George Kamel - Responding to Haters (Are They Right?)

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Giving money advice on the internet comes with its fair share of haterade. In this episode, I’ll check out some of my content that got people fired up so we can see if any of these critics actually have a point. 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 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you make YouTube videos with the goal of helping people with money, you're gonna get some flack. Exhibit A. So today, we're looking at some videos that sparked some, shall we say, disagreement among the people, and we'll see if any of these naysayers have a good point. I'm open to being wrong. Odds aren't great, but I'm open to it. But before we jump in, hit those like and subscribe buttons and share this with all of your friends who do not like me so they can leave a mean comment, and then I can make even more of these videos.

Monetize the haters. That's what I always say. Okay, let's get to the first video. When is too late to live at home? Once you are in your mid-20s and still living at home, there's a problem. You should have graduated. Even if you did a second degree, you should be by 25 or 26, gainfully employed and have some semblance of what you're doing in that stage of life. If you are on salary, I just don't think you should be living at home with mom and dad.

I get there's rare situations, there's cultural differences, there's ultra-high cost of living areas. But I still would say your quality of life is going to be better if you move out and get your own place, even if you financially suffer a little bit. What if you have debt? You're 27. You graduated with a master's. You got a PhD with debt. And you could live at home for three years. You're 30 years old, but you can wipe out all the debt. I don't think the stunted growth is worth the savings. That person at 27 to 30, probably not going to have a girlfriend, probably not going to get married. And that's just anecdotal from what I've seen on the Ramsey show. It's always a guy who's just been babied by the parents. You stay as long as you want and just pay off your debt as you can. And it slows them down. I said what I said. So here's the deal. I think the context matters. Here's who this was really aimed at. Dudes in America.

Comment section didn't get that, okay? So this clip was from an ice coffee hour episode where Graham and Jack had me on. And this was a question Graham asked. When is it too late to live at home? There's no hard and fast rules here. He asked for my opinion, but it ticked off pretty much everybody.

And I will not apologize for encouraging people to learn how to stand on their own, to be independent, to mature, and to grow. And part of that is getting out of mom and dad's house. And again, I said there are circumstances where it's okay. I'm not mad at you if you live at home. But if you ask me, what is the best thing I can do for myself? I would say, get out when you can.

And that means not staying at home into your 30s so that you can finally afford a home or pay off debt. And you know, I love people paying off debt. Let's look at some of the hate here. One guy said, this guy is delusional. This is how you set yourself up for struggle all your life. I am so confused how living on her own sets your... Are you advocating to just live at home your entire life?

What? No solutions here. Another one. The American Dream is dead, dude. Those values from the 60s do not apply today. I didn't know moving out is from the 60s. I thought people just do this once they become adults and graduate and get jobs. I apologize.

Did not mean to do that one. Here's one. Do whatever works for you, homie. Who cares? I agree. Do what works for you. This man simply asked my opinion, and I said, hey, mid-20s, salaried, I think it's time to fly the coop and be on your own. Even if that means getting a few roommates, you're paying off debt on your own.

And again, there's circumstances. If you want to stay home and get aggressive, do it. I've just found that most people don't stay aggressive when mom's folding in the laundry. That's it. He's not wrong. Next up on the list is from a video we filmed right here in this studio with my friend Just Breed. Good credit score equals good money management. Why do you disagree?

Oh, I disagree because credit is a measure of looking at how. you pay off debt generally. And I like what the Ramsey philosophy is on that when it comes to credit. Your credit score is kind of just a made-up number. It doesn't really mean anything. I know people that really brag their 800 credit scores with lots of debt and no wealth to show for it. A good credit score doesn't necessarily mean anything about wealth. For some reason, when it comes from Desprite, it just hits different. I guess I got caught up in the bromance. And of course, I wholeheartedly agree with what he said, but some keyboard warriors did not. This one comes in from B.E. P.E. who said this.

That's just inaccurate. Debt to income ratio is one of the biggest factors of your score. It means you do manage money well. It doesn't mean you're wealthy, but it does mean you're doing well managing your money. Most people with 800 scores don't have credit card debt. Now, I'm sure B.E. Patterson is a great person, but they're not intelligent because they're wrong. Debt to income ratio is not a factor in your credit score at all, let alone one of the biggest factors. So I have issue with that.

Your income is not a part of your credit score, which is why it's one of the stupidest numbers known to man. You can make $400,000 does not improve your credit score. You could inherit a million dollars. Does not improve your credit score. Your credit score is simply your relationship with lenders, all right? How smooth was the last breakup? How are we doing with the current one? Are you a good kisser?

