George Kamel - I Ticked Off a Million People . . . Again

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

📙 Check out my book Breaking Free From Broke!   My toxic habit of reading the comments on my videos led me to discover that a lot of people really do not appreciate my man-on-the-street videos. So today, we’re looking at why I upset so many people by classifying their comments according to the five stages of grief.    Next Steps: ·   🎥 Watch my video I Asked People How Much Debt They Have (Nashville). ·    💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! ·    📊 Check out the Investment Calculator. ·   🎓 Find out more about Financial Peace University. ·   📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors: ·       Get up to 20% off Cozy Earth with code GEORGE. ·       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 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You guys love when I hit the streets of major metropolitan cities and accost their citizenry with financial questions. Well, most of you. Some of you in the comments section have let me know, you do not appreciate my man on the street videos. And as I waded through the murky waters of the comments, I saw an interesting pattern that any good therapist would notice. The five stages of grief. I'm talking denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and yes, even acceptance. So today we're looking at why I upset so many people, and I'm going to classify the comments according to those five states.

It's the return of everyone's favorite segment. Where's the Grief? They have some cool theme music and stuff. But just in case you want to use that, editors, you're welcome to. And shout out to delete me for giving me no grief as the sponsor of this channel. Only Joy. All right, it all starts with denial. And that is where our friend, D-A-N-C-2159, is currently situated.

They wrote, money comes and goes. Who cares if you have debt? This is stupid. It's about how you budget and what life you're trying to live or provide. provide, dot, dot, dot. Life is short, you can spend your whole life saving and it will never be enough. Just live moderately. Did anybody learn any grammar and punctuation in school? This is an unhinge, so you did dots and periods where they didn't need to be, and you decided to end just off a cliff into oblivion. I'm confused what you're saying here. Money comes and money goes. Money comes and goes. Who care if you have debt? This is stupid. It's about how you budget. So it's about how you budget,

but also who cares if you have debt? What? What? What? What? The money comes, money goes thing is the most frustrating. I wouldn't recommend using that one when your wife asks why you bought a Bronco while she was on a girl's trip to Branson to see Yakov Smearinoff. And beyond the silliness of that statement, their denial centers on one major claim that debt doesn't matter if you budget. Now, I won't deny that budgeting for your debt payment is at least helpful.

It removes some of the stress. But even if everything works out perfectly with your budget, debt still represents a massive opportunity cost and a very necessary payment to that lender. Allow me to demonstrate using our handy-dandy investing calculator. Let's say you have that car payment and you trade it in and get another car payment, trade it in, get another car payment for a good, let's say, 35 years. All right, from 25 to 60, you keep this up.

So 25 to 60, and instead of paying that car payment to a lender, you paid yourself that car payment, which, by the way, average new car payment is now $767 a month. And we know that's going to go up over time. But just for this sake, I'm going to say it's 767 forever. So, $0 invested, $767,000, going to an investment account instead of to the lender. Let's see how much that is, from 25 to 60, at a 10% rate of return, which is the average we've seen in the U.S. stock market. $2.9 million.

Hope you like those cars that are now worth nothing. Jack Squat, they're in a impound lot somewhere for parts. So I hope that was a good example of the opportunity cost of debt. Thanks for the denial. Appreciate it. That brings us to the next stage of grief, anger. And the absolute angriest comment I've come across was courtesy of Mark R.T. Soon, who wrote this.

George is very racist. Please include some Asian people in the interviews. And you guys may laugh at this, but I take accusations like this very seriously. Because, number one, I'm not racist. And number two, I'm a fellow ethnic minority. And technically, there's a half Asian in every single interview. You're looking dead into the eyes of an Arab. And you might be going, whoa, whoa, whoa, Arab is not Asian.

