George Kamel - Guessing Their Debt Was Harder Than I Thought

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!   It’s no secret that I love asking people about their debt. But what you may NOT know is that I’m also pretty good at guessing it. So today I’m putting my debt guessing skills to the test again in Franklin, Tennessee.    Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video I tried Guessing People’s Debt! • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: • Get $5 credit when you join Privacy. • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Go to Boost Mobile to switch today!  • Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle!   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

It's not that hard asking people about their debt. What's really hard is trying to guess it. And unlike guessing people's way to the state fair, this one won't get me punched in the face. Hopefully, I've been known to have a punchable face. So I'm going to put my debt guessing skills to the test here in Franklin, Tennessee to see how close I can get. But before we get to it, let me give a quick,

hi-diddley-ho neighborino to delete me for sponsoring this channel. Let's get to it. You ready to play a game with me? I'm ready. I'm going to guess how much debt you have based on a series of questions. A couple of ground rules. rules here, okay? I have to be within $20,000 or 20% of your actual number, and I can't ask any questions where the answer is a dollar amount. Fair? Fair. And we're going consumer debt, not the

mortgage. Just consumer debt. Okay. What do you do for work? I'm in insurance. I work for all state. All state insurance. Do you have a degree? An associate's degree. Okay. What is the degree in? It was like general, like general studies. It was like a training. And I never went to do the, the full four year. Yeah. What kind of car do you drive? 2019, 4-DF-150. Woo!

All right. Do you use credit cards? No. I had one a while back and realized it's not as easy to pay off and you know as you think. And you kind of stacks up pretty fast. So no longer using credit cards. No.

All right, that makes things interesting. Are you investing currently? Not really, honestly, no. Just going off of vibes right now. Yeah, yeah. All right. I got 401K, that's about it. Are you investing in the 401K?

Yes. Okay. Do you rent or own a home? Rent. You're a renter, and have your parents helped you cover any big purchases or expenses? No. Oh, okay. I'll tell you what's going through my mind.

The associate's degree, I think, is now paid off if you even went into debt for it. The truck is the worrisome part. I feel like you're a young guy, a 2019 Ford. that's going to cost you a pretty penny, and that's a lot to save up. You're not investing, you're a renter. I'm going to guess your only debt is the car, and the loan amount is $28,000. That's pretty close. It's pretty close.

What is it? It's like 19. That's a win in my book. Now, I don't know if that's, it's obviously 20,000 in that realm. 20% is the question. You said it's 19? Yeah. So I don't need to be like 4 grand away.

I'm going to take 28 as a close win though. It's not a fail, not an A. Is that all of your debt? I got like a little bit of personal debt, just like personal loan. Okay. It's about another 5,000. And then I got a motorcycle as well. Okay, what's left on that?

Just a couple, like 2,000. So total debt, how much do you have? If you added it all up? Well, let's see, about probably around 25 to 30. Okay. So I was spot on with the 28. I just didn't factor in a couple of other debts. Well, now I take it back.

I win. I win the game. Are you impressed or not impressed? I'm pretty impressed. I'm impressed. What's your game plan to pay off all this debt? Man, I'm just trying to just work a lot of hours and just live below my means and try to stack up. But, yeah, you guys will like this one, too.

I didn't do my taxes for a couple years because I added about another $20,000 onto my tax debt. Are you still paying off the IRS debt? Yeah, I got to set up on the payment schedule. Oh, well, now I'm wrong again. Yeah. Because now it puts you at like $40,000, $50,000 total, right? Do the taxes. Do the taxes.

Do your taxes. Pay Uncle Sam what he is owed. Yes. Okay, well, I wish you the best of luck getting out of debt. If you need help, you know the channel to follow. Yeah, heck yeah. Not Caleb Hammer. It's George Camel, baby.

George Campbell. Sounds good. I'm going to guess how much debt you have. Okay. Don't give me any hints. What do you do for work? I'm actually looking for a job right now. So unemployed currently, no income coming in. Do you have a degree?

