it's not renting, so she's thinking about selling, but she'll lose money on it. I mean, it's just. Yeah, the aspiration in real estate, you guys, just be practical with it. You can build wealth. Um, other ways, I would say you can build wealth within real estate, but it takes a little bit longer because we want you to cash flow it. So move at the speed of cash if you're going to do something. Uh, but man, people just jump into this stuff because it looks great and sounds great and then they get in trouble.
7:22 George Kamel? And they don't want to wait. So we tell people, you know, pay off your primary mortgage first and then save up and pay cash. For your first investment property and that's not going to be the fanciest, most expensive property. You're going to start small and then build on that. But the good news is it cash flows beautifully when it's paid off.
7:37 Rachel Cruze? That's right. Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
7:40 George Kamel? All right, next up.
7:41 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, it's you.
7:42 George Kamel? You just, oh, there's one. Is that risky to take a?
7:45 Rachel Cruze? Whatever you think, George.
7:47 George Kamel? I got, ha, ha, blank piece.
7:49 Rachel Cruze? Nothing. Okay.
7:50 George Kamel? Stinks to you.
7:52 Rachel Cruze? Oh, gosh, that was probably, I probably shouldn't have done that.
7:54 George Kamel? That was a bold move.
7:56 Rachel Cruze? I got one.
7:57 George Kamel? The whole thing's resting on a single.
7:58 Rachel Cruze? Here we go. I know.
7:59 George Kamel? Plank now.
8:00 Rachel Cruze? Hoarding collector items, collector's items. That's a.
8:04 George Kamel? These like precious moments figurines, beanie babies?
8:07 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, I think it's the stuff that you, you know, think is really gonna change the game for you. You know, you watch too much of the antique road show, you really do think this, this random necklace that I have is going to be worth gazillions. Um, but yeah, usually the collector items, they don't always pan out, you know?
8:24 George Kamel? Well, it's a physical object, so it can, you know, get damaged, it can. Get lost in a fire, a flood.
8:31 Rachel Cruze? Yep.
8:31 George Kamel? So you've got the antique baseball card collection. And it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it that day.
8:37 Rachel Cruze? That's right.
8:37 George Kamel? And so you've really got to hope that it's still on trend. That you have that rare Charizard holographic.
8:43 Rachel Cruze? That's right.
8:43 George Kamel? Or that Ken Griffey Jr.
8:45 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, totally.
8:45 George Kamel? You know.
8:46 Rachel Cruze? Yes, for sure.
8:47 George Kamel? It's just a risky game. So if you enjoy something a lot and you just like collecting comic books.
8:52 Rachel Cruze? A hobby, but don't bank on your wealth building thing around it.
8:54 George Kamel? And if it's a hobby that ends up paying off, great. But I wouldn't go into it thinking I'm going to make money off of this collector's thing. All right.
9:03 Rachel Cruze? Next up, yep.
9:04 George Kamel? You really left us. I don't think we're going to get through any of these now.
9:07 Rachel Cruze? We will. If it falls, we'll just pick up the pieces and talk about them.
9:11 George Kamel? All right. I think I have one.
9:12 Rachel Cruze? Okay.
9:13 George Kamel? What do you think?
9:14 Rachel Cruze? Well, I'm not touch. I was going to help you, but I don't feel like I should because I want you to lose.
9:18 George Kamel? Another blank for me.
9:19 Rachel Cruze? Oh, man.
9:20 George Kamel? Good day, sir.
9:21 Rachel Cruze? I should get points for, oh, blank.
9:25 George Kamel? Okay.
9:26 Rachel Cruze? Keep going.
9:27 George Kamel? This is going really well.
9:28 Rachel Cruze? Keep going.
9:29 George Kamel? I think we're running out of options here. Is this risky?
9:33 Rachel Cruze? I'm going to hold it for the sake of.
9:37 George Kamel? Am I good?
9:38 Rachel Cruze? Anything?
9:39 George Kamel? Another blank.
9:40 Rachel Cruze? Oh, no.
9:41 George Kamel? How many blanks are in this?
9:42 Rachel Cruze? Um.
9:43 George Kamel? I gotta put this on top. Can you move that one? Gentle, gentle.
9:48 Rachel Cruze? I'm going to move my mic just for a second.
9:50 George Kamel? We gotta keep the spirit of the game alive.
9:54 George Kamel? Because now people are going to say I'm bad at board games, and that's not true.
9:57 Rachel Cruze? Okay. Hey, you gotta help me.