Okay, let's explore this territory. My mom, born in Syria. Tell me, look at a map. Where is Syria? As far as continents go. No way, it's in Asia. So based on my DNA, that would make me half Asian. Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Now, my dad is from Egypt, born there, which is in, wait for it, Africa. Now, do I go around telling people that I'm half African, half Asian? Or Blasian, if you will? No, I don't, because I think that would be offensive to all people groups, regardless of your skin color, your nationality, or your racer creed. But I was born and raised in an Arabic Baptist church in New England, and I do speak fluent Arabic, and I have not been to Syria slash Asia, but I would love to go.

It's really nice this time of year. And for further proof, Your Honor, I present to you my 23 and me results. And yes, I know, I probably shouldn't have done it because now they own my DNA or are probably selling it for profit. But you'll notice, hey, what do you see under my name? Right there, George Cam, what do you see under that? What is it? Western Asian and North African, 99.9%.

That's as many germs as Clorox cleans, my guy. All right? Arab, Egyptian, and Levantine, which is Beirut, Lebanon, Syria, that whole area. So, I don't know. I think we're done there. I digress. And that's not where the angry comments end, because AR-82W2W also chimed in with this.

The hardest part about business, minding your own. All right, Batman. You have no value beyond the exploitation of others for your gain. How shameful. I do like that first line. I think it was very artfully done. The hardest part about business? I was like, wait, tell me what's the hardest part about business?

M. Knight-Sharmulon twist. My Knight-Shammelon? It's M-night. No, I get how it could seem like all I'm doing is bullying people about their finances to get clicks and use. And I certainly wouldn't be the first financial YouTuber to take that approach. I didn't quite catch that last. But listen, when my team and I go out to make these videos, we are genuinely trying to help people. And if you actually talk to the people I interview, they would walk away going, that guy gave me a lot to think about. And also he made me feel tall,

and I appreciate that about him. Now, we realize that a lot of people out there feel totally hopeless about their finances. So if I can have an honest conversation with them that sets them on the right track, while also creating helpful content, we see that as a win-win. And it's why this channel exists as a whole to help you win with money. And sometimes that requires a moderately painful reality check. I mean, what kind of video would it be if someone was like, yeah, I have $180 grand in debt. And I'm like, cool, sounds great. Have fun at Disney. That's not a good video and that's not helpful. In fact, that couple afterwards talked to me and said, hey, this was actually a helpful reminder. It convicted us in the right way that when we get home, we're going to really

go hard at this debt. So, have I heard some feelings? Potentially. I don't know when the cried. But I've given them some good things to think about. And they've let me know that. The comments have let me know that. You can see my heart here is not to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone look bad. I'm just having a good time with a little bit of wit, a little bit of poking, and a little bit of financial wisdom. But mostly just like funny memes. So yes, I'll take a buttload of butt hurt comments if it means one person changes the trajectory of their life. Nuff said. Moving on to stage number three, depression. Or as my boy Gary Gellman would say the great depresh. That's a great comedy special.

The depraish. Now, YouTube commenters are depressed for all sorts of reasons. But you know what depresses me? The number of comments people leave about my height. Dude, get your height up, LMAO. You're too short, crying emoji. Oh, I'm sorry. Take it up with God, my creator. See what he has to say about that. I couldn't help getting distracted by all the tall people compared to George. Wow, didn't realize George was that short, or maybe he was on a very tall street for this one. This one angers me, truthfully. Why would a tall street make me look short?

How is a street to... Streets are notoriously at ground level. I am taller than any street I've ever stood on. There is no street that is above my head, unless you're talking about a bridge. Which I got one to sell you in that case. But look, it's not my fault that everyone in my team brings me for these videos is legitimately 6'5. They're the largest people I've ever seen in my life. So they're doing it on purpose to make me look bad.