High school diploma. I'm currently in college. About to be a junior. Nice. Where are you going to college? University of Tennessee in Oxford. Fantastic. Govals. What do you drive? Drive at 2014 Honda Accord. Oh, that's a great car. That thing will outlast you, man. Yeah. All right, do you use credit cards? I do not. Are you investing currently?

No. Ooh. Do you rent or own a home? No. I am... You're on campus or what? Yes, I just... I'm living with family. I'm living with family over the summer.

Starting this August, I am renting an apartment close to campus. Okay. Have your parents helped you cover any big purchases or expenses? Yes, they pay for my insurance. Most of the big things that... Until I can get my feet off the ground. Okay. I have all the information I need.

Are you ready for me to reveal your reality? Yes, sir. This isn't real. What is real? I think you are completely debt-free. I would agree. The pause really got me, man. You have no debt?

I don't believe so, yeah. I've mainly just been going off my dad's $529 savings plan for college. Oh, nice. See, that was the caveat. I was like, U.T. Knoxville can be expensive. Yeah, definitely can. And so I didn't know if you went to debt for that, but by the way you were talking, it felt like you either got a full ride, scholarships,

scholarships or parents helped save for it. Yeah, yeah, definitely do have a good bit of scholarships and been working quite a few jobs. I have a job lined up for the fall. Nice. University in Tennessee and Knoxville, but still looking for some for the summer. So kind of intermediary stage. Well, I hope that you graduate debt-free, get a job on the other side, and stay debt-free for the rest of your life. I'm hoping I do. Good luck. Thank you. What do you do for work? I work as a national sales account executive. That sounds fancy. And lucrative. Do you have a degree? I do.

What's your degree in? Communications. Same. What kind of car do you drive? Give me the year, make, and model. 2021 Jeep, Grand Cherokee. Okay. Do you use credit cards?

I do. What is your most frequently used credit card? Wells Fargo, cash, reback. Okay. Are you investing currently? I am. Do you rent or own a home? Currently renting.

Have your parents or family helped you cover any big purchases or expenses? No. That's all the questions I have. Here comes the big reveal. All right. You got a great job. You do have a degree. You drive a nice car.

You do use credit cards, but I feel like you're fairly fiscally responsible because you're investing. I'm going to say you don't have any debt. That's wrong. Oh. But I don't have a lot. Where did I go wrong? I have credit cards that I haven't been able to pay. because they are for certain things that I'm consistently paying for,

like my functional diagnostic nutrition degree. So I'm putting everything on there. Oh, see, yeah. The degree you're working on, that would have given me a clue. It's a degree. It's a certification. So it's an additional, you know, additional payment. But I would say you're really close.

My debt is about $7,000. $7,000, and it's all on credit cards? Or are there other things? Correct. All on credit. But no car payment? I have three months left on a car payment. Okay, so small balance left on there.

Dang, well, I feel like it was a big fail on my part. I don't think it was a fail. But I'm happy that you have a minimal amount of debt that you're working on knocking out. How much longer to knock it all out, to be completely debt-free? Probably one year. One year. Can we make it six months? I have people who are going to keep you accountable here watching.

All right. Challenge exception. Six months from now, we're going to hear from her and hear her debt-free story. Thanks for playing. You're welcome. Thank you. What do you do for work? I am a senior payroll manager.

Do you have a degree? No. What kind of car do you drive you're making model? We have two vehicles. One is a 2026 RAV4 and the other, but that's leasing. We do not own it. Okay. So I apologize.

That's all right. You gave me a clue. I did, I apologize. That's okay. And then we own a Nissan Mazda. I think it's 2018, 2019. What's a Nissan Mazda? Aren't those two different cars?

Sorry, Nissan Moreno. Oh, Marano. Okay. Cars. Okay, no, it's good. I was just, you really threw me for a loop. I was like, I've never heard of this. Genius marketing play on Nissan's part.

Do you use credit cards? Yes. What's your most frequently used credit card? The Chase Sapphire. Chase Sapphire. Are you investing currently? No. Do you rent or own a home?

Oh, no. Have your parents or family helped you cover any big purchases or expenses? Yes. Oh, this is tough. Okay, so let me walk you through what's happening in my mind. Sure. You don't have student loan debt because there's no degree unless you didn't finish, in which case you could have some lingering debt.