9:59 George Kamel? All right.
9:59 Rachel Cruze? Because we're playing for the content, not for the.
10:03 George Kamel? All right.
10:03 Rachel Cruze? All right. Here we go. Here we go. Real quick. Buying gold.
10:06 George Kamel? Buying gold. That's a hot one right now because gold has been way up. So everyone's going, see? Gold is such a great investment, Rachel, because in times of fear in the economy, people rush to gold, especially the older generations. But the truth is, gold is just an asset. It's a store of value.
10:24 Rachel Cruze? Yes.
10:25 George Kamel? That you're buying. And so what are you going to do with it? You're going to hope that it goes up in value and then you're going to sell it one day?
10:31 Rachel Cruze? Right.
10:31 George Kamel? Because if there's an apocalyptic scenario where the stock market goes to zero, every company goes bankrupt, your gold's going to be useless.
10:38 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, you're going to be looking for water.
10:41 George Kamel? Fuel, ammo.
10:42 Rachel Cruze? Ammo, bullets.
10:43 George Kamel? Love.
10:44 Rachel Cruze? Water.
10:44 George Kamel? Connection.
10:45 Rachel Cruze? Love, connection.
10:46 George Kamel? Join my apocalyptic dating app.
10:48 Rachel Cruze? Crops.
10:50 Rachel Cruze? Maybe this is our time to shine.
10:52 George Kamel? Yeah, I stay, I don't have any gold and I would rather invest in the stock market, which has a higher return over a long period of time.
10:58 Rachel Cruze? Alright. Oh wait, it's your turn. I don't know why I was ju-
11:01 George Kamel? I was hoping you would just take one for the team.
11:03 Rachel Cruze? I was.
11:05 George Kamel? You think this is, you think it's leaning this way on my, to my left?
11:08 Rachel Cruze? Yeah.
11:10 George Kamel? So I should take some weight off of this side?
11:12 Rachel Cruze? Maybe.
11:13 George Kamel? Nope, that feels like a dumb move. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go this Lucy guy over here.
11:19 Rachel Cruze? Okay.
11:20 George Kamel? There we go. That'll do it. Another blank.
11:23 Rachel Cruze? Another blank.
11:25 George Kamel? I think I'm winning as far as not having to deliver the content.
11:33 George Kamel? Visually, this is a very enticing Jenga game.
11:36 Rachel Cruze? Okay, opening bank accounts for sign-on bonuses.
11:41 George Kamel? Oh wow. Do a lot of people do that? Just jumping from bank to bank to bank?
11:47 Rachel Cruze? To get some bonuses, maybe, just to make some extra cash. So yeah, I would say that is not gonna be a-
11:53 George Kamel? It's not a money-making scheme.
11:54 Rachel Cruze? No. Yeah, you won't make a ton of money doing that long-term, so probably not a great- And in that same vein, people trying to like even the, do the debt game, kind of in that same vein. Let's just like play this game to see if we can get some money back.
12:07 George Kamel? Yeah.
12:07 Rachel Cruze? See what we can buy and you know, or what, what we can get off of what we buy.
12:12 George Kamel? There's a ton of, you know, tricks they use to get you to get into the bank and you have to deposit this much over this amount of time in order to get that cash bonus.
12:21 Rachel Cruze? Yep.
12:21 George Kamel? So most people probably don't even get it because they didn't do it perfectly.
12:24 Rachel Cruze? Yes.
12:24 George Kamel? So I don't join a bank because of that. Now if they offer it, it's the bank you wanted, that's fine.
12:29 Rachel Cruze? And it's helpful, sure.
12:30 George Kamel? But I would hope, hope that you choose a bank for better reasons. For example, choose a credit union like Fairwin's Credit Union because they're owned by their members, not by their shareholders in Wall Street.
12:40 Rachel Cruze? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, Fairwin's is amazing, you guys, and they have partnered with Ramsey so closely, which we so appreciate because we want our listeners and us, even selfishly- To have a bank that we trust and that we love and that we know are for us. And Fairwin's Credit Union is that. So they have the smart bundle, which is the no fees checking account, a high yield savings account, and you get the Ramsey's Dead as Normal Be Weird Blue debit card. And it's awesome. It's so great. I use it all the time now. If I have to take my debit card out, I'm using my Fairwin's account. And so they're an incredible bank, yes, to be with because their heart is for you. They want you to have peace, not payments.
