George Kamel - I Asked People From Around the World How Much Debt They Have

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

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Americans love their debt. They'll finance their cars, put the vacation on the credit card, take out student loans like its monopoly money, and buy now, pay later, a burrito. But is that normal everywhere else? I'm here in the financial capital of the world, the New York Stock Exchange, to find out. I'm going to find people who are not from the United States, from other countries, to ask them one simple question. How much debt do you have? But before we get too cultured, let me shout out to delete me for sponsoring this fine American channel. Let's get to it. trip cost all in, flights, lodging, transportation, World Cup ticket.

Okay, so the World Cup tickets for us were six grand. Okay? But we got everything paid for by company. We came here for free. We did not pay a dollar for anything. We're here just on pure vibes. It's actually insane. You only paid for your ticket to the World Cup.

Everything else? I didn't pay for that. You didn't pay for that. You didn't pay nothing. What do you do for work? I work in retail in Australia. I work for a marketing agent. marketing agency like you know which are both paid for you different companies

now same company so you know lays this the Australian version is Smith's chips so they sent us up you got like what a ten thousand dollar trip all expenses paid I don't know if we did Jordan I don't know how we can shock us I don't know if I could say yeah we don't know 20,000 we already know it's at least six plus flights hotels gallivanting who knows what else you guys did while you here. Yeah. We're still doing it. Like, we're having it right. This is the cheapest thing you've done so far is talking to me. Yeah, that is correct. Wow. Okay, I'm gonna just, we're gonna go 15 each. Each, uh, a bit higher, a bit higher. That's Australian though, right? Okay, that goes, that takes it down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 40 Australian is 28,000 USD. Do you have any debt currently? This trip's paid for, but do you have any debt? You got any payments in your life? Car loans, student loans, credit card debt. Unfortunately, I have something called a hex debt. And what a hex debt is in Australia is basically the government doesn't, like you're allowed to put it into debt like all of your student loans. So I'm at university and I pay around like $17,000 a year. Okay.

Which is quite upsetting. But government's like, hey, don't worry about it. But then you'll, you're like 50. Yeah, but the thing is, does it come out of your paycheck automatically or what? What happens is that when you start, when you get into the workforce, it comes out of your paycheck slowly and then it also rises with inflation. Oh. As if we don't get taxed enough already.

Dang. Okay, so instead of a traditional payment, it's just forced out of your paycheck forever until it's paid off. Basically, yeah. So it's like prisoned. Yeah. Cool. That sounds fun.

What's the balance currently? Do you know? By the end of the year, it's going to be like 31. Wow. And by the time you pay it off, you likely will have paid like 45 or 50? Yeah, basically. We're just starting our second semester like very soon. You have the same thing?

Yeah. Maybe I might be at 17,000. So no other debt outside of the university loans? No, like, cars? I want to buy a car, but I'm trying to buy it all cash. Oh, wow. What's that going to cost you? The car had been offered is two grand right now.

You've been offered? What kind of car is that? It's a Super Impresza 2007. It's got 220,000 kilometers on it. I don't know if it'll last me around a year or two. Who's offering it? My mate from work. Oh, wow.

Well, good luck with the university debt. Try to not go in much more. Thank you. I don't know, it might be too late. Yeah, I don't know, but no one. It's why you just give up, or you just don't pay it. You guys seem like a work smarter, not harder kind of crew. Yeah, until we have to work harder, but, you know, we'll save it for that.

No, you know what you do? Well, so there's a way to get around Hex, all right? You leave the country. Oh, and they go, oh, well, he doesn't exist anymore. If you leave the country, you still have the debt, and it's still, like, accumulating in terms of, like, the inflation added to it, all right? But you can't pay it because you're not working in Australia. Oh, you need Australian income for it to,

garnish. So we're chilling. Life hack, flee the country. How do you say like and subscribe? Let me hear you guys say it. Like and subscribe. Peace. Like and subscribe. Lean into it. Yeah. Oh, can I be Australian, mate? So what does six weeks in New York cost you all in from the flights, hotels, Airbnb? That was like a black day for me when I was. You paid for all of it? Yeah, but I forgot about that. I'm reminding you now. It's my credit card.

Six weeks, that's a lot of lodging. Where are you staying the whole time? Like right now, we're in a hotel, but we are like checking tomorrow and then I'm 30 days in an Airbnb and it's around like $7,500. That's just for the Airbnb. Give me a guess on what the balance will be for this whole trip between the two of you. Are we talking $10,000 all in? More more. 15.