The card, the fact that there's a lease tells me there could be debt on the other one. I don't know what year the Nissan is. Do you know? I believe it's a 2019. Okay. So fairly new. You do use credit cards. You own a home.

Parents help cover some expenses. I'm going to say you are $34,000 in debt total. Higher. What's the real number? 70. 70. Oh, it's halfway there. Okay, what makes up the 70?

We did have a little bit of credit card debt, and then we took out a personal loan, and that basically covered it along with the vehicle. So it's like a giant personal loan, plus which vehicles have loans on them? Just the Nissan. Okay, how much is left on there? I believe we have 15,000, maybe a little more. Okay. Plus the personal loan adds up to 70. With the credit card debt.

Oh, I was so wrong. Okay. What's the lease payment on the 2026 RAP4? I believe it's 300 a month. Okay, and then what's the payment on the Nissan? About 250, I believe. Okay, so about $5.50 in car payments. And you said you're not investing currently.

No. If you freed up those car payments, would you be able to invest? What's holding you guys back from investing? I think the plan would be to, we watched Dave Bramsey. So we're trying to do the snowball effect now. So working our lowest cards and then working up to our highest. And in the middle there, between our highest card is our loan. So we will work our way up. Okay. And you guys are aligned on this. You and your spouse, like we are getting out of this debt. My husband even more than me. Good. Okay. I want to too. What's the game plan?

How long is it going to take to pay off 70 grand? He's hoping in the next like five years or so, because we should both be getting some increases in pay, which will be very helpful. And we don't expect any other large purchases. We ended up having to lease this car because something happened with our other car. So that's the plan. Okay.

Can I step the plan up? Sure. Could you do it in three years if you guys got real intense? Yes. Yeah, we probably could. That's so confidently. So five years is just to like, if we go easy, we can do this in five years.

Yeah. But if you went hard in the pain, three. I'm going to push for three. The faster the better, you know, you got a life to live. Yeah. Is that your baby? We got a sweet baby in the world. I know. That's why we got to make sure that we're... Or the baby can even remember anything. Let's become debt free. That's awesome. Well, I'm pushing for you guys. Thanks for talking to me. While we play this guessing game, I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're probably using the wrong bank. What is the wrong bank? One that dings you with fees and tries to push you into debt instead of helping you get out. Well, does that

bank exists? It does, in fact. It's called Fairwin's Credit Union and their sponsor of today's show. They want to help you get out and part of that is not dinging you with fees. And that's why I love their no-fee checking account and 35,000 fee-free ATMs across the country. And that all comes with their smart bundle, which includes a high-ield savings account and a Ramsey themed debit card. So go check it all out at fairwins.org slash Ramsey. Guessing people's debt can get personal. What's even more personal is your information being packaged and sold on the internet. Yes, it's true. Things like your email address, your phone number, your home address, your family's information. It's being put on these data broker sites and then sold to the people who are spamming and scamming you.

So the way to avoid that is with DeleteMe, another sponsor of today's video. They go into these data broker sites, hundreds of them, remove your info and send you a report of what they've done and how much time they've saved you. And to save even more, I got you 20% off through annual plans at joindeletme.com slash George. I'll start with you. What do you do for work? I'm a marketing strategist. Love that. Do you have a degree? I do.

What is it in? I have a bachelor's in media management and then a master's in psychology. Okay. Slay. Do you use credit cards? Yes. All right. What's your most frequently used credit card? I think it's like a Chase. Chase.

Okay, like a Sapphire one? Yes, I think that's actually it. Are you investing currently? Yes. Do you rent or own a home? We rent. Have your parents or family helped you cover any big purchases or expenses? No.

What kind of car do you drive? You're making model. A Subaru Cross Trek from 2021. Ooh, that's pretty fancy. All right, that gives me a lot of good information. You got a master's. Here's what's going through my mind. You got a master's. Those are rarely cheap or paid for.

And you drive a newer car within the last five years. You do use credit cards. I don't know if you're carrying a balance month to month. That's the iffy part. You're renting. And family didn't help you, which tells me you likely have more debt than the average person who had family help. I'm going to go $50,000 total in consumer debt.