and I have no ability to fire them because I didn't hire them. But in all seriousness, these man on the street videos have caused some audience members to confront seemingly depressing realities like Sugarpuck. I feel like my life is over with just 12,000 in credit card debt while barely being able to survive with making the minimum payments. Seeing people with 40K plus makes me feel like I'm doing a little bit better. Okay? That wasn't the intention, but I appreciate that they go,

hey, my situation isn't as bad as I thought. There's a lot of people out there who are struggling. I'm not alone. There's worse situations that people have gotten out of, and therefore I can get out too. That's at least what I hope for this person. And listen, before I started helping people with money, I needed help. I was $40,000 in consumer debt between student loans and credit cards, and I was feeling hopeless too, and that's when I started working at Ramsey. I got an a proven plan, did Financial Peace University, did the every dollar budget, got a bunch of side hustles and got out of that debt in 18 months. So now I get to encourage other people that if an average

George can do it, they can too. And just last month on the Ramsey's show, I met Roman and Jennifer as a couple who paid off over 150 grand in debt. And here's the deal. Roman works as a regional manager for convenience stores, and Jennifer is a teacher. And my friend Jade Warshaw, who's come on the channel before, paid off almost half a million dollars in debt with her husband, Sam. So does Sugar Puck and anyone else out there who needs a burst of hope, it is possible to become debt-free.

You just need a proven plan. And I explained that plan thoroughly and entertainingly in my book, Breaking Free from Broke. So if you want to check that out or check out the audiobook version, I'll drop a link in the description for you. Up next, we have the bargaining stage. Now, there's a big theme in this part, which is leverage. And that's when you use borrowed money

to try making a bigger profit than you could have with your own money. And our friends in the comments section are obsessed with using it to excuse away their debt. Be Grady, writes. No debt IMO is a bad thing. Levered with money makes more money. I have a few million in debt through rental properties that tenants pay the loan.

Not me. All everything about this. I don't like, but here we go with Wally. This is contrary to popular belief, but you actually need to leverage debt to grow your wealth. Living debt free is easy and a risk-free way to basic financial independence, but smart people use debt to buy investments a can't otherwise afford. Debt is bad if you buy Mercedes and LV handbags, but if you're using it wisely, then access to debt is going to make you rich.

But the absolute motherload of leverage-related bargaining here comes from a man Chase who commented, being debt-free is not a flex. I am maximally leveraged with two mortgages, two helots at 0%. And a $25,000 personal loan also 0% My rental cash flows $800 per month, and my 0% loans are invested in 5% CDs. I will pay them off, having never paid a dime of interest, but banking approximately $6,000 per year,

which goes right into the market. I also save slash invests $5,000 per month. Are you not exhausted? What are you running from, man? Who hurt you? It's not your fault. What are you doing? I mean, this, a lot of gyration to make some scratch.

Have you tried working? Have you tried that for a living? It could get you real far. And he continues on with exclamatory. My debt is crushing it for me, making me nearly 15 grand per year and going straight into savings. The right kind of debt can make you money. If I had to pay my debts off tomorrow, I could.

But you won't, Chase, because you're a wuss. You're too scared to pay off your... Why, you're so scared of your debts, Chris? I want my money on savings. How'd be you pay back to lenders, bud? Have you have some integrity? Golly. People who have the money to pay off the debt and don't?

Slimeballs. Watch your mouth, young man. Sure, maybe you can make a slight spread on all those financial double backflips, but at what costs? And for how long before your house of cards come crashing down? We wouldn't have the Ramsey show. We wouldn't have this building doing what we do if everything worked out perfectly on paper. It reminds me of something Dave Ramsey said last time we had him on this channel. Let's watch that clip.

To look at finance only through the lens of math, is extremely naive. You're leaving out all the implications in your life of this mathematical decision. The relational, the spiritual, how does it affect your career? How does it affect your decision-making? And I don't think people realize, I know they don't, a lot of people don't realize that when you're in debt here, it affects a decision over there that you didn't even think about. Like, you'll keep a toxic job because you got payments. when you could have probably accelerated your career if you had solved for peace. And you went, you know, I don't really have to work here.

