George Kamel - Money Expert Reacts to Cringe Finance TikToks

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan - https://ter.li/t8v6zq As long as there’s dumb money advice on social media, I’ll keep giving my two cents. In this episode, I react to the latest round of crazy financial videos you found on TikTok.  Next Steps:  🎥 Watch my video I Ticked Off a Million People . . .  💵 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 $5 off Tello's Unlimited Plan and enjoy great nationwide coverage for only $20 at Tello.  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  💼 The Ken Coleman Show  📈 EntreLeadership    Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know what? It's been a hot minute since I've lambasted a TikToker for giving bad financial advice. And you guys keep sending me these crazy videos that, quite frankly, need to be addressed. So, grab your popcorn, your big gulp, and your five-pound bag of sour patch kids. Because today, we are scrolling with purpose to separate the good money advice from the insanely dumb. But before we start, before I get filled with rage, how about we calm ourselves with the calming sounds? Like five pounds of diabetes. The Red 40 is just singing in there. Can you hear it?

Yellow 6 coming in with that harmony? Gospel gorgeous. All right, click the like, subscribe, and share buttons, and let's get to it. Direct eye contact. Makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? And so will this. Everybody has that one friend who whips their credit card out when the meal ends. She says it's way too hard to split it seven ways so we can put it all on that chase.

She's saying that she'll have an mo. But baby girl, you're M-O. Because she wants the points. She wants the points. She wants the points. greedy little girl, she wants the points. Like a girl boss fighter pouncing on her parade, she waited patiently and got her way.

Because she wants the points, she wants the points, like a dementor butt just four points. She acting like it's a charity act, but we're paying for her flight back. I actually don't have an issue with this. I don't want to have to deal with splitting the bill. Wow, no notes. This guy ate.

I think we can all agree on that. And the shirt that's just showing just enough belly, just to be dangerous, This is the most... That's a tight tea, my friend. I'm not sure if you work out or if the dryer took that one to the cleaners. But this is a very relatable situation, truthfully.

Right? You're out for a meal. One person with a credit card wants to pay to get the points, and they go, hey, let's just not spit the bill. Just fenmo me, it'll be easier. But the real winner here is not points girl. It's cash girl, who spends way less because she's not chasing dumb points, which are pretty much an unregulated currency

that credit card companies can devalue any time they want. That's messed up. If I had dinner with friends, And I'm with a buddy who loves his points. I go, hey, have it, my friend. You can have the points, all right? Just invite me on the trip and pay for my first class flight with your points. Thank you.

All right, let's get to the next one. This is smart guy versus dumb guy when it comes to eating out. This is smart guy. This is dumb guy. And they make the same amount of money. Dumb guy hates the grocery shop and cook, but he still spends $300 a month on gross. Smart guy spends $450. And he eats...

Smart guy, he's healthy, love it. His meals out. Dumb guy buys coffee every day on the way to work, spending $20 a week or $80 per month. Smart guy brings coffee to work and spends here. He still costs him twice a week, costing him $15 every time, $30 a week, and $120 per month. Smart guy brings lunch every single day. Dumb guy gets door dashes. Dumb guy door dashes.

All right, I'm good with that. Agreed. $120 per month. Smart guy meal preps at the beginning of the week spends one. another zero dollars. Fridays and Saturdays, dumb guy gets dinner with his friends, spending $100 a week. Okay, having friends dumb apparently? Per month. Smart guy does the same thing, but he eats ahead of time on Friday.

He eats ahead of time? And then sits at dinner with friends doing nothing? Smart guy has been able to save $520. Smart guy invest that difference from the ages of 22 to 30, getting on average a 10% return. And at the end, he has $76,000 at the age of 30 that he can use for a down payment on his home. All right. I'd like this. Thank you from a budgeter's anonymous here. So the concept here, this tracks.

This is a picture of delayed gratification versus instant gratification. Thinking ahead and preparing versus just impulsively going through life. And I think we need more of this content. And it tracks. And yes, I've got some qualms with some of the pieces here. And people look at the smart guy and go, this guy's a fuddy-duddy. He doesn't enjoy his life. This life is terrible.

Why would you want this quality of life? But truthfully, I think smart guys live in his best life. because he's not trying to impress. He's got his boundaries. He's on a budget. He knows where he's going. More of that content. All right, let's get to the next one.