No. How close was I? What's the real number? I think it's like 13,000. Oh, way less than I thought. Okay, breakdown the 13. What's made up of that? It's just the car payment. We are really on top of our credit card and use it very solemnly. So we're just paying off that Subaru. Okay, so the master's degree was cash flowed. It was actually paid for by my work.

So I work for Purdue University. Well, now I got asked, did your work pay for a car? Okay, see, that's where it got me. If work didn't pay for it. You would have been right now. Oh, yeah, I would have been. Yeah. Okay, well, hey, I'm happy to be wrong that you have way less debt than I thought.

What's the car payment? Like $2.99. Okay, what are you going to do when that car payment's gone? What do you do with that money? We are going to buy my husband a new car. Hey, what's he driving? Is it time for him? Right now, we only have one car.

Just a super. Yes. So you guys are trying to share? Yeah, but I work remotely. He works remotely, so we make it work. Okay, that's great. I love that. All right, your turn. Let's see if I can get closer on this one. What do you do for work? I work in special education. Love that. Do you have a degree? No, but I'm working on it currently.

What kind of car do you drive? You're making model. A Nissan Rogue 2020. Do you use credit cards? Yeah. Okay. What's your most frequently used card that you pull out the most? So I have one credit card, and it's like just a capital one credit card. Okay. Do you rent or own a home? I rent.

Have your parents or family helped you cover any big purchases or expensive? No. Has work helped cover any big purchases or expenses? No. Okay. No degree. Drive a 2020. You do use credit cards. Your face said something weird when I said, do you use credit cards?

So told me either you barely use them or do you use them a lot? I don't use them a lot. Okay. They make me anxious. Yeah. All right, because she has such a little debt and you guys are friends, I'm going to say that you have close to no debt, even potentially completely debt free. Zero dollars.

I have my car. What's left on the car loan? I think like 13,000. Oh. Okay. I think we should duke it out. See who pays off the car first. She said no parents have helped her.

I'm like, I hope not because they're my parents. So I was like, they better. You guys are sisters? Yes. This just got crazy. What if you found out for the first time that mom and dad covered her whole life and they made you pay for it all? That would be great YouTube content. Yeah, I know.

Well, college. Yeah. So I guess, yeah. Do they pay for your college? My undergrad, yeah. Okay. Or part of that. And then how about you?

No college. Well, there's a reason. There's like a good reason. Because when I first went to college and I stopped, they were like, that was your chance girl. And so then after that, now that I'm going back, I'm paying for it. Wow. Which is okay. Okay.

Love that I guess 50 for you and zero for her, but it's because I thought you were kindred spirits after that. I went the other direction. What's your car payment? It's high because it's the first car I ever bought and I had no credit. So it's like $400. It's super expensive. I know. Well, you two are young.

You've got plenty of time on your side. Can we do some magic math to see what those car payments could turn into if you started investing that amount? Sure. Are you currently investing? No. And you are through work? Through work and crypto, we just contribute monthly to that. Strictly crypto?

We're kind of sprinkled around other places, but I have like some micro-stratage, some stuff like that, but... What is micro-stratit? I'm learning a lot today. What crypto is hot right now? What are you putting your money into? I mean, Bitcoin is what everybody wants into, but my husband really looks at everything, and he has his finger on the pulse on, like, what's trending and what's not. Okay. That does like a lot of work. It can be. But it's like his hobby at this point. A little, yeah.

Okay. Well, let's play the game. So I'm going to pull up the investing calculator here. And what I'm going to do is put your current age in. So what's your current age? I'm 27. 27. And when do you think you'll retire?

What age do you think is realistic that you'll work until? If everything goes as planned, 55, 56. Okay. I'm going to go 56. So 27 to 56. Now we're going to contribute that car payment. You said it's $300? Okay.

So $300 contributed. And how much do you currently have across all kind of investment accounts or retirement? Maybe like $20,000. Okay. $20. And average rate of return, I'm going to go 10% if it's invested in the U.S. stock market, you know, mutual funds, things like that. Not a single stock, not crypto. So crunch the numbers for us.