15, yeah. Okay, how are you going to pay that off? Yeah, the New York Stock Exchange you see here. Sell some stocks. I invest in stocks a lot, so that's why we are here currently. Are you guys doing any investing? My portfolio is only US stocks, so yeah. So you're betting on the US more than your own continent.

Yeah, we have like a small stock exchange in Vienna, in Austria, like... But it's not really a big deal. No, and all the major stocks like SEP in Germany, they're all listed in the United. listed in Newark Exchange on NASDAQ. Everyone's riding our coattails. Yeah, exactly. As per yuge. So do you guys have any other debt outside of this credit card balance

or you're going to have to pay off after the trip? So we're not in debt yet. We rent an apartment in Austria so we have no debt actually. We are about car loans. No, we do not have like a loan. No university loan. No, we don't have, it's for free in Austria. University is for free.

I paid through your taxes. 20 euros for a semester. So I think it costs me maybe $100. Wow, that's cheaper than an Uber here. Yes. You even get money from the state if you study. So you get 200 euros from your money come from? Yeah, the state is in debt as well.

Yikes. So they're all just going into debt. Yeah, exactly. Like the US. What's the state of the economy in Austria? Are people doing pretty well overall? Are they going into debt? Do they have money?

Are things expensive? Only when you buy a house or something like this. Otherwise you do not take loans. I think we are like we save a lot of money because like we swim like this We save it and we're more conservative. Yeah, I think it's like the country we live in is like more of the mind There less opportunity to spend over there are people just more like outdoorsy low maintenance? Yeah, like we go into the mountains and they don't need as much stuff as we do in America What do you do for work? I work in a finance so I worked in M&A previously in Austria than in a private equity firm. Oh, wow.

And then now I'm currently at an industry film. Maybe you know it, Leapert, those large grains. Yeah, we produce a lot for US, so most of our revenue goes to the US. You're like, I'm invested here in a whole lot of ways. Exactly. So, as you might know, one man decides how the economy in Austria works, but the decision is here from Mr. President. Yeah.

You know what I'm talking about? Okay. What did this trip cost altogether from like flights, lodging, transportation, food, all that? Thousand 2000 USD. Wow. And then yours is completely paid for? So from companies, flight ticket accommodations also daily allowance as well. Nice.

A stipend you can use for food and all that stuff. But actually it's not enough. I still use my own as well. Yeah. So you are very low cost, low maintenance. You're like one or two grand in. to the trip. I haven't summarized, yeah, because I owe my spending in my credit card.

On the credit card. Okay, do you pay off the credit card every month? We'll on time. Otherwise, I will get a lot of interest. Yeah. Do you have any debt right now? A little bit, yeah. Mortgage.

Mortgage. Okay, so for a house? For a house and a car. And a car. Okay, what's left on the car balance for the loan? 1.5 million, $1.5. So about $44,500 USD.

What kind of car is this? One is SUV Subaru and another one is PZT-T-T-T-T-T-T-Set. Okay, so 44 grand left on that. What's left on the mortgage? So it's about like 3 million left. Oh, really? That's not that much compared to. That's double the car and you're done. So 90,000 left on the mortgage thereabouts?

You paid like half already for the condo, yeah, for the apartment. So what is debt like in Thailand? Is there a lot of people have car loans, mortgages, or is debt not as much of a big deal there? Lots of people there have a lot of debt because household debt in Thailand also very at the high level as well. What kind of debt do they have over there like on average? I don't know the exactly number but they also have a car loan, mortgage loan and also consumer loans as well. Oh, just like personal loan? Yes.

What's your plan to pay off the car loans at this point? Are you going to try to put extra on it or just pay it off over the five years? Follow the flow? Just pay off on time. Okay. I will not pay extra. I will keep some money on spare to spend somewhere else. Got it.

I don't want to use my money. I want to use it elsewhere. The car loan is a fixed rate for interest rate. So even you pay now or pay later, you pay the same interest total. Even if you prepay, it's all baked into the loan, into the payment. So that's loan, you don't need to. There's no benefit to pay it early, essentially, is what you're saying. No, no suffering.

But if the market is loan, it is because it's It's calculated each month based on the balance. So if you pay a lot today, yeah, you will get less like an interest to pay in the future. So that's better to pay. It makes more sense to pay off early. Wow, that's interesting. I didn't know that about the car loans over there. Very interesting.

