George Kamel - New Study: Minimum Quality of Life Is Out of Reach

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

📋 Take my free side hustle quiz!   An all-new study claims to have the answer for how much it costs to live a decent life in America. So today, we’re going to answer three questions: What number did the study come up with, how did they arrive at that number, and are they right? Next Steps: • 🎥 Watch my video 32 Ways to Save Money Right Now. • 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. • 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! • 📙 Order my book, Breaking Free From Broke, in hardcover.   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 does it really cost to live a decent life in America? An all-new study claims to have the answer. And surprise, surprise, it's higher than many Americans can actually afford. So today, we're going to answer three questions. What number did the study come up with? How did they arrive at that number? And are they right? Along the way, you'll learn how to build a life you can afford,

no matter what's happening with inflation, tariffs, or Justin Bieber's personal life. Add him to your prayer list, guys. All right, not just the thoughts. Give him the prayers. He's given us so much. It's not clocking to you that I'm standing on business, is it? All right, the study we're looking at today comes to us courtesy of a group called the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity. And let me tell you, if your name is Ludwig, you are destined to have an institute.

It just screams trust fund. Just a few months ago, Ludwig released a minimal quality of life index, where they tried nailing down the annual cost of living a quality life, which they define as being able to afford, quote, essential expenses beyond mere survival, encompassing factors crucial to well-being, growth, and upward mobility. Basically, all your needs, plus some wants. So what number did the study come up with? Well, that depends on if you're married and how many kids you have, much like taxes and whether you get to pick the restaurant. And I hate to disappoint you, but there is no singular

magic number, which means this was a classic Ludwig Hoodwink. I got you so good! Let's get to the Shall we? According to the study, the annual cost to live a quality life for someone who's single with no children is around 45 grand. A single person with one kid needs close to 78 grand. Now let's get to the lovers out there. For a couple with no kids, it's about 73 grand. And for a couple with three kids, you'll likely need about 130 grand, according to Ludwig, and likely Akiah Carnival to haul those little sweet clowns around. Who's my sweet little clown? Who's my sweet little clown? That was weird. So how did they arrive at these numbers? Let's dive into their process and see. Methodology, page. Oh, my gosh, I'm bored to tears already. You have a four-page table of contents?

Get a life, says the guy who's opening the PDF. Oh, there we go. That's how they got there. What in tarnation is this? I don't even know what language. Is this like a Lord of the Rings? What's the language they speak in Lord of the Rings? I know, you know, nerd.

Kurdish? Elvish, not Kurdish. That's what people in Wisconsin speak. Kurdish. Love a Kurd. All right. I'm stressed out. Now, thankfully, it doesn't take calculus or the quadratic formula or elvish to understand how this index works.

To sum it up, they studied American consumers and calculated the national spending averages in major categories, like housing, food, health care, and transportation. Then they sorted out those costs across various life stages. And finally, they combined those. the cost into annual budgets for each family type, added them up, and boom, the minimal quality of life index or MQL index was born. But they didn't stop there, because once Ludwig determined how much it costs to live a comfortable life in this country, they asked a follow-up question. Can people actually afford this? That's the more important question. And respondents answered that question with a big fat no. Specifically, the Ludwig Institute reported that the bottom

60% of U.S. households cannot afford a minimum quality of life. Ahead of headline that Yahoo, CBS News, and Bloomberg all ran with to get some sweet, sweet clickage. Yep, nothing gets news outlets more excited than a clinically depressing stat. Or a pet zebra on the loose. That was big news. The search is on for this escape zebra. Caught on camera heading straight down this cul-de-sac just outside Murphy'sboro, Tennessee. Way to put Tennessee on the map.

Come see us in Tennessee, y'all. We got wild zebras out here. They got airlifting with helicopters and such. I'll admit, these headlines are gloomy, especially for anyone struggling to make ends meet. but we need to ask an important question. Are they accurate? In other words, is a minimum quality of life really out of reach for most Americans? I'm not buying it personally.

Now, I have nothing but respect for the quality of research that Ludwig put into this study. The methodology? Chef's Kiss. The charts, exquisite. The graphs, delectable. The premise? That's what I had beef with. And that's because they made some assumptions along the way that muddied their results.

And you know what happens when you assume? It makes an adequate piece of research a little shaky. This episode has been marked Safe for homeschoolers It's not always that way. Sometimes we get a little edgy, get a little crazy. Shut! Now I see two main problems with this study.

