George Kamel - 19 Minutes of TikTok Roasting Boomer Advice

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

📊 Check out the Retirement Calculator!   Today, I’m soliciting the advice of my elders and reacting to the most popular baby boomer advice on the internet. Let’s see what still holds up . . . and what should’ve retired before they did.      Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video 23 Minutes of Things Rich People “Know”! • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! • Sign up with Privacy today and receive a $5 credit just for being a George Kamel fan.   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there's one thing I know about boomers, is that their favorite type of advice is unsolicited. If I want to know, I'll let you know. Okay, Boomer? But today's a rare day where I'm soliciting the advice of my elders whom I respect and reacting to the most popular Boomer advice on the internet. Let's see what still holds up and what should have retired before they did.

But before we get to these pearls of wisdom, let's give a thumbs up emoji to delete me for sponsoring this channel. Boomers love a thumbs up emoji, even though we find it to be passive aggressive. Must go faster. Here we go. Honey, if you just set aside $50 of every paycheck, in six months you can buy a house. If you make her own sandwiches for a year, that's a car. Direct deposit.

No, honey, get your checks in the mail. Mail is so much safer, unless it's wet. The only problem you run into is when it's wet. When there's your problem, you keep picking these gig economy things. Just get a good job at a good fax machine company and work there till you die. Okay. I've seen enough and I love it. I love it so much.

Obviously exaggerated, but I do love this idea that boomers tend to make things sound easier than they are in reality in 2026 for a lot of people. Now, the logic stands, if you put away money, you'll have money. Sure, we'd love a good job instead of doing gig economy things. We wouldn't be doing Uber and Lyft if we could just find a good job. But sometimes you got to do what you got to do. So while boomers sometimes can be out of touch with the reality and the numbers, the principles still work. All right, live on a budget, have a plan, live on less than you make, set aside money for retirement and savings goals in your emergency fund, and eat at home. Okay, we have food at home.

It's first season, sure, but while you're trying to get some financial footing, it's not the time to be door dashing and eating out because that is a luxury. That is pure entertainment. You don't need that for survival. So learn how to grocery shop. My grandma told me to get a job as a typist. What is this? Mad Men? Is this 1950s?

Can confirm, I've putting $50 of every paycheck and no savings account. Now I have enough to buy a house thanks to the time machine I inherited. Hey, see, inheritance. Thank you, boomers. My grandma, 100 years old, told me a house should cost me $20,000 at most. In what world, were you asking for, like, home buying advice from your 100, year-year-old grandma, I don't understand there. Fax this to my mom's iPad.

Gosh, the comment section does not disappoint. Thank you for that. We're starting off on a, on the good foot, as grandma used to say. I'm going to say something that got lost somewhere along the way. Your word used to mean something. A handshake closed the deal.

A promise wasn't optional. And if you said you'd be there, you were there. Now people cancel plans by text. Break commitments without a second thought. and then wonder why nobody trusts them. Back in my day, your reputation was the only credit score that mattered. Be somebody whose words still mean something. There ain't many of those left.

Gosh, thank you, Granny Bibbons. She's spitting bars out here. I gotta go back to this. Back in my day, your reputation was the only credit score that mattered. Be somebody whose words still mean something. Your reputation was the only credit score that mattered. Ain't that the truth? if you went to the bank and you're like, hey, I need a loan, well, they know you.

They know your whole family. So your reputation, your word is bond, as they say, in hip-hop, I believe, probably quoting, I don't know, Winston Churchill or something. But that's true. I hate that the credit score is now the determining factor on whether you can get a mortgage or not or a car loan, which I'm not here for. But this idea that a three-digit number we have to go into debt to then get a bigger number, to then go into debt and pay it back perfectly to get a bigger number is in

insane. I think a personal relationship with your banker, whoever it is, really matters to this day, maybe not as much as it used to, but Granny Bibbons, she's on to something here. Commitments matter, and I do think that our generation and the ones after us, we're just a little more flaky. We're like setting too many boundaries. You know what I mean? You're like, I just don't feel like showing up for your friends. Take him to the airport. I know it's not ideal, but this is what friendship is. This is how we have a functioning society. If we all decide we don't want to participate based on our vibe that day. We're screwed. I gotta follow her. This is good content. Daryl's Granny God Family Country. I think that's the tagline for Cracker Barrel too. I like that.