Okay. How many euros did it cost you for this whole trip? The whole trip. The plane was about one and a half thousand euros. Okay. And then our hotel two, two and a half. Okay, and then they stay here. All right, so you've got travel, transportation lodges.

You're probably thinking like four or five all in? Five all in, okay. Yeah. That brings us to a total of $5,700 USD. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah, pretty good. For all the way you can. How many people is this?

With two. Okay, two people, $5,700. Now could I go do that same trip to the Netherlands for the same amount of money? Well, depends on. Okay, depends on what I'm doing over there. Yeah, what you're doing over there. Wow. Wow. Did you go into debt for this trip?

No, I paid directly. It's all done. You have all the money. Most is all done. Only the hotel is by credit card. How people in Netherlands feel about debt? Do they have a car loan? Do they have mortgages, student loans? There are not a lot of loans only for your house or your study. And I think that's all. Okay, that's it. So did you go into any student loan debt for university? No, I didn't need a student loan. What do you do for a living?

I lead a software company. You lead a software company. That's cool. What kind of software is this? Yeah, it's a small software company in the energy industry. Very nice. We help companies collaborate together to doing their work. Fantastic. That's exciting. Well, tell me how much this trip cost all in. We factor in the flights, the hotels. In euros? Yeah. I reckon six thousand.

Wow. So that's probably like 6800 USD. Let's find out. Let's see how close I am. 6,6,800? Yeah, close, yeah. Hey! Okay, did you go into debt for the trip, or did you just pay straight cash, save up for it? No, it's a very personal story, but it's a trip we were trying to make for a few years now,

and my wife passed away last summer. Oh, I'm so sorry. And there was a little bit... So you were saving back then, and now you're on the trip, and kind of an honor of her. Yeah, she couldn't make it, so... You guys worked hard to save up for the trip. save up for this trip over time.

Yeah. You guys have any other debt right now? No, not at the moment, no. Okay, is that pretty normal over Netherlands, so not have any payments, no loans, no car loans? I think it is. I don't, only a few people I know even own a credit cards. So most people use debit cards.

They just use the money in their checking account and pay for things. They're not going to owe money to the credit card company and then pay it off. Most people just pay for it straight up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. What about cars? cars? Our cars expensive over there? Yeah, but that's the tax measure.

And we pay per weight. So if you own a very heavy car, then it's more expensive. And I think it's a strange thing. Yeah, because they impact the roads more, so I think that's the way. Yeah. Okay, you're going to break our roads, you're going to pay for it. So do you drive a very light car? A Nissan, Keskeye.

So it's like a medium car, I think. Yeah, good fuel economy. Yeah, that's it. That's fantastic. Wow. What about mortgages? Do you have a mortgage? I'm a rental loaner now. Renting? Renting. Yeah. Okay. Is there a goal to be a homeowner? Is that a big deal over there? I was a homeowner and now I'm renting, but my rent is extremely low for the kind of house we're living in. So less, less to manage, less to deal with when you're a renter, I imagine. Less problem. I'm quite a handyman. So when the time I owned the house, I was always working on the house. And now I think it's really... You're the ideal renter. You'll fix it up better than you found.

it. Yeah, but it's his job. So. Hey, I know how to do it, but I'm not getting paid for this. Because I'm not worrying about it. The cost of an international trip is one thing, but here's my take. There's another cost that many people never consider. And that's their data being bought and sold online by data brokers, which causes spam and scam in your life. And it's why I love delete me, a sponsor of today's video.

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breach, there's no concern to you. You can tie them to every merchant you use, you can lock it to a single use, set spending limits, time limits, whatever you want to do to keep your debit card information safe and sound. That's how I do it. Check it out for yourself and get a $5 credit for free. Just go to privacy.com slash George. Right ladies? Right yeah. How much of this whole trip cost you guys? Not too much. Just like the hotel is like well 300 US I think we paid about $150 in gas. Oh, that's not bad. And we, wherever. So I'd say maybe total for both total, be maybe $1,000 or something. Wow. That's about as cheap of a trip as you can pull off. Did you go into debt for the trip or was it just paid for in cash? Already paid for you. You guys have any debt

otherwise? Uh, no. Well, you have a mortgage, right? Yeah, I have a mortgage for my government. Mortgage, but no consumer debt is what we call it here, you know, car loans, student loans, credit card debt, none of that. No, no. I mean, you were in European. so we don't like this kind of bed. Are you from Canada as well originally? Yeah, I'm a Canadian citizen, but I'm also French. How often do you visit France? Do you ever go back?

