George Kamel - Millionaire Settles Your Financial Arguments | Judge George

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

💵 Create a free budget. Sign up for EveryDollar today! About This Episode: The court of Judge George is now in session, slamming down the gavel on your financial disputes.  Next Steps: 📗 Order George Kamel’s new book, Breaking Free From Broke  ▶️ Watch: Awkward Money Conversations with Strangers   Offers From Today's Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by DeleteMe. 🔒 Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/George and use code GEORGE for 20% off. 🙌  This episode is also sponsored by Laurel Road. 💸 Open a high-yield savings account and make your savings work harder for you. Check it out here: https://www.laurelroad.com/george 🤑    Listen to More From Ramsey Network 🎙️ The Ramsey Show    🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour  💡 The Rachel Cruze Show  💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights  🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show  💼 The Ken Coleman Show  📈 The EntreLeadership Podcast     Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You are about to enter the Camel courtroom. The people are real. The cases are realer. The rulings are not legally binding. This is George Judy. Order in the court. Today we're looking at money fights and financial disputes that you wanted resolved. And some of these quarrels are incredibly relatable.

And some of them, not so much. But the question still stands. Who will be found guilty? Well, I'll be the George of that. Before we kick it off, there are legal fees to be paid here, including a click on the like and subscribe buttons. And if you want to avoid jury duty in my courtroom, share this video with your favorite partner in crime, and you'll be honorably dismissed. All right, our first dispute comes from username, Fire and Water. Let's see what they had to say.

A disagreement about a 15-year or 30-year mortgage. One side says 15-year, so it keeps you on track to pay it off sooner and pay less in. interest. The other side says to keep the 30-year loan because if you fall on hard times, your payment will be less. Just pay more than your minimum payment and all the other months where you're not struggling. Here's the deal with these. I'm a big fan of the 15-year mortgage because you're going to save so much in interest and it guarantees that you'll pay it off in 15 years or less. And for the 30-year folks, let me tell you right now, this whole idea of what if you fall on hard times? It's excuses. It's BS. You will not use that kind of

language in my court. You understand me? Have an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, then you don't need wiggle room in case life happens. You have an emergency fund. So based on the evidence presented to me, I rule in favor of the 15-year mortgage. Case dismissed. Get out of my courtroom. Wasting our taxpayer money. All right, our next case comes from username TiffBits. Here's what they had to say. With aging parents and a pair that didn't save and spent frivolously, one wants to financially support them while the other states we need to worry about ourselves and our kids. It is always a battle when it is discussed. A classic conundrum. Now, I'm all in favor of helping take care of family,

but enabling their bad behavior and trying to resurrect their financial life because they didn't do anything to prepare for retirement, not a fan of that. So if you discuss this and find that, you know what, we're going to support them with 100 bucks or 200 bucks every month, that's fine. and propping up their entire lifestyle and paying their rent or mortgage until they pass on the old dusty trail. Not a fan of that. So the ruling, take care of your own house first. Our next conundrum comes from username the Viscans fan. Here's what they had to say.

Manual underwriting versus credit score. Most of the debates I have with people about credit scores comes down to that. Most of them admit manual underwriting can work for some people. But they think it's incredibly stressful, long, and hassle-filled process. that's not worth it. Well, as someone that's actually done this, let me tell you, it was not hassle-filled, it did not take a super long time, it was not more expensive, I got an equivalent rate that someone with an excellent credit score would get. And so for that, here's what I got to say. Don't talk about stuff that you've never experienced. That's silly. Don't say it's hard when you

haven't even done it. It's not that hard, and it gave me so much more peace as I paid off the house early and went through the rest of my life, debt-free. So by the power vested in me and not by the state of Tennessee, I hereby rule that manual underwriting is not that difficult. Next up, Luke of all trades has this dispute. When you have two working adults, what do you do when one person gets a bonus? Should that money be spent together? Or does the person who got the bonus get full control? I know it's really up to each couple to decide, but I'm curious what the George answer is. This is a juicy one. So here's the deal. Let's say I got a bonus. If I If I were to say, listen, I got a $10,000 bonus and you're not going to tell me how to spend it,

there would be issues in our marriage, in my communication style, in our values and goals, not being shared. And so I would talk about it with my wife and say, hey, do we have goals that this should go to? And we might find that because we're debt-free, you know what, I can go spend this money and enjoy it. Or we might find that there's a better use of this money. So here's the deal. It is up to each couple, but I'm going to say that there's probably a better use of this

money. If you've got debt to pay off, you have an emergency fund to build. You have a car to upgrade, a vacation to fund. So I would use it toward my family goals because I care about my family more than I care about what George wants. And because of that, the court finds this to be a joint discussion. That's it. Talk about it. I consider it household income.