Thank you a granny. Labor shortage. I'll tell you what it is. It's laziness. Kids, see, say, say, just don't want to work. I worked at an insurance company for 40 years. I started in 1961. I actually got that job by accident. I I walked in, I was looking for the bathroom. They said, hey kid, you want a job? I said, sure. They said, you have any experience? I said, no, but I have two thumbs and a positive attitude. Made $80,000 that year. I put a down payment on my first house at 14. How much? Six skittles and a cough drop. Nothing has changed since 1961. Everything is the same and nothing is different. All the tick-tacking and the YouTube and the kids are doing where they can't afford a house. If Reagan were alive

today, God rest his soul. Nailed it. The glasses down. The glasses down. really helps. I think that is, that really tells me everything I need to know. Is this just for reading purposes? I don't know what's going on there. But there's a lot of truth to this. It is not as easy as it was for the boomers to buy home. That is just a fact based on mathematics, numbers. The average home today costs almost five times the median household income. Okay, median household income is about $84,000 today. Median home price is over $400,000. Back in those days, it used to be two or three times the median income. Now it's five to six. You do the math, Granny. But you don't get a pass on math either. So the boomers are right on this one. I recommend

keeping your mortgage to no more than 25% of your after-tax monthly income. That doesn't change. What does have to change is our patience, the type of house we have, when we are able to get that house, the amount we need for a down payment because houses are more expensive, which means a bigger mortgage, which means more down, too lower said mortgage. So there's a lot of factors and levers here we can pull. None of them are fun factors. Let me just put that out there. If this was a TV show, it would be called Not Fun Factor.

It would be just you trying to buy a house for 20 years. But the median age of a home buyer is now about 40 years old. It used to be in your late 20s. So the times have changed. I know it's not fun. And I need boomers to stop telling us how they got a house for Skittles and a cough drop. It's not helping. You really don't get my generation, boomer.

I bought my beach house for a riddle and some sea glass in Reagan's name, amen. That's pretty good. That's my version of the voice. OMG, yes, and credit scores weren't even a thing. Credit shmett it. That doesn't rhyme. It should have been credit shred it. Do you have a job?

Then you can buy a house. Okay. That is true. I think that, you know, it was a lot more leniency as to who was getting mortgages back then. Neff said, it's making me sad. Let's move on. Just one more year. So I just one more yeared myself into working until I was 68, and I'm here to implore you not to repeat the mistake I made.

I should have retired when I was much younger. 62 probably would have been a good number. 63 is when I lost a job, and that probably was ideal. timing, but I didn't do it. And I'm here to tell you that's the voice of experience that if you can retire financially and you're able to do it, then you should because the one thing you can't get back is time. It sounds like there's a lot of sadness and regret in his life, which is it's hard to hear. You can hear it in his voice.

I don't know what caused that. If he didn't like his job, if he has health issues and he didn't know that would be the case. And he thought, man, I got so much time to enjoy my retirement. But he's right in that you want to make sure that you're financially set to be able to retire. I like to call this being work optional because there's nothing wrong with working into your 60s if you love what you do. It gives you a reason to get out of bed, gives you a routine, a schedule, helps you make some impact in this world and in your community. So there's nothing wrong with that. But I'd rather have the option to do that versus I have to work. And the key here is investing.

That's how you retire early. That's how you retire on time. It's how you beat inflation. So investing, you're putting money into the stock market, not a savings account, because you're not going to save your way to wealth. You've got to invest to get there. And over time, the power of compound growth does the heavy lifting. So to get from zero to 100,000 invested, that's difficult. But then 100,000 to 200,000, much easier. $200,000 to 500,000 feels like a breeze comparatively. And all of a sudden, you got a million bucks after, you know, 20 years of investing.

