George Kamel - Millionaires Who Lost A Fortune In Dumb Ways

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

💵 Sign up for EveryDollar today - Create a free Budget!  Rich people. One minute they’re buying a castle or an octopus, and the next minute they’re filing bankruptcy. Today, we’re looking at why seven millionaires lost their fortune and what we can learn from their money mistakes. Next Steps 📗 Order George Kamel’s new book, Breaking Free From Broke. Watch: How to Become a Millionaire Starting With $0   Offers From Today's Sponsors 📞 BetterHelp: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month of therapy! https://www.betterhelp.com/george 🔒 DeleteMe: This episode is sponsored by DeleteMe. Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/George and use code GEORGE for 20% off. 🙌   🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the fabulous life of George Camel. When it comes to lavish living, nobody does it like George. Most people pay for haircuts individually, but not George. He has a haircut subscription. George has been spotted buying premium hummus at the Costco, where he has an executive membership. And get this, George has not one, not one and a half, but two French bulldogs.

And when they make a stinky, he wipes their tushies with hundreds. $100 bills. This is the fabulous life of George Camo. Okay, the last part's not true. Well, it's partially true. I do wipe their butts, but I use Huggy's natural care. They're the ones living the fabulous life here, not me. No one's wiping for me.

And speaking of fabulous lives, aren't rich people fascinating? They make tons of money, have huge homes and fancy cars, and occasionally file bankruptcy. Yeah, record scratch indeed. There are plenty of examples of the rich and famous making multi-million-dollar mistakes and occasionally, losing it all. And this doesn't just happen on sitcoms like Schitts Creek and Rest the Development. It happens in real life, too. And you might be wondering how someone with millions of dollars

could just look up one day and discover their broke. But this is actually a common thing for people who wind up with a lot of money really quick, like lottery winners or pro athletes. So today, we're going to look at seven celebrity millionaires who lost a fortune, and we'll examine what happened, so maybe we can learn a thing or two from their big money mistakes. But before we jump in, make sure you like this video, subscribe to the channel,

and share this with all of your friends who know there's always money in the banana stand. Keep those friends close. Always money in a banana stand. First up, Michael Jackson. Apparently, the King of Pop was also the king of spending way too much money on diamond-encrusted gloves. In the decade between 1985 and 1995, Jackson comfortably earned between $50 and $100 million per year through touring, record sales, endorsements, and merch. Now, this is, according to Celebritynetworth.com, which seems like a totally reliable source. At one point, MJ was making so much money, he could have freed two willies.

But when his earnings started to drop, he didn't drop his lifestyle accordingly. He bought bent liys and exotic animals, and his Neverland ranch cost $10 million a year just to maintain. So get this, by the time he died, he had $500 million in debt. The lesson here, live on less than you make. And watch out for lifestyle creep. What these? This one. This one.

Oh, that's only 275,000 each. Next on the list, Shakira. The singer was accused by the Spanish government of failing to pay close to 16 million U.S.D. in taxes. So yeah, her hips don't lie, unless you ask them how much money she made last year. Boom, roasted. Oh, that was hilarious. Yes, it was really funny. On the opening day of her tax fraud trial in Barcelona in 2023, the pop star struck a last-minute deal to avoid going to prison.

As part of the deal, she accepted the charges in a fine of more than 7.3 million euros, which is over $7.8 million U.S. dollars. She also accepted another fine of around $472,000 U.S. dollars to avoid a three-year prison sentence. The lesson here, tax fraud? Bad, just in case you were wondering. And also, even when you have millions or make millions, you still have to be paying attention to your money. You've got to stay on top of it. And even if you have someone who trusts who does it for you, you've got to be involved and know exactly what's going on, especially when it comes to taxes. And speaking of fraud, the more likely fraud you'll experience has to do with hooligans on the internet trying to scam you and steal your identity.

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Today's video is also sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes the important things in life, like relationships or goals, take a backseat to the urgent things, like, I don't know, the final season of Ted Lassau. But therapy is a great way to help you focus on what really matters to you. BetterHelp is designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. To get started, you simply answer a few questions and get matched with a licensed therapist, and you're ready to go. So learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash George today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash George.

All right, let's get back to it. All right, next millionaire on the list, Nick Cage, who is himself a national treasure. The actor-slash-in-net meme has made some pretty outlandish purchases that set him back a small fortune. He bought a castle in Europe for $10 million, which honestly sounds pretty cool. He also dropped a cool $150,000 on a pet octopus, which he named Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Now, aside from these pretty wild purchases, he was also way over-reaching. invested in real estate, and then the market crashed, which caused him to almost lose his entire

fortune. In fact, at one point, he owed $6 million to creditors, and he crawled out of it through a lot of hard work and a lot of direct-to-video movies that you've probably never seen. Now, Nick Cage has been pretty open about his financial regrets and mistakes, and the lesson here is to stick to your budget and avoid impulse buying, especially large purchases like medieval fortresses and cephalopods. Not cool. When you see something expensive that you really want. Here's an idea. Give yourself a full day before you buy it. Ask yourself, well, I actually use this thing and can I pay cash for it now? If the answer is yes and you've budgeted for it, then go ahead and add that octopus to cart. This is called the 24-hour rule and it can save you