Okay. Wow. Almost a million bucks. Yeah. Is that impressive? That is impressive. That's just your car payment. That's not including what you're investing now.

That's if you never get a raise, you never contribute more than that. You could still have a million bucks at 56. There we go. Can we see what it would be if you kept going to even 57? Sure. One more year of compound growth, what that would do. Now we're over a million. Million.

Awesome. I love to see that seven-figure number. Yeah, me too. Does I encourage you to want to invest more and get out of debt faster? 100%. Yeah. I love that. Okay.

Your turn. How old are you? 24. Oh, you're the younger, sis. Yes. All right. Are you single? No, I'm married.

Okay, wonderful. So you've got a spouse as well. What age do you think you'll retire? I don't know. Since I'm going to be a teacher, probably like 65. Okay, 24 to 65. Monthly contributions, I'm going to do your car payment, which is? 400.

400. And how much do you currently have invested? Nothing? I have zero. Okay. Zero invested. That's totally fine. And we're going to do 10% annual rate of return on average.

Hit crunch the numbers for me. I could be rich. $2.8 million. That's insane. That is super cool. And the numbers weren't that much different. You had $100 bucks more going into it, and you've got a couple more years on the earlier side, plus you're going to work later.

That's really, really cool. I've never thought of it that way. I love to hear that. And that's, again, $400. I mean, I recommend investing 15% of your growth. income once you're debt free and you have emergency savings in place. So could you invest 15% of your income if you didn't have any debt payments? Yeah, probably. Which is more than $400, I imagine. Probably combined with my husband. Right. Think about it, if you make 100 grand household,

that's 15 grand a year into investments. And so if you make 50 grand a year, that's 7,500, which is still over 600 bucks a month. If your household income is 50 grand. That's a good deal, so how much do you think you could realistically invest, you between you and your husband, every month once you're debt free. Give me a total monthly contribution. I guess combined. A thousand, 1,500, 2,000? Um, probably more than I think just because I feel, yeah, probably like a thousand. Okay. Let's bump it up to a thousand and just see what happens for fun. All right. Holy cow. About $7 million. And again, that's if you guys never get a raise, you never have an employer match. That's just you guys putting away $1,000 from $24 to 65 if you just get intentional.

Well, I'm going to talk to my husband about investing when I get home. Are you going to tell him, hey, follow this George Camel guy on YouTube. He's a squirly fella, but he has some good things to say. No, I feel like I'm going to go home and tell him what I did, and he's going to be like, I know who that is. Are you guys on, like, a written budget to use an app or something or a spreadsheet? What do you guys do to track your money and know where it's going? This is so lame, but he kind of just does that.

He's a spreadsheet guy. He really likes to break all of that down. So you have no clue what's going on with the finances. So you ask you. A little bit. You have to be like, hey. I know how much I can spend, like spending money-wise. And, like, when I have a good idea of when things are due and things like that.

But as far as, like, getting them all situated, that's kind of him. Okay, how about you? What's going on? Is your husband, like, is he, like, Mr. Spreadsheet? It sounds like he likes to get super nerdy. Well, he's an engineer, so he has a knack for that. But he loves a list, and so he has everything in a list, and the date that everything comes out, and what's auto, what's not. And so I'm kind of like her.

He does most of that because he has such a mask. He's just a nerd, and you guys are a little more of the free spirit. Let me live. Yes, but I like her. I know, like, when things are coming out, like what we do, like pay for, things like that. And so, yeah. I love it. Well, I hope this conversation encourage you guys to stay on the path, get out of debt, build that wealth.

It's very much possible. There's no excuse now if you don't have $7 million in retirement when I meet you at 64. No, for real. I'm excited. I love it. Well, thanks for talking with me. Yeah, thanks for sure. You know, guessing games are fun, but debt games are not. So the best way to live your life is without payments. No matter how much debt you have, it is worth getting out once and for all. And if you enjoyed today's episode, you're going to love this next one where I went to downtown Nashville to guess more people's debt, including going toe to toe with an NFL player, or I guess, in this case more head to chest, considerable height difference. So click here to watch it next or use the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.