13:21 George Kamel? I love that. So go check them out. Fairwins.org/Ramsey or use the link in the description below.
13:26 Rachel Cruze? Yep. So make sure, again, to be looking that this is not a way to earn money, but having a bank that you are using that is on your side will give you peace of mind. And small things like they have NIX international fees. Their customer service is incredible. All the things, it is worth it. All right, uh, me?
13:48 George Kamel? I think it's back to me.
13:49 Rachel Cruze? Oh.
13:50 George Kamel? You've left, you've left me with very few options here. I will say that. And I can't take any from the top because we've done those.
13:55 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, you gotta go middle would be your strategy.
13:57 George Kamel? Oh, like this?
13:59 Rachel Cruze? Probably not that middle. There's not a, no, here's a three. You gotta, you gotta row a three.
14:05 George Kamel? Oh, boy.
14:06 Rachel Cruze? No, that's gonna take it out.
14:07 George Kamel? We're really, there's a lot of weight.
14:08 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, you gotta take one.
14:10 George Kamel? All right. If it falls, it falls. And it's nobody's fault but yours. Whoo.
14:18 Rachel Cruze? Oh.
14:18 George Kamel? Another blank. God bless.
14:22 Rachel Cruze? How did this happen?
14:26 George Kamel? Oh, she getting dicey. I want to help you, but I also don't. You know what I mean?
14:33 Rachel Cruze? Oh.
14:35 George Kamel? That's a good one.
14:36 Rachel Cruze? Look at this.
14:40 Rachel Cruze? Blank.
14:42 George Kamel? Another blank, alright.
14:46 Rachel Cruze? Oh my gosh.
14:48 George Kamel? Another blank.
14:48 Rachel Cruze? No way! Okay.
14:51 George Kamel? This is like Captain Crunch oops all blanks over here. Can I go on the top, or is that not... do I have to fill it out? Alright, it's probably gonna fall.
15:01 Rachel Cruze? Shoot!
15:01 George Kamel? You wanna try this, this one over here?
15:03 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, I'm gonna go here.
15:04 George Kamel? Alright, let me help you.
15:06 Rachel Cruze? No, I gotta go, th- this one's loose.
15:10 Rachel Cruze? Wait, wait, let go, let go, let go! Oh, it's blank!
15:15 George Kamel? We should've placed them more strategically, guys.
15:18 Rachel Cruze? It's okay, this is the fun of it.
15:21 Rachel Cruze? Alright, go George.
15:22 George Kamel? I don't even... okay.
15:27 Rachel Cruze? I see like, I literally see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 that we could talk about.
15:31 George Kamel? But are they pullable?
15:33 Rachel Cruze? Yeah.
15:37 George Kamel? Believing you'll win the lottery.
15:39 Rachel Cruze? Oh... Phew, yeah, the, uh... The assumption that I'm gonna just put some numbers out there and I'm gonna become a billionaire.
15:48 George Kamel? Is it even a belief, or is it just a really sad hope? A desperate hope?
15:53 Rachel Cruze? I know, I think it's desperate. It is, for people that are doing it seriously, it's really sad, that that's like...
15:58 George Kamel? It's just gambling in a different font.
15:59 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, and it's, and I think it's unfair to make people believe that like, they're gonna be the winner, 'cause they're wasting their money, their hard-earned money, that they could be putting in savings, they could be doing so much with it, and it's just going to the lottery, so...
16:12 George Kamel? Yep.
16:13 Rachel Cruze? Um, yeah, that's a tough one.
16:15 George Kamel? Nobody like, invests out of desperation. They go to things like the lottery to go, "Well, if I got 2 bucks to spare, maybe I can turn it into 2 million."
16:23 Rachel Cruze? Yep.
16:24 George Kamel? And the chances of that are so slim.
16:26 Rachel Cruze? That's right, I know.
16:26 George Kamel? So, I would stick to investing instead. You put that in an IRA, it's eventually gonna turn into something. 2 bucks a day, for your whole life, and they also prey on the, on the poor. So it's really just a poor tax, which makes me extra angry.
16:39 Rachel Cruze? I know.
16:40 George Kamel? And your odds of winning the Powerball jackpot, 1 in 300 million, which is almost...
16:45 Rachel Cruze? You know what's crazy to think about, though, is Tennessee's one of these states, we have a scholarship for college from the lottery. And so it's kind of like, when you look at the zip codes, the counties at which the lottery is played the most.
16:58 George Kamel? Oh, boy.