from a ton of regret either tomorrow or down the line. All right, next up, Dave Ramsey. He's a multi-millionaire known for helping millions with his financial advice, and he's also my boss. But he's made plenty of money mistakes with lots of zeros on the end. Now, back in 1986, Dave had a Jaguar, Customsuits, and a real estate portfolio worth over $4 million. The only thing he didn't have was a full head of hair. Hey, no man can have it all, okay? But then things took a turn. There was something called the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987,

which led to several banks changing ownership. So they looked up and saw this guy in his 20s with $1.2 million in loans and lines of credit and decided they needed to limit this relationship, aka destroy this guy's life. Do it. Huh? So they gave him 90 days to repay $1.2 million. And despite his best efforts, Dave ended up declaring bankruptcy on September 23, 1988. And Dave has famously admitted that he was way over leveraged and had a very risky financial situation that he should have never gotten into.

And obviously, the story didn't end there, and a lot of good has happened since then. But the lesson remains here. Debt equals risk. More debt equals more risk. Stay away from debt and follow wise financial principles, and you will build wealth with so much peace and confidence. Let me tell you, Dave learned that lesson good. And since then, he has remained debt-free and built a huge financial empire, a huge net worth, and he's been teaching these principles to millions through Financial Peace University,

the Total Money Makeover Book, and helping callers on the Ramsey Show for over 30 years now. All right, next on the list, Jessica Beale's husband. What was his name again? Judson. Justin, Justin, Justin, Timber. Judson-Tumber, Luke. Justin Timberlake. That's the guy.

Big curly ramen noodle hair? You know the one. Now, I think a lot of people forgot about this little snafu from JT. But back in 2011, the former N-Sinker, along with a group of investors, purchased Myspace. Yes, that Myspace, for $35 million, despite the fact that pretty much nobody was on MySpace anymore, except for Tom and a few emo bans still trying to make it. And Timberlake was hoping to revitalize Myspace back to its former glory, but clearly, that didn't work out.

But wait, what may have seemed like a $35 million mistake, actually ended up making Timberlake some money. In 2016, it was announced that Myspace and its parent company had been purchased by Time Inc. for $87 million. But I gotta say, for the record, I don't recommend buying a failing social media platform as an investment. Elon. I have successfully privatized world peace.

The lesson here is to invest wisely, preferably in things with a long-term track record. I know it can be tempting to hop on whatever the latest, exciting new opportunity is, but when it comes to investing for the long haul, Boring always wins. Next up, Odell Beckham Jr. When the NFL player signed a deal with the L.A. Rams worth $750,000,

he made the decision to take his salary in the form of Bitcoin. Not long after, the price of Bitcoin plummeted. And sadly, at one point, it was estimated that after federal and state taxes, OBJ would net approximately $35,000 from his contract with the Rams for that entire year. Y'all, he took home less than 5% of that total contract, all because of that financial mistake. Now, fortunately, he ended up signing a one-year $15 million contract with the Ravens. So don't feel bad. He's doing fine, hopefully.

So what can we learn from this? One, number one, crypto is too volatile and too risky to be a smart investment. And when it comes to how you're paid, just stick to, you know, actual money. Now, your greatest wealth-filling tool is your income. So don't mess around with that. Make wise choices with it now, and future you will be glad you did. Okay, next on the list is YouTuber Andrew Hales. Now, Hales started out making prank videos on his YouTube.

channel, you've probably seen him, the one with social experiments where he walks up to random people trying to hold their hand. It was actually pretty funny. And he racked up a ton of views and started making some serious dough. But in 2021, he posted a video titled, How I Became Broke. He talked about how he was spending too much on traveling and partying, how he got an apartment he couldn't afford, and how he would forget to set aside money for taxes. On top of that, he got lazy, didn't upload as much, and his income started to decline.

And ultimately, he ended up somewhere around $40,000 to $50,000 in debt and ended up taking part-time jobs at an Amazon warehouse, and more recently, at a Taco Bell. Now, look, Gen Z, I know all you want to be is YouTubers as a career, but it's not always rainbows and sunshine and easy money. It is really hard work, and it's a hard life being a content creator. Just ask me. Being cool can be really hard sometimes. But shout out to Andrew for doing what it takes to pay the bills and clawing his way out of

this. So the lesson here is, once again, live on lesson you make and stick to a budget. And for crying out loud, you don't just forget about taxes. Pay the tax man. What's been, where's all your money gone, Daddy? Taxes. Now listen, nobody's perfect, and I'm not here to judge these people for their mistakes. But hopefully, they've learned from these financial fauxpaws and have become better at handling money.

And maybe their money mishaps can serve as a warning and help you avoid the same mistakes. So here's my practical takeaways. Live on less than you make. Stick to a budget. Set aside money for taxes. Avoid impulsive purchases. Invest wisely. Follow proven financial principles.

and avoid getting paid in crypto. Now, if you want to learn more solid proven financial principles, be sure to check out my book, Breaking Free from Broke. You can get your copy with the link in the description or just go to ramsysolutions.com. And if you're interested in becoming the kind of millionaire who doesn't buy castles and octopuses or octopi, both are grammatically correct, and yes, I checked,

then check out this video to find out how to become a millionaire starting from zero. And don't forget to like this video, subscribe to the channel, and share it with all of your friends who want to buy Vine and bring it back from the, the dead. I still have hope. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.