Problem number one is that average expenses are misleading. Look, I've been on these personal finance streets long enough to know that the typical American waste way too much money on crap they don't need, and they still spend too much money on things they do need. So using the average spending as the

barometer for what's reasonable is How do I say this? It's asinine. Sorry to go full Shapiro on you. It's asinine. Asinine. Asinine. Asinine. Asinine in the extreme.

And that's exactly what this study did, which makes the numbers it came up with in many of its categories more inflated than my boy weenie at the local used car lot. Exhibit A, transportation. I mean, just look at some of the numbers they listed here. I'll show you. Oh, that's better. I don't like a methodology, but I do love a colorful chart. Charts and graphs.

All right. MQL by Family. family size, let's take a look at what they have for transportation, which is highlighted by this sort of orangish-reddish salmon color here. So for a single person with no children, they're saying you need $14,000 a year for transportation, which is well over $1,000 a month. As we go single with one child, it increases to $16,000, single with two kids, 16 grand. Single with three kids, apparently still the same. You don't need to key a carnival, $16,000. A couple with no kids for some, I guess two cars, that jumps up to almost 27 grand.

And let's see, the highest one here tops out at about 27, 875 for a couple with two kids. Somehow goes down for a couple with three kids. What's going on, Ludwig? How does three kids mean less transportation cost than two kids? Now, if you're like me, you're wondering, how are they spending $27,000 of net income a year on transportation? Can we do some basic math here? That's 27,000 divided by 12.

That's 2250 a month that these people are blowing. And it begs the question, how much car debt are they in? This is also assuming that we're all in crippling car debt, which is not far from the truth here in America and likely other places. The average payment for a new car is now $745. And even for a used car, the average payment, if you have debt, is $521. So let's play some fun math here. If you paid off the car or you bought one in cash in the first place,

this picture doesn't look nearly as bleak, because then you don't need $22,000 a year or $26,000 a year to afford transportation. Yes, you'll have your gas, fuel, electricity, charging costs, some maintenance, repairs, oil changes, but that's not going to add up to 20 grand in a year. So, bottom line, yes, life will obviously be unaffordable if you're spending 15 or 20 or 25 grand a year on transportation, but you don't have to do that. You don't have to be normal or average. And same goes for a lot of other numbers in this study. Problem number two, their definition of minimal. The whole concept of this research is that Ludwig has uncovered the cost of a minimal quality of life. But their idea of minimal is a little different than mine. See, when I think about a minimal quality of life, I'm thinking about the basics.

Do you have food, shelter, transportation, AC, maybe the occasional trip to a jack-in-box for a T-Pain-Munchy meal with a burger tatermelt? That's minimal to me. Bare bones. Now, this study, on the other hand, includes several luxuries in its definition of minimal. Let me pull up their methodology PDF to show you what I mean. Page 13. I do my own sound effects now. We can't afford the editors.

I'm expensive. Okay, here we go. Here's some luxuries. Technology. Technology costs ensure households are digitally connected for work, education, and other activities basic to life in the 21st century. The MQL builds on the TLC, which tracks the cost of smartphones, a household computer,

and internet and phone service by including the cost of a T. Wowsers. That's a lot of devices in the home, because you have to have a smartphone, apparently. And let's look at leisure, basic leisure. This includes a budget for common free time activities, covers costs associated with watching TV, factoring in both streaming services and conventional satellite or cable. Who's doing, but what kind of monster is like, bro, I got my dish set up. We're killing it right now. Plus, I got to have my Hulu and my Paramount Plus. Basic leisure continues. It doesn't stop there. It also, accounts for outings by budgeting for each person to attend six movies in two MLB games and affordable

seats each year. Okay, do you see where I'm going with this? How is this a minimal quality, six movies a year? Really? In this economy? I'll wait for it to hit the streaming sites. I don't need to go see it live. It's not that good. And then let's see what they say about food. This will be an interesting one. Eating out in addition to nutritionally adequate groceries. The MQL includes occasional meals away from the home, recognizing the substantial investment of time required to consistently prepare meals at home. It also tracks the cost of hosting five guests for a singular celebratory meals, e.g. a holiday gathering during the year. What a specific number of guests. That's two couples and your single friend, because you don't want to leave them out. You get one, one holiday. All right,

one Kinsenera, that's one bar mitzvah, that's one Kwanza, maybe a Ramadan thrown in for good measure, A Hanukkah if we want to be culturally inclusive. And Christmas, forget about it. We can't afford Christmas. He's an angry health. Anyways, here's the problem with all of this. If you include these luxuries and your baseline definition of minimal, you're setting a standard that is way higher than actual necessity.