And if you want more, invest more. Or wait longer. But you get 10 to 12% on average in the U.S. stock market, over time, you should have multiple millions of dollars by the time you retire if you're watching this channel. And you want a piece of boomer advice that stood the test of time? Don't give your personal info to strangers. And the problem is we're giving it away without even realizing it. We sign up for multiple online accounts, use the same password in too many places.

And before you know it, we've created a digital footprint that falls into the wrong hands. And data brokers are collecting this info, like your name, address, email address, phone number, and they're selling it to spammers and scammers on the internet. But Delete Me, a sponsor of today's video, helps put a stop to that. They find and remove your info from hundreds of these sites so you don't have to. It's not just a one-time cleanup. They keep tracking and removing it all year long behind the scenes, saving you hours, and helping protect your digital privacy.

Get 20% off an annual plan by going to join deleteme.com slash George. And something boomers in your life won't tell you. They want you off their phone plan. And that's where Boost Mobile comes in, another sponsor of today's video. With their Unlimited plan, you pay just $25 a month forever. No gimmicks, no hype, no contracts, just an honest to-goodness deal that's actually as good as it sounds. Which is great news for you, ditty-boppers and young ins alike. It's easy to switch.

Just takes a few minutes if you've got an e-sim on your phone. Do it from the comfort of your home. Bring your phone, keep your number, and start saving. Go to boostmobile.com slash Ramsey. $25 forever requires customers to remain active on Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. Back to it. Your kids aren't born with a good work ethic. That's something that you need to teach them.

This is what my dad told me when I started my first job. He said, if you're hired to move a stack of bricks from one location to another, and there's somebody else doing that same job, what you want to do is move your stack faster, make your stack neater, finish before the other guy, then help him finish putting his stack of bricks together. That's what good work ethic is. Remember what you do in each job, how you're respected in each job, follows you to the next all through your life.

That's good. I like that. You know, I think work has been villainized with the younger generations going, gosh, these corporations taking me to the cleaners. My boss is toxic. Everything's evil. There's a lesson to be learned here. If you want to get ahead, you want that promotion. You want to stair step in whatever field that you're in.

You want to grow and get better. Work ethic is a part of it. Regardless of your boss and the company and whatever you're doing, whether you're moving a stack of bricks or you're doing SEO and marketing, you've got to have this kind of work ethic because you stand out in a crowd. In a world where people kind of want to phone it in, if you just show up on time, do a really good job, have a decent attitude, you will go so far in this life.

And here at Ramsey, one of our values is self-employed mentality. Act like you own the place. All right, if you see something that needs to be done, just get it done. Even if it's not your job. When you do that, it should. It changes you. It changes your attitude. It changes how people see you. It gives you more opportunity. So I love what Mr. Dad advice had to say about this. Well, Gen Z is pissed at us boomers, and I can't say that I blame them. There was an article that came out the other day that said you would have to have five minimum wage jobs to live in Austin, Texas, to afford the rent there. It's ridiculous. So those of you who say, well, back in 1980, I'm made $15 an hour and I bought a house. Well, guess what? Adjusted for inflation, your $15 an hour that you made in

1980 would now be over $112,000 a year. Thank you, Radio Dog Entertainment. This guy's got a good radio voice, so I'm guessing he's in that world. I like it. Very old school. Very Dave Ramsey. And I think he's right here. And I even think Dave Ramsey would agree. There is a lot to the math. And now, the whole, you need five minimum wage jobs to live in Austin. That's all some hoopla meant to be rage bait. Who's working five minimum wage jobs? Where are they? Find me these people.

I want to meet them. Number one, that's pretty impressive if you are, but also do better. So think about this. What skills do you need to get above that suckbar and make more money to afford the life you want? Because the truth is no one is coming to save you. Another truth, money doesn't go as far as it used to. So you got to control what you can.