He's 100% right. Spreadsheet warriors love to say, well, technically, if you invest here, leverage that an arbitrage. Listen, money is not lived out in a calculator or a spreadsheet. I love what Dave said there, solve for peace. At some point, it's just not worth it, okay? To make all these complex money moves to try to make a little bit of money, I'm a man of simplicity, especially as I get older. I got kids at home, I got a wife.

I don't need more complexity. I want less things to worry about. And so not thinking about paying off the payments perfectly to invest here and move this here is just a better way of living for me. If your finances are controlling your thoughts and decisions, you are not winning even if the numbers say you are. Let me be clear, though,

it is possible to win with numbers, especially if your bank is Fairwin's Credit Union, a sponsor of today's video. Unlike most banks who only want to take as much of your money as they can, fair wins wants you to win financially. They literally put up billboards encouraging people to get out of debt, which is a lot more useful than knowing the next

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a no-feet checking account, and the Ramsey-themed debt-as-normal-dead debit card. So get it all today at fairwins.org slash Ramsey. And while we're on the topic of savings, you can save even more money by switching your phone plan to Boost Mobile, another sponsor of today's video. Now look, I know you might think switching carriers is a hassle, but you could not be more wrong. Boost Mobile makes it super easy. You bring your unlocked phone, and since most phones have an e-sim these days,

you can make the switch from the comfort of your home. And best of all, their unlimited plan is just $25 bucks a month forever. And with no contracts and no hidden fees, it's a no-brainer. So make the switch today at boostmobile.com slash Ramsey. $25 forever requires customers. to remain active on Boost Unlimited Plan. All right, we're at the fifth and final stage of grief. Acceptance. Something I've come to accept? The fact that no matter what I do,

I cannot get rid of the bots that flood the comments in every one of my videos. Interacting with you guys means I have to sift through nonsense like this. I will forever be grateful to you. You changed my whole life, and I will continue to preach on your behalf for the whole world to hear you, save me from huge financial debt with just a small investment.

Thank you, Mrs. Faleen Weyhti. She's legit. And I'll be honest, after finishing smart business, broke, dumb, rich by Zor Veil. My first thought was, how was this book even allowed to exist? It completely tore apart everything I'd been told by schools, family, and society about money. No fluff, no empty motivational quotes, just brutal raw truth.

Now I get why smart, dumb, rich by Zor Veil isn't mainstream. It's too honest. If you can't get your hands on it, do it before it disappears. I gotta tell you, hate the bots, but I'm stealing this copy from my own marketing for my next book. I mean, I don't want to read this book. This is why George's book isn't mainstream. It's too honest. Also, I should go by Zor Vale as my alternate name.

But let me tell you, navigating the robot army is all worth it when I get to read comments like this one from Bud Wilson. It was nice meeting you and talking to you. This conversation actually made me take a closer look at my finances, and I built a budget and have a plan to start attacking the student loans a bit more. Cheers, thanks, Bud. And I remember, Bud. I met Bud while shooting one of our Man on the Street videos in Nashville. He had 32 grand of student debt, and he told me he had no plans to pay. it off early. So, but I couldn't be happier to hear that you've started attacking the debt with

more of a vengeance. And that's what it's all about, guys. Being in debt or being behind on retirement can absolutely make you feel angry or depressed. And it's also easy to make excuses or live in denial. But if you really want to win, whether we're talking about money or life in general, you got to look in the mirror and be totally honest about what you see. And if you see something you don't like, guess what? You have the power to change that. You can pay off debt. You can start investing. You can find a better job. You can improve your relationship. Whatever it is, you gotta believe that you can do it. All right, if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right, as Henry Ford said.

You just need to follow Bud's example and choose acceptance. That and avoid listening to Mrs. Phileen or Zor Vale. And if you need a little inspiration, watch Bud's Mail on the Street video where I asked him and several other Nashvilleans about their debt. Click here to watch it next or use the link in the description. That's it for today. Be sure to hit like on this video if you enjoyed it. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already.

Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.