16:59 Rachel Cruze? And then the counties at which the children go to college is opposite.
17:03 George Kamel? So like the, the poorest counties are subsidizing.
17:05 Rachel Cruze? Funding, funding, middle-class, high, yeah, high-income earner kids to go to college, like that, like that's kind of what it ends up being.
17:11 George Kamel? Shouldn't we be doing the reverse of that?
17:13 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, you would think. I don't know. I know, I know. Not good, not good. I don't like it, I don't like it.
17:17 George Kamel? All right, I gotta put this back now. That's the scary part.
17:20 Rachel Cruze? Is that the scary part?
17:24 Rachel Cruze? Okay, so here's the deal.
17:27 George Kamel? Oh, this is not looking good for you.
17:36 Rachel Cruze? Are you touching it?
17:37 George Kamel? No, no, but I think the Lord touched it and held it up for you.
17:43 George Kamel? It's that much of a miracle this thing is still standing. There is no way. Okay, you want me to help you? All right.
17:54 Rachel Cruze? Well, I know, I don't, I'm so nervous. No, I can't.
17:58 George Kamel? I don't, I think this is game over.
17:59 Rachel Cruze? I think this is it. I think you just have to go, well, this would be, this would be the only one, or one of these.
18:04 George Kamel? Okay. Oh, all right, Excalibur Sword over here, all right.
18:09 Rachel Cruze? It's blank too.
18:13 George Kamel? All right.
18:15 Rachel Cruze? I helped you. I feel like I should get that one. I feel like you should keep going.
18:19 George Kamel? Well, you can't get two in a row. Are we down to just one pullable?
18:24 Rachel Cruze? I think so. All right, just have fun, George.
18:33 Rachel Cruze? Is that one blank too?
18:36 George Kamel? It's not over yet.
18:39 George Kamel? Wait for it.
18:40 Rachel Cruze? Okay, let go, just five.
18:42 George Kamel? Let it go.
18:43 Rachel Cruze? Let it go. Go. It's done. It's done, it's too top-heavy.
18:48 George Kamel? Yes.
18:51 George Kamel? I mean, just physics says.
18:52 Rachel Cruze? Because, because this, this is where we started. So I have to pull the ones that we've not done yet.
18:57 George Kamel? You can pull whatever you want at this point. I'm not gonna be angry.
19:00 Rachel Cruze? Okay.
19:05 Rachel Cruze? Nope, I'm getting two. And we're going, it's going to you, George.
19:08 George Kamel? All right. Come on down.
19:14 Rachel Cruze? I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
19:20 George Kamel? At least I can play it in slow-mo to watch my heroic stoicism in that moment.
19:31 George Kamel? All right, what do we have left?
19:32 Rachel Cruze? Okay, we got, uh, sports betting. No, stupid. Don't do that, guys. Come on. Don't waste your money.
19:39 George Kamel? This is a good one. Marrying rich. Is that not a great? Okay, to be fair, this is a great way to build wealth, but it's similar to the lottery. In that, will you marry rich and also enjoy your marriage?
19:52 Rachel Cruze? Enjoy your life.
19:52 George Kamel? That's the question mark.
19:53 Rachel Cruze? I know. Um, fast-track investing schemes. So you try to get wealthy, yes, by, yep, day trading.
20:02 George Kamel? Robin Hood, acorns.
20:03 Rachel Cruze? Mm-hmm.
20:03 George Kamel? Options, trading, margin.
20:05 Rachel Cruze? Yep. It kind of feels exciting. If you had some money that you're like, oh, I don't really care. I don't really care what it does. If I got like 300 bucks, to be like, can I, can I cash out at the end of the day? And make a little bit more, right? I can see how that's kind of enticing and fun, because it's kind of a game where you could earn money. So I can see how people think, but it's on the big scale of really believing this is my ticket. That's where the danger comes in. Yeah, so I've never bought a single stock to do that, but I have bought a lot of Cozy Earth.
20:34 George Kamel? That's the opposite. You're investing in yourself.
20:37 Rachel Cruze? I'm investing in myself. I'm investing in confidence and peace and tranquility. No stress, no anxiety when you have Cozy Earth on. So whether it's their clothes, the pants, the shirts, the socks, the sheets are amazing. Any of the bamboo stuff, you guys, is a dream. It is so wonderful. And the quality, just it outlasts. I've had some of this stuff for almost two years now, and it's incredible. Like, it still holds up. That is my thing. You can buy dupes all day long. And you know me, I love a good quantity, right? Some options. But there is something, when you get a cheap sweatshirt and then you Get a Cozy Earth and when you wash it, you feel the difference, the fit of it is different even like
21:18 Rachel Cruze? Cozy Earth holds its shape, everything. It is so great. We love it. Love it, love it.