I don't consider it random money that you found on the street. It came from work. So put it to good use. Next up in the docket, we've got username Silver Sage 03. Life insurance. Having learned too late not to do whole life, I want to cash out and switch to turn. but my spouse doesn't. How to convince them? Love the phrasing there. Here's the deal. Whole life insurance is a giant rip-off and the only people that benefit from it are the people selling it to you.

And there's a reason they push that over term life. Their commissions are way higher and whole life can cost up to 10 times more than term life. So I believe you're right. But the question here is how to convince them, which is not really a ruling here. But let me give you my best shot. I would show them the math. I would show them videos I've done on Whole Life and why it's a off, show them blog articles, and then tell them, listen, I want us to build wealth together. I know that cashing out might cause some sunk cost fallacy to set in where you go, I paid so much into this and look at the cash value. But look, show them this math.

What if we got term life instead canceled the whole life and invested the difference we saved? Show them what that could turn into wealth-wise and remind them that insurance should do one thing, insure you. You wouldn't add a cash savings policy to your auto insurance, so why do you do it with your life insurance. It's stupidity on steroids. And for that, the court finds whole life insurance to be trash. Absolute trash. Get that filth out of my courtroom. This is an American institution. You're in contempt of court. I'm content. Gosh, I want to be a judge so bad. They have so much power that you can just kick people out of the room whenever they don't like them. Our next line of questioning

comes from Joseph P. Laffer 734. He asks, partner has health issues. She insists that cutting the grocery budget during our debt snowball isn't an option. So we're burning 800 bucks a month on groceries while paying down debt. Okay, who was right in this case? Well, assuming her health issues are legitimate, taking care of her health now will save you more in the long run and possibly, I don't know, keep her alive. I don't know what the condition here is, the nature of this, but I would say that health is paramount. And so if it requires to spend more, you got to spend more. And that might slow down your debt snowball. Now, there's things you can do. We can try to switch groceries. stores, we can try to find ways to meal prep and not waste anything and find ways to cut down

on the grocery budget. But at the end of the day, it's okay if you pay off your debt more slowly if you're prioritizing your health. So it is hereby ordered that you shop responsibly. Get what she needs. Next up in my courtroom, we've got username One King Magin. Here's what they ask. My family wants me to not put an effort to pay down my federal student loans in Sally Mae. That way, I can save more money in the long way. run. Okay, I don't know your situation. I don't know if you live at home, if your parents pay your bills, but if they don't cover your life financially, they don't get a vote in what you do with your hard-earned money. And in my house, we want to get rid of debt to free up our income. So there's no

world where in the long run this makes sense to be paying interest on this money and to be doing something else with it that somehow works out in your favor. So this one's pretty simple. The court finds that not paying off debt is ludicrous. All right, who called for ludicrous? This is too easy, guys. Give me a fastball here. Let's see what Kathy V-1847 has to say. Car buying. One spouse wants a new car since we keep them for 15 plus years. This would require some loan. Other spouse wants used car to keep costs down and can pay in full. So me think, why waste time say lot word when few word do trick? I don't understand how you keep a car for 15 years and have nothing to show for it.

You still got to go take out a loan on the next car? You had 15 years to do something about it. So I love the idea of buying a used car that you can afford and upgrading over time in cash as you're able to save. That will absolutely keep cost down. It's the smartest way to purchase a vehicle. And it is hereby ordered that other spouse is right. Use car wins. Let's keep it moving. It's almost lunchtime.

At Deborah Yang 9-866 says, Even though we're completely debt-free, my husband's still a penny-pincher. Well, Deborah, this isn't a complaint box. This is a fake courtroom. Have some fake respect. But really, I'm trying to convince your husband to loosen up. That's really the issue here. The real problem is that he hasn't flexed the spending muscle.