You can control your budget, your habits, and your income. And there might be a season where, yes, you're working a lot of hours, or you're working a couple of jobs. But this idea that you can never have what you want because the boomers and inflation ruined it, that feels like hope stealing to me. So I don't like that part. But what he's saying is true.

I appreciate the empathy. I think if the other generation just had some empathy, some compassion, instead of just saying, well, you're just lazy. It's not that hard. Just go, hey, that is really difficult. That's it. We're not even looking for a magic wand here. We're just looking for a little compassion. So I'm paid enough to stay alive, not enough to live. The end. How the last man made me laugh? You drop. You drop this crown emoji. I like that one. That's a good, I'm going to start using that more.

No one's ever used that on me, by the way. Wouldn't hurt to leave a comment. What advice would you give to younger people? Keep active. And don't take so many people. I tell you this now, be good. Love everybody. Do the best you can. Not to give up. I mean, if things go bad, which they do, to work at it, seek advice,

listen to the elders. If you have elders who can clarify things, for you and go on and be make something of yourself for your future. I like this. People over a hundred. Yeah, I'm taking some wisdom from them for sure. They've seen pretty much everything. I mean, we're talking great depression for some of these people. The depression. So they are resilient, if nothing else. I mean, even Marie, just saying, don't give up, work at it. Seek advice. Find the mentor. There is wisdom all around you. If you look for it, there's still hope out there.

And God bless, I don't know if I'm going to make it to 100 or if I'm going to be too senile to give any wisdom, but I hope I can make it one of these videos one day. And I want to talk like real slow, squint my eyes a little bit and put on a fake accent. Because who's going to know? Who's going to know? It's not illegal. Marie dropped the skincare routine. I agree. Goodness gracious. How old was she? A hundred years old. Really good skin. For a hundred years old.

My skin's not as nice, and I'm all like a little over a third of the way there. As per usual, producer Alex has chosen a video at random for me to enjoy or be angry at. We'll see which one it is today. Life Hacks for Boomers, Part 6. How to Cover a Cough. Sometimes you may see Jen Ziers cover their mouth with their elbow like this.

That is not necessary. Instead, make a fist, hold it about three feet from your mouth, and cough away. Pathogens are smarter than you'd think. They'll all make sure to go directly into your hand and disappear. The music really added something. Were they taught that growing up? Once we lost a handkerchief, which, by the way, I understand that had a utility at one point, but that's disgusting.

I'm pretty sure that's how we all died of dysentery and scurvy back in the day. We were just using the same handkerchief over and over to put our diseases in. And then go, I can just fold it. It's fine. When are we washing this thing? After nine folds, are we finally like, all right, let's put it in the wash. That's pretty wild. Please do one about licking your fingers to separate bills.

Oh, so good. There's always like a real gross sound to it, too. Like, what are they coughing up? George, please. Very flemy coughs. I think once you get to a certain age, you're just like constantly in like a, just a mediocre state of sickness. I don't look forward to that.

Well, I hope I created a small bridge in this video. from the boomers to the millennials and the Gen Ziers and the Gen Alphas because I think there is a lot to learn from the boomers. And I also think the boomers could do better on the empathy and compassion side to understand the current realities we face. It is a tougher job market. Things like AI are making it more difficult

to get some jobs that used to be more attainable. There's more people applying online. You can't just walk into the store and say, I'd like one job, please, and they just hand it to you. But there is still hope out there. You can still build that work ethic. You don't have to give up and go, woe is me, and make cynical TikToks about it. You can go after the thing you want, and many people have.

And that's the difference. Are you going to give up or are you going to keep going, regardless of what's happening in the economy in inflation? Are you going to focus on the things you can control instead of the things you can't? Now, if you thought any of today's boomer advice was questionable, hold my beer. Or if you're my dad, O'Doole's. Because this next video features Woo Woo! money TikTokers who have advice that can only be categorized as egregious.

Click here to watch it next or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.