And don't get me wrong, I love a good Red Sox game, and I'm not missing season four of the bear now streaming on Hulu. But these are not essentials. These are nice to have. These are luxuries. These are entertainment. They are sprinkles on top of the ice cream, not the ice cream itself. which, by the way, ice cream, not a necessity for human survival.

Says you. And by calling all of this stuff essential, you're just sending the message that life without constant entertainment or the latest iPhone is somehow subpar. Here's the thing, though. I recognize that a lot of people out there probably relate to all of these headlines about a quality life being too expensive.

And me sitting here making jokes about smartphones and baseball games doesn't actually change anything for the people out there who are really struggling. But there is a plan that anyone watching can follow if life feels unaffordable. And it consists of four steps, and I'll share them with you in just a second. But before we get into all that, there is at least one type of luxury that will give you more than a minimal quality of life, and that is any product made by Cozy Earth, one of the sponsors of today's video.

Is it essential to survival? No, but is it essential for my own peace of mind, my own well-being? Absolutely. Cozy Earth's bedsheets have become a necessity in the camel household, and their joggers, their hoodies, their socks have become my go-to summertime athlete leisure. And that's because their products are made of premium viscos from bamboo, which means they're ridiculously soft, cool, and comfy. And right now, they're offering my audience 40% off their products.

Just go to the site, cozyearth.com slash George, use promo code Georgia checkout to nab that deal. Or just click the link in the description below. All right, here's what it takes to live out your party in the USA without breaking the bank. Step one, budget for your real needs. And don't just set a budget, set a realistic budget. That means prioritizing the stuff you actually need to survive and thrive. That comes first. That's food, housing, transportation.

utilities, insurance, you get the picture. Your budget should also reflect you and your family's specific needs, not someone else's blueprint. All right, step number two, cut what you don't need. Now, I've got no problem with going to the movies or buying a new laptop or subscribing to a streaming service. But if extras like that are stretching your budget way too thin and you've got debt to pay off, it needs to go for now.

And by the way, you can add them back in once you have some breathing room in some financial foundation. But when you spend everything you earn, you're always going to feel like life is unaffordable, because technically, it is. But when you start spending less than you make, you create this magical thing called margin. And this doesn't mean living like a hermit and a cape. It means being intentional and saying no to stuff that doesn't serve you

so that you can say yes to the stuff that does. Step number three, get rid of your debt. Of course, life is going to feel unaffordable if you're paying $700 a month for your car and $400 a month for your student loans and trying to pay off your credit card debt and the medical bills and the personal loans and the mortgage that's too big.

And while I realize you can't just wave a magic wand to get rid of that car payment or any other type of debt, you can get on a plan to knock it out over time, and not a long time. We found that the average person who attacks their debt with intensity using the debt snowball method becomes debt-free in just 18 to 24 months. Think about that.

That's not a long time. You're going to blink and you're there. We'll be at the bare season 6 by then. So here's what you do. List your debts from smallest to largest balance and start paying them off one by one. That smallest balance attack with a vengeance and all the margin you can muster up,

and it'll be gone quick. For the rest of the debts, pay minimum payment. Once the first debt's gone, you move on to the next one, and the next one, you gain more steam as you keep rolling. Now, this will not be easy, but getting rid of your debt is the key to creating margin in your budget for life's necessities and luxuries. Step number four, increase your income. If you're serious about making life more affordable, you might need to bring in more money. And that could mean negotiating a raise at your current job, or finding a better paying job altogether,

picking up a side hustle, or finally starting that Etsy store for your handmade mug cozies. Look, cutting costs is great, and it will help you get margin, and we need to do that. But there's only so much you can squeeze out of your budget. At some point, you might need to boost what's coming in. And if you want some help with this, I have a free side hustle quiz. They'll help you figure out what side hustle makes sense for you, your goals, and how much time you have. Just head to georgecamble.com slash side hustle or click the link in the description below. And now I'm curious, do you think a minimal quality of life in America has become unaffordable?

Or have our standards just gotten out of control? I would love to hear what you think in the comments section below, so leave one letting me know what you think, and I'll interact with some of the fun ones. Now, if this video has made you reconsider how much you're spending, I recently made this video breaking down 32 ways you can start creating extra margin in your budget, and you can do most of them by the end of the day.

So click to check it out or use the link in the description below. That's it for today. Be sure to like this video, subscribe to the channel if you learned something. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.