That's all it is. And that's fine, but don't pretend like this is good money management. It means you're good at debt management. And that's fine. All right. If that's what you want to do, good for you. you, but don't pretend like this has anything to do with wealth or financial stability. Here's another one. Agree, but it does show responsibility. How do you agree? Okay, I guess it's,

what's a good analogy here? Um, hours later. There is none. There's nothing as dumb as credit scores. Again, it shows your responsibility to pay back debts you borrowed. So lenders go, yes, we'll give this person more debt. People look at credit scores like it's a sign of financial wealth, it's a sign that you're doing well, and the truth is you can have an 800 credit score and not have 800 bucks in the bank. And therefore, it's just a bad indicator of where someone's at financially. Now, bad credit score, yes, shows irresponsibility. So I'll give you that, my friend, but I'm not buying it completely. Okay, plenty of tasty haterade there. Now it's my turn to do some hating. I absolutely vehemently hate spam text, robocalls, and scam emails,

or as I call them, Schemales. And I also hate that it goes way beyond that. There are tons of data broker sites out there selling your personal info to spammers and scammers, and I'm sure you hate that too. And it's why I recommend Delete Me, one of the sponsors of today's video. They work hard all year long in the background scrubbing your private info from all of these shady sites, and they send you reports showing you the work they've done and the time they've saved you. And right now, you can get 20% off any of their plans by going to join DeleteMe.com slash George or click the link in the description below. Something else I hate? Spending more money on my phone plan than I need to. And that's why I love Tello, another sponsor of today's video. My family uses Tello,

and it's been fantastic. Tello offers customizable phone plans as low as five bucks a month, and it's only 25 bucks a month for the unlimited everything plan. And Tello piggybacks off of T-Mobile's towers, so you get great coverage wherever you go, even internationally. They've got you covered in over 250 countries and territories. I can't even name 250 countries. Waconda, Genovia, Agrabah. That's my top three right there. And the best part is you can get started from the comfort of your home. Just go to tello.com slash George or click the link in the description below. All right. Up next, a little romantic advice about engagement rings. My gut says you pay cash and no more than one month of salary is a totally fair number.

So if he's bringing home 5K, I go, that's the budget and have the conversation and shop with that in mind. All right, that was a short and sweet one and still long enough to warrant a whole bunch of hate. All I said was, how much should you spend? One guy's opinion. One month of salary is totally fair. Whoever came up with this three-month salary ran a jewelry business. Do you understand that? It was just marketing. It sounded like some economists was like, no, here's the accurate number. It's a made-up number. So I stand by this video. I think one-month salary, totally fair number. It doesn't mean it's the only number. You can spend more if you want to, but the biggest factor

is pay cash and don't think that this has any correlation to a great marriage or a happy wife. But the fact is, people don't have the conversation. However, looks like Jack B. Sout. Have the conversation. Show this to my girlfriend, and now I don't have to worry about getting a ring at all. Okay, I just spared you, my friend. And I know, Jack B. Sully is now Jack B. Sad, because he's single. But the truth is, if she dumped you over how much you were going to spend on a ring, she wasn't the one, bro. She wasn't the one.

Here's another comment. That's nuts. 8% of your income on an item? Not that crazy, but considering they love paying down debt, this is a lower priority. Okay, so I'm getting hate. because it's not enough, but it's also too much. Make it make sense. Yes, paying down debt is a priority,

but if you were to want to get married and propose, I would say create a budget, stick to it, save up cash. If that slows down your debt payoff by a little bit, that's okay. Marriage is important. Having kids is important. All of these things just happen alongside life, and you can't just wait until you're in an amazing place financially to begin. But wait, there's more hate.

Bueseness idea said, pay cash. WTF has dude never heard of amex points to use toward his girls' next vacation? This advice is extremely stupid. I got a buzness idea for you, buddy. Add a profile picture, you coward. Last one. Oh no, that's a waste of money.

Invest in your marriage instead. I actually like this comment. If you're both good with saving on the ring and the wedding for that matter, then absolutely use that cash toward your goals, which will build a stronger marriage than a fancy honeymoon or a fancy ring or a fancy wedding. You boy's been cuffed for years. We're doing great. Don't even know what the ring costs, but I'm telling you, it wasn't even a month's salary. It's a beautiful ring. Can we show a picture of the ring? It's a gorgeous ring. She's got a sweet tooth. Moving on. I posted a screenshot of my

American Express credit card bill. It was $300,000. Here's the honest truth. This is not debt, dummy. This card helps me do business. If I didn't have this card, I would be using cash all the time. If I'm using cash all the time, you always will have a cash flow problem because if your customer didn't pay you right when you needed it, you'd be sweating bullets. So this card buys me time. This frightens me. I'm just looking at a screenshot. He's got a total balance of $306,000, remaining statement balance of $171,000. And his minimum payment due is $137,000.

This is insane. And what he's saying is, well, I can protect my cash and I can just keep borrowing other people's money. and then my clients will pay me back and this will all work out. And that might work for a week until it doesn't. You know when you think about a word too long and the word gets weird? So I feel about this video, but the more I watch this video, the dumber he gets. Okay, listen, it's not a perfect world. Your clients may not pay.

Emergencies will happen. This is not sustainable. And this idea that, well, if you use your cash, then you're not going to have the cash flow, what are you even saying? And I got roasted in the comments here because they're going, This guy doesn't understand business. I'm sitting in a building that was paid for.

