George Kamel - I Asked People How Much Debt They Have

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

📙 Order my book, Breaking Free From Broke, or listen on audiobook. Would you tell a total stranger how much debt you have? Well, these guys would. Today, we’reheaded to the streets to find out how much debt people really have, plus how they can get rid of it for good. Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video How I Went From Broke to Millionaire in Under 10 Years. • 📈 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 20% off when you join DeleteMe. • Learn more about opening a high-yield savings account with Laurel Road. • Get up to 40% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE. 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

What's up, guys. George Camel here, and today I'm hitting the streets of Nashville to talk to total strangers about their debt. Real people, real debt, and potentially real awkward. Because here's the thing. 77% of Americans have some type of debt, and they're walking around like it's no big deal. Let's hop in. Tell us, how much debt do you have? A lot. Can you give us a number, a ballpark?

Probably like 90. 90,000 total. Total. Break it down. What kind of debt do you have? Let's go to those. Student loans. And then a car, that's secondly, a debt.

Yeah, how much lots on the car loan? Well, I just bought a Mercedes. So it's a lot. Okay, can you tell us, I'm just curious what a Mercedes cost these days? Well, I got to use one because I'm that rich. So I'm used one. Might have ran me like 48. Okay, and most of that's on the loan?

Yes. Because I didn't put nothing down. I just drove out the lot. How much debt do you currently have total? Probably like 80,000 in student loans. All student loans? Um, yeah. No car payment, no credit card debt, none of that.

No, that's my parents. That's your parents? What does that mean? So they're probably in my car loaned up. They took out the payment for you? Yeah. How about you? How much debt do you have?

I feel like, maybe like $40,000? I don't know. You just feel like, you're just like, eh, I'm fibing. Whatever I have from schools is it. But I'm in grad school right now, so it's like a lot more now. Are you adding to it currently? Yeah. But everything is student loans.

No car payment, no credit card, nothing else. Well, I lease my car, so I don't know how that works. Oh, that's debt. They'll tell you. Oh, I mean. I feel like it's fine. What's the payment on the lease? Like $500 a month.

This is a nice car. What is this car? Bronco. Oh, my goodness, the Bronco. If you're going to be brutally honest, how much debt do you currently have? How much debt I currently? We're looking about $60K. 60K?

Okay. What makes up the 60K? I was in ROTC and high in college, and I ended up getting a full ride, my junior and senior year. And so that's the 60K was a, when I switched over. I just heard full ride and then 60K. Where did the 60K in debt come from? When you switch over, you gotta pay back the military.

I didn't pay back the military, so that's what... So you owe the government? Yeah, I owe the government in 60K. Wow. How much debt do you currently have? Probably enough that I shouldn't be on this trip. Oh, you're like, this was a mistake to go on vacation while I'm in crippling debt. Not a mistake, but I probably should not have done it.

Okay. You keep using the whore. I don't think it means what you think it means. So where are you from? Uh, Montreal. Montreal. Okay, so let's talk in Canadian dollars. How much debt do you have in Canadian dollars? 15,000. Okay, I'm going to crunch the numbers in my handy-dandy calculator. So that's about $11,000 in USD. It does sound better. Welcome to America. All right, tell us how much debt are you currently in? Probably 45,000. Okay. And break it down.

25 in my car, 10 in hers. Okay. And about 5,000. in commercial debt. What's commercial debt? Is that for business? Yes. So you have 45K in debt. Partially, it's thanks to her car. Her car. So how much debt do you have?

I'm still currently. I'm in college right now, so I've got a couple thousands of student loans, probably around 50 right now. That's a couple thousands to you? You are scarily optimistic. How much debt do you have in Australian monies? I think about,

seven grand. Okay, and you? I have a bit more. I've got like almost 90 grand in student debt and then probably not quite 50 in car debt. So you've got a total of like 140 grand or something? Well, yeah, when you put it like that... Oh yeah, when you add it all together.

Are you stressed out about it? Not really because in Australia it's pretty easy to manage student debt. What makes it easy to manage? What does that mean? Well, there's a lot of government assistance when it comes to student debt. there's a thing called hex and a thing called help.

That just lowers your payments, though, right? Slightly. They're not like forgiving the debt. No, not, no. Doesn't the interest keep accruing, though? It's no to low interest, yeah. I think it's zero interest. Most people die with the hex debt.

Yeah. Yeah, who's paying off this debt? The Australian taxpayers? Yep. Okay. That's my understanding. Yeah. So me, again.

Sounds like they read the American Playbook, baby. Greatest country on the planet. Tell me, ma'am. How much debt do you have? have? Zero. I have no debt. What about a mortgage? No mortgage. When did you become debt-free? November 2020-3. Congratulations. What got you on this journey to get out of debt and stay out of debt? Following Dave Ramsey. A woman after my own heart. So how much debt did you have? So including the mortgage, I started with probably $450,000. Wow. How long was a total journey? About 11,000.