Hot girls are paying off their credit card debt, and this is how they're doing it. A year and a half ago, I was in a $25,000 worth of credit card debt, and now I am credit card debt free, and it is the absolute best feeling ever, and I'm going to tell you a couple of tips that helped me get there. When you're in credit card debt, you get so stuck in this mentality that one more $100 purchase

isn't going to make that big of a difference. Some cost fallacy. But do that 10. times and you're now a thousand dollars deeper in credit card debt and it is so easy to do. You have to literally shut your credit card off, rip it up and do not give yourself the option to keep spending on it. I promise you I told myself a hundred times that I would change and that I was strong enough not to use it and every single time I let myself. That's humanity. It wasn't until my cards were nearly maxed out that I realized, okay, I have a problem and I'm

not going to be able to have self-disciplined to get myself out of this problem. So instead, I'm going to freeze the cards. I'm going to cancel any subscriptions or any recurring payments that are linked to those cards. I'm going to keep them somewhere where I do not have access to that. You need to take them out of your Apple wallet, out of your Google saved card payments. You need to take them away from anything that gives you easy access. Add friction back in. Because I promise you, if you're in a bind or you want to buy a coffee, you want to buy a pair of shoes really, really bad.

And you have the option to use your credit card, you're going to. With that being said, my absolute biggest thing, to getting started paying off credit card debt. He leaked the option to even use your credit card. This is truthfully the best hot girl debt video I've ever seen. So thank you, Ellie, for this amazing content. She's actually self-aware enough to admit that humans don't have the self-discipline to make wonderful choices 100% of the time.

And so removing that credit card from your life, shutting it down, taking out of your Apple wallet, deleting the option to even use someone else's money will cause you to make different decisions and use your own money. And guess what? It's physically impossible to go into debt using the only money you have, which is from your bank account with a debit card or cash. So I love this idea. You know, as she was talking, it was reminding me, I feel like I've heard about this idea of cutting up cards from someone else. Who could it be? That's two good things to get rid of, credit card and Bank of America. Both stupid. Cash me, editors. Sitting in my room because every time I leave it, I spend $200.

Oh, buddy. Okay, and he's a fiddling with a tied-to-go pen and a journal. This one is legit. Everything is expensive now. And when you think about it, you get in a car, you've got to spend gas money, right? You're going to spend some gas to get there. That's three-something a gallon to go wherever you want to go. You're going to go somewhere that probably costs money.

Maybe it's eating out. Maybe it's a coffee, an experience. Then you've got to get the gas home, and you're more likely to spend. So I do think, I don't want everyone to be a recluse, but I think there is merit to just staying home sometimes and creating an environment in which you don't want to constantly escape to go spend money. Think about this. Add up what you're paying every single day just to exist in your apartment or your home.

What the rent costs, your utilities, all of it, and then divide that by 30 or 31. And you'll go, oh my gosh, I'm paying 40 bucks a day just to exist here. I should enjoy it more. I should make myself a little cup of coffee, snuggle up, read a book, watch some TV. that's all free. It's already paid for. That actually sounds kind of nice. Drink break.

Went back in the bowl. Play that in slow-mo. That was what I was trying to do, actually. Sure it was. All right, let's see who's next. Here are the 10 steps to getting out of poverty in 2024 and maximizing the value of your life. Okay, number one, invest, invest, invest in Bitcoin.

Hey, bro, you're left like a... Hey, I'm doing something right now. This is how I picture to them. all behaving. There has never been a better time to invest in Bitcoin and make immediate returns on that investment. You owe me for last month's rent, too. Dude, shut up. I'm doing something. Oh, man. Okay, I suspect this might hit a little close to home for a lot of the influencer bros out there pushing crypto, because this is how I picture them living. This guy clearly is not actually wealthy. The roommate's pestering him for rent from last month, and he's out here giving advice,

trying to get clicks and views, trying to come across like he knows a thing. too, when really he's just another broke bro. Is the doctor around? Guess we have a burn victim here. So while that video's hilarious, you know what's not hilarious? Paying too much for your phone service. And that's why I recommend Tello, a sponsor of today's video. They've got plans that range from $5 a month all the way up to $25 a month for the unlimited

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and data breaches with DeleteMe. And right now, you'll get 20% off by going to join DeleteMe.com slash George. Or click the link in the description. All right, let's get back to the vids. Daddy Dave Ramsey would be so... Daddy Dave Ramsey, wow. Strong start.