21:23 George Kamel? Yeah. As I get older, I want to buy things for life and not have to go buy this again two weeks from now. And so they have a 10 year warranty on their bedding. So I'm like, cool. I'm good. I'm not going to have to go out shopping because this one didn't hold up. So Cozy Earth is where it's at and they've got an awesome discount for our Smart Money Happy Hour listeners. 20% off when you go to cozylearth.com/smartmoney. Use code SMARTMONEY at checkout. We'll also drop a link in the description.
21:46 Rachel Cruze? Oh, man.
21:47 George Kamel? What do we have? I think we missed one.
21:49 Rachel Cruze? There's whole life insurance down there. I see George.
21:52 George Kamel? Oh, boy. All right. Yeah, let's talk about whole life insurance. This is one that recently was in the news. Because a NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch, him and his wife lost eight and a half million dollars.
22:03 Rachel Cruze? Stop it.
22:04 George Kamel? Because they fell for this index universal life scheme. They poured millions into this thing. Thinking that it was going to be some kind of wealth building asset.
22:14 Rachel Cruze? Shoot.
22:15 George Kamel? And they lost a lot of money. So they came out and were very honest about it and there's a lawsuit. So it's really sad, but any kind of whole life insurance, permanent life insurance, it's got all kinds of names now.
22:25 Rachel Cruze? Yep.
22:25 George Kamel? Because they keep trying to rebrand, but all it is is very expensive life insurance that also tries to do investing. And most of that payment you make goes to commissions and fees.
22:35 Rachel Cruze? Yes.
22:35 George Kamel? Not to actually building you wealth or protecting you.
22:37 Rachel Cruze? Yep, absolutely. So life insurance, get term life and get 10 to 12 times your income. If someone is dependent upon your income, if you're a stay at home parents, get, you know, no less than half a million dollars on you as well. So make sure you're covered, but all of that term life is so inexpensive. And then you can use what you would have bought with whole life to invest and you'll make more off of that versus the whole life.
23:01 George Kamel? And you don't need life insurance for your baby. You don't need life insurance for these random people. You just need it for the people that actually produce the income that allows you to cover your expenses. So usually that's you or your spouse.
23:12 Rachel Cruze? That's right. All right. Last one. Let's do this one. MLMs.
23:17 George Kamel? What's it stand for?
23:18 Rachel Cruze? Multi-level marketing.
23:20 George Kamel? That's right, it does.
23:21 Rachel Cruze? May bring it some hate for this one.
23:23 George Kamel? I know, because here's the funny thing, nobody thinks their MLM is an MLM. They'll go, "No, it's not a pyramid scheme." I'm like, "But look, the person at the top has a downline and they make more money if they recruit more..." "Yeah, but that's not how they make mo-" It's how you make your money. That's it. Otherwise, you're making pennies just trying to sell the products. Because truthfully, if the product was so good, you could just buy it in other places.
23:46 Rachel Cruze? Everywhere.
23:47 George Kamel? They wouldn't gatekeep it to this one company. So that's the sad thing.
23:50 Rachel Cruze? So yeah, yeah, MLMs, yeah, you make the most money when you have people under you. It's not really the product that's making you money, you selling the product. It is getting a network of people below you. And they're very convincing. Like, if you go to one of their national conferences, they put people on stage and give their stores and you think like, "I could make millions and millions if I just..."
24:10 George Kamel? Because they only showcase the people that are living their best life, who are at the top, making a bunch of money.
24:15 Rachel Cruze? And the turnover is so much, and sometimes the investment you have to put in, I mean, some hundreds of dollars, thousands, like, for an initial investment into some of these companies too, so...
24:23 George Kamel? That's a huge red flag, if you have to give them money to make money.
24:26 Rachel Cruze? To start it, yes, that's right, that's right.
24:27 George Kamel? So, no thank you to the MLMs. And sorry to anyone, you're a good person. If you do these, I'm not saying you're a bad person. I just think if you're that good at sales, go get a sales job and you'll make so much more money if you're that good.
24:40 Rachel Cruze? That's right. Oh, George, that was fun.
24:43 George Kamel? I had a good time personally.