I go back maybe once a year. Is it a different vibe over there versus Canada as far as how they handle money? We don't like death. Only for the house, for the apartment. For the really big thing, which is that housing? Yeah. Okay. But like they don't do credit cards in France?

Even the credit card itself doesn't, really exist. Yeah, we... It's all tied to money you have. Like a secured credit card. It's almost like a debit card. Exactly. Exactly. It's the same. We don't have only credit card. Would you believe that we are $1.7 trillion in credit card debt in America? Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. So France saw that and went, yeah, we're good. We don't need debt.

No, no, no. I'm sure Canada's catching up. They're a little bit more Americanized in that way. Culturally, yes. The consumer debt is probably more in English, Canada because it's culturally closer to the United States and French Canada maybe a little bit less. You're a little bit more conservative financially. So overall, but consumer debt exists everywhere in North America. So yeah, yeah, if we're talking about that. If you're Thai, if you're hitched our wagon, which you are here in North America, you know. Absolutely. I mean, normal, as normal. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay, what did this trip cost you so far

all in? Well, in terms of cost was 1,000 for almost five days. Wow. Was that US? Yeah, US dollars. Okay. So a little bit. a little bit more than one, let's say, 1,000, yeah, one of, and then the flights to from, from Bogota, where we are living at, to New York, with one or two steps, we also have like 1,000 and a half. Okay, so that's 2,500. Yeah. And we haven't even enjoyed our life.

Yeah, we haven't got dinner, we haven't got outside, so, and we are, we will spending like four days here in New York. We will until tomorrow, we came on Friday, so now we have to live over here, and we have to live over here and it's also a bit expensive, but you know, it's trying to... Probably like three and a half? Three and a half, yeah. 35-year-bugs US? Yeah.

Wow. Did you go into debt for that? You put on a credit card or what? No, I have a US account. I have a saving account over here. So we spend all for that. You saved up and paid cash for it? Exactly.

What's the vibe with debt over there in Colombia or Argentina? Are a lot of people taking on debt for things like car loans, university? Well, in Argentina, the situation, the situation is a bit different or it's a bit tough. Now there are not many loans or crates. Now with this government they're trying to move things a little bit better. Colombia has a different, how can I say, different government, but even though they have a better economy, so you can have a loan for study or you can have loans for not a mortgage, but for there's more debt because it's more available in Colombia. It's more available. You have more

opportunities, let's say, to buy a house or that kind of stuff. Well, in that regard, America is thriving economically because debt is everywhere. Well, it's a different culture. I think the US people, they are very used to have, you know, the loans for the university and the mortgage for having a house. We have free universities as well. They are really tough, and we have also private universities, but it is not like in US that you need to have like a credit

or to be alone to have a study. study. Is university just a bigger deal here? People want to go to a specific school, a program, and over there, they're just going, I'll go to whatever public university is free? You have both sides of the world, you know? On some of the cases, they get to whatever they can afford, you know? And then even though the Uber, that is the University of Buenos Aires and the UTN, that

is a technological one, they are very, very popular and they have a very good level for university studies. So people will pay for that? And both are free. Wow. So we are really proud of our... How is it free? Is it through taxes?

It's through taxes. Okay, so higher taxes. Higher taxes for the people from Buenos Aires, probably because those are the university that we have over there. But the level of the students is really good. How much did this trip cost you all together? $500. U.S.?

U.S. yeah. Okay. How about you? Around $700. Oh, wow. He's at half. What is he doing? Is he more frugal?

But your flights too. Oh, okay, my flights are like... Probably double. No, a thousand. So, but you have a credit card? Oh, yeah. Okay, do you have any credit card debt right now? Like, do you have a balance?

No, no. We'll translate that in post. I'm gonna translate it right now. He'll no longer have a credit card because he lost it the other day. No, he lost it? No, but they have it on the bar. So we- Someone could find it and use it.

Did you lock it down? Yeah, he did. He did. Do you have a credit card? Yeah, I do. Okay, do you have a balance on there? Yeah. How much is left to pay off? Around $200.

$200 USD to pay off. Yeah. What do you guys do for work? I have a basketball media platform over in Mexico. Oh, wow. So I do like social media events to help kids to... So like a month ago, I did this basketball showcase tournament to help kids go to earn scholarships to go to college.