And so I think you force him in the budget to go, we're going to spend some money. We've worked hard to get out of debt. Why did we do that? So we can have more freedom, more options, more margin to enjoy our life. So I would set some fun money line items for both of you. You've got to go spend it on something fun. He's got to spend on something fun. We're going to do a date night.

We're going to plan a vacation. and over time, he'll start to let go of his scarcity mentality and have the abundance mentality. And if you guys have the emergency fund, there's no reason you shouldn't be enjoying your life a little more. So here's the ruling. You're debt-free, quit pension pennies. The verdict is, loosen up, husband. That's a judge's order.

All right, last but not least, I'm not even sure I can say this on a family-friendly channel, but the username is at Big, Soppy Fart. And if you're under 15, you love that one. And if you're over 15, you still liked it. You still enjoyed that username. Well, you've got me there. Here's what they had to say. I'm not married yet, but am serious in my current relationship of 2.5 years.

I wish you were as serious about your username as you were in this relationship. She stays with me five to six nights a week, but does not contribute anything toward the house. No utilities, no help with the mortgage, pays for 50% of groceries, and sometimes when we go out for dinner slash entertainment. I don't expect 50-50 on the house and utilities, etc., but any amount towards it. would be very helpful. First of all, big sloppy fart, I don't understand. She's living there five to six nights a week. Well, where's she going the other one or two nights? Like, is she living on the street? Like, what's the situation here? Is this her primary housing or not? Why are you treating

this like a hotel and then expecting her to pay your mortgage, but then also cover groceries? I think this resentment is, it's on you. You've been drinking your own poison because you haven't set good boundaries. You combined your life before you should have, and now you're backtracking because it doesn't benefit you financially. Either get married and combine your finances or just break up if you're too resentful. You know what? Since this is a fake courtroom,

we can have a fake wedding right here. I now pronounce you wife and manchild. It's time to take a pause from the courtroom drama because this episode is sponsored by Laurel Road. Bayliff, let's switch axes. Laurel Road again. Earning interest rates of 5%. High-yield savings with no account fees for my friends

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To some shady scammers in Shreveport And that's why I personally use Delete Me To help protect my personal. personal info online. They removed data about me from sketchy sites all over the internet where it had no business being. And they've already saved me 22 hours of time. I would have spent finding and removing all of that junk. And right now, you can get 20% off their plans using my link. So help protect yourself and your family from online scams and identity theft by going to join deleteme.com slash george today. And if you have an aversion to typing things,

I'll drop a link you can click in the description below. That's join deleteme.com slash george. Now, unfortunately, for most of us, we don't have a little George Judy in our pocket that we can whip out to settle a knock-down, drag-out fight when you're in the middle of it. But if the money fight you're in is with someone you're close with, like a spouse or a family member, there are a few things I would suggest remembering. Number one, don't freak out. Disagreements can actually strengthen the trust in your relationship if you're honest and you allow the other person to do the same. Unless you're fighting over the last tamale. Okay, that's a hard one to come back from. So as our pal Ice Cube once said, check yourself if things get sp,

Spicy. That's, that cannot be an actual ice cube quote. Was that from an NCIS episode? When it even? Okay. Oh, M.G! Plus, if you're really listening, I'm talking active listening, you're asking good questions. The only need there will be for any yelling will be if I actually do appear right in the middle of your living room. Number two, listen. This is your reminder. Don't just listen to think up a response of your own or totally zone out and think about whether the coleslaw from Monday still has tang to it. Instead, try this. When the other party is talking, you're only allowed. to ask questions. Don't get defensive. That way, you get to know the why behind their thoughts. Then when they're finished, you can share your own thoughts. And lastly, show some grace, because Lord knows being too hard on yourself or someone else will not help get to a resolution sooner. And if it really comes to it, you can call your trusted friend George Judy. Or maybe

better yet, a licensed professional, like a therapist or counselor or financial coach, that could be more productive. All right, hope you guys enjoyed the courtroom drama and the Pilgrim chic today and if you live for the drama make sure to tune in for the next video all about how these randos reacted when I brought up some awkward money questions I'll link it below as well if that's easier for you thank you for watching we'll see you next time