24:44 Rachel Cruze? It was a little anxious, you know, a little anxiety.
24:46 George Kamel? It felt good once it was over, I'll be honest. It was the anticipation that kills you.
24:49 Rachel Cruze? Yes, and you know what else scares me? Is my data being online.
24:53 George Kamel? Oh my goodness, speaking of anticipating.
24:55 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, because you never know, is a scammer or a spammer gonna have my data?
24:58 George Kamel? When's the next data breach gonna hit?
24:59 Rachel Cruze? What's gonna happen? Because our names, our email addresses, our kids' names, our phone numbers, I mean, all of it is out there online, you guys. And it is so crazy how much these data brokers can collect your data and then they sell it to spammers and scammers. And then you get robocalls, scams, all this stuff. It is so annoying. It is so frustrating. So, companies like Delete Me go in and their privacy team comes through these sites to get your name and information off.
25:27 George Kamel? I love it. And in a world where things feel out of your control with online and privacy, this is one way you can take back digital control. And so I love it. They send you a report that shows you exactly what they removed, when they removed it, how much time they saved you, and you get those every few months. And it's one of my favorite emails that goes, "This is worth the peace of mind." So go check it out. You get a great discount, 20% off their annual plans at joindelete.me/smartmoney. We'll also drop a link in the description below.
25:52 Rachel Cruze? Yep. And remember, you guys, the year we are in, the day we are living in, your data is out there. So get it removed and Delete Me will help you do it. Okay, so George, you cover a lot of what we talk about of investing wisely, being smart when you're building wealth. You talk about that in your book.
26:06 George Kamel? Yeah, I have an old chapter called Investing Traps, where I really go a little more in-depth on a lot of the stuff we talked about here. And at the end of that chapter, I cover the Three Stooges of wealth building. Because after looking into these, I realized there was a theme here. Every one of these stems from one of three things: fear, greed, or pride.
26:22 Rachel Cruze? Oh, that's great.
26:24 George Kamel? So you're scared of the market. So you run to gold. You are feeling greedy. So you decide, "I'm gonna go all in on this Bitcoin or single stock," or whatever it is. You're gonna have some pride. "I know better. I've got this. I'm smarter than other people who have failed doing this. I'm gonna do it and win."
26:41 Rachel Cruze? Oh, yeah.
26:42 George Kamel? And all of those, you can land flat on your face. And so the more humility you have, the more willing you are to go slow, and the more you lean away from fear into optimism, the better your wealth building journey is gonna be.
26:56 Rachel Cruze? I love that. You know what? I think that's so true, because there's so many emotions that can motivate us on how we handle money. And sometimes they make, you know, our emotions can have us make really bad decisions. So making your money decisions on facts, not emotion, as Dr. John Delaney always says, "Your emotions, they're your dashboard. They're telling you something." So be aware of them and know what's going on, but we don't want to make decisions out of those all the time.
27:19 George Kamel? And we say fear is a terrible financial advisor.
27:21 Rachel Cruze? Yes, absolutely.
27:22 George Kamel? When you're desperate, when you're scared, when you're greedy, it's always gonna end up going poorly in the long run. So if you want to know how to do this the right way, we've got a free investing guide for you. I'll drop a link in the description down there, or you can go to ramsaysolutions.com/guide to check it out.
27:37 Rachel Cruze? All right, George, before we spill the tea on our Guilty as Charged question, what are we sipping on?
27:43 George Kamel? We are sipping on... You ready for it?
27:47 George Kamel? Lemon ginger mocktail spritz. That's a good one.
27:51 Rachel Cruze? So good.
27:51 George Kamel? I'm going 10 out of 10.
27:53 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, I think I am too. Y'all fantastic job. Well done.
27:56 George Kamel? Wow, and Rachel famously is not a huge ginger fan.
27:58 Rachel Cruze? I'm not a big ginger fan, but this was really refreshing. I think the lemon with it, maybe? It's like a tart with like that ginger taste.
28:05 George Kamel? It's got enough lemon juice. They really came through.
28:07 Rachel Cruze? What makes it a spritz? When they say spritz, what is the spritz?
28:09 George Kamel? Because of the sparkling water.
28:10 Rachel Cruze? Oh, gotcha.
28:12 George Kamel? Yep.
28:13 Rachel Cruze? Gotcha.
