George Kamel - "How Much Dollars Should I Spend on My Wife?" Questions from Real Kids

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

📙 Order my book, Breaking Free From Broke, or listen on audiobook.  Ever wonder why there are faces on money? In this episode, I’m answering money questions like that from real kids—and some of the answers might surprise you.    Next Steps:  • 🎥 Watch my video This One Number Determines if You’ll Be Wealthy. • 💰 Find out your earning potential with the Investment Calculator. • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!     Connect With Our Sponsors:  • Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE.  • 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

It's a beautiful day in the studio, a beautiful day for some questions. Would you subscribe? Could you subscribe? It's a studio day in this camel, would a studio day for a camel. Would you hit like, could you hit like? I have always wanted to hear from kiddos just like you. I hope your mom signed the waiver so you can be on YouTube. Because I'm gonna answer your questions today

Before we get started, I might as well say Would you hit like, could you subscribe, share this with your neighbor? Won't you please, won't you please, Please share this with your neighbor? Hello, neighbor. I'm proud of you, you know that. I hope you do. A lot of you out there have told me that you watch or listen to this YouTube channel with your kids.

And I gotta say, I love that. And I wondered if there are any questions that your kiddos had for me. So I put out the call on social, let me tell you, you guys did not disappoint. Your kids sent some great questions, and today I'm going to answer a few of those. So without further ado, let's take a little trip to the newest segment on this channel, Mr. Camel's Neighborhood. Hey George, I have a question. If I grew up and I'm wealthy, would I still need to budget? I love this question. And you know what? Let's be a little more confident.

When you grow up and you are wealthy, will you still need to budget? And the answer is yes. See, the key to actually building wealth is to live on lesson you make and make a plan for every single dollar. And then invest the difference. Invest all of the margin you create by having breathing room left over. And so when you're wealthy, budgeting will just become easier because you're going to have way more money than you actually need to cover your bills. And all of that extra stuff in the budget can go to things that you really care about. Things you want to spend money on, maybe savings goals, and especially generosity.

And a budget is the key to doing all of that. And you know what? Because I love this question so much, and you mentioned budgeting, I'm going to gift you our every dollar budgeting app so that you can get started today and figure out what to do with all your money, even at this young age. Because I think if you figure it out now, you're going to be doing exponentially better than most people as you grow up. Thanks for the question.

Why doesn't have to ask the president's face on it? Okay. He took this very literally. I'm guessing the parent asked, hey, what questions you have about money? Why are the faces on there? What are they doing with the faces? And honestly, it's a really good question.

And here's my best guess. Number one, it's a way to honor the country's founders and the leaders that we admire, that have made this country what it is today. And then it also helps to tell us which bill we're actually looking at. So basically, it's a way to honor our heroes and make money easy to recognize

and also probably a little bit of ego in there somewhere. Hi, my name is Delaney, and my question is, who made the first dollar? My name is Ireland, and my question is, how did money go from gold and silver into, like, a paper dollar bill? Great questions from Delaney and Ireland. So let's walk through Memory Lane together, shall we? The real story is this. A long time ago, when America was still a pretty new country, people were using different kinds of money from other places, like British coins, Spanish coins, even seashells.

So the leaders at the time, people like George Washington, and Almond. Alexander Hamilton said, hey, let's make our own money. And then Congress, which is a big group of decision makers in the government, said, yep, let's do this. So, back in 1794, hundreds of years ago, the very first official U.S. dollar coin was made. It was silver, and it had a lady called Liberty on it. And who made this? Well, the U.S. Mint, which is kind of like a money-making factory, actually made the first dollar.

And the designer was a guy named Robert Scott, who was the first chief engraver of the U.S. Mint. and Alexander Hamilton was the Treasury Secretary at the time, and he helped to plan this out. And don't forget that Congress had to approve it. So really, it took a whole lot of people working together to make the first dollar that we know and love. On to the next one. Hi, George. My name is Warren, and I'm 10 years old. I'm a fan of your channel. I'm wondering what the best way to start investing at my age is. Way to go, my guy.