I bought a car last weekend with a credit. A car on a credit car. Yeah, we got a 2005 Toyota Sequoia, limited. Okay. With 150,000. miles on it. It's a very nice vehicle. Million mile motor. The thought process is it's going to last us for quite some time. Why did I buy it with the credit card? Interest rates for vehicles right now

are starting at about 6 to 7 percent. And with 100,000 miles end up, but they usually go it. But to get old Bank of America... Boo, Bank of America suites. A 3% balance... Oh, how generous of it. promo that I could deposit right into my account. For zero percent. percent APR for one year. And so that's what we did. So a 3% interest rate versus 7. However, a one-time transfer fee of 3% is actually going to be a little bit more over time than it would be if we just got a 3% loan, if that makes sense. However, doing the calculations,

if we got a 7% interest rate on a vehicle over one year term, we'd be saving over the course of that year $200 by doing this credit card way. $200 is a lot of money, especially in a year, so might as well. Plus, it saved us a bunch of time. Why are you just trying to justify this decision publicly? No regerts. Now, with that, with a smaller loan term, one year, we're going to have to pay $950 every single month. You could have just saved that amount.

I'm going to be able to do it. And purchased in cash. Our budget says yes. I'm a little nervy about it. But hey, in a year, we can cash out, you know, refi and put that money on to the credit card. And whether it's at a 10% interest rate better than the 30 on the credit card. I don't know why you needed to do this when you could have just saved up and paid cash. If you can afford a $1,000 payment, then you can afford to put $1,000.

dollars away in a savings account for 10 months to pay 10 grand for a vehicle. It's that simple. Now, this takes something called delayed gratification, some discipline, and you've got to drive the car you're driving right now for another 10 months. But you could have avoid all the hoopla while trying to justify it and then admitting that you're nervous about the payment because debt adds risk and stress to your life every time. I don't care who you are, now discipline you are. Life is better without payments. That's all I'm going to say about it, all right? Zero. percent if you don't have a payment. That's the kind of life I want to live. Okay, my team tells me that this next video is not really financial advice, but they wanted my reaction to it. And apparently,

it's a realtor from the Chicago area who posts videos about homes she's listing. Let's all take a look for the first time. Hi, I've got a home for you. This is a three bedroom two-bath rental in Aurora being offered at 20-19. Nothing matters at this point. I don't care what you're saying. You scared the crap out of me. Kitchen went lots of great cabinet today. Oh my God, I let the nutter Butter's out. Nice-sized family room. No furniture needed. Big primary bedroom. This woman is unhinged. Big closer! What's up with the Nutterbutters? I'm hiding from you know who.

Two-car garage is muted. And here we are in the backyard where I have my propane and propane accessories and my mismatched chairs. What more could you ask for? Shand for! No. She's the scariest woman I've ever seen. You also get this great pumpkin patch, and who knows? Maybe the great pumpkin will stop by this year. Porpe is accepted, and you guys have one week until I rent this out to Spirit Halloween. That took a turn.

That's an M-Nic Chomelon twist. I'm Marjorie Morosco with Coldwell Bankers. All right, I think that's enough TikTok for one day. I don't know if she's selling houses, truthfully. I think she hopefully is crushing it as a creator. I have a townhome for you. I don't want her as my realtor. I'm scared of this woman.

she's capable of. And first of all, the editing is amazing. I don't know if she's doing it herself, but that might be the new career field for her instead of real estate. Let me just see some of the comments here. Marge, when I have a house in the future, I want you to sell for me. When you hired Gen Z to do marketing, that was my only hope. Double the Spinney Boys and you got yourself a deal. Legend, selling Sunset will never live up to you. That is true. Give this woman a Netflix series. I won't watch it, but I'm sure it would do well among people who like pain and suffering. All right, we like to wrap these videos with a random video that I have not seen that producer Alex has sent to me. Let's check it out together.

No, not the Zen holder for Crocs. Please tell me they didn't actually. How are they going to? They just like made a little jibb it to hold the Zen? Yeah, the bigger question is, who's this Owen guy that wrote the parody to where is my mind? The comment section never disappoints. Are you 10 years old or something? Three millies, though.

This tells me we're not okay as a society. My culture is not your costume. Ukrainian flag? I don't know. Do one for the back so it looks like a spare wheel. Don't do the pixies like that, man. Okay. The rest are not appropriate for public consumption.

Okay. This is why we can't have nice things. I would like to think we learned something today, but I'm afraid we might actually all be dumber now. But listen, if you come across any good money-related TikToks while you wait in the mile-long drive-thru line at Chick-fil-A, go ahead and share it with me. And maybe I can include it in my next video

where I make a bunch of people accidentally mad at me. At this point, it's unintentionally part of my personal brain. And if you don't believe me, keep watching this next video to see how I ticked off a million people. Whoops a daisy. I'll put the link in the description as well. Thanks for watching. See you next time. I wanted to look cool.

First try.