In cash, a business that runs completely debt-free without a single credit card with zero debt, and we're doing just fine, okay? Ask Dave Ramsey himself, he'll tell you. So here's the deal. You don't need to live this life where you're racking up hundreds of thousands on a credit card hoping to pay it off every month. People disagree. Jimmy Jabs had this jab for me. Debt is your greatest friend when used right and your worst enemy when used wrong.

Jimmy, your greatest friend? it's more like an unhinged uncle. Like on a good day, he cracks a good joke. On a bad day, you got to fix the drywall because Uncle Jimmy had a few too many. This guy said this is how business works, especially in the online marketing game. Without credit, you will never be able to scale.

What is up with the male urge to scale? Like, just stop watching Grant Cardone, stop watching dudes that are just roided up and red-faced with a G-wagon telling you to scale. Maybe it's too much more mozy. I'm big for her Mosy fan. Let me just put that out there, mostly because I'm scared of him. It's a nice guy.

And he's like, dude, you just got to scale. Just like 10x, bro. 100x. Why do we have to scale everything in our life? Why can't we just live our life like normal people? Amen, brother. Watching this video and reading most of the comments on the video just made me feel a lot more confident

that I understand money and how it works better than most if the population, even financial-educated people. So here's one more reason for those who truly understand how to use the debt in your favor to keep grinding and never give it on the brokies getting less than five figures. a month. Such twists and turns and such lack of grammar and punctuation. Why are you guys even commenting on YouTube? You should be busy scaling. This is the problem. The last one on this one. The funny thing is that platinum card isn't even a credit card. It's a charge card,

meaning he has to pay it off in full every month. Well, if he has to pay it off and full every month, you know what else he could do? Pay cash up front instead of letting it live rent-free in his head for 30 to 45 days. End scene. All right, let's look at the next video that made people say not so nice things to me. wealth killers are car loans. It's because of a trend that I kept seeing. As I wrote the book, I was comparing all the debt levels of a consumer debt in America. We've heard the number. Well, 1.7 trillion in student loans. There's a crisis out there. And then I looked up and I saw that car loans were meeting student loan debt. It was at 1.6 trillion when I wrote the book and I was flabbergasted. How did we get here? How did we go from a car as a necessity from A to B? Back in my day,

it was like 25 grand. It was a brand new car. And now it's normal for someone to call into the show and say, a car, we have $50,000 loan at 9% interest on this car, and it just blows my mind. And that inspired these words of encouragement in the comment section. Home loans and mortgages must be the real wealth destroyer, $50,000 car versus $200,000 house. I mean, home values have skyrocketed for sure, but a home is an appreciating asset. A car goes down in value the moment you drive away, and so I don't see them in the same category whatsoever. And nobody needs a $50,000 car. All right, I get there's average home price, but cars are just insanely overpriced right now, and they go down in value. And so for that reason, I'm out on this one.

Another comment, did he just claim back in my day? Like, he's 50 or 60 years old? Definitely hanging with Dave Ramsey too long. I wish Dave Ramsey would hang out with me, bro. You know how much I would pine for that level of friendship with Dave? But really, back in my day is because I've been driving for 20 years. And so I've seen cars go from, you know, 12. $15 grand for a new car to 30, 40, 50, and it's just gone crazy over the last few years,

especially since the pandemic. So yeah, back in my day, I feel as appropriate for two decades. Although, if you Google me, you'll find out that I'm actually over 100 years old. Fun fact. You don't look a day over 12. Another comment, marriage is the biggest wealth killer. Listen, Felix, I'm sorry she hurts you, but this is not, this one doesn't track. We found that actually married couples who are on the same page financially will be

build wealth at an exponential rate compared to single folks. So not buying this one. Again, I'm sorry for whatever damage she did. Last comment for fun from John Kramer. He said, expletive. But he spelled bull wrong, which is upsetting B-U-L, followed by fecal matter?

No, no, no, sir. How did you manage to get one, two, three, four, five, six, seven exclamation points and yet forget the second elk. Unhinged, my man. All right, so all in all, I stand by what I've said. Do I have some regrets? Sure. Could I've used a different tone?

Yes, but I can't go back in time. All right, most of what I do is just out there on the internet forever. No takebacks. And quite frankly, I think a lot of these people could use some more high-quality, educational, mildly entertaining, financially, fiscally responsible videos with obscure pop culture references and horse jokes sprinkled throughout. That's my flavor. So here's the deal. I'm going to keep making these videos. Can't Stop, won't Stop.

Plus, I have dealt with plenty of hate before, and I've got some thick skin. Watch this. Dang, it hurt. I'm stronger than I think, bro. So if you want to see how I ticked off a million people, keep watching this next video or click the link in the description. It was a good one. And don't forget to like and subscribe and share this with your keyboard warrior friend

who most definitely hate watches my videos. Thanks for hate watching. We'll see you next time.