28:13 George Kamel? I think you can add spritz legally if it's sparkly. It's got some zest, some bubbles in there. So here's what's in the lemon ginger mocktail spritz. It's got honey syrup, which I believe is just honey and warm water combined. You can make a syrup. Is it a rich syrup? Is it more honey than water? Do we know? Nobody knows. I think they just threw some honey in there, to be honest. I'm not sure it was even a syrup.
28:39 George Kamel? But easy to make at home. Literally just take some hot water, mix it in with some honey. And if you want it to be a rich syrup, which means you use less, you can do more honey than water.
28:48 Rachel Cruze? There you go. Amazing.
28:49 George Kamel? So it's got that ginger juice. Again, did you guys squeeze out a ginger?
28:53 Rachel Cruze? Wow.
28:54 George Kamel? What kind of ginger? That's impressive. And you got fresh lemon juice and then sparkling water.
28:59 Rachel Cruze? Beautiful. And some rosemary.
29:00 George Kamel? It takes, yeah, and a little rosemary sprig with a lemon wheel to really send it. You can get the recipe in the show notes. It costs a dollar 95. What's stopping you? This would be at least $11 for a mocktail at a fancy Nashville restaurant.
29:13 Rachel Cruze? It's delicious.
29:14 George Kamel? So give it a try this weekend. The kids can enjoy it too. And I feel like it's a really healthy drink.
29:19 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, very refreshing.
29:20 George Kamel? For the winter time, when you get a lot of sickness around, honey, ginger, and lemon is a great combo.
29:23 Rachel Cruze? There you go. Look at you being all natural, George.
29:25 George Kamel? I try.
29:27 Rachel Cruze? All right, 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 are guilty, we take a sip.
29:37 George Kamel? All right, what do we got?
29:38 Rachel Cruze? Have you ever overspent out of convenience to save yourself the trouble?
29:44 George Kamel? Oh, boy. Yeah, as I get older, more winded, more financially stable, I just feel like I'm willing to not deal with things and willing to pay a premium for that.
29:53 Rachel Cruze? Yes, I agree.
29:55 George Kamel? My latest one was when I was buying a car.
29:57 Rachel Cruze? Wow, tell me about that.
30:00 George Kamel? Well, I was tired of looking. The research process, you know me, I'm meticulous. But I finally found the one.
30:06 Rachel Cruze? Yep.
30:06 George Kamel? And it was across the country, so I had to get the car shipped. And then I got, I was like, hey, tell me the out the door price.
30:13 Rachel Cruze? Yes.
30:13 George Kamel? That's all I want. I'm not looking for a payment. I want the out the door price. Let's land on that. So they finally send me the invoice and it had all these random fees on there.
30:21 Rachel Cruze? Oh.
30:22 George Kamel? It had a LoJack fee.
30:23 Rachel Cruze? You know, you told me this.
30:24 George Kamel? LoJack, which tracks your vehicle in case it gets stolen. And I was like, you know, that Tesla's like have tracking within them. They, they know where they are at all times.
30:33 Rachel Cruze? We don't need that. Yes.
30:34 George Kamel? And they, well, we just do it to all the cars. And they had some stupid, you know, appearance protection package they threw on it and another thing they threw on it. And I was so just exhausted.
30:45 Rachel Cruze? Frustrated.
30:45 George Kamel? I went, listen, meet me in the middle. I, I tried to get them to remove it. They said, nothing we can do. But I was like, do I want to lose the whole deal because of this?
30:52 Rachel Cruze? I know.
30:53 George Kamel? I wanted to.
30:53 Rachel Cruze? How much was it? Can I ask?
30:55 George Kamel? It was, they wanted like 700 for the LoJack, another 800 for the appearance protection. 800 for a dealer, you know, doc fee. It was insane. It was straight up highway robbery.
31:05 Rachel Cruze? Going. Yep.
31:06 George Kamel? So I kind of did the walk away thing. They came back and they said, here's what we were willing to do. They said, hey, what's your, what is the number you're looking for? And I went, listen, I'll work with you here. Here's my number. And they went, fine. And they just made it all work. They adjusted the fees.
31:19 Rachel Cruze? Well, look at you, George.
31:20 George Kamel? So they didn't get rid of the fees.
31:21 Rachel Cruze? No.
31:22 George Kamel? It was still baked in, but I felt a little bit better. They're willing to play ball.
31:25 Rachel Cruze? Good.
31:25 George Kamel? But that was me overspending out of convenience because I didn't want to restart the whole process of researching another car.
31:30 Rachel Cruze? Yes. That's good.
