George Kamel - Americans Don't Know These 5 Basic Money Skills

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

The personal finance report card is in—and it’s not looking good for almost half of Americans. In this episode, find out how your knowledge compares to the rest of the country, plus learn��which five money skills everyone needs. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch my video Investing for Beginners. 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. 📗 Get my new audiobook, Breaking Free From Broke. 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: • 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • 💸 Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to a new hot off the press Pew Research Study, only about half of Americans think they know a lot about personal finances. The other half? Not looking so good. So which half are you in? Let's find out. In today's video, we'll go over five money skills that you should 100% know how to do, and we'll use the data from this research study to see how your money knowledge stacks up with the rest of America. And by the end of this video, here's my promise. You'll get an A in personal finance because no one flunks out of Professor Campbell's class. So pencils down and fingers up, hit those like and subscribe buttons,

and share this video with your buddy Craig, who thinks he's good with money, but also just least a cyber truck, proving he does not in fact make great decisions when it comes to money, vehicles, and probably most other things in life. Where do you get off? Okay, according to this survey from Pew Research, 75% of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very confident that they have enough knowledge and information to find their credit report. That's not bad, but we can do better, because finding your credit report is super easy. Now, for those who aren't familiar, a credit report is a statement that has detailed information, about the money you've borrowed in the past and the present.

It's kind of like a report card that you used to get in school, except instead of having to show it to your parents, you have to show it to potential lenders, landlords, and sometimes even your employers. This is because it helps them determine how risky you are, aka the likelihood that you'll be able to pay your bills on time. And whether you have debt or not, it's a good idea to pull this at least once a year

from all three credit bureaus to make sure all the information is correct and that there's no fraud involved. And here's the best and fastest way to do it. All you have to do is go to annual credit rules, go to annualcredit report.com and request your free reports. You'll fill out a form, pick the reports you want, and review them online. Now, you will need to answer some personal questions to prove it's you, but you should be fine as long as you're not somebody else.

And if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're not somebody else. You're uniquely you. That's my Fred Rogers impression, and I stand by it. That was good. Yeah, that was kind of creepy. And fun fact, in the old days, you could get a free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus once a year. But now it's once a week, which is cool, but also a bit much. Find better hobbies.

Like LARPING. Okay, the next financial skill from this survey, 59% of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very confident that they have enough knowledge and information to create a monthly budget. Okay, we can do better than this, people. Creating a budget is not that difficult. The heart part is sticking to it. But when you do it right, it is a game changer.

And this is a really important money skill, because if you want to win with money, you've got to be intentional with money. and the way you do that is with a monthly budget. So if you're one of those people who said they don't know how to do it, here's a quick refresher on budgeting. Step one, list your income. This should include all the money you have coming in for the month,

money from your job, side hustles, social security, whatever. List out all of it. Step two, list your expenses. Now that you know what's coming in, you got to make a plan for the money going out. List everything you think you'll spend money on for the entire month, including but not limited to, bills, groceries, gas, and eggs. I'm not made of money.

Step three, subtract expenses from income. Now, this number should equal zero because we are creating a zero-based budget. This is my favorite budgeting method because it means you're giving every single dollar a job. So if you take home $5,000 in a given month, everything that you give, save, or spend should add up to $5,000 and not a penny more. Every dollar that comes in has a purpose, so nothing gets mindlessly spent on a grande, no-whip, half-calf, white chocolate mocha with a single pump made with soy. You know what? Scratch that. Gome coconut.

milk, full keto baby, unless, of course, it's in the budget, then you can put it in. And just for clarity, a zero-based budget does not mean you have zero dollars in the bank, all right? It's wise to keep a buffer of at least $100 or more in your checking account. Step number four, you've got to track your transactions. And the app that I use to budget and track my expenses is called Every Dollar. It's a free download. It's super easy to use, and it does the math for you. If you want to check it out, click the link in the description below or just go to every dollar.com slash George. So that's it. Those are the four steps. And every month, you start back at one.

Which reminds me of Brian McKnight's hit single Back at One. Here's my budgeting rendition. One, list your income right on Q, two, your list expenses two, three, and do some math to see, your dollars have a J-O-B and four.

Start tracking every dime. Five, make a budget every time. Whenever you believe the month is done, then you are back at one. You know what? Brian McKnight, you have every right to sue me for how offensive that was. I'll be in touch with your lawyers. I'll be in touch for them to sue me.

Good Lord, I'm a criminal. Okay, let's get to the next money skill from the survey. 57% of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very confident that they have enough knowledge and information to create a plan to pay off debt. I got to say, wish this number were higher. Debt is not something you want hanging around because it robs you of your ability to build wealth. It's like a leech sucking money out of every single paycheck. So if you've got credit card debt, student loan debt, auto loan debt, any kind of consumer debt, get rid of it ASAP.