Very cool. That's awesome. Okay, how about you? I'm an architect. Architect? Yeah, architect. What are you architecting? I'm like a designer and build like interiorism, like remodulation, stuff like that back in Mexico. Very cool.

That's cool. Okay. Who's doing better financially out of the two of you? Probably him. I don't know. I mean, it's... You guys have any other debt, like car loans, mortgages, medical debts, student loans, none of that? No, no.

like in Mexico it's like more easier because it's cheaper everything. So if you get like, you can live well with like 50,000 a month. You don't need to make as much and you don't need to go into debt because it's not that expensive. I think it's different because here like as soon as people graduate from high school, they go and live by themselves. Oh, wow. In Mexico, like we stay longer with our parents. So I think that's a big difference.

that's why we're generational living. Like grandma's living there, you're staying in there. No grandma, like our core family, like our parents and our siblings. So what age usually do they, do you live with family? It depends. A lot of people go out for college and they stay in that city. Others stay until they get married or they just want to live by themselves. Oh, independent.

Okay. How much did this trip cost you? In Danish Kronos, it will be 250,000 Danish Kronos. I can convert to the brothers around. Okay, here we go. What are they called KOROs? KRO. Oh, there we go. Corona? Corona. All right. You ready for this? Yes, sir.

250,000, 38,000 USD. How did you pay for the trip? Credit card, did you pay cash, debit card? It was by credit card. We went on a cruise out of Miami. It was paid by credit cards. Okay. And you know here we have been living in Airbnb's and booking.com. Normally it's paid by a credit card as well.

And then we also, of course, made sure we had some cash with us. What's the plan to pay off the credit card balance now? How long will that take? Well, we saved all the money up, so... You have it all? We are... It will be gone before you get back home? Well, the money are gone, but we saved them all up. Now, what is the feeling about debt over in Denmark?

I think in most Danes prefer not to have debt. So instead of, you know, leasing your hardware, we want to buy our hardware. We're going to own things. We want to own things. We don't like that. What about like cars? Do you guys have car payments in Denmark? Are so expensive because you have to remember in Denmark we put on a 180% tax on cars. So they're extremely expensive. Who's putting the tax on?

They are really capital. What? The government puts a tax on. They don't want people driving. No, it's more like it. You know, renovations of roads and new roads and all that. So it's part of that. Wow. So what is a car cost over there?

Is it like 250,000? No way. Coronas? In coronas, a car would cost around 400,000. Yeah, on typical SUV 400,000. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Around 60, 65,000 US dollars. Okay.

Do you guys currently have any debt? We have debt in our house. We need to have, we cannot pay a house in full. It's impossible. Yeah. Everybody has dead in houses. Like a mortgage. What's it called over there?

Real credit. Real credit. That's such a difficult name. Yeah. Haïerdit. Real credit. Haal credit. How long do you think it'll take to pay off the mortgage for the house?

How many more years? In Denmark it's always 30 years. Okay. So you borrow, let's say, 800,000 dollars. And over the course of 30 years, you pay it back. So, and we are 21 years, from being out of debt. Can you put extra on it and pay it off early?

You could, but normally people don't. You could put it into retirement with it essentially. I think it's better to put it into retirement funds. What's it take to retire in Denmark these days? How many millions of dollars or I'm sure it's like 17 billion in Corona? Retirement age is around 67 to 69 in Denmark. And you should probably have between four and five million coronas in your pension funds. That's almost a million bucks.

That's $800,000. Okay. Oh, you can get by at $800,000 there? Yeah, that's pretty solid. Enjoy your time here while it's left and take me to Denmark with you. Awesome. You would love it. Would I survive there? I'm pretty small. He's very tiny.

I'm large compared to people in Micronesia, which depends on where you're looking. I don't know about you guys, but I feel a whole lot more cultured after talking to all of those wonderful international tourists. tourists. And I learned a few things. Number one, people outside of the United States tend to live a little more simply, all right? They're a little more fiscally conservative. Sometimes that's due to maybe a weaker economy, less access to debt, maybe their universities are free through higher taxes. Whatever it may be, I want you to realize this. Debt may be normal here, but it doesn't have to be normal for you. And if you take nothing else away, know that you don't have to live with debt. you can be a little bit more European when it comes to your finances, but nothing else, just to finances.

And if you enjoyed this video when you think they're doing great outside of the United States, wait till you see how much they spent on their World Cup tickets and how the heck they paid for it. That video is coming up next. Click here to watch it or use the link in the description. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.