11 years. Wow. So you cleaned up almost half a million bucks in 11 years. When you say it like that, I feel pretty good. You should. What would you tell all these other people that are in crippling debt out here? Live on lesson you make. Follow a budget. Make it, follow it, and be consistent and stick with it. Learn to say no to yourself and to others who are asking you to do things that are not in the plan. So much wisdom and so much joy. This is what debt freedom can be for you. Okay, I want that. That's what I want. We'll get back to the streets in just a second, but first, let me tell you about a service called Delete Me. What they do is they scour the internet for your personal information and they remove it to help keep you safe. And even better,

they send you a report every few months to let you know what's been going on, what they removed from where, and how much time they've saved you. And it gives me great peace of mind to know that in a chaotic world, at least I got one thing covered, my digital privacy. So if you want to check them out, they're giving my listeners and viewers 20% sign off any of their annual plans when you go to join deleteme.com slash george or click the link in the description below. Before we hit the road again, let me tell you about a different road that's very important to your financial life, and that is Laurel Road, an online bank with a great high-yield savings account. They offer competitive APY, there's no minimum balance required to open an

account, your deposits are FDIC insured, and there's no pesky monthly maintenance fees. So what are you waiting for? Go upgrade your savings account to let your money work harder for you by going to Laurelroad.com slash George or just click the link in the description below. That's Laurelroad.com slash George or click the link in the description below. All right. Back to the other road. Are you stressed out about the 60K debt? I feel like I should be, but I'm not. I'm not. Is it in deferment? Are you paying it?

I'm not paying it. I know that. Who's paying it? The Lord and the Lord alone. Ah. Hey, he paid your spiritual debt, but the financial one's on you, my man. Sir it is. You're right about that. Oh. Which one's stress.

This is you out the most. The car, because if you don't pay it, you're going to look outside and ain't look here anymore. The repo man shows up. Has that happened before? No. Okay, good. But I don't want it to. How long do you think it'll take to pay off 80 grand in student loans?

Um, a while. Like, two years, ten years? 10 years? She has a point. Are you stressed out about the debt right now? Home line in Nashville, so not currently, but like, yeah, it's in the back of my family. Once reality hits. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Like, I should be. but I don't stress about that stuff. Like, money comes back around. It's like sleep, you know. So you're like, I'll just work forever,

and one day I'll all be gone. Yeah, because I like the field I'm in, so hopefully I'm not even stressing about money. Again, I'll marry someone. So both of your plan is to marry rich? Yes, that's always my plan. What if that's the guy's plan, too? Then we're not meant to be.

Okay, so he has to make a lot of money. We're still looking. Financially independent men, where are you at? So what's your current trajectory to pay off this credit card debt? I would say another three. Three years. Okay, and then no more credit card debt?

Are we going to continue the cycle? If I don't take any more trips in those three years, I should be good. Oh, boy, so it's just going to be a perpetuating cycle. You just told me it's never going to happen. What are you doing about this debt? Nothing. You're just making the minimum payments? Well, student loans, I put in deferment, and they haven't told me to start paying back on it,

so it don't get paid, but I pay my car. So you haven't made any student loan payments? How long has this been on deferment? Years. I'm 37. Isn't it racking up interest every day? Don't tell nobody. I'm stressed out for you.

Don't be stressed because I'm not. Oh, I think you should be a little more stressed. Now is the time to panic. So what's your plan to pay off the debt? We're very aggressive, so we do do the Dave Ramsey thing a little bit. Perfect. A little bit. I don't agree with everything of Dave Ramsey, but yes. What's your plan to pay it off?

Work more? How long have you had credit card debt? Like, is this your whole adult life? No, I'd say like five years. Five years. Past five years. But you haven't been paying it off, just sort of been collecting slowly, going up and up and up. Well, bringing it down little by little.

Oh. Which is crap. So the interest isn't helping and you're adding to it, but you're also trying to pay it down at the same time. Exactly, yes. Does that sound crazy? Yes. Okay. When you say it like that.

So no clear plan to pay off the debt, no timeline. No. No. Okay. No. You guys have very nonchalant about it. I wish you the best. I thought this was a different interview.

What if I told you, I think you could pay off the time? that debt in like two years if you really grinded. Wow. Well, here's the plan. In case you want the plan, here it is, breaking free from broke. This is the book I wrote to help people like you. More money, less stress. Does that sound good?

Yeah, it does. You don't even need a man. I have a whole chapter on student loans. I wrote it with my own two hands. You're telling me I don't even need a man, just a book? No, you just need a little guy on the cover who goes, You can do it! Will you read this and share it with the people of Canada to get them out of debt?

I will, if it's good. She said, if it's good. I'll have you know I have several audible reviews that are pretty good, pretty good. Enjoy it. Well, that was even more depressing than I thought it would be. Here's the big takeaway. Most people had a bunch of debt, but they didn't seem that worried about it. They just thought, well, one day I'll pay it off.

I'll just work hard. I can manage the payment. It'll be fine. Maybe the government will pay it off. Maybe I'll die with it. And that's a scary proposition to get that cynical to just give up and say, one day this will all be gone somehow without me really working toward it. So if you want a proven plan to get out of debt,

I believe you can do it and you can do it way faster than you think you can, but you have to follow this proven plan, and I break it all down in this next video. So keep watching or click the link in the description below. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.