And if you don't know how to create a plan to pay it off, I got you. The best way to pay off your debt is the debt snowball method. Here's how it works. First, line up your debt from smallest to largest, regardless of the interest rate. Attack the smallest debt first while you continue to pay minimum payments on the rest. And because you're throwing everything you can at the smallest debt, that little squirt gets paid off super fast. Then once the smallest debt is gone, take the payment that's now freed up and apply it to the next smallest debt and the next smallest debt. Now we've got some real traction here.

Boom, second debt's paid off. Snowball picks up more snow and then eventually all of your debts are finally paid off. And I know some of you are like, well, George, would it not be mathematically proper to pay off the highest interest rate first? Yes, Mr. Smarty Pants, it would. But if your pants were smart enough to do math right, we wouldn't be in credit card debt. So go ahead and put that Ti-84 cap back in your shirt pocket, Gary. hand it over. I want to play a quick game of snake. I miss that. It's classic. Now, coming from a guy who paid off a bunch of debt, math will not get you out of debt.

Momentum will. That's what the debt snowball is all about. It gives you some quick wins psychologically to keep you motivated and actually make it across the finish line. Okay, stepping off my soapbox. Next money skill. 56% of US adults say they are extremely or very confident that they have enough knowledge and information to save money. Okay, I don't fully understand this one because the way you save money is just don't spend it yet. I never thought of it that way. So I think this is more of a behavior thing, the knowledge thing. We all know how to save money. But if you want to get ahead with money, you got to make it a priority to save up a fully funded emergency fund, because you just don't know what financial surprises tomorrow holds. Your AC could go out, a meteorite could puncture your roof,

or you could get fired for not answering that email about five things you did last week. And I wish that was a joke. That kind of junk can derail your financial progress if you're not prepared. So I recommend having three to six months worth of expenses tucked away somewhere like a high yield savings account, where it's easily accessible and can earn some decent interest. And that emergency fund will be a solid safety net between you and whatever costly catastrophe life throws your way. And this way, when you have a financial emergency, you won't need to use debt to pay for it, making it less than of emergency and more of an inconvenience. Okay, the last money skill we're going to cover from this survey is all about investing. See if you can guess how

many people said they know how to create an investment plan. And I'll give you a hint. It's less than 100%, but it's more than 1%. And before I tell you the exact number, let me tell you how to get your personal info away from spammers and scammers. The way I do this is by using Delete Me, a sponsor of today's video. Delete Me will go in and find and remove your info from thousands of data broker sites that sell your info for a profit. Gross, I know. And they'll send you a report, showing you where they found and removed your data and how much time they've saved you. And so far, I have saved 86 hours, which is more time I can spend writing high whose based on personal finance research studies.

America spends, credit cards whisper sweet lies, paychecks fade like missed. End scene, Your Honor. So help protect yourself from the risks of online scams and data breaches with DeleteMe. Right now, you can get 20% off any of their annual plans by going to join Deleteme.com slash George or click the link in the description below. Okay, here's the final stat about investing. 27% of U.S. adults say they are extremely or very confident they have enough knowledge and information to create an investment plan.

This is not good. But fear not, because despite what you might think, investing doesn't have to be that complicated. In fact, if you're doing it right, it's about as boring as a Ken Burns documentary on the color beige, which I would 100% want to star in. My dearest Margaret, I have repainted the sitting room in beige. A shade that whispers. I have no strong opinions about anything. The neighbors approve.

My soul remains in quiet agony. Pretty boring, but it works. And it's the same with investing. All you need are good old base. retirement accounts like your company 401k or a Roth IRA. And here's proof. In the largest millionaire study ever done, eight out of 10 net worth millionaires said their retirement plan was the key to their financial success. So start putting 15% of your income into these tax advantaged accounts each month and then sit back and watch your nest egg grow exponentially

over time thanks to compound growth. And if you start early enough and make a habit of investing 15% every month, you can easily retire a millionaire in America today. But here's the huge tiny caveat. Only start investing when you're finding. financially ready, which is when you've got all your consumer debt paid off and you have a fully funded emergency fund. This is the prerequisite, the financial foundation you need so that you can build wealth with nothing stopping you. And this is not a theory. This is how I became a net worth millionaire. I invested consistently into my company 401k and I paid off my home. So between my retirement accounts and my home equity, I became a millionaire in a decade.

And you can too. So now you know how to do those five financial skills. And if you want to improve your money knowledge even more, check out my book Breaking Free from Broke, the ultimate guide to more money and less stress. And it's also available as an audiobook read by yours truly. Here's a little taste. My dearest Margaret, even though you are my favorite horse. Nope, I must put you up for sale.

Wrong audio, guys, wrong audio. I purchased far too much of Ethereum. That was my audition for the Ken Burns' Doc. We can cut that. If you want to hear the real thing, check out the link in the description below. Oh, and you know what I didn't get to mention? My five-word investing strategy. If you want to know what it is, keep watching this next video

or click the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.