And thank you for watching this channel and being a fan that means the world. So what's the best way to start investing as a 10-year-old? Well, here's what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't actually put money into an investment account at your age. What I would do is invest in you. Invest into your passions, your skills, start to develop those and go, man, what do I want to do for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years of my life? And then once you start making real money, then is the time to invest. And a key here is to build a foundation for yourself where you never touch debt, you have money.

money in the bank so that you always have the margin to invest. You're always living on less than you make. You're always doing a budget. And then when the time comes, your parents can help you open a savings account and something like a Roth IRA, which is a great way to get started investing as you get older. Hey guys, is it possible if you save long enough, will you become a billionaire? Billionaire? Them fighting word, bud. Can you save long enough to become a billionaire? Well, here's the truth about billionaires. Billionaires didn't save their way to that level of wealth. They generally are big-time entrepreneurs. They started really, really successful companies that created a net worth of a billion dollars. They likely don't just have

a billion dollars sitting in some sort of Scrooge McDuck pool. And so let's actually walk through what it would take to save your way to a billion dollars just for fun. And to do this, I'm going to use our investment calculator at ramsysolutions.com, and you can do the same. Okay, let's just say you're going to start from the age of 10. So if you're a 10, you're a lot of 10, you're a little bit of 10. 10 years old, and let's say that you live to be 100. Okay, let's really dream big here, because it's going to take a lot of time and compound growth in order to grow your money into a billion dollars. How much do we currently have? We're going to start from zero dollars at 10 years old. How much will we contribute monthly? I'm just going to go on a limb here and say it's going to

need to be hundreds of thousands of dollars per month. Let's see, $500,000 per month. And annual return, what that means is how much is your money growing every single year? And what we've seen in the U.S. stock market is about a 10% annual rate of return over the long haul. So some years it might be a lot more. Some years it might be a lot less. But if you take the average, you might see about 10%. So that's what we're going to use here to calculate. Wow.

Way more than I thought. That's $468 billion. So now we can scale this way back down. Let's say to $10,000 a month. Where does that get us? To $9 billion? Okay, this is getting better. $5,000 a month.

$4 billion. And then let's go to $1,000 a month. We're close, so close. Let's say $1,200 a month. Boo-ya, bud. Okay, so from age 10 to age 100, that's 90 years of investing $1,200 a month. With that 10% rate of return, you could end up with a billion dollars at the age of 100. Now, for fun, let's scale it back to a more realistic age, like a retirement age of 65. And obviously, if we're going to be realistic, 10-year-olds can't invest $1,200 a month unless they're savants,

which I assume you are because you watch this channel. How much would we need to invest for that 55 year span from 10 to 65? Let's try 10,000 a month. Let's see where that gets us. That's only 295 grand, not even close. Let's say 50 grand a month. Boo yeah, right on the money, $1 billion in 55 years of investing $50,000 each month. So tell your parents, I need a $50,000 allowance every single month so that I can be a billionaire, mom.

Good luck. If I had 100 wives. If I had $100, how much dollars should I spend on my wife to make her happy? Gosh, I love this question. And can I be honest, I loved it more when you said 100 wives. I think that Freudian slip is very telling, very telling. But let's talk about your final question, which was, if I had $100, how much should I spend on my wife to make her happy? The accurate answer is all of it.

The better answer is none of it. So let's walk through this. Let's walk through my thought process. If you give your wife all $100, will that make her happy? Probably not. Because you know what? She's not unhappy because she doesn't have money. She's unhappy because there's something deep inside her soul that is making her unhappy.

It has nothing to do with money. Money is just the symptom. You get where I'm going with this? Because if you had $1,000, she's going to say, well, I need $1,000 to make her. make me happy now. And so we kind of call this lifestyle creep in real life. So the truth is, if you marry the right person, and I hope you do, you won't have to worry about how much money do I need to spend to make her happy. Because that's a red flag in my book. Because the better way to do it is to align on the vision and goals you have for your money as a couple, our money,

so that it's allocated to the right places. And then you might have some fun money for you, maybe $100 for you, maybe $150 for her to spend on her hobbies and passions and a Manicure, pedicure, those are going to cost you, bud. Prepare for that. And that way, you won't have to worry your whole life about making more money to keep her happy. Your job is not to make your spouse happy. It's to create a beautiful life together. Good luck.

Hey, George. My name is like, I don't taxes work? Great question, Hank. And thank you for putting on your seatbelt. You have great parents, and I'm glad you're staying safe out there on the road. Safety first. That's what I was. Okay.

So let's talk about. how taxes work. Imagine you live in a big neighborhood where everyone uses the same stuff, like the roads, the schools, the parks, even the fire department that comes when there's an emergency. Now, all of that stuff costs money. These people have jobs. We need to pay them to do these things. And someone's got to fix the potholes in the streets, pay the teachers so you can go to school, buy the books that go to the library, make sure firefighters and police officers can help people, keep the parks clean and fun to play in. And that's where taxes come in. Taxes are money that adults pay to the government, like the leaders of the neighborhood.

The government takes that money and uses it to keep everything running smoothly for everyone. So that's the sort of utopian perfect picture of what happens with taxes. But what actually happens is a lot different here in America. They use our money for all sorts of things that we don't agree with and we didn't agree too. People say that taxation is theft. And I tend to agree, but I also want to drive on a road with no potholes and send my kid to a school without having to pay. And therefore, I'll happily pay my taxes in my state to get the resources that I need.

There's a lot of things in life you do because it's part of being a human being, like pooping. Taxes stink. It's not pretty. We all got to do it, but we feel better when it's all over. Just like a good poop. You're so wise. Okay, before we get to the next question, I got to tell you about the insanely comfortable sheets I got from Cozy Earth, a sponsor of today's video. Cozy Earth sheets are soft, smooth, and so ridiculously comfortable, it'll feel like you stole the bedding from a five-star hotel. Maybe six.

I don't know if those are the thing, but they should be. I'm telling you, these are the best sheets I've ever slept on, and the secret is they're made from premium viscos from bamboo, which somehow makes your bed feel like a cool, cumulus cloud, maybe even cumulonimbus for getting crazy. And here's the best part. Cozy Earth is hooking you guys up with an exclusive 40% off when you use the promo code, George, at checkout.

So head to CozyEarth.com slash George, or click the link in the description to grab yours. And before we get back to answering questions from the children, Here's one for you. Do you know who has your personal data? Spammers, scammers, and internet creeps. And that's why I recommend using DeleteMe, another sponsor of today's video. Delete Me works overtime to clean up your digital footprint by scrubbing your personal info, your kids' personal info, from hundreds of these data broker websites out there. And that's a big deal, because when your data is floating around unchecked on these shady sites, it makes you a much easier target for spammers on the internet. And right now, you can get 20% off their annual plans by going to join DeleteMe.com slash George, or click

Click the link in the description. All right, back to the questions. How much money could you give to people who need it? I love this question so much, and I literally think that is my cousin's child. What can I say? Generosity runs in our blood. You know, I have a friend, big guy, one of the biggest in the world. So how much money could you give to people who need it? Well, technically you could give 100%, but here's the thing.

You got to take care of your own household, your own family first. You got to make sure you can cover your own bills before you give to others. So with the leftover you have, you can give as much as you want. And what I like to say is give a little until you can give a lot. So if you get $10 for your birthday, maybe you give a dollar or $5 to people who need it, and you keep the other five to save or to spend. Because there's only three things you can do with money. Give it, save it, spend it.

And truthfully, the most fun you can have is giving money. So I love that you're even asking this question because it tells me that you have a generous heart and you want to give. And the key to giving more is to live on less than you make. To stay out of debt, to have money in the bank so that every paycheck you have coming in once you have a job can go towards helping people a need and covering your bills with money left over. Breathing room is the key to generosity. Love that question. Hey, George. I'm nine years old and I have a question for you.

Is it okay if you save up for something and then when you have enough money, you change your mind and use your. money to buy something else. Wow. I feel like there's a question behind that question, but are you and your parents having a little tiff? Is there a little argument in the household? Here's what I'm guessing happened. You saved up a bunch of money for something. And maybe you're changing your mind and your parents like, no, no, no, you said you were saving up for this thing. Why are you going to go buy this thing? Maybe that's the case. I don't know. But is it okay to save up for something and change your mind? Absolutely. Remember, it's your money. You're in the driver's seat. You get to decide. And we change over time.

You know, if you save up for something for six months or a year, well, you may not like that toy anymore that you are going to get or that video game or that article of clothing, whatever it may be. So it's absolutely okay to evolve your opinions over time to change your taste, change your hobbies, change your passions, and decide to put your money elsewhere. The key is that you're spending your money out of your values, the things that you care about. If you're doing that, there's no wrong way to do it. How do you make the most money with a lemonade stand? I love this question from our young entrepreneur. new her friend. How do you make the most money with the lemonade stand? Rise and grind. I want you up by 6 a.m. hand squeezing the lemons. Don't be getting that country time powder out there trying to make a buck.

You got to put in the effort. Have the discipline. You got to beat the gym by 5 a.m. max. If you want to be out there by 7 with the lemm. Oh, you know what? I'm realizing this is not, that's not what you asked at all. How do you make the most money with lemonade stand? Uh, have amazing lemonade that people talk about in the entire neighborhood. Like, oh my gosh, you got to try her. Go down the road. Make B-Line it to the right. Make a Ui. You'll see her lemonade stand.

Best lemonade in a five-mile radius. You've got to have a product that stands out in the right environment with the right target demo, and you'll be making a whole lot of money. Then you can get that G-wagon, write it off on your taxes. Bada-Bing, bada-boom, lemonade stand into a money-making scheme. Hey, George, my name is Malachi. How do I stay motivated to stick to my savings goal?

Wow. How do you stay motivated to stick to a savings goal? Well, what I found is that I don't stay motivated. if I don't really want something, right? If I want to learn how to play guitar, but then I'm not good at it for the first three weeks and I give up, I didn't really want to learn how to play guitar, I wanted it to be easy.

So the key is to realize that saving is hard. So you need a really deep why. What are you saving for and why do you want that thing? Because if you don't want it badly enough, you're going to give up halfway through and decide, it's not worth all the effort. You better be joking. So the key for me is have a deep why,

save for something that you actually care about, about and then make it visual. Actually track your progress in a way that you can see it. Maybe you have a little chalkboard at home or piece of paper and you draw in a little brick for every extra dollar you save. All of that helps you stay motivated, stay on track, and keeps you accountable. Maybe get mom and dad involved and maybe there's some incentive. If you save up your savings goal in a certain amount of time that you said you would, maybe we'll all go out for a nice dinner. How about that? I just got you a free dinner, my man. That was smooth. Show him this video. Don't skimp either.

Fast casual at minimum. What's more important than money? Aw. Absolutely nothing is more important than money. Hear me loud and clear when I say this. Money is at the top of the list. It's the number one priority you should focus on above all else. Forget your physical health.

Forget your relationships. Forget your career. Focus on money. I'm just kidding. But if you watch TikTok for like four seconds, you would actually think that's true. So what's more important than money? almost everything.

Your relationships with your family and friends, your mental and emotional well-being, the job that you sink all of your time into that you're passionate about, that's more important than money. But here's the thing. When you don't have money, it becomes the most important thing because you need it to live.

You need it to survive. So the key is don't let money become an idol in your life and don't let it become a stressor that causes you to only think about your money problems. So the key to winning with money is to live, on lesson you make, get on that budget, invest for the future so that you can stop worrying about money, stop thinking about money, and focus on the other types of wealth that exist, which would be your physical health, your relationships, your career, your spiritual life, and so much more.

All right, that's a wrap for today's kids' questions. Huge thank you to everyone who submitted questions for this video. You got to be bold and be brave to film a video and put it out there, so I'm real proud of you guys and shout out to all the parents who are out there watching this channel with your kids. I award you with a parenting gold star for getting their financial education started off early. Hopefully we can help them avoid some financial traps and put them on a path to building wealth. And you guys have asked such good questions that tells me you're raising great kids into great adults, which is the ultimate goal. And if you want something else that can help set up your kids for financial success, listen to the audiobook version of my book with them,

Breaking Free from Broke, the ultimate guide to more money and less stress. And I love hearing stories from parents who have used this book to teach their kids about money. So I'll drop a link to it below so you can listen to it in the Honda Odyssey on the way to soccer practice. And make sure your kids know the one number that determines if you'll be wealthy. To see what that is, keep watching this next video or click the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time, neighbor.