31:31 George Kamel? Sleepless nights. How about you?
31:34 Rachel Cruze? Um, yeah, we overspent. We were on a family vacation with the kids and our flight got canceled on the way home. So we were already in the airport for like five hours. You know, you get there and it's delayed and then it's delayed again and then delayed again. And I know we travel enough that I always know when that happens, they're going to end up canceling it. And I even told them, it's like they're going to cancel our flight. They canceled our flight and by that time it was like four or five in the afternoon and flights out to get to Nashville, back to Nashville. We had to connect. There was no direct flight. And so like no other flight, no other city that we landed would get us back into Nashville that, like, it was like, there was nothing. So we had to go back to the hotel.
32:11 George Kamel? Oh, gosh.
32:12 Rachel Cruze? And spend the night again, which was so frustrating because number one, you got to pay for another night. But our airline, I'll, I'll give them a shout out, American Airlines, they reimbursed our night, which sometimes they just give you a credit and then anything above you spend is yours.
32:25 George Kamel? Yeah, they straight up paid for that night.
32:26 Rachel Cruze? We sent them the, our hotel bill and they paid for our entire night. So. I was shocked. So thank you for that, American Airlines. But because of that, sorry, American Airlines, we booked a Southwest flight. Because I was like, I don't know if we're gonna get out of here because the American flight was gonna take us to Charlotte. And then our flight to Nashville wasn't gonna be till like 10 p.m. that night. We would've stayed all day. And I'm like, this is the stupidest thing. So there was a Southwest flight through Orlando and home. And we're gonna do it. So we bought a whole other set of airline tickets home. But again, American Airlines, they reimbursed us, but we paid more for the Southwest flights than the American.
33:01 George Kamel? Because it was last minute flights.
33:02 Rachel Cruze? So we still were out. I mean, we still overspent on the flights.
33:05 George Kamel? But you made it home and saved your sanity.
33:06 Rachel Cruze? We did, just to get home. I mean, genuinely, you're just like...
33:08 George Kamel? Especially with kids.
33:09 Rachel Cruze? Oh, my gosh. It was so...
33:10 George Kamel? They're troopers.
33:11 Rachel Cruze? Long. And yep, just one of those travel days. But I mean, but I think about it, George, genuinely, and I told him something like, man, if we were on Baby Step 2, you know, you, you know, you're, you really have to go with what is being planned. So that is the pro of working the plan, you guys, and getting to the other side of these steps and having some margin that when life does happen, you're able to kind of, you know, pull from whether it's a little bit of the emergency fund or you have some savings, you know, or whatever it is.
33:38 George Kamel? You can do things that aren't financially optimal to gain some peace and time back in your life.
33:42 Rachel Cruze? Yep, yep. And it was worth it. It was worth it, George.
33:45 George Kamel? I just did this for Whitney, for her Backstreet Boys at the Sphere.
33:47 Rachel Cruze? Yeah?
33:48 George Kamel? I had her on a connecting flight because it was cheaper.
33:50 Rachel Cruze? Oh, George, there's a direct flight Southwest from Nashville to Las Vegas.
33:53 George Kamel? I know. But it was like...
33:55 Rachel Cruze? I cannot believe you're gonna make her connect.
33:57 George Kamel? But it was more, it was...
33:58 Rachel Cruze? Oh, my gosh. Maybe like $78 more.
34:01 George Kamel? No, it was like maybe 150 bucks more. And I was like, ah. It was only, she only was losing like 45 minutes to an hour. So it was a real quick layover, a quick connection.
34:10 Rachel Cruze? Yeah, but then your time of something messing up...
34:13 George Kamel? I know.
34:13 Rachel Cruze? To get to your destination just doubled. You just doubled what could happen.
34:17 George Kamel? So I rebooked her on the non-stop like a hero.
34:20 Rachel Cruze? Yes, as you should have in the first place.
34:24 George Kamel? She deserves it. Husbands, your wife deserves the non-stop. She's worth it.
34:28 Rachel Cruze? She's worth it. Oh, my gosh. So good, so good. Well... That was fun. If you guys have a guilty as charged question, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Kamel. We are here for you. So if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. We always love to hear from you guys. And if you're in the mood to be even more entertained, check out our episode reacting to people's money fails. So you can feel better. We'll put a link for that and make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss an all new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.
Previous Your Money Habits Are Our Financial Pet Peeves—Let’s Talk! (With Jade Warshaw) Next Are These Social Obligations Worth the Money? Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated