George Kamel - I Asked More People How Much Debt They Have

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Honestly, the episode title says it all! If you want a glimpse of how much debt the guy down the street has, look no further. (Warning: These interactions were unscripted, and some of the content may shock you.)   Next Steps:  • 🎥 Watch my video Best Way to Pay Off Debt Fast (That Actually Works). • 💵 Start your free budget today! Download the EveryDollar app.   Connect With Our Sponsors:  • Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe.  • Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE. • 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  💡 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

Most people would rather tell you their weight, who they voted for, and how often they use the bathroom without washing their hands before admitting how much debt they have. But I'm going to ask them anyways, because I found out over half of millennials have more debt than they do in retirement savings. And that's scary. So today I'm in downtown Nashville to ask people one simple question. All right, tell us, how much debt do you have? That face is telling. I don't know exactly, but I'm a college student. So there's debt there.

Okay. The car debt. Student loan debt, credit card debt. Do you have a car payment? Yes. Okay. What's the total balance if you had to ballpark it? 50 grand.

50. There's an even 50, no more, no less. Is it more like 54? Probably. Probably. Right, you'll help you figure it out. How much debt do you have? With my car payment, I'd say probably around 16, 17,000.

Okay. What are you driving these days? Tesla, Model Y. How about you? What are you driving? A key at K-4. You sound disappointed. You're like,

Is it because of the debt? It was expensive, yeah. What did that cost? Well, my car payment's like $6.30 a month. Wow, yeah, that's hefty. What's your car payment? I'm doing $400 a month right now. $400.

Was your Tesla used new? Used. Was yours brand new? Yeah. He has to have it crispy. Yeah. That new leather smell. Yeah.

Please, it's not worth it. Are you guys an item? Mm-hmm. Does that mean one day if and when you guys are married, would he then be helping you pay off y'all's debt? We do it all together. If one of us is up and the other one's down, we build each other back to the middle. Whoever's high, if the other one's low, we help each other out at that point.

That's romantic. I see why you fell for this guy. Not for his good looks. How much debt do you have? Basically, we have our home mortgage and we owe a little bit on a kitchen remodel. Ooh, okay, what does it cost in today's economy to do a full kitchen remodel? Can I have? 24.

Okay. And how much was the person? loan. About around the same amount, close to that. What's your plan to pay it off? Hopefully get all of that done within the year. Oh wow, so you're going to knock out 24,000 in one year? That's the goal.

In hindsight, could you have saved up 24,000 a one year and cash flowed it? We probably could have, yes. Okay. Hindsight's 2020. Always. Well, how much debt do you have right now? Including home, probably around $700,000. Who!

Including the house. Okay, what about without the house? How much consumer debt? debt? 50 to 60,000. Okay, what kind of debt is the 50 to 60? Some credit cards, some vacations, a little bit of cars. A little potpourri. A little bit. Okay, which one are you stressed out about the most? You know, all of it. I listen to Dave Ramsey. I think being out of debt is good. So I would like to get the higher interest credit card debt down sooner than anything else. Oh, so you're not listening to Dave that much because he says lowest balance first,

ignore the interest rate. The balances aren't terrible, but you're right. Do that. The snowball effect. I'm just saying, that's what Dave would say. And you look awfully like him. You could be his son. His very young son, I might add. They look exactly the same, right? How much debt do you have?

Non-mortgage debt? Yeah. What's the balance of all the car loan? Okay. Under 12. Yeah. What makes up the 12th? I have a zero-balanced credit card and a personal loan that's holding a car of mine.

That feels complicated. No, because it's an older car. I don't buy new cars. So I just needed a small amount of cash to be able to get that, because my other cash flow was going into my businesses. So whenever I just needed that smaller, older car, I grabbed that at a lower interest rate enough for what I needed. So that's holding six, and then the credit card, I think, has eight that I'm taking down.

Carry the four. I'm trying to do the math in my head. It's very common. You figured it out. Yeah, I'm at like 15, 14, 14. 14 or 15. Can you tell me how much debt you have? Zero debt.

Zero. Wait, where are you from? Scotland. That's pretty rock and roll right there. Is it normal in Scotland to have no debt? Really normal, yeah. Okay, how about you? How much debt do you have?

Zero. Where are you from? England. How'd you guys meet? Summer camp, actually. That's pretty romantic. What caused you to have no debt? What do you attribute that to?

Good savings, I guess. And who taught you about that? Probably my dad. Okay, your dad was like, don't go into debt, have money in the bank. Don't owe people money. No, don't owe people money. That's always the best one. How about you?

Yeah, my mom taught me. Mom said, debt is bad. Pretty much. So I just talked to a guy who was explaining how he's like finessing the financial system with a zero percent and the transfer balance and I'm going to do the person alone here. You guys see much more peaceful, living a much more simple financial life. Yeah. What do you think about that compared to the American way, which is let's make a complicated system to justify our debt? It just sounds like a lot of effort.

Sounds very tiring. A lot of brain calories. Yeah. Yeah. Too much energy. How much debt do you currently have? I'm pretty good at that. I'm pretty good. Maybe $3,000, honestly. Really?

Yes. No, okay. What kind of debt's to three grand? I have a line of credit. I'm just working to paying it off. Like a line of credit with the bank? With my own bank. What are you putting on it? I did a balance transfer, so I paid off. But I'm almost there, though. I'm done. Okay. How much did you have? Like, you've been working your way through this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 7,000, but I'm almost there. Do you have an emergency fund?

Yes. How much is in the emergency fund? I got right now $7,000 in it growing. So you could pay off the debt today? Yes, I can. And still have four grand left over. Yes. Would you do it right here live?

I don't want to because I have the zero interest on the $3,000. Oh my goodness. I forgot about the zero interest. They're losing money on Dennis. Yes. That, FYI, was sarcasm. Let's start with you. How much debt do you have?

About $8,000. Eight? Okay, that's not bad. What kind of debt is that? Car loan. Okay, what kind of car? It's an Infinity Q50, 2017. That's a nice ride.

That's premium gas, though. That's 380, your gallon, bro. Yeah. I bought it when I was 20, so I had gotten my first job, probably had a little too much money. 14% APR. And you're still paying it off. How long ago was that?

Five years. Okay, so five years ago you were 20. Yep. And now you're still paying off this car loan. How much interest do you think you've paid so far? Disgusting amount. Probably 9, 10 grand. That could have, like, bought you a car for 10 grand.

Thanks, George. Sorry. I hate to be the bearer of facts. How much debt do you have, sir? Just the mortgage. All right, what's left on it? $250,000. Okay.

Are you going to knock it out? Are you going to be like this guy and just let it ride until retirement? Oh, I do have a good interest rate, but I am hammering it away extra each month trying to get it knocked out. Love it. What advice would you give to a young fellow

who's in car loan debt? Debt is dumb. Cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage is now the status symbol. Close. I'll take it. If this was Jeopardy, it would have been a hard out, but I'll give you credit. Partial credit.

All right, let's take a quick breather and talk about how to breathe easier in this Tennessee heat. All right, Tennessee summer is 10 months long and your boy does not like to sweat. And that's why I love cozy Earth. All of their products are cozy and keep me cool. You know why? Because they're made of premium viscos from bamboo. From their bedding to their athleisure to their all-day teas, I like to stay cool all summer long. So if you want to check them out, they're giving you a sweet promo code that gives you 40% off.

promo code Georgia checkout or go to cozyearth.com slash George. Use the link in description. Make it easier on yourself. All right. Let's get back to the streets. How much debt do you currently have? Walking out of college with $15,000. Oh, you're graduating?

I graduated two weeks ago. From college. From college. What was your degree in? Radiography, so X-ray. Nice. Okay, there's a definite job on the other side of that. You already secured a job?

Yep. Feeling good? Yeah, I just got higher. Yep, start on the 18th. How quickly are you going to pay off that $15,000? student loans. I'm hoping to get it done within a year. Okay. That's reasonable. I don't, yeah, if you make 60, you could pay off 15 in a year. Yeah, the interest kills you, so get it down with right away. She gets it. How much debt do you have? Well, I own a house and a truck, so probably

around like $250,000 in debt. Okay, separate the mortgage out. What's the balances? About 24 left on my truck and 215 left on my house. Okay. Maybe a little less than $250,000. What kind of truck is this? Just a regular 1500. What's the total payment for month? 860. Woo! That's like some people's rent. Yeah, yeah. I guess you could live in the truck. Worst comes to worse. That's pretty serious. How old are you? 23. This is adult money this guy's dealing with. It just got real. It's for sale right now. It's for sale. Yeah. What are you doing selling it?

I've come to find out that I can put my money elsewhere. I got a dad that mentors me pretty well. So dad got into your head and now you're like, yeah, maybe that truck was a mistake. He's brought to me with the investment I made with the house and he's like, well, you can go use that monthly payment on your truck elsewhere and set you up for success in the long run. All right. How much would you ballpark it that you have been total debt? Around a 20, about 20,000. 20,000. Okay, what's your plan to pay it off? Right now I'm just doing, I'm trying to do insta work. Like Instacart, side hustles?

Yeah, just side hustle. How long is it going to take you to pay off the debt at this rate? No telling. And if, you know, if I get more motivated and I start accepting more jobs, I can pay it off sooner than later. How do we get you more motivated? Give me a job opportunity, I guess. So that once you have the money, you'll be more motivated to pay it off? Yes, sir.

Are you working full-time right now? No. Or you're doing side hustles. Right now. Okay. Do you want a plan to pay it off? We can help. Yes, sir.

Okay, the debt snowball method. I'm going to put you onto that, list of the smallest to largest balance. Okay. And get on a budget. You ever done a budget before? I'm not good with budgeting. I've got you. What if I said this app will walk you through the whole.

process and make you feel like I'm budgeting master in no time. Well, I'd be interested in there. Okay, it's called every dollar. You got a smartphone? Every dollar, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm gonna gift you one year so you don't have to pay for this year. You do this, sign up for it, and we'll see where you are a year from now. Okay.

These people love budgeting. Yeah, I can tell. I love it. Okay, there it is. Every dollar is gonna be your ticket out of this debt, telling you. All right, we just heard some pretty wild stories about how much debt people have, and if they're worried about it, what their plan is to pay it off. But here's the deal.

If you're watching this, I don't want that to be you. No matter how much debt you have, $40,000 or $400,000, I believe you can overcome it. You can get out of that debt by following a plan that millions have followed. It's called the debt snowball, and if you want to learn more about it, I'll drop a link right here to watch it. You can click that or to use the link in the description. So hear me say this.

Debt is not a death sentence. You can get out in just 18 to 24 months if you follow this plan. I believe in you. So if you enjoyed this video, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button if you want more content like this, and we'll see you soon. Thank you.